"Was it awful?" Clio asked, her voice full of sympathy. They were in a cab which was filled with the fragrance of Archie's special rolls, which Archie and Clio no longer even particularly wanted because they'd sampled them so much while they made them. They'd even given a couple to the driver, who declared them the best rolls he'd ever had.

It was late Thanksgiving morning, and they were on their way to the Santangelos' apartment, after having spent the preceding hours at Archie's preparing the aforementioned rolls.

"No, they understood that I only had four days off, and with the flying back and forth it wasn't really worth it, especially since I was going to see them in a couple of weeks," Archie assured her. "I'm going to FaceTime with the girls while I'm at your house, so everything should be fine."

It turned out his confidence was a little misplaced, however.

When he settled down in the Santangelos' relatively quiet music room to FaceTime with Kiki and Lulu a few hours later, their smiling faces, surrounded by their curly hair, which was what he was expecting, were almost immediately replaced by woebegone looks of anguish and quivering chins.

"Whoa, girls, what happened?" Archie asked in confusion. "Oh my goodness, look at you, you look like someone died!"

"We forgot until we saw you, and then we remembered," Kiki explained, huge eyes filling. Next to her, Lulu nodded solemnly.

"What? What did you forget?" Archie asked.

"How much we love you and mith you," Lulu supplied. She heard her own words and covered her mouth, horrified.

"Oh no, Lu, I thought your lisp was going away," Archie said, leaning toward the screen, concerned.

"It wath!" she exclaimed. "I don't know what happened. I think only cometh back when I'm really upthet, and I am, I'm really upthet with you, becauth I mith you and you're not here with uth, Uncle Archie!"

By now both girls were wailing. MJ's concerned face came on the screen as she wiped her daughter's noses and shooed them away for a moment.

"Well done, Uncle Archie, so much for a calm and happy Thanksgiving," she commented with a wry smile, shaking her head.

"God, MJ, I'm so sorry," Archie said, contrite. Behind him, Clio hovered, concerned, a hand on his shoulder. "I had no idea they'd react that way. They've been fine when we texted and spoke on the phone, haven't they?"

MJ nodded. "I think seeing your face just brought it home for them, you know? They're just babies, really, even though they're five. You're the first person they've been really close to who's ever left them, and seeing your face just reminded them of that." MJ shrugged. "They'll be okay. They're so emotional, and because there are two of them, they just feed it in each other. Don't worry, Uncle Archie, they'll live." MJ smiled. "They know they're going to see you in just a couple weeks in England, and they're losing their minds about that, honest."

Archie nodded, a little reassured. "Should I talk to them again, or not?" he asked his sister-in-law.

MJ looked over her shoulder. "In a minute," she decided. "And maybe we should make you FaceTiming them a more everyday occurrence, you know? Instead of such a rare thing? Then they might not flip their shit over it?

"How are you?" she asked. "How's school? Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "School's great. Not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be."

"And is that Clio I see behind you? How are you, Clio?"

Clio leaned into the screen. "I'm fine, MJ, thanks for asking. Everything's going really well. Are the girls okay?"

MJ turned and looked behind her. "They'll be fine in a minute," she said. "Right, girls? You ready to talk to Uncle Archie again? You calmed down? Yeah? Okay, try not to flip out, okay? It makes him worry when you guys cry like that, makes him feel bad."

Kiki and Lulu reassembled in front of the laptop again, sniffling and wiping their eyes, with Lulu holding Hedwig this time. Both were trying very hard to control their tears.

"Hi, Uncle Archie, thorry--I mean, sorry we flipped out," Lulu began, managing to conquer her lisp and smiling when she heard herself. "We just really, really miss you. Especially at night, at bath time and bed time."

"And pajama time and reading time and snuggle time," Kiki added, nodding, eyes like blue marbles as she, too, wiped her nose with the back of her hand.

"Ooh, Kiks, you need to use a tissue to do that, though, right?" Archie admonished gently. "Not your hand, darling."

Kiki nodded and reached for a tissue, sniffing mightily as she did so, making Clio laugh from her place behind Archie.

"Good girl," he praised as she blew her nose noisily into the tissue, scaring Hedwig in the process.

"So, Uncle Archie, do you love Clio?" Lulu asked.

"Yeah, do you?" Kiki echoed. "Do you love her more than you love us?"

"Girls," MJ scolded, "that question is not appropriate."

"No, MJ, it's okay," Archie said, smiling, taking Clio's hand and kissing it. "First, I could never, ever love anyone more than I love you, even if I have my own children some day, okay? Though I might love them just as much, which is a completely different thing, you understand?"

Kiki and Lulu nodded raptly, reaching for each other's hands in a manner similar to other twins whenever they needed closeness.

"But you're old enough to understand that I can love someone else and not love you any less, right? The way your mum and dad can love each other and still love you?"

Again, Kiki and Lulu nodded, staring at their uncle through the screen.

"So yes, I do love Clio," Archie said with a happy smile and a nod.

Kiki and Lulu added their smiles to his, looking so much like their mother it was amazing to Archie.

"Does she know? Uncle Archie, does she know? 'Cause she's standing right behind you," Kiki stage-whispered, leaning close to the screen.

"Yes, love, she knows, I told her first," Archie assured her.

"And does she love you back?" Lulu asked, eyes dancing with excitement.

Clio leaned down to the screen. "She does," she stage-whispered back, nodding and smiling to the girls in Los Angeles.

Kiki and Lulu looked at each other, eyes shining as they gasped. "She does, she does!" they repeated to each other. They looked back at the screen. "Uncle Archie, you must be so so happy, huh?"

Archie laughed and kissed Clio's hand again. "I am, girls, you can't even imagine how happy I am. Or I was, until I talked to you guys and you started crying. That was awful!"

"We're sorry! We are!"

"What's everyone sorry for?" Heath's voice could now be heard as he entered the family room of their Los Angeles house. "What's going on in here? Why'd you leave me and Pappous all alone in the kitchen? Even though we are the best cooks and everything." He bent down and looked at the screen. "That you, Arch?"

"Yes, hello, brother. Clio's with me."

"Hello, Ms. Clio," Heath gave a friendly wave. "I guess you're the reason Archie's face didn't crack the screen, then."

"Oh, please," Archie snorted. "We have the same exact face, brother, or nearly so."

"People say that," Kiki interjected. "But you guys look completely different to me. I don't understand. Just like people say Lulu and I look the same, but you guys can always tell us apart, can't you?"

"It's just because we know you so well," MJ explained. "People who don't know you very well can't tell you apart, that's all."

"Yeah that happened at the store once," Lulu said. "We were with Uncle Handsome and some girls thought he was Daddy--"

"Uncle Handsome?" Clio repeated, laughing loudly. "No, really?"

"Oh no!" Lulu said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I'm tho thorry--" she heard her lisp and her eyes widened. "Oh no!" she said again, her eyes filling with tears.

"Dear god," MJ said, rolling her eyes.

"It's okay, Lu," Archie tried to reassure his niece. "Clio knows the secret, she calls me that all the time, don't you, Clio?"

"Sure I do, all the time," Clio said, nodding vigorously. "Except I call him 'Mr. Handsome,' since he's not my uncle, you know?" She looked intently at the screen. "In fact, Lulu, you know what? You know what?" she asked, trying to get the crying child's attention.

"What?" Lulu finally asked through her tears.

"I was thinking of getting a tattoo that said 'Mr. Handsome' right here on my wrist," Clio announced gaily, showing Lulu the inside of her wrist and nodding. "What do you think?"

Lulu's mouth dropped open into a round O of delight as she nodded, the corners of her mouth pulling up into a smile. "And, and, he could get one that said 'Ms. Gorgeous' right on his wrist too," she declared, looking to her sister for agreement. "Kiki, whaddaya think? Wouldn't that be perfect?"

And now Kiki was nodding, her smile nearly a mirror image of her sister's as her shoulders went up and down with excitement. "You guys, that would be so neat!"

And as the girls gushed about the matching tattoos, the adults all looked at each others in confusion and bemusement, trying to figure out how they'd gotten in this situation, especially Clio and Archie.

By the time they ended the FaceTime call, Kiki and Lulu were higher than kites their tears long forgotten. "Bye, Uncle Handsome, bye Clio," they chirped, waving at the screen.

"Bye girls, bye everyone," Clio and Archie replied, their arms around each other. The screen went dark, and they looked at each other.

"Oh my god, did we just tell two five-year olds that we're getting matching tattoos?" Clio asked with a laugh.

"Well, you did," Archie replied, kissing her cheek.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Clio responded, staring at Archie. "You did too, mister."

"No way, I hate needles," Archie said, covering his wrist protectively. "I'm doing no such thing."

"If I'm doing it, you're doing it," Clio retorted, eyes narrowed.

"You have to do it, those girls have memories like steel traps, and the tenacity of terriers, they're not likely to forget," Archie told her. "Your parents are going to flip their shit."

"No, my father has a huge tattoo on his chest," Clio reminded him. "Of flowers, representing all of us, remember?"

"Right, I've seen it, it's a real work of art," Archie said. "I'm not getting a fucking tattoo," he reiterated. "I refuse."

"You chicken shit," Clio remarked. "I never knew this about you. How do you expect to be a veterinarian and cut animals open and all that with this phobia?"

"I'm not afraid to do it to others," Archie explained loftily. "I just can't have it done to me. No way."

"Dinner's ready," they heard Pete call from the other room."

"We're not finished discussing this," Clio warned. "No way am I getting something as permanent as a tattoo if you're not doing the same thing." She shook her head. "I can't believe I said that. I was just trying to make her feel better and stop crying, poor thing."

"You did it to yourself," Archie proclaimed. "It's your own fault."

"Whatever, you're doing it, too."

"No fucking way."

"We'll see."

"No."