Back in Black (and Gold)

**Max’s POV August 31st, 2015**

Finally, we were to our semi-new home. Did I hate trades, yes. Did I hate uprooting my family twice before my kids were 2, oh yes. Was I not worthy of my lovely wife? Where have you been, I’m _SO_ not worthy of her! We had taken the roughly 5 hours road trip from our summer home to this new one just outside Boston, well Roxbury, Massachusetts. It had taken us a full day of driving and switching off the kids to keep all of us happy, but we could sleep in our own home.

“I don’t know about you, but I have no desire to cook after today.” Ah, I knew she was wise as well as beautiful. “I think I saw an Applebee’s not too far away. How does that sound?” She was holding Nikki who was frowning at me.

“Sounds perfect. We can get some food and then when we get back we can call our families.” She nodded and I put Jax back in his seat. He hated this idea and whined. Jass moved Nikki’s seat and she also whined about having to be back in it. “Gamins de Hush, le temps d'aller manger puis nous appellent Gran. (Hush kids, time to go eat and then we called Gran.)” That seemed to help them both.

I drove mostly because Jass was working the GPS. In under 10 minutes we were not only inside but seated. When we were asked if we wanted 2 high chairs we shook our heads. “We have booster seats for them.” Jass said as I was strapping Jax into his and setting up Nikki’s.

Dinner was nice. Boston was a hockey mad town but no one seemed to yet know who I was. It meant the only interruptions we had were caused by the kids. They were both very happy to have dinner show up and be something they liked, simple chicken and applesauce.

We all got back to the house with full bellies and happier kids. We put them down once we got into the house proper, letting them explore the new surroundings. We wouldn’t let them out of one of our sights until we knew the house was safe for them. For now, it was safe for them to run around while we took turns getting them and the house ready for relaxing and sleep.

“Max!” Jassmine shouted from upstairs where she was trying to put together the cribs for the kids. I quickly scooped them up and jogged up.

“What’s wrong Jass?” I said joining her in what would become Jax’s room. I was horrified when she showed me the broken crib from our Denver move. “How did that happen?”

She sighed. The side panel was broken, there was no fixing that. We had our furniture delivered to a storage place over the summer so we had not gotten a chance to inspect thoroughly it before now. “I don’t know what we’re going to do for tonight. I have _zero_ desire to leave the house.”

I held up a hand as I thought. Then it hit me. “We could let them both sleep in the travel yards.” She looked at me as if I was brilliant. “I’ll go get them if you moved the crib boxes out of their rooms.”

In about 15 minutes I came back up with both travel play yards and found that Jass had the kids in their night time routine now. She was reading them a story. I quietly set up a bed in each room, made sure both monitors were on and both sound machines were ready to go with each child’s favorite. I then helped my lovely wife put our children to bed. Kisses and hugs all around and a promise that we would try to have better beds for them tomorrow night. We took the monitors downstairs with us as we cuddled on the couch.

Jass sighed. “I didn’t even think to check the kids stuff when I was down here last week. What are we going to do Max?” She was getting worked up over nothing. We would handle it, we always did.

I pulled her close and cuddled a little harder. “Relax love, a couple nights won’t hurt them. Just think they can’t climb out of those yet. Go get your laptop, we’ll look and see what we might like online and see if we can get it locally.” She sigh and went to get it.

“What do we want in beds for our children?” I asked, knowing what she’d say.

Jass had opened her laptop and was firing it up as she answered. “To let them express their own individuality and have it not crumble beneath them.” Seeing that they were 20 months old, they were getting into the destructive phase, throwing things and the like. They had also begun to climb out of their cribs this summer.

I punched in Pottery Barn Kids and up came the website. “We already like the dressers dad got for them. Why not get something with the same quality for beds?” We looked for a little while before Jass sighed.

“I like this stuff but I want them to like it even when they are teenagers. God, can you imagine them as teens? Nikki is wanting to potty train and Jax isn’t far behind but he is behind.” Ah the stress of the day was getting to her.

I began massaging her shoulders. “Relax Jassmine, We’ve already talked about training the kids when they wanted to. If Nikki is thinking she’s ready, then we’ll find someone who knows something about training and get some advice. Jax will follow along like he does almost everywhere with her. First let’s find beds for them and _then_ we’ll look for those supplies.” She was still tense but slowly she was relaxing. “Now, if we want them to like it when they are older, let’s look at the teen stuff now. I know they are little but maybe it’s time for big kid beds.”

She clicked on the teen button at the top and we went looking for a long term use bed for our twins. “We need to find something that comes in at least two colors. You know how they’re getting, everything has to be the same but different.” I just smiled and nodded. I knew all too well just how competitive our kids were.

After about a half hour Jass chuckled. “Look at all the storage on this one.” She was looking at the Stuff-Your-Stuff headboard and store it bed. “Only 2 colors, which means less fighting over who gets what color. I don’t know about the bed though. They aren’t ready for an unprotected sides.”

I went back to the boys beds page and found the Classic version of the same bed. “This one might work better. You know how they like to store their shoes under their beds. I’m sure we can find at least a guardrail for the one open side we will have if we put this up against the wall.”

I sketched out the basic layout of their rooms. “Look, we put the bed with the headboard at the window with one side against the wall and we only have 2 sides to worry about them coming out of. If nothing else we could take the advice from Stella of using pool noodles under the sheets to keep them from falling.” Jass took my sketch and made notes on it. Putting the wide dresser across the window and the other against the other wall.

Taking a closer look they were having a Labor Day sale. “Ok, now to find a close PB Teen store.” She searched and found one in Natick. Looking up our address to theirs she found it was under an hour away by car. “Ok, we’ll go tomorrow so we have a chance of having happy kids.”

**September 1st, 2015 Jass’ POV**

As usual I woke to the sounds of the kids. I had three things I wanted to do today. Get the kids beds, get food into the house and see if I could get a new car. Before I and the kids left Denver, we had sold the one we had. Not that it wasn’t a good vehicle, more like we didn’t want to have to drive 2 cars clear across the country, or worse ship them. Gran had brought my car from Philly up to Montreal so I had that one there but I needed something with All Wheel Drive for here.

I heard Max over Nikki’s monitor saying good morning and getting her up. I knew it wouldn’t be long before they were all in here waiting on me. Max had helped a lot last night after the bed disaster, even finding a bed we liked and the kids couldn’t fight over whose was better.

Soon enough I had the whole family in our bed. “Mama. Eat.” Oh I knew that routine, Jaxson was a hungry kid and soon both of them were chanting eat at me.

We soon were out the door and finding a spot to eat. We found Victoria’s Diner, grabbed the booster seats, kids and backpacks/lunchboxes and went inside. Grabbing a booth we got ourselves situated quickly, being pros at this by now. We asked if we could order a breakfast order with another plate and then a lunch order for the kids to share later. Mary, our waitress just smiled. “For sure. Gotta keep the younguns fed or they get cranky. Where you from?”

“Montreal via Denver and Philly.” I said plainly, taking the napkin away from Jax, again. “We’re here for the upcoming NHL season.”

Mary looked at Max critically. “You’re gonna be one of the boys?” Technically he already was, after being traded at the deadline in March. Max just nodded and she grinned. “Well then you must have nothing at home yet. Let me get this in. I’ll have Ted hold back on the grilled cheese for now so you can cut it up for the kiddos after they’ve had breakfast.”

After a good and hearty breakfast, and fortified for lunch for the kids, we set out for Pottery Barn Teen in Natick, Ma. Once in the parking lot, I grabbed the stroller and had the kids put their backpacks underneath it. For their 18 month celebration my dad had sent them both Skip Hop backpacks and lunch bags and Yumboxes in 2 sizes. Man did I love those. I could pack something good for them in the morning and it wouldn’t rattle around while we did our errands.

The kids walked, being big on doing what we would let them do, while I pushed the stroller and Max held hands. Inside we roamed until we found what we had seen the night before. “Here they are.” Max guided the kids over to me. I knelt down to their level. “Ok, two special kids are getting new beds because the old ones are broken.” Max had told me over breakfast that between the two we had 1 working crib. I picked up the two color tiles. “Which color do you want?”

Nikki’s hand shot out for the White one while Jax’s shot out for the Sun Valley Espresso color, each shouting “Mine!” Max chuckled and went to find someone to help us. He didn’t have to go far.

Once we explained what we needed and wanted, it was easy. They actually had one of each color in the full size we wanted in the back, with trolleys which were not made anymore. “Those are easy by looking at those two, you’re going to want guardrails too.” Leon led us over to the Kids section and got us those as well. “Are you getting mattresses now or maybe later?”

I smacked myself. “That’s what we forgot.”

Leon just chuckled. “Most people do. I’ll let you in on a secret. If you just put their crib mattresses on the full size platform you can get them used to sleeping on the bed and not have to get another two just yet. Call it a extra safety precaution, cause they’re little.”

I could have kissed Leon for that idea. Now we wouldn’t have to get new mattresses for the kids for a little while longer. “That is a fantastic idea. Thank you so much.” Leon beamed. “They figured out how to climb out of their cribs this summer so it’s time. At least with this solution and the guardrail they won’t fall as far the first time. Only the height of the mattress.”

We paid for the things we’d gotten and then went around the back to have them loaded. Boy was I glad we had the room. The boxes slid between the kids with the center seat laid flat. Once we were loaded we started to head for the house, it wasn’t quite home yet. Max sighed as we drove. “What’s wrong?”

“Just thinking on how fast the time has flown. Feels like yesterday they were born. Now here we are in a new city, you again without a car. We should fix that, today maybe.” I laughed, triggering the trouble twins to do the same. “What is that for?”

I got myself under control and explained. “I had 3 things I wanted to get done today. Get these beds, get food in the house and get myself a vehicle, preferably another Lexus hybrid. It’s like you’re reading my mind with that idea.”

Max clicked on the GPS and spoke. “Find nearest Lexus dealership.” In no time we were heading for the dealership in Watertown.

This time Max pushed the stroller while I held hands. “Shall we get mommy a pretty car?” I asked as we looked through the showroom. Neither of the kids answered me, then again they were shy around strangers. We went and looked at the RX Hybrid and I saw the NX Hybrid as well. I started by looking at the new things on the RX as I knew that model already. Max left the stroller with me and walked the kids around so they wouldn’t be as disruptive. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s when the vultures descended.

“What would I have to do to get you into this vehicle today?” I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, I would not be pushed by anyone over 3 feet tall, under was a different story entirely.

In a pleasant but bland voice I replied. “Just comparing right now. We just moved to the area and I sold my 2013 RX before we moved. With the winters, I’ll need a good vehicle and I know this is.” I looked over and saw the very young salesman grinning at me. “I’m also going to be comparing the RX with the NX to see which is better.” I went back to looking over everything checking for upgrades and other new technologies.

He was angling for a sale and I had given him the opening, he took it. “Well for just you the NX would be great! It’s…”

I cut him off. “But it’s not just me. My husband and our two children are wandering around trying not to bother anyone while I look.” My irritation was growing.

Another salesman came over. “Is everything ok here?” He asked carefully.

“If I could compare the two vehicles I want to, it would be.” I said, temper rising. My temper had been short the last few days and apparently getting here hadn’t improved it any yet.

“When you’re ready I’m Robert Kasule and this is William Brazil, just find either of us and we’ll answer any questions you might have.” I looked over at the African-American gentleman, smiled and nodded before looking at the sticker again. I heard them walk off talking to one another, I didn’t hear what about.