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“You’re making his nose squishy,” Biddy tells her, looking concerned as the elephant stretches between them.

Babs releases it so quickly she almost falls backward. “I don’t wanna break him.”

I laugh from beside the crib, which makes one of the babies kick beneath my ribs hard enough that my hand goes to my stomach.

Bane catches the movement and shifts his attention to me. “You all right?”

“I’m being attacked from the inside because your dog is ridiculous.”

His gaze drops to my stomach anyway, checking for any sign that laughing has somehow become medically dangerous since yesterday.

Pregnancy has changed Bane’s relationship with common sense. He reads labels before I eat anything unfamiliar, knows more about prenatal vitamins than I do, and recently moved a side table because he decided the corner was too close to the route I take between the couch and kitchen.

Babs finally takes the elephant when Sprout loosens his grip and hugs it to her chest. “I’m putting him where Sprout can’t reach.”

“Put it in the crib,” Biddy suggests.

Babs looks at the crib and frowns. “But the babies can’t reach it either.”

“They’re not here yet.”

“They will be.”

Biddy considers that and looks toward Bane. “Daddy can give it to them.”

Bane sets Sprout on the floor and watches the dog sit beneath the elephant with intense interest. “Daddy is trying to build a dresser before either baby graduates from college.”

“You’ve been working on it for forty minutes.” I step around the pieces scattered across the rug and take the folded instructions from his hand. “For a man who knows how to do everything, you’re losing an alarming fight with nursery furniture.”

“Security systems are designed by people who want them assembled.”

I scan the diagrams, turn the sheet around, and hold it back toward him.

Babs spots the upside down instructions and dissolves into giggles. “Daddy did it wrong.”

“I was checking the diagram.”

“You checked it upside down,” I tell him as he takes the sheet from me, giving me a look that probably still terrifies half the people at Wolf Shield.

I smile and step over another piece of the dresser. “Very thorough.”

The girls move on to the decorations. Bane returns to the dresser, leaving me surrounded by nursery furniture, unopened boxes, and enough baby supplies to suggest we’re preparing for a small daycare instead of two infants.

The nursery has taken shape faster than I expected. We kept the walls cream after Babs spent several days campaigning for purple and Biddy decided green was the only acceptable choice.

Mara ended the argument by suggesting they choose decorations instead, which worked until Babs picked dinosaurs and Biddy wanted stars.

They’ve been negotiating ever since.

Two cribs sit against the far wall beneath empty spaces waiting for whichever pictures survive the debate. Tiny clothes fill the dresser Bane finished yesterday, and several boxes remain unopened because packages keep arriving from Kira, coworkers, and people I barely remember meeting

He steps around the dresser pieces and wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me against his side before pressing a kiss to my temple. His hand stays at my hip as he studies the half-built dresser, and I lean into him until Babs calls from the hallway that Sprout has stolen the elephant again.

Bane groans and starts after them, brushing his fingers across my back as he passes.

I watch him disappear through the doorway before following more carefully around the boxes.

Spencer used to reach for me when cameras were nearby or when an audience expected us to look happy, which made every touch feel connected to whoever might be watching.