Denial is the Way

Making a video for Nevan, only to accidentally catch the twins' first crawl: 

 

Once again, Nevan was at work.

As the twins get bigger, Nevan is letting himself work more. But not all the time because he still wanted to be there to help Ender. 

 

Ender did not mind Nevan working; he just missed him since he did grow used to having Nevan with him all the time. But, the twins made up for the lonely feeling. 

 

Ender had the twins sitting on their blankets in the living room, letting them play with some toys he laid out. 

 

Vera had colored blocks, stacking them together, only to hit them back down. She would laugh each time as she kept repeating the process. 

 

Emil was sitting at first, playing with a small stuffed animal Ender gave him. But he grew tired of it and laid down as he started to roll. 

 

He always grew fascinated when he figured he could roll. 

 

Ender watched them a second longer before setting up a camera, pointing it towards them. 

 

Sometimes, Ender would record a video for Nevan when he would have long days at work. He knew that Nevan misses them as they miss him, so Ender likes to send him videos that he could watch whenever he feels lonely. 

 

Seeing that the camera's position was good, Ender started the video and sat down between the twins. 

 

"Emil, Vera, do you want to say hi to daddy for the video?" Ender asked the twins. 

 

Emil and Vera looked towards Ender before glancing around like they were looking for Nevan. 

 

Unfortunately, they did not recognize the word 'video' like they did 'daddy' and 'hi.' 

 

Ender chuckled at what looked like confused expressions on Vera and Emil's faces. Then, he reached for Vera, picking her up in a standing position as he made her face the camera.  

 

He shook her hand to make her wave. "Say hi to the camera," Ender told her. 

 

"Ah, ah!" Vera responded as she bounced in her position. When it comes to being in a standing position, Vera loves bouncing. 

 

Ender chuckled before setting Vera down next to his knee. Then, he grabbed Emil, who looked annoyed at being bothered. 

 

He put Emil in a standing position in front of where the camera stood, shaking his hand to mimic a wave. "Say hi, Emil." 

 

"Eh," Emil spoke, bending his legs down. He did not want to stand any longer. 

 

Ender, knowing what Emil wanted, put him down and back to his original spot. Emil went back to what he was doing earlier. 

 

Vera picked up one of the blocks, putting it on Ender's lap. "Do you want me to play with you?" Ender asked. 

 

Picking up another block, Vera hit it against the other one on Ender's lap. 

 

Ender got the message and picked up the block on his lap. He then grabbed Vera and brought her back over to where the blocks were. 

 

He set Vera down in front of the other blocks and started building with her. Vera watched her papa stack the blocks before looking at hers and doing the same. 

 

She copied Ender, smiling each time. 

 

When there were no more blocks, Ender would take them down to make a new shape. Vera watched at first because she usually knocked the blocks down. 

 

But, seeing what her papa was doing, she copied him once again. And when she put the blocks back together in the new design Ender made, Vera would look towards him for praise. 

 

Ender smiled at his daughter's glistening eyes. He patted her head, "You are doing amazing, Vera." 

 

"Ah!" Vera raised her fist before taking another block and putting it on top of the others. 

 

As they played, Emil grew tired from looking at his fingers. He flipped over to his stomach, looking to where his papa and sister were. 

 

Once he saw them a few feet away, he wanted to let out a sigh in frustration. 

 

Emil wanted to lay down in his papa's lap. He looked at the lap, then the distance between them. Emil decided that if he wished to sleep, he needed to put in work. 

 

So, he readied himself and started crawling. At first, it was difficult as he was barely moving. But, after a few tries, he started crawling to Ender. 

 

Ender set another block down, getting ready to grab another when he saw something moving from the corner of his eye. 

 

He quickly turned his head, thinking it was a bug zooming by when he saw Emil crawling. 

 

Ender's eyes grew wide as he faced Emil. "Oh my god, Emil! You're crawling!" 

 

Not moving from his spot, Ender opened his arms, waiting for Emil to come to him. 

 

It did not take long when Emil's hand touched Ender's leg. Ender automatically grabbed him, putting Emil in his lap. 

 

Emil rested his head on his papa's chest, ready to sleep. He did not realize that he did something amazing because it was his first crawl. 

 

Ender had a massive smile on his face, his teeth ultimately showing as he praised Emil. "Emil, I am so proud of you. I cannot wait to tell your daddy what you did!" 

 

Then, Ender realized that he was recording a video. So, he got Emil's first crawl on camera! He cannot wait to send the video to Nevan. 

 

Well, Ender thought about sending it to him now. He stood up with Emil still in his arms, walking towards the camera to turn it off. 

 

Vera, watching and not wanting to feel left out, started crawling towards her papa's feet. She always has been unconsciously practicing crawling, so it became more accessible to her. 

 

Once she touched Ender's foot, Ender looked down and saw Vera there. 

 

"Vera, did you crawl too?" Ender excitedly asked. 

 

Vera grabbed Ender's pants, trying to pick herself up. Ender bent down, taking Vera into his arms. 

 

He held both the twins, putting them in front of the camera as he said, "Nevan, our loves are crawling! We need to start blocking things off." 

 

Then he looked at Emil and Vera. Vera tried to reach for the camera, while Emil instantly went to sleep. "Well, I guess only me, and you can say goodbye, Vera." 

 

Vera touched the camera, her hand covering the screen, "Eh, eh!" 

 

Ender giggled, "I guess that is time for us to go. Bye, Nevan; I love you. I cannot wait until you get home and see the babies crawling in person!" 

 

---

Nevan sighed, loosening his tie as he leaned back in his seat. He just came from a tiring meeting, already feeling a headache coming in. 

 

At least, next week, he is going to have a meal with Liam since they are going to merge their companies. Kay may or may not join the meal; it depends on if she is free. 

 

Running his hand through his hair, Nevan pulled out his phone, seeing that he had a new message from Ender. 

 

He unlocked the message, seeing that it was a video. Nevan pushed play, watching it. 

 

He grew amused at Ender trying to get the twins to say hi to him. He shook his head at Emil, who was relaxing like usual while tenderly smiling at Vera and Ender playing. 

 

Sighing, Nevan could not help his lonely feeling hitting him. He misses Ender and his babies; Nevan wants to be there with them. 

 

He continued watching the video, only to grow excited when he saw Emil crawling. And it only gets more prominent as he caught Vera doing the same. 

 

Nevan laughed when Ender talked about having to block more things now. He could not help but think how it would be when they start walking on their own.

 

The video stopped, causing Nevan to start it over. 

 

As he watched the video again, Nevan thought the twins are getting so big.