"They might not have gone far," Glory pointed out. "I bet you could find them." If the two of them had to go looking, though, they would probably have to take the twins with them.

Léan seemed to think otherwise, and he chewed his lip slightly. "...Oh," he realized, suddenly looking like he felt dumb. "We can always ask Lleu."

Glory hadn't thought about that option, either.

"That's true," she said. She gave him a kiss. "You know, we should probably let your brother see the children, since we'll be out there anyways... He's probably hanging around just for that reason."

"I know he is," Léan replied, looking downtrodden. "I just don't want to be within arms' reach when we do this...I don't fancy being manhandled..."

"He won't manhandle you if you're holding a baby," Glory pointed out gently. "And I can't carry them both out there myself." It was a slim chance, but it was worth a shot.

"He'll still manhandle me." Léan looked sure of that. Archie liked to hug and cuddle with him...perhaps it was some younger-to-older twin thing...but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Then you don't have to get within range," Glory replied. "But I still want your help with the twins. You were able to hold Autumn just fine before, after all."

"I can do that...but the moment he gets loud, I'm going to start getting irritable..." Léan frowned, looking stubborn. The sheer volume of an excited Archie was enough to drive him insane.

"If he gets too loud, threaten to take the children back inside," Glory reasoned. "He wants to see them, so tell him he has to be quiet if it's going to happen."

"I doubt he'll be able to keep quiet," Léan warned, allowing a wry, amused grin to grace his features.

"Still worth a try," Glory replied. "If the twins get fussy, we can bring them back inside and then you can go look for Lleu."

Léan sighed and then finally fully relented, nodding. "All right...all right. If it will stop him from hovering around the beach and watching out for me like a hawk, then so be it."

Glory gave him a kiss.

"Let's go get the children, then," she suggested. "Get it over with already, right?"

Léan grumbled, not wanting to get up from his comfortable position. He slid out of bed ungracefully and scratched at his head. "All right..."

"Better now after I've already taken care of them for the next couple of hours," Glory pointed out as she got out of bed too. She took his hand gently.

"Mm-hm." The lack of enthusiasm in Léan's voice could easily be blamed on the prospect of facing his excited twin.

"It'll be alright," Glory said. Going into the nursery, she gently picked up Autumn first. The infant whined a bit at being disturbed from her nap, but quickly settled down. Glory gave the baby to Léan carefully and then went to get Orion.

Orion fussed considerably more when he was picked up, his hands balled into fists. He relaxed after a few moments. He was going to have a terrible temper.

Léan took note of this as he held Autumn. A sense of foreboding cropped up in him...that temper would need to be reined in.

Glory murmured soothingly to Orion until he calmed down, and then turned to Léan.

"Come on," she said, "let's get outside."

Léan paused, and then politely held the door of the room open for her. He could hold Autumn with one arm. "After you..." He didn't want to go out first...that would only make things worse.

Glory nodded and went out first. She was glad he looked more comfortable holding the baby this time. Autumn looked much more secure in his arms than before.

Léan would probably not do well holding Orion, still. He didn't know how to deal with a bad-tempered child. He was also fearful, because he had an inkling that Orion had, unfortunately, inherited the violent temper Betelgeuse had...

Glory led the way outside. She intended to stay on the sand, rather than try to go across the rocks with the baby in her arms, so she walked along the shoreline.

Léan shuffled outside awkwardly and then waited for the inevitable. He knew that this would not escape his brother's notice for very long.

Sure enough, it did not take long for Archie to find them. He perched himself on one of the rocks closer to shore, his tail moving in a motion that made it look like it was wagging.

Glory spotted him when he got close.

"There you are," she said. "If you promise to stay quiet, you can see the children."