Finding Them

The weekend came quickly, the twins were recovering and back to their normal selves. Darcy was sweet and innocent and Dakota was protective unlike when they were sick and the roles reversed. The only thing that brought out the protective side of Darcy was if Dakota was sick or if someone touched her red ball. Hunter had learnt the hard way when he moved Darcy's red ball from the seat next to her at lunchtime on Friday and got bitten just like Eddie had. When Darcy got in trouble she cried for 30 minutes with Dakota glaring at everyone who even looked at her while she cried. Both Dakota and Darcy wouldn't let anyone near them for the rest of the day at all. They held each other and spoke only in gibberish which they both seemed to understand. Daniel surmised that it was their own twin language.

Daniel attempted to speak with the twins as did Mitchell but the twins refused and it was like they were back to day one. The twins flinched when anyone moved near them and also were scared when someone came near them. When Eddie picked up Darcy after he had come home from hanging out with friends, she again went floppy. Daniel spoke calmly to them but nothing helped. Daniel felt helpless and Hunter felt guilty that he had caused the twins to go backwards for reacting how he did to Darcy biting him. Darcy and Dakota didn't even sleep that day, they were scared that they would be hurt in their sleep. They both sat on the couch instead making sure no one would approach them at all.

"Hey Darcy and Dakota it's time to get ready to go see Buck" Jamie told them. No one had touched them since Friday when Hunter yelled at Darcy. The twins even spent the night in their own room, though they didn't sleep very well. Neither did Daniel as he watched the baby monitor most of the night to make sure the twins were alright. With every noise, Darcy and Dakota were on high alert searching the room for the threat. Eventually, at 8 am Mitchell decided to coax them out of the bedroom. He placed plates of their favourite food on the coffee table for them to eat as no one could pick them up to help them into the chair.

Darcy and Dakota wouldn't even let anyone dress them, they had the same clothes on as yesterday and hadn't had a bath either. Hunter walked into the lounge room seeing the twins sat on the couch. They had hardly touched the food that was left out for them and he felt like absolute shit. Darcy biting him had hurt but he shouldn't have yelled. "Hey sweetheart, I'm so sorry for yelling and scaring you yesterday. I shouldn't have yelled" Hunter told Darcy who was facing the ground holding onto Ellie and her red ball while Dakota was glaring at Hunter and holding his sister. "Please sweetheart look at me. I don't like you being scared of me and not talking" Hunter stated while trying to get a little closer to his youngest siblings.

Daniel and the others watched on, not knowing how to help at all. It seems they all lost the trust of the twins and they didn't know how to fix it at all. "Darcy, can I please have a hug?" Hunter asked. He was now standing next to the couch which was the closest anyone had been able to get to the twins since yesterday. "No touch" Dakota stated pointing at Hunter. "I won't hurt her mate, I swear," Hunter told Dakota who was still glaring at him. Darcy was trying to make herself smaller by burying herself into the couch which was noticed by Daniel.

Daniel moved to the other side of the couch and kneeled down. "Princess Hunty won't hurt you at all. He didn't mean to yell but you gave him an ouchie and it hurt him" Daniel spoke softly causing Dakota to snap his glare towards his father. "Cc hurt Hunty?" Darcy whispered with tears running down her face. She didn't want to hurt anyone, that would make her like a scary man. "Yes princess, when you bit Hunty you hurt him" Daniel stated causing Darcy to wail, a heartbroken cry that none of the boys ever wanted to hear come from their baby sister.

Daniel moved quickly scooping up Darcy who cried like her heart was broken. Dakota was trying to comfort his sister. The last time she sounded like this was when the scary man took her doggy cause he was bad and they never saw him again. "I no bad, I no go" Darcy sobbed out. She was scared they were going to send her away like the scary man did to the doggy. "Shhh princess, it's ok. Addy is right here" Daniel tried to console his daughter but it just wasn't working. Even Dakota was getting upset as they were speaking gibberish. He didn't want his sister to be sent away at all.

Dakota was sobbing quietly until he finally spoke up after the twins cried for another 10 minutes. "No sent Cc away. Kota go too" Dakota said. He would go with his sister no matter what. It had always just been the two of them and he wouldn't be without his sister at all. "No one is sending anyone away. We love both of you" Daniel assured them coming to realise that Darcy thought she was being sent away. "Cc no go bad doggy?" Darcy whimpered out. Daniel wasn't sure what had happened and he wished the twins could communicate better but he had to guess what was happening. He assumed someone sent a bad dog away and the twins never saw the dog again. "Princess you are not bad. You made a mistake biting Hunty. Biting hurts people and we don't want to hurt people. You say sorry and then we cuddle and it's ok" Daniel tried to assure his daughter.

Darcy didn't understand at all. She was protecting red and Hunty tried to take it from her. She had to protect her red because she always had to protect Kota when he couldn't protect himself. "Hunty take red" she sobbed out. Finally, it clicked for Hunter, he had picked up her ball and went to take it off the chair next to Darcy so he could sit down but he hadn't told her what he was doing and she had assumed he was taking the ball from her. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry I didn't explain. I picked up red so I could sit down next to you. No one will take red from you" Hunter told his sister moving closer to her. "No take red?" Darcy whispered. Hunter nodded his head. "No take red" Hunter told his sister who started to sniff and rub her eyes with her hand. "I sowwy," Darcy said while trying to wipe her nose and eyes.

Hunter made his way over to Darcy and put his arms out for her. Darcy looked at Hunter not sure what to do. No one had ever said sorry to her and she didn't know what cuddle meant. She likes to hug though. "Can I have a cuddle sweetheart?" Hunter asked. "What tuddle?" Darcy asked. Hunter smiled and leaned down taking Darcy in his arms and hugging her to his chest. "Tuddle" Darcy called. Dakota stood up and put his arms up. He wanted a tuddle too. Hunter scooped Dakota up into his arms as well earning a deep sigh from Dakota. He didn't like the stress of having to protect his sister from so many people.