“That’s right,” Dom says quietly, kissing his son on the forehead. “That’s Mustelidae and Ursidae.”

Otter pushes past the Kid and helps Megan to her feet. She smiles gratefully at him. “It’s only going to get better from here,” she says. “Ankles swollen, stretch marks, the whole nine yards. You guys are gonna love it.”

“We’ll talk in a little bit,” Otter says. “And I apologize for Tyson’s rudeness. He knows better than that.”

“It’s okay,” Megan says, patting Otter’s arm. “It’s a lot, I know. Twins will do that to anyone. I mean, look how you guys reacted.”

“Twins?” the Kid says, voice high-pitched.

“Oops,” Megan says. “That was my bad.”

“I need a pen and paper,” Izzie says, staring at Megan. “I have to start taking research notes. I mean, I already have a vague idea how I’m going to argue my thesis, but it’s best if I start preparing now.”

“You can use my tablet,” Otter tells her. “It should be in the kitchen next to the pile of mail.”

She gapes at him. “You have a tablet? I’ve never gotten to use one before. We couldn’t afford—” She blanches and averts her eyes. “I’ve just never gotten to use one before.”

“You can use it all you want,” Otter reassures her. “Ask Creed for the password. It’s already set up on the Wi-Fi too. Just don’t be looking up anything you shouldn’t.”

She rolls her eyes, looking so much like the Kid that my heart breaks a little. “Please. I have better things to do than to look up pornography.”

I choke a little at that.

Megan holds out her hand toward Izzie, but for a moment, the Kid looks like he’s not going to let her go. Then Dom clears his throat pointedly, and Ty grumbles a little under his breath but drops Izzie’s hand.

“We could look up some baby stuff,” Megan tells her as she pulls her toward the kitchen.

“Oh my god,” I hear Izzie say. “You are such a girl.”

“You’re going to listen to them, okay?” Dom tells Ty. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Tyson ignores him, choosing instead to scowl at his feet.

“Tyson,” Dom says sharply.

He sighs and looks up. “Yeah, I hear you.”

Dom nods. “I expect you to be calm and levelheaded about this, you get me? This isn’t about you, so don’t try and make it that way.”

The Kid nods tightly.

Dom lingers for a moment longer before heading toward the kitchen, where conversation has resumed. They were speaking loudly, like they were trying to give us as much privacy as possible. I appreciated it, but it wasn’t nearly enough.