this is my kingdom come

Zachary Vanderbilt, twenty-seven, father and husband. Ex-marine, sergeant of the 1st recon battalion. "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

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"I guess so," she shrugged, looking between her parents, "not as happy as you two though." And sure, Kit knew he and Zach both looked slightly manic with happiness, but he wasn’t sure why his daughter didn’t seem excited.

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Zach reached out for Ari's hands and pulled her up and into his lap, his arms wrapping around her. "Sweetheart, it's completely okay to not be excited about this. You've been an only child for five years and now someone else is going to join you, and it's okay if you feel weird about that. It's totally natural."

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"You said next time we went to Disney that Aunt Issy would come too and she’s not here so we can’t be," she announced, so completely sure she was right that Kit had to laugh again.

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"Maybe she's coming or maybe we decided that we had to celebrate this joyous occasion with a trip," Zach chuckled, reaching out to poke Ari in her side. "Come on, sweetheart. Aren't you a little happy?"

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"I know you’re trying to trick me,"  the little girl popped her head out from under the blankets with an expression so similar to one of Kit’s that even he recognised it himself. 

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Zach feigned an offended look as he stared at his daughter. "Ariel Vanderbilt, I would never try to trick you. I'm almost hurt you think I would," he spoke, shaking his head in disbelief as he couldn't believe his five year old daughter acted at least ten years older than she was.

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"Ariel, at least pretend to be excited,” he laughed, poking the mound she made under the blankets. She gave a half-hearted cheering noise but didn’t move at all.

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"That's a terrible shame, Kit. I suppose we're gonna have to go to Disney World alone this weekend." Zach looked over at Kit with a grin, only glancing over at Ari to see if that gave any reaction whatsoever.

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"You’re going to have a little brother or sister," he told her, beaming, mostly because he was too excited to skirt around the truth, and he tried to sort out her ruffled hair slightly absentmindedly, "or maybe both.” 

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Ari blinked a couple of times before falling back down against the bed, eyes closing. "Did you wake me up to tell me that?"

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"If you get up now, you get to choose what we have for dinner," he nodded encouragingly, "and I won’t tickle you to death." With a mischievous look in his eye he tickled her gently, knowing it was a surefire way to get her up. 

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Letting out a giggle, Ari sat up, hair all ruffled, as she looked between Zach and Kit. "What's going on, daddy? Papa?" She brought her hands up to rub at her eyes, Zach barely able to contain his excitement as he sat down at the foot of the bed. "I've already said it once, why don't you tell her, papa?"

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He chuckled at her, clambering into the tiny single bed next to her and burying his nose in her hair. “Daddy’s got something exciting to tell you,” he explained, sharing an excited smile with his husband.

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Ari grabbed her blanket and pulled it over her head, refusing to get up. "If it's not Disney World, I'm not interested." Zach let out an amused laugh as he walked over to the bed, reaching out to pull the blanket off of her. "Come on, let's get up."

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Kit rolled his eyes fondly, opening the door and padding in with socked feet. “Sweetheart?” He called gently, crossing to the girl’s bed, and then, “Ari?”

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Zach carefully followed Kit into the girl's room, but remained close to the door as he let Kit take care of waking her up. The little girl turned over on her side, facing away from Kit and mumbling a 'no'.

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

Let’s go wake her up. 

[zach-vanderbilt-blog]

I'm sending you in first, our daughter can be scary when she's woken up.

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

Wait- Zach, you know how happy you make me, right? You, Ari, all of this… it’s so much more than I ever could have asked for.

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I know, baby. We're only adding to our happiness -- twice.

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Can we go and wake her up?

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She'll be cranky but I think it's worth it. Come on, let's do it.

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

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Do you think Ari is going to be happy?

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Only if you agree to still love me when it’s three in the morning and I have sick on my face and we haven’t slept for two days straight. 

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That's when I'll love you the most. Come here, baby.

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

I love you so much.

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I love you more. Are you ready for two hours of sleep every night, changing lots of diapers and cleaning up vomit?

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We’re having twins? 

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Twins, isn't that insane? I don't know how we're gonna deal with three children but I've never been happier.

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

I thought you were leaving, I-… we’re having another baby? Zach. 

[zach-vanderbilt-blog]

You think I'd leave when I've just gotten my Purple Heart? We're not having a baby. We're having two, surprise!

[kit-vanderbilt-blog]

Zachary Vanderbilt,  I am going to kill you. 

[zach-vanderbilt-blog]

Is that any way to talk to the father of your children?