Ice rattled against glass as lively music played in the background of the Last Note Lounge. For the first time in a very long time, the Note was closed for the evening, much to the chagrin of its regular clientele in favor of a small, special event that had been on the books for some time.

For well over a decade, actually.

There was chatter and cheerful conversation throughout the space that made up the bar of the Lounge. Most of the rest of the Lounge was roped off but it left enough space for the little party that had been going since the early afternoon, and in the middle of the cleared space near the bar were the ladies of the hour.

I was off near one of the edges of the bar, although it looked a little different since the extension had been added some decade and a half ago, I still preferred to sit in that spot. That was the place where I’d met her, so I couldn't bring myself to sit anywhere else if I had my choice in the matter.

The four girls were dancing raucously in the middle to a song that had a quick, upbeat swing to it that reminded me a little of the Strokes.

Glancing to the side, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I watched Sonata swing her hips and wiggle her shoulders to the tune as she mixed drinks.

She was keeping the alcohol content low for the night, but it was their special night after all. All six of us sisters had agreed on it with a little insistence from our daughters.

Sisters.

My smile grew a little wider as I looked around over my ‘family’.

Sonata was behind the bar dancing to the tune as she slid drink after drink along the bar where they were swept up by their owners. Adagio was reclining against the far end of the bar, her generous figure still full and stunning despite being better than forty while her wife, Octavia, had settled herself comfortably in the crook of Adagio’s arm, and whose hair had taken on mature streaks of lovely silver that she never bothered to dye.

Aria, meanwhile, was in the middle of the girls showing them that, youth or not, nobody but nobody out-danced the middle sister of the Sirens, and Sunset danced alongside her with the pair occasionally venturing into risqué territory which got a chorus of ‘eww’s and ‘mo~m!’s from Serenata and Cantata.

The other two girls were giving a round of raucously encouraging hoots and hollers.

“Dulcetta, Allegretta, don’t encourage those two,” I shouted over the music with a wry smirk, drawing a unified pair of rolled eyes from the two girls.

My daughters.

“Aw, let’em have their fun,” Sonata chided with a nudge of her elbow against my shoulder as she leaned in next to me and passed me a gin and tonic. “Sunny and Ari’ can’t be stopped anyway, babe.”

“Ugh, I know,” I rolled my eyes and leaned back towards my wife to kiss her softly. “Almost twenty years and those two have barely slowed down.”

And in twenty years, Sonata had grown no less lovely. She was still slender with a gentle curve to her that gave her an attractive lilt to her body. Her eyes were still sharp and almost free of crows-feet, but despite being physically the same age as her sister, regardless of who was ‘younger’, thanks to the portal, Sonata wore her years with more grace than anyone else in the room.

There were signs, though.

Her hands were still as sure and swift as ever, but there were lines to them that showed the wear and tear of constant work that hadn’t been there ten years ago. Her hair wasn’t grey but it was growing lighter with every few years.

I also happened to know that her eyesight was going. She wore glasses in bed when she was reading now, which was a relatively recent development, even if she stuck with contacts when she was working.

“They set less stuff on fire now,” Sonata said cheerfully.

“They caught the stove on fire last week,” I countered bluntly.

“Psshhaw,” Sonata waved off my point. “That’s only because they were making stew and then got distracted-”

“-by having sex on the floor, yes, I remember,” I chuckled as I rubbed at my face.

That was an image I could have seriously lived without having burned into my retina. As I pushed the thought away, I looked down at my reflection in the polished and frowned.

My eyes had never been good, and my prescription for my glasses had only gotten stronger over the years. I had obvious lines around my eyes from squinting too hard at computer screens all day, and although I’d kept myself in better shape over the years than I’d ever put effort into in my teenage years, the effort was having diminishing returns.

Sunset and Aria were both as athletic, energetic, and svelte as ever, although how they kept that energy after raising a hellion like Cantata I would never understand. I loved my niece to pieces but she was the most adorable package of trouble I’d ever met… well, aside from…

I had barely glanced over at the twins when Sonata swatted me lightly on the ear.

“What?!” I grumbled, rubbing at my ear with one hand while taking a drink with the other. “I’m just worried about our girls taking after the wrong Siren.”

“Sunset is loads worse than Aria and you know it,” Sonata said with a wry lift of her eyebrow. “And our girls don’t need a role model for that stuff.”

I sighed and laughed a little. “I know… I keep wondering if we did something wrong.”

“Nope,” Sonata said simply as she picked up a glass and started polishing it.

“Nope?” I echoed with a raised eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“Look at them,” Sonata gestured out, and I turned to look at the girls that had become my world.

Dulcetta and Allegretta, twin girls that we’d adopted a year after we’d gotten married. They’d been babies at the time, and their story was… a little tragic.

Their mother had been one of the dancers at the Lounge, Foxtrot, a wonderful young woman, and when she’d gotten pregnant she’d been thrilled.

But…

There had been complications during the delivery and she hadn’t made it through the birth. It was a dark day for the whole family that made up the Lounge, for employees and owners alike.

In an industry like this, I learned, it was hard not to form close ties with one another because the people of the world looked down on us and anyone associated with us. Nevermind that plenty of those same people happily paid for what the Lounge provided, that little touch of hypocrisy never seemed to bother them, though.

Even my family still had their small prejudices, despite all the years I'd been working here.

In the end, it had been a difficult choice: either we let the twin girls be given up for adoption since the father wasn’t in the picture, or… or we adopted them ourselves.

Sunset and Aria had only had Cantata a month and a half past and couldn’t spare the kind of energy for two more children, and Adagio and Octavia were in a similar boat with Serenata, especially since they handled the lion’s share of the Lounge’s management, and we all agreed no child ought to be raised by a nanny.

So, in an act that shocked even me, I was the one who had put my foot down and said that I wanted to take them in. Sonata had been paralysed by anxiety and fear… the fear that she would inflict some part of her Siren parentage on them through osmosis, even though it was irrational, so I had made the decision.

The best decision of my life.

Despite not being biologically ours, you wouldn’t be able to tell by watching how they acted. Their demeanor, and the fact that their mother had been one of the star dancers in the lounge, made the girls into the Last Note's unofficial mascots.

It had to be both of them too since Dulcetta and Allegretta were identical twins.

And I loved them with all my heart.

My beautiful, binary stars.

Their hair was a fair shade of gleaming blue that faded to pink near the tips, and their complexion favored their mother’s; a kind of soft turquoise that actually led people to believe that they were our blood daughters because of how similar they looked to Sonata.

The eyes were the most telling though.

Two pairs of razor sharp emeralds that were never without a glint of mischief.

Of the pair, Dulcetta was the calm one, at least as far as those two went, and was the most like me. She was learning to program almost as fast as I had and had a serious knack for lateral computing that left me suspicious as to what she actually did with that skill.

Allegretta, on the other hand? She was the wild child.

She’d been in trouble more than I cared to recall, gotten more detentions than her sister, Cantata, and Serenata combined, and even been caught shoplifting once which had me wondering how often she hadn’t been caught. Far too often I had no idea how to talk to her, even after sixteen years she was still an enigma.

And I loved her so much.

God, I really should talk to my mom more. I have a few choice apologies to make.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?” I asked finally as I watched the four girls dance along with their more active aunts-stroke-moms.

Sonata sighed, and silently gestured with the polished glass again.

“They’re dancing?” I ventured, and Sonata shook her head. “They’re laughing?” She gave a small nod, I was getting warmer. “They’re… happy?”

“Yahtzee,” Sonata said with a smile.

“And?” I turned to face her and took another drink.

“Twi’... I… I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect parent,” Sonata said quietly, setting the glass down as she did and setting the cloth she’d been using off to the side. “Even my moms weren’t perfect, and they died for us…”

“But-!”

“We can’t do everything for them,” Sonata said softly, reaching out and taking my hand. “But we can make sure they’re happy, Twi’... maybe that’s all a good parent can ever really do.”

“But I want to do better,” I said quietly, leaning my head against Sonata’s shoulder as I glanced back at the four cousins and sighed. “I’m sorry… it’s their Sweet Sixteen, I can’t be getting all maudlin like this.”

Technically, it had been their sixteenth birthday several weeks ago, but it was something of a tradition to have one big birthday bash for all four of the girls, rather than a random scattering of chaotic parties throughout the year. All of the girls were within a year of one another anyway, and thanks to that they had grown up together more like sisters than cousins.

“I don’t think they’re going to get mad over their mom getting all weepy about loving them too much,” Sonata said, running her hand over my cheek.

I leaned into her touch. It still brought me peace and calm after all these years, and a part of me was absurdly thankful for that. One of my greatest, and admittedly most irrational, fears was that one day I would fall out of love with Sonata. I was afraid one day I’d wake up, look at her, and not feel that little bubble of love swell up in my heart.

That fear has faded over the years and, after nineteen years of being together, I feel relatively certain that we’ll be together to the end.

“Woo!” Sunset swung in beside the two us and slumped over onto the bar and thrust her fist into the air above her. “I… am exhausted!”

“Not as young as you used to be, huh?” I said a little smugly as I took up my gin and tonic and took another sip. “Wanna grab her some water, ‘Nata?”

“Order up,” Sonata said cheekily, sliding a tall glass of ice-water to Sunset who swept it up and downed it as she stood, turned, and took a seat at the bar.

Aria was still dancing with the girls.

“Friggin’ Sirens,” Sunset said with a touch of playful annoyance. “It’s not fair that she’s able to recharge in a feedback loop like that.”

“Perks of being a pathovore, I guess,” I shot back, clinking my glass against hers.

“Yeah…” Sunset looked a little uneasy for a moment before taking another, smaller sip of her now half-empty glass.

“You okay, Sunny?” Sonata asked, turning, leaning her back against the bar and giving Sunset a concerned look.

“”It’s Cantata, isn’t it?” I said quietly, and Sunset froze.

Sonata raised an eyebrow and I glanced over at her in surprise.

“You haven’t noticed?” I said in surprise, and Sonata frowned.

“You know I don’t…” Sonata replied quietly.

I reached out and took her hand, gripping it tightly as Sunset gave us a look. I just shook my head at her. It wasn’t something Sonata wanted to bring up, not with Sunset or any of her other sisters. I was the only who knew that Sonata could, if she wanted to, still preserve herself.

Eternally.

Sonata rarely ever used her inborn powers anymore, even though it left her a little frail and a bit hungry all the time, and she’d once likened it to walking around all the time with one eye closed and your nose pinched shut. All she had to do was feed like she used to in order to get it back, though. A little extra energy here and there would be enough to counteract the effects of aging and natural atrophy, even just balancing the scales would mean she would live forever.

And outlive everyone she loved.

So she never would.

“S-So, what’s going on with Canta?” Sonata asked, glancing back at Sunset and me. “Is she okay?”

“She’s… yeah, I guess,” Sunset said carefully, but I rolled my eyes and gave Sunset a light shove. “Ugh… okay, so… she’s started to feed.”

Sonata’s eyes widened. “You… you mean like-?”

“Yeah,” Sunset nodded and turned to lean heavily against the countertop. “Aria has been trying to teach her how to rein it in but… Written’s Quill, Twi’, according to Aria the feeding process is like a narcotic.”

“It is,” Sonata confirmed in a low voice. “It’s part of our biology, we have to feed to survive, and… and so it’s addictive, maybe in the same way eating is addictive to humans, I guess.” Sonata shuffled a little uncomfortably. “It’s about the right time… human puberty is in full roll…”

“And she could really hurt someone,” Sunset said in a brittle voice. “She… she could hurt one of her sisters!”

“Not Serenata,” I replied, and that got a look from both Sunset and Sonata, and I bit my lip for a moment before making my decision. “Sera’s been feeding for better than a year now… Octavia told me.”

Her sister-in-law would have to forgive her that indiscretion.

“What?!” Sonata looked shocked, Sunset too for that matter, and I grimaced.

“I’m sorry… I should’ve told you, but it wasn't my place,” I glanced over at Adagio and Octavia who were now distracting each other with small kisses. “Tavi didn’t want me to talk about it… but Sera’s been keeping Canta in check somehow.”

“It’s because she’s stronger,” Sonata interjected. “Stronger Sirens can suppress the feeding instinct in weaker ones, it’s… it’s like a show of dominance.”

Sunset’s eyes widened at that.

“Is… is Sera-”

“She’s not hurting Canta,” I said firmly, reaching out and putting a hand on Sunset’s arm. “You know that, Sunny… Sera adores Cantata, she’s always been there for her.”

“I know,” Sunset replied in a small voice. “But I have no idea what to do… she’s my baby girl, Twi’!” Sunset wiped at her eyes as she spoke and leaned against my shoulder. “I feel like I’m losing her… like I’m losing touch.”

“I know what you mean,” I said a little weakly. “I think that might just be a parent thing… they’re growing up, Sunset, and we can’t stop that.”

“They won’t need us forever,” Sonata said with a small smile, drawing a look from the both of us. “It’s true… they won’t, because they have each other, see?”

Sonata gestured to the circle of dancing girls.

Cantata was the gorgeous, svelte, and impish beauty who was growing into every inch of her Siren mother’s beauty, with a tumbling evening-horizon of hair framing her perfect face. She was still wearing her jacket, the one she wore every day, actually, and I recognised it easily.

It was her mom’s. Sunset’s old leather jacket that Rarity had given her as a graduation gift, and one that the fashionista always made time to keep in good repair no matter how famous she got.

Canta's arm was linked with Adagio and Octavia’s daughter. Serenata was built like her Siren mother as well, and it made me wonder if Siren genes were just naturally more dominant. It might explain how they’d managed to inherit their mother’s pathovoric nature despite being ostensibly human.

But God, Serenata was going to be imposing when she got older; tall and standing nearly six feet already, and she probably a few more inches left in her before she stopped, with a waterfall of ink much like Octavia’s, although as she’d gotten older a few streaks of gold appeared. She was as belligerent and headstrong as ever, but always for the good of her ‘sisters’. She was both the bulldozer and the stubborn wall that stood between Cantata, Dulcetta, Allegretta, and whatever the world tried to throw at them.

Octavia would never admit it out loud, but Serenata had definitely inherited both temper and sense of responsibility from her.

Dulcetta and Allegretta were a matched pair, but they always were, and they moved like one too. I’d once seen them perform a dance routine together and I was left a little in awe at their synchronicity. Between the ‘twin thing’ as they always called it, and being effectively jointly raised by three Sirens and their wives, they all had some musical talent and a good sense of rhythm.

Sonata was right: they had each other. I wanted so badly to keep them safe, but I knew there was only so much I could do and, in the end, all I could really do was trust that they would be able to look after and take care of each other.

The way they had for years.

I smirked at the same time Sunset did as Aria tapped out and moved out from between the seemingly boundlessly energetic square of girls.

“Whew… okay, not as young as I used t’be,” Aria groaned as she slid up next to Sunset and wrapped an arm around her. “Damn… never thought I’d say that.”

“The plight of the ex-immortal,” I noted with a salute of my glass.

“Is this a private party or can anyone join?” Adagio moved up beside us with Octavia on her arm. “It seems like you could use a little class around here.”

“Sure could, if you see any let me know,” Sunset remarked, and Adagio raised an eyebrow as Octavia crowed with laughter.

“My bar is always classy, thank you,” Sonata said with mock offense. “So, what’ll it be, ladies?”

We glanced around one another, silence filling the moment before their my family’s eyes landed on me, and I sighed.

“Might as well put that expensive gin bar to use,” I said with a smirk. “Gin and tonics, all around.”

“At least ‘Nata’s don’t taste like Pine Sol,” Aria quipped as she leaned in and kissed her wife.

“Hey, mom!” I turned at the sound of my daughter’s voice to find Dulcetta stepping out of the circle of girls with Allegretta right on her heels, per usual.

I slipped out from the confines of my sisters to scoop both of my girls up in a hug.

“Happy birthday, my stars,” I said happily, and that got a pair of dramatic groans. I laughed softly, though, and hugged them all the tighter. “No grumbling, I’m your mom, and you’re both growing up too fast, I’m allowed to call you that forever.”

“C’mon, ma,” Allegretta said quietly, and to my surprise she hugged me tighter. “We’re not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“But you will one day,” I said gently as I pulled back, still holding them close. “It’s just how life goes.”

“But we’ll always be here for you two,” Sonata said lovingly as she came up behind us and put her arms around me and the girls. “No matter what, no matter where you go, no matter how far away, your mommas will always be here for their stars.”

Dulcetta sniffled slightly as she wiped at her bright green eyes, and hugged Sonata. “Aw… m-mom, c’mon!”

I looked up just in time to see Adagio and Octavia joining us with Serenata in tow, and a moment later Aria and Sunset were beside us as well with their arms over Cantata, and I felt my heart clench hard in my chest as the full weight of how much I loved everyone in this room struck me like a hammer to the side of a temple bell.

Serenata was tall and strong, like a tree planted in good, dark earth that was growing fast and healthy. She was the core of the group, the steady hand, even if she was temperamental at times. Cantata was playful, smiling, and fey; if Serenata was a tree, then Cantata was the sun that fed her, disarming her temper and keeping her in good humor. The twins were stars in the sky, the light in the dark for all of them, always quick of wit and smart-mouthed, and getting the little group out of trouble as often as they got them into it.

“You’re all so beautiful,” I said with a broad smile. “You’re getting older and you’re growing up, but… never forget that we’re here for you, okay? Always. No matter how many birthdays pass.” I leaned against Sonata, my chest feeling fit to burst as tears trickled slowly down my cheeks. “Right, babe?”

“Always,” Sonata said softly as she passed out drinks to everyone present, even pressing two glasses into the hands of our daughters.

“By blood or bond, true family can never truly be apart,” Adagio said in an uncharacteristically somber tone, holding her glass high. “And we will always be family.”

“Now and forever,” Octavia agreed as she raised her glass as well.

Sunset and Aria glanced at one another and nodded, linking hands and grasping tight as they held onto their daughter who looked up at them and nodded, then all three lifted their glasses.

“Til the tides fall silent,” the three said in unison.

“Happy birthday, to each of you,” I said with a smile, raising my glass alongside my wife and daughters’.

“And many happy returns,” Sonata added.

The bright sound of glass clinking merrily against glass rattled lightly throughout the Last Note.

It’s funny, in a way. I’d always been terrified that I would never find anyone, that I would always be the one left alone… that I would always be the one left behind. Now here I am with a new fear… that I won’t be left alone, but that I’ll be leaving my daughters alone when they need me the most.

Maybe that’s just what it means to be a parent, though. Maybe there isn’t a good way to do this thing… I think Sonata was right. The best we can do is just make sure they’re happy. If our daughters are happy then we must be doing something right and, sometimes, that’s all you can really do.

I took a drink and smiled as I looked down at my two wonderful daughters. Blood or no, they were our children, mine and Sonata’s.

“Happy birthday, girls,” I said happily.

Our beautiful binary stars.

Author's Note

We Have Come To Terms