"Good morning, all!" Dez greeted his family as he entered the kitchen on a sunny Friday morning.
"Morning daddy!" 3 year old little Macy greeted him, running up to hug his legs, her ginger curls bouncing.
"Hey dad." 17 year old Esmeralda greeted him, her eyes never leaving her book.
"Daddy, did you finish that video you said you would make for my presentation?" 9 year old Darcy asked him.
"Yes! I even had my team add in some super cool special effects!" Dez said, picking up Macy. "It's on a flash drive in my office."
"Awesome!" Darcy said excitedly. "I can't wait to rub it in Kaden's face! I bet his presentation doesn't have super cool special effects!"
Kaden was Austin and Ally's 9 year old son, who is in Darcy's class. The two have been competitive since birth, they born not even 24 hours apart; almost like they were competing about who could keep their mother in pain longer or who could give their father a mental break down first (they nearly tied on the latter).
"I don't know, Kaden's report might have a pretty cool soundtrack; but nothing tops cool effects! I mean, people don't see movies for the score, they see them for the awesome effects!" Dez said.
Austin and Dez did tend to play into their children's competitiveness a little bit. Not much, but enough to annoy their wives.
Trish rolled her eyes as Dez high fived their daughter over potentially having a better presentation than their own godchild.
Dez turned to look at her.
"And good morning to you too, gorgeous." he said after he placed Macy down, leaning down to kiss her sweetly on the lips.
"HAS ANYONE SEEN MY SCIENCE PROJECT?!" 14 year old Rory ran in, screaming at the top of his lungs, frantically searching throughout the kitchen for his project.
"Relax sweetie, it's on the back porch." Trish told him.
Rory ran outside to retrieve his solar system model.
"Whew!" he said, carrying the project back into the kitchen. "That was close. Olivia would've killed me if I had lost our project."
Olivia was Austin and Ally's 14 year old daughter who was in Rory's class. Rory and Olivia were best friends, but Olivia did have a tendency to boss Rory around, much like his Aunt and mother did (and still do) with his Uncle and father.
They heard a honk coming from outside.
"Essie, Derek's here." Dez said, making himself a plate for breakfast.
Derek was Austin and Ally's 17 year old son. Esmeralda is exactly a month older than Derek, but Derek got his license first; meaning he's the one that drives them to school every day.
"So daddy..." Esmeralda said. "Can I get my own car soon so I won't have to ride with Derek anymore?"
"Essie, I've told you a million times: you need to PASS the test and get your license before I can buy you your own car." Dez explained to his daughter for what felt like the hundredth time that week.
"But I KNOW how to drive! It's the instructor who keeps failing me! Talk to him about it!" Esmeralda complained.
"I'm not having this discussion right now." Dez said. "Now get going, you're gonna be late for school."
Esmeralda rolled her eyes and stomped out of the room.
"Have a good day at school sweetie!" Trish called after her.
"I'm not being too hard on her, right?" Dez asked Trish after they heard the front door slam shut, signifying Esmerelda's exit from the house.
"No, she needs to hear this." Trish said. "She needs to learn that her daddy's money can't fix all her problems. She needs to learn some actual skills."
"Says the girl who didn't get her license until she was 19." Dez replied, smirking.
"My birthday is months after the rest of yours!" Trish said, defending herself. "I couldn't even get my permit until you already had your license! And even then, I always had one of you guys to drive me around."
"Touché." Dez responded, a playful smirk on his face.
Trish smirked back; admiring the fact that he still had his adorably sexy bed head and how nice his chest and arms looked in his tight, cotton t-shirt that he slept in.
Shaking her head to pull her out of the trance her husband's attractiveness had caused, Trish turned her attention towards her children.
"Ok guys, finish up! Aunt Ally is gonna be here in a few minutes to take you guys to school." Trish told Rory and Darcy.
The foursome had a system: Ally would take the younger ones to school, Trish would pick them up, and Austin and Dez would switch off with the little ones.
"And you get to spend the morning with your Uncle Austin at the studio with Ryan! Doesn't that sound fun!" Trish said to Macy.
Ryan was Austin and Ally's youngest child, he was just a week younger than Macy.
"Yay!" Macy replied, jumping excitedly.
Dez chuckled as he imagined the look on Jimmy's face when he saw Austin brought not just one, but two 3 year olds with him to the studio.
Rory and Darcy brought their dishes up to the counter and placed them in the sink when they heard the front door open.
"Hey guys!" Ally said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Hi Aunt Ally!" Rory and Darcy greeted her happily.
"Are you guys ready to go?" Ally asked. "Kaden and Olivia are waiting in the car."
"Yep! Let's go!" Darcy said.
"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Rory waved as he went out to the car.
"Bye mommy! Bye daddy!" Darcy said, hugging both of her parents before running after her big brother.
Ally waved to Trish and Dez before following after the kids, shutting the front door behind her.
Trish cleaned up the mess from breakfast while Dez got Macy dressed.
"Why don't you look pretty!" Trish said as Macy ran into the kitchen, wearing a polka dotted dress with cheetah print rain boots and her leather jacket Austin had bought her for Christmas.
"I picked this outfit out all by myself!" Macy said proudly.
"I can see that!" Trish laughed.
Trish heard the front door open and a faint "what up" coming form the foyer, meaning Austin had arrived.
"UNCLE AUSTIN!" Macy screamed excitedly, running to the front door.
"There's my little ginger snap!" Austin said, picking Macy up and spinning her around.
"Are you ready for a super fun day with your favorite uncle?!" Austin asked after he had placed her back on the ground.
"Yes!" Macy yelled happily.
"Yeah you are! Well, let's get going!" Austin said, taking Ryan from Dez before Dez picked up Macy.
"Bye mommy!" Macy waved to Trish.
"Bye sweetie!" Trish waved back.
She stood in the doorway, an amused smile on her face as she watched Austin and Dez buckle the two toddlers into their car seats in the backseat of Austin's Ferrari.
Austin waved to her before her pulled out of the driveway and drove off.
Trish and Dez went back inside their now quiet house.
Trish started to make her way upstairs until she felt a hand grasp her wrist.
"So..." she heard Dez say. "The kids are all gone. I know you don't have any clients to meet with until this afternoon, and I don't have to be on set until noon; I just have no idea what the two of us are gonna do with all this alone time."
Trish smirked, wrapping her arms around her husband's neck.
"I'm sure we can find some way to entertain ourselves." Trish whispered against his lips, before she closed the distance between them and kissed him.
Just as their kiss began to heat up, the doorbell rang.
Dez groaned as Trish broke from the kiss and went to answer the door.
"Mrs. Wade?" a man who appeared to be in his mid twenties said.
"Yes, that's me! Please come in." Trish said, letting the mysterious stranger into the house. "It's just upstairs; it's the shower. I don't know what's wrong with it, but something isn't right."
"I'll take a look at it and see what I can." the man said.
Dez was coming to realize what was going on here. And he was not happy about it.
"Trish, can I talk to you for a second?" Dez asked his wife.
Trish walked down the stairs nervously, knowing this was how he was going to react.
"You called a plumber? Really?" Dez said. "I fixed that shower weeks ago!"
"Dez, honey, I love you; and you are the most talented and creative person I've ever met." Trish said."But..."
"But what?!" Dez said.
Trish was quiet for a few moments.
"You aren't a plumber." Trish said quietly. "Which means... You aren't very good at fixing things..."
Dez gasped loudly.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Dez said.
"... That you're not good at fixing things...?" Trish said.
"YOU ARE!" Dez said.
"Dez, honey, it's ok! You don't have to be good at fixing things! That's why we have plumbers!" Trish said.
Dez put his head down shyly.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Trish asked.
Dez let out a soft sigh.
"It's just... Well... I don't know... Being able to fix things makes me feel more masculine, thinking I can fix stuff around the house." Dez said softly.
"What? Dez that's crazy." Trish said. "Handywork doesn't define your masculinity."
"I know it is! It's so dumb. It just... I feel like I don't do enough to take care of you." he said.
"That's insane. You do so much for our family." Trish said. "And you don't have to do it alone. We're a team, remember? We take care of each other."
"Yeah I know." Dez said, softly smiling at her.
"And..." Trish said. "The most manly thing a man can do is be open about his emotions. There is nothing more masculine than a man who loves his family and would do anything to take care of them."
"I love you." Dez said, leaning his forehead against Trish's.
"I love you, too." Trish said, placing a soft kiss on Dez's lips.
"You know..." Trish whispered. "There is a shower up in our bathroom that doesn't need to be fixed..."
"Stop, right there." Dez said. "Yes, just yes."
Trish giggled as she took her husband's hands and pulled him up the stairs.
reviews make me happy :)