Three Musketeers

A/N: So this idea came to me….I don't even really know when…but I've missed writing so I needed to do something new! School's been a little less hectic for a change which is super duper nice. This is a one-shot based off of my previous story The Proposal, but if you didn't get a chance to read it, Mac and Stella are happily married and have a little baby girl named Zoe. Enjoy!!! :] Oh yeah, and Zoe's three for this one-shot.

I don't own anything, blah blah blah, you know the drill.

Danny and Lindsay were sitting on the couch watching a Gilmore Girls rerun, Lindsay with her head on Danny's lap.

"Remind me again why we're watchin this?" Danny asked while stroking Lindsay hair.

"Because you're the best boyfriend ever, and cause I haven't seen this episode."

"You've seen every one, and you own all the seasons. Don't lie Montana."

"Fine. You caught me, but it's almost over. Can we just please finish watching it?"

"Yea, yea, as long as I don' have to do it again."

"I promise," Lindsay smiled, sealing her words with a kiss. Just as their innocent kiss started to become a little more passionate, a doorbell rang.

"Really? They just had to be on time?" Danny sighed.

"When are they never?" Lindsay laughed.

Danny quickly got up and answered the door. Both he and Lindsay had agreed to watch Zoe for the afternoon to let Mac and Stella go shopping for her fourth birthday in a few weeks.

"Where's my favorite girl?" Danny asked with a smile when he opened the door.

"UNCLE DANNY!" Zoe laughed as she ran into Danny's arms. Every time she ran into his arms with that big smile, he melted just a little bit. She had her mom's curls and her dad's brown eyes along with a mix of both of their strong personalities. Lindsay walked up behind Danny to say hi to Stella and Mac and get the specifics for the afternoon.

"AUNT LINNY!" Zoe screamed running around Danny to give her aunt a big hug. It made Lindsay smile that Zoe couldn't correctly pronounce her name, but she secretly hoped that when Zoe could say 'Aunt Lindsay', she could still be her 'Aunt Linny'.

"Hey baby girl! We're going to have to have some fun today with Uncle Danny aren't we?"

"Yeah!" She squealed whilst getting a visit from the tickle monster.

"So I see you've already taken our daughter away from us," Mac smiled.

"Well, we all know who her favorite aunt and uncle are, don't we?"

"AUNT LINNY AND UNCLE DANNY!" Zoe yelled while still in Lindsay's grasp.

"That's right baby girl," Danny laughed.

"Well, we should be back in a few hours. Thanks again you two. You're lifesavers," Stella said giving Danny and Lindsay a hug. "Bye Zoe, love you."

"Wove you Mommy an' Daddy!" Zoe shrieked in a fit of giggles.

"Aight, we'll see you later," Danny said closing the door behind them. "So what do we have planned for today princess?"

"Umm..park, park, park!" Zoe said with a smile on her face.

"Then park it is!" Lindsay said. "Let me go get some stuff, we'll go to the park and then come back for some lunch at the apartment. Uncle Danny can cook us some spaghetti, and then we can hang out til Mommy and Daddy come home. How does that sound?"

"Goody!," Zoe said with her inside voice. "Can we pway on da swings?"

"Of course. And you wanna know a little secret?" Lindsay asked. Zoe nodded her head furiously as Lindsay leaned in to whisper something into her ear : "It's Uncle Danny's favorite part of the park too."

Zoe immediately got wide eyes and stared at her Danny with a big grin on her face.

"How bout we get movin here so that we can go to that park you two are snickerin about?" Danny asked with the apartment door wide open.

The Three Musketeers as they liked to call themselves headed to car with some bats, balls and other games in the back of the car. The name came about a few months before when Danny and Lindsay introduced Zoe to the wonders of chocolate. Mac and Stella had never officially told them that they couldn't give her a piece…or five. Danny and Lindsay weren't exactly the best examples of people who eat a balanced diet every day, but Zoe really enjoyed the delectable treat. Since then, they stuck with the name the Three Musketeers.

When they reached the park, Lindsay got Zoe out of her car seat, and Danny got a few things out of the trunk. "SWINGS!" Zoe yelled as she ran to the first set of empty swings in sight. There were about 3 in a row which worked out perfectly. Danny and Lindsay followed her to the swings making sure she didn't trip on anything or hit some innocent child in her beeline to the swings. Once they got there, Lindsay sat on the swing next to Zoe and started to move her legs back and forth to get a rhythm going. Zoe tried to mimic Lindsay's action, but when she got a bit frustrated, she yelled for the only free person around: Danny. "Uncle Danny, push!" "Yeah Uncle Danny, push!" Lindsay laughed as she was already a few feet above ground.

"Hold your horses you two, I'm comin." Danny started to push Zoe higher and higher in the air. "Zoe, if you go any higher, I think you're gonna reach the moon!" he laughed.

"To infinity and beyond!" She screamed, obviously having watched Toy Story one too many times.

"Come back to earth little girl!" Lindsay laughed as she saw Zoe in the air.

"I'm comin! I'm comin!" Zoe said as she gently came closer to the ground. "I'm tired," she sighed.

"Already? But the day just got started, and you were on da swings for like, what, two seconds?" Danny commented.

"I'm kinda tired an' hung'y. Can we have some pasgetti pwease?" Zoe asked with her big brown eyes.

"Yeah, aight, hop in the car and we'll head back to da apartment for lunch. Does that sound good baby girl?"

"Perfecto!" Zoe laughed.

Lindsay scooped Zoe up into her arms and they all got back to the car. Once it was made sure that Zoe was buckled in nicely and wouldn't be able to wiggle out of her seat, the Three Musketeers headed back to the apartment for some lunch. They pulled up into the driveway, got out of the car and as soon as Zoe was placed on the ground, she hit the ground running through the door.

"Slow down little girl, I thought you were tired!" Lindsay pointed out.

"But Uncle Dannys makin pasgetti. Zoe's neeevvver too tired to hewp him make pasgetti."

"So I actually have a little helper today, huh? Aunt Linny never helps me cook," Danny said, raising his eyebrows towards Lindsay.

"Well I'm sorry that I just can't cook…the only thing I can ever make is cereal and toast, and even that takes a lot of effort."

Lindsay took Zoe to wash her hands before she started cooking with Danny. A few months back, Danny had bought Zoe a little step stool to reach the counter top so that she could cook with Danny. So far, they had made lasagna, grilled cheese, and pizza together. Lindsay always loved seeing Zoe and Danny cook and spend time together because he treated her like his own daughter. They had little inside jokes, and he always knew how to make her smile. He even would occasionally play dress up with her if she really needed someone to play with and Lindsay wasn't there. Yup, she definitely knew he would be a great father.

Zoe climbed on the step stool taking her place on Danny's left side.

"Ready to make some spaghetti?" Danny asked.

"Yay Pasghetti!" Zoe yelled.

"Spaghetti, baby girl, can you say spaghetti?"

"Pas-ghe-tti," Zoe attempted to pronoun very slowly.

"Well, that's close enough," Danny said to himself. "Can you sprinkle in some of the salt and pepper into da sauce?" He passed the salt and pepper shakers to Zoe. She took hold of the salt shaker, stuck her tongue out in concentration, and gently shook some of the salt into the pot. She did the same with the pepper, and later on the different seasonings Danny handed her. They had a very good system going on: Zoe added the ingredients, and Danny mixed them all together while adding a bit more seasoning here and there when necessary.

What the pair of them didn't know was that Lindsay was standing in the room right next to them with a camera in hand. She made sure to turn the flash off, got as close as possible and captured their little Kodak moment. She pressed the playback button to see her result of her expert 'creeping' skills, and found a gorgeous picture to keep forever. To make sure she didn't get caught, she decided to just walk into the kitchen and make her presence known.

"Mmm! Smells good in here, baby girl!" Lindsay said coming up behind Zoe.

"TRY WIT!" Zoe responded, shoving a spoonful of hot spaghetti sauce into Lindsay's mouth.

"Mmm…delicious," Lindsay managed to get out whilst choking on the scalding hot sauce.

"I think we're jus about set to eat ladies," Danny called while moving the plates to the table. He served everybody on their respective plates. "Dora or Sesame Street, Zoe?"

"DOWA!" Zoe shrieked. The Three Musketeers sat down with their spaghetti and dug in. "Delicious, babe," Lindsay commented after trying a few bites.

"It was all because of my little helper, right Zoe?" "WHIGHT!" Danny ruffled her hair and gave her a quick kiss. They finished up their scrumptious lunch, and cleaned up the table. "Can I pick a movie pwease?" Zoe asked.

"Yeah, you know where they are. You've been here enough times little girl," Lindsay laughed. Zoe ran to the other room of the apartment, grabbed the Finding Nemo DVD, and came back to the kitchen. "Found one!" She yelled.

"Lemme guess, Finding Nemo?" Danny asked while putting away the last of the left overs.

"Hey! You gwessed it!" Zoe said.

"Well, we do watch the same one every time. You're favorite's never gonna change," Lindsay commented.

"Huwwey so we can stawt!" Zoe called. "We're comin, we're comin," Danny said while picking her up and taking her to the couch. Lindsay popped in the DVD and sat down next to Danny. Almost immediately, Zoe fell asleep on Danny's lap. He gently picked her up and placed her on the opposite couch so she had more room to spread out.

"Well, looks like we wore the little girl out," Lindsay laughed. "You have to admit, it was a pretty fun day."

"Yeah it was. I always like spending time with my niece. She's my partner in crime." Lindsay smacked Danny on the arm from that comment. "What? I'm jus sayin…" he laughed. Danny sat back down on the couch and Lindsay resumed her position from the beginning of the day with her head in his lap. They turned off the DVD and switched it to some random reality show that was on one of the channels. Just as they started to get comfortable, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Danny said while getting up to get the door. Mac and Stella were finally done with the birthday shopping and were ready to pick up Zoe from her fun afternoon.

"So how was she?" Mac asked.

"She was great. We went to the park and then came home for some lunch and a movie. She was a very good girl," Lindsay recalled. "How was the birthday shopping?"

"It was a success. We just picked out a few things that she said she wanted, but we made sure not to go overboard this time," Stella explained.

"Yeah, the last two birthdays wiped us clean," Mac laughed while picking up a sleeping Zoe and carrying her on his shoulder. "Well, thank you two again for watching her today. It definitely makes any kind of shopping a lot easier. So we'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yup, bright n early," Lindsay sighed.

"Bye you two. Can't thank you enough," Stella said giving both Danny and Lindsay a hug on the Taylor Family's way out. Danny closed the door behind him, and he went back to the couch. Before he was able to get hold of the remote, Lindsay grabbed it and switched to another Gilmore Girls rerun.

"Love you, babe," Lindsay laughed as she jumped on the couch.

"Yeah, yeah, love you too," Danny sighed wrapping his arm around her. It was going to be a long rest of the afternoon, but Danny wouldn't have traded his time as a part of the Three Musketeers for anything.

Sooo? What did yall think? It's a bit longer than usual which is really awesome, and I had fun writing it! I'm thinking of another one-shot that I want to do also, but I kind of want to start another story. Please click on the green and white button to tell me what you think about this one. It would make my super boring school days a million times better!!! Love Love Love Always ~messermonroe125 :]