Authors Note- Okay, here we go. The new (and hopefully improved) version of this story. Hopefully you guys like the changes that have been made to it. I changed it to a reality AU and tried to stay as close as possible to the original, but a few of you might notice things that have been changed or removed all together. For those of you reading it for the first time, welcome! Anyway, enjoy, and sorry for being MIA.
"Luke! Stop that, please! Taylor, honey, let go of daddy. Travis! Where is Wyatt?" Felix asked desperately as he tried to regain some sort of control over his rambunctious children in vain. He honestly didn't know how things had gotten to this point. One minute they were all fine and getting along well, and the next... absolute chaos. And this of course was the situation his wife walked into after returning from work. Finding her middle son, Luke, running around like a wild child in only a pair of shorts and a paintball gun in hand. Taylor, their only daughter, clinging to her father's head, the girl covered in different colors of glitter. Their youngest child, little Wyatt, was sitting happily on the floor eating pie, although more of the dessert made it on and around him, rather in actually in his mouth. All the while, among the mass of paint, glitter and pie that adorned the other four and her kitchen alike, her eldest, Travis, was sitting quietly at the top of the stairs reading, untouched and seemingly unfazed by the mess just below him. And standing in the middle of it all, looking pitifully defeated and apologetic, was her husband. Covered in paint and glitter, he attempted a smile, as he tried to simultaneously keep Taylor from falling from his shoulders as well as get her off of them, and grab Luke as the boy ran past him several times.
"Oh, uh, Hi honey. I didn't expect you home so earl-" Felix cut himself off of his sentence, wincing as yet another ball of paint splattered across his back. It was starting to hurt, but for the life of him, he couldn't get a hold of the little trouble maker that was responsible for it. At least, not with Taylor on his head.
"Clearly." Tamora replied nonchalantly before two fingers went to her mouth and a long and loud whistle pierced through the air, catching the attention of all her children, maybe even the whole neighborhood. "Alright listen up, cadets! You have precisely two seconds to fall in line! One..." Tamora had barely started her count down before all four, even young Wyatt was in a line in front of her.
"Luke, what exactly went through that head of yours to think it would be a good idea to run around like some rogue wild child?" The one in question, shrieked at her words, silver-blue eyes retreating to the floor. The young boy was eight, and was one of the smartest boys she knew. Yet he chose, as Felix like to put it, to use his powers for evil rather than good. Pulling jokes on anyone he saw fit. The unfortunate target was usually their neighbor, and self-appointed community leader, Gene Biggs.
"Sorry, Mom." The boy bowed his head fully, not quite brave enough to look his mother in the eye and witness whatever look she was leveling him with.
"Oh you will be. Grounded for two weeks for shooting your dad, shooting in the house, and making a mess of my kitchen, understood?" Luke held in a groan, nodding his head with a dejected, yes ma'am, knowing better than to argue with his mother's orders.
Content with her middle son's answer, she moved to the oldest. Travis stared blankly ahead, focusing only on his mother's face when she came into his view,
"Travis, why didn't you help out your dad?" The boy in turn only shrugged, a quiet, I don't know, mumbled in reply. Her oldest was ten and shy, having the tiniest bit of a stutter when he got nervous and thus hardly spoke unless spoken to. He loved to read and keep to himself mostly, and like always, Tamora felt herself soften towards him at his quiet reply, letting him off the hook. It was a bad habit, she knew, and one that her other children (mainly Luke) complained about to an extent, and yet, were completely understanding about.
Next was Taylor. Sweet, little, competitive Taylor. Tamora was honestly surprised to find the girl covered in glitter and not dirt, or paint like her brother. Her little girl was five years old and thankfully just like her mom, a total tomboy and usually trying to out do her brothers in everything. It didn't matter what it was: sports, games, school, or even just getting dirty.
"And what were you doing young lady?" Tamora asked, more in amusement then anything else. The young girl only smiled at her mother.
"Daddy didn't want to go outside, so I made him pretty." She replied, a somewhat dramatic tone in her voice. Tamora had to hold back a snort, wondering if her daughter meant it as an actual alternative, or a way to punish her dad for not taking her outside. Seeing the adorably serious look in her eyes though, Tamora kept her face straight and nodded her head in agreement.
"Good work, soldier, he looks beautiful and sparkly. But you gotta help me clean this up alright? And no more glitter without help." The little girl pouted at this, her big blue eyes going a bit wide, but otherwise just nodded her head.
Finally Tamora leaned down and scooped up her youngest, uncaring of the sticky pie coating the toddler. The boy was two years old and much like Travis, even though they all knew he could, Wyatt didn't speak much. Not because of shyness like his eldest brother, Wyatt was not shy at all about making his feelings known to his mother and father, he seems to just like to watch people. At his last check up, the pediatrician said simply that it was nothing the parents or family alike was doing wrong or was lacking on, he just preferred to watch rather than speak.
"What are you doing eating pie before diner little man? Did your daddy give that to you?" The tyke squealed in delight as his mother tickled him.
"Pie!" And that was sometimes the extent of what he said. Simple one or two word answers to whatever was being said to him. Each word clear and correctly pronounced, but simple. Tamora smiled at her son before turned to her older children.
"Alright, I want this place cleaned up in twenty minutes. Is that clear soldiers?"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" All of her kids replied in unison, breaking their formation to go about cleaning up the kitchen. Tamora then turned to her husband, smirking slightly at him.
"Kids given you a hard time Fix-it?"
"Yes ma'am. Travis was so easy as a baby. Luke on the other hand... Gene came to me the other day with a comb glued to his mustache, patches of hair missing, and all his clothes pink." He said looking wryly at his middle son. Tamora did her best not to laugh, but a chuckle still found it's way out as she gave Felix a kiss on the forehead.
"You poor daddy, and you have glitter in your hair." She laughed. Felix only gave a sheepish smile and looked at the ground.
"Why don't you go clean up and I'll take care of them, hmm?" She said putting a hand on his shoulder. Felix then looked up from the ground and gave a small smile. He didn't have to be told twice.
By the time he was done, the dinner mess and all the paint, glitter, and other coloring things had been cleaned up, as well as their youngest son. Sent all the kids to bed and was sitting on the couch reading. Felix had to admit when it came to their kids, Tamora was definitely the reinforcer. His kids had and undying respect for their father, there was no denying that, but he could be such a pushover. Mom on the other hand, what she says goes, something the kids learned quite early on.
As she saw Felix enter the room she smiled, putting the book down and patted the seat next to her. He reluctantly took it, the two cuddling close, finally able to relax.
"Feel better Fix-It?" She asked after a while of sitting like that, he only nodded in return. She smiled at the poor handyman and laughed.
"These kids are gonna give you gray hair early." She said looking down at him. Felix gave a joking look of panic and put his hands over his head.
"I like my hair this color. I don't want it to be gray." Tamora only laughed.
"0ooh I do, a man with salt and pepper hair is sexy!" She chuckled again, Felix just smirked at her. The two sat like that for a little longer before Tamora again broke the silence.
"So Fix-It, the kids are sleeping, and we have all this time to ourselves. What do you wanna do?" She whispered, smiling. Felix smiled back and came up to kiss his wife.
"Well hon, you know what I could really go for right now?" Felix asked his face just inches from hers.
"Whats that soldier?" She asked continuing to smile.
WIRWIRWIRWIR
Tamora and Felix could later be found fast asleep and slightly snoring in their room. Four kids could be tough to handle sometimes. Good thing it's the weekend tomorrow.