Here's another random oneshot from me to you. This takes place about 8 years after Strong Enough ends.

I do not own The Cape.

The Loose Tooth Caper

Four-year-old Alexander Faraday was a momma's boy to boot. He always ran to her whenever he was upset, or if he didn't get his way with daddy. This wasn't to say that Orwell always stuck up for her little boy, but she was hard pressed some days when he gave her those pitiful brown eyes.

Things became different when the family expanded yet again. Danielle Victoria Faraday wasn't a surprise by any means. Her older siblings learned early on of her arrival. Matthew and Elena were ecstatic to have a new baby sibling. Alexander, on the other hand, wasn't so thrilled. He was afraid that he would stop being mommy's baby. Or maybe he'd never get quality naptime with mommy and daddy ever again. However, just like Trip, Matthew, and Elena tried to explain to him, he couldn't have been more wrong.

Two years later, it was just like nothing ever changed. Alexander was still a momma's boy. There were times that Dani got more attention, but he got over that. He still had his mommy.

-0-

One early morning, Alexander woke up to a weird feeling in his mouth. He sat up rubbing his eyes and stifled a yawn. As he did so, he felt that weird feeling come back. The little boy moved his tongue around in his mouth, lightly running them across his baby teeth. Though, when he touched his right incisor, Alexander jumped. His tooth wiggled! Was it supposed to do that?

There was only one thing to do; go whine to mommy and daddy.

-0-

By that time, Vince and Orwell were curled together in a tight embrace. The couple had been up for a little less than forty-five minutes and hadn't planned on moving any time soon. Every now and then, they would start up a conversation, but mostly their interactions were snuggling and kissing.

It was very rare that the two of them were able to lay in bed for more than five minutes without one of their spawns coming to interrupt them during the day.

The sandy blonde looked down at his wife and kissed the bridge of her nose. "You know, it's refreshing for things just to be between the two of us."

"Mm. Don't get used to it," Orwell looked up into his eyes and smiled a bit. "It's not nighttime anymore, or is it our anniversary, or birthday. We'll have to deal with them at some point."

"It should stay nighttime forever. That way the house stays quiet…" Vince pulled her closer and rested his head on top of hers.

"May I remind you that it was your idea to have at least three of the four children that I gave birth to?" the blogger passed her husband a pointed look.

"Hey, it wasn't like I was the only one who wanted kids! I had your consent three of the four times we were expecting," he fought back.

"Still, we shouldn't complain. We are able to pass them over to your mother sometimes on the weekend," Orwell kissed Vince's pouting lips.

The sandy blonde chuckled a bit, to which he continued the kiss with much more emphasis. Little did they know that their six-year-old was on his way to see them.

When Alexander opened the closed door, his parents were still in their own little world. Though, thank goodness for the youngest boy, the only thing that was going on was a make-out session.

As the sound of the opening and closing door registered in their minds both parents sat up with slightly puffy lips and tousled hair.

"Hi Alex," Orwell spoke with a blush meeting with her cheeks. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Yeah, you're usually the last one out of bed. Everything okay, bud?" Vince asked in the same amount of embarrassment and concern.

"My mouff feels funny," the child began. He could never quite get the word mouth right, but now with the loose tooth it was twice as difficult. Alex crawled up on his parents' bed and sat on both of their laps.

"What kind of funny? Can you describe it for mommy?" the blogger asked, a little more worried than before.

The six-year-old opened his mouth and wiggled his loose tooth with his tongue. "It moves! I don't think it supposed to do that."

Vince and Orwell looked back at each other and smiled. Times like these made them happy to be parents.

"Honey, your tooth is loose for a reason," his mother began, taking her son's hand gently.

"You know how mommy and daddy have much bigger teeth right?" his father added soon after, which prompted a nod from the child. "Kids have to lose their smaller teeth when they're young to make room for their bigger teeth."

"Oh," Alexander whispered. "How they fall out?" he added nervously.

Vince looked to his wife for some help in explanation; she smiled lightly at the sandy blonde before continuing for him.

"Well, sometimes they fall out because you chew on something too hard, but sometimes mommy and daddy need to pull it out themselves," Orwell began.

The sandy blonde child played with his mother's slender, pale fingers as he responded. "How you pull it out? It sounds like it hurts, mommy."

"Either you tug on it, or you twist it until it comes off. That's basically what we did with Matthew and Elena, sweetheart," the mother answered with a warm smile.

"Okies! Doesn't sound scary!" Alexander grinned proudly.

Sure, it didn't sound scary, until his older siblings got in the middle of it, that was.

-0-

It was just another normal day in the Faraday home. The kids were downstairs in the living room playing under their parents' supervision. Elena was playing with her Barbie dream house, Matthew and Alexander were dressed up as a superhero and a villain as they chased each other around the room, and Danielle was sucking on her pacifier, watching her three siblings from where she sat on her mother's lap.

From the moment that the elder child learned of his younger brother's loose tooth, he hadn't stopped picking on poor Alex. The elder girl quickly grew tired of hearing her baby brother cry and decided to say something about it.

"Mom!" Elena shouted. "Tell Matthew to leave Alexander alone!"

Orwell turned her head away from her husband and looked at her three oldest children. "What's going on?" she asked firmly.

"Matt won't stop teasing Alex over his loose tooth. He says that he's going to knock it out of his mouth!" Elena tattled.

The mother of four sighed and handed two-year-old Dani over to Vince. She got up from the couch and padded over to the boys. "Matt, Alex, may I see you please?"

The ten-year-old and the six-year-old did as their mother told them, but with their heads hanging down in guilt.

Orwell knelt down to their level and met with both of their eyes before saying another word. She then turned to her eldest. "Matthew is Elena telling the truth?"

"I guess so," Matthew began warily, staring down at his toes again. "But I was jus' playing, momma! Alex was supposed to be a bad guy."

"Still, sweetheart, he's your little brother," the brunette blogger looked over at her youngest son. "Did you think that he was really going to knock your tooth out?"

Alexander nodded. "Uh-huh."

Orwell sighed. "Alright, Matt, I want you to apologize to your brother, okay? I know that you didn't mean it, but make sure he knows it, 'kay?"

"Yes ma'am," Matthew replied sheepishly. He then turned to his little brother and wrapped an arm around him. "I'm sorry, Alex. Thought you knew that I was just playing."

Alexander hugged his older brother back and sniffled into his chest. "You really mean it?"

The elder boy nodded. "Sure do. Us Faraday boys gotta stick together."

Orwell smiled at her sons' interactions. Again, this was another reason why she loved being a mother.

-0-

About a week later, little Alexander's tooth was literally hanging by the roof of his mouth. Poor little boy was incredibly uncomfortable and was trying everything to get it to pop out.

It was a few minutes past nine, and the children had just been tucked into bed for the night. Like always, the couple had their own routine coming into play. Kids were in bed by nine every night, which gave them the rest of the night to do whatever else their kids kept them from doing during the day.

The couple was stretched out on the couch in the living room watching some weird movie. However, it didn't really matter how weird the movie was, neither of them were paying much attention to it. Their lips were far more appealing anyway.

"You know, I dunno why they say that Hollywood girls are prettier than every day girls. I've got an every day girl right here who puts those girls to shame," Vince began as their lips broke apart for a breather.

"Are you just saying that to stay out of the doghouse?" Orwell asked with a brunette eyebrow rising as she did so.

"It's safe to stay in your good graces. No matter how cute you are when you're mad at me, I like being right here," he whispered, a smile tugging at his lips.

The blogger smiled back at him and leaned forward to start a gentle kiss with her husband. "I love your sweet talk."

"You love my sweet talk?" Vince asked, pretending to look hurt. "I thought you love me?"

"I love everything about you, silly," Orwell kissed his temple. "Even though you are a serious blockhead, you're still a sweetheart."

The sandy blonde chuckled. "Thanks, baby, I love you too."

Just as they were about to share another kiss, Alexander's voice was heard from the staircase. The parents heard his tiny footsteps clump down the stairs, and smiled at each other. Here it goes.

The little boy raced for his parents and jumped on their laps. "Mommy, daddy! I did it! I was laying down in bed and I was wiggling and wiggling my tooth with my tongue. And then you know what happened?" he babbled quickly. It was almost too hard to keep up with the speed of his story.

"What happened, sweetie?" Orwell asked with a gentle smile.

Alexander opened his palm and showed a bloody baby tooth in his hand. "I lost my tooth! And now my mouff's all bloody, but I so happy!"

Both parents shared a knowing glance, a chuckle escaping their lips. One day, they could probably come up with a big book of crazy family moments. The Faraday family sure has its fair share.

So, how did we enjoy this? I hadn't posted a SE snippet since the one I did for Christmas, so I figured that the 'verse needed to have another tale told.