A/N: Oh my God, we're back again…sorry, a little bsb flashback for ye. LostLadyKnight and I have yet another fic for you – LLK is coming to the dark side and writing more Snickers with me. She's so awesome. This will be a collection of one shots about the Stokes children. We will write about 5 fics with the kids this age, then skip ahead a few years and write a few more…kind of "clumps" or "episodes" if you will. Here is a little cheat sheet about the children:
Brandon – 16 (Nick's first marriage)
Noah – 12 (Nick's first marriage)
Charlie – 10 (Sara's first marriage)
Marley – 5 (Sara and Nick's)
Jordan – 5 (Sara and Nick's)
Colin – 2 (Sara and Nick's)
Obviously, Marley and Jordan are twins. Without further ado, please enjoy, and we will love you til the ends of the earth if you review. Peace out.
1The sound was familiar, and one that didn't change much - only in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping. At any given time during the day in the Stokes household, it was noisy, boisterous, and sometimes even chaotic like it was this evening. Hardly a second during the day passed when someone wasn't doing something, saying something, or yelling something.
Tonight, it so happened that the oldest Stokes child, Brandon, who topped off the ages at sixteen, was pummeling two of his younger brothers in the hallway under suspicion of breaking several of his guitar strings while expertly holding his cell phone between his shoulder and ear. They'd tried to escape, but the junior football team jock had easily outstealthed them, and now twelve year old Noah and ten year old Charlie were begging for mercy.
"I told you I was sorry!" Charlie, his stepbrother pleaded from within the tight headlock he was trapped in. Next to him, Noah was trapped between Brandon's legs, laughing almost hysterically. Noah and Brandon were biological brothers, and he was used to his older brother's wrath. It was much more of a game to him, but to Charlie, it was quite upsetting. "I TOLD you to stay the hell out of my side of the room, didn't I? And if you ever so much as TOUCHED that guitar I'd pound you into the ground?"
The teen shifted his cell phone at his ear again with his free hand and shifted his weight so his step brother was pinned and he began a series of Indian burns up and down his own brother's arm, each time growing a bit more forceful. Finally, Noah, had enough though it took a lot longer to get him to his breaking point than Charlie, and he wasn't about to give in yet. It was, however, time to deflect the wrath of the teen. The twelve year old made eye contact with his step brother and made the only argument that might buy them a little leverage
"Why don't you go ask the girls, they love coming down to our room and taking our stuff. I bet it was Marley!"
Somehow the suggestion that the hell twin might have done it on top of the desire to say sweet nothings to the girl on the other end of the phone gave the smaller boys all the opportunity they needed. Another flash of eye contact between the two smaller boys was all the signal they needed. In perfect synchronization they both lunged upward and completely turned the tables around. By sheer luck and nothing else they found themselves, in a pile on the floor. Noah and Charlie had the advantage and Brandon was pinned. Noah realized that his brother would regain the advantage before long and took his chance to inflict mortal embarrassment on the teen. He leaned forward and around his step-brother, and snatched the phone from Brandon's ear.
"Hey Kelsey," He said with mock flirtation in his voice. "My brother says he looovveeess you. He wants to kiiiissssssssss you." This of course, was the end of his advantage.
Charlie would never have the nerve to pull such a thing, so all he could do was laugh when their oldest brother's face changed to bright red and he struggled to get his phone back.
"You little ASSHOLE!" He yelled furiously and attempted to punch Noah in the stomach. The middle boy dodged it, and that gave Brandon enough leverage to gain the upper hand, and soon it was an angry pile of arms and legs again. Just then, two year old Colin Stokes wandered out of his bedroom where his mother had just been changing him, coming across the pile of his older brothers on the floor. It looked like they were playing, so he started laughing and ran for the pile to join in.
"Tickle!!" He screeched as he jumped up on top of Noah. Closely behind, Sara followed and sighed tiredly when she saw the pack of the four boys, or animals, that occupied this house. It always seemed they were breaking up one fight or another. Sara clapped her hands together furiously a few times.
"Boys!" She yelled harshly. "Get up off the floor and knock it off!" Sara had learned to be quite firm and direct with the older boys, especially Brandon and Noah. They were all boy, solving their problems by fighting, which Nick had allowed to get them away with somewhat. 'Boys will be boys' was Nick's saying, which Sara was not a fan of. Her ten year old son, Charlie, was too small and, she admitted, wimpy to handle wrestling with the older boys. Sara quickly scooped up Colin before he got elbowed and tugged Charlie up by the shirt.
"What have your father and I told you about fighting?"
With Charlie's weight being relieved from his body Brandon had much greater ability and advantage to pummel his brother. He ignored his stepmother's warnings and turned full weight into pinning Noah to the ground.
"What the hell is wrong with you, you little creep?" He demanded.
Sara finally had enough and said, "Brandon Stokes, don't make me tell you again. Get off of your brother right now." This made all motion in the living room come to a standstill. Four sets of eyes looked at her as though she was a force to be reckoned with. "Go set the table for dinner."
Brandon took the toddler from her arms and headed to the kitchen. Charlie and Noah both started for the door that led down to their basement bedroom when Sara caught both of them by the shirts and demanded, "What did you do now?"
"He got his panties in bunch because someone broke his guitar strings" Noah spat.
"He's such a jerk mom." Charlie added.
"That jerk is your brother" Sara defended the teen. "One of you will admit you broke the guitar and apologize to him, or neither of you will get an allowance for a month to pay to fix it!"
"Mom, I swear, it wasn't either of us!" Charlie implored, looking his mother straight in the eye. "We were playing PlayStation in the living room the whole time!" Sara sighed, wondering whether to believe them. Noah also looked like he'd been wrongly accused. They'd just taken quite a beating from their oldest brother, though, who was usually right about these things. Brandon always seemed to know what was going on with his siblings. Sara narrowed her eyes and tried to determine their sincerity.
"Then who was it?" Sara asked slowly, looking from boy to boy with her hands now on her hips. The boys straightened their hair and shrugged their shoulders.
"Marley." They said simultaneously.
The said five year old, who was one half of a set of twin girls, the first children who belonged to both Nick and Sara, was quietly trying to climb up onto the kitchen counter to steal a cookie before dinner. She was starving, and if she was going to do a good job at her dance recital that evening, she needed some nourishment. Marley stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth in concentration and worked her way up as her twin sister, Jordan, looked on nervously.
"Marley, you're gonna get in trouble." She warned her in a worried whisper. Marley didn't respond, only retrieved four chocolate chip cookies from the jar quickly, and then hopped back down. She handed two of the cookies to her sister, and just as Marley was about to bite into one of her own, a familiar hand swept it out of her hand. Nick Stokes looked disapprovingly at his twin daughters, and held his hand out for Jordan to deposit her stolen cookies into.
"Didn't your mother tell you no snacks before dinner?"
"But Daddy…" Both girls had learned when the were still forming jarbled sentences that their father had a soft spot for his girls, and starting any argument with 'but Daddy' and a certain little pout always gave them the leg up,
"Not this time ladies." Nick said, with a stern voice and a grin on his lips. He reached down and deposited one of the confiscated cookies in each of the two little hands, leaving the girls with a cookie each. He winked at them.
"Go upstairs and wash your hands before dinner." It was their special day after all, or so he told himself.
The girls' faces brightened and they smiled up appreciatively at their father. Marley and Jordan both hugged him for a few moments and then began to scurry up the stairs. Nick sighed as they took off and popped one of the other cookies in his mouth. If he kept giving in, he knew they'd be hellions as teenagers, but how could he resist their adorable, pleading faces at this age? Not that Nick let them get away with anything, but it was an unspoken fact that he gave the girls more leeway. He heard other footsteps coming towards the kitchen, so he quickly swallowed the cookie he was chewing. Soon, his oldest son, Brandon came in carrying little two year old Colin in his arms.
"Dad, I seriously need my own room." He looked pretty agitated. "Noah and Charlie broke my guitar strings." Nick swallowed and took Colin into his arms when he reached out for him. He was still pint-sized and very cuddly, except when he started throwing one of his terrible two tantrums.
"I'm sorry, bud. Don't you keep your guitar in the case when you're not using it?"
"Of course." Brandon told him, opening the refrigerator door to get out a Gatorade. "The little bastards took it out and started playing with it."
"Hey." Nick said, stopping his son right there. He tried to talk to his oldest like he was an adult but there were some things he wouldn't stand for. "We don't use that type of language in this house, and we most certainly don't use that kind of language when we're talking about family. No phone for the rest of the day."
"Dad, that's stupid." the boy said, taking as sip of his orange Gatorade and setting it on the counter. "The boys say worse all the time. You ought to hear Noah when he's talking to his friends."
"Noah didn't just call his little brothers bastards to my face" Nick countered. He passed a stack of forks, knives, napkins, and plates to his son. He decided to level with him. "Look Brand, you know we just don't have the space. Things were different before Colin came. Man, you're just going to have to share the basement with your brothers for a couple of more years."
"Until I go to college, great Dad, that's real fair!"
Sometimes Brandon could be extremely pig-headed and unwilling to be reasoned with. Nick thought he got it from his mother.
"What do you want me to do, Brandon?" Nick held out his arms, open to any suggestions. "My hands are tied. We don't have any more rooms left in the house."
Brandon shook his head and worked his tongue around in his mouth a little in frustration.
"Things were a lot better before you guys started popping out more kids." He retorted rudely, knowing his father wouldn't like it. Brandon was sick of trying to be nice about things. Blended families sucked, and he for one was tired of things always being so noisy, and never having any privacy.
"Brandon." Nick's voice was stern and he raised his eyebrows at his youngest. "Enough. I'm sorry if you don't like things, but that's not gonna change it. Set the table and I don't wanna hear another word." Brandon rolled his eyes and went to the kitchen to set the table for eight. Six kids and two adults under one roof was too many in his opinion.
"Daddy, da boys didn't bweak da stwings." Colin informed his father with his toddler lisp from where he was settled in Nick's arms. Nick stopped what he was doing and looked at his youngest. "They didn't? Do you know who did?"
He nodded his head yes and scratched his ear a little.
"But I'm not 'sposed ta teww." Colin put his finger up to his mouth, as if indicating to keep things quiet. Nick suspected who the culprit was, if Colin had been told not to tattle.
"Was it Marley?" He asked the toddler. Colin giggled and covered his eyes with his hands.
"I don't know!!"
Brandon pushed the high chair up to the table and then set everything down. He walked over to his littlest brother and stood him up on the floor so he faced him. He knelt down gently and took both of the child's shoulders in his hands.
"Colin, you don't have to say anything, just nod okay?" The toddler nodded his head. "Did Jordan break my strings?"
The child's head shook from side to side.
"Did you break my strings?" Brandon asked, and again the boy shook his head no.
"Did Marley break the strings?" This time the two year old gave his brother an affirmative nod.
"Thanks kid. I knew you were my favorite brother for a reason." Brandon ruffled the two year old's hair and walked back to the table to finish setting it. He'd deal with Marley later.
Nick, who had watched his eldest go from spouting of profane insults about his brothers to being as good with a two year old as he was. "If you want, you can move up stairs into Colin's room with him... I'm sure he won't break your stuff... much... for at least another year."
"Very funny Dad." Brandon gave his father a glare and finished setting the table.
"Will you go round up your brothers and sisters for dinner, bud?" Nick requested of his toddler son. Colin happily complied, pleased that his brother and his father seemed so happy with him. He liked to help his family out, though hopefully Marley wouldn't find out he'd tattled on her. Colin had been told, along with all the other children, that telling the truth was always the right thing. Only, in this house, if you tattled on someone, you could almost count on some payback. Colin successfully rounded up the rest of the family, and about five minutes later, they had all finally sat down at the table to generous helpings of stir fry and mashed potatoes. Nick had chosen not to confront Marley at the moment, because he enjoyed having a nice family dinner with all the kids and his wife. Plus, he could see if Marley was acting guilty at all. At five, she had already gotten pretty good at hiding it. "Mommy, is everyone comin' to the recital?" Jordan asked her mother in a quiet voice as she pushed her meats and veggies around.
"Yes baby, everyone's going to come. We wouldn't miss your first recital for anything in the world" Sara answered her daughter. It was no secret in that household that the only child who spent less time in trouble than Jordan was Colin. Jordan was the picture of manners on top of being very shy.
"If you want me to go to the recital," Brandon said with a glare across the table at his younger sister "Then someone has to deal with Marley."
"Brandon, now is not the time." Nick chastised his son. "Marley, when everyone's done with dinner I want you to hang out at the table with Mom and me."
"He told!" She said, putting on the angriest face she could muster. She stuck her tongue out at her little brother. "You stupid little tattle tale."
"Dad, you're not going to let her get away with that are you?" Brandon asked. "You wouldn't let me get away with acting like that at the table."
Nick cleared his throat, wishing they could eat dinner in peace for once. It seemed that at least someone was always at it with another family member.
"If you both don't knock it off, you'll be in your rooms eatin' by yourselves." He warned his two bickering offspring, then turned his head to look at Marley. "Marley, we don't say stupid in this house. I don't wanna hear it again."
The girl in question frowned and looked down at her plate in frustration. She glared at her little brother Colin whose innocent, wide eyes looked back worriedly at her. Marley stuck out her tongue again and gave him the most evil glare she could muster up without getting into more trouble.
The conversation tried to take a turn to more pleasant things, talking about the recital coming up and what they'd all done at school and work that day. However, a couple minutes later, after having mean looks shot at him for quite a while, Colin started crying. Sara, who was sitting next to him, reached out and began rubbing his back.
"Baby, what's the matter?" She asked him soothingly. Marley acted nonchalant and took a sip of her milk. Like her twin, she was also known for certain things in this house, one of which was taunting her siblings.
"Marwey's makin' faces at meee!"
"Marley Nicole how many times do I have to tell you to stop picking on your brothers and sister?" Nick said with a stern exasperation. "Go sit in the den and wait for me. You and I are going to have a talk."
"Daddy, I didn't do it." Marley tried to protest. "Colin's lying."
"If you keep it up," Sara joined in "You're going to make it so we all come straight home after your recital and we don't go get any ice cream, so that you can go straight to bed."
"Mommy that's not fair." Marley whined. "It's all Colin's fault... if he wasn't such a tattle tale."
"Your father told you to go sit in the den." Sara said as she crossed her arms and looked her daughter straight in the eyes. If anyone in the house had the ability to put the kids into line with a single look, it was Sara.
Marley's face took on a putrid expression. She hated having to go wait in the den, and especially her father having a "talk" with her, which usually consisted on him giving her some stern words, and her not saying much. Marley pushed her chair out angrily and crossed her arms over her chest, then stomped all the way to the den, letting the whole house know how she felt about Nick's order. Nick sighed at his daughter's behavior, but then winked at Colin.
"I'm sorry she was bugging you, buddy. I'll deal with her once dinner's finished." The little boy nodded, knowing his dad would take care of things. Brandon shook his head at Marley's general temperament. If it was him sticking his tongue out, he would've gotten much worse. It was easy to see that Nick favored the girls. Brandon wouldn't even go to the recital if Jordan wasn't performing in it too. She was a nice kid, at least. The rest of dinner passed rather uneventfully about ten minutes later. Nick told Brandon and Noah to do the dishes, which they groaned at but obeyed, and then he disappeared back to the den to deal with Marley. He walked in to find her playing around with a string game quite harshly, trying to do Jacob's Ladder. She narrowed her eyes at him bravely as he sat on the couch next to where she was laying.
"Sit up. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Nick watched as Charlie walked past them with Colin in arms. He was taking him up stairs, presumably to get him cleaned up for the recital. He had enough time to watch his step son leave disappear completely up the stairs leading to baby's room before he heard so much as a peep out of his daughter.
"Daddy it's just so hard having four brothers. They never want to play with me and when they do play with me they're always being mean. And you and mommy love Jordan more. Nobody cares about me. So I guess I just do bad things because I'm mad."
"Honey we love you and Jordan and all four boys just exactly the same" Nick said, stroking his daughter's long brown hair. She always wore it free falling or with a headband, unlike her sister who always had her hair up in a high ponytail.
"If you love us all the same then how come I'm the one who's always in trouble?" Marley asked and then rubbed her nose through a sniffle, she was about to start crying.
"You don't get into any more trouble than Noah, Charlie, and Brandon." Nick told his little girl with a short laugh. "And you get into trouble so much because you make so much trouble."
"So you don't like me as much?" She ventured a guess, figuring a kid who got in trouble a lot just annoyed her parents. Marley looked up at her father's face, but then it became blurry as her eyes filled with tears. Swiftly, she was pulled up into his lap for a warm hug and a kiss to the top of her head.
"No. Like I said, you're still figuring out right from wrong, and you can be pretty mischievous, so you do get in trouble a lot. But Mommy and I will love you no matter what you do. You understand?" Marley's face was up against her father's strong chest, and she listened to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat as she calmed down. She nodded and wiped at her eyes some more.
"Good. Now, all that aside, you're still in trouble for what you did." He assured her she wasn't getting out of punishment because of her tears. It sure made it harder for him to be mad at her when she cried. Brandon and Noah had never been this emotional when they were her age, and Jordan was even more so.
"You know it's the rules that you don't touch other people's stuff without getting permission. Right?"
Marley nodded. "Yes, sir." She agreed.
"And then you lied by trying to cover it up, and tried to blame it on Colin." Marley sighed, feeling pretty bad about what she'd done now. Plus, she had made faces at her younger brother for doing what they all knew was the right thing. "So, how are you gonna fix what you did wrong?"
"I'm gonna say sorry to Brand and Colin and then I'm gonna do extra chores around the house to earn the money so you and mommy can buy him new guitar strings." She rattled off what she was going to do in a singsong voice. "And then I'm going to say sorry to Mommy because I was rude to her at the table."
"Well, that's all very good." Nick told his daughter, "But you did try to blame your brother, and that was a lie."
"So I have to go to bed a whole hour early every day this week" She sighed, she knew all of the punishments already.
"That's right," Nick said, and then he wrapped his daughter up in his arms again and kissed her forehead. "I love you baby girl. Now go up stairs and get ready. You only have about ten minutes before we have to leave."
Marley let out a dramatic gasp at the amount of time she had to get her costume on and get her hair put up in a bun. Of course, the only person in the house who was capable of making a nice, tight hair bun was Sara, and she would have to make two perfect ones for both girls.
"Love you, Daddy!" Marley called as she ran for the stairs. Nick smirked and called that he loved her also, then got up to help with the other kids. Colin would need his shoes on, and try to go to the bathroom before they left. Meanwhile, Marley skipped into the bathroom, where her mother was doing Jordan's hair, pulling her dark brown hair up in a perfect bun. She wrapped her arms around her mother's slim waist and hugged her tightly.
"Sorry I was rude, Mommy. I love you." Marley apologized. Sara took her eyes off concentrating on Jordan's hair for a moment to look down at her twin. Two identical little girls, with vastly different personalities. It was amazing, the differences between Marley and Jordan. However, they both shared a love for ballet.
"Thank you for apologizing, baby. Why don't you go find your costume and I'll do your hair when you're dressed."
The girls had to be at the theatre twenty five minutes before the house opened and Nick still needed to take a shower, himself, before they left. He knew that his whole family hated it when he did that but he'd taken to taking on longer shifts since the twins and Colin all came, so that Sara could spend more time at home with the kids. Thus he called Brandon into the room and gave him a set of car keys and said "Put the baby seat in the wagon and take the Taurus. And don't for get to sign the girls in."
"Yeah okay Dad." Brandon said and with a yell up the stairs two identical little girls in green and blue sequined dresses emerged and ran to the car.
Fifteen minutes later Sara received a call on her cell phone, after reading the screen she pulled the phone to her ear and said "Hey baby, what's up?"
"Hey Sara." Brandon's voice called into the phone. "Jordan's freaking out a little. She's getting pretty nervous."
"Well babe, tell her we're on our way and that she's going to do great." Sara told her stepson.
"I tried. She's crying but Marley and I can't seem to calm her down." He said with a sigh. Jordan was usually really receptive to the Stokes charm. Brandon, Noah, and Nick had always been able to soothe her better than anyone else, even when she was just an infant.
Sara rubbed her forehead in worry. When Jordan got in one of her moods, she stayed there until something was done to comfort her. Everyone knew she'd only calm down if either she or Nick was with her. She felt bad that they hadn't thought about this before they'd sent the girls ahead with Brandon. It was the girls' first recital, and very likely that Jordan would be getting some nerves.
"I'm sorry, Brand. Can you put her on the phone?" Brandon, pressed the cell phone to his upper chest as he knelt down in front of his little sister.
"Jordan, it's Mom. They're almost here." He assured her, and held the phone out for her to take. Sara heard Jordan's emotional crying as the phone was being passed over.
"Mommy, I don't wanna do this. I wanna go home!" She told her mother tearfully. Sara looked at her husband, who also had a concerned look on his face.
"Sweetheart, you're just a little nervous, and that's okay. Getting up on stage can be scary, but I know you can be a brave girl." She tried to reason with the kindergartener, but Sara could hear her choking on sobs on the other end.
"Nuh-uh. I don't wanna do it cause I'll mess up." Nick had already picked up the pace of the station wagon so they could get there faster. Now they were only a couple minutes away. Sara could tell Jordan was only getting more worked up.
"Jordan, baby, I need you to take some deep breaths. Can you do that for me?"
"Mommy I'm not as good at it as Marley. I can't do it." The girl said into the phone between deep gasps.
"Baby listen to me, take a deep breath." Sara was rubbing her temples. "I want you to do me a favor okay?"
"O-o-kay." the girl tried to agree through sobs.
"I want you to look your brother right in the eyes" Sara tried a different tactic to calm her daughter down. "Do you see him, do you see his eyes?"
"Y-yeah" the little girl replied into the phone, barely speaking.
"He's your older brother right?" Sara asked "He's there to protect you no matter what right?"
"Yeah." The little girl agreed.
"As long as he's there you're going to be just fine." Sara said. "Daddy and I are gonna pull in, in just a minute okay? So you don't have to worry anymore..."
Brandon wasn't quite sure why his sister was staring him right in the eye, but he didn't dare look away, because it seemed to be calming her for some reason. He gave her a wink for good measure as Jordan stayed on the line with their mother, just listening to the sound of her voice.
A minute or so later, Nick and Sara both hurried through the door of the room all the kids were in waiting. Jordan immediately ran for her parents when she saw them. Nick scooped her up in his arms and held her tightly to him as Sara put her arm around the little girl also.
"Mommy, I was so scared." She said a little tearfully, but she was much calmer now. However, there was still some amount of work to do before she felt confident enough to go out on stage.
"I know, baby, but Brandon helped you through, didn't he?" Sara reminded her softly, rubbing reassuring circles on her back. Jordan nodded her head, which was now resting on Nick's shoulder. Nick looked around for a chair to sit on and soon found one. He sat down with his daughter in his lap, pressing a loving kiss to her forehead.
"Baby, you're the best dancer in the class and you know you are." Nick said, and it was the truth. Contrary to the little girl's words to her mother a few minutes before, this was one area where Jordan out-shined her sister and just about every other kid her age.
"But Daddy what if I mess up?" The little girl asked through a few more sniffled tears.
"Well darlin' you're five. Nobody's gonna notice if you make a mistake" Nick said trying to make his little girl laugh, but he'd made a vital mistake. With Marley and the older boys humor was always the way to cheer them up, but Jordan was a whole different kind of kid.
"So nobody cares about my dancin?" The little girl asked through a few more sobs. "Then why do I do it?"
Sara opened her hand and allowed it make quick contact with the back of her husband's head "That is not what Daddy meant." She said to her baby girl.
"Then what did you mean, Daddy?" She asked him, playing with the collar of his button-up shirt. Jordan could tell he just took a shower, because his aftershave, or 'daddy smell', as she called it was readily apparent and readily comforting to her at the moment. All the unfamiliar faces, and the hustling around had frightened her. Nick cleared his throat and tried to think of a good answer.
"What I meant was, the audience knows you're just a beginning class, and it's okay to make mistakes. They don't expect you to be perfect." He tried to explain gently. The most entertaining and aw-inducing performance of a ballet recital in any dance company was the youngest group. The way the little girls tried so hard, and the fact that their bodies and skills weren't quite up to doing any real difficult dances, was utterly adorable. No matter what they did, the crowd would love it.
"But I wanna do it perfect." Jordan countered, thinking of all the extra practice she did at home in front of her mirror in hopes of impressing her ballet teacher and doing it completely perfectly. Sara smiled and ran her fingers over Jordan's hair.
"Jordan, nobody's perfect. Not even me or Daddy. You just have to try your best. And we'll be proud of you no matter what."
Jordan nodded and seemed calmed by this answer. Her parents often noticed she got caught up in wanting to do things perfectly. It took her a long time to start a task, because she wanted to think about how to do it just right. And when it didn't turn out just the way she wanted it to, she could get upset.
"Good girl." Nick whispered, and noticed several little girls from his daughters' class walking towards one of the classrooms to warm up. "Are you ready to put on your ballet shoes and warm up?" He asked gently, rubbing circles on her back, hoping to keep her calm. Jordan thought for a few moments and let out a contemplative sigh.
"I guess." Marley scurried over moments later and rested her upper body on Sara's legs. She smiled down at her daughter and patted her back.
"Mommy, is she okay yet?" Marley was used to her sister's emotional bouts.
"She'll be fine. Break a leg sweetie." Sara planted a kiss on the top of her little girl's head and then turned her around and gave her a gentle push towards the classroom doors.
"C'mon Jordan. We gotta go warm up." Marley said, grabbing her sister's hand and pulling her in the direction the other herd of little girls had gone only moments before.
Charlie, who had watched the whole display from afar, making bets with Noah about weather or not Jordan would go on, felt a momentary burst of guilt for trying to make a buck off of his sister's stage fright. He ran forward and grabbed Jordan's other little hand. She turned around to face him and he told her "you're the best one out there and you're going to do great.
"I promise, you'll be perfect." He didn't understand why his mom and Nick never tried to give her the confidence she needed.
"Thanks Charlie." Jordan beamed back up at him. Apparently this was all she needed to hear. She pulled away from him and allowed herself to be led into the warm-up room.
Nick put his arm around Sara's shoulders as they watched their two only little girls disappear into a circus of blue-green dressed ballerinas. The teacher, seeing everyone had arrived, instructed them to find their places in rows for warm-ups. The two parents watched their twins for a couple minutes, observing them posing their arms and pointing their toes as they warmed up. Marley would get tired of holding her arms up occasionally, and shake them out right in the middle of the exercise. However, Jordan was much more serious and professional about her dancing, and always had been.
"That one will be in point shoes in no time." Sara commented to her husband. Nick chuckled and kissed his wife's temple.
"She's definitely our little ballerina." Though both girls loved ballet now, it was obvious that Jordan was in it for the long-term. They turned around and saw Charlie counting up a wad of money in his hands, and Noah not looking too pleased. When Charlie saw his father give him a displeased look, he quickly shoved the bills into his back pocket.
"I would take that from you if you hadn't just saved the day with Jordan, there." He informed his stepson. Charlie just grinned as they all began walking to the auditorium to find seats.
Everyone in the youth ballet program knew the Stokes twins and their large family. Being that the twins were going to be active in the performance, and the ballet instructor knew that they had four children aside from the twins, there was a line of six seats saved three rows back and in the center of the orchestra section of the auditorium.
The lights flashed to give the audience a five minute warning and then dimmed off and a group of young girls began dancing out onto the stage, led by Jordan and Marley. The twins had been given the leading roles because of their determined ability and the fact that a general consensus said that it was adorable to have twins at the forefront of the ballet production.
An outwardly frightened Jordan ten minutes ago was magically transformed into a confident, smiling little ballerina on stage. Though they'd been told to concentrate on what they were doing, Jordan looked for her family and spotted them easily in the third row and waved excitedly. They chuckled a little and all waved back as the music began to play. They were only beginners, so most of the ballet moves consisted of moving their feet around minimally, prancing around stage, and a bit of skipping.
The whole audience had smiles on their faces, watching the six little girls try their hardest. Some small mistakes were made, but the performance couldn't have been more perfect. At the end, the girls took a bow, beaming with pride. Holding their arms out to the side daintily, they scurried across stage gracefully to be met by their very proud teacher. Once the audience had stopped clapping, Brandon leaned forward and looked at his parents.
"So, can we go now?" He didn't see much point in staying for the entire event when the twins had gone first.
"No. The girls want to watch the older kids." Sara told their oldest, and both of the other older boys groaned. Colin shifted in his spot on Nick's lap, where he had moved half way through the performance.
"I wanna see Marwey and Jordan again."
"Well kiddo," Nick said quietly in his ear. "The twins just finished up their show, but we gotta wait until the other girls go. Maybe they'll do it for you at home."
Nick was going to keep trying to calm Colin down when Sara grabbed his arm and gasped. In the middle of the twelve year old group's performance a child they both knew was from the nine year old group came tumbling onto the stage from one of the wings. It looked as though she'd been pushed out on the stage, and from where she'd fallen, right outside the wing, Sara's CSI brain told her that it was one of the smaller girls that had pushed the poor kid. The girl didn't try to save the mistake, she didn't improv or dance it off, she just shifted into a sitting position where she fell and started mouthing what looked to be obscenities at her attacker who still remained hidden off the stage. Two girls who were in the middle of performing managed to trip over the fallen dancer, and then finally another pair of arms, probably the teacher's pulled the girl back off of the stage and the performance continued.
"That better not have been one of our girls." Sara whispered to Nick, but both of them knew their kids and forensics well enough to know it was probably an offense caused by Marley. It didn't surprise either parent when the assistant teacher crouched down beside them, and whispered that she needed Sara to come with her.
Nick sighed and the two parents exchanged a concerned look. Sara got up by kept her lower body low so the rest of the crowd wouldn't be disturbed. She followed Ms. Thomas out to a lighted area outside the auditorium.
"Is there a problem?" Sara asked the teacher, who sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"I'm afraid Marley pushed a girl from one of the older classes backstage. She fell over, you may have seen, on the stage during the 12-year-olds' performance and they had quite a spat."
Sara felt worried that she wasn't at all surprised. All there was left to be shocked by would be why Marley had done it. Marley was famous for making brash decisions she hadn't taken time to think over.
"I am so sorry, Mrs. Thomas. She knows her father and I don't tolerate that kind of behavior." Mrs. Thomas nodded and motioned for her to follow.
"Thank you. I think it's best if Marley stays with you the rest of the evening." She informed Sara, which the mother didn't blame her for at all. They hurried back to one of the classrooms, where the head teacher for the five year old class had set Marley in time-out. Jordan was in there also, but was quietly coloring with a book one of the teachers had brought in case the girls got bored. Sara thanked Ms. Thomas once again, and stood outside the room in case Mrs. Stokes needed to talk to her further.
"Marley Nicole, what did you do now?" Sara said sternly, sitting down on a stack of gymnast mats that the older groups sometimes used to practice the more elaborate two person numbers.
"I pushed Jessica Williams down." Marley stated, she didn't attempt to lie or make excuses. This usually meant, from Sara's experience with her little girl, that she thought she was innocent.
"Mommy don't yell at her" It was Jordan's voice that piped up over her crayons.
"Jordan, I'm talking to your sister right now." Sara said sternly, "You know the rules, don't butt in."
"Butt Mommy." Jordan whined, "You're being mean for no reason."
"Jordan Elizabeth." Sara said sternly, and then decided that she shouldn't take out her frustrations on her daughters when she didn't know the whole story. "Look, I'm sorry. Tell me what happened guys."
Jordan got up and walked towards her mother, looking a bit teary-eyed. Sara thought this was odd since she wasn't the one in trouble.
"Mommy, this big girl was makin' fun of me cause I waved at you on stage, and so Marley stuck up for me. She kept calling me names, so Marley pushed her, but she was just tryin' to help, Mommy, I promise." Jordan rattled off. They both knew their parents were reasonable people, but were also fearful that Marley would be in trouble for pushing. Violence wasn't tolerated by their parents at all. Sara sighed and looked over at Marley, who was still sitting obediently in time out.
"Is that true, Marley?" She asked, her voice showing that they weren't quite out of the water. Marley nodded, her face displaying her worry.
"You and Daddy told us to stick up for ourselves, so I did. I had to push her cause she wouldn't be quiet."
"Yeah" Jordan added in. "She kept calling me a mama's girl and telling me I ruined the whole show. I told her she wasn't being very nice and she said she didn't care, at least she didn't ruin her show."
"So I pushed her down." Marley finished.
"What did Daddy and I tell you two about fighting?" Sara asked both of her children.
"To use our words." Jordan stated.
Then Marley shrugged her shoulders and added "And if that's not workin' go find an adult and ask them for help."
"That's right." Sara looked between both girls, a serious look on her face. Secretly, she was kind of proud and touched that Marley would stand up for her sister like that, though outwardly she could never say that of course. The girls had a special relationship with each other, unlike the relationships the boys had with each other. Though they had different friends and enjoyed different things, they always had each other's backs.
"I understand why you were upset, but pushing is not the way to fix things." She reminded both of them. They nodded and looked genuinely sorry.
"Sorry, Mommy." They both said almost simultaneously.
Sara nodded. "Alright. How about we get out of here and go find Daddy and your brothers?" Marley hopped off her chair and took her mother's hand as she stood up.
"So we're not in trouble?" She asked, slightly confused. Usually a lecture was followed with some sort of punishment. Sara led them out of the room and thanked Mrs. Thomas.
"No, but don't ever do that again. Understand?"
"We promise." again the girls answered in unison. Sara wondered if Nick had a bond like this with any of his siblings. He talked fondly of his older brother, Brian, and of his sisters Mary and Becky almost daily. The other girls, Julie, Teresa, and Elizabeth, were quite a bit older and Nick never spent much time with them, or so he told her.
They snuck back into the auditorium in time enough to watch the end of the final performance and though they sat down only briefly, Jordan taking the free seat that had been left for Colin, and Marley climbing into her mother's lap they didn't stay for very long. There was a resounding bout of applause and a standing ovation and the crowd slowly dissipated. Nick's arched eyebrow at Sara when they first returned was finally answered with a brief explanation. He told his daughters that though he didn't approve he wasn't mad at them either.
All of the kids, with the exception of Brandon, begged to go for ice cream on their way out. So it was decided that Sara would take the car Brandon had arrived in along with the three older boys, and Nick would take the station wagon and the three younger kids. They all agreed to meet a few minutes later at their favorite parlor.
The boys were naturally interested in what was a big enough deal for Sara to be called backstage, and hounded their mother about it in the car. She'd given them a brief explanation, but warned them not to bring it up, or it would encourage the girls if they got more attention for it. They all arrived at the parlor about ten minutes later and ordered their favorite desserts. It was already past eight, and past the younger three's normal bedtime, but they were as awake and lively as ever. Nick and Sara just hoped they'd be able to get Colin and the twins down without much hassle.
Once they'd found a table big enough to accommodate the eight-person family, they all piled in and began devouring their ice cream, talking amongst themselves. Marley wasn't always cuddly, but tonight she chose to climb into Nick's lap to eat her ice cream.
"Is your sundae good?" Nick asked his little girl as he worked a spoonful of his banana split onto the plastic wear.
"Uh-huh." She nodded, making sure she got lots of chocolate on her own spoon. "Daddy, do you ever push people?" Marley wondered curiously and looked up at her father for his answer.
"Well, baby, sometimes Daddy has to do that sort of thing to bad guys. I don't like to do it, but sometimes I have to."
Marley nodded. "That older girl was bad. I had to push her."
For the second time that night Nick's words to his child were interrupted by a squeeze on his arm from his wife. She was pointing at the front door to the ice cream shop where they saw Warrick and Catherine entering with their brood. Catherine and Warrick had two children together not long after Nick and his first wife had Brandon. Tonight they had their two teens and their seven year old granddaughter with them.
"Hey guys." Warrick called to the Stokes family, he was the first to spot them.
Sara, couldn't believe how much Samantha had grown since the last time she'd seen her. They rarely ever saw Lindsey's little girl since she'd moved to New York with her husband. "Is that Samantha, look at you? Wow, you're more beautiful every time I see you."
"Yeah, Lindsey and Dan are out for a few days, we told them we'd show Sammy a good time so they could spend some time together." Catherine told her long time friends.
"You guys have time to sit down and have a sundae with us?" Nick asked, gesturing to a table near theirs where they could easily sit and talk for a while.
"Nah man." Warrick said. "We promised Molly and Chandler we'd give them a ride to the movies after this, Molly has a date and Chandler's meeting his friends for some thing."
At fifteen and fourteen the Brown teens were already as eager to spend as little time with their parents and older sister's daughter as they possibly could.
They at least seemed somewhat excited to see the Stokes - Brandon and Noah in particular. Though they weren't best buddies, they had all hung out on numerous occasions, and their families had barbecues and get-togethers on a semi-frequent basis. The Browns moved to order their ice cream, and the kids came over to have a quick chat with the Stokes kids. Marley decided she was not going to be forgotten by Nick.
"Daddy, are you disappointed that I pushed that girl?" She asked as she pushed her now melting ice cream around in the little cup. Nick wasn't sure how to answer that, which was the case with many of Marley's questions.
"Well, I was disappointed you used violence instead of your words, but I'm very proud that you stuck up for your sister." Marley turned and beamed up at him.
"Sometimes Jordan gets scared I think. I wish she would stick up for herself sometimes." She told him honestly.
Nick kissed the top of her head. "She'll get there, sweetheart. You just worry about your own problems, and Mommy and I will help Jordan out, okay?"
Marley nodded and giggled at the fact Jordan had gotten out of her seat to show Molly Brown some of her ballet moves. Molly was doing a good job of pretending to be thoroughly fascinated by the kindergartener's skills.
The two families talked for a little while longer and in the midst of the conversation Marley had joined Jordan in playing with Sammy. Molly's attention to Jordan's little dance had wavered pretty quickly and now she was sitting at a table with her younger brother and Brandon discussing one thing or another. Before too long, while Warrick was talking to Nick and Sara, and Catherine was at the register paying, the three girls came running up.
"Can Sammy stay the night please?" Jordan begged her parents.
"Yeah Grampa can I?" Sammy begged from Warrick, knowing that calling him Grampa was the best way of getting anything out of him. It was the same when her mother called him Dad.
"I don't think so sweetie." Sara spoke softly, nobody was sure exactly which of the three girls she was calling sweetie, but it didn't really matter.
"Mommy please?" Marley and Jordan begged in unison.
"Mom said no, girls." Nick added sternly, it was obvious that the girls were getting pretty tired, but who could blame them? It was late and they'd had a big day.
"Please, we'll all be really good." The twins added again.
"Yeah, I'll be really good Grampa." Sammy said, adding a begging pull on her Grandfather's hand.
The family's cups had all been placed on the tray, ready to be thrown away. It was past nine o'clock, and the girls had had a very long and busy day, not to even mention poor little Colin, who had since fallen asleep on a couple of the chairs. The girls were always the last to admit they were tired, especially when they were cranky like they were about to get.
"Well, Jordan and Marley have had a very long day, haven't you?" Nick reminded everyone, tousling Jordan's hair. "It's already way past their bedtime."
That was not the answer the girls were hoping for. Sammy seemed to take it all with a grain of salt and accepted it, but the Stokes twins weren't very happy at all. Jordan moved her head so her father's hand couldn't sit on it, then took a few heavy steps to the nearest chair and let her upper body fall onto it dramatically, and she started to cry. Marley, encouraged by her sister's display, and hoping that when their parents saw how upset they were, would give in, tossed her spoon at the tray quite hard and crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a particularly ugly sound.
"Marley Nicole and Jordan Elizabeth that is enough right now." Sara said sternly, but it didn't do much good. Marley just sat down on the floor and started crying along with her sister.
"We said knock it off." Nick added in, "If you don't stop by the time I get to three you're both in a heap of trouble."
There was another outcry of the same ugly sound Marley had made but this time in stereo and Nick began counting "One."
"Daddy no." Jordan whined but Marley kept weeping, she wanted to call his bluff this time.
"Two." Nick said more sternly than he'd said one, by now Jordan was trying to calm herself down but Marley was still violently crying.
"Thr…" Nick didn't get to finish the word before Marley stopped crying. She had the ability to turn the water works on and off at will.
"Good." Sara added and picked Marley up in her arms. She hugged the girl a little and began carrying her towards the car. She turned to the boys as she stood in the door and said, "I think it's time we went home, guys."
Nick had since picked Jordan up into his arms, who buried her face in the crook of his neck. She wouldn't admit it, but she was very tired, and Nick was sure she'd fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
"Brandon, will you carry Colin for me please?" He requested of his oldest. The teenager sighed but picked up the little tyke. Charlie was looking pretty tired also, but was trying to hide it so his brothers wouldn't make fun of him. They all said goodbye to the Browns and Nick promised that another time Sammy could stay over. The youngest three Stokes were loaded into the car and buckled in, their eyes failing them by drooping, and their mouths yawning. Both girls were still in their ballet uniforms - matching cranky twins. Nick started up the car moments later and made sure everyone was buckled in.
"Dad, can you drop me off at Chris's house?" Brandon requested from the back seat. He'd had about enough of his huge family and his little sisters throwing tantrums in public.
"We need to get the younger three home, Brandon." Nick's voice sounded weary and tired.
The teen was leaning in the driver's side window of the car, and gave a sigh. Noah and Charlie were standing near Sara and the other car. Usually Brandon preferred to ride with his father, so it had been assumed he'd fill the passenger's seat. Sara however, had a different plan she rubbed her son's shoulder blades and said, "Charlie baby you look tired, why don't you go ride with Nick?"
After Sara had instructed her son to fill the empty seat in Nick's car she called loudly, "Brand I'll give you a ride over there if you want."
"Really? Thanks Sara" He gave his dad a smile and ran over to the car Sara was driving and climbed into the passenger's seat. Noah was riding with them because even though he was only two years older than Charlie he had a lot more stamina and Sara didn't feel as bad keeping him out late as she would have Charlie.
Charlie got into the front seat with Nick and the three little ones to go straight home. Nick turned to back out of his parking space, and took a quick peek at the girls to see how they were doing. Jordan now had her thumb in her mouth, a pre-bedtime ritual of hers. Marley was wiping at her eyes and still whimpering slightly.
"They are definitely tired." Charlie commented to his stepfather. As an older kid, he was beginning to understand why parents sometimes said no to kids' requests. He was very glad Nick and his mom didn't let the twins get away with their tantrums.
"Yeah. Usually they conk out by eight thirty or so. The sugar kept them up for a while, but I'm not surprised they took a nosedive." He told Charlie quietly as he pulled out of the parking lot. However, Marley had overheard.
"I'm not tired." She told her father stubbornly.
"Close your eyes, Mar." Nick told his young daughter, not willing to get into another battle of wills with her. Marley grumbled and made special effort to keep her eyes open, though it was very hard. By the time they'd arrived in the driveway, Jordan had fallen asleep, and Marley was fighting to keep her eyelids from closing. Nick turned in his seat to assess the situation and smirked.
"Charlie, you think you can handle carrying Colin in?" Nick asked as they both unbuckled.
"Yeah, Nick. I can do it."
"Thanks, bud." Nick opened one of the doors and gently unbuckled Jordan. He picked her up without disturbing her and then walked around to Marley's side, who was barely awake. "Mar, come take my hand and I'll walk you upstairs."
Charlie unbuckled Colin from his car seat and followed his step father and two sisters into the house. He secretly loved it when his parents asked him to take care of Colin. He was pretty sure Nick knew this too, because Nick was always a lot more willing to let him get the littler boy than his mother would have been.
By the time Nick had taken the girls to their room and talked them into putting on their pj's with a promise that they'd get a bedtime story as soon as he was back from tucking Colin in, Charlie had already begun changing him, diaper and all. Nick just looked into the toddler's bedroom door and watched his stepson proudly for a little while. After a moment he decided to let Charley handle this one for the night, and went back to the twin's room.
"Girls I'll pick out a story, you two go brush your teeth." They were both too tired to protest.
Nick walked down the hall and leaned into Colin's room one last time, he watched as Charlie laid his little brother down gently in his bed and tucked him in, then with a kiss to his brother's forehead he turned and looked Nick in the eye.
"Hey I'm going to read your sisters a story, wanna come in and listen?" Nick asked.
"Thanks Nick, but I think I'm just gonna go get ready for bed."
Nick nodded. "Suit yourself. Thanks for helping with Colin. You're very good with him." Charlie smiled sheepishly, beaming inwardly at Nick's compliment.
"Thanks." Nick gave him a smile and then disappeared to the bathroom, where the girls were slowly brushing their teeth. Jordan was so tired that her brush was barely making contact with her teeth, and she was doing the head bob. Nick gently took her toothbrush from her hand and filled up her little Dixie cup with water.
"Rinse your mouth, baby, and hop into bed." He instructed her softly. Jordan nodded and yawned, and had soon disappeared. Marley soon finished and requested to be picked up. Nick tugged her up by her arms and hitched her up, then headed towards their bedroom.
"Daddy, can we get a kitty cat?" Marley asked randomly as he carried her. Nick furrowed his eyebrows as he laid her down gently on her bed, which matched her sister's.
"We'll talk about it tomorrow, sweetheart."
Nick only got about four pages into the story he was reading the girls before they were both out. He kissed each forehead gently and crept back out of the room, clicking the lights off. He check on Colin one last time before turning his light off and nightlight on and he walked down the stairs to the living room. He was still thinking about Brandon's request for another bedroom and the only thing he could think was that maybe it was time to buy a bigger house. He sighed and sat down on the couch and clicked on the tv. Perhaps in the next few days he'd have to discuss the idea of moving with Sara. They did live in her house after all. He didn't have much time to think about it, though, before he heard Sara and Noah coming into the house.
"Hey Dad." Noah called to his father as he came into the house "Did Charlie go to bed?"
"Yeah bud." Nick sat up a bit."Why?"
"Can I watch tv then? I don't wanna wake him up and I'm not really that tired." Noah liked feeling like one of the oldest and though Nick knew his son would be asleep on the couch in the next hour or hour and a half he nodded and passed his son the remote.
Sara had gone into the kitchen to get herself a cup of water before heading up to the bedroom she and Nick shared for some quiet reading. Nick decided to join her in the kitchen, coming up behind her at the sink, places his hands on her hips as she took a big sip of her water. She swallowed and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Are the girls asleep?" She asked, hoping the two balls of energy were down for the night. Nick dropped a kiss to her shoulder, letting Sara's scent surround him.
"Yeah. Jordan was so tired she almost fell asleep brushing her teeth." Sara let out a little chuckle as she set her glass down and turned in his arms. Her smile mirrored his as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Well, tantrums are usually a pretty good indicator they're in need of some rest." She pointed out. Nick nodded and then captured Sara's lips with his own in a sweet, tender kiss. After several moments of lip locking, Nick pulled back and kissed her forehead.
"Did you give Brandon a curfew?" Sara nodded.
"Midnight." She turned and picked up her glass again. "I, for one, will not be waiting up to make sure he's home on time. I told him to wake you up when he got in."
Nick laughed and tickled her side. "How considerate of you."
Sara batted his hand away and then took his hand in hers as they began walking towards the stairs.
"Noah, we're going to bed. Don't stay up too much later." Nick told his son. Noah agreed, and the two parents went upstairs to the haven of their bedroom for some rare alone time. Soon, they were both in bed, facing each other under the covers. Their eyelids were droopy after another long day, taking care of their six mutual children.
"Baby, you look exhausted." Nick commented, gently stroking his wife's dark brown locks, which all three of their children had inherited. Sara sighed heavily and nodded her head.
"That's because I am." She deadpanned, the lulling effect Nick's hand was having on her threatening to send her into dreamland.
Nick chuckled and leaned forward, kissing her gently. Though she never thought she would be, Sara really was a wonderful mother to their children, and his children. "You've been chasing kids all day again."
"Mmmhmmm." She said tiredly, letting her eyelids close. Nick's hand gently guided her onto her stomach, and he began to rub his warm hand over her back in comfort. "The little kids wear me out. Especially Marley."
Another chuckle from Nick as he continued stroking her back. "Well, that goes without saying."
Sara giggled slightly. "Yeah. But I love it. And I love you."
Nick could tell she was barely hanging on to the land of the living, so he pressed a kiss to her temple and snuggled up a little closer to her after turning off the lamp on the bedside table. "I know. I love you too."