Disclaimer: Disclaimed!

Making a Splash

Michael and Ben stood on the balcony of their holiday home in California admiring the view. They smiled when they saw their adopted son Hunter and his partner Hank down by the pool with their three adopted sons. The oldest was Harlow who was a rambunctious five year old with auburn hair and brown eyes. The second oldest was Bryn. He was four years old and just as much of a handful as his brother. Unlike his brother he had blue eyes which contrasted strikingly with his raven black hair. The youngest of the three was Jacob. At two years old he had the same black hair as Bryn but like the eldest brother he had brown eyes. The children were a mixture of Caucasian and Latino. As a result of this the elder and younger of the three had the Latino skin inherited from their father while the middle child had his mothers Caucasian skin.

Michael and Ben could remember well the day that Hunter and Hank said that they were going to adopt. They had been round at Michael and Ben's for dinner when Hunter had announced that he and hank were going to adopt three brothers from the foster care system. They already knew who they were going to adopt and had told them story about how the boys came to be in the foster care system. It was a sad story. Their family had been a happy one until their father had died. He was a detective and had been killed in the line of duty. Their mother had given herself over to depression and eventually died of a drug overdose.

The boys had been adopted a year ago and were now very happy with their new daddies.

Michael and Ben's thoughts soon drifted to their own adopted son. Drake was fourteen years old and like Harlow, Bryn and Jacob had been adopted from the foster care system. His father was a drunk who was behind bars for assault and his mother had abandoned him when she found out he was HIV positive. He'd been bounced around the foster care system until Michael and Ben had stepped in and given him a home.

Drake now seemed like a happy fourteen year old and he loved spending time with his siblings. The eldest of these was Giselle. She was a precocious seven year old who was Michael's biological daughter who had been carried by a surrogate. The surrogate mother had looked similar to Ben so as result Giselle had the same light brown hair and tanned skin as her papa but she had her daddy's dark brown eyes. The same surrogate had later carried Michael's twins who were named Jesse and Cody. They were now three years old and had greyish blue eyes and Michael's slightly fairer skin and dark brown eyes.

...

They were brought out of their memories by Drake. "The twins' diapers need changing," he told them. The look in his emerald green eyes clearly told them he would not be the one doing the changing. Ben and Michael sighed and followed sandy blond haired teen through to the play room. Michael picked up Cody and as soon as he did he wrinkled his nose. He left quickly while Ben picked up Jesse.

While they were taking them through to the bathroom Hunter and Hank came back in from the pool. "Sorry boys you gonna have to use the other bathroom," Ben informed them.

"No problem," Hunter assured his dads. He could tell why his dads need the bathroom and was more than happy to usher his own family into the next bathroom.

...

Giselle was bored. Her daddies were busy changing her brothers' diapers and Drake was in his room reading. She desperately wanted something to do. She was wearing her sandals and swimming costume and when she looked outside there was no one at the pool. Perfect. Surely she could get away with going for a little swim.

With her mind made up she crept outside and, after taking off her sandals, slipped into the pool. She splashed about in the shallow quiet happily. See, she could do this without her parents there. She sat on the pool steps and pulled an inflatable dolphin over which she them proceeded to swim with.

When she'd had enough she got out of the pool and tottered back towards the house, only to run straight into her daddy. Michael looked down at his daughter and saw that she was soaking wet. "Giselle," he began in a warning tone, "were you swimming out here by yourself?"

"No," the seven year old muttered.

Michael looked around, there was no one else out there. "I think you were," he said. Without another word he took her over to one of the chairs and told her to bend over. He then pulled her costume down and picked up one of her sandals.

SMACK! Michael landed a sharp smack to his daughter's bare bottom quickly followed by three more.

Afterwards he turned her around and saw that she was crying. He drew her into a hug even thought she was all wet. "I'm sorry I had to do that," Michael began, "but I want you to understand that swimming by yourself is very dangerous and I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm sorry daddy," Giselle sniffled.

"It's all right," Michael assured her, "all is forgiven now. I love you."

"I love you too daddy," his daughter said.

The two went back inside and Michael took Giselle off to be cleaned and dried.

...

Later that night Michael told Ben what Giselle had done. Ben was very upset and decided that further action was needed. So he went up to Giselle's room and sat down on her bed. "Roll over on to your tummy," he said. Seeing the look on in papa's eyes Giselle knew better than to argue. She did as she was told. Ben pulled her pyjama pants down and landed three mild slaps to her bottom. When that was down he pulled up her pants and sat her on his lap.

"Don't over go swimming by yourself again, do you hear me?" he asked, "you're daddy and I were worried that something could have happened to you."

"Sorry papa," she murmured.

"It's alright now," Ben said softly, "I love you sweetie."

"I love you too papa."

Needless to say Giselle learned her lesson and from then on made sure that there was someone with her whenever she wanted to go for a swim.