"Daddy! Daddy! Look at me!" Fina called across the playground. She took a running start then leapt onto the low balance beam, performing a precise cartwheel on the metal bar. For a five year old, she was extremely active and skilled, not just at gymnastics, but martial arts as well. She'd taken classes since she was three and she saw her big brother taking them. Gio had dropped out after a year, but Fina had stuck with the training and was now quite capable. The gymnastics classes had been her sensei's idea as a way to increase her strength and flexibility. She'd taken to those like a fish to water as well.

"Good job, Angel Girl!" Danny called back. He smiled over to were Lindsay was giving their youngest, three month old Anna Donelle, a bottle.

"Where'd she get that talent from?" he asked. Lindsay shook her head.

"It's not my side of the family," she said, "that's for sure. Alex is eating sand again." Danny rolled his eyes and darted off to the sand box to stop his fifteen month old.

"Alexis Grace, we don't eat sand," he said, "Yuck."

"Uck," she imitated, making a face. She turned to her mirror image beside her, "Uck, Ainen, uck."

Aiden laughed at her twin sister. It was amazing to Danny how the two girls who looked so much alike were developing their own little personalities already. Alex was a goofball, always going for the laugh. She was always moving and always testing the limits, while Aiden was quieter, most observant and a sweetheart. It wasn't that she didn't like to explore or discover things, she just liked to watch. Aiden reminded Danny of Fina at that age, her big eyes always watching everything around, taking in every detail.

Danny sat down in the sand between his twins and mused at the life he was living. If someone had told him even seven years ago he'd be married with five kids, he would have laughed in their face. It had been less than ten years ago that he'd scoffed at the idea of falling in love. Now he fallen not once but six times; With Lindsay, with Gio, with Fina, with Alex, with Aiden and, most recently, with little Anna, their surprise baby. He and Lindsay hadn't been planning to expand their family but when they found out Lindsay was pregnant they were excited. This pregnancy had been as easy as the first two and their daughter was just as perfect as the others.

The clouds which had been threatening seemed to grow darker in the blink of an eye and people headed for home. Danny scooped up the twins and headed for their stroller, calling to Gio and Fina as he did. They scurried over to him and the family headed home. They didn't manage to dodge the rain completely and ended up getting quite wet. Lindsay granted the two oldest their wish of playing outside in the rain until she saw lightning and called them inside.

Danny helped get all of the children into dry clothes. It was nap time for the three little girls, so they were lifted into their cribs one by one. The twins' reactions were night and day different. Alex, not wanting to miss out on anything fun, threw a fit, while Aiden lay down on her belly and put her thumb in 

her mouth, pulling the blanket close around her, ignoring Alex's cries and whining. Anna was already asleep in the room she shared with Fina.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Fina said, tugging his arm, "Come watch Mulan with us!" Danny could have laughed at the predictability of it all. Mulan was one of the only movies the two 'Italians' as his oldest children had been nicknamed, could agree on. They watched it almost every day. Fina liked it because of its heroine's fighting skill, and Gio loved the little wise-cracking dragon. Danny had liked the movie, the first dozen or so times he'd watched it. But he still sat down in the big easy chair and let Fina climb up into his lap. Gio curled up on the couch with his head in Lindsay's lap.

"We're supposed to go to your parent's tonight," Lindsay said, "They said they had some kind of surprise for us."

"Alright, I guess we should probably leave as soon as the movie's done, huh?" he asked. Lindsay nodded.

"You've got a sleeper," she said. Danny looked down to see that she was right. Fina looked so peaceful in her sleep, even though she bunched her fists up tight, a habit she'd had since she was a tiny baby. The movie finished and Fina was still sound asleep. She was the first one Danny carried out to the van. He came back inside for the twins, whom he somehow managed to carry at the same time without waking either of them, and Lindsay brought Anna. Gio was the last to buckle in, as he'd had to search for his book. They were soon on their way. As they crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Lindsay could feel Danny getting more and more anxious. As much as he loved his parents, bringing the kids to the old neighborhood made him nervous. Adding to the tension was this surprise of his parents, which he could not predict at all. They pulled up in front of the house and Danny told Lindsay to stay with their still-napping kids until his mom answered the door.

"Danny!" his mother exclaimed, hugging him. She immediately looked around for the children. Danny laughed at her predictability.

"The girls are all sleepin', Ma," he said, his accent thickening. She immediately bustled out to help carry the little ones inside, clucking that Danny was going to spoil Fina when he refused to wake her up and make her walk inside on her own two feet. She cooed over little Anna and fussed over Lindsay.

"Ma," Danny said as soon as they had everyone inside, "You said you had a surprise?" His mother smiled and clapped her hands together excitedly. She rushed off into the kitchen and came back a few moments later. Her husband walked behind her, leading someone else alongside him. Danny felt the air leave his lungs in a startled gasp. There, standing in front of him, walking toward them, was his big brother, Louie Messer.

--

Life is so ironic, isn't it? My muse deserted me for quite some time, only to come back when I don't have much time left to write… I'll do what I can, though and the one for when they've grown up is 

really long already, but in serious need of editing. As for this one, I have some idea of the direction this is going, but not a full plan just yet. Ideas and inspiration are definitely welcome.