Disclaimer: I own nothing. This story takes place during the five year gap between season four and five. I had no idea where this was going when I began writing, I just wanted to write. This was the result.
They Just Do
A story by oc-lover-6
Lynette was sitting on the swing on her front porch, taking in the fresh September morning. She woke up half and hour earlier than normal that day, so Penny, Tom and the boys were all still sleeping soundly upstairs. She glanced up from her coffee mug and saw her neighbour, Karen McCluskey, doing some early-morning gardening. She half-smiled and walked over to talk to her.
"Hey Karen."
"Hey, Lynette. I'm surprised to see you're not patrolling the kids for the pre-school routine."
"Yeah well, they're still asleep upstairs. I can't believe summer's already over."
"I know. It goes faster and faster every year, doesn't it? Just wait till you get to my age."
Lynette laughed nervously. "Yeah, well that day doesn't seem too far off, with Penny starting school today and the boys in fourth and fifth grade..." she trailed off. "I feel old."
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. It's only going to get worse."
"Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically.
"I know what you mean though. I remember babysitting Penny when she was a baby. This is the first year that I'm not going to have to babysit for you during the day anymore."
"Yep," Lynette realized.
Their conversation was interrupted by Tom calling, "Lynette!"
"I guess it's time to go wrangle the mob," Lynette joked. She turned and walked to the sound of her husband's voice.
"Penny needs you," Tom informed her when she entered the house.
"What, why?"
"She wants to pick the perfect outfit for her first day of school, and she won't let me help. She says that Daddy's don't know anything about clothes."
"Well, she's right. Go get the boys ready, okay? I want to have a family breakfast before their first day of school."
"Okay, good idea," Tom pecked her quickly on the lips and hurried back up the stairs. Lynette shook her head and smiled and went to help her daughter.
After the breakfast table was all cleared up, Lynette and Tom began helping their kids tie their shoes and do up their jackets. Penny was glowing with excitement after finding the perfect little pink dress and matching shoes to complete her outfit.
"Let's go, let's go!" she demanded, grabbing onto her mother's hand and pulling her towards the door.
"Are you excited to ride the bus with your brothers?" Tom asked his daughter.
"Yes!"
"Well, tell them to hurry up. You don't want to miss the bus on your first day," Tom joked.
Penny's eyes widened in shock, "Hurry up, slow pokes! Get your rears in gear."
Lynette choked with laughter at her daughter's antics. She heard Tom mutter, "like mother like daughter," to himself. Lynette shoved him out the door before taking her daughter's hand again and heading to the bus stop.
The boys ran ahead in their typical hyper behavior, leaving Tom hand-in-hand with Lynette who was hand-in-hand with Penny, walking shortly behind. Tom glanced over at Lynette and looked at her curiously. He could tell that she had something on her mind by the expression on her face. She was wearing a smile, but Tom could tell that it wasn't completely genuine. He let go of her hand, and wrapped his arm around her waist.
"When'sthebusgonnabehere? When'sthebusgonnabehere?" Penny demanded when they caught up with the twins and Parker at the bus stop.
"Should be any minute," Tom assured her. "You have everything you need right?"
"Sure do, Daddy," she said taking off her backpack. "It's all in here. Mommy helped me pack it all last night."
"Oh, okay sweetie."
"There's the bus!" Porter exclaimed.
Penny squealed with excitement and jumped up and down. She clapped her hands several times, before pulling her backpack back on. "I'm gonna get a seat with the window," Penny declared.
"Me too!" Preston shouted.
"Hey, no fair. You got the window seat last year," Porter whined. "I get it this year!"
"I'll race you to it!" Preston challenged. And with that, the twins zoomed out of sight and onto the bus, with Parker trailing close behind.
"Brothers," Penny sighed, shaking her head. "I hope that my class isn't full of boys. I'm tired of them."
"I'm sure you're going to make all sorts of friends," Tom smiled.
"Okay! Bye Daddy! Bye Mommy!"
"Wait, wait, wait. I need a goodbye hug," Lynette insisted. Penny ran to her mother and hugged her before hugging her father and running onto the bus. Lynette and Tom watched as the other kids filed on until the bus doors closed. Lynette saw Penny talking to another little girl as the bus pulled onto the road and drove away.
Tom glanced down at Lynette and kissed her on the cheek. "And off they go."
"Yeah, off they go," Lynette repeated, with a far-off expression.
"You okay?"
"Hmm?"
"I asked if you're okay."
"Oh yeah, I'm fine."
Tom raised his eyebrows at her in a manor so she could tell he wasn't going to forget his question. "It's just - I can't believe that this day is here."
"The first day of school?"
"No. Yes. I mean, this is the beginning of our kids growing up. They're all at the same school now, growing up so quickly. They're not babies anymore," she said as if she was realizing this for the first time.
"Oh, baby. Penny's only five."
"I know, but don't you feel like she was just born? I'm going to close my eyes one of these days and she'll be thirteen years old and resenting me for no reason."
Tom tried to make a joke, "That's not true. I'm sure she'll have a reason."
Lynette didn't laugh. Tom took her into his arms and rubbed her back. "Honey, stop worrying. You know that they love you. That's true now, it was true yesterday, and it'll be true no matter how old the kids get," he paused. "No matter how old we get."
She looked up into his eyes appreciatively and sighed. "Okay."
"Okay?"
"You're right. I'm over-reacting. I just want to tell them to stop growing up so quickly."
"Oh, honey. Kids grow up, they just do. There's nothing we can do about it. We just have to enjoy them being young now."
"I know. You can't turn back time, it's just weird to me that my kids are all too big to carry around. It's weird to me that Mrs. McCluskey isn't babysitting for us anymore while we're running the restaurant in the mornings. Don't you ever wish that they were babies again?"
"Well, we could always have more babies," Tom suggested.
"Don't even kid about that!"
"See what I mean? It's good that they're growing up but they're still going to be kids for a long time. They're still going to need their mom," he said rubbing his hand over her cheek. "And trust me, there's going to be times in the future when you want them to grow up faster and get the heck out of our house."
Lynette laughed and let herself fall into his arms. She immediately felt comforted when his arms embraced her tightly and didn't let go.
"Thank you," she whispered into his ear. He kissed her forehead and then reached for her hand. They walked together, back up the sidewalk of Wisteria Lane until they reached their house.
"Is there any way that we could take the day off today? Lynette asked Tom. "I just want to spend it with you, without the kids. A day just for us. How does that sound?"
"Oh, I'd love to. Besides, I think Andrew can handle the restaurant until dinner hour. I'll call him and check."
Lynette smiled and nodded. She placed a lingering kiss on Tom's lips before passing him the phone and pulling him on the couch to sit down beside her, with her head placed on his shoulder.
End - I might make this a non-continuous, multi-chapter fic filled with moments between season four and five.
