July 2029
"Whose cleats are these" Alex hollered up the stairs knowing full well who they belonged to, not because their house wasn't overtaken by six pairs but because only one of her children was forever leaving things around the house (again not that the other five didn't just one made it more of a habit), her daughter who was sometimes too much like her beautiful, careless princess of a mother in looks and demeanor, "Josephine Scarlett Ophelia Vause! Get your butt down here right now!"
"Whaaatt! Mooommm I'm tired! It was really hot at soccer camp today!"
"I know you aren't napping all afternoon and then planning on staying up all night, Josephine."
"But I'm so tired."
"This isn't a negotiation," Alex responded as she arrived at her daughter's door and entered without knocking.
"Now get down stairs and put those cleats and your soccer bag away in the mud room where they belong instead of the entryway. Are you trying to break my other hip?"
"No mom of course not."
"Well then go put your soccer things away and then come upstairs and put your suit on and get in the pool. It'll help you cool down and relax, I might even get mom Piper to make you her lavender lemonade. Charlie and your cousin Nickolas would live in the pool but you forget its there."
"Okay, you think we can grill tonight?"
"Shrimp or chicken?"
"Shrimp. Are Greyson and little Nicky still over?"
"They're sleeping over tonight."
"Not more boys in the house!"
"And Allie has a friend over tonight."
"I'm so glad we finally got our own rooms last month when school got out. I don't know how Mila and Dela are still sharing rooms happily! I wanted my own room a year ago. She always has some new friend she just has to spend every minute with. I don't get it. I hang with like ten girls and always in groups and its the same group I've hung with since I was five not so with her except her two best friends and the little boy everybody knows is gay she hangs around with its always one friend at a time."
"Don't compare your relationship as multiples to that of your sisters. How many times have I told you that?"
"A bunch."
"Back to my book. Clean, swim, enjoy your summer. It's short you'll have soccer camp then swim camp and then school."
On her way back down the stairs she heard a voice call lightly from the twins' room, "Mom are you and mom Piper okay?"
"Mila, baby sometimes adults fight."
"But you fight a lot not just sometimes. I don't want to have to go between houses and split everything. I want the mommies who used to take us on fun vacations and loved each other so much they got married twice. Remember that trip to Sesame Place when the triplets turned two, even Charlie enjoyed it. Or that Christmas trip to New York City three years ago, if only I knew that would be the last time we would be all happy together. It's not seeing you fight earlier its that you two can't stand to be in the same room. I've heard it, we all have, I've just never seen it until I decided to grab an ill timed snack. You do everything not to be in the same room and when you are you always end up in a fight. As much as I don't want to be split in two seeing you miserable splits me in a million pieces and sometimes I wish you would just get a divorce."
"Your mom and I aren't going to get a divorce, we don't want to. Our relationship has always been a bit volatile. I just want you to be a kid and enjoy that. I worried about adult things as a kid and it really messed me up for a long time and I don't want that for you."
"I can't be a kid, Cordelia depends on me and Allie to protect them from the bullies, to make sure they get everything they need. Then I see my moms at odds and its another conflict I need to solve, another thing I need to save."
"That's for me to deal with. Your sisters are strong and capable, let them fight their own battles and you worry about Mila."
"I don't know if I can, they're my little sisters and I can't watch people make fun of them, it hurts me."
"They need to fight their own battles sweetie and you just be there when they come to you. They are your best friends and I can't tell you what it does to my heart to see that relationship, the three of you have such a tight bond. I just can't believe I have any part in that. Now give me a hug. I'm heading down stairs and you should too."
"Okay mom. I love you."
"I love you too."
Seconds later Alex strolled into the kitchen where Piper was busy reorganizing the fridge and making sure they had everything and throwing away the expired food. Alex knew she was headed for a fight cause everything with Piper was a fight and change was a sure way to death but Alex's children were everything and she'd take the worst of her wife to keep them happy.
"So I was thinking we could grill tonight."
"That's not on the menu. It's basil chicken with penne and zucchini. You never stick to the schedule or meal plan. Why do I bother making it? Somebody's always changing something."
"Why do you make it then?"
"Because we have six kids, Alex! Six! There's eight of us and if we weren't twice as organized as a normal family with two kids everything would fall apart or into chaos."
"It's the summer. We can always have basil chicken, we can't always grill and we have three extra kids to feed tonight."
"It might be fun. No, no, no it wouldn't I'm not giving into you."
Alex walked over to her wife and put her arms around her waist and gave her the look she knew would always make her wife melt.
"C'mon Pipes. Josie wants it, do it for her. Let's grill up some shrimp and corn and zucchini. You love grilled shrimp. Remember that shrimp in Bali?"
"I do. God, you are evil and pure sex. I hate what you do to me. Okay we can make shrimp."
"While I have you firmly under my spell what do you think about therapy? I want this marriage to work. We've invested too many years and we have a pack of kids and our problems are affecting them. That's where I draw the line. When it hurts the kids, what Mila saw that can't happen, that's where I draw a firm line. My kids are my everything. I love you but there's nobody I love more than my kids, especially my girls. Mila is eleven going on thirty, she already struggles to be a kid."
"I'm not telling someone my issues. What can they do really?"
"Teach us how to communicate better. Offer support and guidance. Anyone who's been through what we have as indivduals and then a couple would need therapy. I want to save this marriage. You saw your parents' issues and it scarred you. Your mom didn't want to talk to anyone and she alienated her daughter and messed you up do you want that for your daughters?"
"No, that's the last thing I want for my daughters. I don't want to turn into my mother either. We can go to therapy. Now give me a kiss and go fire up your grill. I'll get you your beer."
"Now, that's a command I can live with," Alex turned and then turned back around, "What do you think about Hawaii?"
"In general?"
"We do have those four days between camps and school in two weeks I was thinking maybe we should go on another one of our famous Vause family vacations. And you love your islands. We don't have many summers left, Charlie will be thirteen in February. A teenager Pipes! We're gonna have a teenager and he is already brooding and eating us out of house and home and he's already as tall as me and the twins are close behind! Josie is already too cool for her family. We need to come together while we still can. While being a close-knit family is still cool. Cause we are already sending our first child off to high school and we'll turn around and in four short summers be packing to send that kid off to college. So Hawaii?"
"Did you have an island in mind?"
"Maui. The older three really wanted to go zip lining last time we were there but they were still too small, they should all be big enough now."
"Sounds good but I'm busy launching our fall line and new shoes for Christmas and those jackets came back all wrong from the vendor and I need them ready next month."
"I'll plan it and you take care of vendors and product and let me take care of it. Just think about what bikinis you want to bring and what fresh island fruit you want to eat first."
"Okay, Al. Hoe come you always win?"
"Oh it might have something to do with knowing you since you were 22 and you're 47 now so I've known you awhile and I know how you tick."
"Yeah and I know you. I don't like you lately and you stress me out worse than the business but I know you. I also know when a vacation might be the best thing for a family and you're right our kids need Hawaii right now. So plan it, baby."