Alex and Jo stood by patiently waiting their turn to speak with their oldest daughter's teacher as Haley sat at her desk talking to a friend. Alex looked about the room, "Hard to believe this is our fifth year doing these things."

Jo smiled while keeping a sharp eye on their mischievous daughter, "Well time flies while you're having fun."

Alex nodded in agreement, "I wonder which one will get the roughest report."

Jo snickered, "Oh that's easy, your mini-me."

Alex rolled his eyes, "He gets most of his bad behaviors from you."

Jo laughed, "Yeah right."

"Like your junior clone is a saint."

Jo cocked her head, "Alright, you're on."

Before they could agree on terms, Haley's teacher, Mrs. Wade summoned them to the front. They sat in small chairs beside the desk as the teacher extended her hand to each of them, "You must be the Karevs. You must hear this all the time, but Haley looks just like you."

Jo smiled politely, "Thank you."

The teacher opened her files, "Now, Haley is doing above average work in all academic areas, but she is exceptionally gifted in math. I've never had a fifth grader understand geometric concepts so quickly. Are you aware of how advanced she is?"

Alex leaned back with a proud look on his face, "Yeah, another thing she gets from her mom."

Mrs. Wade nodded and took off her glasses, "I would like to have her on the math team here at school. I think it would challenge her somewhat and keep her from getting bored."

Alex and Jo looked at each other, seemingly having a conversation with their eyes. Jo turned back and nodded, "If she wants to, we're fine with that."

The teacher smiled brightly, "Marvelous. Now, my only complaint with Haley so far is she's…a little rough with some of the other kids."

Alex leaned forward dumfounded, "She's a bully?"

Mrs. Wade shook her head, "Not exactly, no. She's more like the one that tries to keep the bullies in line. And most of the time she does a fair job of it. She's got a sharp tongue that one."

Alex snickered and cut his eyes towards Jo, "And that would make three."

Mrs. Wade smiled and rose in a polite dismissal while extending her hand once more, "If you could just work with her on calling the boys 'jerkface', I would appreciate it."

Jo nodded embarrassed and called to Haley as they walked out. The young girl skipped happily in front of them down the hall. When she had gotten a considerable distance ahead, Jo whispered, "What are we going to do?"

Alex looked at her questioningly, "For what?"

Jo's eyes widened in surprise, "She's the bully of the bullies! That's not good. We have to address it. So what do you think? Timeouts, groundings, extra chores?"

Alex nodded, "Whatever it is remember you have to be punished too."

Jo eyed him warily, "Come again?"

Alex smiled, "You called me 'jerkface' last weekend. Remember you were going to give some of your maternity clothes to Stephanie and I asked if you were really done with them and you took that as me calling you fat."

Jo huffed out a sigh, "Well she doesn't need to be eavesdropping!"

Alex laughed, "We were eating breakfast."

Jo waved him off, "Whatever, let's just go hear about sweet Landon and go home."

Alex snickered, "Told you my mini-me would be more well-behaved."

Jo pushed his shoulder and let out a "jerk" before catching herself. She balled her fist up in frustration, "damnit!"

Alex rolled his eyes, "Yeah, that's much better."

They entered the classroom before Jo could respond to find Ms. Blackstock packing up her bag. She glanced up and smiled, "Let me guess, Landon's parents."

Alex smiled proudly, "Guilty."

She gestured to a small table beside her desk, "He's doing great so far. As you know we haven't gotten into the more meaty topics since it's so early and he's just in Kindergarten, but he's right on track or ahead of the curve. And a very athletic rascal, I must say."

Alex gave a satisfied 'that's my boy' grin that Jo tried hard to ignore. She smiled at the teacher, "Anything special we need to work with him on?"

The teacher closed her book and nodded, "He does have a tendency to try to protect the girls in the class. It hasn't caused any real problems yet but I want to try to nip it."

Alex furrowed his brows, "How so?"

The teacher waved her hand in the air, "Oh little things like making sure they have snack or giving his coat if he thinks they are cold or pushing any boys that say mean things. It's very sweet of him and cute, but you can see where it may be an issue later on."

Jo nodded, "Yes, we do."

Ms. Blackstock smiled, "He's quite the little ladies' man already. The girls just flock to him. He's broken several hearts already."

Jo cut her eyes towards Alex, who was steadfastly ignoring her, "Anything else?"

The teacher nodded, "I have noticed he has a little temper at times. Nothing's happened yet, and I'd like to keep it that way. And if you could work with him on saying 'freaking', I would really, really appreciate that."

Alex looked up, "He says that a lot?"

Ms. Blackstock nodded with a hint of sarcasm, "Every freakin' day."

As she stood to gather her things Jo put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. They said their goodbyes and gathered Haley from the hallway before walking to the car. When they pulled out and headed towards the Shepherd/Grey home to pick up Landon and their youngest daughter, Claire, Jo looked over with a grin, "So, what punishment are you going to give yourself for your potty mouth?"

Alex rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Shut up."

Haley piped up from the back seat, "Ooooh Daddy, Mrs. Wade says you're not supposed to say that word, it's bad."

Alex and Jo both tried to contain their laughter as Alex looked back at their daughter in the rear view mirror, "She's right Haley, I'll sit in timeout when we get home."

"Mrs. Wade makes you write sentences," she informed him matter-of-factly.

Alex met his daughter's wide hazel eyes once more, "Yeah?" The small girl nodded vigorously as he sighed. He then glanced over at Jo to see tears brimming her eyes as she doubled over trying to hold in her laughter. He whispered towards her, "Go ahead, yuck it up. But what do you think the punishment for saying 'jerk' is going to be?"