Author's Note: Hey, everybody! I think it's been almost a year since I finished writing All You Need Is Love, so a sequel is probably due just about now. This one, unlike the first, is a cowrite with the utterly amazing bauerfreak, without whose kick in the pants for me to get working on this story, and also her immense talent for writing, this story would never have come into existence. Thanks, Hanna! You totally rock!
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Well, I certainly don't own CSI, but I can't speak for Hanna...
Nick and Sara's eyes groggily opened to the sound of an alarm clock going off loudly in one of the nearby rooms in their house. They knew from experience it was probably their sixteen year old daughter, Ciara's. She liked to set her alarm clock early so she could shower and style her hair, but many mornings that didn't happen. Sara groaned and rolled over, rubbing her husband's chest. "Mmmm. Go tell her to go turn it off." She told him sleepily. To their surprise, the angry buzzing stopped quickly and they heard her get out of bed, her feet softly padding the floors.
"Good morning, sweetie," Sara called out into the hall.
"Hi Mom, hi Dad!" she called back, sounding chipper.
Sara smiled into her pillow. Their teenager was such a morning person, even though she didn't always wake up easily. "Honey, can you wake up your brothers, please?"
"Sure thing, Mom!" Sara heard Ciara's footsteps start to descend down the stairs into the basement where her brothers' room was. Sara sighed a little in relief and snuggled back into Nick's side. It was nice to have at least one responsible teenager.
Downstairs, Ciara didn't bother knocking on her brothers' bedroom door. "Hey! Nerd bombs! Time to get up." She told them. Logan stirred and rubbed at his face from his bed on the left side of his room. He quickly sat up, always looking forward to school in the morning. However, Anthony could practically care less and just turned over.
"Go away," Anthony grumbled.
Ciara, always lively, walked right over to his bed and promptly sat down on his back. "Mmph!"
"I'm not getting off you until you promise to get up," she warned.
"Whatever," he mumbled and smushed his face further into his pillow. Ciara bounced a bit to reinforce her point. "Alright, alright! I'm getting up." Ciara stood up and, feeling smug, Anthony threw off the covers to reveal that he was wearing nothing underneath.
Ciara overdramatically slapped her hand over her eyes. "I did not need to see that, Anthony!"
Logan snickered from his bed and said, "I should have warned you that he sleeps commando."
"You're disgusting." Ciara told him finally, turning to leave the room. "Put some damn underwear on and move before Mom and Dad come down here." Ciara shook her head in disgust as she climbed back up the stairs again. She poked her head in her parents' room, where they were still in bed. "I woke 'em up, but you might need to chase Anthony up," she informed them, which was no surprise to the two parents. Anthony wasn't a fan of school and it didn't bother him if he was late for it. The problem was that the triplets shared one car, so if Anthony was running late, it would cause all of them to be late. The triplets had received numerous tardies and detentions because of this problem.
Ciara went back up the stairs and entered the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the linen closet on her way. She locked the door behind her and turned on the shower, then flipped on her radio. The teenager timed how long her showers were by playing her favourite song, which was exactly four minutes long. She knew if her shower was too long if she was in there for longer than the song was playing. Running her fingers under the shower, she stepped in when it had reached her preferred temperature.
Meanwhile, Nick pulled himself out of bed and went down to the kitchen. He put a skillet on the burner and cracked a couple of eggs into it, watching them turn instantly white as they hit the black metal. Sara was not far behind him, and when she came down to the kitchen, she kissed him tenderly on the cheek. Logan came running up the stairs in his boxers and T-shirt just as Nick was putting the eggs on a plate. "Hi guys," Logan said, and immediately started in on the eggs his father handed him. As he sat down, he started to eat, but quickly put down his fork and got up, putting two pieces of bread into the toaster. Logan reached around his mother into the fridge and grabbed the whole half-gallon of milk and set it on the table, which was quickly joined by a glass. All this commotion got Nick and Sara's attention, and they watched in astonishment as their boy downed the eggs and he poured glass after glass of milk. As his toast popped up, he stood up and grabbed it out of the toaster, his mouth still full of eggs. Sara watched on in amazement. How could one person eat so much? He was going to eat them right out of house and home!
"Are you my son, or should I call Hollywood and see if the Hulk is missing?" Sara asked in amusement as she turned the coffeemaker on. Logan laughed a little as he chewed at his breakfast. Nick continued making eggs for the rest of the family, knowing they would be trickling in one by one. Sara got out three mugs, knowing that Ciara was getting into the coffee drinking now, though she added way too much sugar. The boys preferred either orange juice, or snuck the occasional soda.
Nick put two more eggs on a plate and set them at the breakfast bar, expecting a least one more kid to be there by now. "Where's your brother?" He asked Logan.
Logan swallowed his eggs hard and answered, "Knowing him, he probably either fell back asleep or is sitting on his bed doing nothing." Nick gritted his teeth. This was getting to be too much. Anthony may have his own agenda, but for now, he should at least consider what his apathy was doing for his brother and sister.
Nick gave Sara a knowing look and said, "I'll be right back," heading towards the basement. A few seconds later, Logan and Sara heard Nick exclaim, "Anthony, put some pants on!" Logan nearly choked on his toast, trying to bite back laughter. Sara shook her head and poured a couple cups of coffee.
"He already scarred Ciara this morning." Logan informed his mother.
Sara's face contorted in disturbance. "That kid better watch out." She said, knowing Nick would be getting on his case hard if he didn't get his butt moving, and covered up.
Moments later, they heard footsteps coming towards them as Ciara walked out in her pajamas with her hair wrapped up in a towel on top of her head. "Mmmm, coffee. Thanks, Mom," she told her as she put in three scoops of sugar.
"Honey, you really need to cut back on the sugar," Sara chuckled.
Ciara feigned insult. "Are you calling me fat?" she said, putting a hand on her heart, then breaking into her gorgeous lopsided smile. She had the same space between her teeth that Sara did, and Sara loved her daughter's lighthearted sense of humour and her ability to find something funny in nearly every situation. Logan appreciated it too. It was a nice contrast from being around grumpy old poophead Anthony, who at times made Logan want to crawl into a hole.
Logan finished up his toast and glanced at the stove clock. "I'm going to go shower," he said, and went downstairs, passing Anthony on the way, who was closely followed by Nick.
"Hurry it up, Anthony," Nick said. "If you make your brother and sister late for school one more time..." he warned.
"Fine, fine," Anthony grumbled. "I'm going." He pulled a piece of bread out of the bag and angrily stuck it into the toaster. Ciara was still disgusted by his smug display this morning, and gave him a bit of a glare as she stirred her coffee around.
Nick saw that she was up and out of the shower, and gave her a kiss on the temple. "Mornin', sweetie." He told her. Ciara definitely still had Nick wrapped around her finger, even at sixteen. As the only daughter, she had probably gotten away with a lot more than her brothers, though she was a pretty good kid anyway. Of course, Anthony thought she got special treatment. Anthony munched on his toast and glared at Ciara, whose bouncy personality disgusted him at times. She reminded him of one other girl at school, whom Anthony secretly liked but would never admit to. Plus, Ciara was blonde. She had the most gorgeous blonde hair out of any girl he'd ever met, and he and Logan were stuck with fiery red, just like everybody else in their father's family. No girls liked red hair - they all wanted blonde or really dark brown. How the hell had Anthony and Logan ended up with red hair when both of his parents were brunette? Stupid recessive genes, Anthony thought.
"Daddy, can I have the car tonight?" She asked him in her usual sweet voice that annoyed Anthony to no end. Ciara buttered her toast as she waited for what she was pretty sure would be an affirmative answer.
"Sure, baby. Where are you going?" He asked her as he got his own coffee ready.
Ciara smiled, "To the movies with Jason and a couple other friends." She informed him. Jason was a guy from school she'd been seeing casually.
"What movie are you going to see?" Nick asked.
"We haven't decided yet, but probably Spider-Man 3," Ciara answered sweetly.
Finally, Anthony spoke up, but to nobody's particular surprise, his comment was neither constructive nor polite. "I heard it was retarded."
"Oh really? I heard it was really good!" Ciara said, and Anthony rolled his eyes.
Nick, sensing rising tension, jumped in. "Sure, Ciara. Tell me how it is, okay? I'm going to go get that baboon out of the shower," he said, referring to Logan. As Nick headed downstairs again, Ciara and Anthony heard the water shut off, and Nick returned seconds later. "Never mind, he's out," Nick chuckled. Anthony tossed the last of his toast in his mouth, knowing it was his turn for a shower. He almost always got a cold shower since he was usually last out of bed.
"So, how come she gets the car tonight?" Anthony asked his parents. "Because she's your favourite?" He asked a bit bitterly.
Nick shot Anthony a glare. "No, because she asked first and because I know she isn't going to total it."
"Whatever," Anthony said, getting up from the table and heading for the staircase.
Nick had had it. "Anthony, smarten up now or there's no TV, no computer for a week," he said. Anthony didn't make eye contact with his father, and Nick knew he had made his point. "Go take your shower now, please. And hurry up. I don't want Logan or Ciara in trouble again because of you."
