A/N: As long as you keep reading, I will keep writing. Enjoy!
Shane shifted the toddler on her hip as she stirred the pot on the stove.
"Nora?" she called. Nothing but silence responded. Shane frowned and glanced over at the kitchen table. Instead of finding her daughter, she found an abandoned smattering of crayons and paper. "Where'd she go?" she asked the little boy in her arms. Finn's big blue eyes blinked up at her as he babbled something incoherent. "I guess we'll just have to go find her," she decided, jostling the toddler just enough to get a giggle out of him before she turned down the stove and checked the oven.
She checked every room as she moved down the hall, coming up empty in each one until the only room left was Oliver's study.
"Oliver, have you seen…Nora?" she stumbled over her words as she took in the sight in front of her. Nora was stretched out on top of Oliver's desk and both she and her father's heads were bent in concentration over what appeared to be an envelope. Oliver was carefully explaining something to the child while she asked quiet questions. The sight was not unusual, Oliver was always teaching Nora something and for her part, Nora was always willing to learn something new. However, the location of this particular less was unusual. The study was strictly off limits to the kids. After eight years of marriage and two kids, it was the one piece of order Oliver had left in the world and Shane did everything in her power to let him keep it. How Nora found her way in there was anyone's guess. Shane assumed it had something to do with the fact that the girl looked just enough like her mother and has just enough of her personality to have her father completely wrapped around her finger.
"Oliver?" she tried again with no success. "Mr. O'Toole!" she said with more force. At that Oliver's head snapped up.
"Sorry, we were going over the proper way to address and envelope," he explained, his cheeks going pink.
"When I grow up, I am going to work at the post office, just like you and Daddy," Nora grinned. Oliver beamed beside her.
"If that is what you want, that is fine with me," Shane smiled and made her way across the room, moving Finn to her other hip. "But right now it's time for dinner and you left your stuff all over the table." The girls cheeks went pink just like her father's had moments before.
"Eleanor, please go clean up your things so we can set the table," Oliver instructed, helping the girl off his desk.
"But we can practice more after dinner?" Nora checked when she got to the door.
"We can practice more after dinner," Oliver nodded. Nora let out a delighted squeal and ran off towards the kitchen.
"Was that some brazen manipulation I just witnessed?" Shane teased. Oliver frowned as he stood from his desk and reached for his son. Shane easily relinquished the child. "I thought the rule was no kids in the study," she continued.
"Well…um" Oliver's eyes danced around the room as he came up with a response. "I meant without me," he amended finally.
"The very fabric of our existence as an effective until has been frayed," Shane quoted his outrage from back when they first started working together and he was less willing to bend to her ways. Oliver's blue eyes narrowed. He hated when she used his words against him. "You want to call me Ms. McInerney so bad right now, don't you?" she laughed. Oliver shook his head and affectionately rolled his eyes.
"No, Mrs. O'Toole," he grinned. "But our dear Eleanor would be far less…persuasive if she was a little less like you, which is not something I want." Shane felt her cheeks flush as his teasing smile melted into something more affectionate.
"I guess the jury is still out on this one," she replied, reaching out to brush Finn's soft curls out of his eyes. However at nearly two, it was already evident that Finn took after his father, cautious and contemplative. Oliver looked down at the boy in his arms.
"What do you think? Are you going to be a gentleman like your father or a handful like your mother?" he asked the child.
"Daddy," Finn blurted, his small hands locking around Oliver's suspenders. Oliver sent Shane a proud look. She rolled her eyes.
"I should probably go help our handful in the kitchen," she decided. "Now that you've taught her how to address an envelope, it's time for a lesson in how to further manipulate her father," she added as she turned down the hall.
"Wha…Shane!" Oliver called after her but was met with nothing but laughter.