"It's feels good to be home," Nicole sighed in relief as she opened the door and to her surprise, the house wasn't a total mess along with a familiar, blue, light-skinned cat ran downstairs and hugged her.

"Hi, Mommy! Did you have a nice day at work?" Cody looked up at his mother, having his usual, cheerful expression on his face.

"It wasn't as tiresome as usual, sweetie. Thank you for asking though." She kneeled down to his height, giving his forehead a small kiss.

"You're welcome! I made some cookies for everyone with our faces on it. Do you want yours?"

"Sure!" Nicole smiled, standing up and headed into her room, passing her sleeping husband, Richard on the couch.

Politely, Cody moved out of his mother's way and ran into the kitchen, pulling out a cookie in the oven with the shape of Nicole's head. It had all the features she had on her face. "Here you are!" He carried the cookie back over to her.

Nicole smiled and took the cookie from his hand, gently rubbing her hand against his head, "Thank you, honey."

"You're welcome again! Gumball, Darwin and Anais is upstairs." He pointed out at the stairs, "I think."

"Tell them I'll be getting dinner ready in an hour or so."

"Okay!" He ran upstairs into his sibling's room, "Gumball, Darwin! Mom said that she'll have dinner ready in an hour..." To his surprise, they weren't in the room. "...Guys?" He looked under the bunk bed, the bottom bunk, and the top bunk. "Where'd they go?" Suddenly, he heard noises in the closet. He thought to himself, Now, which one is it? Gumball or Darwin? Only one way to find out. He sighed and put on his best impression of Gumball's crush, Penny. "Gumball? Are you in here? Guess not." He snicked, thinking to himself and made small footsteps to sound as if they were fading out. I love my Penny impression. Gumball can't even try to not be gullible if his life depended on it.

The closet door slammed out, Gumball looking around quickly, his ears perked up. "I'm here, cupcak-I mean, Penny!"

"You just missed her."

Both of Gumball's ears dropped down in sadness, "Aw..."

"Sorry. Where's Darwin?"

Gumball looked back at where he came from, "In the closet."

"..Why were you guys hiding in the closet?"

Nervously, he scratched the back of his head, "Can't say. You're too young for stuff like that."

Yeah, right. Hide-and-Seek is for everyone's age. Well, except for elders. He thought. Just then, an idea popped into Cody's mind, causing a smirk to grow upon his face. "I can always ask Anais. It's about time for me to meet her anyway." He ran out of their room and into Anais' room, looking for her, "Anais? You in here?"

Anais walked into the room, holding a bag full of books. "Right here, Cody. Ready to go?" Her voice startled him a bit, causing him to twirl back around.

"Yes, ma'am! Lead the way!"

Anais did exactly what she was told, but first, she had to let Nicole know where they were going, "Mom, Cody and I will be going out for a while!"

Nicole replied out from the room, "Alright, Anais! Just be sure to be back in time for dinner!"

"We know!" Cody yelled back to their mother, heading over to the door and opened it for his younger sibling, "Ladies first."

Anais smiled and giggled, walking past him while holding the books. "My, my. You're such a gentlemen, Cody."

"Why thank you, Anais." He chuckled to himself, closing the door behind him, following his sister. "Is there anything else you do besides reading, sis?" He asked, as they were walking towards the nearest park.

Anais couldn't turn her attention to him because if she wasn't careful, she'd drop the books, but she could still answer his question. "Yeah. Life isn't entirely about books, y'know."

"I know that." He rolled his eyes, smiling.

Time Lapse (30 minutes)

Anais looked down at the clock on her wrist, closing the book she was reading, "Well, it looks like we should be heading back now. Don't want Mom getting on our case again like last time."

"Alrighty then." Cody closed the book he was reading and sat up from the bench, Anais following, "Y'know something, sis?"

Anais started off in the direction of the house, listening to what her older sibling had to say. "What's up?"

"I'm starting to like reading books with you. Mom always said that it's time for my to go outside more and do stuff I couldn't do inside the house."

"You can read books in the house, but with everyone else in there... You know what I'm saying. Other than that, I'm liking our little schedule as well."

Cody grabbed Anais' hand and to her confusion, he began to quicken his pace, "We should probably pick up the pace."

She carefully held onto the books as she and Cody sped up to the house, Cody being the first to open the door. "Thank you." She roamed into the house, signaling him to come in and close the door.

He understood and shut the door, locking it afterwards. "Gotta lock the door. Mommy said." Turning back around, he saw the dinner on the table and the rest of his family already seated in their chairs. An empty seat was beside Darwin, which was Cody's seat. "Everyone's here already?" He pouted, pacing over to the seat and leaped in it, pulling himself closer to the table.

"Everyone else was here in the house." Nicole placed herself in her chair, rubbing her hands together. "Alright then, everyone! Let's dig in!"

"Yes!" Richard, already being the first one to eat, sliced himself a peace of meatloaf. Everyone's slice of meatloaf have to be exactly equal. Unless if they didn't want it or "bit off more than they could chew". Nicole got her slice, Gumball got him, folllowed by Darwin, also followed by Cody, then Anais.

"Hey, Mom?" Gumball asked his mother, a small piece of meatloaf in his mouth.

Nicole looked over at him, blinking twice. "Yes, Gummypuss?"

Cody chortled to himself, getting scolded by Darwin and Anais. Gumball glared at his younger brother, turning his attention back to Nicole, "Anyway, are you working tomorrow?" Gumball asked, stuffing his mouth with another portion of meatloaf.

"Yes, why?" Nicole asked, filling a small slice in her mouth.

Gumball swallowed the meatloaf, wiping his mouth, "Don't you think you deserve a break from work?"

Richard, looked at Nicole, having a depressed look on his face. "Yeah, Nicole! We don't get to see you that much anymore.."

Darwin, Cody, and Anais nodded while eating.

"Well... I'll see what my boss says," Nicole said, looking down at her food, picking up another piece with her fork, "Hopefully he says yes. And Gumball?"

"Yes?"

"Don't chew with your mouth full."

"Yes, ma'am.." Gumball sighed, filling his mouth with all of the slices of moatloaf he had gotten.

"So, Anais and Cody. How was Reading Time?" Darwin asked his older brother and younger sister.

They both exchanged looks for a few seconds, looking back at Darwin. "It was fun." They both smiled.

Darwin squinted his eyes at them, a sly grin slowly growing on his face. "Oh really? What was it like Cody?"

Cody scratched the back of his head, chuckling nervously to himself, "It was...nice."

"Did you get your little "treat" from Anais?" He nudged his older brother, winking at him.

"Darwin!" Anais glared at him, finishing up her portion of the meatloaf.

Darwin flinched, quickly going back to eating his meatloaf. "Alright, sorry!"

Cody nervously smiled at his sister, who returned the smile, whispering to her, "There's nothing wrong with getting a kiss on the cheek is there?"

Anais climbed down from her chair, shaking her head, "Nope."

This is my first fanfic with my OC. It's probably bad, I know. R&R please. No flames! They won't be accepted!