Hey, guys! Okay, well, I updated three days ago, and I probably won't keep updating quite this quickly. But this is a celebratory chapter. Why?

Because yesterday, before I went to school, I finished this story. And I was really excited, because I've been working on this since early December. I'm not sure why I didn't put it up yesterday, but here it is now!

On a side note-- does anybody else just LOVE Jason Aldean? The country artist? Just wondering.

I groaned as I finally shut the door to Nudge and Angel's room. It had been a long day, starting with taking the kids to school, then having to shadow a grumpy cashier at the grocery, now this. For the last hour, I'd been trying to get Angel to go to bed and Nudge to get off the phone with the friend she'd met only that day. Somewhere in the middle of this ordeal, Fang and Iggy had disappeared, leaving me alone to deal with it. Now, I took off to find my boyfriend and chew him out.

As I neared the twins' room, though, I heard his voice, soothing, soft-- his reading voice. I smiled, leaning against the closed door. Every night, Fang read a book to the twins before they went to sleep. It was a habit they'd gotten into a couple years ago, and it went on so long that Gracie and Devin couldn't go to sleep unless Daddy read them a story.

I slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the room. Fang looked up and flashed a quick smile, then returned to the book he was reading. He was stretched out on his side along the edge of Gracie's bed with her curled up against his shoulder and Devin leaning over his sister in order to see the book.

It was so incredibly freaking adorable.

"And the toad and his friends lived happily ever after," Fang said, and shut the book. I applauded, and the kids looked up, surprised-- they hadn't heard me come in. Then Gracie wriggled away from Fang and held her arms out to me. "Can I have a hug, Mommy?"

"Sure, hon," I said, sitting down on the bed. She crawled into my arms and I held her small, warm body against me, breathing in the scent of the strawberry shampoo she had fallen in love with, courtesy of Nudge.

"Me, too!" Devin said, throwing his arms over the both of us. That kid had a chip on his shoulder, but he sure loved his family.

I looked over the kids' shoulders to smirk at Fang. "Come here, Daddy."

He hesitated, then sat up and wrapped his strong arms around us in a group hug. I was in the middle, both the kids sort of balanced on my lap, and he was behind me, resting his chin on my shoulder, encompassing all of us in his embrace. I loved my flock, my mismatched family of six kids from different places, different backgrounds, but with the family created with pieces of Fang and I, moments like this just made me so, so happy.

"Okay," I said after we'd disentangled ourselves from the Kodak moment. "Time for bed, you two. You've gotta go back to school tomorrow."

"I liked school," Gracie said cheerfully, crawling under her covers. "There's this nice girl there. Her name's Lindsey. We played together at recess. I like her."

"Good." I smiled, but had an image of a teenage Gracie and Lindsey running off to a party while I stood in the doorway and wondered how my little girl had grown up so fast. "Well, I'm sure you two will have a lot of fun tomorrow."

"Gracie wouldn't play with me," Devin griped, climbing onto his own bed. "No one else would, either."

I looked down at Gracie as she held her stuffed lion securely to her chest. "Can you and Lindsey play with your brother tomorrow?"

She wrinkled her nose for a second, then said, "Okay."

"Good girl." I leaned over and kissed her forehead, then watched Fang do the same thing. I moved over to Devin's bed and dropped a kiss on top of his head. "Make sure those silly girls play with you, buddy."

"I will," he said determinedly, shooting Gracie a look.

"Okay. Good night, guys."

I waited in the doorway for Fang while he ruffled Devin's hair and plugged in the kids' night light. When he came back over to me, wiping his hands on his jeans, he gave me a little half-smile, and my heart sped up.

After saying our last good-nights to the kids, we headed down the hallway in silence. Our rooms were right across the hall from each other, so we often stood between them before bed and kissed goodnight.

I stopped with one hand on the door of my room and looked at Fang. "'Night."

"'Night." He took a step closer, reaching up with one hand to caress my cheek. "I love you."

I grinned, never getting tired of hearing that. "I love you too."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, then to my nose and forehead. My eyes fluttered shut, taking in the tender kisses. "We have work tomorrow," he murmured against my skin.

"Great," I sighed.

"And the kids have school."

"Dandy."

"Long day." Fang lowered his head and kissed me on the mouth once more, this time lingering for a few seconds. "But at least I'll be with you."

So, mostly fluff. Something happens next chapter, don't worry. Review?