Addison set the little pots of paint down on the kitchen table that had been covered in newspaper; Charlie was kneeling on her chair and Nathanial picking up a paint brush. Addison and Derek while they had the day off work they were working on a case together that needed their undivided attention, they needed to keep their children occupied for at least a few hours. So here she was setting up the painting equipment for Charlie and Nathanial who were excited to be painting. It wasn't often they were allowed to paint inside.
"Alright will you two be fine for a couple of hours?"
Nathanial nodded and Charlie gave Addison a reassuring hug. She planted a motherly kiss on both of her children's heads before heading upstairs to resume her work. The children wasted no time in getting stuck into the paint; Charlie disliked using paintbrushes so she quickly changed to using her fingers. Nathanial stuck to paint brushes and began to paint pictures of his favourite super heroes, the drawings made slight resemblance but for a five year old they were fairly good. Charlie chose to just placed hand prints on her paper, the colours mixing together to make the horrible brown that came from mixing every colour together.
"Tanial can you help me wash my hands" Charlie climbed down from her seat and toddled over to the sink. Nathanial nodded and walked over to where his sister was standing, he wasn't tall enough to reach the sink and normally he would have asked either Addison or Derek for help but they had clearly said they did not want to be disturbed so he took it upon himself to help his baby sister.
Lifting her up she wavered a bit before gaining balance, her feet pressing on Nathanial's shoulders, he held her legs steady and held on, waiting for his sister to finish washing her hands. Charlie began humming Mary had a little lamb, a nursery rhyme she had become very fond of recently, when she went to turn off the tap she faltered and Nathanial nearly let go, her feet stumbled over her brother's body for the strong ground of his shoulder's. Every now and then Nathanial would get a foot in the mouth and he would wince with pain. It wasn't long before they were both sitting on the floor, water sprinkled on the floor and all Charlie could do was giggle insanely.
A few minutes later the children resumed their artistic hobby and painted, Charlie continuing to finger paint, Nathanial soon abandoning his paint brushes to join his sister, he had forgotten how fun finger painting was. Half an hour later both children were becoming bored with painting on paper, there were only so many drawings of spider-man one could do. Yet again Charlie jumped down from her chair and walked over to one of the blank walls in the house. Nathanial paid no attention to it but when his sister did not return to her chair he had to see what she was doing. Her fingers were still smeared in paint and the three year olds mind was working hard.
Before Nathanial could intervene a streak of blue paint was drawn on the wall by Charlie. He knew what she had just done was wrong but the pleading look his sister was giving him begged him to join. How was a five year old supposed to resist those looks? He just couldn't. Approaching his sister he dipped his index finger in the green paint and began to draw a tree on the landscape Charlie had created. Their innocence got the better of them when they both decided to turn the picture into one that depicted a happy family moment, there was no way their parents could get mad if it was something they made for them. At least that was the logic behind Nathanial's thinking.
After a while the mural was taking shape, Charlie had assisted Nathanial in drawing their parents and themselves, he gave his sister full creative licence when it came to painting her. She of course painted her stick figure version of herself in a fairy costume and Nathanial decided he would be in his favourite outfit, his Spider-man costume that he liked to wear whenever he had the chance, or whenever Addison or Derek would let him. Standing back from their masterpiece Nathanial smiled proudly down at his baby sister, who was slipping on the paint that had made its way onto the floor. Her paint smeared hands grabbed hold of her brother's arms and even though he tried to hold her up he began slipping and sliding all around the place as well. It wasn't long before both of the children were on the floor covered in all colours of the rainbow.
Addison had heard the crashing downstairs and had decided to go and inspect, padding down the stairs she noticed that both Charlie and Nathanial had abandoned their positions at the kitchen table but the small trail of paint left behind lead her to where they were. Her eyes didn't fall on them straight away but instead her jaw hung open in shock as she stared at what had become of the once white wall. "Derek get down here now!" She bellowed still in shock. Derek came down from upstairs quite quickly and joined his wife in utter shock as he too saw what became of the wall. They knew what the picture was of and it warmed there heart but it wasn't matching up to the anger they were feeling because of what their kids had done.
"Nathanial…how? Why?" That's all Addison could muster when she finally tore her eyes away from the wall to look down at her son who had blue paint smeared under each of his eyes, curtesy of his younger sister. Nathanial started feeling less happy and proud of his artwork when he saw both the expressions on his mother and father's features.
Pulling himself off the floor and his sister too his eyes sunk and so did his smile. He knew they would be in trouble. "I'm sorry mommy Charlie and I just wanted to paint you and daddy a picture" Charlie nodded her head vigorously still smiling but when she noticed her brother's expression she took his lead and nearly started crying. Derek could see what was going to happen with her daughter and while he was mad he didn't want her crying. Opening his arms for his daughter he watched as she ran into them, Addison just grimaced as red yellow and green paint now stained his shirt.
"Don't cry gummy bear but you should know that finger painting on the walls isn't the right thing to do" He ran his hair through his daughter's hair as she clung tightly to his neck.
"Dun you like the pitcher?" Charlie said in between shallow breaths, not only was she ready to cry but Addison also realised it was past her nap time. She always got a bit cranky by this time.
"Of course I do, it's beautiful but I would have liked it more if you did it on paper" Addison nodded in agreement with Derek, they couldn't exactly continue to be mad at their children when they put their heart and soul into a drawing of love intended for their parents.
"Okay you two, I think it's bath time, the last thing mommy and daddy need is paint all over the furniture. Come on kids" Addison instructed pointing upstairs. Nathanial ran upstairs being careful to not leave his prints anywhere and waited in the bathroom for his parents. Derek carried Charlie upstairs and when he went to set her down on the floor besides her brother she wouldn't let go. He motioned with his head for Addison to do the water while he took care of their mischievous children.
Once the water was ready the children stripped down and hopped into the bath, the water instantly turning a murky shade of mixed colours as the paint came away from their skin. Addison and Derek scrubbed both children down, being sure to get rid of the paint everywhere. Charlie had managed to get paint in her belly button and Nathanial paint all down his back; they were amazed at some of the feats their children could succeed. After their bodies were paint free Derek drained the water and refilled the tub with clean water, Charlie and Nathanial were quite happily playing with their various bath toys. "Nate go easy on the battle ship you're splashing me" Derek said putting his hands up as a shield as Nathanial purposefully splashed him, Charlie giggling insanely as her brother did so.
"Okay okay can I trust you two to be okay by yourselves while I help your mom clean up downstairs?" Nathanial nodded and smiled angelically. Derek arched an eyebrow before letting out a frustrated sigh and placed a kiss on both of his munchkins heads. They both remained still until Derek had left the room and then they were both up to the antics again. Water was flying around the room as Nathanial sent waves flying into his little sister who would squeal then send miniature splashes his way. Needless to say they were both having quite a bit of fun. That was until bubbles were added to the equation, Nathanial grabbed the bubble bath and squired most of it in and then handed the bottle to Charlie who squirted the remained of the bubble bath into the water.
When bubbles didn't start to form Nathanial turned on both the taps and forgetting all about the water being on he played in the bubbles. It was lucky Addison came upstairs when she did otherwise the whole of the bathroom could have been flooded. As soon as she opened the bathroom door she could see leaving her two kids alone with each other was a recipe for disaster. Rushing over to the taps she quickly shut them off while both Charlie and Nathanial looked at her with an equally bewildered expression. "Okay, I think bath time is over" Addison said offering a small smile as she grabbed their towels and held them out for them.
Nathanial got out first and draped himself in his Mickey Mouse towel, his wet auburn hair matted down to his head, Addison lifted Charlie out of the tub and began to dry her off and as soon as she was the least bit dry the three year old did a runner. She bounded out of the bathroom laughing hysterically while Addison just rolled her eyes and sighed before walking out of the bathroom in search of the three year old. Who had managed to run downstairs and past her father who was scrubbing at the wall. Derek cocked his head back and watched as his daughter nude figure dashed past. He laughed to himself and went after her, finding her trying to scramble under the couch, one of her favourable hiding spots.
Grabbing her by the legs he gently pulled her out and gave her a once over. "Alright little Miss I think we should get you into your pj's" She shook her head in disagreement but that didn't bother Derek because he had thrown her over his shoulder and was already heading upstairs. Addison had her hands placed on her hips holding Charlie's stripy pj's in one hand, her daughter nuzzled her head into Derek's side as if she was scared but she wasn't going to escape this time. Laying her down on her bed he held her still while Addison dressed her, most of the time it wasn't a two man job but this afternoon that little piggy was being quite the rebel.
Nathanial on the other hand took it upon himself to get dressed by himself, and guess what he dressed himself in. Yes that's right his Spider-man costume. Walking into Charlie's bedroom with the masked pulled over his features he jumped onto her bed besides her. Charlie clapped her hands in glee and Derek pulled his son down onto the bed with him and Charlie, ticklefest was about to begin. Addison joined the playful threesome and tried to protect her baby girl from the dangers of Derek's tickling hands but he wasn't afraid to get her and so it turned into an all out war. Nathanial tried to protect his mother and sister, mimicking Spider-man's actions in the process but Derek was a lot bigger than the five year old and didn't have to do much to overpower him.
A little yawn emerged from Charlie's mouth and Addison looked down at her daughter's tired figure, her eyelids were becoming heavy and it was definitely time for her nap. "Alright I think this little one needs a nap and I also think Nate you could do with one too" Addison made the motions to tuck Charlie in and she obediently obliged, her tiny legs crawling under the pink covers as she reached for her stuffed panda, hugging it closely. Nathanial stood his ground, not wanting to have nap time but Derek picked him up so that Charlie could get comfortable as she soon fell asleep. Addison ushered the boys out of her room and looked at her son carefully.
"I'm not tired mommy, see I can stay up, please?" Derek had taken off his Spider-man mask and his hair was up at all ends and Addison could see the drowsiness in his eyes. He tried to remain strong but he soon yawned and that was Nathanial's downfall. He rested his head against Derek's shoulder and yawned again. His eyes half closing, Derek carried the boy to his bedroom and let him clamber into his bed. Handing his son his Spider-Man figurine he kissed him before he soon drifted off to sleep as well. Heading back downstairs to where Addison was clearing up what was left from their children's journey into art he began to help her.
"Those kids I love them but they really are a handful" Derek said taking a palette of paint and stacking it with the rest of the art supplies.
"The picture was great it was just a shame we had to wash it off, had they done it on paper I would have framed it and kept it" Addison said sighing and walking over to Derek, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.
"They meant well, they just need to learn that the walls are not what you're supposed to paint on. Oh and Nathanial is going to be shattered when he notices he's getting too big for his Spider-man costume" Derek said holding his wife close to him.
"Yeah I know, he is getting so big and Charlie too, what are we going to do when he goes to school?" Addison said not wanting to admit her son was growing up.
"The house will be quiet, that's a scary thought"
