A few weeks had passed since the first ultrasound, and other than some mild morning sickness, things were going pretty smoothly. Charlotte was only about 15 weeks pregnant, so her slight baby bump was easy to hide, and they still hadn't told their kids or any of their coworkers. Cooper stopped bugging her about telling everyone a while ago, knowing it would only make her mad. He knew that she would tell them when she was ready.

Charlotte was sitting in her office at St. Ambrose one afternoon going over patient files and filling out paperwork. As she reached across her desk to grab another file, she accidentally knocked over one of the picture frames that sat on her desk. She picked it back up, and a smile grew on her face as she looked at the picture of her four kids at beach that past summer. As she sat there staring at it, she realized why she loved it so much. To Charlotte, what made the picture perfect was the fact that it wasn't perfect at all. Thinking back on that day, she remembered everything so clearly. It wasn't your typical family picture where everyone was sitting nicely with big smiles on their faces. That was the kind of picture they were hoping for, but it ended up being the exact opposite. Inside of the frame that had the phrase Live, Laugh, Love carved into it, there was a picture that displayed everything Charlotte had grown to love about her family.

Emmy sat on the very left, tossing a fist full of sand into the air. Charlotte laughed to herself as she recalled how frustrated she was with Emmy, after she had told her countless times not to throw the sand. Of course, being the stubborn child that she is, and having inherited her momma's strong gene's, she did it anyways.

Next to Emmy was Eden. Being her usual goofy self, she sat there in the sand with a small beach bucket over head. The bucket was covering most of her face, but stopped just short enough to reveal the biggest smile that she had ever seen. Charlotte swore that you'd be able to see it from a mile away. Eden was the type of kid that was always finding a way to make herself laugh. That girl was most definitely her father's child.

Then there was Ella. She sat next to her sisters, staring up into the sky at the seagulls flying high above her head, completely oblivious to what was going on around her. She paid no mind to her father's voice telling her to look at the camera. She was too fascinated with her surroundings. She wasn't smiling or laughing, but she had a look on her face that Charlotte knew all too well. A look that meant she was happy. Something that Charlotte and Cooper quickly noticed about her personality was that she didn't express herself in the same way her sisters did. It was the little things that made her the happiest.

Lastly there was Mason, sitting to the right of his sisters. He had the palm of his hand pressed against his forehead, expressing how annoyed he was at the moment. He just wanted to get the picture over with so he could go back out into the water, but his sisters weren't cooperating. One thing Charlotte appreciated about Mason was that he never used his annoyance with the triplets as an excuse to get mad at them. He was always patient with them, and Charlotte loved that.

For some reason, this was the first time that Charlotte was able to see what made the picture so great. It was a combination of Emmy's rebelliousness, Eden's goofiness, Ella's contentment, and Mason's patience. Not only did that combination make the picture perfect, but it's also what made their family complete.


Charlotte was pulled from her reverie, when she heard the door to her office open. She smiled when she saw that it was Cooper.

"Hey you." She smiled, getting up from her desk to greet her husband.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him in for a long heated kiss.

"Wow," he grinned, wrapping his arms around her waist. "What was that for?"

"I missed you this morning. You were gone when I woke up."

"Yea, I had a lot of patients at the practice this morning."

"Well what are you doing here?" She asked.

"One of my patients was brought into the ER a little bit ago," he explained. "I stopped by to tell you I might not make it home for dinner. I'll probably be here for a while."

"Don't worry about it Coop, I understand." She leaned in and gave him another kiss. "Will you be home by bedtime? The kids haven't seen you all day."

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll try to be," he sighed. "I have a little time. Do you want to grab lunch?"

"I was actually about to head out," she told him. "I figured I would get the girls and take the rest of this paperwork home. I don't want to keep them here any longer than they have to be."

"Alright, well I'll see you tonight." He said, giving her one last kiss before he left. "I love you."

"Love you too, Coop."


After Cooper left, Charlotte gathered all of her work and headed towards the daycare to get the girls.

When one of the daycare workers saw Charlotte coming, she called after the triplets. "Girls, look who's here," she smiled at them.

Eden and Emmy looked over from where they were quietly watching a movie and ran toward the door.

"Mama!" They both exclaimed.

"Hi girls!" She grinned. Nothing made her happier than being greeted by their smiling faces at the end of every work day.

As she was signing them out, another daycare worker walked over holding Ella in her arms. When she saw her mother, she immediately stretched her arms out for her.

"Hey ladybug," Charlotte said, pulling the girl into her arms and kissing her cheek.

The little girl stuck her thumb in her mouth and rested her head on Charlotte's shoulder.

"What's wrong El?" She asked her daughter, but she got no response.

"I think she may be coming down with a cold," one of the workers said. "She wasn't acting much like herself today."

Charlotte looked down at the little girl in her arms. "You don't feel good?"

Ella shook her head and nestled her face into the crook of Charlotte's neck.

"Alright, well let's get you home," she said, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Come on girls."

Eden and Emmy grabbed their bags from their cubby and met Charlotte at the door. Charlotte grabbed one of Eden's hands and Emmy grabbed the other, so they were all joined together, and they walked out the door.

When they got home, Charlotte turned the TV on to cartoons for Eden and Emmy to keep them occupied while they played in the living room. Then, with Ella on her hip, she walked into the kitchen to give her something for her cold. She sat her daughter down on the counter, then she poured the medicine and filled her sippy-cup with juice.

"Here you go sweet pea," she said, handing her the medicine. "Drink this."

"Noo Mama," she whined.

"Ella," she said sternly. "Don't argue with me."

Charlotte was really hoping Ella didn't get any worse than she already was, because she gets extremely cranky and moody when she's sick.

Ella took the medicine and washed it down with some juice.

"See, it wasn't that bad." Charlotte picked her back up and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. She laid Ella down on her bed and pulled the cover over her.

"Your juice is right here if you get thirsty," she said, bending over and kissing her daughter's forehead. "Try to get some rest baby."


After finishing the rest of her paperwork and picking Mason up from school, Charlotte made her way to the kitchen to start dinner. As she was cutting up vegetables for the pasta, she heard the girls yelling back and forth at each other. She usually left their arguments for them to sort out on their own, but she was starting to get annoyed, so she decided to put an end to it herself.

"Girls, knock it off!" She yelled and the bickering died down.

When Charlotte heard footsteps enter the kitchen, she turned around and saw a sleepy Ella standing there.

"You feelin' better?" Charlotte asked her.

The little girl shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She walked over to the counter where Charlotte was standing.

"Mama," she said softly, reaching her arms up for her mother. "Up."

"I can't hold you right now sweetie. I need to finish making dinner."

"Mama! Up, please," she said, tugging on Charlotte's shirt.

"I said not right now Ella. Go lie down on the couch and I'll come in there when I'm done cooking."

"No, Mama," she started crying. "I want up!"

Just as Ella began to throw a temper tantrum, Charlotte heard a loud thud come from the other room, followed by a loud cry.

Charlotte ran out of the kitchen and Ella followed behind her. When she entered the living room she saw Emmy laying on the floor sobbing. She must've fallen and hit her head on the table, because she was holding her hand up against her forehead.

"What happened?" She asked, getting down on her knees to look at her daughter.

"She pushed me!" Emmy cried, pointing at Eden.

"But she hitted me first! And she tried to take my doll." Eden yelled back.

"I don't care what she did, you keep your hands to yourself." Charlotte told Eden, then she looked down at Emmy. "And you know better than to hit your sister."

"But I had the doll first!" Emmy exclaimed.

Charlotte lifted Emmy back onto her feet, then took the doll from Eden. "Well now it's mine, and you two are gonna go sit in your time out chairs until I say you can get up. Go. Right Now."

The two girls pouted their lips, crossed their arms, and angrily walked over to their chairs on separate ends of the room. "I don't want to hear a single word come out of either of your mouths. Do you hear me?" Charlotte told them, and they both nodded.

After they sat down, Charlotte turned around and looked at Ella.

"And if you throw another hissy fit like that, you will be joining them in time out." Charlotte told her strictly.

She sighed and walked back into the kitchen to finish making dinner.

All of the sudden, she became overwhelmed with thoughts about what her life was going to be like after this baby was born. In less than seven months, she would have four kids under the age of three. She thought she was ready for the new addition to her family, but now, she wasn't so sure.


Like I said before, I'll probably be ending this in a couple of chapters because I'm running out of ideas and I feel like it's getting boring. But if you guys want me to write more, let me know and I will.

I hope you liked this chapter :)