THE NOAH SERIES: WAR

Noah had a plan. He'd had enough of Addie and today was the day. He's stopped to pick her up after school, but she wasn't there. When she got home, he was going to be prepared. Addie was going to pay for being a bratty and annoying younger sister.

He went to his room and packed up his supplies. Plenty of ammunition for the two Nerf guns. Yes, the minute Addie walked through the door, he was going to strike. Before she knew what hit her, she was going to be pelted with dozens of foam bullets.

He had guns in both hands, extra ammo packs in his pockets and was hidden, lying in wait for Addie to come through the door. She should be home any minute.

He heard the key turn in the lock and readied his finger on the trigger. The door pushed open, and as soon as she saw the blonde hair, he fired and didn't stop.

"Ahhh!" Noah heard a scream and bags drop.

That wasn't Addie...that was Alex.

Noah froze in his tracks, Nerf guns still in hand and mouth wide open. That certainly backfired.

"What the -?" Alex said, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Ma! I'm sorry. I thought you were Addie. I didn't mean...I'm sorry."

Dead silence for what seemed like forever. Noah was terrified. He and Alex had been getting along great lately. Everyone had been, with the except of Addie being Addie. But this...he was sure he was going to be toast.

Then Alex smiled and laughed. And laughed. And laughed.

"What? Why are you laughing? Are you okay?" Noah said.

"Yes, I'm more than okay," Alex said. "You have no idea how much I needed that today."

"You needed to be shot by a Nerf gun?" Noah asked suspiciously.

"Yes, and I needed to be reminded that at the end of the day, you guys are what is important," Alex said.

"A Nerf bullet told you all that?" Noah asked, doing the eyebrow raise like Olivia.

"Yeah, it did," Alex said smiling. "In fact, I have an idea."

#

Olivia arrived home with Addie and Maggie, after having taken them to the dentist that afternoon. When they came in the door, the apartment was quiet. Too quiet.

"Noah?" Olivia called out. He should have been home by now. So should have Alex for that matter.

"Mom, what's that?" Maggie said, pointing toward a note by the door.

Liv-

Look under the table. You have 5 seconds.

-Alex & Noah

Olivia furrowed her brow in confusion as Addison and Maggie read the note over her shoulder.

"What?" Addison said. "What does that mean?"

Olivia looked under the table and saw three loaded Nerf guns. She looked at Maggie, and they immediately grabbed one.

"What is happening?" Addison said.

Olivia handed her a gun right before the attack began. Alex and Noah jumped out and began firing on Olivia and the girls, who began firing back. The apartment became a war zone. Foam bullets flying everywhere. The kids and Olivia and Alex were ducking behind furniture. Crawling on the ground. Scouring for more bullets.

Twenty minutes later, everyone was laying on the floor, laughing, and exhausted.

"What got into you all?" Olivia asked.

"Well, Noah attacked me when I got home from work," Alex said.

"In my defense, I thought it was Addie," Noah said.

"Hey! Why me?" Addison said.

"Cause you're a brat," Noah said, laughing.

"Moms!" Addie said. She had picked up Maggie's use of the plural term because it was easier and shorter.

"Well, he's kind of got a point," Olivia smirked. "You are kind of a brat."

Addie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I'm the best brat that ever lived," she said.

"I don't know, your mother probably could have given you a run for your money when she was your age," Olivia said.

"Hey!" Alex said, picking up more foam bullets and throwing them at Olivia.

"What's for dinner?" Maggie asked.

"Well, I was going to cook before I got assaulted by my loving wife and son," Olivia said. "But now, I'm too tired. Chinese?"

#

Everyone sat around the dinner table eating out of their Chinese take-out containers, sharing about their day. They usually cooked dinner and tried to eat together, but everyone was so busy, getting everyone at the table at the same time, and in a good mood was rare.

"Let's do the high-low game," Alex said.

"You know, it's not really a game," Addison said.

"Okay, smartie, you go first then," Alex said.

It was a routine they got in the habit of doing when the kids were younger. Everyone shared the high point of their day and the low point of their day. Alex and Olivia thought it was important to not only hear about the good things going on in their kids' lives, but also wanted to be able to support them in the tough things. Usually, there wasn't anything life altering, but it told them what kind of things were important to their children.

"Low point was I got a demerit in Mrs. Keppinger's class," Addie said.

"What? Why?" Olivia said.

"I merely pointed out a typo to her on the worksheet she gave us," Addie said.

"In front of the rest of the class?" Alex said, smirking.

"Of course," Addison said. "Okay, high point was the dentist visit."

"Really?" Olivia said.

"She has a crush on Dr. Hardin," Maggie said, laughing.

"Maggie!" Addison said.

"Well, he's a little old for you," Alex teased. "Okay, Maggie, your turn."

"Low point was the dentist. I hate the dentist. High point is Chinese food for dinner," Maggie said. That kid would eat Chinese food for every meal if they let her.

"Well, my low point was I had to do trial prep today with Barba. Those ADAs are a pain in my butt," Olivia said, smirking at Alex, who rolled her eyes. "My high point is having dinner with my family tonight. Noah?"

"Low point was the 10 seconds when I thought Ma was going to kills me when I shot her with the Nerf gun," Noah said. "High point was planning the attack on the rest of you all with Mama."

"Well, I had a pretty rough day at work, so that was my low point...all day at work," Alex said. "But my high point was walking in the door and being reminded how great my family is...even if it meant being shot with Nerf bullets. Seriously, this whole night was the best."

"Who's idea was it to bring us into this Nerf war?" Addison asked.

"Oh, that was all Mama," Noah said. "I just wanted to shoot you. She's the one that said we should make it a family affair."

#

"So, a Nerf war, huh?" Olivia said when they were in bed that night. She ran her fingers up and down Alex's arm as they laid on their side. "That was unexpected."

"Well, someone reminded me I needed to lighten up," Alex said. "And you know what? It was fun."

"It was fun," Olivia said. "We should do it more often."

"Have Nerf wars?"

"Well, just plan more ridiculously fun things," Olivia said.

Alex moved her hand up to Olivia's face and placed a light kiss on her lips before tucking her hair behind her ear.

"You know," Alex said, moving her hand down to Olivia's stomach and playing with the bottom of her shirt, "I can think of a few fun things we could do right now."

"Oh, really?" Olivia said, raising her eyebrows. "What kind of fun did you have in mind?"

"Well, maybe some of this." Alex moved her hand up under Olivia's shirt and kissed her on the neck.

"Hmmm."

"And maybe some of this." Alex caressed Olivia's breast and kissed her behind her ear.

"I think I like this kind of fun," Olivia said.

Alex rolled on top of Olivia. "Oh, well, then you're going to have a blast tonight then because I have lots of fun in store for you."