Mom.

Christina stood in the dimly lit living room surveying the mess her twin balls of energy had left in there wake. Keeping two young children with exceptional abilities entertained was no easy feat. Just that day, the twins had taken to racing from one end of the house to the other until their wings cramped. That incident had scared the living daylights out of Christina. Barely catching them before they hit the ground she'd forbade them from doing anything like that ever, EVER again. The twins had whined and cried begging her to change her mind but Christina was not a pushover

With their races cut short, the twins had moved on to playing with Legos. They were content for roughly thirty minutes before marching outside to play on the swings. Tracking in mud when they returned. Thankfully when it looked like Christina couldn't take it anymore Shaggy had come to her rescue and taken the kids out for the night. With them gone, Christina set to work. Sweeping broken crayons from underneath the coffee table, she raked them into the trashcan before moving on to picking up the discarded toys and returning them to their respective rooms. With that done she tackled the muddy footprints scrubbing the tile floors until they sparkled. After that a load of clothes went into the washer and then she tackled the sauce smeared dishes in the sink.

When Shaggy returned with the kids he found a clean house and Christina snoring away on the couch. He tried to sneak past her but the twins jumped on her, waking her up. Despite how tired she was Christina sat up and gave her undivided attention to the kids. Listening with a smile as they babbled on about having pizza and playing arcade games before shoving their prizes in her face. She oohed and ahhed, at the tiny prizes that contented her children before announcing it was bath time.

"Like, I'll handle their baths, you go get some rest, Christy,"

"No, no, I got it," Christina protested as she herded the kids into the bathroom.

Once the kids were bathed and put to bed, Christina tiredly stumbled into her bedroom.

"Where did the weekend go?" she moaned, crawling beside Shaggy.

"It ran right by you,"

"No kidding,"

…...

"Wake up, kiddos, it's time for school!" Christina cheerily called.

"NOOOOO," Luke cried.

"I don't want to go to school," Beatrice argued.

Nathan stepped out of his room already dressed with his school bag over his shoulder, "Is breakfast ready?" he asked.

"Ready and waiting,"

He flew past her licking his lips at the smell of waffles.

"C'mon you two! Before your brothers and father eat it all," Christina prompted, looking at the two unopened doors where Beatrice and Luke were.

"We don't wanna go to school!" they pouted.

"Well, I don't wanna go to jail. Now, get movin'," Christina replied, "If you hurry you can watch cartoons. Wacky Races is on-"

and just like that, the two were up and out of their bedrooms.

…...

Lighting flashed and thunder boomed waking the youngest member of the Rogers family from her nap. Noel's cries pierced the air alerting everyone that she was awake, awake and scared. Christina speed walked into the nursery scooping the babe from her crib while trying her best to calm her down. Carrying Noel into the living room where Malcolm sat cross-legged in front of the TV which was arguably his favorite place to be.

He turned watching with curiosity as his adoptive mother gently rocked Noel back and forth, humming softly. Noel clung tightly to Christina, her hands finding the butterfly necklace Christina always wore. She grabbed it holding tightly. Malcolm was sure this was rather uncomfortable but Christina didn't seem fazed. The necklace had enough give and besides, Noel didn't yank it. She just held it.

"Why are you humming?" Malcolm asked.

"It's a lullaby, helps calm her down,"

"Oh, what's a lullaby?"

"It's a song to help you go to sleep. Aunt Vana used to sing this one when it was storming so I'd calm down"

"Oh, it works?"

"See for yourself,"

Noel was now sleeping peacefully despite the noise from outside.

"How are you so good at this?"

"At what?"

"Being a mother?"

"Practice. Lots of practice,"

"You're really good at it,"

"Thank you,"

"I love you, Mom,"

"Love you more kiddo. Love you more,"

…...

This was supposed to go up on Mother's Day but that didn't happen. I wrote this to thank all the great mothers out there some of whom are no longer with us (RIP Mama I love you and I'm sorry for being a brat) I was lucky enough to be blessed with an awesome birth mother and an awesome bonus Mom when my dad remarried. The first two moments in this story are loosely based on times with my Mama who is the one who introduced me to all the great cartoons of my childhood Scooby-Doo included. I went through this phase where I thought I was too old for cartoons and there's my mother watching Scooby-Doo of all things LOL

Please review while I try not to cry like a baby!