First, I want to thank all of you guys soooo much for your continued support and attention. I absolutely appreciate it!

Second, I do apologize that, even though it took me less time than before to update, it still took me several weeks. Hopefully soon we'll be able to cut that time down even more.

Third: Em-bug, thank you so much for all your wonderful ideas in this chapter, you're amazing! And Jazzy, thank you for proofing parts of this and assuring me that everything sounded alright!

Fourth: Enjoy, my loves!

Their Misadventures

An entire month had come and gone, and the children were still with Bobbi and Lance and everyone was still alive. Well, mostly. Bobbi was a bit shocked that they'd made it this far pretty smoothly. It wasn't as if she doubted the children or the situation or her husband's ability, not at all. It was her own ability that she doubted most of all. But so far, so good. Marsha had dropped by for two unannounced visits, and saw it fit still that the children stayed under the care of Bobbi and Lance. Bobbi was relieved, considering she honestly couldn't let go of the three little ones in their lives now. She heavily doubted Lance could either. By month two, Bobbi and Lance were quietly having conversation about solidifying the arrangement through adoption. A long conversation with Marsha and her promise to get back to them as soon as possible with more information on the process, left the couple excited about what was to come. For the meantime, they would pay attention to their little terrorists.

Bobbi had returned to work, though not taking any cases that would keep her away from home for longer than normal work hours. Lance was the one who stayed home with the children. They had enough financial stability for that. In truth, the two had enough financial stability to never work again and still live rather comfortably. The fact of the matter was that they're previous lifestyle generally paid them pretty darn good, but they never had any actual time to spend said money. So naturally, it was all put away into bank accounts and often times forgotten while it gathered interest and grew. Not to mention Lance's and Bobbi's stock investments. So, they didn't really need to work. But, it kept the two sane. Well, it kept Bobbi sane since Lance was still home with the kids.

By now, the two had really gotten to know their new occupants. In the last ten weeks they'd learned just how mischievous toddlers really could be, even the shy ones who generally hid under tables. They'd learned their habits, their likes, dislikes, and who was most likely to commit which crime.

One particular morning, Bobbi came downstairs to find a candy jar, which she'd filled with kid-friendly candies for the children when they were well-behaved, all over the counters and some pieces on the floor as well. At that moment she was thankful that they didn't have dog or it'd be dead by then. The jar had candies, gum and chocolate, it was a nice mix. She could hear lance playing with the kids downstairs. Bobbi cleaned up the mess and went in search for the culprit.

Downstairs, Bobbi found Lance dressed as a pirate, along with Ben, and Kenzie as dressed as a princess. She counted heads and noticed one was missing. Where was Ellie? Ellie loved dress-up and was usually the one to suggest it. However, the blonde saw that the little social-butterfly was nowhere to be found. She frowned and looked around the playroom quietly. She found Ellie sitting in a carpeted far-off corner of the playroom. She raised a brow and walked over to the little girl. Ellie fought the urge to look at her. Bobbi saw guilt written all over the little girl's face. She'd found her little law-breaker. It was then that she noticed the little girl was clutching something tightly in her hand. Bobbi had to take the situation seriously… Ellie could've gotten hurt and truly, she didn't want the kid to end up with a million cavities from too much candy.

"Hey, Ellie. Why aren't you playing with the others?" Bobbi squatted before the little girl.

Ellie shook her head, little strands of blonde hair falling into her face. Ellie brought a hand up to take her hair out of her face as she replied, "Dun' wanna."

"Hmm, I see… Any reason why?" Bobbi asked.

"My tummy feel funny… Wike… It feel silly," she tried to describe.

Bobbi thought about it for a moment. Ellie was probably feeling nervous because she knew she'd done something wrong. Bobbi would play one that, "I see…. Ellie, what's in your hand?"

Ellie looked down at her closed hand and then looked up at Bobbi, replying confidently, "Not something."

"Ellie… I said, what's in your hand?" Bobbi asked again, trying to look firm.

"Not bubble gum?" The three year old responded, looking just a bit less confident than before.

Bobbi had to bite her lip hard in order to keep from laughing. She couldn't say anything really, so she held her hand out to the little girl and motioned for her to hand it over. Ellie did, looking slightly ashamed and Bobbi shook her head, "No candy for two days for you," she told her. That would be her punishment.

And then Bobbi turned and walked back upstairs quickly where she proceeded to burst out laughing. This would make a great story when Ellie was older.

They'd learned that the children had taken to calling them "Mummy, Mama and Daddy". In their opinion, that'd happened quickly, but apparently Ellie and Ben felt comfortable enough to call them by this title. Kenzie didn't really say much in which she had to call them by any title, so the ex-spies weren't sure if the youngest was calling them that too; she probably was because her siblings were. Really, the children had started calling Bobbi, mommy one morning. But then by the time she got home from work that afternoon at around 3, it'd been turned into "Mummy" with British accents. She had looked at Lance accusingly and he'd returned to her a cheeky smile. It was that evening, as she and Lance were untangling Ellie's and Kenzie's hair, respectively, in front of the telly that Bobbi realised that somehow their cable got CBeebies, a BBC children's network. Bobbi simply sighed as she watched the children enjoy Charlie and Lola. According to Lance, it was their favourite show. "The children are cultured enough to know what's real English," he'd said to her. Bobbi had simply rolled her eyes at him.

Anyway, now the children flip-flopped between mum/mummy and mom/mommy. That was somewhat the biggest debate going on in the house. Well, it was until Bobbi and Lance learned their biggest lesson yet.

Bobbi and Lance at one point reached a decision. That the children should go to some form of toddler school, even if for only the morning. So, they'd set out to find a toddler school for Ellie and Ben. They'd spoken about it and decided that Kenzie wasn't ready for day school just yet and they didn't want to push her too much yet. So they made a plan. Lance would drop off Ellie and Ben at the American Day School on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 8am – 1pm, and during that time, he and Kenzie would attend Gymboree classes in order to help Kenzie with her motor skills and other developmental needs she had. He would attend classes with her and it would be fun!

Lance had also pushed, and Bobbi begrudgingly agreed, to put the kids in sports. Naturally, that meant football. When Lance said this, just to tease, Bobbi came home one night with three, tiny, American football, helmets. Lance didn't talk to her for the rest the night, but the kids had fun walking around with the helmets on and pretending they were astronauts. Nonetheless, the children attended soccer football practice on Mondays and Fridays, and had an absolute blast running around, even if they weren't necessarily kicking the ball. Kenzie was also slowly getting past her fear of grass, so there was progress on that front as well.

Bobbi and Lance had most importantly learned when they were being played. Bobbi especially. She refused to be beaten by a toddler. Sort of… There was a certain situation, one Saturday afternoon, where Bobbi and Lance chose to take the children out to the mall. Well, on this day, they'd both been bested by two toddlers. Walking into Kmart with the children, Lance and Bobbi looked at the three children and noted almost instantly that they were about to run off. Bobbi and Lance managed to stop them though. They'd tugged slightly on the backpacks around the children and pulled them back

Lance got down to their level along with Bobbi and he said firmly to them, "No runnin' off, alright? Ya stay by Mummy 'nd I while we get some things for the house…"

"And if you can do that, we'll get you guys anything you want from the toy section, okay?"

The triplets looked at each other. Kenzie had understood that, and she was the first to agree to this. She smiled and nodded, "Kay." She held her arms out to Lance so he'd pick her up. She knew if she was in his arms, she wouldn't run off.

Ellie and Ben agreed after deliberating it for a moment and nodded, "Kay mummy," Ellie said.

"Mo-" Bobbi began trying to correct the little girl but gave up before the words even left her mouth. Lance had a smirk on his face that Bobbi just wanted to smack off. They both looked to Ben and the little boy bobbed his head slowly before asking to make sure, "Anythin'?"

"Anythin', mate."

They should've known they would regret those words. After they'd grabbed what they needed for the house; more towels, plastics, sheets for the beds, nightlights and the like, Bobbi was dragged off by Kenzie and Ellie to get their toys which they'd spotted, abandoning Ben and Lance. Bobbi allowed the pint-sized girls to drag her off, her heart swelling with pride. These little girls were hers. They had been hers for the last two months. It truly astounded her just how much she loved them. She didn't think she could ever love someone, or several "someones" with more love than what she had for her own husband! It was something she and Lance had talked about a few times over the time the children had been with them. She'd expressed to him that should anything happen with them again – Lance would then call her pessimistic – that she would choose the kids over him any day. Lance would then promise that he wouldn't have it any other day. It calmed her and soothed her to know that Lance felt the same way. It showed her that this was how parental love was meant to look. That had their baby girl survived, she would've felt the same way.

Kenzie brought her to a stop in the storage aisle of Kmart. It was filled with different plastic baskets and bins of various different sizes and the like. She picked up a flat-ish, long, purple one and dragged it to where Bobbi had been standing at the end of the aisle, watching Kenzie. Ellie stood beside her, dancing about.

Kenzie held it in front of her body, the bin practically being as big as she is and she said up to Bobbi, "This, mama. Want this."

Bobbi's heart skipped a beat. She'd called her "mama"… That was the first time she'd ever done that, and seeing as Kenzie clearly preferred Lance most of the time, that made her super proud. She then paid attention to what Kenzie had actually requested. She gave Kenzie a soft, almost pitying, half-smile, as she got down to Kenzie's level and pointed to the storage bin, "This isn't a toy, honey. They have lots of toys here, c'mon. Let's go find you one."

"No, want this," Kenzie said. She knew what she wanted.

Bobbi raised a brow, "are you sure?"

Kenzie nodded quickly, a wide grin gracing her tiny lips, "Yes. This, mama." She said very clearly.

And how could Bobbi say no to that? Kenzie's speech had come a pretty long way. And it was clear that this was what she wanted. She shrugged and nodded, "Alright then." She picked up the bin for Kenzie and offered to take the little girl's hand. Kenzie happily took it and followed Bobbi out of the aisle, Ellie following close beside them skipping along.

"My turn?" Ellie asked Bobbi. They'd been learning about taking turns and sharing in school that week. She and Ben had picked up on it very quickly, Bobbi had learned. It helped keep tantrums at bay usually when someone had a toy that the other one wanted; although, if it was Kenzie who wanted something, Ben and Ellie tended to always give in. It was an interesting relationship between the three that Bobbi and Lance didn't really understand, but they could watch the children together for hours and not get bored.

Bobbi nodded to the little blonde girl and took her hand as well with the three fingers she'd left. In her left arm was the storage bin that Kenzie wanted and in her right hand, Kenzie was holding two of her fingers and Ellie the other three. She smiled at the sales associate who cooed at the girls as they walked by, and watched as the girls pretended to be bashful. She laughed quietly and led the girls by some play tents in the outdoor area as she went toward the toy area. But Ellie gasped, let go of Bobbi's hand and ran off when she saw exactly what she wanted. "Mama! Can I has this as my toy?" She was dragging a giant box toward Bobbi, who had followed Ellie in the direction she had run off. Along the way, she'd stolen an empty cart that had been abandoned somewhere and put Kenzie and her bin into the buggy.

Looking down at the very large box, the blonde mother frowned, "It's a little big, Ellie. When I said you could have a toy, I meant a small one…" She told the three year old.

Ellie pouted up at Bobbi, her big eyes opening wider, "Bu' mama, you said…"

"This is huge, Ellie. Where are we going to up a castle in the house?" Bobbi tried to rationalise.

Ellie saw right through it though. She put her thinking face on in which her lips pursed out, her eyebrows furrowed and her nose wrinkled, "Mm.. In da.. Living room. In da kitch'n. In da back-outside… In da playroom… In da…"

Bobbi sighed and cut her off, the girl had a point, "Okay. I get it."

"It a pwetty castle, Mama," Ellie laid it down on the floor and hugged the box tightly as she looked up at Bobbi.

Bobbi groaned, "Why do you have to be so adorable?" She never knew this could be her weakness. She was glad they no longer worked for SHIELD, or HYDRA would totally use her kids against her. The thought made her shudder.

"Puh-lease, mama? I love you," Ellie fluttered her long eyelashes at Bobbi and pouted again.

The blonde mother huffed a few times and blew a strand of hair out of her face in frustration. She sighed and shook her head, "Fine…" Kenzie was giggling in the cart as she watched Bobbi puff and huff at her hair. "Okay, okay. We'll take it. Just don't tell your daddy you played me."

Ellie was already walking the box to the cart. She looked at Bobbi confused, "Wha' d'ya mean, Mama?"

Bobbi nodded at her, "Exactly." She put Ellie into the cart as well and made sure the box was secure in the bottom level and pushed the girls away.

Meanwhile, Lance and Ben, along with a cart full of things that Bobbi and Lance had originally gone to the store to get, actually made their way into the toy section. Ben was chattering away at Lance about a story they had read in school about a pig and an elephant who wanted to fly. Ben was currently giggling about the fact that elephants couldn't fly. Lance had to laugh as well as Ben's expression on the matter, because it was pretty damn adorable. When Ben saw all the toys though, he gasped and ran in the direction of them. He looked closely at all the toys, deliberating on what he wanted. Lance could practically see the wheels turning in the little boys head, it was quite entertaining, really.

Ben finally made a choice though. Lance was looking at the newest Legos and picked up two boxes of the pre-school targeted models. It'd be good to do those with Kenzie while the others were in school. He also added a few puzzles into the cart. Ben came over to him, hugging two rather large boxes to his chest because they wouldn't fit in his small arms otherwise. Taking them, Lance took a look at the two things. He honestly didn't know why some of these things had more packaging and security around them than Fort Knox! Lance truly looked at what he held. In one hand, he had a toy laptop, that turned on and did a various number of things, and in the other hand he held a box with a toy iPhone in it.

Lance looked at the little boy. Wide blue eyes and a pout stared up at him, "Daddy, I need this 'nd this," he said, pointing to the two boxes.

Lance already knew he had been defeated when those blue eyes stared up at him. He shook his head, "Sorry little mate. Only one toy."

"Bu' I need two. Bof."

The ex-mercenary shook his head again, "No. Pick one, please."

Ben sighed dramatically, "Bu' daddy, I need bof. Need wike I gotta go potty."

Lance bit his lip to try to keep from laughing. The child was good at similes, he would give him that. And he knew the meaning of the word need. That was something that needed to be rewarded, right? Lance sighed, his shoulders sagging, "Fine. But don't tell your mother."

Ben grinned instantly and hugged Lance's leg tightly, "Thank you, daddy."

And with that, the two walked off to find the girls. They met up at the tills, the triplets reuniting on the queue and instantly beginning to chatter away about something Lance and Bobbi didn't really understand. Kenzie was hugging Ben tightly, but he didn't seem to mind at all as his little arms flailed about as he tried to talk over Ellie. Bobbi eyed what Lance had picked up for Ben. She knew it wasn't puzzles or Legos, those had Lance written all over them. Well, maybe not the puzzles, but she had told him she wanted him to get some for the kids. It was the computer and phone. Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Lance, "You let Ben get two things? Lance, that wasn't the agreement!"

Lance looked at the two things in the cart, "You let one of them get a bloody castle, Bob! And judgin' by the colour 'nd size, I'd say it's Ellie!"

Bobbi sighed. He had a point. "Next time, we need to outline the parameters of the bribe a lot more clearly."

Lance made a face and nodded, "Agreed." He looked at the other thing in the cart, "A bin? Is that what Kenzie wants?"

Bobbi nodded. "Yep."

"I feel like she might be gettin' a bit screwed, no?"

His wife shrugged, "It's what she wanted. She really wanted it. She said so very clearly, "This, Mama. Want this." How could I say no if she had said so so clearly?"

He nodded as he watched the three kids talk and play happily beside them on the floor. "I guess you're right. As long as they're happy." He wrapped his arm around his wife and pressed a kiss to her temple. "I love you…"

Bobbi felt a soft smile grace her lips and she looked over at him out of the corner of her eye, "I love you too…" she then leaned in and whispered, "Are you trying to butter me up for a "shag", Lance Hunter?"

Lance grinned devilishly for a moment and he looked at his watch, "It'll be naptime by the time we get home."

She rolled her eyes at him and laughed.

They had definitely learned their lesson though.

Later that afternoon, just before dinner, after Bobbi and Lance had their fun while the children napped, they watched as the kids played. They'd set up the big, pink castle down in the playroom because it seemed like a good place for it to go. Kenzie had turned the bin into a bed for her Froggy and two other dolls, having placed a blanket in it with Ben's help and then tucked in her three "babies" into it comfortably. Ellie set up a bunch of their toy kitchen things inside of her castle as she wore the princess costume they had for the kids and eventually, she dragged Kenzie and her box into the castle as well.

Ben had settled himself at the entrance of the castle. He had in his lap his laptop and he was typing furiously as he'd seen Lance do oftentimes when he was working. But then he picked up his phone and began talking into it loudly in absolute gibberish. His eyebrows furrowing as he, apparently, got upset with whoever was on the other line and he continued talking to them loudly in gibberish. The girls were playing inside of the castle, and he was keeping them safe.

Lance watched from where he was sitting on the couch with Bobbi, munching on some popcorn. "Oi, Benny. Who are ya talking to?"

Ben looked up at Lance, his eyebrows still furrowed, his face still serious, "I not Benny. I'm Grampa Phil Co'son."

Bobbi couldn't believe that Ben had just said that. Neither could Lance, and the two just burst out laughing hysterically at that. Phil was going to love this. Ben went back to being Phil as Bobbi took out her phone to record the moment. She'd send it to Skye, Melinda and Phil later. They were going to love it.

That Sunday was spent lounging around the house with the triplets until it came time to take them to soccer practice. Bobbi had been called into work suddenly on an emergency, leaving Lance to take the children on his own. He had no problem with that, he spent the whole week with the children anyway. He put on their harnesses and loaded them into the Jeep. The whole ride there was Ellie somewhat singing along to the songs coming on through the radio while mimicking the emotions she thought fit the song overdramatically. Lance smirked as he watched this through the rear view mirror. Ben was nibbling on his Cheerios and Kenzie was teetering between the world of the conscious and unconscious.

By the time they got to the field which was about fifteen minutes away from the house, Kenzie was completely out, Ben had run out of Cheerios and Ellie was practically bouncing out of her tiny football cleats. Lance made sure they all had their leads on and he took hold of them through there as his other hand carried his ThinkGeek Tactical Diaper bag with the patch DAD on the front of it and the rest of their soccer equipment. Once they walked out of the parking lot and to the field, Ben and Ellie quickly tried to get their kneepads and elbow pads on.

Lance calmed them down as he walked over to the bleachers. He made sure they had sweaters on, though it wasn't all that cold out, Bobbi would kill him if they got sick, and helped put on their knee and elbow pads. Removing their harnesses, Ellie and Ben bolted off. Kenzie looked up at Lance with sad eyes. Lance was technically supposed to leave the children there at soccer practice with their coach and the other children, but he'd seen a lot in his 30 years, and he wasn't about to leave his children with some man he hadn't done a background check on. Besides, it'd make Kenzie very uneasy. He picked the little girl up and hugged her gently, "It's time for football, darlin'," he said as he removed her harness, put on her kneepads and elbow pads.

Kenzie sighed, "Kay…." She stared at the grass as it seemed so daunting to her.

Lance smiled a bit, kissing her temple, "Don't worry, Daddy will be right here."

Kenzie looked up at him and beamed. She didn't like their coach. He was mean to her and made her feel really sad. But, Daddy was going to stay today, and she could see a few other mommies around too, so she knew she'd be safe to run around of Daddy was there. She looked out to where her brother and sister were running around. She'd go and join them soon.

That night, Bobbi got home at half past nine, and she was absolutely exhausted. Sundays and Saturdays were usually her days off, but when it seemed like the world was imploding at work, she was called in on emergencies. On her way home, she'd gotten a call from a friend, who had children as well and were in the same soccer team as the triplets. Needless to say, Bobbi was surprised, but at the same time, she wasn't.

She walked into the house, closing the door behind her. She knew the kids were asleep, so she peeked into the living room where Lance was sitting on the floor, doing some work. She stepped into their living room after toeing off her heels and dropping her bag and stuff by the door. The blonde crossed her arms and leaned against the living room entrance threshold. She said simply to her husband, "You punched our kids' soccer coach."

Lance didn't look up from his work, "Hello to you too, darling…. And it's football, love."

"Not the point, Lance! You punched him!" Bobbi huffed, not moving from her spot.

"He made Kenzie cry and feel bad. He's lucky I didn't want to traumatise the children and didn't beat the living shit out of him," Lance defended, finally looking up from his laptop and at his wife. "Nobody picks on my children, Bob."

Her heart melted. She knew that would be his reason behind it. Lance had a big heart, a very big heart, and when he loved someone, he loved them wholeheartedly and loyally – usually. And it was that with their children as well. Bobbi walked over to where he was sitting on the floor and bent down, kissing him softly, "I love you."

Lance grinned into the kiss. He wasn't in trouble anymore, and he'd been rewarded with a kiss from his gorgeous wife, this was awesome. "I love you too, my little hellbeast."

And just like that, the moment was over, Bobbi stood again and headed for the kitchen to get her dinner, "Now get on the internet, we need to find a new soccer club for them to join"

"Football." Lance argued easily, getting up off the floor and following Bobbi.

Bobbi rolled her eyes, "Again, not the point"

"Doesn't matter anyway, love. I was voted as the new football coach by all the other mums. And I, being the noble and humble man that I am, I had to accept," he shot at her his winning Lance Hunter grin.

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him, "No. Absolutely not."

"Yeeeees, the kids love the idea too! And besides, no one else knows the offside rule! It has to be me," Lance pointed out.

Bobbi looked at him like he was insane, because, in all honesty, he was. "They're three, Lance!"

"And the quicker they learn the offside rule the better. You gotta start early love. If they want a future as ballerina and ballerino footie players…" he said seriously.

Bobbi was almost afraid to ask, but she did, she should've known better, "What the hell's a ballerino?"

"The boy version of a ballerina, duh," Lance replied.

Her husband had acted a bit like a toddler before they got the triplets. Now even more so. And at that reply, Bobbi turned around and walked out of the kitchen with her plate of food, the conversation had taken a ridiculous turn and she was just done.

The following morning, as Monday mornings usually went, Bobbi sat at the table with Kenzie and Ellie at either side of her, feeding the youngest while having her own coffee. Kenzie was fussing on eating. Bobbi finally got her to start eating when she pretended the spoonful of oatmeal was an airplane. Truly, Bobbi wasn't expecting that reverting to the ancient tricks of feeding toddlers would work.

The phone rang, and Lance answered it. He put it on speaker, "Alright, Marsha, we could all hear you."

"Great. Good morning, Bobbi," Marsha's voice rang out through the kitchen. Bobbi returned the greeting before Marsha continued, "I just wanted to let you guys know that I've just put the papers through for adoption. When I was over last week, I know I told you guys it'd take a bit longer, but everything checked out, so I put the paperwork through, now we just wait for it to be processed and you'll have your day in court."

Bobbi and Lance grinned widely and they both asked at the same time, "And how long will that take?"

Marsha laughed, "Several weeks, depends on a few factors that are pretty out of your hands. But I'll contact you guys when I have more on the matter, and in the meantime, we'll continue with the scheduled and surprise visits as well."

Bobbi nodded, "Sounds good, Marsha, thank you so much."

"Not a problem. I'll talk to you guys soon," she said and then hung up.

Lance looked at his wife and leaned over the table, kissing her softly, their small girls giggled. Lance whispered against Bobbi's lips after she'd returned the kiss, "We're gettin' our family after all, love."

"Looks like it," Bobbi agreed, beaming even more.