"Now Gus, Shawn, pay attention. The baby needs to be fed at what time?" Nicole asked in her most serious doctor voice as she handed Gus his beautiful baby Joy.
"Eleven, two, and five if you aren't back yet." Gus answered in his typical goodie-two-shoes fashion.
"And the rest?" Juliet asked, looking in his direction.
"No caffeine, lunch at noon, minimal sweets and our girls need to read two chapters from a book each at some point today." He answered—proud that he actually knew the answer.
Juliet smiled and planted a soft kiss on his lips. "That's my man."
"And don't forget the boys and Ellie should take a nap around one." Carol added as she placed Ellie in the Pack-and-Play.
"Remind me again why you're hubby isn't assisting in this Daddy Daycare?" Gus asked Carol with quip.
"Protect and Serve Guster. He used his last vacation day when Ellie and I were sick." She replied with equal quip. "But don't worry, he'll be on duty at the homefront next week."
"Mom, Aunt Nicole, Aunt Carol, it's time for you to leave!" Rachel said as she went over to the child-sized coloring table he had brought in a couple years ago. He couldn't believe it, but his girls were already getting too big for it at nearly eleven years old.
"You heard her. We'll be fine sweetie, go." He urged his wife and the other ladies out the door.
"Bye kids, we love you!" All three women chorused as they left and he closed the door behind them and turned to look at his best friend.
"Two ten year olds, an eight year old, two four year olds and one nearly there, a twenty month old, and a two month old. You know what this is Guster?" Gus shrugged and looked into the office with him. "This is a battlefield. Prepare yourself soldier, the enemy is adorable and well trained in tactical excuses."
"We're brave men Shawn. Brave, intelligent, fun men. We can survive. We will survive." Gus replied and he gave a curt nod. "Onward to battle!"
"Dad, I'm bored." Rebecca sighed as she slumped in to one of the comfy chairs in her dad's office.
"You know we don't say that word in our family." He replied, the way she knew he would. 'Bored' was worse than some swears in their house, but sh was. "Did you and Rach read?"
"Dad, we read four chapters each like an hour ago." Rachel responded. "The toddler takeover isn't exactly exciting."
"It's only eleven…what are we going to do all day?" She added.
"Uh…" Dad started before baby Bryan started screeching and Uncle Gus called for help. "I'll think of something, just let me handle this."
"Becca, can you color with me?" Isaac asked from the pee-wee table.
She sighed. "Sure Bub." At least it was something. She walked over to the table, plopped on a miniature chair, and pulled her baby brother on her lap. "Let's work on shapes." She began drawing dotted shapes for him to trace, and automatically did the same on two other sheets for Sam and Krista—Ellie was still more of a scribbler. However, before she had finished the third copy, Andrew and Rachel had descended to the table as well, Rachel taking Sam and Andrew, Krista.
'I have a plan.' Rachel wrote on a sheet of paper so she could read it. The biggest perk of being six years older than her brother and his friends was that, for at least a little while longer, the older kids could have secret written communication. She nodded at her sister, who continued writing. 'Dad and UG are in the other room, we convince the tots to play h&s, littles finding bigs, then ditch daycare and head to the beach. You in?'
She shrugged. This was a bigger stunt than they normally played, but a day on the beach sounded great and they'd be just in front of Dad's office. "Hey Bub, Sam, you want to play hide and seek?" She asked in her most excitable voice.
"We'll even let you guys try to find us!" Rachel added, equally excited.
"That is, if you think you can count high enough for us to find good hiding places." Andrew added, bringing it home. There was no way they'd say no now, not if they thought it made them look like babies.
"We can count!" Sam retorted, taking the bait.
"We each count to ten." Krista said proudly.
"Yeah. And you guys have to really hide, not hide bad." Isaac added.
She grinned at her sister and Andrew. "Alright." She set Isaac in a corner with Sam and Krista. "Shut your eyes tight and count slow!"
"One…two…" Sam started and she, Rachel, and Andrew slowly snuck out the front door—checking to make sure Dad and Uncle Gus didn't see.
"Sweet freedom." Rachel sighed as they shut the door.
"Now what?" She asked, looking to her two best friends.
Andrew shrugged. "Build an epic sandcastle?"
"They're fine, right? Gus will feed the baby. He remembered the times. He'll feed the baby, right?" Nicole said as she swirled the dregs of her tea, seemingly looking at the bottom of her mug for answers.
She placed a hand on her friend's arm. "Nicole, they're fine. I have full confidence in them."
"It is the first time they've had all of them—that's a big age span, eight kids between ten and infant?" Carol added quietly.
Juliet sighed. "Do you want me to call?" She was sure they were fine, but she didn't want the rest of their Girls Day Out ruined by a nagging feeling. Both friends nodded and she pulled out her phone and called her husband.
He grabbed the phone before the ringing disturbed the finally calm Joy. "Hello my darling wife."
"Hey babe, just checking in." The melodious voice of Juliet said through the phone.
"Well Bryan is happily enjoying a bottle in Gus' arms and the rest are quiet." He reported, pleased with how well the day was going.
"Quiet? Really?" She said and the tone of his voice made doubt crawl through his system.
"Uh, yeah. They're…" He peeked out the door and saw Sam and Isaac opening cabinets and trying to sneakily crawl around. "They're playing hide and seek together."
"Oh, well that's good. Did the girls read?"
"Yep." He replied as he began walking through the office. The girls weren't in any of their usual places and they were getting too big for a lot of the spaces in the office. "Look Sweetie, I'm going to let you go and help the boys okay?"
"Shawn." He knew she saw right through what he said by her tone. "Put Rae or Reb on the phone."
"Love you Jules, don't worry everything will be fine, bye." He rushed and hung up. "Gus!"
Their sandcastle was seriously impressive considering it was made by three kids with no tools. It had several towers, one of which was in the shape of a pineapple, an armory, a moat with a bridge, and a tower ideal for spying. She stood back with Andrew and Rebecca, pleased with their efforts. "So now what?"
"I don't know." Rebecca sighed. "We can't really swim."
Just then Iris walked up. "Hey SPBD family! I thought that was you! How's it going?"
"Hey Iris!" She replied with a wave, hoping she didn't seem too dorky. Iris was sixteen and possibly one of the coolest people she knew, but Rachel always felt like she made a fool of herself around her.
"We're good, just taking a beach day." Rebecca added.
"How are you?" Andrew asked.
Iris laughed lightly and looked at their castle. "I'm good, this is a sweet castle, did you three make this?"
Rachel felt herself blush slightly at Iris' compliment and saw Rebecca do the same. They never talked about looking up to Iris, but she knew Rebecca did too. "Yeah we did. Thanks." She and Rebecca answered simultaneously.
Iris laughed again. "I swear I'll never get used to that. You hang out with them a lot Andrew, do you get used to it?"
Andrew shook his head 'no' and she and Rebecca giggled. Not only did their 'twin answers' freak Andrew out, but he had a huge crush on Iris and always got really quiet and red when she talked to him directly.
"That's what I figured. So you guys are still totally dry! Why don't you jump in the water, it feels great!"
She looked from Rebecca to Andrew. They didn't have suits on and it would be way harder to sneak back into the office if they were sopping wet. "Uh, well, we…"
"We forgot our suits." Rebecca supplied.
"You didn't bring suits to a beach day?" Iris asked inquisitively. Then she looked to each of them, "Where are your parents?"
"Dad's at work." Andrew jumped in first.
"And our dad and Uncle Gus are in the office. The moms are all out." She added.
"And they know you're here?"
"Iris please don't tell. We just wanted to get away from the daycare. They're all babies and we were bored and Dad always tells us if we're bored we should do something about it." Rebecca blurted.
Iris smiled devilishly. "A bit of rebellion. I expected it from the Spencers but Andrew I'm a little impressed." He turned a brilliant shade of fuchsia at that point and Iris giggled. "Well, you're probably thirsty, come on over by me, you can meet my boyfriend and get some water. Plus we have spare towels if you want to jump in the ocean, in this sunshine I'm sure you'd dry pretty fast."
While Andrew looked bummed at the mention of 'boyfriend', she was excited. "Yeah, that'd be awesome, thanks!"
"No problem! Always happy to help a little rebellion!"
"Daddy, for the jillionth time, I look-ded there already." He'd been looking in the same places over an over for like forever but they still couldn't find Sis or Becca or Drew.
"You're sure?" Daddy asked. Then he huffed real big. "Of course you're sure. I'm sure. Gus, any luck?"
"They're not here Shawn. We've been looking for almost an hour. We checked the attic and I saw you knocking on floorboards."
"They wouldn't leave, would they?" Daddy asked Uncle Gus. "Punk, did you hear the door?"
"We were counting." Sam said. "All the way to ten."
"I'm proud Buddy, but that doesn't really help." Daddy sighed again. "They could be anywhere if they left. I told Juliet we needed trackers placed in them."
"Shawn, calm down." Uncle Gus said, going to pick up Baby Bryan who just started crying.
"Your kids aren't missing." Daddy snapped.
"Door!" Ellie squeaked. She could only say some words, she wasn't as grown up as him, Sam, and even Krista.
"Ellie! Did you hear the door?" Uncle Gus asked excitedly?
"I mighta heard a squeaky sound." Krista added. "Does the door squeak?"
Daddy ran to the door and opened and closed it over and over, making it squeak. "This squeaky sound?" He asked.
"Door!" Ellie said again.
"Looks like they got out." Uncle Gus said quietly. "What do we do now?"
"I'll seek!" He said, raising his hand. He always wanted to play hide-and-seek outside.
Daddy just looked at him and Uncle Gus and him again. "Alright. Shoes, everyone."
"Remember, I'll kill my husband if he needs killing, but we ask questions first." She reminded the other equally distressed women in her car. She couldn't believe Shawn messed this up. He was so good with the kids, but this had been a lot, and with the baby all the way up to the Three Musketeers they were basically begging for trouble.
"Deal." Carol and Nicole answered.
"And ditto for mine." Nicole added.
"Mine hasn't heard any reports of wandering children and wants me to take pictures of any husband shaming so he can frame them in the office." Carol read from her phone.
She threw the car in park and walked quickly into the Psych office. "Shawn! Gus! Girls? Isaac? Kids?" She yelled as she opened the door and Bryan's screams answered.
"Juliet! Oh, shoot…hi honey…" Gus said the latter to his wife who she could feel fuming behind her. "Uh, I can explain."
"Where are the kids?" She asked.
"Shawn has Isaac, Sam, and Krista, Ellie and Bryan are here-"
"And the others?" Carol interrupted. "Where are Andrew and the twins?"
As mad as she was, having the girls be called 'the twins' brought a smile to her face even after all these years. "How long have they been gone?" She added, anger returned, as Gus fumbled for words.
"An hour…but Shawn and the tots will find them!"
"He better hope he finds them before I find him…" She mumbled and turned out of the office. She looked left and right. The stores were to the left, but the girls didn't have money and she doubted Andrew did either. "We go right." She said, kicking off her shoes and starting down the stretch of beach with her two best friends.
She laughed and lay on a towel between her sister and Iris. Jeremy, Iris' boyfriend, had taught them the best technique for body boarding and it had been the most fun she'd had in weeks. He was super cool and it was so nice of Iris to let them hang out. She was the best, basically like her older cousin, which was cool because she didn't have any cousins. She even braided her hair in a fishtail and made Rachel's look like a corded rope, which was so much cooler than what she could do. Basically, it was the best day ever and totally worth sneaking out of stupid daddy daycare for.
"Here, have some water guys." Iris said as she chucked a water bottle at each of them.
"Thanks." Rachel said.
"And thanks for letting us crash your date." She added.
At that, Jeremy handed Iris water and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm glad you did, it was cool to meet the other kids of the force. But I'm not taking you three to dinner, sorry." He said with a wink at the end and she giggled.
"Nothing could ruin this day." Rachel said as she took a sip of water.
"Sis! Becca!" Her baby brother's voice pierced through their happy bubble.
"…except that." Rachel sighed.
"We're dead." Andrew mumbled.
"Shawn! Girls!" She whipped her head around to see her Mom, Aunt Nicole, and Aunt Carol descending the beach toward Dad.
"So incredibly dead." She added before turning to Iris and Jeremy. "Well, it was nice knowing you."
He'd spent twenty minutes grilling the lifeguards after he found their sandcastle, thinking they had all drowned. Maybe if he had moved on faster, he would've found the girls before Jules found him. "Jules, let me explain!" Then he turned to see three incredibly guilty looking children lying on towels in the sand. "Or actually, girls, Andrew, why don't you do the honors."
"Oh believe me, they will, but you! Never hang up on me like that!"
He dropped his head. He had been wrong to hang up on her. "I'm sorry Babe, I thought I could fix it and I just wanted you to have a nice day without kids."
"It would've been nicer if we hadn't spent the last hour in some degree of panic. Shawn, you know I need info when our children are involved and need more info when other's are." Her expression was softening, she wasn't actually mad at him and he knew it, she was just in Momma-Bear mode.
"I'm sorry Sweetheart. And I'm extremely sorry Nicole and Carol, the farthest thing from my intent was to worry you." All three women nodded and he saw his girls trying to sneak away from the corner of his eye. "Now you five, front and center." The girls froze and he saw Iris' jaw drop. "That's right, Iris and boy who's name I don't know, you get up here too."
"Daddy…" Rachel plied.
"Don't." He held up a hand. "I am imperpetual to your cries of 'Daddy' right now."
"I think you mean 'impervious'…" Rebecca said before quickly dropping her gaze.
"I've heard it both ways. Now Andrew…explain." Andrew was undoubtedly the weakest link of the bunch.
"We went to the beach." He answered quietly. An obvious fact, not a bad interrogation tactic.
"That much we know." Carol replied. "Why didn't you ask?"
"We were just following the 'Bored' rule." Rachel supplied. She truly was the best wheedler.
"You, no more talky-talky." He said, pointing to his daughter and giving her his most authoritative stare. She got quiet, but the laughter in her eyes told him she knew he respected her skills.
"Iris, did you know they snuck out?" Juliet turned to the not-so-innocent bystander in all of this.
"I was keeping an eye on them. And I was going to take them back soon. I saw them out here alone and figured they'd be better off with us." Iris said boldly. She had the same backbone as her mother and she'd make a good cop one day.
"Not an answer to my question but thank you for looking after them. I'll call your mother later so if you have plans for tonight, I'd go do them now." Jules said with what he though was a tiny wink at the end. "Now girls, you're grounded for two weeks, home arrest. That means no playdates at the Lassiters, no going to the park, no coming to work with Dad or I, total lock down and if you protest it goes up to three weeks. You know better, you know you know better, and you're secretly glad I don't have your father publicly embarrass you and put it on the internet." He loved when she meant business and he watched with pride as the girls' shoulders droop as they mumbled their ascents.
"And know that I'll enforce everything she just said." He added and the girls nodded again. "Now, I'm taking the tots and the lovely women for ice cream and you three can watch and be miserable while Carol decides Andrew's fate. Let's go!" There would be more discussions between him and Jules, he was sure of it, but for now, she seemed to be bought by the idea of ice cream and that was enough for him. Plus, he'd get to eat it in front of his punished children, and Gus wouldn't get any, it was a win in every way possible. So overall, he felt he kind of had the daycare thing down—eight children in, eight children out and no one died, another successful day at Psych.
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It's very late and I need to sleep, but I promise I'll reply to any reviews from this chapter! Hope you're all doing well and that you like this one! {#}
***Reading through, I realized that Gus and Nicole's second born is in fact Bryan-I had thought I gave them a son but couldn't remember so I wrote Joy instead. However, I've fixed that for consistencies sake :)