Glad you guys like Tabby! I looooove them! Back to our fav faves though :). I don't own these characters, all for Shonda Rhimes.
Happy Reading!
Fitz parked the Range Rover and helped the children out one by one. "Karen, boys, watch the little ones. This was definitely a good idea, Baby; the girls were getting quite restless."
"Can we get ice cream, Mom?"
"No, you just ate lunch. Ugh, maybe we should just take them home and let them play inside." Olivia looked at her children, who had stopped and were staring at something in the playground. She quickened her step, followed closely by Fitz. "What is it, kids?"
"Look!" Karen giggled and pointed to the swings. "It's Tom and Abby! He KISSED her!"
"Isn't that my sweater?" Olivia looked at Fitz and grinned. "Come on, kids, let's leave them alone. They deserve a little privacy."
"I take it this means he won't be home to help with dinner." Fitz was frowning.
"Well, it sure doesn't look like it, Honey. I guess you'll have to settle for MY cooking."
"Liv, you know how territorial Tom is."
"So, we eat at my house. Oh, stop looking at me like that, I know you like to pretend the house doesn't exist, but it DOES."
"I don't pretend it doesn't exist. I just don't like to hear you refer to it as YOUR house or HOME."
"Geez, all right. Let's go to OUR other house for dinner tonight. How's that sound, better?" She scooped up her youngest, who was still trying to run for the swings.
"Here, Sweetheart, I'll carry her. The rest of you, hurry up now, back to the car."
The children raced for the car, with Alyssa bringing up the rear. Fitz placed McKenzie on the grass and patted her bottom. "Go on, Kenz, hurry; run and catch Lyssa." The toddler took off running toward her siblings. Fitz caught Olivia's hand and held it tightly. "I'm sorry, Livvie. I guess Tom isn't the only one who's territorial. You're staying there tonight, aren't you?"
"Yeah, Honey, I am. I can either drive you home, or you can take the Rover and send the limo for Bryce in the morning."
"You're sure you want me to take the Rover? What if you need a vehicle in the middle of the night?"
"Then I'll drive you home after dinner." She hugged his arm tightly.
"So what's for dinner?" He leaned over and kissed her cheek softly.
"I have no clue, to be honest. I'll have to go through the cupboards and the freezer. It'll give the kids a chance to play for a while."
As soon as the Rover came to a stop in front of Olivia's townhouse, the three older children climbed out and raced up the steps, leaving the younger girls crying in their car seats. Fitz shook his head as he opened the back door to release McKenzie from her seat. She climbed over her sister's seat and jumped out onto the sidewalk. "Boys, come back down here and help your sisters up the stairs, please."
The boys plodded slowly down the stairs and took their sisters by the hands. "Sorry, Dad." Fitz smiled and tousled Jerry's hair before taking Olivia's hand to help her up the stairs.
"Mom, can we rehearse our songs tonight?"
She looked over at Fitz. "I guess so, Honey."
"We've only got a few more weeks, and I haven't even heard you and Dad sing your songs."
She looked at her son and let out a playful growl. "Fine, I'll rehearse my songs. I don't see you getting on Tom or Aunt Abby!"
He grinned. "I can MAKE them rehearse?"
Fitz put his arm around his shoulder. "You're the producer, Son, you're in charge."
"YES!"
Olivia got the doors unlocked and followed the children into the house. "We'll be in the playroom, Ma!"
"Bryce, Jerry! Did you forget something?" She looked down at the two youngest children as they started climbing the stairs after their brothers.
"Come on girls, let's go play. I'll turn on the intercom when we get up there."
"Thanks, Honey." She watched the children as they turned the corner to their room, and then turned to Fitz. "I guess we'd better practice, or the producer is gonna fire us. Wait a minute…that could work!" She laughed as she headed to the living room. "You want a drink, Sweetie?"
"Why don't I go downstairs and pick out a nice bottle of wine?"
"That sounds wonderful, while you're doing that; I'll look through the refrigerator and freezer. If all else fails, we can have leftovers from your party."
"Leftovers, Olivia?"
"Oh, now don't start with me. I've eaten leftovers my whole life and I didn't grow and extra thumb or anything." She laughed as she gave him a gentle shove toward the stairs.
Olivia stopped in the kitchen and switched on the intercom as she watched Fitz continue down the stairs to the basement. She opened the refrigerator and peered in side. "Leftovers, it is!" She began to pull dishes out of the refrigerator and assemble them on the counter. No way was she going to allow this food to sit and spoil because Fitz didn't like to eat the same thing two days in a row.
Fitz appeared at the top of the stairs with two bottles of Merlot. "Will this go with leftovers?"
She grinned at him. "As long as your pampered palate isn't offended." She giggled and took the bottles from him. "These will be perfect, Honey."
"What can I do to help?" Fitz looked around the kitchen.
"Well, for starters, you can open a bottle of wine and relax. I just need to pop these dishes into the oven to warm them, and we'll get the boys and Karen to set the table."
"Oh, they'll love that."
"Fitz, they've been doing it for two years. We don't have all the help you have over here. When Karen and Jerry are over here, they've always done the same chores as Bryce. They've set the table, shoveled snow, raked the back yard, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned the playroom, and even helped with laundry. You know, they never once complained? I guess they know what they can get away with at home.
"They never told me they did chores over here."
"You think they were going to complain? They saw us doing chores as a family; even Kenz would help clean up the playroom. We made a game of seeing how many toys she could get into her baskets. The playroom actually became hers and Lyssa's to clean. It was something they could handle, and still be part of the fun."
"I've fallen in love with Mary Poppins!"
"Hardly! We don't run around the house singing and snapping our fingers to get our chores done. I do try to make housework fun for the kids, though. I hide Hershey's kisses in places I know they'll find them, little things like that. I thought you were going to get me a glass of wine?" She poked his arm playfully before opening the oven.
"Are you coming upstairs to relax after you put those in?"
"You'd better believe it. I don't know why I feel so tired today."
Fitz smiled at her as he headed up the stairs. He opened the bottle and poured two glasses. Olivia appeared at the top of the stairs before he could sit down. He handed her a glass and kissed her cheek. "Your wine, Darling."
She sat on the sofa and waited for him to sit next to her, then snuggled against him. They say quietly for several minutes, listening to the sound of their children's laughter coming over the intercom as they sipped their wine.
"It's starting to get a bit cool, how about I start a fire?"
"That would be nice, Honey, thanks. I wonder if the kids are warm enough."
"You don't want a fire in the upstairs fireplace, do you?"
"Are you kidding? They'd burn the house down! I was actually thinking of turning the thermostat up a bit."
Fitz walked over to the wall and moved the dial slightly. "That should do it, they're so busy playing, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Thanks Fitz." She laid her head on the back of the sofa and closed her eyes while he went out onto the terrace to bring in some firewood. She heard him building the fire, and soon the warmth has reached across the room to where she sat. "That feels so much better." She felt him slip back onto the sofa next to her and wrap her in his arms. "Even better." She moved her head against him and sighed softly.
He kissed the side of her head. "So, when are we going to rehearse?"
"You're really going to hold me to that, aren't you?"
"You promised our sons you'd rehearse the songs."
She grinned. "That means that YOU are going to be singing, too, doesn't it?"
"I suppose it does." He held her tighter. "How about after dinner, this feels too good to move."
"You read my mind, Babe." She closed her eyes again. "I could sit like this forever."
"Daaaaaadeeeeeee" McKenzie's pitiful whine could be heard coming from the playroom, even without the benefit of the intercom.
Olivia groaned and sat up. "Or until she starts that." She turned toward the intercom. "What's going on up there?"
"She's fine, Ma, she just keeps trying to mess up our Lego city."
"Did you give her some of her own?"
"Yeah, we did, but she still keeps taking ours."
Fitz and Olivia both stood up. "You go check on dinner; I'll go take care of the children. Shouldn't it be about time to set the table?"
She looked at her watch. "Just about. By the time you get them washed up, it should be time."
"I suppose the children have a system for where they like to wash?"
"Karen uses my bathroom, the boys use the playroom, and the girls come down to this bathroom. Well, either this one or the one in the kitchen." She laughed as she headed down the stairs. "They're all yours, Daddy."
She assembled the silverware and napkins on the counter for the children while she listened to her family over the intercom. She heard the water start to run in the playroom bathroom, then heard the girls crying as Fitz pulled them from their play time and brought them downstairs to wash up. He bypassed the living room bathroom and headed right for the kitchen with the two screaming girls in tow. "Would you please take one of these angels for me, Babe?"
Olivia looked sternly at her daughters. "No way. I want you BOTH to stop this right now, do you understand me? No more screaming or you're both going to bed right after dinner. It's our fault, they didn't nap today. Girls, that's enough, now get into the washroom and wash your hands for dinner, and I'll let you help the big kids set the table."
Alyssa rubbed her eyes and sniffed. "Ok, Mommy." She wiggled out of her father's grasp and wrapped her arms around Olivia's legs. McKenzie continued to sniffle and bury her face in Fitz's neck, refusing to let go. Olivia just shook her head and helped Alyssa wash her hands. When they finished, Fitz took McKenzie in and tried to get her cleaned up. In the meantime, the older children had made their way down the stairs and were starting to put the silverware on the table.
"Kids, make sure you leave something for the little ones to bring into the dining room." Olivia watched the kids making trip after trip with the table settings.
"Ok, Ma." He handed the place mats to Alyssa and tried to get McKenzie to carry the napkins. The toddler took them from her brother, threw them on the floor, and ran to Fitz.
"Daddy, up." She pulled on his pants, attempting to climb up his legs.
"Oh, someone's tired, isn't she?" The child laid her head on her father's shoulder and put her thumb in her mouth. "Is this something new, Liv?"
Olivia looked at her daughter sucking on her thumb. "It sure is! McKenzie, take that thumb out of your mouth. You are told old to start that."
She closed her eyes and clung tighter to her father. "Maybe we should just overlook it tonight, Sweetheart. She IS over tired."
Olivia sighed deeply. Her daughter didn't need her anymore, OR want her. All she wanted was her daddy. "I'm too tired to fight with her tonight, Fitz."
"I'm sure she'll be asleep before we get through with dinner." He bent over to retrieve the napkins she had thrown.
"Why don't you go sit with her in the dining room and supervise the kids setting the table? I'll bring the food in and we can get these kids fed. They've all got to be exhausted."
The family made it through dinner without the youngest falling asleep, but just barely. As Olivia was dishing out dessert, she watched McKenzie's head start to bob up and down, followed quickly by Alyssa's. "Honey…" she pointed to the girls. "Will you finish serving dessert? I'll take McKenzie upstairs and change her first, and then I'll come back for Alyssa. So much for driving you home."
"I'll call Tom."
"No, why don't the kids just sleep here, and you can take the Audi home?"
"Your AUDI?"
"Wha? I trust you with my children, why wouldn't I trust you with my car?"
"I didn't think anyone drove that car but you."
"No one ever has. You've been dying to see her, now's your chance. Just make sure she's garaged for the night. She's never spent the night outside."
"Geesh, Ma, you sound like she's one of your kids or something."
"She IS, Honey."
"I'm surprised you kept it, since HE gave it to you. You've gotten rid of almost everything else, except me and Kenz." He looked up at the pained look on his mother's face. "I mean, it's OK, Ma, I want to forget him, too. We have Fitz now. Why can't Fitz get you a cool car that you want as your baby?"
"Oh, here we go again. I am NOT keeping my Audi because your…because HE gave it to me. I'm keeping it because I happen to adore the car. I'd wanted that car for a long time. As for a new car, maybe Fitz will get me a new car, but that's not gonna happen tonight. Tonight, he takes the Audi home so I can have the big car for you kids, got it?"
He looked down and pushed his food around his plate. "Yes, Ma'am."
"Now, I'm going to take your sister upstairs before she falls head first into her plate. Do NOT give Fitz a hard time while I'm gone.
"I won't." He grinned at his mother as she carried his sister out of the room. "Sorry, Ma, I love you."
"I love you more, Sweetie." The family finished their meal as she carried the toddler up the stairs to get her ready for bed. When she came down for the next child, she was asleep in her father's arms, and he was supervising the boys and Karen loading the dishwasher. "You have GOT to be kidding!"
"I would have done it myself, but, as you can see, my hands were full. You had no sooner left the room, than Alyssa nodded off herself."
"Oh, the poor little darling. I guess we can't skip naps then, can we?"
"That's not really fair though, that means we can't go to movies until they're old enough to not need naps."
"Not necessarily, Jerry, we DO have a nanny. We can leave the little ones with Miss Perkins next time. They get to do a lot of extra things while you older children are in school." Olivia reached down to take Alyssa from his arms. "Do you want me to carry her up, Darling? She's getting awfully heavy."
"Sure, I'll go up and help you. Kids, don't break anything, and don't start the dishwasher. Let Karen make sure everything's loaded properly. The intercom's on if you need us."
The children looked up and smiled. They all loved the way Olivia trusted them to handle chores. "We'll be fine." She reached out and stroked her sister's hair. "Good night, Lyssa. Boy, she's really out, isn't she?"
"She sure is. We'll be back down as soon as we get her into bed. Why don't you kids talk about where you're going to sleep tonight? I'll inflate the air mattress and someone can sleep downstairs in the play room. I suppose it will be either Karen alone, or you two boys. You'll just have to go right to sleep, since it's a school night." She turned and followed Fitz up the stairs to the girls' room. "We are definitely out growing this house. It was so much easier when they were smaller."
"We're out growing both houses. The children can't share rooms forever." He started pulling Alyssa's pajamas on.
"No, they can't. We could turn the playroom back into a master suite, but that only frees up one bedroom," She helped him put the child under the covers and kissed her lightly.
"We'd lose the guest room and the nanny's room if they each had a room at the other house. Then what if we decided to have more children, we'd be out of room."
"More children, there you go again."
"I'm just saying, we need to consider our future. Maybe it's time to start looking for a larger home."
"Karen was talking about that the other day. She wants us to get rid of both small houses and buy something up around the country area. She wants a place with land for horses and lots of room to play."
"That's something to think about. It would be nice for the children to have someplace where they could run and play outside without the fear of them running into traffic." He looked down at the sleeping girls. "These two are growing so fast, they won't be able to share a bed much longer."
"I know. I can't believe that McKenzie turns three this summer, and a couple of months later, Alyssa will be FOUR. You know the one that I can't get over though…Karen's going to be twelve next month, she's almost a teenager."
"It just doesn't seem possible, does it? They're all growing up so fast."
"Not too fast, I hope. We'd better get back downstairs and see what kind of mess the kids have made of the kitchen." She laughed. "They love to be treated like I think they're responsible, but I usually pay for it later." She walked over to the intercom and clicked it on. "I'm putting this on one way, so we can hear them, but they can't hear us." They walked to the door, stood, and watched the children sleep for a few seconds before closing the door and heading down stairs.
The children were sitting in the living room waiting patiently when their parents arrived. Olivia clicked on the intercom and looked over at them. "Ok, what's up?"
"Nothing. We loaded the dishwasher, and it's all ready for you to check. We're ready to rehearse."
She looked over at Fitz. "I guess there's no getting out of this, is there?"
"It doesn't look like it. All right, boys, what have you got in mind?"
"Well, we need to hear your song, and Mom's song, then we need to hear you together."
"Well, it's getting late, so why don't we just do the duet, then you children can start getting your baths and get ready for bed?"
"Aw, Dad, you're just trying to get out of singing."
"No, I'm really not. Babe, why don't you and Karen go make us some hot chocolate?"
"Fitz, are you trying to get rid of me?"
"Actually, yes, Sweetheart. I've got a bit of a surprise planned, and I need to discuss it with our producers."
"Fine, let's go, Karen, we're being thrown out of the room. Listen for the girls; I'll turn off the intercom in the kitchen." She kissed him on the head as she got up.
Once the girls were safely downstairs, Fitz turned to the boys. "I've picked a song that I'd like to sing, but I don't want to rehearse it in front of your mother. It's a song that will give her an idea that I want to marry her."
"What song, Dad?"
" 'Marry You', by Bruno Mars. Do you think she'll like it? I thought I could sing that after she does her song, and then we can do our duet as the finale."
"That'll be SO cool, Dad. She's gonna be so surprised. I'm sure she knows you want to marry her though, you're always talking like we're already a real family."
"We ARE a family, Jer. We have been for two years; it just took my mom and your dad all this time to figure it out."
Fitz laughed. "Yes, Son, sometimes adults can be a little slow."
"You're the slowest one, Dad. At least Olivia treated us like her kids the whole time."
"Things were a little complicated, Jerry, it's hard to explain."
"At least we're all a family, now, Jer, that's what matters. Are you and Mom gonna have a baby when you get married?"
"I don't know, Son, that's something we'll have to think about."
"Well, we think it would be kinda cool. Kenzie was fun when she was a baby, but she's getting older now."
"Yeah, Dad, and we need another boy to even things out."
"What if we have a girl?"
The boys looked at each other and made faces. "No, no more girls!" Fitz laughed and grabbed the boys and hugged them close.
"Let's just be patient, what do you say, boys. Now, not a word to you-know-who." He smiled and looked over at the stairwell as Olivia came up the stairs with a tray of cocoa, followed by Karen with a plate of cookies.
"I thought we might want a little sweet with our cocoa. All right, what's goin' on?"
"What do you mean, what's going on?"
"Look at the three of you, you're plotting something, I can always tell."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." The three men exchanged quick glances. "Ready for rehearsal?" He reached for a cookie and turned on the stereo.
Thoughts? Ideas? This talent show is about to be EPIC! the boys and new baby talk? a new house? Stay tuned!