First of all: Thanks to the best beta ever Leeese! You are amazing. I love how you help me and that you even review and tell me what you think of the chapters!
davis-baker: Yeah, I hope that I can show that they become a real family who support and love each others!
StephieBoo: Thank you so much for letting me know that you still read my story!
rainbowbright108: Yeah, I love Julian and Penny too. I guess I added another sweet moment)
sarabeth08: There will be more Brooke/Penny moments in the future! I promise! I tried to add some sweet moments into this one!
And to everyone who read it but didn't review: Thanks for still sticking with my story!
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An hour later Clay and Quinn walked over to them. They had Logan and Penny with them and they ran up to them.
"Logan, Penny! Come inside the water." Davis yelled.
"I'm cooooming!" Logan screamed loudly and promptly jumped in.
"Me too!" Penny yelled. She set off running and tried to be as fast as Logan was.
"Wait, wait, wait! Do you have sun cream on?" Brooke asked her.
"Logan does but little missy there said that she never needs it." Quinn said as she laughed and stroked Penny's hair.
"Come here." Brooke told her. Penny reluctantly did and Brooke put the sun cream on her, while she wiggled around in protest. Even more so when Brooke put the water wings on her.
"I want to play now too!" Penny whined a little.
"So, now you can go!" Brooke said. She gave her a soft clap on her bottom and Penny immediately ran into the shallow part of the water happily and splashed with the boys.
"So how did it go?" Clay asked as he took a beer.
"Pretty well actually," Brooke answered him as they watched the kids. "We're a little more concerned how to tell Penny. We told the boys that they shouldn't tell her anything for the moment."
~X~
"Mom and dad are going to adopt you!" Davis said when the four were sitting in a little boat.
"What's that?" Penny asked confused.
"That means that they'll be your mom and dad too! It's like my mom. My mom adopted me too. She's not my real mom because my real mom died when I was born. So I have two!" Logan said happily.
"And we're your big brothers so you have to do whatever we say." Davis added.
"That's not true. Only when I want to." Penny answered. All four kids screamed loudly when suddenly the boat was flipped over and they landed in the water.
"Dad! You scared us!" Logan said as he splashed Clay who laughed loudly.
"Well, I'm a sea monster. You should all start swimming very fast!" Clay said.
He then pretended to be a huge sea monster. The kids didn't need telling twice and quickly tried to get away from him. Brooke and Quinn laughed when they saw the kids trying to get away from Clay. They laughed even more when Julian joined in.
"Clay, not so rough!" Quinn said when he pushed Davis and Logan into the sand and began to cover them with it.
"Eeewww." They both said as they laughed loudly. Julian did the same with a laughing Jude. Then they threw them into the water again and jumped in after them.
Penny walked over to Quinn and Brooke and sat down on the blanket.
"They're crazy!" she said to the adults as she shook her head.
"Yes, they are. And I married the craziest one." Quinn said in a voice that was full of love.
"Why?" Penny looked up at her.
"Well, because I love him very, very much." Quinn told her as she pulled out a towel and threw it over Penny. She then began to dry the little girl.
"Just like my new mom and dad, right?" Penny asked a little confused and looked up at Quinn with big eyes.
"What did you say, honey?" Brooke asked shocked and stopped eating. She had an assumption why Penny had said that but hoped that she was wrong. Penny looked up at her and wrapped her arms around her neck as she cuddled into her.
"Is my mom dead?" she whispered sadly. "Davis said that you alopt me and then you and Julian are my parents. And Logan said his real mom is dead and now he has two."
"I'm going to join the guys." Quinn said. She knew that the two needed a moment alone; a mother and daughter moment. Brooke could've slapped herself right then. Of course her boys would tell her. Brooke lay down with Penny on the blanket and took a deep breath as she held Penny in her arms.
"Your mother isn't dead, honey. She's so sick that she can't take care of you any more. That is why we want to adopt you. We love you so much and want you to become part of our family. You already are but that will make it official," Brooke explained. Penny was still lying in her arms with the towel wrapped around her whole body and Brooke could see the confusion in her eyes. Brooke kissed her nose softly. "It's too much to understand now. Maybe when you're older you will. But I promise you everything will be okay."
"I like it with you. You don't hit me and I can play a lot." Penny said as she rubbed her eyes and snuggled closer to Brooke's chest again. As usual she took her thumb into her mouth.
"See, that's all that matters, now!" Brooke whispered to her. "We will take care of you."
"Do I call mommy and daddy to you then?" Penny whispered and looked up. She was still confused and didn't really know what she was feeling.
"Penny, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to. It is your decision." Brooke told her gently.
"Logan calls Aunt Quinn mommy." Penny said and clung to Brooke.
"Yes, he does but that doesn't mean that you have to. If you want, then you can do it. But if it feels weird then you don't have to." Brooke told her honestly. She didn't want to push her at all.
"You're a good mommy," Penny whispered and leaned against Brooke's chest.
"Thank you, honey and you're a good child." She said as she kissed Penny's cheek.
"Will my other mommy never come back?" Penny asked with a sad tone. Brooke didn't really know how to answer. She felt that Florence didn't deserve Penny's love at all.
"I don't really know sweetie. Maybe one day you will meet her again but it won't be for a long time. Right now she needs to get better. I know it's hard to understand and it's confusing, but Julian and I will always take good care of you." Brooke told her.
"Yes, we will." Julian confirmed as he lay down beside them and snuggled closer to them. Quinn had told them that his boys had revealed that they would adopt Penny.
"Julian! You're still wet." Brooke complained when his cold hand touched her shoulders.
"Ewwwww!" Penny said and laughed when Julian sandwiched her in between him and Brooke. She had no chance to get out of the embrace. She stayed in between her new parents who both looked down at her with a soft smile. Suddenly Penny started to cry and hid against Brooke's chest.
"Princess, what is wrong?" Julian asked as he stroked her back soothingly. He wrapped his arms around her as well, but still Penny didn't stop. Brooke pulled her on top of her and just let her sob into her chest while she held her tightly. After some minutes Penny stopped crying and still sucked her thumb while she looked sadly at Julian.
"Can you tell us why you cried?" Brooke asked her calmly.
"I don't want to be a bad child!" Penny stuttered.
"Oh, honey. You're not a bad child. You're a wonderful, beautiful and lovely little girl, who we love very much. That's why we want you to be a part of our family. We'd love to have you as our daughter." Brooke said as she carefully placed her between both of them and they held her hands as Penny looked up sadly.
"But… my… my mom said that…" Penny stuttered again. Brooke and Julian wished that they had saved Penny way earlier from what Florence had put her through.
"Princess, your mom wasn't right. You're not a bad child, you're a good one. My favorite girl on the whole planet. Do you think we would want to adopt a bad child?" Julian told her softly. Penny looked up at him and then shook her head. "That's right. We want to adopt you because you're such an amazing kid. We love you so much and everything you do makes us happy."
"But sometimes I do things you don't like!" Penny said sadly. She still wasn't sure whether she should believe everything they were telling her.
"Well, so do Jude and Davis but that doesn't mean that we don't love you. All of you!" Brooke said as she kissed her cheek.
"Maybe my other mom was confused because sometimes she takes the white stuff and then she gets scary and weird," Penny said sounding like an adult. Brooke and Julian nodded. Penny suddenly jumped up as she asked. "Can you adopt Bruno as well? I don't want him to go away and…"
"He's already adopted!" Brooke answered as she wrapped an arm around her and pulled her between herself and Julian once again. She saw how scared Penny looked at the thought that Bruno might be separated from her again.
"Really?" Penny asked hesitantly. But she had a huge smile on her face as she did. Julian nodded and put the towel around her freezing body again. "What did he say?"
"Well, what do you think he said?" Julian asked curiously.
"He was probably very happy because Bruno hated to be hit. Sometimes my… um… mom wasn't really nice to him and then he yowled. That's why we stayed on the streets sometimes. But he was always scared because he hates the dark and some people weren't so nice. But now he loves it with you two. Maybe he can call you mom and dad?" Penny rambled as she reached out and touched Brooke's and Julian's faces and smiled. Both of them knew that she was talking about herself in some way.
"Of course he can!" Julian answered. Penny nodded.
"Yeah, I think he'd like that. And he likes Jude and Davis. I think he'll be happy." She said.
"We hope so!" Brooke smiled. She loved hearing Penny's rambling. It was always very cute. Penny nodded again.
"Of course. He loves you like this much!" Penny said as she opened her arms to show them how much she meant.
"We love him too!" Julian smiled. He then slung his arms around her and began to tickle her.
"Noooo!" Penny laughed loudly and wiggled around. Finally Julian stopped and just held her tightly. She just leaned her head on his chest and looked at Brooke without saying anything. Brooke could tell that she was tired because her eyelids were drooping. But she also knew that if Penny would sleep now she'd wake up at night and keep them awake with her talking.
"How about we go into the water again?" Brooke suggested. Julian nodded and stood up with the small girl in his arms. Suddenly Davis ran to them with a basket full of sand and opened her pants and emptied it.
"Davis! You have nothing but nonsense in your head." Brooke said as she laughed. She was grateful as she noticed that his actions had made Penny completely awake again.
"Ewwww…" Penny said as she tried to get the sand out of her pants.
"Come on, this means revenge." Julian said as he ran with Penny to Davis. He then helped her get her revenge by dumping sand into his pants as well. In the end all of them were laughing loudly.
~X~
It was now dark and The Bakers were lying on the blanket. The kids were naked and had huge towels wrapped around them to keep the night chill off them. Their wet swimsuits were crammed into one of the swimming bags. Brooke and Julian had dressed again and they all cuddled together so that the kids wouldn't freeze. They looked up into the sky to watch the stars.
"That is Mars," Julian told them.
"That was a shooting star." Jude screamed happily.
"You have to close your eyes and make a wish." Brooke told them. The kids closed them and made a wish. Brooke and Julian did the same.
"What did you wish for?" Davis asked Jude curiously.
"We mustn't tell each other or it won't come true." Jude told him and snuggled closer to his dad. Penny was lying on top of Brooke while Davis and Jude were in the middle of their parents. Brooke and Julian knew that the kids were about to drift off to sleep when all of them stopped talking. Brooke took Julian's hand and squeezed it. They looked at each other with a smile and then at their three kids.
~X~
It wasn't easy carrying all three sleeping kids out of the car. Somehow all of them slept like a stone. Finally Julian managed to put the boys into their bed while Brooke carried Penny into her pink bed. When she laid her down and carefully put her pajama's on opened her eyes a little and looked around in confusion.
"We're home, sweetie." Brooke told her softly.
"Mommy!" Penny whispered with closed eyes. Brooke wasn't sure whether Penny really meant her or was still sleeping but when she didn't react, Penny said it again in a tired whisper. "Mommy, I want you to sleep in my bed with me! Please!"
"Of course I will. I just get changed and then come back, okay?" Brooke said as she placed the blanket over her.
Ten minutes later, Brooke walked back into Penny's room and snuggled down beside her. Penny was already sleeping but managed to cuddle closer.
"I love you!" Brooke said as she kissed her and then closed her eyes. She knew that this little girl made her life even more perfect. Penny was the daughter she had always missed.
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Thank you so much for taking your time. And even a BIGGER THANKS for reviewing and letting me know what you like/didn't like...
Caseyjr!