(A/N: Simple fill-in about how the siblings were settling in! Enjoy!)
Eddie's POV
It's been two days since we brought James and Rachel home. They seem to fit in quite well with the others. It's 8am, so they were all still asleep. I look over to Patricia, who still looks exhausted – the twins' 5th birthday is coming up, so she was up half the night on the internet organising party things… I move closer to her and put my arm around her waist. She groans… She's quite a heavy sleeper, but today, she seems alert. I chuckle to myself. I try going back to sleep cuddling her, but I'm interrupted by 2 girls' voices. I recognise them as Rachel and Nina. They try to open the door to our bedroom, but they're too short to reach. I get up and open the door for them.
"Good morning, my little princesses," I say, picking up both. They giggle –neither are like their mother – well Nina isn't like Patricia. She's quiet, calm and innocent. Patricia is… Nevermind. But I love them all so much.
"Daddy, when can we go outside to play?" Rachel asked, with a grin on her face.
"When your other brothers and sisters wake up, baby," I said, kissing her cheek.
"Okee… Can we go wake them up?" she asks, her eyes twinkling.
"Um…" I look at the clock. It's 8:30 now. "Sure, we can do that," I say, putting both of them down. We went into the girls' room first, as it was the closest. There were four (one for Rachel too) mini-human beds. I go to Joy's bed first, since she was the hardest to wake up.
"C'mon, princess, time to wake up," I say.
"No, it's sleepy time," she says, flipping over to put her face in her pillow. I chuckle.
"But it's eight-thirty, and the sun is shining!" I say, trying to lift her out of bed. By this time, Amber (who is a very light-sleeper) had woken up.
"Nooooooooooooooooo!" Joy said, screaming.
"Slimeball! Keep your kids QUIET!" I hear Patricia yell from across 3 rooms.
"On it, Yacker!" I scream back. I laugh and so do the kids. They look all so beautiful laughing like that.
"Okay Joy," I say, turning my head to her again. "Your brothers and sisters are going to go play outside, and you're going to miss all the fun!" I say, pretending to walk out… Not that it worked anyway… I just leave her to sleep more, and I proceed to the boys' room.
"Wakey waky! The sun is shining!" I say, as soon as I opened the door. They all bolt right up – they're all extremely light-sleepers… One, two, three… Three?
"Where's James?" I question. Just as I say this, he comes out of the bathroom.
"Morning daddy," he says cheerfully. "I had to use the potty…" he says, looking at me.
"No problem, buddy," I say, kneeling down to fix his skew pants.
"Alright. Everyone change to their playing clothes!" I say, taking the girls back to their room.
It was 11am, and Patricia was still in bed. I was working on my laptop on the couch, glancing at the kids playing outside every now and then. I was working on a new story: 'Sibuna Finally Succeeds'. This one was 100% fiction.
I decide that it was time to call the kids in. I get up and go to the door, only to start laughing hysterically. They looked like… They were covered in mud. They looked so funny!
"I really have to give them a bath…" I thought to myself.
"Kids!" I call. They all come running up to me. "Take your shoes off – it's time to come inside! All of you go upstairs immediately to your rooms - I have a surprise for you!" I said, as they obediently followed. James is the last kid to go upstairs. I followed him behind. Without them all knowing, I locked the gate that we put up halfway down the passage, and walk into the girls' room first.
"So daddy, what's the surpwise?" Amber asked. Uh-oh…
"Bath time, girls!" I say, smirking.
"Ahhh!" Amber and Joy scream and start to run. I closed the door, so they won't be getting out. I went into the bathroom, set the water temperature and pushed a button. In under a minute, the bath will be filled with the perfect water temperature.
Nina and Rachel stripped off and got into the bath. Now for the other two… I sigh.
"Amber, Joy, come here!" I say from the bathroom.
"NO!" they scream, from the other end of the room. I go get them both, and tell them to get into the water.
"Now!" I command. "If I get back here and you both are not in the water, you will have early bed times with no stories for the rest of the week," I warn them, and step out. Time to do the boys. Great.
I go into their room and close the door behind me. They were all lying down on the floor, laughing. I go into their bathroom and do the same. After a minute or so, I come out.
"Okay, boys. Bath. Now," I said/snapped. They somehow understand that I'm not in the best mood, so they all go into the tub. Good. Time to go to the girls again… I sigh and walk out.
I walk in, only to see that Patricia is washing them. I smile and put my arms around her waist and hug her from the back. She turns to face me.
"Thank you sooooo much," I say, kissing her.
"Go wash the boys, Slimey," she says, kissing back. I smile and turn around and leave.
With the boys
Fabian: James, stop doing that to my hair!
James: But it's fun…
Alfie: Veeum, boosh, bam! (Playing with his speed boat)
Jerome: (Splashing water outside) I'll make you a swimming pool, daddy… (Muttering to himself.)
Eddie's POV
I walk into the boys' bathroom, only to get my socks and the hem of my pants soaking wet.
"What the fuuuuuu," I start. All the boys are looking at me, as if daring me to finish the word.
"uuuuuudge?" I finish, angrily. "Who did this?" I half scream half speak. Jerome guiltily puts his hand up.
"Jerome Clarke Miller!" I shout. "You WILL be going to bed early today!" I finished, angrily.
"Sorry daddy," Jerome said, tearing up. I feel bad…
"You'll learn your lesson," I said, quietly and began washing them.
(A/N: So… Okay, first of all, I'd like to clear things up.
1. School is reopening for me on Monday 7 October, so I don't know if I'll be able to update daily.
2. PLEASE vote (Look at AN from Chapter 16: Holiday Mess – Part 1)
3. I will only update when I have 55 reviews! I'll still write the chapters, but I won't update. C'mon guys, we've hit 50 (THANKS!) so why not 55?
4. Thx to ALL my readers n reviewers!
Wanna update tomorrow… Please make me! Xxx
PS: As I said, this chappy was a fill-in, so if you guys found it boring, I'm so very sorry…)