A/N: Thank you for all the feedback! I really appreciate it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the HSM characters. This story is pure fiction!
March 23rd, 2024 11:30 am
"What are you doing?" I asked Troy coming down the stairs to see him and J.J. sitting on the couch together.
"I'm teaching J.J. the rules of basketball." Troy replied as I sat down on the couch with Lily in my arms.
"Aren't you starting him a little young?" I asked him as he grinned back at me.
"Nah it's never too early to start teaching someone basketball." Troy told me as I rolled my eyes.
"Have you seen the girls anywhere?" I asked him noticing the unusually quiet house.
"As a matter of fact I haven't. Where's Cassie and the boys?" Troy asked me.
"The boys are playing in the backyard and Cassie is down sleeping." I told him.
"Check with the boys. J.J. and I are going to watch the game." Troy told me smiling.
"Sure I'll go find the girls myself." I told him walking out of the room.
"Where are your sisters Lily?" I asked the 9 months old baby in my arms.
She just giggled and babbled to herself as I continued my search. I opened the backdoor and looked out.
"Hey Aidan, Josh, do you know where Mack and Belle are?" I asked them stepping out into the semi-chilly air.
"Nope. They said they were going to play upstairs." Aidan told me as I looked at the dirty boys.
"Are you two playing in the mud?" I asked the two mischievous boys.
"Nope mom. We're playing football and accidentally fell into a mud pile." Josh told me with a grin.
"Inside both of you and upstairs to take showers." I told them.
"But mom I want to still play." Aidan told me as I looked at him.
"Aidan Xavier upstairs now." I told him putting the 'mean' mom face on.
"No I'm staying out here and playing." Aidan told me as I looked at him.
"Joshua inside." I told Josh as he opened the back door and slammed in.
"Aidan inside now." I said looking at the angry 8 year old.
"But mom I want to play out here." Aidan told me.
"And I said you've gotten dirty enough and it's time to go take a shower." I told him.
"Mommmmm." Aidan said dragging out my name.
"That's my name. Get inside." I told him taking his arm in mine and walking inside.
"Upstairs to the shower." I told him watching him stomp up the stairs to his room.
"Did you find the girls?" Troy asked me coming into the kitchen.
"Still looking but I managed to find two dirty boys." I told him.
"Fun stuff. I'll take her if you want to go continue your search." Troy told me.
"Thanks. I'll return eventually." I told him walking upstairs.
"Aidan out of those clothes and get into the shower." I told him standing in his doorway.
"Josh is in the shower." Aidan told me as I pointed to my room.
"You can use the shower in mine and dad's room. Please put the dirty clothes into the hamper." I told him as walked towards my room.
"Now where can those two girls be?" I whispered walking into their shared bedroom.
They weren't there so I took the chance and walked into my room. I saw them sitting at the counter looking into the mirror.
"What are you two girls doing?" I asked coming behind them and looking at them.
"We're playing momma." Belle told me as I looked her over. She had green eye shadow on her eyes and hot pink blush on her chin and cheeks.
"What are you playing with?" I asked the two guilty girls.
"Mack said it would be all right to play with your makeup." Belle told me as I shifted my eyes to Mack.
"Go get a wash cloth from the closet and I'll help you two clean up." I told them.
"Mackenzie I've told you before not to play in my make up." I said turning to my oldest daughter.
"I'm sorry mom but you always have it on." Mack told me holding her head down.
"I'm an adult Mack. My mom didn't let me play with makeup until I was in high school." I told her.
"So am I in trouble?" Mack asked me picking her head up a little.
"We'll talk about it. I want you to put away my make up and then clean yourself up." I told her as she looked at me.
"I'm sorry mom." Mack told me as I nodded my head.
"I know but we're still going to talk about this." I told her as Belle returned with the wash cloth.
I scrubbed both of their faces before sending them to their rooms. I sighed as I washed off the makeup from the cabinet and mirror. I turned and started walking towards the girls' room.
"Belle will you go sit by dad while I talk to Mack?" I asked her as she nodded.
I waited until Belle left the room before I started to talk to Mack.
"Why are you in a hurry to grow up?" I asked Mack as she hung her head down.
"I don't know. I see how much fun the older kids are having and I want that." Mack told me.
"I know you want to grow up but you're going to be in high school before you know it." I told her.
"But I want to grow up now! I hate being little." Mack told me as I looked at her.
"What do you mean being little?" I asked her cautiously.
"You and dad always treat me like I'm a baby. I'm 9 years old mom. Melissa's mom is letting her have a cell phone and her own boyfriend." Mack told me.
"I'm Mackenzie's mom not Melissa's mom. If you want dad and me to trust you more, you have to earn that right. You have responsibilities that need to get done before you can have fun." I told her.
"But I do my homework and keep my room clean. You never said why dad and you treat me like a baby." Mack asked me.
"We don't intentionally treat you like a baby. You're our baby and we have to remember that you are growing up. What do you want us to let you do?" I asked Mack.
"A cell phone would be nice. And I want to date boys." Mack told me as I looked at her.
"You know you can't date until you're 16; that's the rule. And a cell phone, you're a little young for. How about you start having friends over or going over to friends' houses?" I asked her.
"Can I?" Mack asked me as I smiled at her.
"You can. Also you've got basketball and that's keeping you pretty busy." I told her.
"I'm sorry mom. I'll try harder." Mack told me as I smiled at her.
"I know baby. These next few years are going to be tough for all of us. Just come to dad or me and tell us if you're feeling like you're treated like a baby." I told her.
"Thanks mom." Mack told me giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
I pushed myself off her bed and walked into the boys' room. I saw Aidan sitting on the bed reading and listening to music.
"Can we talk?" I asked him sitting on his bed.
"What about?" Aidan asked putting his book down and looking at me.
"About you and your need to cause trouble." I said as he looked at me.
"I said I was sorry mom." Aidan told me.
"Your teacher said you've been disrupting her class. What's going on there?" I asked him.
"School is stupid. Why do I need to go?" Aidan asked me as I hid my smile.
"School is something you need to do. You have to go learn everything you need to know to survive the world." I told him.
"But I hate it." Aidan told me.
"I know you do but if you don't do school then you can't do basketball. You wouldn't succeed in the world." I told him gently.
"But I get bad grades at everything." Aidan told me as my eyes met his.
"You need to study a little more. How about you and I sit down a certain time every night and study together?" I asked him as he smiled.
"I think that would work. Anything else?" Aidan asked me as I looked at him.
"Why are you constantly arguing with me?" I asked him.
"I wasn't done playing today. I didn't want to come in." Aidan told me.
"I'm sorry but I said it was time to come in. Are you feeling left out?" I asked him.
"Well kind of. You and dad are always busy with J.J., Cassie, or Lily. You never have time for Mack, Belle, Josh, or me." Aidan told me.
"I know baby but we're doing the best we can. We'll try harder all right." I told him sadly.
"I'm sorry mom to make you sad." Aidan told me as I shook my head.
"No your dad and I need to know this. Thanks for telling me, Aidan." I told him.
"You're not mad are you mom?" Aidan asked.
"I just got my eyes open, Aidan. If you need anything, come to dad or me, all right?" I asked him.
"I can do that mom. I love you." Aidan told me as I smiled.
"I love you too baby." I said kissing his forehead before walking downstairs.
I opened the front door and went to sit on the porch swing. I curled my feet under me as the swing swayed back and forth.
"Gabi? Do you want to talk?" Troy asked me coming to sit next to me.
"I don't want another baby." I told him simply as his eyes met mine.
"Why not? I thought you wanted one as much as I did." Troy told me taking my hand his.
"Do you know what our son just told me?" I asked looking up at him.
"What did our son tell you?" Troy asked getting defensive.
"Aidan told me that we're always busy with J.J., Cassie, and Lily and we never have time for the older ones. I don't want the older ones to be left out because we're busy with the babies." I told him as tears escaped my eyes.
"Oh Gabi we're not abandoning them." Troy said pulling me closer to him.
"Well it feels like we are. Aidan's right Troy; after taking care of the babies all day, I don't spend time with the older ones." I told him telling him the truth.
"What can I do Gabi?" Troy asked wrapping me into a hug.
"Don't pressure me about having another one." I told him looking into his blue eyes.
"All right I won't. I love you and we'll get through this." Troy told me.
"I know we will but I was surprised when Aidan told me that." I told him as more tears escaped.
"Shh don't cry, Gabi. You're a mom and you're stretched in too many directions." Troy told me kissing my forehead.
"So how do we handle this?" I asked him as he smiled at me.
"Go gather the kids up and meet me in the living room." Troy told me as we pushed ourselves off the swing and headed inside.
I walked upstairs as Troy headed into the living room. I stopped at the boys' room and peaked inside.
"Hey guys, dad wants us all downstairs." I told them as their eyes went wide.
"Are we in trouble?" Aidan asked me as I smiled.
"I don't think so. Just go downstairs." I told him before headed off to the girls' room.
"Hey girls' dad wants us downstairs." I told them.
"Are we in trouble?" Mack asked fearing the worse.
"I don't think so. Let's go." I told them as they followed me down the stairs.
Troy waited until we were all sitting down before he began.
"It has come to your mom and mine attention that we're not paying enough attention to you older ones." Troy started as the kids bobbed their heads.
"Well that's about to change." Troy said as the kids' looked at me.
"And how is that going to change?" Mack asked looking at Troy and me.
"We're going to have family time every night after J.J., Cassie, and Lily are put down for the night." Troy told the kids.
"What is family time going to be?" Josh asked looking at me.
"J.J., Cassie, and Lily go to bed at 7 o'clock and you kids don't go to be until 8:30 so that's an hour and a half were you guys can come to mom or me and talk about what's going on. Also Monday nights during family time is going to be game night." Troy told the kids.
"Game night? Do we get to pick the game?" Belle asked as Troy smiled.
"Each week it's going to be a different person picking the games. Mack this week is your week. You get to plan Monday night. What games we play and what we do during family time." Troy told our oldest.
"What do we have to plan?" Mack asked her father.
"You have to pick what games we play and what we have for a snack. Every Monday will be different because a different person will be planning it." Troy explained.
"So we're going to have family night everyday?" Aidan asked us.
"Every night from 7 to 8:30 is family night in the Bolton household." Troy told the kids.
"Nothing else is going to happen during that time?" Mack asked fearing change in the schedule.
"If something comes up, then your mom and I will make up that time. For instance, if one of us has something to do, we'll double the time on the weekends. How does that sound?" Troy asked.
"Sounds good to me. So what are we doing tonight?" Mack asked grinning.
"Well I was thinking a family basketball game on the court follow by microwave s'mores. Sound good?" Troy asked as all the kids cheered.
"Sounds great dad. Good idea." Josh said as I nodded in approval.
7:00 pm
"Come on Bolton children. The Bolton family time is about to start." Troy said hollering up the stairs.
"Will you keep it down? I just got the babies to sleep." I said coming down the stairs.
"Sorry but I can't find the kids." Troy told me as I nodded towards the back door.
"Did you check outside all ready?" I asked him.
"Nope but hopefully this will eas some of our problems with our children." Troy told me.
"The kids seemed thrilled about it. Oh there you guys are." I said stepping onto the back deck.
"You told us 7 o'clock and here we are." Mack said as she, Belle, Aidan, and Josh stood on the basketball court.
"Are you guys ready to play?" I asked walking down the steps and onto the court.
"The bigger question is, are you ready to get beat by the kids?" Aidan asked with a grin.
"So teams are all ready picked?" Troy asked putting his hands on his hips.
"Yea we decided kids against parents." Josh said with a grin.
"Hm . . . ready honey to take these kids on?" Troy asked bumping his hip with mine.
"Oh I'm so ready." I told him with a grin.
Troy grabbed the ball from Aidan's hands and quickly made a lay up. I watched the kids' shocked face as Troy did that.
"That wasn't fair. We're not playing yet." Mack cried as I laughed.
"Well then let's play." I told them as Troy gave Belle the ball.
We played until 7:45 before the kids collapsed onto the court and begged for mercy.
"You guys ready for a treat?" I asked standing over to the four tired kids.
"Oh yeah. Let's go." Josh said running into the kitchen.
I made s'mores as we all sat around the table and talked about what every came to mind. It was good to watch the kids talk about whatever came to their minds. Troy took my hand in his as we continued to listen to our older children talk about what they were interested in.
I read a comment that I totally disagreed with but I'm using some of their suggestions. Feedback please.