"Tyler, do you love me?"

"Ya!"

"You love me a whole lot?"

"Ya."

Hilary was lying on her stomach in the living room, head resting on her folded arms as she watched Tyler play before her. He was such a sweet baby. Hilary could barely believe the amount of love she had for the boy. Smile widening just a bit, she picked only her head up, still staring right ahead at her little son.

"Will you give Mommy a kiss?"

Tyler peeked up from his toy train just enough to look into his mother's eyes. He was still quite young, and still learning about everything in life. This included skills such as talking and listening. Sometimes, when Hilary asked for a kiss, he'd oblige. Other times, he'd look at her like she had three heads. Right now, it seemed to be the latter.

So Hilary was surprised when Tyler took his tiny fingers off of the toy train and leaned forward, falling until his hands hit the floor, which steadied him. Letting out a short, unique mixture of a squeal and a giggle, Tyler pressed his lips against Hilary's nose, giving her a sloppy, uncoordinated kiss.

"Oh, Tyler!" Hilary exclaimed, laughingly joyfully. "Thank you so much! That made me so happy!"

Tyler leaned back and picked up his toy train once again, as though nothing had just happened. Hilary smirked and put her head back down, fluttering her eyelashes as she watched Tyler move the train back and forth.

Hilary had always wanted to be a mother. Ever since she was a little girl. Many people found that surprising, because of her personality. People had always found her to be so abrasive that they couldn't imagine her having or caring for small children. But Hilary had never taken any of that into account. She loved babies and children, and had always known that she wanted her own.

There was only one small catch, however. When Hilary was little, she had only wanted girls.

Hilary could never imagine herself with a son. She had always thought that boys were nothing but trouble. Messy and loud and obnoxious. She believed she didn't need to deal with that aggravation. Sure, girls could be annoying, but hey, she was one. And she had a daughter who, while growing up, were the definition of bratty. Hilary could deal with whiny little girls. But boys? Boys who would take out their frustration by hitting? Boys who would roll around in the mud and dirt? Boys who would inevitably grow up and become mongrels of some sort?

That Hilary couldn't handle.

And yet, here she was. With a son.

But oh, did she love him. She thought he was just the most wonderful thing. He was just so cute! The same oxford hair and brown eyes as his father. The same nose, ears, and face, too. The only thing he'd gotten from Hilary was his smile. But he was also so happy! He never failed to light Hilary up. He had the most infectious laugh, and the squeakiest voice. You could just tell how much he loved mealtimes, and his toys.. At just over a year old, Tyler was already as jovial as his father. To Hilary, it was the most amazing thing. She couldn't believe that such a young kid could be so warm and so receptive.

In hindsight, all of Hilary's ideas about little boys were totally wrong. In fact, they were downright stupid. Of course, Hilary wouldn't admit that to anyone. But she knew it herself, and in her mind, that was all that mattered.

"Hung-y."

Hilary blinked and looked back up at Tyler. The little boy was now pouting, and had just pushed the toy train away from him.

"Oh, sweetie, you're hungry?" Hilary crooned.

Tyler looked ahead at his mother and nodded sadly. Smirking, Hilary got up to her feet and bent over, picking Tyler up and holding him in her arms. Once he was secure, Hilary pressed her lips against the top of Tyler's head and gave him a kiss, smiling against his raven hair as he mumbled happily in response.

She walked into the kitchen, snuggling the toddler as though he were a teddy bear. She held one hand against his back, and the other against the back of his head, listening as the little thing continued to babble nonsensically. He could talk. Just barely. He knew a few words, most of them short and mangled and a bit difficult to understand. But he tried to talk a lot more than just those words, and all of that came out as nothing more than "baby speak."

"Mama!" Tyler blabbered.

Hilary smirked. Now that was one of the words he knew well, and could say quite clearly, and that Hilary understood.

"Yes, I'm your mama," Hilary crooned, kissing Tyler's head again. "And I love you very much!"

"Mama."

Hilary's smile grew, and she gave Tyler an even tighter hug. The little boy whined and started to flail in her arms, kicking his legs in quite the valiant attempt to escape.

"Okay, okay, it's alright!" Hilary hushed, holding onto the boy as well as she possibly could while he squirmed. All of the fight that Tyler was putting up actually made it quite hard to seat him in his gray and red high chair. She was used to it, however, and soon enough succeeded. Once Tyler was seated, he stopped kicking and fussing, and remained surprisingly quiet.

"My goodness you're strong," Hilary huffed, folding her arms across her chest as she stared down the toddler.

In response, Tyler giggled and leaned back in his high chair. Hilary smirked, knowing full well that Tyler didn't quite understand her, but just found her tone to be amusing. He had always been strong, since before he was born, in fact. Michelle hadn't been too much of a kicker, but Tyler had more than made up for it. All day and all night…it was as though he had never even slept.

But Hilary remembered how much Tyson had loved it. How much his eyes had lit up every time he felt it.

"He's like me is all," Tyson had said to her so many times, face glowing while his hand rested on her belly. "Good and strong."

She giggled softly to herself as she retreated to the pantry, grabbing the pouch of yogurt drops that Tyler loved so much. It was a good snack for toddlers, something that wasn't messy and that they could feed themselves.

"Here you go," Hilary crooned, opening up the bag and spilling some of its contents onto the high chair's tray.

Tyler picked up one of the purple circles and studied it closely before raising his eyes and blinking hard. "Mama?"

"It's mixed berry!" Hilary giggled. "One of your favorites, right?"

"Ya," Tyler drawled before popping the drop in his mouth. Once he tasted it, he laughed excitedly, looking up at his mother with sparkling eyes.

The same sparkling eyes as his father.

"Isn't that yummy?" Hilary asked.

"Ya!"

The young mother giggled and walked over to the sink. Now that Tyler was content with his snack, she figured that now would be a good time to do the dishes that were sitting in the sink.

It was a comfortable routine that Hilary had settled into rather easily. Most of the morning was spent in the house, cooking breakfast for Tyson and herself and feeding the kids. Once Tyson left for work, Hilary would try and get some cleaning in, although that could be hard when the children were fussy and demanding her attention. Sometimes after breakfast, she went straight to the hospital, and spent the morning there until lunch. Either way, Hilary always took a lunch break to go back to the house. She preferred to eat there, along with the kids, and then put them down for their naps. It gave her some much needed alone time, although that was typically spent cleaning if she hadn't been able to do it in the morning. The whole afternoon was then finished out at the hospital, until it drew closer to dinnertime, when Hilary signed off for the day and went back home to make dinner.

"Mama! Mama!"

"I'm coming, sweetie," Hilary sighed, turning off the faucet and drying her hands on a nearby dish towel. She walked swiftly over to Tyler, who was bouncing up and down in his high chair on the verge of tears. "What is it, little buddy?"

Tyler moaned sadly and shook his head, holding his arms out in front of him as though he were trying to push his mother away.

"Why do you do this, huh?" Hilary murmured, picking up another yogurt drop and placing it against her son's lips. "Here."

Tyler opened up his mouth and ate the yogurt drop, settling down almost instantly. Hilary sighed and stroked the boy's hair, watching as he picked up another drop and placed it in his mouth.

"You just wanted some of Mama's attention, didn't you?" Hilary cooed. "You wanted Mama to come back to you?"

"Mama," Tyler blabbered, clumsily grabbing at another drop with the palm of his hand.

"I know, you're not used to not having your big sister here!" Hilary teased, leaning down to kiss Tyler atop his head once again before heading back to the sink. "You've got me all to yourself."

Tyler looked up at his mother and giggled once again before turning his attention back onto the yogurt drops.

Scoffing playfully, Hilary turned around and returned to the sink. She was used to the kids being needy and whiney. As was typical with kids, when one wasn't fussing, the other was. And, during the best of times, they fussed simultaneously and tried to outdo the other. Fortunately today, Tyson had decided that he and Christy could use a "daddy-daughter day," and that Hilary could get some one-on-one time with Tyler. It was something that the two did every once in a while. They both thought it was good to give each child individual attention from time to time, since they were almost always together.

Hilary once again sunk back into her calming, standard routine of scrubbing the dishes and drying them off while Tyler busied himself with his snack. She was still a rather tough, independent woman who prided herself on her role as reprimanding doctor, but at the same time, Hilary had no problem being a mother and housewife on top of it. She didn't completely mind cooking and cleaning, and part of her actually found it to be rather relaxing. She felt that she could juggle all three things quite well.

But things all seemed to take off from there.

Tyson became the World Champion, and proposed to her. They were married quite quickly and even faster than that, Hilary became pregnant with Christy. She cut out college completely, wanting to focus on her pregnancy and learning how to become a good wife and mother. She became proficient in cooking and cleaning as her maternal instincts emerged, and by the time Christine had arrived, it became clear to Hilary that caring for a baby would become nearly a full time job.

Once she'd finished washing the last plate, Tyler began to fuss again. Enough time had passed that Hilary knew by now he'd had to have finished his snack. Turning around, she smiled once she saw that the tray was, in fact, bare.

"I know my little man so well, don't I?" Hilary teased, walking over to the highchair. Tyler was on the verge of tears at that point, throwing his head around and howling as he thrashed his arms up and down. "Alright, alright. You don't have to get so upset, I'm here."

Hilary lifted the whiny boy out of the highchair, and in the opposite scenario of what had happened previously, he relaxed once he was in Hilary's arms.

"I see how it is," Hilary grumbled, walking back into the living room with her son. "I'm no good when you're hungry, but once you're full, I'm much better than that mean and nasty highchair, huh?"

"Mama," Tyler chirped, looking up at his mother and fluttering his eyelashes.

"Now how can I stay mad at such a sweet face?" Hilary crooned, rubbing her nose against Tyler's. "Oh, I can't!"

She carried him back into the living room, placing him on the floor with a cautious giggle. Tyler looked down at the floor and then back up at his mother, wide brown eyes rapidly blinking.

"What is it?" Hilary asked curiously, looking down at the same spot Tyler had been. "Oh, I see. Your train isn't there! You pushed it away before, right? Don't worry, I'll get it."

As Hilary began to walk towards the corner of the room, she suddenly felt resistance against her leg. It wasn't very strong, but it was enough to catch her attention and stop her in place. Looking down, she realized that it was Tyler who was holding onto her, once again staring up with wide eyes.

"Tyler?" Hilary questioned. "Don't you want me to go get your toy?"

"No!" Tyler squeaked, giggling afterwards.

"No?" Hilary repeated. "Well, if you don't want your train, what do you want to play with? You want your blocks? Or your cars?"

"No," Tyler replied, shaking his head. "Mama!"

"Me?" Hilary murmured, pointing at herself.

"Mama, pway!" Tyler pleaded, giggling as he begged. "Pway!"

"Oh, you want to play with me?" Hilary asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Ya!" Tyler trilled, still giggling.

"Okay!" Hilary wholeheartedly agreed, getting down on the floor and sitting on her knees. "What do you want to play? You tell me."

Grinning from ear to ear, Tyler got to his feet and hobbled over to Hilary, grabbing at the woman's shoulder and trying to step up on her thighs.

"What are you doing?" Hilary asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

"Dow, Mama!" Tyler commanded, tugging at his mother's shoulder. "Dow!"

"Uh…okay…" Hilary muttered, lying down on her stomach just as she'd done before.

Squealing with delight, Tyler clambered over to her side and threw himself down on her back, earning a slightly aggrieved oof from his mother. This only caused Tyler to giggle even more, finding his mother's noises to be just about the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Are you having fun?" Hilary whimsically asked the toddler.

"Ya!" Tyler babbled, rolling up and down her back.

"I could tell," Hilary quipped. "Can't say the same for my back…you're just lucky that I'm young, little man. Cause if I wasn't…well, I wouldn't be getting up so easily."

"Mama sa?" Tyler cooed, stopping in his tracks to stare over at his mother.

"Hmm?" Hilary hummed. "Oh, no. Not at all, sweetie. I'm very happy! I'm just teasing you is all."

"Te?" Tyler tried, blinking just once.

"You'll learn a whole lot more about what that is when you get older," Hilary giggled, knowing full well her son did not understand a single word she was saying. "That's pretty easy, since you live with me and Dada."

"Dada!" Tyler squealed, rolling over onto his back and arching his head so far back that it nearly touched the floor.

"Yes, you love Dada," Hilary giggled, still watching her little boy. "But you love Mama too, right?"

Jumping up, Tyler managed to get himself on all fours and crawl up Hilary's back until his head was resting atop hers. Hilary tried to roll her eyes up to look at him, but they wouldn't go far enough. As if he realized this, Tyler giggled again and tilted his head down lower, weighing Hilary's down so far that her chin had no choice but to touch the floor.

"Mama," Tyler murmured, turning his head so it was now his cheek resting on the top of Hilary's head. "Wuv Mama."

Smiling to herself, Hilary blissfully closed her eyes and reached her hand up, placing it atop the young boy's head.

"Mama loves you too, Tyler," Hilary sighed, toying with his delicate black blue locks. "Of course I do. You're my little boy. I love you so much."