Hen

Hen unlocked the front door and held it open for Karen to step into their home first. They had just gotten back from a dinner date - something they hadn't had as a couple since just before the pandemic shut down the world. Now that they were a year into the world's new dynamic, and shops and restaurants were slowly opening up once again, Hen decided to take a chance on taking Karen out for an evening away from the children. Being a stay-at-home mom to two wild children wasn't easy and with Hen working almost double to pay the bills while Karen was off work, Karen needed a night away from the kids. Of course they then needed someone to watch the kids, and since her mother was away for the week since moving in with them, Hen had called up the next best person in hopes that he was free.

"You think he got them to sleep?" Karen asked as she took off her jacket to hang up, slipping out of her heels with a slight groan. She hadn't needed to wear them in almost a full year, so her feet were not happy.

"I don't hear anything but I figured we'd find him on the couch watching tv or scrolling on his phone," Hen replied as she too slipped out of her shoes and jacket. "He must be in the kitchen, I can see the light on. Probably got stuck down the Wikipedia rabbit hole he usually does on overnights at work and lost track of time while sitting at the table or something."

Once the door was closed and locked up, the two of them made their way to the back of the house and into the kitchen. The lights were on and the kitchen was clean, but there was no Buck to be seen. Hen spotted a few pots and pans drying on the rack that she was sure had been used to make dinner for the kids. Karen was just pulling a bottle of water out of the fridge for them when they heard giggling coming from the open window above the sink, and then another voice shushing the giggling. Taking a moment to look at each other, the women headed for the back door - Hen slowly pushing the curtains aside to see out onto their patio.

They smiled when they spotted Buck sitting off to the side in one of their lounge chairs. Nia was snuggled on his lap, her arms tucked between them and her face pressed into his chest, sound asleep. Denny was in the yard, near the patio, smiling and jumping around, trying to catch something in his hands. It took a moment for them to see that Buck had something in his hands as he raised a hand to his mouth and blew on something - then bubbles began glistening in the air from the patio lights. With a chuckle, Hen opened the back door and Buck's head instantly turned towards them as Hen and Karen stepped outside.

"Oh, hey," Buck whispered, mindful of the sleeping Nia in his arms.

"Moms!" Denny giggled as he ran for them.

"Hey, baby." Karen wrapped her arms around Denny and bent down to kiss the top of his head. "Did you have a good time with Uncle Buck?"

Denny nodded into her dress, leaning his head back slightly to look up at her and smiled. "He made homemade pizza dough and sauce and let us put on the toppings ourselves. It was fun."

"I bet it was." Karen laughed. "Anything else fun happen?"

"We made a fort in the living room," Denny answered. "But Buck made us clean it up before bed. He said we should always clean up after ourselves when we're done with something."

"And he's right," Hen stated, smiling at Buck. She could see a blush on the other man's cheeks from Karen referring to him as 'Uncle Buck' to Denny. "Was everything alright? We figured they would have been in bed when we got home."

"Oh, yeah," Buck looked sheepishly up at them as he put the cap back on the bottle of bubbles he was holding. "Sorry. I had them in bed but then Nia woke from a nightmare and wouldn't let me put her back down. Figured I'd try and tire her back out with bubbles when Denny came back downstairs too."

"It's okay, Buck." Karen smiled at him as Denny released her to hug Hen. "You're not in trouble for them not being in bed. It's the weekend, staying up a little later isn't going to cause chaos in our already chaotic lives."

Buck blew out a breath he seemed to have been holding. "Okay, good. That's good. Well, not good that your lives are chaotic but, you know-" He trailed off as Denny giggled at his clear ramblings.

Karen nodded as she stepped closer, "Just let me take her and I'll get them back in bed. Thanks for doing this for us, Buck. We owe you big."

Buck smiled as he carefully picked up Nia and handed the little girl off to her mom. "No one owes me anything. Any time you guys need a night out, you know I love hanging out with the kids- sometimes more than with the adults." He looked at Hen and shrugged. "No offense."

Hen held up her hands and shrugged. Karen cradled Nia in her arms and leaned down, giving a peck to Buck's cheek before she turned and ushered Denny into the house. Buck stretched his arms over his head with a yawn before starting to stand. Hen motioned for him to sit back down as she sat in the second lounger next to him. Confused, Buck held out the bottle of bubbles. Hen laughed but took the bottle, then watched Buck produce another from under his lounger.

That is how Karen found them a half hour later.