Aleisa opened the door, groceries in hand.

"Hello….oh my gosh!" she shrieked, immediately dropping the bags as she stared up in horror at the staircase. There were cushions along the turns and at the bottom, but what caught her eye was the sight of her two eldest staring wide eyed at her while holding onto a box at the top. The box held their baby brother who was giggling away, unaware of the situation he was about to be put in.

"What do you think you two are doing?" she screeched, dashing up the stairs to scoop up her child from the box. Both John and Adara lowered their heads.

"We thought it might be fun if we let him slide down the stairs in the box." John muttered sheepishly.

"Don't you think that's a bit reckless and dangerous." Aleisa pointed out sternly. Teddy mumbled in gibberish as he yanked on Aleisa's blouse in delight.

"That's why we put up cushions, so it would break his fall." Adara looked up hopefully. Aleisa closed her eyes in exasperation.

"Honey that doesn't make it any better. He could have fallen out of the box before he even got close to a cushion. Then we would be running him to the hospital." She chided, her voice sharp as she eyed both of her children.

"But Teddy liked it. He was laughing the whole time." John defended stubbornly.

"He laughs at the sight of his own foot." Aleisa deadpanned. John shrunk back, smiling weakly at his mother.

"Where was your father in all of this?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose to keep her from screaming angrily at her children.

"He's in his office, doing some paperwork." John informed, pointing in the general direction of the room.

"Clean this up and wait for me on the couch. This conversation isn't over." Aleisa told them sternly. Both children nodded meekly and went to work. Meanwhile Aleisa stormed back down the stairs and walked into the designated office space. Peter had his head in his hands staring down at some business papers on the desk. At the sound of footsteps he looked up and smiled at his wife and youngest.

"Hi, how was the shopping?" Peter greeted warmly. He stood up to kiss her but stopped short at her displeased expression.

"What…."

"Do you have any idea what was going on while you were busy?" she asked calmly. Peter stared at her warily, unnerved at how quiet she was.

"John and Adara were watching Teddy…" he ventured.

"No, John and Adara were trying to launch Teddy." Peter stared at her in confusion and slight alarm.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, walking forward to inspect the almost baby in her arms. Teddy squealed at the sight of his father and reached out for him; Peter not hesitating in grabbing him. Delighted at the change of arms, Teddy buried his face into Peter's shoulder happily.

"John and Adara thought it would be a good idea to send Teddy down the stairs and see if he would slide all the way down." Aleisa explained tightly. Peter barked out a laugh.

"Oh that was always so much fun!" he beamed. Aleisa's eyes widened and she glared at him furiously.

"You gave them that idea!?" Peter quickly took a step back from her.

"Well…not directly…..They asked for a story and I told them about how me and Ed would slide down the stairs in boxes or on cushions." He explained with a shrug. Aleisa groaned, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes.

"What's the big deal?" he asked.

"The big deal is that Teddy could have seriously been hurt." She reiterated.

"But look at him, he's fine."

"Yes, because I came home just before they shot him down the stairs."

"You don't know that he would have gotten hurt."

"How many times did you and Ed injure yourselves pulling that stunt."

"…..ok point taken…." Peter finally conceded. He reached over and tugged Aleisa to him by her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize they would actually try it. But everything worked out just fine." Teddy emphasized Peter's point by babbling happily as he tugged on his mother's hair now that she was within reach again. Aleisa chuckled and looked up at her son, pressing a kiss to his chubby cheeks. Teddy squealed happily.

"I guess I should take it easy on the other two outside then. Since technically nothing happened." She muttered with a frown. Peter pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"I think that would be good. I would hope they know better after this."

"I don't know. You and Ed apparently didn't." Peter stared at his wife blankly, not amused at her jab.

...

Sadly this is almost done. Just two more chapters left!