"Will there be monkeys?" Andrew asked, jumping up and down as Olivia tried to get his jacket on.
"I don't know, we'll have to see when we get there." Olivia frowned. "Which will be never if you don't sit still so I can get your jacket on."
Andrew immediately stilled.
"Thank you," Olivia smiled, putting it on. "Where's your sister?"
"Room," Andrew said, pointing down the hall.
Grabbing Caroline's jacket, Olivia made her way down the hall to her daughter's room, where she found the little girl rooting around in her stuffed toy collection.
"What are you looking for, honey?"
"'Phant!" Caroline replied.
Olivia just grabbed her daughter before the little girl became buried under the pile. Setting Caroline right again, she looked herself and finally located the toy elephant. "Here you go." She helped the little girl into the jacket. "And now we're all ready to go."
The doorbell rang.
"Just in time," Olivia murmured, as the twins raced to the front door. She opened the door to reveal Maureen, Lizzie, Dickie, Elliot and to her surprise, Kathleen.
"Hey guys," she smiled.
"DADDY!" the twins cried, launching themselves at Elliot.
"Hi," Elliot said, hugging them. "Andrew, Caroline, this is Kathleen."
"Hi Kathyeen," Andrew said, hugging her around the legs.
Caroline waved from Elliot's arms.
"Hi," Kathleen said slowly. She glanced quickly at Olivia then looked away.
"Zoo!" Andrew cried.
"Anything else you need to get?" Elliot asked, handing the bag to Dickie.
"I need to get the stroller out of the storage room," Olivia replied. "There's a lot of walking, and the twins will get tired quickly."
Elliot nodded. "If you want to put the twins in the car, I can go get the stroller. I'll put it in the back of my car."
"Thanks," Olivia smiled. "Okay guys, let's go."
"YAY!" the twins cried, ready to scoot out the door.
###################################
Elliot knelt down, sitting the twins in the stroller while Maureen, Kathleen, Dickie and Lizzie went to line up for the tickets.
"You're surprised to see Kathleen here, aren't you?" Elliot asked Olivia, who was looking in the car for Caroline's elephant.
"A little," Olivia admitted.
"She likes the zoo. I brought the kids here when they were little and they've loved it ever since. When I mentioned we were going, I think she just really wanted to come."
"I'm glad," Olivia replied. "I don't want the twins and I being here stopping her from spending time with her dad."
Elliot looked like he wanted to say something to her, but stopped as the others came back with the tickets.
"Ready to go?" Lizzie asked the twins.
"YEAH!"
"What do you guys want to see first?" Elliot asked.
"I'm going to go look at the wild horses," Kathleen said. "See you later.
"Hey," Elliot said, before she left. "How are we going to get in touch with you?"
Kathleen rolled her eyes. "I have my cell, dad. Bye."
Elliot looked apologetically at Olivia. "What about you guys?"
"Are you kidding?" Maureen asked. "I want to come with you guys and see what the twins think of all the animals!"
Dickie nodded. "Sure. This was supposed to be a family thing."
"You want to see the elephants first?" Lizzie asked Caroline, pointing at the toy.
Caroline nodded.
"Elephants it is then. Want me to push?" Elliot asked, taking the stroller from Olivia.
She smiled. "Yeah, thanks."
################################
Olivia's eyes lit up as she watched how wide the twins' eyes became as they saw the elephants. Caroline picked her toy up and waved it around, seeing what the elephants thought of it.
"I don't know if they're interested, honey," Elliot told her. He picked her up from the stroller. "You've got a cool view from here, though."
"Phant!" Andrew said, impatiently wanting to hop out.
Before Olivia could reach down to grab him, Dickie picked the little boy up.
"You like elephants, Andrew? Me too."
Elliot and Olivia glanced at each other, and exchanged soft smiles.
#################################
"Tigger!" Caroline cried out, when they went to Tiger Mountain.
Olivia chuckled. "They do look like Tigger, don't they?"
"Want Tigger!" Andrew said.
"We can't take the tigers home, guys. They wouldn't fit in the apartment," Maureen explained.
"Have Andy's room," Caroline suggested, with a wicked grin.
"No!" Andrew cried out in horror.
"Its okay, the tiger isn't going to have your room," Elliot assured the little boy. "The tiger has to stay and live here."
"'Phant?" Caroline asked hopefully.
"No, we're not taking an elephant home either," Olivia replied. "No room, sweetheart."
##################################
"Is Kathleen coming?" Dickie asked, as he set down at the Dancing Crane restaurant table.
Elliot frowned. "I left a message on her cell phone."
"Want me to go look for her?" Maureen asked.
"No, I will," Elliot said.
Olivia placed a hand on Elliot's arm. "Why don't you give her a bit longer? I'm sure she'll get hungry and check her phone."
Elliot paused and glanced at the rest of the kids.
"Give her time, El," Olivia murmured softly.
He finally conceded, nodding his head. "I'll give her a little while longer." He sat down for a minute. "Who knows what they want?"
"Chips!" Andrew and Caroline cried.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "You are not just having chips for lunch."
"Ice ceam?" Andrew asked hopefully.
"You're pushing your luck," Dickie told him, with a grin.
Caroline pointed at the flamingos, her eyes wide in delight.
"They're flamingos," Lizzie explained. "Cool, huh?"
After finding out what the kids wanted, Elliot and Olivia went up to the queue.
"The twins are enjoying themselves," Elliot said, with a smile.
Olivia smiled back at him. "Yeah."
"It's great seeing all the animals through kids' eyes again." He turned to her. "You know what I mean?"
Olivia nodded. "It's great."
"Did you go to the zoo as a kid?"
"Once. It was a school fieldtrip."
Elliot decided he didn't want to bring up bad memories about her mother. "You know, I'm sorry Kathleen is acting the way she is."
"It's understandable," Olivia replied. "The twins and I are cutting in on her territory."
"I WANT you in," Elliot told her.
Olivia looked up at him and smiled softly. "I know."
"Then why can't we be a family? I love you, you know that, right?"
"This isn't the time or the place," she reminded him. Then she sighed. "And I know."
They moved up a little in the line.
"Will you talk with me, tonight?" Elliot asked.
Olivia hesitated for a moment, then glanced over to where the twins were laughing with Maureen, Dickie and Lizzie. "Okay." She wrinkled her nose. "As long as we're not bringing any live animals home. Apart from Andrew."
Elliot laughed. "Or Dickie. And yeah, I promise."
#####################################
The food finally arrived and the family settled down to eat.
"What do you want to see next?" Elliot asked everyone.
"The gorillas look cool," Dickie suggested. "Right Andy?"
Andrew nodded. "'Rillas!"
"Is that because you'd be with your own kind?" Lizzie teased her brother.
"Actually, I thought that's why you saw the elephants earlier," Dickie replied.
"Hey, cut it out you two," Elliot warned. "No setting bad examples."
Kathleen's bag dumped on the table next to Maureen. "I'm here."
Elliot looked up at her, a frown on his face. "So we see. I called you earlier and left messages. Where were you?"
"Looking around," Kathleen replied.
Elliot was about to reply, but felt Olivia's hand on his arm again. He turned to her and she shook her head slightly at him.
Kathleen caught the exchange and scowled.
"Let's go order you some lunch," Maureen suggested, taking her sister's arm and dragging her over to the queue.
#################################
"What has gotten into you?" Maureen hissed. "This is supposed to be a fun day. You're making dad worry and Olivia miserable."
"She didn't look too miserable to me. She was cozying up with Dad."
"Grow up, Kathleen. Mom and Dad are divorced and they're not getting back together. If Dad and Olivia are in love, then there's nothing wrong with them being together."
"He should be with mom."
'But he's not, and he's not going to be again."
"Not thanks to Olivia."
"It's nothing to do with Olivia. It's mom and dad."
"And he cheated on mom."
"Yeah, he did. But I'm not going to hate him for the rest of his life for that, and I'm not going to blame Olivia either. It's none of our business."
"Mom doesn't know about the twins."
"It's none of our business," Maureen reminded her sister, as she got ready to order.
###################################
"Aren't they cool, Andy!" Dickie said, pointing to the gorillas.
"Cool!" Andrew mimicked.
"Look at that one, Caroline," Olivia showed her daughter. "He's looking at you!"
Caroline's eyes widened when she realized the gorilla was indeed looking straight at her. The gorilla yawned widely and the little girl squealed and covered her eyes, trying to bury herself inside the stroller.
Elliot picked her up and hugged her. "No need to be scared, honey. Daddy won't let him hurt you." When Caroline looked at him he grinned and poked his tongue out at the gorilla.
Caroline giggled and wrapped her arms around Elliot's neck.
"Come on, let's go look at some more animals," Olivia suggested. She began pushing the stroller with Andrew in it, while Caroline preferred for Daddy to carry her.
"Horsies!" Caroline said, attempting to use Elliot as one.
Olivia took one look at the two and burst out laughing. Elliot sent her a mock-glare, which only made her laugh harder.
"Sorry," she said, finally calming down. "But you did look funny."
Elliot rolled his eyes at her. "Sure, Olivia. Thanks."
#######################################
They arrived at the horses, the twins amusing themselves with the animals. Elliot and Olivia sat on a nearby bench, watching the older kids take care of the younger ones.
"Today has been fun," Elliot murmured, leaning back.
Olivia smiled. "Yeah, it has. I wish Kathleen had enjoyed it more though."
"She'll learn," Elliot replied. "It's something she's going to have to deal with. And she's old enough to deal with it now." He took her hand and squeezed it. "Everything's going to be okay, Liv."
She turned and looked at him, smiling. "Yeah, I know."
Their eyes blinked as the flash of a camera went off, and they looked up to see Maureen, who had been taking photos all day.
"I couldn't miss that moment," she grinned.
################################
"You can each pick one souvenir," Elliot told all the kids. "One," he said, holding up a finger for the twins benefit again.
The twins held up a finger each, echoing Elliot's actions and then wandered off with Dickie, Lizzie and Maureen. Kathleen was over looking at the books.
"You didn't have to buy them anything," Olivia told him.
"Sure I did,' Elliot grinned. "It's their first zoo visit. Our first zoo visit with them. Something is needed to remember it by." He took her hand again. "What souvenir do you want to take home?"
Olivia bit back the one word that kept echoing in her mind…you…and smiled. "I'm not a kid."
"I didn't specify who got to take home souvenirs," he winked.
"Okay, that means you get one too, right?" she asked.
Elliot nodded. "Sure. Let's go pick them out."
Kathleen watched them from her place beside the books. Maureen sidled up beside her, nudging her sister in the side.
"Don't."
Kathleen looked at her sister. "Don't what?"
"Don't spoil this for them."
"What are you talking about?"
"Dad and Olivia."
Kathleen began looking at the books again.
"I know it's hard for you to accept, because I know you've been looking after mom. But they really want to be together, Kathleen."
"Ween! Look!" Andrew came running up, holding a stuffed tiger.
Maureen picked her little brother up. "A stuffed tiger, cool!"
Dickie came running up behind Andrew, breathless. "He moves real fast!"
"So did you when you were his age," Maureen told him.
Dickie puffed up. "I was an angel."
Kathleen snorted. "Yeah right."
Andrew imitated the noise. "Yeah right," he echoed.
Kathleen raised an eyebrow at Andrew, who grinned happily back at her. Then he turned around to Maureen. "Go show Mommy and Daddy!"
"Okay, okay," Maureen laughed. "Let's go show your mom and dad."
TBC