A/N: A jealous Katie and not in the way you all probably think ;)

Ages:

Melinda - 30
Jim - 33
Katie - 4
Aaron - 3 Months

Enjoy! xx Mariah


"Daddy, Daddy! Look, look! Look at my eggs! Aren't they the bestest eggs ever?! In the whole world? Daddy! You are not looking!"

Melinda could hear the voice of her daughter before she even reached the first landing. Her high-pitched tone was full of excitement and cracks in her desperate attempt to get the full attention of her father. Something she didn't have to compete for in the past, with anyone. Not even with her.

She was an absolute daddy's girl, and her daddy would do anything for her. She had him wrapped around her little finger and knew it and had no qualm about using it to her own advantage. Like the extra cookies before dinner or lunch, or the "one more bedtime story" so she could stay awake longer. Jim didn't have any problems doing anything for his little girl. She just had to ask.

But now she had competition for her daddy's attention, a big one. Even though her little brother was still too young to speak, to walk, or to understand that his dad would steal the moon from the sky for him, he was still gaining his great share of Jim's attention.

A situation Katie didn't like so much because suddenly there was someone she had to share her daddy's praises and cookies and bedtime stories. To work against this jealousy, Jim spent more time alone with her and with the two together, so that Katie could see there was no reason to be jealous at all. Not such a difficult task, after all even with the 'fight' about Jim´s attention with Aaron, she was fiercely protective of him. In the week after his birth, she would sneak into his nursery at night, checking on him. When they found her one morning lying next to his crib, sleeping on the ground, they asked her what she was doing.

Her answer was that she just wanted to see if he was still there…and protect him from the monsters under the bed. Because she was a big sister now, and that was what big sisters do. They protect their little siblings.

Melinda still got tears in her eyes thinking about it. How was it possible that she helped to create such a sweet, compassionate, brave, fierce little girl?

"I see them, Pumpkin. They look fabulous!….Oh! No, buddy, the colors don´t go into your mouth… they go on the eggs!" Jim laughed.

She could hear the chuckle in his voice and had to smile, trying to picture their curious son trying to eat everything that was within his reach. She slowly crept down the last stair and toward the dining room. They hadn't heard her yet, and she hoped it would stay this way for a while. She loved nothing more than to watch her family when they were unaware of it. Just looking at their smiling faces, full of laughter and life and being happy. After all the pain, after all these years, she would never regret saying yes to finally having their little angels.

She crept on silent feet to the kitchen, turning around the corner as quiet as she could to watch them in the dining room, waiting to see if her family heard her come down.

But her son was still squealing, her husband still chuckling, and her daughter still talking to her father about the bestest, most beautiful eggs they were making in the whole wide world.

When she reached the door to the dining room she had to bite her lip at the picture she saw in front of her. The big dining table in the middle of the room that normally was neat and practical, was now littered with boiled eggs and empty eggshells, painted and unpainted, paint tubes in all colors of the rainbow lying open and closed around. Her husband praising the colorful eggs that Katie had painted so far, his focus completely on her. Her little cheeks stretched into the biggest smile she had ever seen, beaming up at her father, puffing her chest out in pride, standing next to him.

Her little son Aaron was in his highchair at three months, with colors and half-painted eggs in front of him. More color on his cheeks and in his curls than on the eggs.

Aaron saw her first, his ears picking up her chuckle that she couldn't keep in any longer. He was exactly like his father. Always beaming, full of laughter, like his sister, both are her sunshine. His eyes locked with her and his babbling of half-formed words got louder. His little arms pumped in the air, an egg smashing on the kitchen floor, paint splashing around, but she could have only smiled, happy seeing her little boy getting so excited to see her.

Jim and Katie's eyes go first to Aaron when he started to get louder and then in the direction of his look. Jim beamed at her, and Katie's smile got even bigger, something she didn't think was possible at all.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Katie ran to her side, two eggs in her hands, paint smeared on the little apron she wore, a streak on her cheek.

"You are so right, baby girl. They are the best I have ever seen!" She gasped and crouched in front of her daughter and inspected the eggs carefully.

Katie jumped with happiness, and she chuckled again to see her so eager. Katie ran back to the table, slowly and carefully putting the two eggs down, taking a new one to paint.

"I make another one now. For... Ned! And Aunt Delia," Katie giggled, drawing a careful blue flower.

She smiled and looked at Jim, who grinned back at her. Walking over to her three artists, she caressed the hair of Katie and pressed a kiss to Aaron's cheek, which he responded to with the most delicious laughter and touched his paint-covered hands to her face, and then turned to Jim.

Melinda moved her head closer to Jim's as she sat on his lap, leaning in, so her forehead rested against his.

"How was your sleep?" He asked.

"A haven of tranquility," she answered and threw her body into his outstretched arms, kissing him on the lips. "So I had to come back to my little chaos because I could not live without it."

"I'm glad," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said in barely more than a whisper.

"For what?" He replied, his voice low and husky.

"For being you." Her voice wavered, exhilarated from the tension between them. "For giving us a beautiful family and loving me, every single day."

She gently leaned in and kissed Jim's warmed lips. They pulled apart, only looking at each other as their child decorated their eggs just fine without to contain themselves anymore, Jim held Melinda's head in his hands and pulled her into a fiery and passionate kiss. Her hands worked their way around his body, feeling each crevasse, each line along his physique.

His hands ventured over her curved body, exploring. They pulled apart and opened their eyes. They stared at each other, deep into each other's eyes. His full of wonder and love, she's full of curiosity and passion. No words are spoken but a story worthy of them was communicated.

She hoped he could see in her eyes how overwhelmingly happy she was.

"Mommy?" Katie asked. "How does this look?"