All characters that are from the TWILIGHT saga by Stephanie Meyer belong to Stephanie Meyer. All others belong to me. I do not receive profit for these stories except for the joyous enjoyment of reviews.

This story follows right after When I'm Gone: Third Installment to GONE Saga, so if you haven't read that one or the two before, please do.

The timeline of the story will coincide with Gabriel Michael Laskaris' growing up years, starting at Seth and Rosa's wedding day, April 12th and will progress from there.

AN: Enjoy all! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far! Ses -baby bump is mentioned on the wedding chapter of Seth's story but it's Kim's baby bump.

Chapter Three

Gabe scowled as he stared at the egg-timer, wishing he could shake it to make time go faster but Daddy placed in on a high shelf and he couldn't reach it.

Crossing his arms and ankles as he let out an irritated sigh, he thought about why he was on time-out, just like Daddy had told him too.

He hadn't done it on purpose or to be mean, but Emmie shouldn't have tried to take his truck away when he was playing with it.

He had told her no and gave her one of the other ones but she wanted the blue and red one in his hand and grabbed it from him!

That hadn't been nice and it made him mad so he pushed her –not too hard but hard enough that she fell back on her bottom and started crying, tears running down her face by the time Daddy had picked her up and send him to Uncle Seth's office for a time-out.

Looking up at the timer, he wiggled deeper into the corner of the couch, looking over at the open door as he wrinkled his nose, unhappy that all of them were out there, laughing and talking.

Everyone was having fun getting everything ready for the party they were doing because Uncle Seth was coming back from his 'neymoon and here he was, on time-out for pushing his sister.

It hadn't been nice, he supposed, but she needed to learn not to take his toys when he was playing with them!

Why didn't Daddy put her on time-out?

Grabbing wasn't nice –mama had told him so –which meant she should have gotten a time-out too!

A small noise had him look towards the open door, watching as Zaky toddled in, holding a train in one hand which he held out with a smile, "Play?"

"I can't, Zak," Gabe shook his head, feeling bad when Zaky's smile went away, "I'm on time-out."

Zaky crouched down, placing the train on the floor before crawling on his hands and knees under the coffee table.

Gabe watched as his little brother sat back on his bottom, scooting closer to the legs of the table to lean forward and look up at him, "Boo!"

Gabe giggled as Zaky sat back out of sight.

This was Zaky's favorite game to play with anyone who wanted to play it with him and Gabe knew just what to say, "Peek-a…"

"Boo," Zaky exclaimed as he leaned forward to grin up at Gabe for a few seconds before pulling back.

Gabe tucked his legs under him to kneel on the couch, "Peek-a…"

Zaky giggled as he leaned forward to look out from under the table, "Boo!"

"Hey, you two."

Two sets of blue eyes, identical in shape and color, looked up towards the door.

Daddy smiled down at them before looking at Gabe, "Your time-out's up, kyrio."

"Yay," Gabe exclaimed as he jumped off the couch, almost making it out the door before Daddy called, "Don't forget to apologize to Emmie before you go out to play."

"Okay!"

Zaky stared up at his father with that little serious face of his, giggling when Daddy dropped down to the floor on his hands and knees, "Peek-a…"

"Boo!"


Embry was having a hard time swallowing back a laugh at the look of torture on Gabe's face but he did a pretty good job at it.

Emmie gave her brother's neck one last squeeze before planting a big juicy kiss on his cheek, letting go with a pleased smile on her face.

"You can play with my truck now," Gabe told her, handing her the blue and red truck, Emmie's squeal of joy making her brother smile before he turned to run into the kitchen and out to the backyard where all the other kiddos were playing.

Turning his smile back to Emmie, he watched as she struggled to get up onto the couch –something she could do already but she refused to let go of the truck and wouldn't let him help –a big smile breaking across her face once she managed it, standing up on the cushion to run the truck across the back of the couch, making occasional engine noises, Embry chuckling as she poked out her bottom lip in concentration.

There were times when Emmie would want to spend hours playing with him and sometimes, like now, she preferred playing alone or with the other kids as long as he was within sight.

Either way, he didn't mind. Time spent with her –however she wanted –was precious and jealously guarded by both of them.

Dragging his backpack from the end of the couch, he settled back against the couch, his long legs stretched under the coffee table, smiling up at Emmie when she patted her small hand against his head, her beautiful smile his reward before she went back to what she'd been doing.

He could get some homework done before the rest of the pack and families arrived, he thought as he checked his watch. He had an hour of relatively quiet time to get at least one reading assignment done for his Government class.

The time passed quietly, occasional small breaks from reading offered by Emmie, which he gladly took, never once losing his patience even when he was in the middle of note-taking.

By the time he was one paragraph away from finishing, Emmie had clambered off the couch -bringing along the truck -to climb into his lap, tapping a small finger against the page of his open textbook as she looked up at him, her big blue eyes twinkling.

"Want me to read to you," Embry asked as he set his notebook aside, Emmie nodding as she turned to look at the small text, chuckling as she squinted her eyes, "Want to go get one of your books?"

Emmie shook her head as she pointed at his textbook again, looking up at him with one of her 'aren't I cute' smiles, "Mou read this!"

"Okay," Embry shrugged, glad it wasn't a biology textbook as he began halfway through the essay on the Industrial War and its effects on governmental politics and proceedings –better that than the functions of the human body.

He was a few words shy of finishing the essay when a knock at the front door sounded, both of them looking up –Emmie's rosebud mouth was in a little O, something she did whenever someone knocked on a door –as Leah exited the kitchen to cross the living room floor and open the door, Paul and Rachel standing at the other side, "Hey you two! Did you bring the lasagna and your pictures?"

"Lasagna's right here," Rachel patted at an insulated tote bag she had slung over her shoulder, giving Emmie a wave, the little girl giggling as she waved back.

"And I've got our pictures," Paul yanked out a thick envelope from the back pocket of his jeans, a look on his face that let Leah know she did not want to see those, "When do we start hanging them up?"

"We still have two more hours before Charlie heads to Sea-TAC to pick them up," Leah closed the door, following behind them towards the kitchen, giving her daughter a smile before blowing her a kiss.

Emmie giggled, pressing her palm against her mouth before she stretched her arm out towards her mother, laughing as Leah closed her hand in the air before placing the "kiss" on her own mouth.

"What are you reading to her," Paul stopped at the arched entrance into the kitchen, Leah and Rachel chattering along with Sue and Emily as they did whatever they were doing in there.

"We're reading about the Industrial War," Embry looked down at Emmie as she smiled up at him, "Right Princess?"

Emmie nodded, sticking a finger into her smiling mouth as she turned to smile up at Paul, her soft pigtails –with little pink polka dotted barrettes that matched her dress which had a white puppy on the front –brushing against Embry's nose.

"You're going to turn her into a braniac, aren't you," Paul frowned at Embry, laughing when Emmie pulled a face at him, something she tended to do whenever she saw someone frown.

"I've got nothing to do with her brains," Embry closed his textbook and set it on the coffee table, Emmie laughing as he tickled her sides, "She's a genius all on her own."

Paul shook his head with a laugh, heading into the kitchen and leaving those two to their games as he called out, "Wait until you see out pictures, Lee!"

Emmie laughed as Embry continued to tickle her, twisting to the side as she tucked in her legs, lying across his lap.

Embry smiled down at her as he stopped, "All done?"

Emmie looked up at him with a big grin, her finger in her mouth –he knew she was hooking it over her small bottom teeth –as she shook her head, blue eyes lighting up as he ran his fingers down her sides again, her sweet laughter the very music that made his world go round.

His Princess was ready for some serious one-on-one play time.

His day couldn't possibly get any better than this.


Vivi wasn't exactly sure what was going on but she knew if she didn't ask, she was never going to know, "Why can't I play with Bradley?"

"'Cause he's a boy," Gabe gave her a look she had learned to recognize as his 'duh' look, "You're gonna marry me so you can't play with other boys."

Vivi's eyebrows lowered as she thought it over, looking towards the sandbox where Marc was helping Lili build a sandcastle, "Can I play with Marc?"

Gabe frowned as he looked over at Marc, the little boy completely immersed on the building project he didn't look their way, wishing he could say no but, "He's your brother so he doesn't count."

Brad let out a sigh, tired of waiting for Vivi to take her turn.

Pushing himself to his feet, he ran across the yard towards the monkey bar dome where his sister was climbing to the top, Ian attempting to follow after her.

Besides, his cousin had just said Vivi couldn't play with him so Brad assumed that meant he couldn't play with her.

Vivi turned to look at Nika –who sat beside her –for a few seconds before looking up at Gabriel, "What about you? You play with girls."

"Na-ah," Gabe's eyebrows lowered in confusion as Vivi nodded, "Who?"

"Bailey."

Gabe scoffed as he uncrossed his arms, waving a hand in dismissal at Vivi's words, "She doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"She plays boy games," Gabe rolled his eyes as if this was supposed to be the most obvious thing, "It's like she's a boy."

"But she's a girl. If I can't play with boys then you can't play with girls."

"I'm telling you," Gabriel sat down on the concrete, taking the rubber ball from amongst the jacks, "She's not a girl-girl like you and Nika."

Vivi frowned, looking over at Nika who just shrugged her shoulders as Gabriel exclaimed, "Let's start a new game."

"Okay," Vivi pushed her jacks to the middle, Nika returning hers one at a time –she had been winning and now she was going to have to start all over.

Vivi nibbled on her bottom lip as she watched Gabe bounce the ball, was what he said true?

Vivi watched as he handed the rubber ball to Nika, thinking that maybe she needed to ask Tia Rosa. She had lots of friends that were boys –like Matt and Andy and Colt and Tony –she would know if she can't be friends with them anymore 'cause she was married now.

"Gabe!"

The three of them looked towards Bailey, the little brunette clambering down from the top of the dome, Brad following after her as she yelled out, "We're gonna have a race!"

"Cool," Gabe tossed the rubber ball into Vivi's lap, the little dip on her skirt –stretched over her knees –catching it neatly as he ran across the yard to where Bailey stood with Marc and Brad, Ian having joined Lili in the sandbox, "First one around the house wins!"

Vivi and Nika watched as all four of them took off, a few seconds passing before they looked at each other.

"Leah told me boys are dumb," Vivi said as she picked up the rubber ball, Nika nodding in agreement, "Mama told me the same thing."

"Do you think it's true," Vivi bounced the ball, managing to snag three jacks before it hit the floor again.

"I know it's true," Nika caught the ball on its second bounce, bouncing it again and grabbing four jacks, "This boy at school pulls my hair every day."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Nika shrugged her shoulders as Vivi took her turn.

"Tell him to stop."

"I did," Nika threw her hands up in a show of aggravation, "But he still pulls my hair! Mama says that's what boys do when they like a girl."

"Boys are mean to the girl they like," Vivi asked as she stared at Nika in open mouthed shock.

"Uh-hu," she nodded sagely, picking up the rubber ball with one hand as she brushed back fine black hair from her face.

"That's dumb."

"Told you," Nika lifted a shoulder, her brown eyes dancing as she smiled at her best friend, "Boys are dumb."