A/N: Requested anonymously.

So for this to make any sense to people that don't follow my tumblr: we've had fun with the headcanon of April/Andy with a whole mess of kids, so first off if that makes you uncomfortable you can skip this chapter right now because it's a lot of that. Five, to be exact, with Jack, and then Robbie as we knew her before the finale, then Sam that never quite made it into a fic, and the final piece of the puzzle - twins Lucy and Victoria.

Yes, I love this. Yes I will be writing about that often. I'll write the lead-up to this crazy big family, eventually, but for now let's just have some familial fluff.

With a blistering heat overhead, and sandals only barely saving their soles from igniting on hot concrete and asphalt, a small army of Ludgate-Dwyers looks out over a small ridge separating the town from the beach. As far as Andy could see, people were littered there and having fun with things from the water itself - splashing in waves with their hands - to sandcastles constructed by excitable kids and sulking teenagers and he'd never felt better already. Taking the little hands dangling near his shoulders, Andy crossed that short gap with a hop and ran down to find a spot with two kids and the other twin in tow.

Jack carried a little basket and his towel, meeting them and helping Andy to set things for everyone else up while Robbie planted the umbrella in the ground with an enthusiastic thrust. By the time Andy turned around, she was attempting to stand under the umbrella's shade but had to crawl under or her head would bump into the shade. The twin on his shoulders disentangled from him and immediately started, with the help of her twin, encasing his feet in sand.

Looking back up to where they crossed, Andy watched April walk down the beach hand-in-hand with Sam. The little, dirty blonde girl whipped back and forth as if expecting people to be there. With the added "I dare you" in April's eyes, no one bothered to say a word to them. It wasn't like they would, since everyone else was so absorbed in having a good time. By the time she reached the umbrella and the towel, Robbie was looming over Jack and plotting something together. Meanwhile, Andy's shins were now coated in sand and he was slowly becoming a sandy colossus.

"Babe, could I get some sunscreen?" he asked, but Sam was busy sitting under the umbrella and April had no intention of leaving her alone. She was only nine after all. "Fine, I'll go over-"

He attempted to step out of the sand boots but couldn't budge. Andy could have broken through them, but the twins were giggling and continually patting sand up his leg. They were actually going along pretty well and at their rate they'd have him covered in no time. Or at least until the sand could no longer stay held up by little six-year old pats and shaping.

"Dad, just walk out," Robbie patted his leg where the sand sat.

"Shh, your sister's are... they've got me trapped," he said, feigning hopelessness. "I'll never get out of here. Go get your mom and sit with Sam for a little bit."

"But dad, I wanted to-"

"C'mon," he added with a laugh, ruffling her short hair and laughing more when she grumbled her way over to her mother.

Looking down his legs, he watched with glee as the twins patted more sand on his legs to make up for the slight cracks in his bonds when Andy attempted to walk out. This would be their greatest trick on him yet, and he'd let them have it because for once they wouldn't stop laughing.

"Mom, dad wants you to go put sunscreen on him since T-1000 and her little evil friend are burying him in sand," Robbie ducked her head to sit under the umbrella, in front of Sam. "So, I'll sit with Sam for a little bit."

April laughed, watching her twirl bits of the towel underneath in her fingers. Setting her book down next to her, she rolled over to look at Sam and kiss her cheek before taking the sunscreen and standing up. Andy was busying himself with his sandy fetters, chuckling at the two of them working so diligently to bury him in it while April meandered her way over to him. His beer gut stuck out a little farther than when they were young and his hair was graying considerably, but she could only lean on her toes and kiss him when she got to him. That was partially because she really wanted to, but also because it elicited a disgusted groan from Jack as he made his way from the water to his towel and the twins called out in agony.

"Gross!"

"Eugh!"

April smiled and gave him a dollop of the sunscreen to use on his arms and face while she walked behind him. Jack walked with his shoulders slumped over to the twins and flopping down only to help them on their work.

"So, how is she?" Andy asked seriously, looking over his shoulder at April.

"She's fine," April sighed and continued down his back until a thought came over her and skipped a portion of his skin. "I can't tell if it's the people or that they're new people."

"Sam's never had a problem with hanging out at Aunt Leslie's," Jack said dully, tapping at sand with a little shovel. "Or Auntie Nat's."

"Probably strangers," Andy suggested and finished his arms, clearly happy. "Sunscreen!"

April put another small bit on his outstretched hand and laughed as he went to town smearing it all over his face and nose. Chuckling, she avoided that same spot over and over and worked up to his neck because that would just be painful. At least her prank would only be funny. All the while, she could see Robbie lying down under the umbrella and Sam laughing at something. Jack and the twins were giggling at his back, Andy asking what was wrong, but April managed to shush them and make Andy believe it was something another kid had done.

When she was finished, April left him a kiss on his gross, oily cheek and walked back to the umbrella. Robbie hurriedly ran off and Sam went back to simply sitting there and watching her mother read.

April watched Andy with one twin on his shoulders and the other under his arm as he struggled free from his beach prison. Or, really, play-struggle and making them laugh hysterically and scream jubilantly as Dad escaped his chains and made to punish them by having some fun in the water. Turning another page, she glanced to the side and watched Sam play with a bit of fabric in her hands absentmindedly. There was no rush to get her out there, and if she didn't want to April wasn't going to force her. She'd have to face her fears one day, but if she didn't want to then April would sooner watch her enjoy quiet time with her mother than feel scared in the water with other people.

It had been happening for a while. She was used to people she knew, and liked them and talked and did everything a "normal" child did but whenever Sam was out in public she seemed frightened at everything and would break down into crying or pouting fits at the drop of a hat. But when she was left at home, she was perfectly, and April hated the word so much, normal. She had hated it being used towards her, so she doesn't ever want to subject her children to believing there was a normal or abnormal. There was only people.

So she plays by herself and reads a little bit before growing bored of that, lying back side-by-side with April.

"You wanna go out and play with everyone else?" April asked her.

"No," she said in a quiet voice.

"Okay," April said.

Really, she just wanted her kids to grow up happy and know their parents loved them. Just before she was going to pull her book back up, Robbie was standing in front of them huffing out breaths.

"Mom, c'mon!" she pleaded. "Dad wants you to play with us. You haven't even been in the water."

April looked over at Sam. "I think we're just gonna hang out here," she propped her neck up with her hand and looked down at her book over her sunglasses. "We'll play tomorrow or something-"

"But we've been here a week and you guys haven't even come out once," Robbie pouted and sat down in front of Sam. "And tomorrow we're going on the boardwalk anyways."

"Well, we don't wanna go out and play," she looked over at her younger daughter. "Do we?"

For a few moments, April wondered if this was what she was supposed to do. Even with years of experience, there were still so many things that were just attempts and trial and error at being a decent parent. So far, she'd been successful but the rest of her children mostly took after Andy in their bright cheeriness. Even the twins were more playful than harmful in their pranking and humorous in their tricks, and Jack was sulky but mostly an insecure little boy, and Robbie was most like Andy more than any of them. She was tall and essentially a teddy bear, and then there was Samantha.

April loved all of her children, but Sam was... a challenge. She was different, and April loved that and realized how much work that could be all at once.

"We could," Sam mumbled, playing in sand with her finger.

"Do you want to?" April leaned over on her elbow, ignoring the almost panting, already overexcited Roberta.

The hardest thing, April realized, was saying no to her kids. Whether it was ice cream, or a toy, or really anything she struggled not to give them every single, little thing they desired and pouted over. That skill had improved, but when it was them just asking for her to have fun with everyone there was absolutely no denying that. Unless, of course, Sam didn't want to.

She turned up and looked at her mother for a second before nodding. "Yeah," she said. "I wanna go swimming."

For around an hour, maybe more April couldn't really tell, Andy competed with Robbie in splashing battles while Jack took the twins a few inches deeper than they could touch. He was still under April's eye the whole time, but she was busy walking Sam through water and throwing waves at Andy after a while. She couldn't contain herself, and she rarely could when playing with her kids. He was all smiles, joined by everyone else, and before long all of them were in an all-out water war. Between splashes, laughter cascaded and fell throughout the family and Andy was hit by more than one group micro-tsunami. Eventually they all turned their aggression on April, Sam clinging to her in defense, and the laughter doubled and tripled and before long every single one of them was simply enjoying a day in the sun. Lucy clambered onto Andy's shoulders once more and April managed to get Victoria on hers, watching Robbie and Jack take Andy's side and Sam on hers.

This was going to be a splash-fight to remember.