~Snowcrystal of Thunderclan~

No worries, and yeah, it must suck working on someone you know or are remotely close to…

~Snowwing~

Really? Awesome! I dare you to do it! XD How long is this story by now? I don't keep track anymore XD

~CoolAidSenpai~

Yikes! XD

~Delena's Teddy~

No problem! I'm still open for requests too if anyone has new ideas or refreshers on other ones :D

~IDidn'tSignUp4This~

Look! I did it! I finally (after literally forever) wrote a Leaffeather piece! And may I just say that I'm very happy with it? :D

And I'm glad you don't mind about the swearing thing, I mean my characters won't swear a crap ton, but Cynthia swears a decent amount when I don't censor her XD

Park Meeting... It's So Much More...

(I can't remember the name I gave Crowfeather so he's now named Clint)

Childlike giggling was the only warning Clint received before a small shape collided with the back of his legs and nearly made his knees buckle, making him stumble forward into the playground pole in front of him. Pain seared through his nose and he gave a grunt of pain while his young son Braxton paused trying to catch a girl with blonde hair with green eyes on the monkey bars and looked at him.

"Dad! Are you okay?" The six-year-old asked as he raced over to Clint and harshly pushed the thing responsible for Clint's injury away from his father. Causing the other boy to fall back onto his butt and his glasses to fly off his face. "Don't touch my dad! You hurt him!"

"Easy Brax," Clint sighed and held a hand over his nose, feeling it beginning to bleed from the harsh impact, "no harm done." He looked down at what or more likely who his son had pushed away from him and found a boy no older than Braxton looking at him startled.

The boy had round baby blue eyes, messy black hair that was getting in his eyes like Clint's usually did, and was rather small and skinny with a tiny scar nicking across his nose. He was looking at Clint with a rather fearful expression like he was afraid he was going to hit him for running into him, and was inching away from Braxton. Shying away from him on the ground with a squeak of fear. He was bundled up in a thick white winter coat and black snow pants.

Clint blinked, blue eyes narrowed with confusion and mistakenly making him look annoyed, why did the boy flinch? He wasn't going to hit him, the boy had only run into him in the park, no harm is done. The boy and Braxton looked a little similar, black hair, milky skin, rather lanky limbs, and a rather nervous of the world approach in his blue eyes.

A voice broke Clint from his thoughts, especially when the little boy charged over and scowled at Braxton, small hands clenched. "Don't you push my brother! He didn't do anything!" The boy was no older than five with tanned skin, freckles across the bridge from his nose and cheekbones, amber eyes currently glaring at Braxton, and unlike the boy who crashed into him was much stronger and bulkier. He was also bundled up in thick winter clothing, a bright orange coat with a fluffy lion like beanie flattening his blonde hair to his forehead, and thick black snow pants with black boots.

"Leon!" A small girl came running over a little older than the other two, with black hair and the same milky skin, it was obvious that she was related to the first boy who had run into him. "It's mean to push someone!" She bent down through her thick clothing and scooped up her milky skinned brother's glasses, "are you okay Jay? He's not going to hurt us-"

"-how do you know, Holly?" The blonde boy snapped before tromping over to his two siblings and yanking off his hat, leaving his hair sticking up everywhere and a total mess. "Come on Jay, they don't want us to play over here." He jammed the hat over his brother's head so the smaller child yelped and smacked his brother when the hat covered his eyes.

"I can't see Leon!" The blue eyed boy then squirmed free of his siblings' grasp by rolling backward over his head and scrambling to his feet. "Stop touching me already!"

"Then stay still!" the girl huffed and handed the boy his glasses, "and put on your glasses!"

"I don't wanna!" The blue eyed boy slapped them from his sister's hands, "I hate them!"

The girl narrowed her eyes and picked up the glasses, but said nothing else to her brother. Instead she raised her voice. "Mom! Jay won't put on his glasses!"

"Tatle Tale," Jay hissed and adjusted the beanie on his head so he could see, much to Clint's amusement.

"Come on, Cindy's with mom and I don't want to get in trouble again." Leon huffed, "tag's a stupid game anyway."

Clint blinked when suddenly his son went from standing at his feet to tackling the blonde haired boy, pulling on his blonde hair.

"Don't call it stupid!"

"Get off me you stupid head!" Leon snapped back and the two boys wrestled in the snow for a few seconds.

"Leon!" The girl, Holly, hovered worriedly next to the wrestling pair, "stop fighting!"

"I hate the park," Jay grunted as he shoved his dirty glasses onto his face. Before tripping over Leon and Braxton, "Ooph!"

Braxton's stray fist nailed the smaller boy in the face just before Clint hauled him off Leon, and knocked Jay flat on his back with a howl.

"MOM!" Holly promptly yelled at the top of her little voice and knelt next to her brother who was squirming painfully on the snowy wood chips, cupping his nose.

"Braxton!" Clint snapped harshly at his son and hauled the seven-year-old away from the siblings, "you don't fight with people! For crying out loud, what are Fila and Josh teaching you during the week!"

"Leon don't!" Another girl came running over, sprint tackling the blonde boy to the ground and pushing his face into the snow. "Stop being stupid!" She had blue eyes and black hair, with light tanned freckled skin and a pink nose from the cold. "Leave him alone!"

Leon struggled beneath the girl's bulk and made a bunch of muffled noises from his face buried in the snow.

"Leon! Cynthia get off of him before you give him frostbite!" A rather frazzled voice rambled and Clint looked up to see a woman in her mid twenties racing over in a thick creamy winter coat, black pants, light brown boots, and had a backpack slung over one shoulder. "Oh this is not how we wanted to sleep over to start... Cynthia honestly, get off of him!" She had pale skin like the two black haired siblings, gentle amber eyes currently frazzled with stress and wide with panic, freckles dotting her cheek bones, and sun-kissed brown hair (Brown hair with light blonde highlights) currently twisted up and clipped up in the back. Framing her amber eyes were dark brown rimmed glasses, and she looked tired beneath her frazzled exterior.

Cynthia, the girl on top of Leon, quickly scrambled off of him and hauled him to his feet.

Where the blonde boy promptly wailed about girl cooties and how Cynthia had infected him.

"You're an ass!" Cynthia huffed and tackled him backward, the pair now wrestling in the snow and trying to beat each other. "I was scared about you and you insist I have cooties! Why?"

"Butt Cynthia, say butt instead if you have to say it at all! You know that's a bad word, keep it to yourself!" The frazzled woman's voice raised an octave at the girl's clearly unruly temper and personality. As she picked up the howling Jay on the ground and gently pulled his hands away from his face to look at his nose. "Honestly, how your mother deals with you all the time I don't know," she muttered under her breath as she crouched down, letting Jay sit on her knee as she examined his tiny nose. "Thank StarClan it's not broken, just bleeding," she pulled a hankerchief from a coat pocket and held it to the small boy's nose. She hadn't looked at Clint or Braxton yet, too busy with the four kids surrounding her. She was currently tilting his head back a little while plugging his nose and holding the hankerchief to his face. "Stay still Jay, I need to stop the bleeding little one." She said as the boy in her lap squirmed and tried to get away from her hand. "You and parks really don't mix, do you?" she sighed, but smiled reassuringly at the young child with tears in his eyes sitting still in her lap.

"Cindy get off him! Stop arguing to five seconds!" Holly, the tallest of the group hauled the other girl back by the collar of her jacket, "honestly, you guys just can't get along!"

"I do not have cooties!" Cynthia snapped as Holly pulled her off of Leon and promptly sat down on the ground with her arms crossed. "He's being a butt!"

"So? Doesn't mean you need to swear at him," Holly retorted as she hauled her other brother to his feet and brushed off his coat and pants. Acting very responsible for her young age. "And Leon, leave her alone too!"

"She started it," Leon mumbled immaturely and Clint couldn't help but chuckle dryly before crouching down in front of the woman and looking at the injured boy.

"Is he okay? Braxton has a tendency to punch first ask questions later."

The woman startled, and promptly fell back onto the ground, staring at him through owlishly widening eyes. Brief fear flashing in her eyes, before it vanished and she breathed a shaky chuckle. "Huh? Oh yeah, Jay's fine. He's not very strong yet, so stuff like this happens a lot."

Clint smiled reassuringly at the young boy who was huddling closer to the woman, shying away from him. "How old are they?" He asked curiously, "that other boy's pretty strong for his size."

"That's Leon," the woman smiled, her smile a little nervous and cautious. "He's six, and a really active kid. Jay, how old are you?" She asked, looking down at the boy in her lap who held up four fingers through his nose bleed. "Yup," She looked back up at CLint, "he's four-" Jay squirmed in her hold, making a few muffled noises, "excuse me," she looked amused. "He's four and a half." Jay stopped squirming and nodded proudly.

"He talks extremely well for his age," Clint said with surprise, "I thought he was six or so, just smaller than average."

The woman smiled rather proudly, "yeah, he and Holly love to learn and read, so they have pretty big vocabularies. I guess that's what I get for being a nerd myself," she said sheepishly and Clint chuckled before nodding to the two girls with Leon.

"How about them? Both of them yours too?"

"Oh heavens no," the woman balked, "the green eyed one is mine, she's Leon's twin Holly. The other girl on the other hand is my friend's youngest. Her name's Cynthia, and I can barely handle her for an evening, not all the time. Cynthia's a spaz," she chuckled, and Clint found that he liked the sound of her almost crisp Yukotan accent and laugh, "super crazy and hyper all the time no matter the time of day. Until she and Leon crash anyway, then my house is finally quiet when it's my turn to watch her and Leon in the same house."

Clint laughed, "sounds like a handful alright. My name's Clint Crawford, what's yours?"

The woman looked up at him and offered the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. "My name's Leah, Leah Christenson."

"Leeeon! Get back here!"

Clint looked up from his spot sitting on a park bench at the familiar child's name just shy of two weeks later. Finding a small van parked in the park's parking lot and a blonde kid racing out of the car and toward the park itself, whooping loudly in his windbreaker, jeans, and sneakers.

"Never! I'm free!" the blonde cackled and raced toward the swings. Where he then jumped on them and swung back and forth on his stomach.

"You're going to hurt yourself!" Holly, Leah's black haired oldest, Clint had learned, came racing after her twin brother. "Come on! We're supposed to be walking with mom and waiting for Cindy and Bree!"

"I don't care! They both have cooties!" Leon huffed from his spot on the swings.

The rest of the siblings' argument was drowned out from Clints ears by the arrival of a certain brunette carrying a grumpy and sleepy looking four-year-old boy with black hair and was missing his black rimmed glasses.

"Is this seat taken?" The gentle voice he had met last week and became easy friends with asked, and he nodded. Watching her get settled comfortably into being seated on the bench beside him while Jay was snuggled to her.

"Cranky?" Clint asked, nodding at the four-year-old tucked against Leah's slim body with his head resting on her shoulder. "Looks like he was woken up from a nap without wanting to be woken up."

"Pretty much," Leah smiled at him and rubbed Jay's back, tucking the blanket more comfortably around his shoulders and soothing the cranky toddler. "He's usually moody and rather clingy on a good day, however, wake him up from a nap and there aren't many things and fewer people that'll cheer him up." She settled more comfortably against the back of the bench, "what about you? I don't see Braxton today."

Clint's cheeks dusted pink and he focused on watching her two oldest kids chasing each other around the playground, Holly trying to reprimand her brother. "He's not."

"Really?" Then how come you're here?" Leah asked curiously and hastily added onto her sentence. "Oh StarClan, I swear I didn't mean for it to come out as snappy or harsh as it did." Her amber eyes had widened and she was holding a hand to her mouth, despite Jay's complaining squirming and whining complaints. "I was just curious how come you'd be at a children's park on a saturday-"

"-I wanted to see you," Clint blurted, cutting her off and wishing he could sink into the ground of embarrassment and awkwardness. "I don't have Braxton with me and I wanted to see you and your kids. They're adorable."

Leah said nothing for a long moment, and Clint felt his embarrassment growing, but what she did say made him sneak a peek at the glasses wearing mother of three. "I'm glad you're here," she said quietly, barely loud enough for him to hear her; her cheeks dying themselves a beautifully embarrassed scarlet hue.

Clint looked over at her, and they held eye contact for a while, amber eyes mixing with hazel into a sea of gentle brown.

Until Jay tugged on Leah's shirt and the moment was broken. Leah hastily looking down at her son and Clin awkwardly looking the other way with a short cough.

"Yes Jay?"

Jay managed to get one arm free from his blanket prison and pointed to an approaching mother with Cynthia trailing at her heels in a sulky fashion, a younger girl skipping next to her, holding her hand, and a baby in her arms. Looking stressed and frazzled. "Bree's here."

"Bree?" Clint echoed curiously and he leaned forward to look over at the mother and kids, "which one's Bree?"

"Bree's the four-year-old girl happily skipping along as if playing pretend hopscotch," Leah said with amusement, blush on her cheeks fading as the topic changed. "That's Miley, the mother of Jay's best and only friend, Breanna. A child prodigy."

"Child prodigy?"

"Genius," Leah clarified and turned Jay so he was facing her side and lap, "Bree's probably the smartest person alive that I know."

"Seriously?" Clint asked doubtfully as he watched the skipping girl get closer to them. "A four-year-old girl is the smartest person you know?"

"A four-year-old girl," Leah nodded before dropping a bombshell with a light teasing smirk on her pretty features, "with an IQ score of one-hundred-and-fifty anyway."

Clint took a double-take, "wait, repeat that? Did I just hear that a four-year-old girl has an IQ of a hundred-and fifty?"

"Pretty much," Leah smiled and lightly nudged him with her shoulder, "what, can't believe that you're in the presence of a genuis?"

"Not really," Clint admitted with a sigh and looked at the girl as she went form skipping to running toward Leah, "she's tiny."

"That she is," Leah agreed and smiled at the girl as she invited herself onto Leah's lap, kneeling, and gently threw her arms around the fellow four-year-old.

"Hi Jay! Hi Leah! Hi Leah's new friend!" Bree chirped happily and reached up to push her friend's messy hair from his face. "You're sleepy again Jay," she giggled and Jay pulled a grumpy expression, which melted at the girl's happy giggles as she seated herself on Leah's other leg. Where she then looked up properly at Leah and grinned. "How's the hospital?" She asked curiously, big doe eyes looking innocently up at her while Clint was gawking at her from behind.

Leah smiled at the young girl in a motherly smile that melted Clint's heart, and gently ruffled her pigtailed brown hair. "It's great Bree, everything's running smoothly."

"Awesome!" Bree smiled and then lowered her voice to a whisper, "he's staring at meee," she whined, "make him stop!"

Leah smiled again, this time a little cheekily, and flashed a glance at Clint. "He doesn't believe how smart you are Bree."

"Really?" Bree asked slowly, then grinned, "okay, then give me a math problem Leah!"

"How about he gives you one?" Leah asked with a smile, "that way he knows for himself how smart you really are?"

"Okay!" Bree turned in her lap to be able to look comfortably at Clint, "fire away!"

Clint blinked at her, and then spoke slowly, a look of mystified confusion on his face. That only got stronger over the next few minutes. "Okay, up one hundred plus a hundred?"

Bree didn't even blink. "Two-hundred."

"Okay, three-hundred times- five hundred?"

"One-thousand five-hundred."

Clint's eyebrows rose in surprise, a four-year-old was answering these? Was he dreaming? Leah, with her cute kids, and a four year old able to do math off the top of her head like this? "Okay one-thousand-five-hundred and sixty-two squared."

"Aproximately, two million and four-hundred and forty thousand," Bree chirped and broke into giggles at Clint reaction before turning to Jay. "You want to play Jay?"

Jay looked a Leah, who nodded encouragingly, and then sulked as he escaped his blanket and walked slowly after Bree as she scampered off into the playground. Where Leon and Cynthia could be seen chasing each other around in the distance.

Clint gave a low whistle and leaned back on the bench, "dang, she's the real deal alright."

"Uh huh," Leah nodded then giggled, "and her mother doesn't know what to do with her when she keeps hacking through passwords and tinkering with things that a four-year-old really shouldn't be touching."

"I bet," Clint chuckled and looked at Leah, "is she staying over this week too?"

Leah nodded and gave a stressed sigh while rubbing at her eyes behind her glasses, "yup. Her and Cynthia are both sleeping over."

"So it's you, your partner, and let me get this straight, five kids?"

Leah shifted awkwardly, "actually it's just me and five kids," she said quietly, "I don't have any kind of partner."

Clint blinked, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I only assumed with everything… I shouldn't have said anything." He looked away from Leah, watching the various kids running around. Or in Jay and Bree's case, sitting in the half frozen sandbox building in the sand. "I apologize, I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't" Leah spoke tentatively and awkwardly cleared her throat. "I've been divorced since just before Jay was born, I'm used to being on my own and caring for my family."

"You must be a very strong woman to handle those three and sustain your family."

"I try," Leah shrugged lightly, fiddling with her sleeves. "I have help from my family though, and while she may look like a unruly child, Cynthia's a young YouTuber who adores my kids like they're her family so my best friend helps how when I can't do anything else."

Clint looked at her, respect gleaming in his hazel eyes. "There's not shame in asking for help," he pointed out, "and believe it or not I am too, divorced I mean. I only have Braxton once or twice a month, his mother has custody over him."

"Ah," Leah breathed. "My ex. Husband wasn't a very fitting parent," she said after a few minutes of watching the kids run around an play, "lets just put it like that."

"Mhmm," Clint replied, a hunch nagging him but not wanting to seem like he was prying into her personal life. By the scar on Jay's nose and nick in Leon's ear he had evidence for his terrible hunch.

It was quiet for a few more minutes, Leah keeping a careful eye on Jay as some other families arrived at the park.

Eventually, with trouble brewing around Jay as a group of kids surrounded him and Bree at the sandbox, Leah stood up, "Jay! Come here, Holly round up everyone else and go to the car!" She then turned to Clint, "if you'd like you can come over next week for dinner. Holly really likes you, and while Jay hates pretty much everyone but me and Bree, my kids would like to see you for a bit longer."

Clint smiled, "of course," he smiled, "I'd love to get to know them.

"Thank you so much!" Leah's ginger haired sister Skylar, thanked Clint a million times as he stepped into the household and took off his shoes. Instantly noticing the stress on the ginger's face. "Brad and I don't have any munchkins, so trying to take care of them all while Leah's sick is proving to be really difficult!"

"It's no problem," Clint smiled kindly. A month had passed since his meeting of Bree and Leah's invatation to dinner at her house, which went well, and he was used to dropping by with trinkets for Leah and the kids and helping her out with them and giving her a moment of piece during the day. Or hanging out and watching a movie with the nerdy brunette during the evening once all of her kids were asleep. "If Leah's sick I'd love to help out. Where're they all right now?"

"Leah insisted on coming downstairs once Jay started crying, so probably in the living room?" Skylar said as she trotted after him.

"Alright, well it's bedtime so that means baths and a story for Holly." Clint said briskly as he headed toward the living room, "can you handle her? Holly's pretty calm as long as you tell her what you expect of her."

"I can try-"

"Clint!" A small form crashed into his legs at the speed of a golf cart, "Jay's throwing a tantwum, Holly's crying, and mom's sick!" A blonde headed six-year-old looked up at his through owl-wide eyes. "And I'm hungry!"

"Did you eat your dinner?" Clint asked the blonde doubtfully, almost one-hundred percent sure that he had skipped dinner to run aorund and play for another hour or two. Leon's guilty expression told him exactly what he needed to know. "There should be a plate left for you on the table, go eat then come help me get your brother for a bath." Jay hated water almost as much as a housecat, and Clint had noticed in the past that he threw a tantrum anytime anyone tried to give him a bath besides his gentle hearted mother.

"Okay!" Ever the excited to please boy shot off toward the dining room, where Skylar had at least left a plate out for him.

Who was which, Clint could see curled up on the couch with her youngest curled up on the opposite side throwing a tantrum, while Holly was sitting on the floor rubbing at her eyes and looking very miserable for a six-year-old.

"Hey Leah," Clints voice dropped to a gentle and rather affectionate tone, "you feeling okay?" He asked, sitting in the middle of the couch and brushing her sweaty bangs from her face.

Leah's fever glazed amber eyes opened and focused on him, "sorry you have to do this," she croaked, not responding to his question and instead looking guilty at him having to take care of her kids while she was ill. "You shouldn't be here." The brunette was curled under a blanket, and looked to have tried reasoning with and dealing with her cranky and worried children before giving up due to her sickness.

"As your close friend I'm very obligated to be here," Clint replied, "especially when you're sick with a noncontagious virus and you have three kids to take care of." He rested his palm on the top of her head in a soothing manner, "for once take a step back and rest, okay? I can handle your munchkins as your sister called them. Relax… I'll take care of them."

Leah gave a sleepy murmur but shut her eyes, her body relaxing and her breathing evening out as she instantly dropped asleep.

"How long as she been sick?" Clint asked over Jay's tantrum wailing and picked up the four-year-old, knowing how clingy and cranky he was on a daily basis.

"A few days," Skylar sighed, "Sarah and Miley were here the past two days, but I think having Cynthia and Bree added to the mix exhausted Miley to the point of giving up dealing with them all yesterday."

"So they're tired," Clint said, looking at the crabby Jay who was still struggling in his hold and bawling , his face screwed up angrily in a child's form of exhausion. "And you sir," he tickled Jay's stomach a little before the child pushed his hand away and threw himself at his shoulder, howling. "Are not a happy person when you're tired."

Clint walked over to Holly and crouched down beside her, "hey princess?" He asked, looking at the sniffling six-year-old who was trying so hard to stop crying and be responsible while her mother was sick. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm so glad your here!" Holly dropped all pretenses of being okay and, wailed before she promptly threw herself at him, hugging him around the waist and burying her face into his shirt. "I tried to get L-Leon to stop playing and sit down to eat but he wouldn't listen! A-and then Jay woke up from his nap all cranky and threw food and I tried to help mom calm him down, but he just wanted her to hold him! She didn't want to get him sick and d-didn't so he started crying and th-then I couldn't take it anymore and tried to stop crying too!"

Clint flet his heart squeeze at how hard the little girl had tried to get her brothers to listen and calm down, "it's okay princess," he gently soothed her around Jay's continued crying. "I'm here now, you can relax okay? Skylar's going to take you upstairs for a bath and a few stories while I handle your brothers okay? Don't worry about them, I'll bring them upstairs once they've both eaten and had baths of their own okay?"

Holly nodded against his shirt, the little girl sniffling as she finally managed to stop crying.

"Come 'ere kiddo," Skylar spoke up and offered Holly her hand with a tired smile, "let's go have a bath okay? Where does your mom keep all the bubbles?"

Holly's eyes lit up at the idea of using one of the bath bombs Leah had gotten just for her that would change the bath color to a soft pastel green and make bubbles once it hit the surface. However, as she pulled away from Clint and headed toward Skyler, she looked at her crying brother in Clint's arms, worried about him.

Clint smiled reassuringly at her, "it's okay honey," he soothed, using one of the pet names Leah used on all of her kids. "Go upstairs, I've got him."

Holly nodded and slowly trailed after Skylar upstairs, frequently glancing back at Clint and her brother.

Once she disappeared Clint sighed and sat down on the ground, where despite Jay's attempts at grabbing his shirt, he put Jay on his lap, hazel eyes quickly scanning over the young boy in search of injuries or anything sign of what was bothering him. "Jay, what hurts?" He asked, recognizing the type of howl as the same one he made when Braxton had nailed him in the face.

Jay held his head, face screwed up and tears leaking from his baby blue eyes.

"Oh StarClan, no wonder you wanted Leah and wouldn't eat," Clint cursed and stood up, heading toward the kitchen. "You probably have a migraine huh?"

Jay's cries quieted into sniffles at an adult finally figuring out what was wrong with him.

"I'll get you the stuff to make the pain go away, but you need to eat or your stomach is going to hurt even more."

Jay pulled a face and Clint gently wiped away the crabby boy's tears, "just a little bit, Jay you don't want to be in more pain right?" Jay shook his head no and Clint continued, "then you need to eat at least a few bites of something."

"What about some of my sandwich? Cause He threw his!" Leon tugged on Clint's pants, effectively getting tomato soup from his fingers onto his pants, and offered a small chunk on his grilled cheese sandwich toward his brother, amber eyes gleaming brightly. "It's yummy Jay!"

Clint grimaced at the tomato on his black jeans, but brushed it off and looked at Jay, who was sniffling and reaching down to take the piece from his brother. "Thanks Leon," he ruffled the blonde's hair and took the sandwhich chunk from him, "you're a good brother. Go finish the rest of your food now before getting everything you need for a bath kiddo." He handed the food to Jay as Leon wandered off. Jay nibbled crankily on it while Clint headed toward the kitchen, looking for the medication for Jay's chronic headaches that could become migraines if put off long enough.

Ten minutes later and Clint was in the bathroom with a calm four-year-old, well as calm as a sleep deprived four-year-old could be, and a hyperactive six-year-old. Who jumped happily in the tub and sat down, pushing one of his boats around in the water and pretending a monster was in the water about to eat it.

Clint managed to put Jay down, the cranky toddler being stubborn about being put down, and had convinced him to behave in the bath so he could snuggle a little with Leach before bedtime for the night. However, he froze mid pulling Jay's shirt up and over his head, his hazel eyes locked on a thick scar on Leon's small abdomen. "Leon? What happened there?" He asked, finishing Jay's shirt and silently taking in the much newer scars on his small frame. Scars about three years old.

Leon finished drowning his boat with a roar and looked up at Clint before looking down at his stomach, "that?" He pointed to the scar and shrugged, "mean person hit me with something. I don't remember anything other than mama falling so I charged them." He prodded his now refloating boat, amber eyes fixed childishly on the floating toy. "I was littler then Jay when it happened. Holly has one like this," he drew a finger across the base of his throat, "mama just has her wear jackets." He looked at his little brother and grinned, opening his arms for his little brother, "come play with me! Robots can attack again!"

"What about Jay?" Clint asked as he lifted the now stripped down boy, who was squirming in his hold, and put him in the tub with his brother who didn't bat an eyelash at it. "What happened to him?"

"He was baby," Leon shrugged, "same mean person who hit mama attacked Jay too. But," he puffed out his chest, "I bit him on the leg, made him leave my baby brother alone." He patted Jay's head, where the four-year-old was picking up one of the rubber robots, two of his fingers in his mouth in a form of a nervous and exhausted habit. "Blood is yucky, tastes like a battery."

Clint snorted, choking on the laughter from Leon's comparison while his mind whirled. "What about your ear?" He asked about the scar cutting deep into the child's ear.

Leon blinked then narrowed his eyes in thought before they rounded inocently like normal, "it's always there, don't remember what happened. Mama has scars too, on her ankles and wrists. Mean person liked tying itchy ropes around them."

Clint looked up sharply at the mention of ropes and his jaw clenched. He was right, Leah wasn't divorced by choice. She and her young children had gone through something, something dangerous. "Leon?" He asked the six-year-old now scooting toward the end of the tub to reach his favorite water-proof transformer.

"Yeah?"

"Can you keep this a secret from your mom? I want to ask her about it myself."

"Uh huh," Leon nodded, "I'm good at keeping secrets."

Clint smiled at him and ruffled his wet hair. "I bet, now come on, lets get you two cleaned up and ready for bed."

"I wanna play with robots!" Leon huffed and splashed the water, making Jay squeak and cough, glaring sharply at his older brother who wilted. "Nevermind…"

Getting Leon settled for bed was easy, after the bath his adreniline keeping him functioning like a normal human being crashed, and the six-year-old passed out on the way up the stairs. So now Holly and Leon were asleep with Jay currently held in his arms in his pjs holding a sippy cup of water and despite his fussiness all night was half asleep in his arms. "Hey, Leah?" Clint gently shook the sleeping woman's shoulder.

Leah groaned and forced her amber eyes open to look blankly at her friend. With her nose and cheeks red with illness, amber eyes groggy and only half awake, and her hair extremely messy, Clint couldn't help but think she was even more beautiful than usual.

"Jay wants you to tell him good night," Clint said quietly, crouching down in front of the sleepy woman close enough for Jay to reach out and touch her face, sleepy blue eyes looking at her.

"G'night little one," Leah murmured and gently stroked her son's hair in a sleppy manner, watching his eyes slide completely closed as he completely fell asleep.

After a few minutes Clint was back downstairs, this time to bring Leah upstairs to her bed. Which would be much better for her health than sleeping on the couch. So he carefully lifted her, arms around her back and under her knees.

Leah groaned when he lifted her, stirring awake and opening her eyes to see what was going on.

"It's just me," Clint soothed the drowsy brunette and instinctively brushed his lips over the top of her sweat forehead, "I'm taking you upstairs where you'll be more comfortable for the night."

Leah mumbled a few words under her breath that he couldn't understand but settled closer to him, leaning into his touch with her head resting comfortably against his chest as he went toward and up the stairs.

"Hello? This is Clint Crawford."

"Clint? I need you to come pick up my kids," Leah's voice was harsh, strained and stressed.

"When?" Clint replied as he organized more paper work on his desk at work.

"Now, like right now."

Clint sat up straight and gave his full attention to the call at the desperate tone in Leah's voice. "What's going on?"

"I… I can't tell you right now," Leah spoke in a rushed fashion, "just please come pick them up."

"I'm at work-"

"Clint please! Please, I swear I'll do anything, just come pick them up and get them out of the house!"

Clint's eyes narrowed and he stood up, opening the drawer of his desk and pulling out the pistol and holster with the taser he kept on him for his job. "I'm on my now. Send them to Sarah's, I'll be there at the house in five minutes."

"Thank you, I owe you one!"

"No, you don't owe me anything Leah," Clint replied as he hurried out of the building, "just an explanation."

"I understand, I'll give it to you." Leah's voice shook on the words but came out clear.

Five minutes later Clint was parked outside Leah's house with the car off and the gun holster attached to his belt. He had the recording software in his bluetooth device turned on, and he had a bad feeling about what was going on. "Leah Christensen's house, domestic personal case one," he said, titling the recording to the case and the research he had been doing to weeks now, ever since Leon had told him where he had gotten the scars on his little body. "Three pm, the house seems quiet, kids are currently at Sarah's, Leah's best friend's just across the street. Leaving just Leah and potentially the suspect-"

A crash pulled Clint from his car into jogging toward the front door where he could hear voices.

"Mukix stop! Please, just leave me alone!" Leah's voice was scared, and muffled.

"Where are the little brats?! You'll never take them from Leah! Never!"

"Well you can't have them! They're my children! I gave birth with them, and I raised them! They're mine!"

"They're also my flesh and blood too!"

"Hostile voices," Clint spoke quietly and pulled the gun from it's holster before clicking off the safety and checking the magazine. "Intruding in three…"

"That doesn't mean anything! They aren't here!"

"Two…"

"What do you mean they aren't here?!"

"One…"

"I sent them away! I'll never let you have my children!" Leah shouted.

Clint's foot expertly hit the door, forcing it to swing open wildly, "Police Investigations! Drop any and all weapons!"

He had a clear shot and view of the living room, a man with a scruffy beard and longer hair was leaning over Leah, holding a knife. While Leah was on her hands and knees, wrists tied along with her ankles, and blood was leaking from a harsh cut in her cheek, and her temple was bloodied, like she had been hit with the butt of the knife.

"What the he-"

"I said drop it!" Clint roared, holding his weapon firmly with one hand and a flashlight in the other like he always did. Sometimes being a detective certainly had it's benifits. " Drop the knife or I won't hesitate to discharge my weapon!"

"Clint!" Leah stared wide-eyed at him, but Clint could see the shakiness in her stance and the slight sway she had going on. Both signs of a conscious concussion.

The man next to Leah slowly dropped the knife, kneeling down and placing the knife out of reach on the floor before putting his hands on his head.

"Leah move away from him," Clint said as he approached, "no sudden movements you-"

He never finished the sentence as the man lunged for the knife, intending to stab Leah with it.

However, Clint reacted faster. He siezed Leah by the front of her shirt and pulled, yanking her toward him while pressing the trigger with a bang at the shoulder with the knife.

The man dropped the knife with a howl and Leah yelped in fear at the harsh movement and the loud noise of the gun. Clint looked impassively at the man for a moment before he got down on his hands and knees, cut through Leah's bindings with a switchblade and pulled Leah to him for a hug. "You are moving in with me, including all of your kids. I'm not letting anyone try to harm you again." Leah said nothing, likely stunned still with shock, but Clint held her close anyway, running a soothing hand through her hair till she reacted.

Breathing a shuddered breath and her composure breaking into a million shards as she burst into tears.

Ten minutes later, watching the other officers haul the man toward the car, Clint stood nearby. Standing beside where the shaken Leah was sitting on the steps of her house, an EMT taping up her cheek while Skylar was practically sobbing next to her.

"Hold on for a second," Clint suddenly said and approached the man responsible for hurting the beautiful brunette that had deserved none of it. Brad gave him an understanding nod and moved back, allowing the detective a second with the horrible man. Where Clint harshly pushed the man against the squad car, forcing his head against the edge of the side and speaking low into his ear. The barrel of his gun sitting uncomfortably against the man's back. "If you so much as touch another hair on her or her children's heads, I will hunt you down with the force of a thousand hounds and I will not stop till I put the final bullet through your miserable heart. You hear me?" Clint hissed into his ear, "she's her own person, but she isn't yours anymore. She belongs to me, and I will protect her from you and whatever other horrors you have inflicted on her till the day I die."

Epilogue

Clint crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes and peering protectively at the boy standing in the doorway of his home. Staring silently at the ginger and blonde haired boy at the door who dared take his daughter to the high school dance this year. Who did he think he was asking his brilliant daughter to the dance without asking him first? Maybe he should teach him a lesson…

"Clint…" Leah's voice came from behind him and the stern man felt a thin arm slip around his waist along with the body heat of his wife as she stood beside him, whispering in his ear. "Leave the poor kid alone before you give him a heart attack. I'm not giving a teenager boy CPR because you scared him."

"Dad, just leave him alone already," Jay, sat at the dining table, moodily poking at his dinner. He wasn't going to the dance on account of Bree, his best friend and crush, being out of town for a international robotics competition. "Plus shouldn't you be upstairs separating Cynthia and Leon?"

"Cynthia? When did she get here?" Clint asked, alarm bells ringing in his head.

Leah giggled, amber eyes twinkling with laughter and mischeif as Jay spoke.

"Mom smuggled her in about two hours ago," Jay shrugged, pushing in his earbuds and pressing play on his phone. All before looking up and giving his adopted father the biggest smirk he had ever seen on his son's face. "With my help of course."

Clint furrowed his eyebrows, did he want to go upstairs and kick his son's butt for his as usual, irresponsible behavior, or wait for Holly to come and make sure she knew all the things he wanted her to do while at the dance? SPeaking of the dance, why weren't Cynthia and Leon going… Wait, he and Leah were supposed to have a date night tonight as well, intending to leave Jay alone by myself. However… "LEONARDO!" He eventually gave up and hollered up the stairs while walking toward the stairs. "You better not be hiding your girlfriend up there!"

"Nope!" Leon hollered back, "totally don't have Cynthia up here dad!"

"Cynthia Lawson! Get your butt down here!"

"Sorry Clint, Leon has my hands tied!" Cynthia's giggling could be heard in her tone even as Clint headed upstairs.

While Leah gently eased open the pantry and ushered her oldest out of the house without her adopted father seeing her. "Hurry! Shoo, be back here at ten, now get out of here before he finds out I smuggled you out and Cynthia in for this purpose!"

Holly giggled but did as her mother said, hurrying out the door and shutting the door behind her just seconds before Clint came back down, half sternly half affectionately dragging Leon down the stairs by the tie while Cynthia trotted neatly at his heels, the YouTuber's cheeky smirk as per usual, on her face.

"Now get out that door and go to the dance!" Clint huffed in exasperation.

"But I don't have a car," Leon whined while straightening out his tie and combing his fingers through his hair.

"Cynthia has more than one son, and knowing her she got Jake to drive her here in some flashy car she decided to rent for the night." Clint rolled his eyes and both remaining females giggled. "You don't need a car from me if you marry her now do you?" He said as he slapped him on the back toward the front door, "Now get your sorry ass out of my house till ten o'clock or I'm coming to find you with a search warrent!"

Leon laughed and headed toward the door, grasping a blushing Cynthia by the hand, "okay, okay dad, we'll be back at ten, calm your horses!"

"Wait.." Clint narrowed his eyes before they strayed to his wife, "where's Holly?"

Leah looked guiltily at him through her cheeky smirk, amber eyes twinkling with gentle laughter even before she took off running upstairs.

"You little mynx! Leah get back here!" Clint promptly chased after her, "you've gotten ridiculously cheeky over the years!"

Leon laughed, kissed Cynthia on the cheek, and ushered them both outside before exclaiming, "Awesome car Cia!"

It was quiet downstairs for a few moments, Jay alone to himself. Before he took out his earbuds and sent off a text. Where the front door opened once again, but this time a curly haired brunette with bubbly amber eyes poked her head in, "you ready Jay?"

Jay unzipped his hoodie, revealing a crisp light blue button down shirt with the collar popped and no tie, instead a copper orange hankerchief was tucked into his chest pocket. "Yeah, let's go before he notices I'm gone too."

Bree grinned mischeviously, "because it's going to take a while getting back from what inventions convention, so we're probably going to be gone for two or three days."

"After we go to the dance," Jay reminded as he stood up and tucked his phone into his pockets while swinging his stuffed backpack up onto his shoulder. "Since Cynthia said she'd pay for everything if we actually showed up to the dance."

"Good point," Bree agreeed and the youngest pair vanished out the door.

Soo, Leaffeather chapter, what do you guys think? I wrote almost all of it in one sitting, dropped in my desk chair and stubbbornly wrote for what… six hours on this and Wildly Famous? XD (which I may upload too…) Hopefully this is satisfying IDindn'tSignUp4This, it's still got the main cast, but Leah and Clint (Crowfeather) are the focal points! Plus I had way too much fun writing out the Bramble kids as Crawfords and little kids, Jay in particular XD