Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The house was quiet.

Needless to say, that caused Rachel to be very suspicious. Given that she was currently at home with a three year old and a one year old, it wasn't often that the house was this quiet—even if that toddler was Ellie. So far, little Ellie had been the most quiet and well-behaved of the Hudson children. Still, that didn't mean that there shouldn't be some noise coming from her. Evan, however, was down for his afternoon nap, so Rachel knew exactly where her youngest was and what he was doing. It was Ellie that she was concerned with at the moment.

Abandoning the study of her script, Rachel got up to check the playroom. She was surprised to find that it was completely void of the toddler. Rachel checked Ellie and Abby's bedroom. Finding that empty as well, she headed down the hallway. At the very end, she saw the curly-haired head of her youngest child.

Ellie was standing in front of the wall, a red marker clutched in her little hand. She took a step back, as if studying something, before she moved forward and again and brought the marker towards the wall.

Rachel stopped her initial reaction of telling Ellie to put the marker down and step away from the wall. Rather, she wanted to see what her daughter was doing. So Rachel quietly approached the little girl, her eyes widening when she saw what was now on her hallway wall.

It could only be called a three year old masterpiece. Apparently feeling that the bottom half of the wall was too bare, Ellie had taken it upon herself to put a little picture up there. But it was only with her markers and the wall, instead of on a piece of paper.

"Ellie," Rachel finally said.

Startled, Ellie dropped the marker and turned to face her mother, a guilty look on her face. "Hi, Momma," the little girl said. "What's up?"
Crossing her arms and arching an eyebrow, Rachel said, "I could be asking you the same question."

Looking up at Rachel with big amber eyes identical Finn's, Ellie said, "I wanted to make a pretty picture, Momma."

Well. Rachel could never say no to those eyes. And how could she argue with such logic, anyway?

Searching through the pile of markers on the floor, Rachel selected a blue one and held it up. Smiling at her daughter, she said, "Then we don't we continue?"

Finn allowed Scott and Abby to run into the house ahead of him. The two oldest Hudson children were in fifth and first grade respectively. For all her dramatics, Abby actually enjoyed doing her homework. Scott, on the other hand, wanted to get it done as quickly as possible so he could do what he wanted to do.

As always, Finn was eager to see his wife and youngest daughter. He knew that Evan was probably still taking his nap, sound asleep in the nursery. Finn didn't have to search very far for his wife and his youngest daughter, however. Rachel and Ellie were situated at the beginning of the hallway, studying something on the bottom half of the wall.

"Hey, baby," Finn said as he wrapped an arm around Rachel's waist and pulled her close for a kiss. When he pulled away, he bent to pick Ellie up and ruffled her curly hair, smiling when she giggled and pushed his hands away. "How are my girls today?"

Rachel opened her mouth to respond, but Ellie beat him to it. "Momma and I made a picture, Daddy!" she exclaimed as she pointed to the hallway wall.

Finn gave Ellie a surprised look. He glanced towards Rachel and was further surprised when she gave him a sheepish look. With those two responses, Finn looked down at the bottom half of the hallway wall.

When they had moved into the house not long after Ellie was born, Finn and Rachel had decorated the upstairs hallway with pictures of all their friends and family. It had become a collage of sorts, and Rachel especially loved to show it to people when they had visitors.

Now, however, there was a colorful picture all along the bottom. Finn could only assume that it had been Ellie who had started the drawings on the wall, but he was honestly surprised to see that Rachel had let it continue. It even appeared as though she had joined in on it as well.

Finn turned back towards Rachel with a questioning look, and she shrugged her shoulders. "Ellie wanted to make a pretty picture," she said by way of explanation.

Finn laughed before he wrapped an arm around Rachel's shoulders and pulled her close to kiss her again. It didn't surprise him that Rachel had joined in with the drawing; she was a wonderful mother and she was always doing things like that. Ellie patted his cheek, demanding his attention once again.

"Daddy, isn't it the prettiest picture?" she said.

Finn blew a raspberry on her little cheek, and she let out a giggle that sounded like bells. "The prettiest," he said. Grinning at his wife, he added, "We should frame it."

And once the rest of the Hudson children—and Finn—had added to the picture on the wall, they did.

Author's Note: I promise that I'm working on some bigger stuff, but I just wanted to post this little drabble. :) Thanks for reading!