Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This idea was inspired by a picture I saw on Pinterest several months ago.

Finn heard his phone ringing when he was in the middle of giving a guitar lesson, and he quickly excused himself to answer. His personal phone never rang when he was giving lessons unless it was an emergency, so he quickly did a mental inventory of all of his family.

Rachel was with Abby, who was home sick. Scott and Ellie were at school, and since Evan didn't have preschool on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons, he was with Carole and Burt so he didn't get sick while Abby was at home.

Finn knew that Abby just had a stomach bug, so he was positive that it wasn't Rachel calling. He could only assume that his mom was calling with a question about Evan, but when he looked at the phone, he didn't recognize the number flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" Finn greeted.

"Mr. Hudson, this is Ms. Taggert, the principal from Overbrook Academy. I'm calling about your daughter, Eloise Hudson."

Finn's eyebrow shot up at the use of his youngest daughter's full name. They hardly ever called her Eloise, because Ellie fit her so much more. He was even more surprised because he had never received a call from the school for Ellie. She was their well-behaved child, and had never once gotten in any trouble.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked carefully. "Did something happen?"

"Something did happen, actually," Ms. Taggert said. "Would I be correct in assuming that your family has a new kitten?"

"Yes…" Finn confirmed. Surprisingly, Scott had been the one to talk his parents into getting a kitten. He had declared that since he was thirteen years old, he was old enough to handle the responsibility of having an animal of his own. Even though Finn was fairly certain that he was about to be successful in convincing Rachel into getting them a puppy, they had allowed Scott to pick out a kitten.

The little ball of orange fur had been named Waffles (at Ellie's enthusiastic suggestion), and, true to his word, Scott had taken good care of the kitten. Everyone really enjoyed having the kitten in the house. Ellie had been especially taken with Waffles, and Rachel thought it was the cutest thing ever.

"Your daughter decided to bring the kitten to show and tell today," Ms. Taggert stated.

It took everything in him not to burst out laughing. Finn took a moment to gather himself as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his seven year old daughter had somehow managed to sneak a cat into her school. He managed to tell Ms. Taggert that he would be arriving at the school in the next fifteen minutes, and then he hung up the phone and went to reschedule the rest of his lessons for the day.

Finn arrived at the school right on time, and he went through all of the security checkpoints before arriving at his youngest daughter's second grade classroom. He knocked on the door, and Ellie's teacher, Mrs. Wilson, was there with the principal. Mrs. Wilson was a sweet older woman, and she smiled kindly at Finn when he entered the room.

"Hello, Mr. Hudson!" Mrs. Wilson greeted. "We were just making sure that Waffles was comfortable and no worse for wear from his little trip to our school."

Ellie was sitting in her seat in the second row of the classroom, and she was holding her purple backpack in her lap as she looked up at her father with wide, innocent eyes. Pressing his lips together to keep from smiling, Finn leaned over to peer into the backpack.

Sure enough, curled up at the bottom, was Waffles the orange kitten.

Finn barely managed to choke back his laughter, and he crouched down in front of his daughter. She met his eyes and still managed to look completely and utterly innocent, and Finn wondered when she had gotten so good at that.

"Ellie," Finn said gently. "What are you doing?"

Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "We had show and tell today. I just wanted to show everyone our new kitten."

"I can see that," Finn said. "But sweetie, you know that you're not supposed to bring animals to school."

Of course, Ms. Taggert chose that moment to interject. "You know, some children in this school have allergies, Mr. Hudson. Anything could have happened."

Finn barely looked over his shoulder to acknowledge the principal. Frankly, Finn wasn't the biggest fan of the woman, but Overbrook Academy had had a great reputation, and Rachel had petitioned hard to get the kids to go there. Finn had relented because other than the principal, the school seemed to have an excellent staff.

"Well, this won't happen again," Finn promised. He turned back towards his daughter and pinned her with the patented Father Look. "Right, Ellie?"

Ellie sighed in a long-suffering sort of way. "I promise," she said dramatically. She stuck her hand into the backpack and stroked Waffle's fur. "I don't think Waffles really minded, though. He liked the trip!"

Ellie was right about that. Waffles was curled up comfortably in the bottom of Ellie's backpack. As Ellie pet him, Waffles began to purr, and once again, Finn had to try his hardest not to laugh.

Ms. Taggert insisted that when Finn took Waffles home, he took Ellie with him. Finn didn't complain too much, and neither did Ellie. He couldn't bring himself to punish her, because Ellie hadn't exactly done anything wrong. She had just misunderstood what was okay and what wasn't okay to bring to show and tell. He had a feeling that he and Rachel would be having a long talk with Ellie later that night. And knowing Rachel, there would probably be charts involved.

So Finn picked up some ice cream and some extra medicine for Abby. He grabbed a bouquet of Rachel's favorite flowers for good measure, and then they headed home. Ellie licked her ice cream cone and skipped home the entire way. The very top of her backpack was unzipped and Waffles was perched at the top with his little ear and paws sticking out of the backpack. Finn couldn't resist taking a picture, because it was the cutest damn thing he had ever seen.

"Hey, Rach!" Finn called as they entered the house. "You'll never guess what Ellie brought to show and tell today!"

Thanks for reading!