Happily Ever After

Genre: Family

Pairings: Greg and Molly

Main characters: Greg, Molly, Scott, John, Greer

"Who should start?" Scott asked, with a heavy sigh.

"Greer should, she's daddy's favourite," John said, twisting his mouth sideways in careful thought. He carefully avoided the glare his baby sister fired at him.

"Bollocks," she said fiercely. "Daddy loves ALL of us equally. I'm his little girl, is all. I'll always be special to him for that reason, but he loves you both just as much. Every daddy is SO proud of his sons, if he has them, and he has TWO, so he's TWICE as proud. Now if you want to talk favourites, Scott is Mummy's…"

"Oh, that's just STUPID," Scott protested. "How could she love me more than the two of you? She DOESN'T, that's how. Don't be silly, Greer. I'm mummy's little boy but so is Johnnie, even though we're not that little anymore…"

"Well we HAVE to decide. We can't let them fall asleep MAD at each other, can we?" John said, with a frustrated wave of his hand. "So we have to think on the fly, like Uncle Sherlock and Uncle John do all the time. Can we at least agree that neither Mummy nor Daddy have favourites amongst us, and just get on with our plan?"

"Aye, Sir!" Greer stated seriously, with a salute, before bursting into giggles. Her brothers merely smiled at her, shaking their heads.

"Oh, what would we do without you, Greer," Scott smiled, rolling his eyes in amusement.

"Right, then," John said, as he gathered his siblings closer.

Greg and Molly, laying back in tense silence, both heard the soft knock on their bedroom door.

Greg, thinking perhaps Greer needed something, and Molly, wondering if one of the boys did, glanced at each other silently. Molly, about to summon them in, clamped her mouth shut in a tight line as Greg beat her to the invitation.

When the door opened, they were both surprised to see all three of their progeny waltz through the door.

"They've got that look," Greg muttered softly, shifting under the covers. He glanced to Molly, who frowned at him in mild annoyance.

"They do, don't they, then," she said. "Why do I have the feeling we're about to be tuned in, Darling?"

Greg, mildly surprised to hear his wife call him Darling after their heated argument, smiled inwardly, though outwardly maintained the stoic expression he'd held all evening.

"Because we ARE, Love," he said, simply. "Look, Molly," he whispered softly, leaning towards her. "I may have been a bit… hasty in my argument. I'm clever enough to suffice most days, but today I reckon I've been a bloody thick bastard."

"Oh, I wouldn't go THAT far," Molly said, leaning towards him with a whisper of her own. "I may have jumped the gun and not entirely listened to reason… It's been a long day. I'm sorry if I brought my frustrations home and took them out on you…"

"Well I deserved them," Greg maintained, as he glanced at the waiting faces of their children. "I shouldn't be so bloody insensitive…"

"May we come in?" Greer asked, sweetly. She glanced first at Molly, then to Greg.

"We've a story to tell you," Scott said. "A bedtime story, like you and Mummy tell us every night," he said, gazing at Greg.

"We're in for it now," Molly said, giving Greg a sideways glance. "I'm all in if you are?"

"Bring it on, Love," Greg whispered in reply, as he opened up his arms with a pointed look at each of their children in turn.

"Come then," he said out loud, as he opened his arms in welcome, noting that Molly did the same next to him.

"So, what fantastical tale have you to tell us, my darling boys?" Molly asked, as she drew Scott into her arms, then scootched just a bit closer to Greg, so they may both snuggle up equally with Johnnie.

"It's a tale of a King and a Queen in a land far, far away," Greer said, as she settled into Greg's embrace. "Of course, they had three MARVELOUS children. Two boys, the most HANDSOME in the land as they looked just like their daddy… I mean, just like the king, and their sister…"

"Who was the very FAIREST in the land, next to the queen, of course," Johnnie said, snuggling contentedly down into the embrace of not one, but BOTH of his parents. "For Princess Greer had the King's eyes, but otherwise looked JUST like the Queen, who was so beautiful, even the King bowed before her when she'd walk into the room…"

"Of course," Scott continued, "the Queen LOVED the King so VERY much, she was the envy of all of her ladies in waiting, and all of the Ladies, and Duchesses, and such, for the King was renowned throughout the land for being… well, quite dishy," he said, suddenly forgetting their planned phrasing, and resorting to what he'd heard Mummy call Daddy more times than he could remember.

At this, Greg blushed fiercely with a sheepish grin, while Molly looked at him and burst into giggles.

"She sounds like a very… OBSERVANT Queen," Molly finally said. She took a deep breath to compose herself, before clearing her throat softly.

"Oh, she WAS," Greer said, insistently. "She was the smartest Queen the land had ever known. Now one day, as the legend has it,' she said, gazing up at Greg, then over to Molly, "The King and the Queen had a bit of a row…"

"Oh, NO," Molly declared dramatically. "It wasn't SERIOUS, I hope? It sounds as though the King and the Queen love each other very, very much, are best friends, in fact…"

"Well, it was enough to make the servants and her ladies in waiting… and all of the other staff at court avoid them carefully…" Scott added, innocently.

"Oh, well then, sounds like it WAS a rather serious row then," Greg said seriously, as he glanced to Molly, the amusement in his eyes impossible to hide from neither her, nor all three of their children. "Tell me son, did they make up?"

John frowned at this, not expecting the story to turn so quickly to resolution. "Yes… actually they did make up. You see, the Queen admitted she may have been a bit hasty, whilst the King confessed he may have been a bit impatient and such… it was all a HUGE misunderstanding, you see… the Queen had had a terrible day of it as two of her ladies in waiting had decided to leave court… with some of her wardrobe and jewels, no less! And the King, well his advisors had been acting upon bad information, but the King knew their advice was rather… dodgy, at best…"

"There's nothing worse than dodgy information, is there?" Molly said with a tiny smile and sparkling eyes, training her look towards her husband.

"It can throw a day round the twist, for sure," Greg replied, as he grinned back. Greer and the boys averted their eyes as he leaned towards her, sneaking a kiss to her cheek and whispering softly, "Are we good, Molly Girl? Or do I need to apologize further for being such a bloody asshole?"

Greer, more tuned in to their dad than her brothers, distracted them a moment more, while Molly responded simply, "I was about to ask the very same thing, my Silver Fox, so I suppose we're… rather set to rights?"

"Indeed," Greg answered, as he took a deep breath, letting it out as Greer allowed her brothers back in.

"When the King and the Queen had REALLY talked about it, and realized they were both wrong, and both right, all at the same time…" Greer said, snuggling back into Greg's arms, and reaching out to take Molly's hand in her smaller one, "all was made better again, because they knew that they were grownups, and sometimes grownups take things just a bit too seriously…"

Greer ignored the stern look she received from her brothers, responding only with a single raised eyebrow and a half smile – one they would learn over the years to heed as their baby sister imparting her infallible sense of wisdom – and smiled sweetly.

"And when the two princes and the princess confronted the King and the Queen, they found that…" Scott started, before Molly gave him a silencing squeeze.

"They found that their parents had kissed and made up, and no row in the world could possibly make them love each other any less than they did… in fact finding a way to understand each other only made them love each other that much more," Molly said feeling herself a bit of a fool, but realizing Greg felt himself just as much of a fool as she did, as well.

"And they all lived happily ever after," Greg said. "Now, do the princes or the princess require the King or Queen to tuck them into their own beds tonight?

"Oh NO, Daddy, Johnnie said, as he extricated himself from his parents' embrace. "They're quite fine to find their way. In fact, Princess Greer tends to lead the charge… her brothers follow, because they know she will never lead them wrong…"

"Funny," Greer said, as she slid to the floor, "Princess Greer looks to Prince John and Prince Scott for guidance… imagine that…" she giggled.

"We'll see you in the morning, be up bright and early for school," Greg said, knowing Molly would be on shift earlier than him the next day. "The King and Queen's orders," he added with a grin.

"Happily ever after, the end?" Greer asked, turning to Greg one final time.

"Yes, Little Love," Greg said. "The End."