Brick

"Remember, Spencer's going to be here any minute to pick Jason up," Sam said as she pulled on her jacket.

"I got it, I got it," Freddie said, looking up from wiping creamed carrots off of one-year old Tyler's face. "Man…this kid is the messiest eater I've ever seen."

"He just doesn't like gross carrots, do you, sweetie?" Sam said, kissing the top of her son's head.

"Yuk!" Tyler giggled.

"That's my boy," Sam beamed. "Anyway, I should be back in an hour. I just need to pick up my mom's ointment from the drugstore."

"Ointment for what?" Freddie asked.

"You really want to know?"

"Probably not," Freddie said.

"Smart," Sam said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "Bye, baby!"

"Bye," Freddie called after his wife as she headed out of the house. He looked back down at his son, who was just beginning to doze off.

"Wow, you're just like mommy, huh?" Freddie chuckled. "You eat messily and then you fall asleep."

He gently placed the child in the playpen next to the couch as Jason hurried downstairs.

"Is Uncle Spencer here yet?" Jason asked excitedly.

"Not yet," Freddie said. "You're excited, huh?"

"Yeah! I can't wait to get to the science museum!" Jason nodded. "I'm gonna see a real live dinosaur skeleton with Bryan and Dina!"

"Cool," Freddie smiled. "Hey, make sure you check out the new solar system exhibit. I heard they added a section dedicated entirely to-"

Just then a car horn sounded from outside.

"They're here!" Jason yelled happily.

"Shh!" Freddie said. "Tyler's sleeping!"

He looked down into the playpen, but Tyler was still fast asleep.

"Man, that kid will sleep through anything," Freddie commented. "Waking him up when he's older is gonna be real fun."

"Bye, dad!" Jason said as he ran towards the front door.

"Bye, make sure you listen to Uncle Spencer!" Freddie said. "And don't-And he's gone."

Freddie collapsed onto the couch and kicked up his feet. "Well then, looks like there's nothing left here for me except enjoying the sci-fi channel without Sam making fun of my shows. Now this is the life."

He picked up the remote and turned on the television, letting the images of proton cruisers and Sky Nauts wash over him. Less than a minute later, however, Freddie suddenly felt two thuds on either side of him, and he looked down to see his twin daughters smiling up at him.

"Well that lasted a full sixty seconds," Freddie chuckled, putting his arms around the girls.

"Hi, daddy!" Emma said happily.

"Hi, angels," Freddie replied. "What are you guys up to?"

"Nothing, we're bored," Ashton told him. "We want to play with you, daddy!"

"Aw, you girls want to play?" Freddie said. "Well sure. What are we going to play?"

Emma and Ashton exchanged mischievous smiles.

"We want to give you a make-over, daddy!" Emma said.

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "A make-over?"

"We want to make you pretty, daddy!" Ashton said, holding up a shoebox of old make-up that Sam had given the twins to use when they played dress-up.

"Er…you girls wouldn't rather read a nice book or play a board game with daddy?" Freddie frowned.

"Please, daddy?" Ashton said, sticking out her lower lip.

"Yeah daddy," Emma nodded, mirroring her sister. "Please? We love you."

Freddie sighed. He knew he was powerless when the girls pulled their 'sweet and innocent' act.

"Alright…you can give me a make-over," Freddie conceded.

"Yay!" Emma and Ashton cheered.

"But don't go wild, okay?" Freddie said. "And yo have to promise to never tell mommy about this. She'd never let me live it down…"

"We promise," Ashton said, kissing Freddie's cheek.

"You're the best, daddy," Emma said, kissing his other cheek.

"Well…I know," Freddie grinned as the twins hopped down and sat themselves by his bare feet.

"Let's use pink!" Ashton said, picking up a pink bottle of nail polish.

"Gross!" Emma cringed. "I don't like pink! I want to use purple."

"I know!" Ashton said. "We use pink nail polish on one of daddy's feet and purple nail polish on the other!"

"Good idea, Ashy!" Emma agreed, opening up her purple bottle of nail polish.

"Wow…you two actually compromised for once in your life," Freddie said, impressed.

"Your feet are hairy, daddy," Emma laughed as her and Ashton got to work.

"And big," Ashton said. "You have icky boy feet!"

"Icky boy feet?" Freddie repeated, amused.

"Yeah," Emma nodded. "Boys are already really icky, but their feet are extra icky."

"Ah," Freddie nodded. "I see."

"But don't worry," Ashton assured him. "We made your toes pretty. Look!"

Freddie looked down at his feet. His left foot was smeared with pink paint and his right foot was covered in purple.

"I love it," Freddie said, wondering how long it was going to take before he could scrub his toes clean again.

"We have to do your fingernails too," Emma told him.

"Well duh, I would just look silly if you didn't," Freddie said, making both the girls laugh.

"You're gonna be the prettiest daddy in the world," Ashton said.

"What an honor," Freddie said.

"We have to do his hair too," Emma said to her sister. "And we have to give him lipstick!"

"Huh? No!" Freddie said firmly. "No lipstick!"

"But daddy, it's part of your make-over," Ashton said. "Please?"

"For us?" Emma added.

Freddie let out a long sigh. "Oh…go ahead."

…..

Nearly an hour later Freddie looked at his reflection in the small mirror that Emma held in front of him. In addition to his pink and purple nails, he now had on electric blue eye shadow, bright pink blush, and ruby red lipstick, as well as about fifty butterfly hairclips stuck in his hair.

"You like it?" Ashton asked.

Freddie smiled. "Love it. I can honestly say this is the best make-over I've ever gotten."

"Thank you for playing, daddy," Emma said, throwing her arms around Freddie.

"Yeah," Ashton said, hugging him tightly as well. "You're the best daddy ever!"

"The best, huh?" Freddie said proudly.

"Ashton, let's go see if we can find our tiara for daddy to wear!" Emma suggested excitedly.

"Oh, yeah!" Ashton nodded eagerly. "Let's go!"

As the twins hurried back upstairs, Freddie took another look at his reflection.

The things I let myself get talked into…Freddie thought to himself. Well, at least they had fun. Now I just need to make sure I have all this stuff off before Sam gets home and-

Just then the front door opened and Sam walked in.

"Hey," she said, tossing aside her jacket and purse. "You wouldn't believe the line at the drugstore. I swear, the dude in front of me smelled like-"

She stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of her husband.

"I-I-I-I can explain!" Freddie said quickly.

"Huh," Sam said, trying to take in the sight. "Blue really is not your shade. If you were going to secretly try on my make-up, you should've at least used stuff that-"

"Emma and Ashton did this," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "They wanted to give me a make-over."

"Yeah, I figured," Sam smirked, looking at his toenails. "I just…God, this is just too good. Hold still, okay?"

She pulled out her Pearphone and snapped a quick picture. "And there's my new background!"

"Sam!" Freddie cried.

"Easy there, you wouldn't want to smear your lipstick."

"Ha, ha," Freddie said dryly.

"And I got to say, I'm loving those cute hairclips, Fredbutt," Sam chuckled. "They really bring out your eyes."

"You done?"

"Almost," Sam said. "I haven't even begun on your blush."

"Cute," Freddie retorted.

"I can't believe you let them do this to you," Sam grinned.

"Well what was I supposed to do?" Freddie sighed. "They wanted to make me the 'prettiest daddy in the whole world'."

"Aw," Sam laughed. "Well…they've succeeded." She stepped over and wrapped her arms around her husband.

"What's this for?" Freddie asked, hugging her back.

"Just…Just for being a really awesome dad," Sam said softly. "Not too many fathers would willingly look as ridiculous as you do right now just to make their daughters happy."

"Thank you," Freddie smiled. "That means a lot to-Sam! Sam, stop taking pictures!"

"Come on, please?" Sam begged, holding up her Pearphone. "Just one more? This angle captures the gloss on your lips so much better!"