Sam always knew he wanted to be an inventor (or a history professor), but he didn't know how much he would love being a family man. It had been about a month since he, San-Li, and Alex had gotten back from Syrania. Sam's two week break from school soon turned into three, and now going on four weeks he honestly wasn't sure if he ever wanted to go back.
Since he had been out of school so long, Sam was starting to sleep late in the morning. He woke up slowly under a wonderfully thick comforter. The first thing he was saw as he opened his eyes was San-Li's peaceful face still asleep. He began to reach out a hand to touch her but a weight on his elbow restricted his movements. Glancing under the comforter he saw his daughter Keiko still asleep on his arm. Because Sam had left her so often, she had become pretty much attached to him.
The night before, they had all decided to have a family movie night in Sam and San-Li's bedroom and didn't have the heart to kick them out. Next to Keiko, Sammy Jr. was also still asleep, draped over his mother's hip. And Alex was curled up at the foot of the bed with his own blanket and pillow.
Keiko began to stir and when she saw Sam she broke into a wide smile.
"Daddy's still here!" She cried happily, flopping on his stomach.
"Oof!" The breath whooshed out of Sam's lungs as his daughter began bouncing on his stomach. She wasn't the baby in his wallet anymore. She was a very solid, opinionated three year old with long black hair and dark blue eyes. Sammy stirred with his sister's movements and looked at Sam with a mixture of shyness and confusion in his equally dark blue eyes.
"Morning little guy." Sam smiled and reached out to him, but Sammy shrunk back and cuddled even closer to San-Li. His movements woke San-Li up and without even opening her eyes she began to rub his back soothingly.
Sam sighed. Inversely, Sam's continued absence seemed to have made Sammy Jr. shy and almost uncertain of him. It nearly broke Sam's heart whenever his son refused to be held by him and only wanted San-Li.
Alex yawned and sat up, blinking sleepily. "Is it breakfast time yet?"
"No, but it's time for you to get out of my bed." San-Li sat up, also yawning, and a look of irritation suddenly crossed her face. "And help me shake out these blankets. I can feel salt and crumbs everywhere."
"Popcorn." Sammy came up with a left over piece in his hand and promptly put it in his mouth.
"Ew! Ew! No!" San-Li quickly plucked it out of his mouth.
Sam laughed. "How about I fix us some real breakfast. How do pancakes sound?"
All three of the children cheered but San-Li lips went down a little. "Pancakes again?"
"Yeah, the kids love them." Sam gently lifted Keiko and Sammy off the bed so he could help strip it. "But I can fix you something else if you want."
"It isn't that." San-Li shook her head and got out of bed as well. "Never mind. Forget it."
After they shook the crumbs from the bed and got dressed, Sam began working breakfast in the kitchen and San-Li changed the twins out of their pajamas and into some lazy house clothes. Alex finished dressing first and came into the kitchen to watch Sam cook.
"So…" Alex said slowly. "How long will you be staying this time?"
Sam shrugged as he mixed the pancake batter. "To be perfectly honest Alex… I was thinking that I'd stay for a while. Maybe start looking for a house for us?"
He turned to Alex, expecting him to be excited, but Alex just looked at him blankly. Sam sighed and went back to cooking breakfast. He didn't blame Alex for not believing him. Keiko and Sammy ran out of their room and started yelling and pulling on Alex's legs.
"Hey guys," Sam tried to speak above the noise without yelling. "Do you guys think—maybe quiet down- inside voices please?"
All three of the ignored him though and Alex began playing tag with the twins, running around the kitchen and living room.
"Guys." Sam raised his voice by a fraction. "Daddy really needs you guys to quiet down."
Their screams of laughter and tiny trampling feet easily drowned out his voice. The floor underneath them began banging the ceiling irritably. Suddenly, a sharp whistle cut through the noise and the kids instantly became quiet. San-Li came into the living room pushing a laundry basket filled with stuffed animals and toddler books.
"Here play with these and keep the volume low rugrats." She said.
Keiko and Sammy attacked the basket, knocking it over, but they were definitely quieter. San-Li chuckled and joined Sam in the kitchen.
"Hey babe," She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Need some help?"
"No they're almost done." Sam flipped the first batch and stirred the mix. "Do you…not like pancakes anymore? Because earlier-"
"It's nothing really." San-Li shrugged. "It's just… you've fixed the pancakes every day since we came back. I'm not sure if that's good for them."
Sam shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry… I never even asked what you usually fixed them."
"Don't worry about it." San-Li gave him another kiss and began making tea.
While Sam finished cooking breakfast San-Li set the table and put the twins in their high chairs. Sam eyed them for any sign of weight gain, but it was hard to really tell. He hadn't meant to feed them anything bad, but he just loved the way they tore into his cooking. Whenever San-Li made them oatmeal it was a fight to get them to eat it.
"Breakfast!" Sam said cheerily setting the plates down in front of the kids.
"Pacakes!" Sammy and Keiko yelled excitedly and they plus Alex tore into them.
"And for you?" Sam asked San-Li. "Omelet again?"
"Ugh Sam I'm trying to lose weight not gain it." San-Li laughed. "Besides, if you keep feeding me omelets like this it's going to be torture when you go back to school soon."
"Actually… I've been meaning to talk to you about that…" Sam began busying himself getting omelet ingredients together. "What if I told you… that I might not go back to school?"
He glanced up from the fridge and saw San-Li giving him the same blank look that Alex had given him. Then the corner of her lips twitched up in a smirk.
"Ha! You quit school? Yeah right, Sam."
"Um, I was being perfectly serious." He said quietly.
He risked another glance, expecting her to look pissed, instead she just looked confused. Then realization dawned on her face.
"Oh my gosh, you are serious!" San-Li stared at him open mouthed. "Sam!"
"I can take my classes online." Sam offered. "And I can rent some space for an inventing studio until we move into a bigger house with a basement."
San-Li looked at him like he was crazy. "First you want to quit school and now you want to move us into a house. Have you lost your mind?"
"Yes?" Sam smiled at her shyly. "I think it started the day I realized I was in love with you."
San-Li rolled her eyes but Sam saw a small smile on her lips. He quickly drew her into his arms and pressed his lips to her neck making her squeal.
"Eww, I'm eating here!" Alex said with a mouth full of pancakes.
Sammy began crying though and reaching out for San-Li. "Mommy! Mommy!"
San-Li pulled away from Sam and went to pick him up. "Calm down, calm down."
"You know," Sam turned back to the stove with a small jealous frown. "I read that you shouldn't pick up a crying child around the age of three. It can hinder their independence later on."
San-Li merely laughed and held Sammy tighter. "But I can't say no to my little Sammy! He's like a bite sized, drooly version of you. See?"
She held Sammy out towards Sam, but he fussed and clung closer to San-Li instead. Sam finished cooking two omelets and slid them onto plates.
"Daddy up!" Keiko demanded, raising her arms. "Up! Up! Up!"
"Coming sweetheart!" Sam grinned and lifted his daughter out of her chair while Alex pulled the twins' unfinished pancakes towards himself.
Sam settled Keiko's weight unto his hip with a small grunt. She smiled at him and grabbed his face with her sticky, syrupy hands.
"You still love daddy don't you?" Sam smiled kissing her sticky cheek.
"Um… YES!" Keiko grinned and began yelling at the top of her lungs. "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! I LOVE MY DADDY!"
"They both love you." San-Li stressed seriously. "It'll just take time for Sammy to get used to you, that's all. And…I guess he'll have plenty of time to do that now."
"Wait," Sam leaned forward eagerly, "are you saying…"
"Yeah, yeah." San-Li chuckled with another roll of her eyes. "If you really think that it's best, you can move back in on a more permanent basis."
Sam grinned and planted a kiss directly on her lips. They were officially going to be a family again.