SN: Janelle is four and Ty is ten

Finn and Mercedes were sitting together on their back patio on a particularly hot summer day. Mercedes was in deep with one of her novels and Finn was scanning today's newspaper. The sounds of a page turning would be heard every now and again as the couple sat in silence, enjoying each other's company. Finn had taken refuge on the patio couch and Mercedes was laying half on his chest and half on his shoulder with her feet propped up and Finn's chin lightly on the top of her head. The humming of the automated pool cleaner molded into background noise as Mercedes shut her book.

"Finished?" Finn asked, folding his newspaper and wrapping an arm around his wife. Mercedes grabbed his hand with both of hers and began examining it.

"Yes, finally," she sighed. "You know your hands are like baseball gloves; it's not natural."

"Merce, would you rather your husband have tiny hands? That wouldn't match my body," he laughed. Mercedes felt the vibrations of her husband's deep laugh and smiled to herself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Jolly Green Giant."

"I thought we retired that name in high school," Finn whined, burying in head in Mercedes' neck.

"You did," she smirked. "I never did such a thing."

"Oh, really, Christian?" Finn teased, already knowing what was going to happen. Mercedes swiftly let go of Finn's hand to turn around and smacked him on the arm. She pointed a finger at him and gave him a warning look. She knew where this was going. Finn was going to tell the story about the time she and Finn were babysitting her little cousin. The baby needed a diaper change and Finn didn't even know how to remove a diaper. Taking charge, Mercedes took off the diaper and was in complete shock when the baby began peeing and it unfortunately landed on her. To this day, Finn makes fun of her and the day Mercedes was Christianed by her baby cousin.

"You said—"

"I never did such a thing," Finn mocked in a high voice. Mercedes let out a huff and stood up, keeping her finger firmly pointed at Finn.

"You know what Finn?—" Mercedes was suddenly interrupted by Janelle and Ty running to the French doors that led to the patio. Ty stood holding a cordless phone in his hand and Janelle went to go sit in her father's lap.

"Puck—"

"Uncle Noah!" Janelle impatiently corrected.

Ty sighed before correcting himself. "Uncle Noah called to let you know when do you guys wanna have the pool party for Nell."

"Wait, what?" Finn asked, confused as ever. Mercedes dropped her arm, reminding herself to scold Finn later.

"How about this weekend?" She asked, looking over to her daughter who nodded excitedly. Ty passed on the information to Puck and hung up the phone before Finn had the chance to grab it.

"No."

"Daddy, why?" Janelle asked, her eyes glazing over with tears. Finn softened, but remembered the task at hand.

"We can't have a pool party. It's too dangerous," he argued as he began to dial Puck's number.

"Finn…we bought a house with a pool, but it's too dangerous to have a pool party?" Mercedes asked skeptically. Finn nodded and picked his newspaper back up to avoid any more conversation. Janelle frowned and pulled the paper out of her dad's hands and looked up at him. "Daddy, don't play," she scolded.

"You really are your mother's daughter," Finn said as he shook his head in amazement.

"Finn!" Mercedes yelled, loudly snapping her fingers to get his attention again. "We're having the party. Both of our kids can swim and so can everyone else's. What are you so worried about?"

"The sun," he deadpanned.

Everyone let out a big huff and threw their arms up in perfect synchronization. Finn knew why he didn't want to have a pool party. He knew he was going to get dragged into the pool by someone and forced to swim. There was only one problem with that. Finn couldn't swim.

"Are you afraid of the sun? Ooh Daddy, we can get you a spray tan!" Janelle said with wide eyes, her curls bouncing as she titled her head to look up at Finn. Finn opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Ty.

"Are you afraid of the water? Because if you are just remember that you're taller than it," Ty shrugged. Silence came over the patio as Finn stared ahead.

"Oh my god! Finn you can't swim!" Mercedes exclaimed, suddenly realizing why her husband was so quiet. "Baby, you never learned how to swim?" She asked, biting back giggles.

Finn silently shook his head, keeping his eyes on the fence that enclosed their backyard.

"Come on, we'll teach you!" Janelle yelled, hopping off his lap and grabbing his arm. Ty grinned and took of his shoes and grabbed Finn's other arm. They both were obviously struggling to get Finn up and off of the patio couch. Mercedes smiled at the site and gave Finn a knowing look before walking over to help out her kids. They all managed to successfully pull Finn out of his seat and onto his feet. Without protest, Finn stood at the edge of their pool and stared at his moving reflection.

Janelle quickly took of her shoes and jumped in the pool fully clothed. Before Mercedes could yell after her, Ty had followed Janelle's example and the two were giggling as they wallowed around the deep end. Finn began pouting and crossed his arms on his chest. Mercedes stood behind, peeking around Finn to watch their two kids wading around. She couldn't bear to take them out and scold them for jumping in fully clothed.

"Come in, Daddy. It's easy, I promise," Janelle said as she floated on her back. Finn shook his head and turned to walk away but was stopped by Mercedes who was already standing directly behind him. She winked at him before pushing him into the pool and watched him resurface. He slowly walked over to the edge and hung on even though his head was well above water.

"I can't believe you pushed me in," Finn panted. Mercedes shrugged and sat on the edge of the pool and let her legs dangle and watched everyone. "Deal with it."

Ty swam over and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Dad, it's time for you to learn how to swim."

Janelle followed with a pool noodle tucked under her arms that was helping her float and placed her hand on Finn's other shoulder. "Ty's right."

Finn let out a big sigh and threw his head back. "Fine," he drew out, letting go of the edge.

"Okay, first things first, lose the attitude, Dad."

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