"Higher! Higher!" Adam giggled.

Danny was pushing him in the baby swing at the park, trying to make him go as high as he could, but his arms were starting to give out.

"I can't get you any higher, Adam. Donnie! Donnie, come push Adam!" Danny called.

Don sighed and climbed down from the monkey bars, stalking over to his younger brothers.

"What?" He asked.

"Push me Donnie! I wanna go waaay up!" Adam grinned, kicking his feet.

Don smirked and took over Danny's spot, grabbing either side of the seat Adam was sitting in, and hauling it as far back as he could.

"Keep your feet still Adam, we're gonna go high." Don told him.

Adam squealed with joy, holding onto the chains and keeping his legs still. With a deep breath, Don ran forward, pushing the swing forward with all his might and ducking under the bottom of the swing at the last minute. Adam laughed hard, clapping his hands.

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"Under duck. Grampa Sid used to do it with me." Don said.

Danny nodded, and went over, sitting on a swing. He watched Don continued to swing Adam, and glanced over to where Lindsay, Aiden and Jenny were taking turns going down the slide.

"Why are just sitting on the swing, Danny?" Sheldon asked, sitting on the empty swing beside him.

Danny shrugged, swaying gently backwards and forwards.

"I dunno. Don's pushing Adam now, and the girls are doing their thing. I still can't get very high yet." He said.

"Well, maybe Mom will give you a push. Or maybe Dad will." He suggested.

"I guess I could ask one of the- Hey look! Look at that cute puppy!" Danny interrupted himself.

Sheldon and Danny hopped off the swings and headed towards the couple with the dog and a small baby in a stroller. They stopped short, and looked up at the couple.

"I like your puppy." Danny said.

"Thank you. His name is Riley and he loves kids." The woman said.

Danny grinned and sat down, cross-legged on the ground, reaching his hand forward for the dog to sniff.

"Daniel Thomas Taylor! What have I told you about running up to people with dogs?" Mac barked, jogging over to him.

Danny looked up at Mac with a pout on his face.

"B-but it… I… you were right there! I wasn't gonna touch it!" He whined.

"It's alright, we don't mind." The man said.

"Well I do. He's only six and he has to learn that he can't just walk up to people. That goes for you too, Sheldon. I expected more from you." Mac berated them.

"Gee Mac, take is easy would you?" Stella called.

She could practically see the vein popping out from his forehead, and she knew the man needed to calm down, and calm down fast. Mac looked over his shoulder at Stella and offered her an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, it's just that my wife and I have… well, we've got a handful of kids and it's hard for us to keep an eye on all of them." He apologized.

"It's okay. My name is Peyton and this is my husband Jack Pino." The woman introduced herself, holding out her hand.

"My name's Mac Taylor, and that's my wife Stella. It's nice to meet you." He said, shaking her hand.

"So, how many kids is a handful?" Jack asked.

Mac smirked and turned his head, whistling for the kids to come over. Don helped Adam out of the swing, Stella grabbed Jenny, and Aiden and Lindsay skipped over together.

"This is our oldest, Don, this is Sheldon-"

"I was adopted." He piped in.

"As I was saying, this is Sheldon, these are our daughters Aiden and Lindsay, the twins, Adam and Jenny, and this is Danny." Mac finished, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Peyton's mouth dropped, and Jack grinned.

"S-seven kids. How do you do it?" Peyton asked Stella.

Jack chuckled and shook his head.

"Peyton here comes from a small family. That's why we've been married for five years and only have little Marty here." He said.

"How old is he?" Stella asked, cooing at the baby.

"Four months."

"Cute. Isn't the baby cute, Jenny?" Stella said.

Jenny giggled and waved at the baby, before Stella stood back up.

"It was really nice meeting you two." Stella said.

"We, don't know many people around here. We moved from London not too long ago, I'm a doctor and they sent me over here… it was nice finally meeting a happy face." Jack said.

"Well, maybe we can get together every once and a while. I mean, you have any questions, or need a baby-sitter or anything. We usually come to the park every Saturday, so you can always catch us here." Mac said.

"Sounds good. Well, we should probably be going; I've got a doctor's appointment to get to. It was nice meeting you." Peyton said.

Mac waved them off, and the kids went back to playing. All except for Danny.

"Daddy… Daddy can we get a puppy?" He asked.

Mac laughed and picked Danny up. Even though he was six years old, he was still pretty scrawny. Danny frowned and looked up at Mac.

"Why are you laughing at me? He asked, lip wavering.

"Danny, I'm not laughing at you. I just thought it was funny that you wanted a puppy, that's all." Mac said.

"There's nothing funny about me wanting a puppy, Daddy. Can't we get one though? Maybe for my birthday?" He asked.

"Baby, you just had a birthday." He pointed out.

"Well… maybe for Christmas then? Please Daddy, please? Pleeeease can we get a puppy?" Danny pleaded.

"No, Danny. Your mom and I have our hands full with you kids as it is." Mac said.

Danny sighed and wiggled out of Mac's arms, reaching up and wrapping his hand around Mac's fingers.

"Let's go talk to Mommy and see what she thinks." Danny said, pulling him towards the bench Stella sat on.

Mac smirked and let himself be led towards Stella, who was watching over the kids. He knew Stella was going to tell Danny no too, and that he'd have a whiny Danny on his hands… but they were used to it by now, and knew all the tricks of the trade for calming the boy.

*

"I still don't understand why we can't have a puppy." Danny muttered.

Mac looked over his shoulder at Danny and smiled at him.

"We already explained it to you, baby boy. Too many kids, not enough of your Mom and I to go around."

Danny sighed again and tightening his grip around Mac's shoulders, breaking out into giggles when Mac bounced him higher onto his back.

"Daddy, I want Chef for supper!" Adam exclaimed.

"Me too, Daddy! Chef!" Jenny said, tilting her head back to look at Mac.

"Well, Chef it is, then. Keep walking you two, I'd hate to step on you." He said.

They let out small screams of excitement and ran towards Stella, hand in hand, with Mac following closely behind them, calling in a low voice, "Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum."

"Hey, can I ask a question?" Don asked.

"You just did, would you like to ask another one?" Mac teased.

Don rolled his eyes and Mac snickered.

"Yes, I'd like to ask another one, funny guy. Um… my friend at school, Les, he uh, he told me that his parents had a sit with him and they uh… they talked about what he called 'the birds and the bees'. What exactly is that, and do we have to have the same talk?" Don asked, looking up at his parents.

Stella looked at Mac, and started laughing softly. The ball was in his court now; no way was she answering that one. She's wait until Aiden was in her teens.

"Well, Donnie… it's something that you and I will sit down and talk about… when it's just you and me. How's that sound?" He suggested.

"Can we go for ice cream and talk about it?"

"Of course, anything you want." Mac agreed.

Don grinned at him and took his free hand.

"I don't understand why Les looked sick after having his talk with his parents, I'm kinda looking forward to my talk." Don said happily.

Mac smirked. He was sure Don would look exactly like Les did after their talk. It was the look that every boy had on their face after having the talk with their parents. Mac's dad gave him the talk… and he was looking forward to seeing the look on his own sons face… maybe too much.

END