After going through my list, I realized poor Matty only had one conversation to his name. I owe a round of thanks to Shadpup for helping me iron out some of the wrinkles I ran into.

Happy reading =)

"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you."
- A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

"Mama!" I cry loudly at the bottom of the stairs as tears run down my face. She's leaving again. "No go!" I yell as I run toward her and throw my arms around her tightly when I reach her.

"Matty," Mama says with a sad face. "I have to go to work. We talked about this. I'll only be gone for a couple of days."

"No go!" I repeat stubbornly, burying my face in her shirt when she picks me up.

"Daddy's staying home with you while I'm gone," she says as she runs her hand through my hair.

"I want YOU to stay," I wail as I cling more tightly to her. I don't like when she leaves.

"Derek," Mama says to Daddy. "A little help?"

"Come on little man," Daddy says as he grabs me and pulls me away from Mama. "Mama has to go to work."

"Noooooooooooooooooooo," I yell, pushing and pulling against Daddy to get away.

Mama's face gets really sad and she takes a step closer. "Em," Daddy says. "Maybe you should just go."

"I'm not going to just leave. He has to understand I'm not leaving for good. He needs to understand that I'm coming back."

"He does, you've gone away for short trips dozens of times, and he gets it just fine when I have to go. He's just being fussy."

"Matthew," Mama says in the voice I know means I need to pay attention. I wipe at my eyes and feel my lower lip tremble as I wait for her to start to talk. "You know how Daddy has to go to work and sometimes he sleeps there?"

I nod, but the tears don't stop and I sniffle.

"Well I have to stay at work for a little while, but I'll be back soon."

"Long time?" I ask quietly.

"Not so long, Matty. And you, and Daddy, and Tegan will have lots of fun together while I'm at work."

I frown, still not happy with her leaving. I hold my arms out toward her, but don't yell or scream this time. "Hug?" I ask quietly, just wanting to be in her arms.

Mama tilts her head to one side and smiles, but she still looks a little sad. "Of course, c'mere Curious George," she says, using her nickname for me. She takes me from Daddy and holds me close, rubbing my back. "I love you," she whispers, kissing me on my nose.

"Love you too," I say pushing my head into her neck. "Miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too. But I'll call you guys tonight, okay?"

I nod as she puts me down and I shuffle over to Daddy.

"Mama!" I hear Tegan yell as she runs down the hall.

"Hi, little Boo Radley," Mama says as she scoops up Tegan, using her nickname. "Are you going to be a good girl for Daddy?"

Tegan giggles as Mama tickles her. "Yeah," she yells, trying to escape the tickles.

"Good. Give me a kiss." Tegan throws her arms around Mama's neck and gives her a big kiss.

"Now you two take care of Daddy, okay? Make sure he doesn't watch football the whole time I'm at work," Mama says with a smile as she puts Tegan down.

"Okay!" Tegan and I yell at the same time.

"Be careful, Princess," Daddy says before leaning over to give Mama a kiss.

"Me? You're the one being left with two three year olds."

Daddy laughs. "You're probably right. Still, no tackling trains, okay?"

"That was always your thing. Don't worry. I'll call you tonight, babe."

"I love you, Em."

"I love you too, Derek."

Tegan and I share a quick look before wide smiles spread on our faces. "And we loves you!" we say together.

"Hey, Em," Daddy says as Mama's face appears on the screen.

"Mama!" Tegan and I yell happily. I reach toward the screen and wave as I smile.

"Hi, my little troublemakers. What are you two doing out of bed?"

"Waiting by the computer for your call," Daddy explains with a grin. "For the last hour."

Mama laughs. "Sorry I kept you waiting."

"How is it?"

"Little ears…"

"Right, of course."

"So you two," Mama says, looking at me and Tegan. "Have you been good for Daddy?"

"Yeah!" I reply. Tegan echoes my statement a little after me.

"Good. What did you do today?"

"We played with trains, visited Auntie JJ and Alyson and Henry, went to the park with Campbell, and we going to read a book now!" I say happily. "You read to us, Mama?"

"I think Daddy's going to read to you tonight, but I'm going to listen in."

"Your bedtime story too?" Tegan asks quietly.

"That's a good idea. I'll crawl into my bed and get ready for the story while you two snuggle in there."

Quick as we can, Tegan and I jump up and head for the stairs, making our way up to my room since we're already in our pajamas. We're using my room tonight for story time, but as soon as the story's done, Daddy will carry Tegan to her room and tuck her in.

"You have to wait, Daddy!" Tegan calls out to Daddy who is still making his way up the stairs. She's worried he's going to start without Mama being ready. She always worries about everything.

"Don't worry, little princess, I'll wait 'til she's ready."

It's another couple minutes before we're all settled in my room, with the computer set up on my dresser so Mama can see us, and we can see her.

"Okay, you guys all snuggled in?" Mama asks. I see she's all snuggled into her own bed.

"Yeah," Tegan and I answer, as we burrow further into my bed.

"All right then," Daddy says, grabbing the book. "Once upon a time…"

Just as I get comfy on the ground with my colouring book, I hear a car pull up to the house. I jump up and peek out the window carefully, and smile when I recognize Mama's car. She's finally home.

"Mama home!" I yell to Daddy, who is in the kitchen making dinner.

I watch as she walks up to the house slowly. I want to open the door, but I know I'm not allowed to, so I keep my hands by my sides.

"Mama!" I yell when she finally opens the door. She drops her bag before she turns to me and kneels down for a hug.

"Matthew," she says, a smile spreading on her face. "I missed you."

"I missed-ed you too!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! Lots. You were gone forever. I counted," I say sadly. But then I notice she only has one arm. "Where your arm?"

"Right here," she says, pointing to her chest where her arm is wrapped up and resting in some weird looking thing. "I got a little bit hurt while I was work, so I have to be careful not to bump it, so the doctors told me to keep it in this, which is called a sling."

"A sling?"

"Yep."

"Why you hurt?" I ask sadly.

"Hey, don't worry, Matty. I'm okay. But you know what would make me even better?"

"What?" I ask, looking up at her.

"A hug and kiss from you."

I bite my lip as I think hard about what she's asking for. I love giving her hugs and kisses, but she has an owie, and I don't want to make it hurt more.

"Hey," she says, tipping my head up to look at her. "Don't worry, Matty. You won't hurt me. Just be careful and it'll be fine."

I step forward slowly and wrap my arms around her gently, making sure to avoid her owie. After a quick squeeze I give her owie a kiss very carefully.

"Thank you. Much better already."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she agrees.

"You go work again?"

"Not for a little while, no. I'll be home for the next few days."

"Yay!" I yell, excited to have her home again. Then I begin to wonder. "Why?"

"Why don't I have to go to work?"

"Yeah."

"Because I get some time off."

"Why?"

"Because I need to rest."

"Why?"

"Because I have an owie. Now where's your sister?"

"She not feeling good," I say sadly. "She sleeping."

"Oh no," Mama says with a sad face. "Are you feeling okay?" she asks, putting her hand to my forehead.

"I is okay."

"Good. Now where's Daddy? I'm hungry."

"It almost time for dinner!"

"Let's see what he's got planned for dinner then!"

"Okay," I say happily as I skip ahead of her and into the kitchen.

"Hey, babe. I'm home," Mama says to Daddy as she enters the kitchen.

"Hey, Em," Daddy says without turning around. He's focused on whatever is in the pots on the stove that I'm not allowed to touch or play with, even though they're really cool.

"Smells good. What've we got on the menu tonight?"

"Mama Morgan's homemade chicken noodle soup," Daddy says, finally turning around. He frowns when he sees Mama. "What happened?"

"Just a little injury," Mama says, waving her hand. "No big deal."

"Your arm is in a sling," Daddy says, ignoring dinner and staring at Mama. I frown when I notice he looks like he's a little bit angry. "That's a big deal if you ask me."

Mama rolls her eyes and sighs dramatically as she winks at me and smiles at me. "Honestly, Derek. It's nothing. What's up with Tegan?"

Daddy doesn't answer and he still looks a little bit angry, so I help him and tell her. "She threw up all over Campbell."

"She did?" Mama says, looking back at Daddy now that I'm finished talking.

Daddy nods. "Guess it's a bug of some kind, which means this little man will probably get it sooner rather than later."

"Yeah," Mama says as she lets out another big sigh. "She asleep?"

"Hopefully. She's been quiet for the last hour or so."

"I'm gonna go check on her."

"That's a good idea. She was asking after you."

Mama looks sad again for a second before she looks at me. "How about you draw your sister a picture?"

"Why?"

"It can be like a get well card."

"You help me?"

"Daddy will help you," Mama says, messing my hair up with her hand. "I'm going to go check on your sister."

I bite my lip as I think about whether I want to tell her or not.

"What's up, Matty?" she asks, turning around and frowning. Somehow she always knows. Always. Daddy says it's a mommy thing.

"I is glad you home, Mama," I say seriously.

"I'm glad I'm home too, little man. Now how about you get started on that picture for Tegan?

I nod and smile as I start moving toward where my crayons and paper are laid out on the ground. The world feels right again now that's she's home. And I think it's good that she's home to take care of Tegan. Daddy tries hard, but Mama always just knows what we need, and Tegan told me and Daddy that she wanted Mama. But I want time with her too.

"Can we play trains after?" I ask, looking up at her. She's already halfway up the stairs.

"Sure, Matty. After I make sure Tegan's okay."

"And blocks?" I add hopefully.

"We'll see."

"Can we read a book too?"

"Maybe after dinner," she says without turning around as she almost reaches the top.

"Two books?"

"Matty," she warns. "We'll talk after I check on Tegan, okay?"

I mumble an answer as I collapse onto the ground and pull out some paper as I select a purple crayon. I can't help but ask her one more question. "Three books?"

Ah, the questions young children ask... So how was it? Cute? Adorable? Too sweet and fluffy? Did you enjoy the perspective? Let me know. :)