A/N: I'm so sorry this is up late. I'm actually a tad not feeling too terribly hot and I've been out and about all day, so if this chapter is either up at nine o'clock again or it sucks something awful, I apologize in advance. But it's going to be an adorable chapter, so…K, bye.

"Violet," a soft, Russian accent whispered in my ear and even softer kisses pressed against my cheek, "Wake up, my love."

I rolled into my husband's arms, ready to fall back asleep, "What time is it?"

"Shortly after noon," Victor pushed my hair out of my face.

"Is Yurio up yet?" I nuzzled my face in his chest, holding back a yawn. Practice with Yurio wore me out more than usual. He was wanting to learn more elaborate moves and I hadn't done any of them in years.

"Not yet," he reported, "I thought I'd come wake you up first. Then, you can wake Yurio."

"Why can't you do that?" I rubbed my eyes.

"Yurio and mornings don't work well," Victor pointed out, "You know that, Violet. And he bites."

"Unbelievable," I giggled. This is who you married, Violet. This was the man you said yes to. You could've had the hot stockbroker with the yacht, but you went with Victor instead.

"If I remember correctly," Genius held me a little tighter, "You said we could go out today, the five of us."

"Your memory's spotty, Victor," I corrected, "Because I remember you saying we could do that after I woke up. Nowhere in that fine print did it say you were going to be the one to wake me up."

"Are you saying you didn't like my wake up?" Victor kissed my forehead, "Because the color in your cheeks says otherwise."

"I could think of worse ways for it to happen," I laid my head on his chest, "But you're missing the point. You cheated the system."

"You never said I couldn't wake you up."

"I thought it'd be implied."

"But you still didn't say I couldn't," Victor grinned, proud of his loophole.

"I'll go wake up Yurio," I groaned, wiggling out of Victor's warm embrace.

"Thank you, Violet!" he let me go, "Davai! Let me know if his bite breaks the skin."

"He knows better," I rolled my eyes. A stockbroker...with a yacht...and a damn nice penthouse, if memory serves. But I pick the beautiful figure skater that fell in love with my talent and not just my body. I pick this scatterbrained idiot that I wouldn't trade for the world. After all, he did give me my boys, so I couldn't complain.

I sat down on Yurio's bed and cracked his window open, letting the sunlight shine behind his head, but not quite in his eyes. Sure, he could be a tad bitter a good majority of the time, especially with his brother and his father, but in this light, Yurio looked so peaceful. Almost Angelic. Granted, I knew about the fire burning deep inside him along with the chip on his shoulder. That's what made him the warrior in the story. But then, this beautiful duality rested within him. I hated to wake him up and interrupt that.

"Yuri," I pulled him into my lap, "It's time to wake up, baby. I know you don't want to, but we have plans for today."

"We can't put them off?" Yurio cuddled lethargically into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I sympathized, kissing the top of his head, "I didn't want to get up either. But here I am. This is why God created coffee."

"Coffee is disgusting, Mama."

"Blasphemy," I gasped, "Honestly, child. And you call yourself my son."

"I'm adopted," he reminded, starting to drift off again.

"But you're still my son," I jostled him a bit, "Like it or not, kid, you're stuck with me."

Yurio had successfully created a nest in my lap and was nearly sleeping again, "And me with you, right?"

"Always," I promised, "Now, you do have to get up. We're going on a slight trip today."

"Where are we going?" Yurio asked.

"It's a surprise."

"Ok," this poor child was still completely out of it. I could see it in his eyes.

"You can sleep on the way there," I assured.

"Good," Yurio jumped down from my lap and dug through his dresser. That I had meticulously organized. That he managed to tear apart. And make me cringe internally.

"And if you're up for it later," I shook it off, "You and I can go to the rink again."

"Yay!" There it was. There's what I was looking for.

"Thought that'd put a smile on your face," I beamed, "And maybe wake you up a little better. You need any help?"

"I got it." Between my boys, Yurio was always more independent than Yuri. It had been that way since the day we brought them home. Fortunately, that meant Mama could get dressed and go in the kitchen and get coffee. Just because Yurio wasn't into it didn't mean I wasn't.

What I really wasn't into was what I saw in my kitchen at my kitchen table. Thank God Yuri was in the living room. He didn't need to see this. Hell, I didn't need to see it either, "Jesus Christ, Chris. Put some damn pants on."

"Good morning to you, too, Violet," Chris had a dirty grin on his face and royal blue silk leaving little to the imagination, "These were from Valentine's Day last year. Vitya, you remember, no?"

"Yes, Headmaster," Victor smirked, shooting Chris a little wink.

"Victor!" I snapped, "You're supposed to be siding with me here."

"Sorry," he blushed, "I guess I'm caught between a rock and a hard place, aren't I?"

"Anyway," I grumbled, "Do the boys have any idea where we're going today?"

"Not a clue!" Victor sang out.

"Oh dear," I shook my head at him, "You're so beautifully absentminded, moy muzh…And I love you for it."

"I love you, too," Victor gave me a quick kiss.

But our moment didn't last very long when another man latched onto my leg. This one a little smaller than the other, "Mama! You're awake!"

"Good morning, Yuri," I got down to his level, gladly accepting his hug.

"Can we go now, Daddy?" Yuri begged as I sat him on my hip, "Can we see our surprise trip?"

"Shut up, Porky," Yurio grumbled, coming out of his room fully dressed, "I just woke up."

"Yurio!" I scolded him, putting Yuri back on the floor, "That wasn't nice. Apologize to him."

"Fine," he pouted, "I'm sorry you were being obnoxious, Yuri."

"That's just as bad, Yurio."

"I'm sorry you bothered me?"

"Close enough," I let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, "You ready to go?"

"Da."

"Yay!" Yuri chirped, sounding just like Victor.

"We'll be in the car," Victor kissed the top of my head, "Come on, Yuri."

"I'm going to go put pants on," Chris got up from the table and I kept my hand over Yurio's eyes. Good thing Yuri didn't see anything.

"Yuri," I grabbed the bottle of apple juice out of the fridge, "You want some while I'm pouring?"

"Yes please."

I got Yurio's apple juice and took him to the car. Half a cup in and the kid was asleep. Not surprised, though. He's been pushing himself harder and harder every practice. And the more he pushed himself, the stronger the warrior had become. The more prominent he became. The sweet little kitten Yurio was when he and I walked into Natalia's studio the first time was slowly becoming a fierce little tiger. And I couldn't be prouder. I just wish he'd realize the kind of energy that takes.

As we pulled up to the animal shelter, I wasn't sure who was more excited between Yuri and Victor. Chris was too busy putting hat stickers on pictures he took of sleeping Yurio on his phone. I had the honor and privilege of waking the little angel up again. And when Chris is sleeping later tonight, I'm going to do some deleting.

"Yurio," I gave him a nudge, "Yurio, we're here."

"Five more minutes, Mama."

"Are you sure?" I smiled, turning my attention to Victor, "You, Chris, and Yuri go ahead. We'll be there in a sec."

"Ok," Victor gave me a nod while Chris unbuckled Yuri from his car seat. I didn't know that kid could move so fast.

"Yuri," I shook his little foot, "Wake up, sweetheart. You want to see the surprise, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Yurio opened his eyes and saw the sign, "Are we…?"

"That's right, baby," I undid his buckles for him, "We're bringing home a furry friend for the family today. We just have to go in and pick which one."

"Ok!" Yurio's enthusiasm spiked and he ran inside with the same excitement as his brother.

Sure enough, when the two of us caught up to the others, Yuri was rolling around with a pile of puppies. That was the way I wanted to die. At least I know I'd die happy. And they were all so cute! In a perfect world, they'd all be coming home with us.

"You two are going to have to come to an agreement," Victor stipulated, "Because we're only taking one home."

"One?" Yuri and Yurio squealed simultaneously.

"Victor," I wrapped myself around his arm, "That's almost cruel."

"We can't do all of them," he pointed out, "I'm sorry. We're only allowed one in our unit."

"Damn," I pouted. I wanted all the puppies, too, boys. I really did. Mama would've sided with you.

And so, our afternoon of playing with puppies ensued. Although, amongst the chaos of all the other puppies, I noticed one of ours had wandered off. I left Chris and Victor to watch after Yuri and play with more puppies while I went off to find Yurio. When I found him, Yurio was covered from his feet to his shoulders with tiny kittens scaling him all over the place.

"Look, Mama," he held a little orange one up to me, "This one looks like a little tiger."

"Yeah, he does," I held the sweet little kitty in the palms of my hands, "When did you bow out?"

"All of the mutts were too much," Yurio scoffed, "They're all dumb as a stump. Cats are so much simpler."

I saw the way Yurio was with this kitten and I didn't want to take him away from it. And it was so cute! I didn't want to leave him either. But unfortunately, Yuri's allergic to cats, so the thought of getting a cat was entirely off the table. I just didn't know how to break it to Yurio. In the ten minutes he had been back here, this kitten had already imprinted on him.

"Yuri," I pulled him onto his feet, "We can't get a cat. It'd make one of us sick."

"How does that work?" Yurio gave me a look.

"One of us is allergic to cats," I explained, "But I'm sure if we go back to all the puppies, we can find one to fall in love with."

"But…"

"Promise me you'll at least try to love it," I begged.

Yurio thought it over a minute or two, "I'll try. But I'm not making any promises that I will."

"Ok," I brought him back over to Victor, Chris, and Yuri and my heart melted. This…This was the way things were meant to be. I saw the look in Victor's eyes when he looked over at Chris. He gave me the same one. And Chris with Yuri was a sight to behold. Granted, in Russia, they weren't exactly the image of a family, but under our roof, we were. All of us.

"Look at this one," Victor found a little ball of ginger fluff curled up in the corner, "Come here, little one."

"That one," one of the handlers came out, "That particular puppy was the runt of his litter."

"He's a poodle, right?" Victor picked him up.

"That's right," the handler confirmed.

"Poor baby," I took the trembling puppy out of Victor's hands, only for the puppy to try and run back to Victor.

"I love him already!" Victor awed.

"So do I!" Yuri chimed in, "I want that one, Daddy!"

"Is he the one, Yuri?" Victor asked.

"Yeah!"

"Yurio?" he repeated, "What do you think?"

"Why would I want a dog, let alone the runt?" Yurio grumbled.

"I don't know," I swayed him, petting the little cutie, "I'm sure all the other dogs gang up on him because he's the smallest. And he doesn't want to be left all alone. Where have I heard this story before?"

"Hitting a little close to home, Mama," he caved, "Fine. Whatever."

"This one!" Victor declared, "And we'll call him…Makkachin! You like that, don't you?"

I watched our new puppy's tail go like a boat propeller. I think he liked the name. And he was so cute! I couldn't see why no one would want to take him home. Makkachin. I liked it. And we all would love him terribly. Well…Almost all of us.

"I don't like him," Yurio glared a hole through the little ball of fluff and love, "He looks braindead. Like the lights are on, but no one is home."

"Actually," I told him, "Poodles are very smart dogs. You'll learn to love him, Yurio. I promise."

As the six of us got back into the car, Yurio went back to sleep in his car seat. And Yuri wasn't too far behind him. However, we let Makkachin run loose in the car, but the only place he wanted to be was curled up in Yurio's lap. Yeah. Yurio will learn to love him. With enough time. If not, I can always take him back here to see his little tiger cub.

A/N: Again, I'm so so SOOOO sorry this is up late. Like I said, it's been a long, rough day.

But all that aside! We got us a Makkachin! Ever wonder why I had yet to mention our favorite little steamed bun thief yet? Because THIS IS WHY. Because they were going to go pick him out together! Yay! Fun, fluffy, domestic-y goodness! Now, as much as I'd love to hang out with you guys some more, I have Supernatural post-its to write for tomorrow. See you next level! Ahem…Oops…Let's try that again…Damn, I miss those boys. See you next chapter! xx