"We're goin' to the park, we're goin' to the park! I wish we could leave right now and we're goin' to the park!"

"Colton, I'm glad you're so happy about going to the park, but could you please attenuate the cacophony?"

"What does that mean?" Sarah asked with a grimace.

"She means shut up but she means it nice and with manners," Colton explained. "She doesn't want me to sing about the park anymore."

"Oh, I see. When are we leaving?"

"In a little while, but you kids need to brush your hair and teeth and put shoes on and let me put sunscreen on your faces."

"So much work to do," Colton sighed. "Come on, other kids, let's start."

He led them upstairs and Lindsay sighed, looking over at Avery who was slapping her hand into her oatmeal.

"Oh baby."

"Mama!"

"Are you done? Do you want to get down?"

Avery smiled and pushed her bowl away, so Lindsay got her out of the chair and wiped her face and hands.

"Let's go get you dressed. I think you might be grown out of all your shorts."

They went upstairs where the kids were running around in various states of dress, playing some kind of game that Lindsay didn't have the energy to interrupt. Austin and Danny would be back this afternoon and the last four days had left her exhausted. She'd do another four days or even weeks if they needed her to, but she was looking forward to a little more quiet.

"Indy, I can't fix my dang belt!" Isa sighed, trying to work the buckle on the zebra print belt. "It's just not workin'!"

"Come here, sweets, I'll fix it."

She used one hand to hold Avery and the other to fix Isa's belt, applauding herself for being so flexible.

"Thanks Indy. When's my ma comin'?"

"They'll be here after lunch."

"Oh. Okay."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just thought they were comin' after breakfast."

"I know you miss them."

"Yep. But we're goin' to the park!"

"Yes we are. Can you do me a huge favor? Can you go downstairs and find matching sandals for all the kids?"

"Yep! And even for Avery too?"

"No, I've got some for her up here."

"Okay. I'll be right back."

"Hey wait a minute. Aren't you forgetting a hug and a kiss?"

Isa giggled and came back, hugging Lindsay around the waist and accepting the kiss to her cheek.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Indy."

She ran back out of the room and Lindsay gave a wistful smile. As tired as she was, it was going to be weird not having the three extra pieces of her heart with her every day. She would miss Isa's hugs and Sarah's quiet comments and the way Junior always patted her hand as he walked by. It was going to be weird to be without them.

"We are all ready!" Colton announced, peeking into the room. "Mama, the baby Aves isn't even dressed yet!"

"I know, we're almost done. Go get shoes on."

"Okay. Come on other kids, let's go!"

"What do you think, baby girl? Should we give you the Pebbles Flintstone look?"

Avery smiled and chewed on her hand while Lindsay pulled her red curls into a purple bow to match her clothes.

"Hey honey, want to do me a favor? Don't ever lose those big blue eyes of yours. Daddy needs a baby that's got his eyes."

Avery nodded slowly, not because she agreed, but because it was her newest skill to nod or shake her head when a question was posed. Lindsay just smiled and kissed her cheeks before lifting her off the changing table.

"Okay, let's get out of here."

"No Ben! We are teaching you soccer!" Colton shouted, exasperated.

"Soccer means only kicking. No hands," Isa added, a little gentler.

"But I run fast if I hold it," Ben argued, thoroughly confused.

"You have to learn then. See, Junior can do it good. You kick when you run."

"I not like sports," Ben sighed, crossing his arms. "I play with Sarah now."

He turned away from the faux soccer game and joined Sarah at the tree line, crouching down with her to look for bugs. Lindsay watched the entire thing over the top of her book, snickering at how established all the kids personalities were. It never failed to be humorous.

Colton, Isa, and Junior kicked the ball between them in a circle while Sarah and Ben crawled over the grass and Avery napped on a blanket. Lindsay felt like napping herself but she had to keep an eye on the kids, no matter how capable they were of taking care of themselves.

Her phone rang and she put her book down, checking the screen before answering.

"Hey Aust."

"Hey. How are the kids?"

"They're good. We're at the park because the house doesn't really do so well at letting the noise out."

"I was wondering how long it would be before you had to jump out the escape hatch."

"It's not bad, just loud."

"Well you'll have a reprieve in about three hours, if I can coax Danny away from the lake."

"Take your time, we're good here. Adam was just covering a half shift today so he'll be home soon. Don't worry about rushing."

"Okay. I gotta go, but give all the kids a kiss for me."

"I will. You guys drive safe, okay?"

"We will. I love you."

"I love you too."

She hung up the phone and was about to pick up her book again when she heard Ben calling for her.

"Mama! Need help!"

"What do you need help with, baby?" she asked, making her way over to where he and Sarah were kneeling on the ground.

"This rock, auntie. Can you turn it over? There will be bugs underneath it."

"Yeah, sure."

She flipped the rock over and they both gasped at the pill bugs and worms that had been happily living in the moist ground.

"Oh man, Benjamin look at them all!"

"Catch 'em!"

They set to work gathering the bugs and some dirt into the old baby food jars that Sarah had insisted she needed to bring. Lindsay helped them for a moment, then stood up to check on the rest of the kids.

It all happened in slow motion. The ball shot across the grass and into the street. Isa chased after it, her tennis shoe hitting the pavement just as a car came around the corner. Tires squealed, a horn honked and the car swerved. Isa stumbled back in fright, falling into the grass, the wind knocked out of her.

Lindsay's feet had never carried her so fast before, and her chest had never been so tight with terror as she raced over and knelt at Isa's side, making sure she was okay. She hadn't seen the entire thing, the car had been so close that she couldn't tell if Isa had actually been hit or not and the way she'd stumbled back and tripped over the curb made it look almost as if the car had clipped her.

"Are you hurt? Isa talk to me."

"I'm okay."

Lindsay hugged her tightly for a moment before the adrenaline started to set in more.

"What were you thinking? You know you can't just run out in the street! You didn't even look! Why would you do something so careless? You could have been hit by that car. You could have been killed!"

Isa didn't say another word as Lindsay hugged her again.

"Don't you ever, ever do something like that again. Ever, do you understand me, Isabeth?"

Isa didn't speak, just set her mouth in a tight line while Lindsay gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"We're leaving," Lindsay decided after a moment. "We're going home. Now."

The other kids just stood there quietly, watching the scene unfold. None of them had ever seen Lindsay lose it like that, and none of them had ever seen Isa so obviously upset over something.

They picked up all their things, settling Avery in the stroller and finding a buddy to hold hands with as they walked. Colton held Isa's hand and they led the way, not saying a word to each other. Ben and Junior were right behind them, talking quietly, confused about what had just happened and trying to figure it out. Sarah held onto the stroller and stole glances at Lindsay every few steps. She understood that Lindsay had been scared, but she was worried that Isa was going to get in trouble for making a mistake, when she was so upset already.

"Auntie?"

"Yes?"

"Are you very mad?"

"No. It just scared me."

"Me too. My tummy still hurts a little."

Lindsay reached down and pulled Sarah a little closer, needing just a sliver of calm. Her heart was still racing and every time she blinked she saw it all again. Her hands were actually shaking now and they needed to get home so she could sit down and breathe for a moment. She also knew she was going to have to apologize for the yelling. Isa was like her mom, yelling like that scared her and made her want to run away. There was no excuse for it except that she couldn't stop it because she'd been so scared.

"Mama," Colton said quietly as they made their way up the front steps. "Me and Isa are going to go talk upstairs and we don't want the other kids to come and play with us for a while, okay?"

"Yeah, okay."

She didn't really like that they wanted to exclude the other kids, but she had a feeling Isa just needed to be alone and quiet for a bit. She'd go check on them later. They went upstairs and Ben, Junior and Sarah found a puzzle to do, pouring it out on the hardwood floor and starting to put it together. Avery was just waking up, so Lindsay sat down on the couch with her, cuddling her close and trying to get her equilibrium back. She knew the crisis had been averted, but her stomach still seemed to be eating away at itself.

Sighing, she settled Avery on the floor with some toys and went upstairs. The boys bedroom door was closed and she knocked on it softly, wanting to press her ear to the wood and hear what they were saying, but not wanting to betray their trust like that.

"Who is it?" Colton asked.

"It's mama, can I come in?"

There was a long pause and she could hear talking but she couldn't make out any words.

"Okay, you can come in."

She opened the door and found the kids sitting side by side on the bed. They both looked up at her with wide eyes and she sat on the end of the bed, taking a deep breath.

"Colton, can you go downstairs and keep and eye on your sister while I talk to Isa?"

He looked over at his best friend for permission, then nodded.

"I will be right back in just a minute, Sweet Thing."

He scooted off the bed and out the door and Lindsay looked over at Isa, not sure where to begin. She wanted to just pull the little girl into her arms and hug her and tell her it was all okay, but Isa was too much like Austin for that to ever work out well.

"Sweetheart," she started gently, noting the way Isa stiffened at the word. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I was just scared and sometimes when you get scared you do things like that. I wasn't yelling because I was mad, Isa. I'm really sorry."

Isa nodded, then stood up from the bed.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," she said quietly before leaving the room. Lindsay sighed and leaned back against the wall. This was going to be a lot harder than she'd thought.

"They're here! They're here! Isa, Daniel, they're here!"

The shouting was very uncharacteristic for Sarah, but there was no denying her joy at seeing her parents. She jumped off the couch and flung the door open, squealing in delight when Danny lifted her into his arms.

"Hi daddy! Did you have fun with my ma?"

"Yeah, of course I did. Did you miss me?"

She nodded and kept her arms tightly around him as they came inside.

"Hey, can't I get some lovin' too?" Austin asked, her hands on her hips.

"Yep!"

Sarah launched herself from her dad to her mom while Junior came barreling down the stairs.

"Daddy!"

"Hey sport!"

Danny knelt down and caught his son in a hug, while Isa creeped around the corner shyly, her eyes lit up with playfulness. She wanted to sneak up on them but she couldn't hold it in any longer and she ran to Austin, grabbing onto her leg.

"Ma, pick me up too! I am so glad you're here, let's go home."

"Hey, now wait a minute. We need to get your stuff together first."

"Uh-uh. Dum already did that for us. See? Our bags are packed."

"Well don't you want to say bye to the kids?"

"Oh yeah."

The three kids ran back up the stairs to say goodbye while Lindsay joined Austin and Danny by the door.

"Were they good? I mean really?" Austin asked warily. She knew her kids weren't bad, but she'd worried about their ability to make even the most simple situations crazy.

"Yeah, they were fine."

"You don't sound okay."

Lindsay sighed as Danny picked up the kids backpacks.

"Isa's not talking to me. It's a long story, she's not in trouble or anything, but she's not happy either."

"What happened?"

Lindsay hesitated as the kids all came down the stairs.

"I'll tell you later."

"Do I need to know?"

"No, it's okay. We'll figure it out."

"Linds, if she's upset, I want to know why."

"Maybe you should just talk to her about it."

Austin sighed, knowing Lindsay was right, but wanting to get the whole things sorted out now.

"Okay kids, say thank you to Adam and Lindsay for putting up with you."

Sarah and Junior both hugged Lindsay and then Adam, thanking them for the fun time. Isa hesitated for a moment before she walked over and hugged Adam.

"Thanks for playing with us, Dum."

"You're welcome, princess."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

She scampered off and was partway out the door when Austin grabbed her arm.

"Hey, aren't you going to say bye to your Indy?"

Isa sighed and turned around but didn't move closer, keeping her eyes trained on the floor.

"Bye Lindsay," she said finally before turning and running outside to the car and jumping into the backseat. Lindsay took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Not hearing "Indy" was really a knife to the heart.

"Linds, what happened between you two?"

"We were at the park and she ran out in the street to get the ball and a car almost hit her and I freaked out and I yelled at her. I was just scared and I tried to explain that to her, but she didn't want to hear it."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's… whatever."

"You and her not getting along is like you and me not getting along."

"I know."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'll talk to her about it."

"Alright."

"Thanks for taking them. We owe you one."

"No you don't."

"Well I'm taking you out to dinner anyway, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll talk to Isa and then call you later."

Lindsay nodded and Austin hugged her.

"It's going to be fine. She's still going to love you."

"Okay."

"I gotta go. I'll talk to you later."

Lindsay nodded and closed the door after her.

"Babe, you alright?" Adam asked from the couch.

"Yeah. I'm going to go lay down for a little bit."

"Linds, she's just stubborn. She doesn't hate you."

"No, but she might think she does."

"She'll get over it."

"Yeah, maybe."

She didn't say another word, just went upstairs and crawled into bed. She wasn't just sad, she really was exhausted and figured an hour of sleep might do the trick. Her eyes were just closing when she heard small feet walking towards her.

"Mama?"

"Colton?"

He sighed and climbed up onto the bed next to her, mirroring her position.

"You should not have yelled at Isa."

"Honey, I wasn't really yelling at her because I was mad."

"I know. You was scared. That's what she told me. But you didn't have to yell. Her feelings is hurt so bad."

"I know that. And I told her I was sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, Colton."

He sighed and reached over to pat her face.

"But you did hurt them, mama."

She knew he wasn't trying to talk down to her at all, he was just talking to her the same way they talked to him when he'd gotten into an argument with Ben.

"What do you think I should to do make it better?"

"I don't know, mama. She told me that she is scared of you for yellin' and she doesn't want you to yell at her again."

"I know."

"Maybe after she has cool off time it won't be bad anymore. I will talk to her later."

"Okay."

He sat up, then leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"I was scared too, mama. I thought Isa was gonna die. But she didn't and I will hug her more harder every day now."

She smiled and reached over to tuck his hair back.

"You are a very smart dude, Colton Ross."

"Yeah, I learned it from you and daddy."

He leaned down and hugged her tightly.

"It'll be alright, mama. Isa loves you just like I love Austin. And this family sticks together forever, that's the law."

"Thank you for reminding me, bud."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek,

"And I love you, mama."

"I love you too."