A/N: The kids' adventure was the request of a faithful reader and reviewer, afrozenheart412! It was so much fun to write, thanks for the suggestion!

Sorry this one took me so long to finish. I've been having a hard time with chapter endings lately, no matter how long winded I am beforehand. Happy reading!

The kids were much too excited to sleep that night and while Avery drifted off fairly quickly, the rest of the kids stayed up whispering to each other for quite a while. They were too busy planning their day tomorrow to sleep. They were going to Roanoke Island first thing in the morning and not only would they visit the aquarium, they would also get to go to the Roanoke Island Festival Park where they would get to spend most of the day at an interactive museum. Colton and Isa were excited to tell the rest of the kids all about the Lost Colony and Sarah corrected their story a few times while Ben and Junior listened attentively.

"What if we disappear on Row-Your-Boat Island?" Ben asked curiously.

"We won't disappear. We are not settlers."

"But them settlers didn't think they was gonna disappear!"

"Well I don't got all the answers in the world Ben, but I know we are not gonna disappear, okay?"

"I am creeped out," Junior sighed. "Where did the people go?"

"I been tryna figure that one out since kindergarten," Colton sighed, feeling as if it was such a long time ago.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Sarah said quietly. "But I just noticed that Averylin is not here anymore."

"What?" Colton asked, sitting up in bed.

"Well she was right here sleeping and then when I got up to go potty she must have woked up and left and when I comed back, you see I am not used to sharin' a bed with someone so I didn't notice she was gone until just now!"

"We have to go find her," Colton decided, climbing out of bed. "She is just a little baby in a strange house and she might get herself all lost and scared."

"Yeah, she is our sissy, it's our 'sponsibility to find her."

"Plus if she gets in trouble for bein' up, we don't want her to be too sad," Junior added.

"It's settled," Isa concluded. "We need to go find Avery. Now, who has ever listened to the moms and dads do the boring talk about work? Anyone? What do we do first?"

"I don't listen to the boring talk, but I have watched Blues Clues," Sarah said with a shrug. "We need a notepad for making lists of clues."

"I got one," Colton said, opening his backpack and peering inside until he found what he was looking for. "And a pen. Who will write down clues?"

"I will do it. I have good handwriting," Isa offered, joining him by the door.

"I will be the leader detective. Because I shoulda been watchin' her," Sarah said. She took her baseball hat off the dresser and put it on, then grabbed Isa's hat and put it on backwards, making her own version of a Sherlock Holmes hat.

"What about the little boys?"

"We are not little, Isa!" Ben protested. "We are going to be the two cop friends. Like Jon and Ponch on the old, old show. Or like Ryan and Esperoni on that show what mama and Austin like 'bout the man what's called Castle."

"Uh, okay…" Isa agreed hesitantly, not sure what he had just said.

"We had better go, and go quietly," Colton said, pressing a finger to his lips. "We don't want to 'tract 'tention. Now, if any of us was the baby Aves, where would we go?"

They all thought for a minute before coming to a unanimous decision.

"To the kitchen!"

They tiptoed out of the big bedroom, down the dark hallway, stopping once when Isa stubbed her toe on the doorjamb. Colton clapped his hand over her mouth to keep her from yelling and in a moment they were moving again, down the half flight of stairs and into the quiet kitchen.

"Averylin is not here," Sarah said, her voice quavering. "Now what?"

"We need to see if she was here," Colton reassured. "She does have a headstart. See over there on the floor? Those cookie crumbs and her binkie? That means she was here. She eated a cookie off the plate on the table and she left her binkie there because she probably took the cookie with her. Ben, gimme your glasses."

Ben handed them over without argument and Colton used them as if they were a magnifying glass, inspecting the linoleum closely for any sign of cookie crumbs.

"Well, anyone have a idea where Aves went next?"

"She always gots to take a bath after she eats. Maybe she is in the bathroom."

They made their way out of the kitchen and to the bathroom by the front door, finding it closed. They peeked inside anyway, but deduced that Avery would not have gone in here, because she was too short to reach the doorknob. There was still one other bathroom to check, so they went back up the stairs and peeked in there. She was no where to be found and Sarah's chin was starting to quiver as her worry increased. Colton took her hand and held it tightly for a moment until she calmed down.

"It's okay, Sarah. We know Aves is in this house. She did not get taked by someone. She leaved the room by her ownself. She eated a cookie so we know she is not hungry. We also know that she does not have her binkie so she might be crying soon, and we need to find her before that because we don't want her to get in trouble for all this. Aves likes to go sleep in bed with mama and daddy, so maybe she is in there. We will have to be quiet just in case, okay?"

Sarah nodded and took a deep breath, keeping hold of Colton's hand while they all walked down the hallway. Slowly, Colton turned the knob and peeked inside the room, finding just his parents asleep in the bed. He closed the door again, taking extra time to do it so it wouldn't make a noise.

"It's getting late," Isa said, looking down at her notes. "Avery's probably tired now. Maybe she went somewhere to have a sleep."

"But she was sleepin' in bed just fine," Colton noted. "Maybe we missed her. Maybe she went back into the bedroom!"

Excited about this new turn in the case, the kids trooped off to the bedroom. Avery however, was not curled up in bed sleeping peacefully like they all imagined.

"Maybe she goed in one of them other rooms," Junior suggested, gesturing down the hallway at the few bedrooms that weren't being used. "There's beds in them too."

"That's a good idea. Should we split up and look?"

"I am too scared to split up!" Ben moaned. "Please let's stick together."

"Okay Ben."

"And if we don't find sissy in these rooms, it will be time to call Mac and Cheese."

"You call Jo Cheese?" Isa asked, appalled.

"Yeah. Sometimes I call her Jo-Jo, but when I say her name with Mac, I call her Cheese! Because them go together."

"He called Ellie Hot Dog because that's what he likes with his Mac and Cheese."

"Yep."

"Ben," Isa sighed, placing her hand on her hip. "You are one strange, weird kid."

"I just bein' who I are."

The discussion ended as they ventured down the hallway, peeking into the first room and finding it empty. Sarah began to sniffle and Isa took a few seconds to give her a pep talk in the hallway before they entered the second empty room.

There laying on the floor in a deep sleep was Avery. She was missing a sock and was snoring loudly, but they were all so relieved that they just stood there staring at her for a minute.

"Isn't she so cute sleepin' like that?" Isa asked with a sigh.

"Yep, my sissy is just a doll. That's what Granna says."

"We had better bring her back to bed," Colton said with a nod. "I can carry her top part if someone else will carry her feet part."

Sarah agreed to help him and he reached down to pick up his little sister. She whimpered in her sleep and he kissed her forehead to calm her down while Sarah grabbed her legs. Isa spotted for them while Ben and Junior ran ahead, pulling the covers back on the bed so they could put Avery straight into bed.

"Aves, you'd better not do nothin' like that again," Colton whispered, leaning down to kiss her cheek.

"Yeah, Averylin. I was worried sick," Sarah said, climbing into the bed and wrapping an arm around her little friend. Colton knelt down and tucked the blankets in tightly on one side of the bed while Isa tucked them in on the other side, making sure Avery wouldn't escape again tonight.

"Boy Binyin," Junior started as the kids all climbed back into their beds. "Your sissy is very stressin'."

"Yup, she is. Now you knowed why my mama and daddy sleep so much!"

"I always thinked it was 'cuz they liked sleepin' with each other and cuddlin'."

"That's part too. You like to cuddle, Dunner?"

"Nah, it's a girl thing and boys only do it to make their girls happy and I don't got a girl to make her happy."

"We had better get some sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be a exhaustin' day."

"Goodnight all the rest of the kids," Sarah said with a yawn. "I love you all."

"Love you too Sarah. We will all see each other in the morning."

How they ended up at the island fifteen minutes before anything opened was a complete mystery and a miracle at the same time. It was also an inconvenience because it meant they were going to have to entertain the kids for a long stretch of time and that had never proved to be easy before. They could have gone down to the beach, but it was a little windy and the kids had taken to screaming when the wind was too heavy.

"Well… what should we do?" Austin asked as they sat in the parking lot.

"Eat!" Avery suggested, even though she'd just barely finished breakfast.

"Besides eating, Duchess of Gluttony," Lindsay clarified, rolling her eyes.

"We could tell you 'bout our detective work we did last night," Sarah suggested.

"No we can't! That was just for us kids."

"Oh that's right. Well we could not tell you about that."

A silence descended on the car and they all just sat there for a minute or two before Lindsay told all the kids to get out.

"What are we doing? We don't play in parkin' lots!"

"We're not playin' we're dancin'!"

The kids all looked at each other for a second, then bolted out of the car and onto the rapidly warming asphalt, dancing crazily around to the random song on the radio. It was the perfect activity to keep them occupied and get their wiggles out and by the time everything opened they were in very good moods.

"Hey mama, I need to show you the writing what daddy done on my arm in this morning," Ben said as Lindsay fixed Avery's shoes. He turned sideways and showed her the marker tattoo on his arm, a heart with the word mother in it.

"I telled ya I was gonna do it," he said, tracing over it with his finger. "It's for how much I love you."

Smiling she crouched down and kissed his cheek.

"I love you very much, Benjamin."

"I know that. And that's how I learned to love you too."

"Hey c'mon Binyin!" Junior hollered, motioning for him to join the rest of the kids.

"I'm comin'!" Ben shouted back, taking off running across the parking lot. Lindsay chuckled as she watched him go, then closed up the car and followed him. They were already standing in line for the tour of the recreated settlement site and the kids were hopping around with excitement, wondering what they were going to see.

"Is someone going to take pictures of everything? I want to take them to school so I can show my friends what I did this summer."

"Hey Colt, that was my idea first! I want to show people it!"

"But we got different friends, Isa! That means I could show mine and you could show yours and we could show our same friends together."

She paused for a moment, then placed her hands on her hips as she stared him down.

"You got friends I don't know about? That's not fair Colt! You got some other best friend hiding somewhere too?"

"Geez, what's the matter with you?"

She grumped at him and stomped off to go stand with Austin while he was left bewildered.

"Excuse me daddy, but what just happened?"

Adam shrugged and shook his head.

"I have no idea, kid."

"Mama?"

"Sometimes Isa's girly side comes out."

"That was not girly, that was mean."

"I just mean that sometimes us girls are a wee bit irrational."

"Buddy, the best thing you can do is go over there and talk to her."

Colton sighed and walked over to Isa, taking her hand and not saying a word. She smiled up at him and all was forgotten as the tour finally started. The guide started up his introductory speech about what they would see that day and about the rules for the tour. After a few moments he asked if anyone had questions. Nearly jumping out of his sandals, Ben's hand shot up in the air.

"Excuse me. But how did the people get here in the whole first place?"

"Well, a lot of them came on boats."

"Did they row the boats? Is that why it's Row-Your-Boat Island?"

"Actually, it's called Roanoke Island."

"But why? If they rowed their boats?"

"It was named after the Roanoke Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the island when the English settlers arrived."

"Oh! Well that's a much better answer than my brother gaved me. He just said I was bein' stupid for not listenin' to what he was saying."

The tour guide chuckled a little.

"You must be pretty creative because you're the first kid that's ever asked me if it's called Row-Your-Boat Island."

"Yeah, or somethin'," Ben agreed, suddenly shy as he noticed that people were looking at him. "Let's go get on with it."

They spent far more time exploring on the island than they had intended, but the kids turned out to be far more engaged in everything than they'd predicted. Most of the morning was spent practicing their hands at blacksmithing, looking around at some of the houses to see how people had lived when they first came to the island, and there was even a gun demonstration. After lunch they'd visited the Elizabeth II, a replica ship from the era. The kids had never been more excited in their lives, and they got to help set the sails and swab the decks while Danny stayed on dry land with Avery, claiming that he would most certainly be seasick, even anchored in eight feet of water.

After so many bustling activities, the kids were more than happy to sit in a cool, dark theater for an hour and watch a play about a boy named Jim who has to walk the plank. Avery sat through most of it, but had to be carried out in the last ten minutes because she was making too much noise and kept hitting Junior on the back of the head. After the play they managed to squeeze in an hour at the adventure museum where the kids got to dress up in period costumes and learn about pirates and shipwrecks. Their excited chatter and seemingly boundless energy was only a warning of the crankiness to come if they didn't get some dinner in them promptly.

They were soon headed back to the house where the kids ran around the living room, talking about their day and reenacting things that had happened. Colton, Isa and Sarah seemed to retain most of the historical information, even remembering important dates and names. Ben and Junior were more enthralled with the pirates and the ship while Avery was still excited that she'd been allowed to help churn butter.

"I think we should feed them, bathe them, then send them to bed early," Danny suggested, stretching as the adults created an assembly line to get the proper food onto the proper plates.

"We promised them a beach bonfire," Lindsay reminded him. "And we can't let them down now."

"Yeah, they overheard us talking about S'Mores, we'll never hear the end of it if they don't get any. And you two men are stuck in the car with all of them, all the way back to New York. You can be sure they'll be whining about S'mores the entire trip," Austin added.

"Okay, okay. But after that bonfire, they're going to bed."

Six plates loaded with food were carried out onto the back deck and placed on the picnic table just seconds before six kids came rushing over, ravenous and impatient, even if it was just sandwiches and watermelon.

"Do you ever look at them all and just get dizzy?" Lindsay muttered, watching as Avery practically demolished her watermelon down to the rind.

"They're like a group of tornadoes."

"Tomatoes?"

"Lin, you need some rest," Austin chuckled. "Tomatoes, that's a good one."

"Shut up; I've got three tornadoes and you just have one, and two strong wind gusts."

"When we get back home, I will trade you kids for a day."

"That can't go no place but disaster."

Austin chuckled and shook her head.

"Come on, let's get some adult food in us. I will die just subsisting on sandwiches all week long."

"Subsisting is quite a big word for you, Aust. I'm proud."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Look at my mustache!" Junior hollered, having spread peanut butter above his lip. "I am a real grown up man!"

"What real grown up man do you know that has a mustache?"

Junior thought for a second, then spread the peanut butter all over his face.

"I'm Uncle Cupcake!"

Ben gave him a strange look.

"Dunner, you are not my daddy, you are just a peanut butter face."

"Butter!" Avery hollered, stretching her arm as far as it would go to nab some of the peanut butter from Junior's face. "Yum!"

"Okay, that was cute, but you just see how much you like peanut butter on your face," Austin said before going inside.

"That is pretty gross, Daniel," Sarah chirped, shaking her head.

"Yep and sticky too! But we get to be messy when we's eatin' in the outside."

Austin closed the screen door and shook her head, hoping that the peanut butter would be the biggest mess of the night.

"So maybe you two can settle this debate for us," Adam started as the four of them sat down to dinner.

"No they can't settle this debate," Lindsay scoffed.

"I'm sure you've already told Austin anyway."

"Told me what?"

"I want another baby and she doesn't."

"I have three kids and two hands. I think I'm sufficiently outnumbered, don't you?"

"But you're so good at it."

"He's going with flattery, Aust. Can you believe this?"

"Um…"

"I'm not having another. I'm not. I'm too tired."

"You promised me a quiver full."

"Yeah, that's before we got married, when I was stupid."

"Are you trying to say you're stupid for marrying me?"

"In this conversation, yeah."

"I object. We already have three kids, what's one more?"

"One more is one more, Adam."

"Meaning?"

"Look out there. Six kids, perfectly balanced table. The noise level is just right. You want to add one more into it?"

"Yes, I do."

"We can get another dog then."

"Linds."

"I am not getting pregnant again. If you want another baby, you're going to have to pay some woman to pop it out for you because my body is not doing that again."

"Aw come on!"

"No."

"What ever happened to compromise?"

"My uterus had a veto vote and it used it."

"Okay, I could have gone my whole life without hearin' that," Danny chuckled shaking his head. "I think I'm going to have to side with Montana on this one."

"Hey, no one asked you."

"You asked me, dude."

"I'm sorry honey," Lindsay said, patting Adam's hand. "If you really want a compromise I'll make one. I will have another baby. Once Avery's moved out."

"Okay, well then there's still hope."

They shook on it and Austin rolled her eyes.

"So you guys didn't really need us for this, did you?"

"We like an audience."

"Oh brother. Danny, aren't you glad we're normal?"

The laughter that followed that comment was much louder than the kids outside.

It took a long time to set up the bonfire, partly because Austin and Adam complained about having to haul the wood down from the house and partly because Lindsay and Danny kept arguing about the best way to actually make a bonfire. Eventually they got it going though and the kids all sat around it, entranced by the light and warmth.

"Hey babe, come walk with me," Adam said, standing up from the sand and holding his hand out. Lindsay took it and he helped her up while Ben asked if he could go too.

"No Ben. Only mama is babe and that's the only person daddy invited."

"Well I was askin' him to 'vite me too," Ben grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You can go on a walk with me later," Adam reassured before he and Lindsay set off across the sand. He held her hand gently as they walked towards the water stopping to pick up smooth rocks along the way.

"Hey honey?"

"Hmm?"

"You know, I'm okay with not having more kids," he started, turning a rock over and over in his free hand before skipping it over the waves. "There are times I want more, but overall, I really am happy with three."

"I just don't want you to be mad at me for saying no."

"I'm not mad honey. I understand."

"It's not that I don't love the kids we have. I really do and I know I would love any other kids we had. But I just don't think I can do it again."

"I know. That's okay. I'm still happier with three than I thought I ever could be in my life."

She nodded and he pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head and just standing there for a while.

"I love you Linds."

"I love you too."

"I'm really, really happy."

"Me too."

"Can I ask you one thing?"

"Sure."

"Are you opposed to adopting someday?"

"No. I always had it in the back of my mind that we might do that someday."

"Something to think about."

"Very true."

"For now, want to go back and join the kids we've already got?"

"Kiss me first?"

"Yeah, I guess I wouldn't mind fulfilling that request a few times."

"Then shut up and do it."

From across the beach, Austin chuckled as she watched them.

"What?"

"Remember when you used to say that he wasn't good enough for her?"

Danny hmm'ed and watched the pair as they walked back to the fire.

"Yeah. I didn't think anyone was good enough for her. Or crazy enough, either one."

"You think anyone was good enough for me?"

"Nope."

"Not even you?"

"Nope."

Suddenly Avery burst into song, babbling a happy nonsense as she kept her eyes closed and gently swayed back and forth. No one paid her much mind while they started roasting marshmallows and preparing S'mores for everyone. Sarah threw her arm around Avery's shoulders and swayed along with her, while Ben and Junior whispered to each other about how they were going to make their S'mores. It was quiet and peaceful and simple, the perfect ending to a perfect day.

"Waaaaaaaa!" Avery screeched suddenly, raising her arms in the air as she swayed back and forth.

"Somebody shut her up!" Danny begged while Adam shoved a small dessert at his daughter.

"Honey look, a S'more!"

"Waaaa- oh! Haaa!" she said happily, grabbing it and taking a huge bite. "Yummy!"

"See, I told you she's a handful," Lindsay chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her daughter. "And really, really weird."

"No auntie, Averylin is not weird, she is just Averylin and that's good enough for me."

"It's good enough for me too," Lindsay agreed as Avery finished her treat and clapped in approval.

"More?"

"No more tonight, honey."

Avery would have protested but she was too busy inspecting the marshmallow and chocolate that were all over her hands. She whimpered in distress and looked around, hating having anything on her hands, surprisingly.

"It's okay Averylin, just wipe it on your pants."

She did, but then saw the resulting mess on her pants and burst into tears.

"There, there, it's okay Averylin!"

"Sleepy!" Avery replied, rubbing her eyes and whimpering. Adam went over and picked her up and she leaned into him, obviously exhausted.

"Did you need your daddy?" Lindsay asked with a chuckle, knowing the feeling of just needing Adam.

"Yes. My daddy."

"Are you going to go to sleep now?"

"Yes. Sleep. Hand, mama."

"You want me to hold your hand?"

"Yes."

The fire crackled and the night became darker as the kids became tired and cuddly. Colton had his arm around Isa as she leaned on his shoulder and yawned. Sarah had traded the sand for her daddy's lap and the little boys were snuggled up with their mothers, close to falling asleep. It was as peaceful a night as any of them could have planned, and while they may not all remember it the same or even at all, it would remain a fixed point in their family timeline forever.