Colton sat nervously on the wooden steps, swinging his legs back and forth and breathing deeply. His stomach felt very full and very empty at the same time and he began to rethink whether or not he wanted to go through with this. Isa was sitting next to him on the steps, not nearly as nervous, but quiet all the same. She bowed her head to look down at her hands, and her dark mess of hair spilled over her face, either hiding her from the outside world, or hiding the world from herself, no one was ever sure. Colton reached over and tugged on one of the curls gently and she lifted her head up, giving him a little half grin.

"You nervous Colt?"

He just nodded, lest his breakfast come back up.

"You'll do good. And I'll be right there with you, remember? And our moms are watching us, and Sarah and Junior and Ben are there too. And even Flack. Nothing to be nervous about."

She cleared her through and he chuckled to himself, knowing that talking about nerves was making her experience some big ones.

"Besides, we did this once before."

He nodded and she moved over a little, leaning her head on his shoulder. He would have given mostly anything to be sitting in the audience right now instead of waiting backstage to assist with a school assembly about safety. Last year he'd participated, only to tell the kids that knowing how to get away from a kidnapper was the best safety rule they could know, and that had made him nervous enough.

Today though, he and Isa would be demonstrating the techniques they'd learned in their self-defense classes in front of the whole school. Not just their class, but all the little kids, and the bigger ones too. Colton wasn't quite sure that he remembered everything, no matter how many times they'd practiced together and at home, employing an unlucky parent to play the role of kidnapper. It had been a big project that they'd both undertaken seriously and willingly, but one that neither of them wished they were qualified for.

"Just remember," Isa said after a moment, lifting her head and sliding her hand into his. "This isn't real. You already survived it one time. And you are the only person that can teach the rest of the kids how to be safe. Okay?"

He nodded and she gave his hand a little squeeze, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

"Ready?"

"I'm ready."

She stood up from the steps and they walked to the side of the stage together, feeling very important with their lapel microphones and their nice clothes. It was warm up on the stage and Colton peeked around the corner, surveying the audience. He spotted Lindsay and Austin standing in the back with a few other moms and dads and he smiled, giving them a little wave.

"Almost time for us. Want to do a team chant?"

Colton laughed, then clapped his free hand over his mouth. Isa was always able to make him feel better, even when she wasn't trying and at this moment, he realized he'd never been more grateful for that.

"I love you Sweet Thing."

"Love you too Colt."

The principal came up behind them and gave them each a gentle hug before ushering them onto the stage. They took deep breaths together, standing where they had practiced and both trying to ignore the fact that there were about two hundred sets of eyes on them.

"Today, Colton and Isa are going to show you kids some ways to fight back if someone tries to take you," one of the teachers was saying after introducing them and turning on their microphones.

Colton nodded and took another breath, closing his eyes for a split second to remember what he was supposed to say next.

"There are a lot of things that you can do to keep yourself safe if a stranger tries to take you. The first and best thing you can do is scream really, really loud, as loud as you can, and don't stop screaming. Isa is going to teach you the best screaming tricks."

"When you scream, you really need people to hear it, even if they're far away. What you want to do is fill your lungs really big with air, then think about being a gigantic bird flying over the city and screaming so everyone down below can hear you. So on the count of three, everyone is going to cover their ears and practice a loud scream. Ready? One, two, three!"

The entire gym filled with screaming for a few seconds, then died down, amid some giggles.

"The other thing you can do," Colton continued, feeling much more confident. "Is to yell that someone is trying to take you. You can scream and then yell your words and scream some more."

"Maybe you can't scream or yell because the person has their hand over your mouth. Now most of us would spit on the persons hand to gross him out, and you can try that, but what you want to concentrate on is getting away. This super tall guy over here is Detective Flack and he's also my uncle but today he is going to pretend to be a kidnapper."

"Sometimes a stranger might come at you from behind and you might get scared," Colton said as Flack and Isa slowly demonstrated. "They will grab you around your top, but that leaves your legs free. Use your legs to kick in the air as hard as you can, because it makes you hard to hold onto. Try to kick the stranger if you can, or stomp on their feet. Isa, go ahead and show them."

Isa gave a mischievous smile and mimed kicking Flack as he tried to hold onto her.

"This should cause the stranger to drop you. I said, this should cause the stranger to drop you. Ahem, Flack, I said-"

"Oh right, sorry buddy."

Isa giggled and dramatically tumbled to the floor and ran away.

"Remember to always fight as hard as you can, no matter what and don't stop fighting. Scream and kick and bite and do whatever it takes to get away."

"Remember to always walk with a buddy," Isa added, taking a deep breath. "A stranger is less likely to take you if you are with someone, and if there is someone there, they can help you fight. And if the stranger does take you, the person you were with can help the police out a lot."

She glanced over at Colton and he gave her a quick smile before forging ahead.

"If you do get taken don't stop trying to escape. Every chance you get. If they take you out in public, make huge messes and noises and get the attention of another grown up. Run if you can, fight when you can and make sure that person knows that you're more trouble than they thought. If this happens to you, it will be the scariest thing you will ever do, all your life. But don't forget that you can get away, don't ever, ever stop."

"Don't ever go up to a car without your mom or dad with you. Don't take anything from a stranger. Don't believe a stranger when they ask for your help. And always listen to your guts. If something makes you feel uncomfortable, don't do it. If a grown up is hurting you or making you feel uncomfortable, tell your mom and dad or a teacher."

"Make sure to talk to a grown up about all this if you have questions, and tell your friends about it so they can be safe too. Bad things can happen to anyone, but if you're prepared you will make it out okay."

"That was my big brother up there," Ben reported happily, to the small circle of kids around him. "Yep, my big brother. We share a room and everything."

"And the girl was my big sister Isa! Wasn't she good at fighting off the bad guy?" Junior added, pride radiating from his face. "And Colton and Isa know all those safety rules and so does my other sister Sarah, and they've been teaching me and Ben all about it."

"I could fight off any bad guy now," Ben said, casting his eyes down to the ground and feeling as if he was talking too much.

"Oh really? Think you could fight me off?"

Ben looked up and saw a tall first grader towering over him, a sneer on his face. He gulped and froze.

"Kid, I asked you a question."

"I don't fight," Ben whispered. "Defense is only for bad guys."

"So what would you do if I punched you?"

Ben stayed quiet, scratching his ear and unsure what he was supposed to do in this situation.

"I want to know. What would your whimpy brother tell you do to?"

"Cole isn't whimpy."

"You kindergarteners aren't even supposed to be at this recess."

"Yeah well we are 'cuz of the 'sembly!" Junior said, jumping to Ben's defense.

"Well I want to play here and you kids are in the way!"

The rest of their classmates had scattered and Ben and Junior stood alone, facing a kid that was probably only a couple inches taller, but looked like a giant.

"It's our playground too you big bully. Now leave me and Ben alone."

"I'll leave you alone. But not this Ben kid. He didn't answer my question. Now kid, why don't we find out what you would do if I punched you."

"How about not."

All three kids looked up to find Isa, her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed.

"You're bigger and older than these two kids, and you had better not be trying to fight them. Do I need to go speak with a teacher?"

"You'd better not or I'll sock ya!"

"You won't sock me. You're a bully and bullies are cowards. Go find something else to do. Like maybe search for some manners."

With nothing left to say, the boy stalked off angrily, bursting right through a group of girls playing four square.

"You okay Junior?"

"Yep. He don't scare me none. I'm gonna go tell Sarah how you rescued us!"

Junior darted off and Ben gave a half smile while Isa slung her arm around his shoulders.

"You okay buddy?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry. Nobody gangs up on my Ben."

"Isa, what do I do if someone punches me?"

She sighed and shook her head.

"I don't really know. Maybe you should ask Colt. He always has good advice for those situations. Come on, we'll go find him. He was playing basketball a minute ago."

She steered him across the playground to where Colton was standing against the building, waiting for his turn on the court.

"Hey Colt, Ben has somethin' to ask you."

"What's up Ben?"

"Um, Cole, what do I do if someone punches me?"

"Did someone punch you? Where are they? They are gonna wish they hadn't hit my little brother, that's for sure."

"No one hit him, Colt. It's just a question."

"Oh. Well, I guess you would just go away from them. I don't know. We'll ask daddy."

"Okay Cole."

"Wanna play basketball with us? We need another person and you're real good at dribbling."

"No thank you. I would like to watch. How about Isa could play?"

Isa looked up at Colton hopefully and he clicked his tongue a few times, scanning her from head to toe.

"Well, it's just boys playing," he started, tapping his chin. "But you are better than most of the kids. Yeah, okay you could play with us."

Isa whooped happily while Ben grinned and leaned against the building, sliding down the wall to sit on the cold asphalt. He was enjoying his decision to listen to people instead of talking all the time, and he'd learned a lot of things about his classmates that he never would have known if he didn't take the time to be quiet.

He watched Colton and Isa playing for a while, giggled when they got in an argument about the game and laughed outright when Colton was benched and Isa got to keep playing. Before long the bell was ringing and everyone was being herded inside to their classes.

"Hey Ben! Have a good day in class!" Isa called over the heads of some smaller students. Ben grinned and ran to her, hugging her tightly around the waist.

"Thanks for savin' me and Dunner."

"You're welcome. I'll see you later at family dinner."

He nodded and she quickly leaned down to kiss his cheek before joining her own class.

"Wow Binyin. Isa don't usually kiss no one."

"She feels bonded to me because she's my rescuer," Ben answered with a shrug. "We comed to a understandin' a while ago."

"I sure wish she'd hug and kiss me like that. But don't tell anyone!"

"Okay. Maybe I will hint to her?"

"Maybe. C'mon, let's go back to school."

"Averylin, how was your day in preschool?" Sarah asked conversationally while dishes were passed around the big table.

"Oh Sarah, it so fun! We paint with fingers! I make for daddy. Show you later. An' me and a girl is friends!"

"I am so glad you are making friends Averylin! It is always good to have very many of them."

"Yes. You my most best friend."

"And you are mine."

"I did play-doh. My teacher so nice! Mama come get me an' I not wanna go. I wanna cry. But teacher say see later. I feel better."

"That is good. Sometimes I don't want to leave school because I very much enjoy learning. What have you been learning about in your class?"

"I learn letters! Avery start with A!"

"Oh good job! Averylin, I think you are very smart. Do you know what Benjamin starts with? It comes after A."

"Um… apple?"

"Maybe you only learned A so far."

"Yep! An' numbers! One, two, three, four, five!"

"Oh Averylin, you are getting so grown up."

Avery smiled at the praise and adjusted her fork in her hand, trying to hold it in the ladylike way that Sarah did. She couldn't quite get it and her stomach was rumbling, so she held it the same way she usually did, and dug into her dinner.

"So then when we went music class Colt's class was waitin' to go in and my class was comin' out and all the kids were asking him questions about what happened. They weren't mean questions, but they were nosy."

"Yeah, kind of nosy. I just answered them real quick but I started to think about it all again and I was so happy when it was time to go to music class. I got to play the sand blocks today, and that made me feel better."

"But then during second recess," Isa started darkly, crossing her hands over her chest and making sure she had the attention of all four adults. "A kid came up to Colt and said that you can't get away from kidnappers because they kill you and everything he said to us was a lie."

Colton looked down at his plate for a moment, pushing a green bean around with his fork.

"What did you tell that kid?" Adam asked, reaching over to squeeze Colton's shoulder.

"I told him that you could get away. And I know because it happened to me. And then he just looked at me for a real long time and then said sorry and walked away."

"I went after the kid and told him that Colt is not a liar and the kid said okay and that he didn't know you could get away. Then he asked if maybe we could tell him the safety tips again. So we did! And he said he feels more powerful now. And that is how Colt and I became friends with a fourth grader!"

"Yep! He's actually a pretty nice guy. He was just um… misinformed."

"Yeah," Isa agreed with a nod. "Man, we've had a lot of strife on the playground today."

She glanced over at Ben and Junior who both gave her a smile.

"I hear the playground is a pretty tough place," Danny chuckled. "I'm glad you guys have figured out how to handle it so well."

"Me too. Did y'all ever have trouble on the playground?" she asked curiously, wiping her mouth.

"I'd better not hear you sayin' y'all ever again."

"But daddy, it's a habit I got from Indy!"

He just sighed and shook his head. His daughter adored Lindsay and occasionally would employ different tactics to be just like her. He was ashamed to admit that his born and bred city girl may have a little country side to her too.

"Now, as I was saying, did all y'all ever have trouble on the playground?" she asked again, grinning at Danny's wince.

"Your daddy used to pull my hair a lot," Austin offered. "But I have to admit that there were times when I was kind of a bully."

"What about you, aunt Lin?" Junior asked, very interested in this conversation. "Did you have trouble playin'?"

"Not really. I had three big brothers and people knew if they messed with me that they would have to answer to them."

"But?" Adam prompted, poking her arm.

"But once my brothers had moved on to other schools I was left to fend for myself. I was pretty short and I usually dressed myself so I looked kind of funny, and one day a mean girl on the playground decided to pick on me."

"What did you do mama, what did you do?" Ben asked anxiously, as if his heart was beating in his throat.

"I did something that I don't ever want any of you to ever, ever do."

"What is it Indy? Oh please tell us!"

"I punched her right in the nose."

"Wow!"

"I got into major trouble, I couldn't come back to school for three days and I had to write her a letter of apology."

"Wait a second," Isa started, shaking her head. "The girl was making fun of you, and you had to apologize to her?"

"Yeah."

"Did she have to apologize to you?"

"No. I think that part was forgotten in the confusion of everything else."

"Oh my goodness," Sarah sighed. "That is quite the story auntie. I can't believe you hit someone. You must have been very, very mad."

"I was. That's no excuse though, okay?"

"What about you daddy?" Colton asked curiously. "Did you ever get bullied on the playground?"

"A few times here and there, but I learned to stick with my friends and to not worry what mean people said or did. I had much more fun at recess when I figured that out."

"Yeah I bet so."

"So I guess that what we've learned here is that playground fights happen, but don't punch anyone in the nose," Isa surmised. "All agreed, troops?"

"All agreed!" they shouted back.

"Great! Now fall in and eat dinner!"

The kids all bolted down their food in record time, then asked to be excused and ran upstairs to play.

"Daddy and Dum, don't forget we're playing spies tonight, so hurry up!"

"There is no rest for the weary."

"The wicked, Daniel. You mean the wicked."

"No, weary is right too!"

"But you're more wicked than weary."

"Shut up."

Austin chuckled and gave his shoulder a little nudge while he finished his dinner.

"Alright Cupcake, duty calls."

"I think I might play the part of the dead body tonight."

"No way, it's my turn for that!"

"Nu-uh, you did it last time!"

"No, you did! It's my turn!"

"No it's mine!"

They kept arguing all the way up the stairs and Lindsay and Austin laughed as they listened to it.

"So really this family is eight kids and two adults."

"Basically. We are definitely the weary in this scenario."

"Weary have to do the dishes too don't they?"

"We'd better. And wipe down the table. These kids are slobs."

Austin grinned and they started to take dishes into the kitchen, but they kept getting in each other's way.

"Geez, what is with us tonight?"

"I have no idea. Maybe I should start rinsing and you can keep bringing."

"Okay. You're going to have fun with Avery's plate; she smashed all her meatballs under her fork. You might have to scrape."

"Awesome."

Lindsay chuckled and brought two more armfuls of dishes, then wiped down the table and the chairs and got out the broom to sweep the floor. She finished just as Austin was starting the dishwasher and after wiping down the counters and starting a pot of coffee, they headed into the other room and crashed onto the couches. Neither of them said anything for quite some time, they just lay there listening to the laughter from upstairs and enjoying the relative peace in the house.

"Despite the antics of their fathers, we've got some pretty mature kids, don't we?"

"Yeah. They surprise me a lot."

Two sets of feet came tromping down the stairs and Ben and Junior appeared with grins on their faces.

"What's up dudes?"

"We got tired of playin' spies. So Binyin said to me that we could go see what you ladies were doin'. Could we cuddle with ya?"

"Sure baby," Austin chuckled, opening her arms to him. He laughed and jumped onto the couch, curling into her side and giving her a smile while Ben climbed up with Lindsay, wiggling his loose tooth absentmindedly. He'd lost his two front ones already, and the two front bottom ones were getting close to coming out as well. Lindsay was wondering how he was going to eat with all four of his front teeth missing, but she was sure he would figure out a way to do it.

"So what are you ladies doin'?"

"We're just sitting here listening to you play upstairs."

"Well how come you didn't come up there and play too, ma?"

"I don't know. I think we were just too tired."

"Well that's too bad. It was fun 'til we got bored. Right Binyin?"

"Right. How was your day mama?"

"My day was pretty good. How about yours?"

"Mine was good too! Rosie smiled at me. Maybe she likes me again."

"Yeah Binyin. Because you are cute."

"I am?"

"That's what she said to the other girl Haley. She said you are cute because of your teeth bein' missin'."

Ben smiled and wiggled his loose tooth just a little harder.

"Hey ma, when am I gonna lose a tooth?"

"I don't know bub. Me and your dad were both late bloomers. You might have to wait a little."

"Okay. Maybe mine will all fall out at the same time!"

"How would you eat?"

"I would just have milkshakes."

"Daniel, you crack me up."

"Is that why you got cracks on your face? Those little ones by your eyes? And the one by your mouth you were complainin' to daddy about?"

Lindsay burst into laughter and Austin scowled, making the "cracks" even more pronounced.

"No honey those are wrinkles and I got them from dealing with your dad and aunt Lin."

"Oh," he said in wonderment as Lindsay continued to laugh.

"Linds shut up! Just because you've got skin like a baby's butt."

Ben and Junior hooted with hysterical laughter, clutching their sides.

"Mama's face looks like a butt!"

"Ben-"

"We gotta go tell the rest of the kids!"

The boys took off upstairs and Lindsay glared at Austin, who glared right back.

"I'm writing that one down."

"Me too."