"My boys!" Avery screeched, running from the front door into the living room where the boys were standing with their arms open. "Oh how I miss you so very most!"

"We missed you too sissy!" Ben said, hugging her as tightly as he could. "Boy, we was sure in a right state without you."

"You was?"

"Course! Right Cole? We missed sissy like crazy huh?"

"Yep. Did you think we would forget you or something Aves?"

"No. Wanna meet my new baby?"

"Not really sissy, I don't like dolls. Where's Thomas? We gotted her a bone at the store today."

"Oh Thomas!" Avery called as the dog trotted inside happily. "My boys getted you a present!"

Thomas jumped on the boys, greeting them both then settled down on the rug with the bone they'd given her.

"Where's mama, Aves?"

"Gettin' junk outta the car. Daddy will help."

"Daddy missed you too sissy. Did you hug him yet?"

"No. I want my boys first. Hug daddy later, I think."

"Better not forget. C'mon, let's go upstairs and you can see the fort what me and Cole and Dunner built all by ourselves. It's awesome!"

They trooped up the stairs and Avery gasped delightedly at the blanket fort that took up the boys entire room.

"Oh goody!" she squealed, spotting the small mattress on the floor between their beds. "I get to sleep in here too!"

"Daddy said you could for the rest of spring break but then you have to go back to your own bed."

"Because me and you talk too much," Ben added with a nod.

"Okay."

"So did you have fun in Boston?" Colton asked, once all three of them were laying on their beds.

"Yep! Sometime us kids will go with not mama and daddy. There is a playground and a pool. Mama an' Austin teached me swimming. I can float. Thomas cannot swim too for it is a people pool and hers a dog."

"Hey Aves, this means we can go to the pool together in the summer. You can practice swimming better and I will work on diving."

"Isa done that only she say "cannonball!" and splashed mama an' Austin an' then Austin pushed Isa back in the pool and me an' Sarah laughed an' then Isa yanked Sarah in the pool an' I wanted to join the fun an' I jumped in and mama, well she done went hysterical. That's why I getted lessons on swimming."

"Sissy, you are dangerous!" Ben exclaimed, leaning over the side of his bed to look at her. "Don't ever jump in a pool again like that without some water wings."

"Oh Ben, I can float. It be okay."

"Just be real careful, Aves. Me and Ben are both good swimmers but sometimes we still get water up our noses."

"And tired legs."

"And swim trunk wedgies."

Avery hooted a laugh at that one and sat up, shaking her curls away from her face.

"Me an' mama brunged you presents, boys. I will go an' get 'em. Stay here."

She ran out of the room and Ben sighed wisfully, shaking his head.

"Good gosh, I sure missed our baby sister. She is real fun."

"Yeah she is. It's too bad our new cat is getting groomed right now or we could introduce them. Do you think she knows we have a cat now too?"

"Not sure. We'll ask when she comes back."

"Maybe we should go downstairs and see if mama's inside yet. I really need to hug her."

"Me too, Cole. I'll race ya!"

They both jumped up and ran downstairs, Ben tripping over the last few steps and crashing hard on the floor, but popping up with a grin.

"Mama, that grand entrance was just for you!" he declared, running over to hug her. "Pick me up!"

She laughed and stooped down to hug him, wondering how he'd grown an inch in just a few days.

"I really love you mama and I missed you a lot and I got to thinkin' the other day about how great you are and how if I was a lady I'd wanna be just like you!"

"Thank you sweetie."

"I think I will be a boy version of you and be like daddy too. But then I 'membered that I am part you and part daddy so if I wanna be like both of y'all, alls I gotta do is be myself!"

"Oh Ben. What would I do without you?"

"Your life would be real borin' mama. I need some new pants. These ones got pretty shorty and it looks like I'm waitin' for a flood!"

"You can wear shorts for a bit until we have time to go get you some new clothes."

"Okay. You can hug Cole now."

She smiled and stood up, feeling her heart clench as her first-born ran into her arms, like they'd been apart for months. He held on tight and didn't say a word for a while, then suddenly looked up at her with a grin.

"Missed you."

"I missed you too buddy."

"I thought of something we could do together. Actually, a few somethings. I made a list. Can I show it to you later?"

"Yes please. I think that we can do next Saturday, if you're not busy."

"I'm not! Are you going to mark it on your calendar?"

"Sure. I just can't believe that you still want to spend time with me."

"Of course I do mama! I do love you, you know."

"I know. I love you too."

He smiled and pushed himself up on his toes, kissing her cheek.

"Daddy, is it time to go get the cat yet?" Ben asked, patting Thomas on the head. "I think it would be good for it and Thomas to be friends."

"Almost time buddy. Let's let Thomas get some food and rest and then we'll go get the cat."

Adam had thwarted all plans to name their new pet, on the chance that there would be animal wars in the house. The boys understood that Thomas was there first and they had to make sure this was a good fit for her too, but they were still anxious to see how things were going to go.

"We gots a kitty?" Avery asked skeptically. "What color?"

"It's gray and black sissy! It's real nice too. The doctor said it was a boy and daddy said we will have to get him fixed soon. I don't know what that means."

"Oh. Will the kitty sleep in your bed?"

"We'll see! It likes us a lot. Sleeped with all us boys last night and only meowed a little bit! We had to take it to the hair doing place on account of it had some bad patches of fur and was pretty dirty. Daddy said that after this we won't take it to be cleaned no more because cats do that theirselves."

"Well," Avery said, sliding out of Adam's lap. "That's interestin'. C'mon mama, let us get the presents out for the boys an' daddy! For we missed them."

"Yes we did."

"An' boys, we bringed also a can of beans from Beantown because that is so funny! I will find it for you an' then we will play."

"How about Franklin?" Ben suggested, pulling a string across the floor for the cat to chase. "I kinda like that name."

"Yeah, but it's another human name," Colton countered. He wasn't interested in Avery's animal naming style. "What about Sloth, like from The Goonies?"

"Nah, this cat isn't ugly. What about Tire? On account of he is black like a tire and his gray parts look like treads."

"Maybe. How about Batman?"

"Yeah, I like that name! But if we wanna name him Batman we also have to name him Bruce Wayne and that's a people name too."

"Naming a pet is hard. He needs a good name."

"I agree, Cole. Let me ask sissy if she gots any ideas."

He stood up and walked into Avery's room, where she was rocking her doll to sleep while Thomas sat at her feet.

"Hey sissy, we're havin' trouble naming our cat. Got any ideas?"

"Starshine."

"That's a girly name. Our cat is a boy."

"Oh yeah! How 'bout Gilligan?"

"Cole doesn't want a people name but Gilligan is a real good one! Maybe The Skipper. Thanks for the suggestions!"

He ran back into the bedroom and Avery clucked her tongue.

"What would they do without me, Thomas?"

The dog jumped up gently, resting against Avery's lap and licking her wrist.

"I know, baby. You remember to be good to the cat okay? I knew you would. I'm getting sleepy. Want to take a nap with me and Clover before dinner?"

Thomas jumped up onto the bed; she knew that "nap" and "bedtime" meant snuggling down into the covers with Avery and she wasn't the type of dog that minded being held tightly while she slept.

"Sissy, we got a name!" Ben announced, running back into the room just as she was throwing her covers back. "Floppers! Because he flops down on the ground real hard when he's done playing. C'mon Floppers, let's go tell mama and daddy."

He went upstairs and knocked on their door then pushed it open, finding them curled up on the bed together, almost asleep.

"We decided to call our cat Floppers."

"Okay buddy."

"Are you two takin' a nap?"

"Just for a little bit. We'll be up in time to make dinner. You kids are supposed to be resting right now."

"Sissy is. She's layin' in her bed. Me and Cole were just quietly playing with the cat. I will go lay down for a bit."

"Okay."

"Lemme c'mere and give y'all a kiss."

He trotted over to the bed and kissed them both, then headed out of the room, closing the door partway behind him.

"I had just fallen asleep," Lindsay sighed, stretching a little, then settling back down.

"Me too. I heard him coming and woke up."

"Someday they will be old enough to appreciate naps."

"I'm glad you're home," he said softly.

"Me too. It's nice to get away but it's better to come home."

"I agree. I'm sorry we fought before you left."

"Me too. We seemed to recover quite nicely from that one though."

"We're getting better at it. They say the 12 year itch is worse than the seven. I think we'll be okay though."

She chuckled and leaned up to kiss him, wondering if there could ever be a time when they truly weren't okay. She couldn't imagine getting to a point where she didn't love him, no matter how much they could bicker over silly things or fight over big ones.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just the extent of our awesomeness."

"Have I told you that you're weird?"

"Many times but you still stay married to me so I think you must like it."

"It's a sickness."

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him but was interrupted by the door swinging open again.

"Hi, I'm hungry," Avery said simply. "An' so be Clover an' Thomas."

"But no one wants to make dinner yet."

"But I am so famished!" she argued. "I gotta feed my babies or they get taked away!"

"You know where we keep the dog food honey. Where's the bottle that came with Clover?"

"Her finished it. She's ready for big people food."

"No she's not honey."

"Fine, I ask Coley to make dinner. COLEY! You make me some food!"

She thundered out of the room and Lindsay sat up with a sigh.

"I'd better go do some damage control. You coming?"

"I guess. There's lots of leftover pizza."

"Why didn't you eat the leftovers instead of ordering more?"

"We wanted a different kind."

"You're supposed to be really good with money."

"I am. That's why I could afford to order pizza three times. Besides the boys think I'm the coolest dad ever."

"They already thought that."

"Well the extra pizza didn't hurt. Especially when I let Ben convince me to just get a dessert pizza last night. I felt sick but the kids were happy with it."

"You would do anything they asked you to."

"Probably."

"How did he convince you? Lots of reminding? The puppy-dog eyes?"

"No, he just asked me if we could have dessert pizza for dinner and I said yes."

"You're so easy. We're having nothing but vegetables and I'm telling the kids it was your idea."

"Fine."

"No sissy you messed it up!" Ben hollered angrily from the kitchen. "I telled you and telled you not to touch my art project!"

"I was just lookin'!"

"You wrecked it! Averylin Grace you are a meanie!"

"No! It be an accident Ben! I love you! I'm sorry!"

"What am I going to do?"

"I will help you fix it! I'm sorry Ben."

"You can't help me sissy. My drawing is ruined. I have to start over. Do you know how hard it is to draw a flying whale?"

"Ben, I 'pologized! You cannot talk mean to me no more!"

"Well I still feel mean! I poured my heart and soul into this for the last five minutes and you wrecked it! You wrecked it!"

Avery burst into tears of shame and presumably ran into the living room. Unspoken agreement made Lindsay follow her while Adam went to talk to Ben.

"Avery, come out from there."

"I am sad!"

"I know you're sad, but come out from there please."

Avery struggled out from behind the couch, wiping at her eyes and pushing her hair out of her face.

"Ben is not nice."

"He's very upset, but he didn't deal with that very nicely, I agree."

"It was a accident mama! I not mean to!"

"I know you didn't."

"He say my whole big name. I not like that."

"I know."

"I want help him fix it."

"I know you do honey, and that's good but I don't think there's anything you can do to help."

"He is most mad."

"He'll get over it. Ben likes to be dramatic just like you do, but it means you both get your feelings hurt very easily."

"What's dramatic?"

"It means you're a diva."

"I are not!" she exclaimed indignantly, her hands on her hips.

"Yes you are. Come on, let's go talk this over with Ben."

They went into the kitchen where Adam was leaning against the counter trying not to laugh and Ben was sitting on a barstool, face buried in his arms while he cried.

"Benjamin?"

"This is a horrible day of my life mama! Leave me to my grief!"

"I understand that you're sad about your picture but I need you to sit up and be a big boy right now. Avery apologized to you and you treated her very poorly."

"But I was so angry!"

"I know. Sometimes we say things we don't mean when we're mad. Daddy and I do it all the time. But we always apologize because we love each other."

"Well I love sissy but I don't like her much now."

"I'm sure there's times she doesn't like you much either."

"Yeah Ben I not like you today!" Avery said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Then I will not apologize to you for my words!" Ben shot back. "You wrecked my masterpiece and ruined my life."

"I wish you was not my brother Ben!"

Both kids burst into fresh tears and Adam and Lindsay exchanged looks, at a loss for how to referee this new turn of events. Just as they were about to feebly attempt to rectify the situation Colton wandered in with his arms crossed over his chest and a long sigh.

"Ben, Aves, you two have got to calm down," he started, shaking his head. "You're not babies and you should stop acting like it. Ben, Aves said sorry and you know she didn't do it on purpose. Aves, Ben can sometimes say really mean things but he doesn't mean them in his heart. Now both of you stop crying and hug or I bet you're going to get sent to your rooms."

Avery sniffled and wiped her eyes, walking over to Ben and reaching up to hug him. It took a minute but he finally climbed off the stool and hugged her back.

"I love you Ben. I do."

"I love you too sissy but I was real distressed. My words were unkind and rude. I am sorry I treated you so terrible."

"Me too. I like you for my brother."

"Wanna go and play?"

"Okay. I will let you play with Thomas."

They ran out of the room holding hands as if the last ten minutes hadn't happened.

"Colton Matthew, you are a miracle worker."

He gave a shy shrug.

"You just have to appeal to their sensibilities."

"And how'd you know to do that?"

"Mama, when you have Ben and Aves for a brother and sister, you have to stop fights all the time. They fight every day, you just don't know because I can figure out a way to make them friends again before they start screaming."

"Will you teach us your ways buddy?"

"Well maybe if I can figure them out. I just go with whatever feels right. Plus their fighting annoys me so I do it for my own benefit too."

"When did you get so old and wise?"

"You don't have to be old to be wise, daddy."

"Well that's very true."

"Must be true. Mac was the one who said that to me. He said I have the right to refuse to let anyone look down on me because I am young. He said even if my age doesn't show it, I am turning into a good man."

"That's pretty good buddy. Mac has never even said that to me before."

"Well maybe he means it to you anyway daddy. I'd better go up and make sure they're doing okay."

"What took you so long?" Adam sighed, setting his book down on the side table. "I thought you were just going to check on the kids."

"Well I was," Lindsay answered, tossing her shirt in the hamper. "But then I looked at them all sleeping and they were so cute I just had to kiss them and everything went fine until I got to Ben…"

"And it woke him up."

"He popped up and said "Top of the mornin' to ya mama, I am a leprechaun today!" I told him it wasn't morning yet and I was just kissing him goodnight and then he made a very convincing argument that I needed to lay down with him until he fell asleep because that's only good manners apparently."

"And so you did."

"I did and he just kept talking and talking, you know how he does."

"Yes."

"It took him a while to talk about everything he'd ever thought or seen or wanted to see."

"Well no wonder you were down there for almost an hour."

"An hour?"

"Yes," he sighed tossing back the sheets for her. "An hour."

"I'm sorry. I missed him."

"I missed you."

She smiled and climbed into bed next to him, laughing softly when he pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly, as if she might have been thinking that the vacation was too nice, she wasn't ready to be home.

"I'm not going anywhere babe."

"I know. I just need to remind you of that."

"I promise the next vacation is just you and me. Maybe the kids, we'll have to wait and see if there is a foam padded room to keep them in all day."

"They'd probably love that."

"Win-win situation then."

"Good. Now, let's move on."

"My, my, you sure know what you want," she giggled while he moved them into a more comfortable position.

"Mm-hmm. You locked the door right?"

"Of course I did. We had an understanding didn't we?"

"Yes but you also spent an unplanned hour downstairs. I wasn't sure if you were going to beg off."

"Oh whatever. There's a reason I suggested taking naps today. Doing my part to ensure the aforementioned evening processes."

"You make it sound like we're factory workers or something," he said, lifting his head up from where he'd been kissing her neck. "It kind of takes the romanticism out of it."

"Would it have been better if I called it a rendezvous instead of a process?"

"No, that makes me feel like I'm on the cover of a 1980's romance novel."

"Please don't put that image in my head."

"Bad?"

"I don't like to think of you with hair so long that it blows in the mountain wind."

He laughed and ran his finger around her ear until she let out a contented little sigh.

"You got some sun," he mentioned, his voice dropping slightly.

"A little I guess."

"Must have been wearing something cut pretty low."

"I guess. Didn't mean to."

"I like it."

"You didn't miss me, you just missed my body."

"Well, it is one of the things I like most about you."

"You're male."

"I cannot help my biological predisposition for visual stimulation. And besides if I wasn't male, this wouldn't be working out so well right now would it?"

"Touche."

"Can we stop talking?"

"Shut me up."

He smiled for just a second before kissing her deeply, his swiftness taking her slightly by surprise. He was always more slow and gentle but she didn't find herself minding this change of pace. It may have only been a few days, but he'd definitely missed her.

Less than a minute later his phone rang. He didn't seem to register the noise but she sighed, glancing at the clock and noting that if someone was calling this late it was probably important.

"Babe-"

"Do you really want me to get that?"

"No but…"

The ringing stopped and he smiled, picking up where he'd left off, only to be foiled by a second call.

"You've got to be kidding me," he sighed, rolling off of her and grabbing his phone. "Why would they be calling this late?"

"Who is it?"

"My dad," he answered, feeling suddenly that this phone call was going to be bad news. Dave never called him just to chat and certainly not at this time of night.

"Hello?"

He listened for a moment and Lindsay shifted behind him, sensing that this wasn't a misdial or a regular family phone call. His voice was panicked almost as he asked for clarification several times, body tensing up as he was given the news several times until he grasped what was being said.

Once he had, he tossed the phone onto the bed and stood up, stalking out of the room while Lindsay wondered what could have been said to disturb him so much. She scrambled for the phone, finding it finally and making sure the call was still connected.

"Hello? Dave, are you there?"

There was muffled noise on the other end and she strained to hear the words.

"Lindsay?"

"What's going on? Dave, is everyone okay?"

"It's… she… Sharon's gone."