A\N 1: Hi, it ready it's been a really long time since I've updated. Again real life and work got in the way and I had little time to write. I've been slowly working on this chapter for a few months. I was getting ready to start editing the chapter and post it last week when there was a family emergency. I've been in a bad place this past week but I managed to get up enough energy to edit this chapter and post it. Please leave a review if you can it would really mean a lot to me.

A\N 2: I deleted my other story "38 weeks" as it was getting to hard to think of things for the chapters. I've decided to focus on this story.

A\N 3: In case anyone was wondering Hope is currently 19 months old and Jessica is 7 months old.

Hope Goes skiing Part 2

While on an advanced ski course Shane tore a ligament in her right knee, she was transferred to a hospital in Denver by ambulance and was now in hospital awaiting knee surgery. Oliver was trying to stay on task at work by trying to deliver lost letters. At home he admitted he was feeling overwhelmed as both Jessica and Hope were reacting to Shane not being home. Hope started having bad temper tantrums and was hitting and throwing toys and childcare and home. Jessica was very attached to Oliver making drop-offs very difficult as she would cry and scream as Oliver left. She didn't want anyone else comforting her and wasn't napping at all.

All of Shane and Oliver's family and friends offered to help in any way they could. Rita and Norman were visiting Shane at the hospital and going grocery shopping, so Oliver didn't have to. Joe was going to take Hope and Jessica for the week after Shane's surgery to give her time to heal, and Oliver a break.

On the Friday before Shane's surgery Dale's latest case ended early, she called Oliver offering to take her Goddaughters out of childcare early, and overnight as well. Oliver, who was feeling very overwhelmed, gratefully accepted the help and called the girls daycare.

When Dale walked into Hope's toddler room, she could see it was wake up time. Oliver had recommended she pick up the girls after naptime, so they'd hopefully sleep and not be so tired later. For the most part the children were on their beds and playing with quiet toys or looking at books as one teacher put some of the beds away. Dale could hear voices coming from the washroom and then she saw Hope run out completely naked.

"Hope," Dale called her goddaughter.

"No shirt, Auntie Dale no," Hope spoke, some of her words still not coming out clearly. Dale though could figure out what she was saying.

"Hope you need to wear a shirt and pants and a diaper. Are you not being a good girl?"

"I good," Hope gave her cutest smile as her teacher picked her up.

"Hope, you know Miss Lisa had to tell Daddy you've been having an emotional morning. You hit a friend and were silly at sleep time and now you're being silly. Miss Emma is trying to change your diaper and clothes. You had poop on your old clothes."

"Hope," Dale frowned at her Goddaughter, "If you're not listening then I don't think you should get to visit a special place."

"No, I go." Hope looked up at her Godmother.

"Well, then you need to let your teacher change you. I am going to go and pick up your sister. When I get back, I'll ask your teacher if you've been listening or not," Dale left the toddler classroom and went down the hall to pick up Jessica in her infant classroom. Luckily a few minutes later when she returned to pick up Hope the toddler was dressed in a pink shirt and white leggings and dragging her Baby Shark backpack from her cubby to the door.

"Auntie Dale!" Hope forgot about her backpack and ran to her god-mother when she saw her, "I ready now. Hope good girl."

"Yes," Her teacher confirmed, "She was very cooperative, and she was excited to be leaving early when we told her this morning. She only had about a thirty-minute nap."

"We go?" Hope asked.

"Go and get your backpack and then we can go. Oh and say goodbye to your teacher," Dale called out instructions.

Hope went to her backpack and picked it up and then blew a kiss to her teacher as she walked over to the stroller her sister was sitting in. Dale put her backpack underneath the stroller with Jessica's and lifted Hope into her seat in the stroller.

Bringing the girls to her car Dale put them in their car seats and folded down the stroller and then put it and their backpacks in the trunk. When she got into the driver's seat she started the car, "You girls are going to a fire station to meet Auntie Dale's boyfriend. He's a firefighter."

It was a cold day outside and so Dale made sure to bundle both Hope and Jessica up in winter clothing before taking the ride to the fire station. As they couldn't wear their winter coats in their car seats, they had lighter winter jackets or 'car-seat coats'. Hope didn't want Dale to put her in the stroller when they arrived at the fire station. As such she went racing ahead of Dale. As soon as Hope got inside, she started trying to unzip the jacket as she got hot. Then she tried to pull off her winter boots and made herself fall. Once she got her boots kicked off, she ran around loving the few seconds without adults. It was then that a small puppy picked up one of her boots and dropped it at her feet wagging its tail.

Hope stopped running and looked down at the puppy, "Puppy!" She touched the puppy and smiled as it jumped up at her. Hope giggled happily as she sat down and let the puppy lick her. "Good puppy!"

The doors leading further into the firehouse opened and two firefighters entered the lobby, "Hm, brown pigtails, Baby Shark doll, contagious giggle, you must be Jessica." A man teased Hope as she knelt beside her.

"No!" Hope glared at him, "Me Hope!" She declared proudly, "Jessica," She tried to pronounce her sister's name as she pointed to where Jessica was sitting in the stroller.

"Of course, you're Hope," The man grinned, ``My names Tony, I'm Auntie Dale's boyfriend. This is my friend Maddie," He pointed to the woman who was talking to Dale. "I see you've met our puppy Patches. She's a baby puppy, she loves playing," Tony threw a ball and to his surprise both Patches and Hope went running off to catch it. Hope got it first and Patches jumped up to get the ball back, Hope just giggled and let the dog get the ball.

"Hope, you must have a doggie at your house," Maddie offered Patches a few dog treats from her pocket as she came to investigate Jessica and Dale.

"I don't think Hope's father would be very happy with a dog in the house. I'm not sure if Hope's ever played with a dog before. I think she just loves playing," Dale responded. She had to admit though Hope was strangely good at playing with the puppy. She had been worried the toddler would be rough, but the puppy seemed to be the perfect play partner for the rambunctious toddler.

Patches ran off towards a fire truck and Hope happily followed. She saw some firefighter clothes. She stepped into a pair of boots, she then put on a helmet and giggled as she fell because she couldn't see.

"Oh no!" Hope called out from under the fire helmet "Hope gone!" She babbled.

"Oh no, we lost Hope. Where could she be?" Dale responded, playing with Hope.

"Hope here!" Hope took off the helmet and giggled, "Tuck." Hope babbled as she pointed up to the fire truck, "Beep."

"Well, I think that's a very good idea, and I have some things here I think may help," Tony brought over two big bags that were by a storage closet, "Sometimes we have children come for visits. We give them a chance to wear children's size firefighter clothes. Do you want to see?"

Hope nodded her head and looked at all the things Tony and Madison were pulling out of the bags. Madison put the smallest outfits they had on her, and it still looked big. The helmet still covered her eyes, but she didn't care, "Beep!" She pointed up at the fire truck.

"Alright let's see how well you drive," Tony lifted her up and placed her in the driver's seat of the fire truck. Hope began making sounds and babbling away as she put her hands on the steering wheel and pretended to drive.

Dale placed Jessica in the stroller with some toys, took out her phone and started a video of Hope. "Hope where are you driving?"

"Mommy, Daddy" Hope responded as she continued to drive the firetruck. She used her hands to try and turn the steering wheel. "Baby Shark."

Dale was about to ask another question when Jessica started to cry. Dale stopped the video and lifted the baby up to console her. Hope saw Dale wasn't paying attention to her and started to whine.

"No baby!" She yelled as she tried to climb down from the firetruck.

"Hope, that's not very nice," Tony helped her down, "Jessica's a baby."

"Hope baby!" Hope stomped her feet on the ground and pouted. She then saw Patches trying to chew on Baby Shark and started to cry.

"No, no," A newly arrived older firefighter took the well-loved toy out of the puppy's mouth, "That's not for you," The firefighter offered Patches a dog toy before handing Hope her toy, "My grandson likes Baby Shark too."

"Tank woo," Hope took Baby Shark and hugged the toy.

"Alright Hope," Dale approached her god-daughter, "I think we should go now. You didn't sleep well today at school. You're starting to get a little bit cranky. We can watch a movie at my house."

"Puppy come?" Hope pointed to Patches.

"No, Patches needs to stay here, but maybe I can bring you back to visit."

"Hope puppy!" Hope declared.

"Oh boy," Dale sighed, "Your Daddy isn't going to like this new interest either," She thought back to how Oliver was when Dale gave Hope her first Baby Shark doll.

Three days later Joe knocked on the door of Dale's house. When let inside he saw that Hope and Jessica had been busy playing. There were toys almost everywhere on the floor. Dale led him into a family room that had lots of toys all over the room. Hope saw her grandfather first and ran up to attach herself to his leg and sat on his foot, "Ride," She giggled.

Joe carefully took a few steps before lifting Hope up into his arms, "Puppy Grandpa!" Hope exclaimed.

"A puppy? When did you see a puppy?" Joe asked his Granddaughter as he sat down on the couch.

"My boyfriend's a firefighter, there's one at the firehouse. Hope just loved it. She's been very interested in puppies. We even found a song about Baby Shark seeing a puppy on my IPad." Dale explained as Jessica started to fuss and crawl towards Joe.

"Baby Shark puppy," Hope replied, "Puppy cute. Hope play?" She tried to get off her Grandpa's lap and climb down from the couch.

"Have you heard from Oliver? How's Shane?" Dale asked Joe as Hope went off to play with her toys and Joe lifted Jessica up into his lap.

"I talked to Oliver just before coming to pick the girls up. He said Shane's a bit nervous but she's more just wanting her knee to be fixed. She's tired of not being able to do much." Joe explained to Dale as they watched the girls play.

Later in the day, at Joe's house, Joe decided to take Hope and Jessica outside to play. It had snowed overnight and there was fresh snow on the ground to be played with. Joe dressed Hope first and he tried to let her help as much as she could. She was frustrated she couldn't figure out how to get into her pink one-piece snowsuit all on her own.

Carrying Jessica and watching as Hope walked unsteadily in the snow beside him. Joe pulled out a brand new sled he'd bought for his granddaughters. The sled was just a little bit bigger than the one Shane and Oliver had and Joe was hoping a bigger one would encourage Hope to give her little sister more room. Joe placed Jessica in the sled and then turned to look at Hope who was trying to catch falling snowflakes with her mittens.

"Hope, look what Grandpa got for you and Jessica," Joe captured the toddler's attention and she turned around and smiled.

"Red sled," Hope babbled excitedly. She turned to walk towards the sled but fell in the snow, she got up giggling and walked over to the sled, "Hope ride," She pulled on the sled to pull herself up so she could climb inside.

Picturing Hope falling and hurting herself Joe picked her up and placed her in the back of the sled behind Jessica.

"No baby!" Hope pushed her sister, making her cry. "Hope turn," She pouted, now moving onto hitting her sister.

"No, no Hope," Joe looked sternly at her, "You need to share the sled with Jessica. It is big enough for both of you to have a turn in.

"No!" Hope screamed angrily.

"If you don't want to share the sled then you won't have a turn," Joe looked at her sternly. It was getting more and more common for Hope to act in jealousy and hurt her sister. This was something all the adults in her life were worried about to varying degrees. Oliver saw it as a behaviour problem and often took toys away from Hope which sometimes made the situation worse. Shane was in the process of trying to convince her husband it wasn't completely behaviour problem and that they needed to use the same approach to help her understand and learn to cope and manage her jealousy. Shane knew she needed to learn not to hurt her sister but to also understand her big emotions.

Hope started to cry and then Jessica started to cry. Joe carefully took Jessica in his arms and then picked up Hope. Hope looked at her sister and placed a hand on her face, "Baby sad." She began to start to calm down.

"Yes, your sister is sad, maybe she wanted to go on a sled ride with you. Jessica loves you very much, Hope."

"Love you," Hope kissed Jessica on the cheek. "Ride fun," She babbled as she pointed to the sled.

"You need to be nice to your little sister Hope," Joe told her as he placed Hope and Jessica back in the sled.

As Joe pulled the sled Jessica started to whimper so Hope placed her arms around her sister "Okay," She rubbed her face, "Hope here."

After twenty minutes outside Joe realized Jessica probably didn't like the cold. The baby was crying and flailing her arms around when he put her in the snow and when she fell face first into the snow she started crying even more.

Just as Joe was getting the girls ready to go inside a very familiar car pulled into the driveway. "Daddy car! Daddy car!" Hope screamed in excitement. She attempted to walk through the snow and to the car. She fell in the snow along the way, but Oliver picked her up.

"Daddy!" Hope flung her arms around Oliver's neck, getting him soaked with melted snow in the process.

"It appears you have had an excellent time playing outside in the snow," Oliver looked at her rosy cheeks, happy expression and snow covered snowsuit, "Perhaps next year you will be able to de more skiing."

"Yes Daddy," Hope clapped her hands.

Oliver kissed Hope's cheek, "Auntie Rita is with Mommy now, I cannot stay long, I am going to pick up Jessica now," Oliver handed Hope to his father and then picked up Jessica who was crying but stopped as soon as she was in her father's arms.

"I think Jessie may be like you son, she seemed a bit unhappy while we were outside," Joe opened the door to his house and placed Hope on the ground and started helping her take off her winter clothes.

"I have also observed that," Oliver started to take Jessica's winter things off. "I too prefer being inside in the winter months."

"I know," Joe laughed as Hope kicked off her winter boots and then ran off happily to play. She returned a few seconds later with a pile of construction paper of varying sizes.

"For Mommy," Hope held them up to Oliver, "Mommy all better."

"I am quite sure those pictures will make Mommy feel better, Can you help Grandpa find a folder to put them in. I cannot stay long, I missed you and your sister and wanted to see you. I need to leave now," Oliver finished undressing Jessica and then placed her on the ground.

Joe saw Hope begin to pout at the news of her father leaving, "Hope, you know the doctor's needed to fix Mommy's knee. She's at home resting and Daddy wants to help her. You and Jessica are staying here with me. Remember tomorrow we're going to see Baby Shark on Ice." Joe spoke of the new skating show he had recently gotten tickets for.

"She was not aware until now she was going," Oliver admitted to his father with a little chuckle, "I thought it best to wait until she was here in case a circumstance arose, and she could not go."

"Daddy go, Baby Shark, ice!" Hope pointed to the door, "Mommy pictures."

"You are seeing Baby Shark on ice tomorrow," Oliver lifted her up and kissed her cheek, "You be a good girl and sit nicely at the show. I do not want to hear you caused a disturbance."

"No dburns," Hope attempted to pronounce her father's long word, Oliver laughed a little and kissed the top of her head as he took the pictures from her. He then hugged and kissed Jessica and promised them both girls they'd get to see Mommy in four sleeps.

TBC