A/N: Hi! It's been over a year since I finished We Are and the We Can universe on here, but if you've followed me on Twitter, you maybe saw that I've posted a handful of little oneshots set in that world. I've been going back and forth for a while on if I'll ever put those or anything related to them here on FF, and then Abby and Cami asked for birthday oneshots, so it felt like the perfect time to try it out. I don't know how often this will get updated after this month, but it'll be here if I ever need to escape anything else. I hope you'll all like jumping back in this world with me.
And happy birthday Abby! You've been here since the beginning, so I hope you enjoy :)
August, 2026
Drew – 10, Blake – 2, Penny – 1
If Jay and Hailey thought Blake learning how to walk was stressful, Penny learning to walk was a whole other level. She was extremely determined to not be left behind and screamed if her legs weren't exactly fast enough to catch up with her brothers in the backyard. She liked exploring the world on her own, and it would have been cute had she not found so many ways to get into trouble. She spilt many glasses of water, attempted to climb any piece of furniture, and hid any small item that she found.
It was exhausting.
"Penelope!" Hailey yelled across the backyard when she looked up from pulling weeds in her new garden beds.
The toddler turned from banging a shovel on the fence and screamed in response.
Hailey sighed and quickly stood. Brushing the dirt off her legs, she said, "Penny, come here."
Penny tilted her head to the side then screamed again before turning back to the fence. She gripped the chainlink in her free hand and yanked as hard as she could.
"Oh my god," Hailey breathed as she hurried over to pick up her daughter. "You are being too loud," she said, "Why are you screaming?"
"Dada," Penny whined, "Dada!"
Hailey sighed and said, "He'll be home soon. He went to get slurpees with your brothers."
"Dada?" Penny asked.
"Soon," Hailey repeated, "Come here, come work in the garden with Mommy. Do you want to see our flowers?"
Penny whined softly then dropped her shovel and nodded.
"Yeah," Hailey breathed, patting her back, "Good girl. Come on. Stay by Mommy."
She carried Penny back to the blanket she'd originally placed her on and sat next to her. Reaching over to some of the daisies, she plucked one off and held it up to Penny. "Isn't this pretty?" she asked, "It's pretty just like you."
Penny giggled and grabbed it from her. She stared at it for a moment then stuck it against her nose like she'd seen Blake do several times.
Hailey laughed and said, "Does it smell good? Do you like that?"
"Mama, Mama," Penny said as she held the flower up to Hailey.
Hailey smelt it then said, "Oo, it does smell good. Very pretty."
Penny nodded and dropped the flower. She gripped Hailey's leg in order to push herself up on her feet. For a second, she swayed in her place, then steadied herself and patted Hailey's face.
"Hmm?" Hailey hummed, "What do you want, baby girl?"
Penny's face broke out into a big grin and she stepped forward with her chin in the air.
Instantly, Hailey knew what she wanted and laughed softly. She leaned down to rub her nose to Penny's and whispered, "I love you."
"Mama," Penny said before climbing up onto Hailey's lap and hugging her around the neck.
"Oh, you are the nicest little girl, aren't you?" Hailey said while holding her close.
And then Penny screamed in her ear.
"Dada! Dada!"
Wincing, Hailey quickly let her go so she could run across the yard as fast as she could. She turned just in time to see Jay walk through the gate with Blake in one arm and a tray of slurpees in his other hand.
"Penelope Jane!" he greeted, "Do you want a slurpee?"
Penny crashed into his legs and put a hand up. "Dada! Dada!"
Hailey sighed and leaned back on her palms. "She clearly missed you," she called out.
Jay laughed and set Blake down just to pick Penny up. "I missed her too," he said before kissing Penny's cheek, "Hi, baby bird."
Drew walked over to sit next to Hailey and said, "Dad let me get a medium."
Hailey raised an eyebrow, but still smiled and said, "You're lucky. What flavor did you get?"
"Just Coke. It's the best one," Drew answered before taking a sip, "Dad got you cherry and lemonade."
"That sounds delicious," Hailey said.
Drew smiled and said, "I knew you'd like it."
Hailey smiled back at him then poked his nose. "You're so nice," she said.
"I know," Drew replied.
Laughing softly, Hailey glanced back at Jay telling Blake to walk slow while holding his slurpee so he wouldn't drop it. She bit her lip over a smile as she watched their toddler son follow his directions for just a moment before speeding up until he reached the blanket.
"Mama," he panted. Holding out his slurpee for her, he said, "Yum. Yum, Mama, and co."
"Co?" Hailey repeated, "Is it cold?"
Blake nodded and touched his straw to her lips. "Mama, eat."
She took a sip and said, "Oh, that's really yummy. I love that. What flavor did you get?"
Blake looked down at his slurpee then said, "Boo."
"Blue raspberry," Drew answered, "He thinks it's blueberry, though."
"Ah," Hailey laughed, "Well, are we just letting him think that?"
"It's easier than letting him cry," Drew said.
Hailey laughed harder and helped Blake sit on her knee. "Makes sense," she said.
"He was being a stinker in there," Jay said as he approached with Penny and the slurpees for him and Hailey. He sat on the blanket with the others then said, "He wouldn't stop touching everything. It's too sticky for that. Yucky, right, Buzz? Yucky."
Blake laughed to himself and took a long sip of slurpee before sticking his tongue out and shaking his head.
"Yeah," Jay chuckled, passing Hailey her slurpee.
"Thank you," she said. She took a sip then said, "Yup, that's the perfect drink for a hot day."
"It's way too hot," Drew sighed, "I want the snow."
"Oh, really?" Jay chuckled while holding his slurpee for Penny to drink, "All right, I'll remember you said that when it comes to February and you're tired of the snow."
"I'll eat my words, I know," Drew sighed.
Hailey laughed and shook her head. "It's okay. We all feel the same way. We want the cold when it's hot outside, and we want the heat when it's cold out."
"It's just life," Jay agreed.
Penny slipped off his lap then toddled over to Hailey to get a sip of her slurpee. She smiled up at her mom then kissed her arm.
"Oh, now you want me, huh?" Hailey laughed, "You are a little stinker."
"She just wants food," Drew laughed as well.
"She hates baths and loves food, what a girl," Jay chuckled.
Penny smiled at him before walking closer to the garden.
Keeping an eye on her, Hailey said, "Our flowers are looking good, don't you think?"
"They came in good," Jay said, "Nice job, team."
"It was mostly us," Drew said.
Hailey smiled and shrugged. "Buzz helped with the building and watering, and Penny was the support."
"Definitely a team effort," Jay agreed.
Penny moved to climb into the garden then hesitated and looked behind her.
"Uh-uh," Hailey said, shaking her head, "No. Do not get in there. You know that."
Penny blinked and brought her other leg up onto the garden bed.
"Penelope," Hailey warned, "Get down."
Blake's head spun around to watch his sister suddenly crawl into the garden and stick her hand in the dirt.
"I've got her," Jay breathed, passing Drew his slurpee then crawling over to grab Penny. "Mommy said no," he said, "No babies in the garden."
"No?" Penny repeated.
"She learned another word!" Drew said excitedly.
Jay tried not to smile. "No," he said, nodding, "You are not allowed in the garden. No."
"No," Penny said again.
"What a word for her to learn," Hailey said through a quiet laugh.
"Stay on the blanket," Jay told Penny while setting her back down in the middle of everyone else, "Stay here with us."
Penny watched him sit between Drew and Blake then let out a long sigh.
Hailey laughed and said, "What're you sighing about, silly girl? You need to follow the rules. You can't climb in the garden."
Penny sighed again and looked down at her fists for a moment before opening her hands to reveal dirt in one and a bee in the other.
Drew yelled and scrambled backwards. "She has a bee!" he screamed.
Blake screamed as well and started crawling away, knocking over his and Hailey's slurpees.
Penny held the bee up to Hailey and said, "Mama!"
Hailey quickly grabbed her wrist and made her drop the bee to the blanket. "No, that's a bee. It can hurt you," she said.
Jay leaned forward and used the blanket to nudge at the bee. "I think it's dead," he said.
Hailey shook her head and looked Penny's hand over. "You could get hurt," she said, "Bees hurt people."
"They sting you!" Drew yelled, "And it burns so bad. You cannot just pick up bees! You put us all in danger!"
"You weren't in danger," Jay sighed, carefully picking up the dead bee then going to toss it over the fence.
Blake followed him, stomping his feet and yelling gibberish at the bee.
Penny looked between her brothers as tears welled up in her eyes. She let out a soft whimper before screaming herself and crying out.
"Oh, honey," Hailey breathed. Picking up her daughter, she hugged her tightly to her shoulder and said, "It's okay. You're okay. You just scared us."
"Penny, all gone," Jay said as he knelt behind Hailey, "It's done. It's okay."
Penny cried harder and buried her face in Hailey's shirt.
"You were so bad," Drew said, "That was disappointing. Who does that?"
"Drew Alexander," Hailey snapped, "Enough."
"It was scary," Drew mumbled.
Penny screamed louder and kicked her feet around.
"Jay, did she get stung?" Hailey asked, turning around to try and get Penny closer to him.
He shook his head, but still grabbed Penny's hand and tried examining it. "I don't think so," he said, "I don't see anything. Did you?"
"No," Hailey sighed.
"She's just upset and scared," Jay said, "She'll be okay."
Hailey nodded, closing her eyes to rest her cheek to the top of Penny's strawberry blonde hair.
Once Blake calmed down, he slowly returned to the blanket and bent down to look at Penny. "P," he said, poking her back, "Pennipee. Pennipee sad?"
Jay sadly smiled and said, "Yeah; Penelope's sad. We scared her when we all freaked out. She didn't know she was doing something bad." Meeting Drew's eyes, he added, "She's a baby, remember? She's barely a year-old, bud, she doesn't know things like bees and stingers. She probably just thought it was cool. Maybe she'll be into bugs like you're into birds."
Drew pursed his lips then sighed and nodded. Crawling back onto the blanket, he reached over to gently pat Penny's back. "I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said quietly, "You didn't know."
"Pennipee," Blake said, "Love." He wrapped his arms around her and Hailey before placing a kiss to the back of her head.
Hailey laughed softly and said, "That's very nice, both of you. Thank you."
Sniffling, Penny glanced over her shoulder and whispered, "Buh?"
Blake smiled at her and wiped his hand over her cheek in an attempt to wipe her tears.
"What a nice brother," Jay chuckled. Glancing at Hailey, he smiled and shook his head.
She laughed softly and helped Penny turn around in her lap so she could slowly calm down at the sight of her brothers.
Drew tickled her stomach to get her to laugh then Blake started sticking his tongue out and making all sorts of noises that sent her into a fit of giggles. It helped the small bit of anxiety that had pooled in Hailey's stomach the second Penny revealed the bee in her hand.
Having all three of her kids now on two feet and able to get into even more trouble than before was not going to be easy, but it brought a whole new excitement to her parenting adventure. She didn't know if she was completely prepared, and yet she did feel ready in a sense: she liked seeing her kids try new things and experience new parts of life.
This was just the start.
