A/N - yes, I owe y'all updates on everything. I might have the end of Cereal Boxes up today. We'll see. But in the meantime, this one has been bouncing around my brain for about two months.

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Creativity

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"What is it, Johnson?" Kara asked, only half listening to the intercom as she focused on the report she was reading.

"Lieutenant Green is here to see you, ma'am. Along with your children." Although the words were perfectly polite, there was something off in Johnson's tone. Kara's gaze went to the daily schedule pinned up the side of her computer - the one that helped her avoid missing critical events like s'mores night or school conferences. But a quick review showed nothing dangerous. No skateboarding or trampoline park or horseback riding. In fact, the only non-school activity listed was a Meet the Masters art class. Courtney Miller had arranged for the educational program to come to Mayport and Kara was happy to throw her support behind the idea. Both for Courtney and because art classes seemed unlikely to result in another broken bone, or stitches, or a trip to the emergency room.

As opposed to ninety percent of the activities that her sons - and her husband - favored.

Kara relaxed as she realized that, if the boys were here with Danny, nobody was at the hospital. "Send them in."

Danny entered first. An oddity in itself, given how the boys constantly competed over who went first. But it was the look on his face, the one he only used when he was trying to wheedle her into something, that gave him away. Kara crossed her arms. "What happened?"

He held his hands out. "Okay, so don't freak out but..."

She cut him off. "Where are the kids?"

Danny waved the boys in, and Kara's mouth dropped open. This morning, when she left for base, all three boys had looked perfectly respectable. Perhaps their hair was a little on the long side but Kara had a secret preference for the surfer look and had been loathe to cut little Stevie's golden curls. Now, Frankie sported a reverse mohawk, the shaved area in the middle of his head colored purple. Mark's head had a patchy look rather like mange. And Stevie, well, her baby's curls were no more. His head was completely and utterly shorn, as well as colored an odd shade of green.

"Mommy!" Oblivious to the undercurrent in the room, two-year-old Stevie climbed up onto Kara's lap, popping a thumb into his mouth. The older two boys remained by their father's side, eyes downcast, clearly aware of their blunder.

Kara's eyes swiveled to Danny. He shrugged. "I misjudged how much damage they could do with a pair of scissors and some permanent markers."

"Clearly." Kara ran a finger over Stevie's shorn hair, which bore a distinct resemblance to Danny's stubble after a week of growth.

"I figure we can shave their heads," Danny said, shifting awkwardly. "But the color, uh, doesn't wash out. I already tried."

Kara closed her eyes, counting backwards from ten. Reminding herself that it was just hair, and hair grows back. Unfortunately, it probably would not grow back by this weekend. Which happened to be when Mike and Maddie were tying the knot. With the three boys serving as ring bearers. An event where there was certain to be both official and unofficial press taking pictures.

She looked back at Danny. "I assume your next stop is Admiral Slattery's office to explain why our children will be clashing with his decor?"

"Actually," Danny hedged, "I was thinking of maybe you could talk to Maddie first. Mike won't care if she doesn't and..."

"Oh no," Kara cut him off. "This one is all you. But you can leave the kids here if you'd like."

Danny opened his mouth as if he planned to argue, before thinking better of it. After all, he was the one who left the boys unsupervised with the scissors and markers. The fact that Kara would have done the same, deeming an art class completely innocuous, was totally irrelevant. With a sharp nod, Danny left, and Kara hit her intercom again. "Johnson, could you please ask Lieutenant Rawlings to stop by when she has time?"

Picking up Stevie, Kara considered her older two sons. "Homework time."

There was remarkably little grumbling, the boys apparently deciding this was not a time to push Mommy's buttons. Kara had just gotten Stevie settled with some washable crayons when Maddie appeared.

Taking a look at the boys, Maddie brought a hand to her mouth, chuckling. "Oh my. Does Mike know yet?"

There was no need to answer when "What the hell, Green?" echoed down the hallway, Slattery's voice unmistakable.

Kara grinned at Maddie before lifting her coffee. "I would say yes."