A/N: Taking place before TBT :)

Art was not Bruce's strongest suit.

Well, at least art in the pen-and-paper sense (or in this case, a stick and the sand underfoot from the beach). The only art that he had been good at creating was the kind that came out of his throat in a stunning, musical tune. It wasn't quite the same in the illustration department, though. Nevertheless, he tried his best at formulating the figures he was trying to depict. It wasn't for his sake that this drawing was being made. It was for the tall, giggling child who stood just behind him, snickering with each stroke he added to the creation.

"Daddy," she said, a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh, "is that supposed to be a dog?"

Bruce turned to look at her. Brenda was a cute little girl, resembling her mother much in appearance with her felt-like skin, striped body, and yarn-like hair. A little white flower adorned her hair just above the right ear, adding a little extra pizazz, though he had to crane his neck a little to actually see it well enough. Err… maybe NOT so little of a girl, he suddenly thought to himself, considering her actual size when next to him. Despite his daughter only being four years old, he was dwarfed greatly, though this was not unusual since she wasn't 100% Troll. Residents of Vacay Island were unique-looking creatures who were at least ten Trolls high and had thin arms and puppet-like features.

As a kid, Bruce had barely been able to depict a Troll in the silly doodles he'd made within the song-writing journal he had. So, trying to make an illustration of his Islander spouse and daughter's special features was certainly not coming out the best, either.

"No, darling. That's supposed to be Mommy. See?" He pointed out the figure in the drawing who was supposed to be his wife, Brandy.

Brenda cocked her head, pondering, looking at it this way and that, and ultimately giggling again. "Oh, okay, Daddy," she said in a way that was meant to say "Suuuure, I'll believe that dog-looking blob is Mommy."

"Oh, yeah?" Bruce said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes playfully at her. "I'd like to see you try your hand at it."

His daughter immediately stopped laughing. He expected her to meekly step back and allow him to finish, knowing her child-like drawing would probably bear even less resemblance to her mother, but he was surprised when she stood straight up, plucked the stick from his hands and bent down over the sand with a chirpy "Okay, Daddy!" in response. Bruce watched with amusement as she started to draw, but soon that amusement shifted to awe the more she added. By the end of it, Brenda had drawn not only her mother, but Bruce and herself… and it looked photographic!

"Whoa…" he said, unable to help his jaw dropping a little. "Not bad, kid… not bad at all!" He stretched up to ruffle her hair, and she laughed sweetly. The purple-haired smiled at her and pointed at the drawing. "This is our family, right?"

Brenda beamed, proud of her work, and nodded. "Yep!" she chirped.

He grinned and bent down with the stick again. "Well, sweetie, pretty soon it's gonna look like this." He drew a little figurine next to her mother's, smaller than Brenda's but still bigger than his.

"Huh?" the girl was confused. "Who's that?" she asked, but instantly turned around and answered her own question with "Oooohh, Daddy! Are we getting a puppy?"

"What? No!" Bruce was unable to believe that his artistic vision didn't seem to be coming across the way he wanted once more.

"Awww…" Brenda slumped.

"But," he spoke up, patting her hand, "you're getting something even better."

She gasped. "Oh! Really? What?"

"A baby brother," he responded, "or a sister."

Brenda blinked her large eyes. "Oh," she said after a minute, not so enthused. "Um… well, okay…"

"It's nothing to be moping about," Bruce said. "Actually, it's something really, really cool!" He spoke animatedly, and Brenda gained curiosity.

"Yeah?"

"The coolest," he assured. "Why, a brother - or a sister - is like a friend who's always gonna be with you. You guys can play and sing and dance - "

"And hug?" Brenda asked, tucking her hands under her chin.

"Yep, and hug!" he replied, tickling the girl at her sides and making her giggle. "And the best part is, you guys will make lots of great fun memories together that you'll keep with you forever."

"And ever?" she chirped.

"And ever."

"And ever and ever and ever and ever and - !"

"Brenda," the Troll said with warning. She went on keeping that up, there'd be no more cookies before bedtime!

"Heehee, sorry, Daddy," the girl mumbled, shuffling her foot in the sand. In peering down at the drawing again, his daughter's face lit up. "Wow," she murmured. "Where's he now?" she asked, and then added, "or she."

"In Mommy's belly," Bruce explained.

Brenda was surprised to hear this. "What?" She crossed her arms. "Doesn't Mommy know that we're not on the menu!" she demanded to know.

"Of course Mommy knows."

"Huh," she said, "then how did the baby get in there?"

Bruce's eyes bulged. "Uhh…" His face grew warm upon remembering exactly how, but that was not something to be discussed with the young girl. Luckily, Brenda decided she didn't care all that much to know, and piped up with another question in her curious mind.

"Hey, Daddy, everybody has a family, right?"

"Um, yes! Yes, they do," he answered, grateful for the change in subject.

"So that means you have a Mommy and Daddy too, right?"

"You got that right, kid."

Brenda nodded, and then shot right out with another question. "Daddy, do you have any brothers?"

She sure IS smart, Bruce thought, a feeling of pride washing over him. Maybe a little TOO smart, he then thought, apprehensively. This conversation was now going in the direction that he hoped it hadn't. His mind blanked out a second as the recollection of four Trollings came into his thoughts and brought a pang of sadness with it. He didn't want to answer no, but he didn't exactly want to go on admitting that he did have brothers, for he knew his daughter would certainly flock him with questions that would require him to reveal much about his boyband past. So, instead, he stuttered an "I… I-I don't know…"

"What?" Brenda was appalled by his answer. "Daddy, how could you not know if you have a brother?"

"Hey, you know what I do know?" Bruce said, making sure his tone remained as chill as he was hoping it was sounding. "That it is time for bedtime!"

The girl giggled. "Don't be silly, Daddy, I'm not tired." But her statement instantly became null and void when she opened her little mouth and let out a big yawn.

The Troll let out a sigh of relief. Whew, what a save! In reality, it was difficult to tell when exactly it was bedtime. The sun on Vacay Island never set. But, in time, he had gotten used to keeping track of the hours in the day. And for his daughter it really was time to hit the hay. "Come on," he cooed, grabbing her hand and guiding her back indoors and back to her bedroom. Bruce helped in tucking her in, pulling the blanket over her and kissing her forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Bren," he said.

Brenda yawned again, and sleepily smiled up at him. "G'night, Daddy…" It was only a minute later that she was snoring contently.

Give it up, Bruce, a voice in the back of his head chimed. They're already shiny enough.

It was true. There was no need to grab any more globs of the goopy wax and apply it to his collection of surfboards. They were already ready to go, to be grabbed at a moment's notice and go sailing the waves like he loved to do in the evenings. But Bruce couldn't help it. The motion of running his hands over the board, of being able to be occupied with something to do was soothing to his nerves. And he had to soothe himself for sure, after the memories of that awful night returned to him.

It's your fault! the voice in his brain annoyingly shouted. You were the first to quit!

He grabbed more wax and rubbed harder on the board, trying to push away the guilt. No, it wasn't my fault… not COMPLETELY. Perhaps he had set off the chain reaction. He had known he was a big influence on Clay, so it was no surprise that the yellow-haired Troll had immediately called it quits not too long after Bruce had ripped his purple vest in two. But then he thought about why he and Clay had been so allied.

It's because of John Dory…

If JD hadn't gotten on both their nerves, the breakup could have been avoided.

Yeah, that's right… it's HIS fault!

But then he sighed. No… it's not completely. Even though he wanted to pin the blame, he couldn't. They all could've worked things out. But the reality was, they hadn't.

"Bruce?"

He perked, turning to the sound of the voice. It was that of his wife. His very tall wife. If Brenda was already making him look small, that was nothing compared to Brandy. But they made things work out. Somehow… but they did! Otherwise, Brenda and her sibling wouldn't exist.

Brandy peered down at Bruce, her gaze almost knowing.

"Bruce," she repeated gently, a hand subconsciously reaching up and rubbing a hand against her swollen belly. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Bruce huffed, getting back to his work. "Nothing's wrong. What makes you think something is wrong?"

"Because you're waxing down the surfboards," she stated, as though it were obvious.

Bruce paused mid-swipe. Once again, it was proven that she was his soulmate. She knew him the best out of any girl he'd been with in the past. She'd figure him out in one way or another. There were no secrets between them, as he sought it should be between a husband and wife. No secrets except one. But he would tell her in time.

But… is NOW the time?

"Brucie, tell me what's the matter," she insisted. She crouched down, tracing a finger down through his long, flowing purple hair.

"It's nothing, really," he said, trying to brush the subject off. But Brandy wasn't having it.

"Is it about Brenda?" she guessed. She'd known that he had gone to talk to her about the new baby.

"Ehh… sort of…"

Suddenly Brandy narrowed her eyes. "You didn't have 'the talk' with her yet, did you? I told you to save that for when she was older!"

Bruce put his hands up. "No, no! No talk, don't worry, my love. All I did was tell her about the family. And yeah, she had some questions, that I answered the best I could…" All except that last question, he added silently.

Brandy eyed him a second, and then understanding seemed to flood her eyes. "Ohh, I get what this is about," she said.

The purple-haired Troll held back a gasp. "Y-you do?" No, she couldn't possibly know, could she? He was thrilled to know that nobody on Vacay Island had known about his true identity upon his first arrival, and he'd made sure to keep it that way for many years.

Brandy nodded. "Yeah." Then she smiled. "You're worried about being a Dad again, aren't you?"

Bruce relaxed. "Ahhh, yes. You got me there, honey." He tried to laugh, but it came out nervous-sounding and uncertain.

"Aw, Bruce," she cooed, scooping him in closer to her. "I know it can be a little scary, but hey… you've been doing a great job with Brenda."

"You mean we," he said, winking at her, "don't jip yourself the credit, baby."

She grinned, leaning down to peck his cheek. "And I can assure you that there's nothing to worry about this time around. Okay?"

He gave her one nod. Bruce was a little unnerved about adding another kiddo to their family, but he felt even more unnerved in hiding the full truth from her. His gaze drifted to her belly, enlarged with the few months' pregnancy. "Hey, kid," he whispered softly, reaching a hand out to caress the bump. "We'll be meeting each other pretty soon. How's it popping in there?"

To his delight, he felt a kick in response and had to chuckle. "Yeah, I'm excited about seeing you, too. You're gonna love our home. And your Mommy," he said looking up at Brandy fondly. She was a wonderful mother, the best kind there was. And while they were both still fairly young parents, they found out that they were naturals.

"All right, it's about time we head in for the night. You coming? Or would you rather finish up here?" she asked amusedly.

He smirked. "Nah, I'm done. Thanks."

"Don't mention it, sweetie," Brandy replied, giving him one more kiss before grabbing him and heading for the bedroom.

As the door closed behind them and she pulled the sheets back, he flopped onto the bed, lying flat. To him, their bed was as big as the ocean, given that he was so much smaller than she. For her, it was just right. Just like their daughter, she fell asleep quickly, understandably so with how the growing life in her belly was making her energy drain quicker throughout the day. Bruce had a bit harder of a time falling asleep though, still fretting over his inability to just admit it to her already.

I will tell her, he told himself. When the time is right. I promise, Brandy...

Bruce looked over at his wife, his heart full.

I promise.

A/N: This follows the headcanon I have that all of Bruce's kids' names start with "Br"