Howdy howdy, ya girl now has a new laptop so no more scuffed phone updates! Hope you lovelies enjoy this chapter where nothing really happens! ~Shaymie

Kasey

"Would you stop staring, Kasey? I sprained my wrist, I didn't break my whole arm off."

Kasey tore his eyes away from the brace on Angela's arm and reluctantly met her irritated gaze. He still couldn't believe that was the only major injury she managed to walk away with after falling three floors down in the mine. He knew it was a bad idea for her to go down there. She never thought things through. Never watched her step. She was never careful. Sure, he might be a bit too careful, to the point where it bordered on paranoia, but it worked. He's not the one walking around with a busted-up wrist, now is he?

Angela's spent the past few days huffing and complaining about not being able to work. Owen and Luke have been helping with her share of the farm work. Owen in particular because he felt responsible for what happened. Like he could have stopped Angela once she set her mind on going into that mine. She's lucky he was there to get her out. Kasey didn't even want to think of what could have happened if she had just gone down there by herself without telling anyone. She hit her head on the way down. Busted up her face a bit, too. Things could have been a lot worse if she'd just laid down there for who knows how long. At least she finally had that eyebrow slit she's always wanted.

"Sorry. It's just hard to get used to."

"Well, hopefully you won't have to get used to it," Angela said, stretching her arm to get a look at her brace. Like most of her clothes, it was red and black. He was surprised there were even different color options at the clinic. "Jin said it should be a pretty smooth recovery as long as I don't do anything dumb. Sucks I'm gonna be wearing it on Halloween, though. How am I going to party like this?"

Oh god. Angela's parties were infamous for getting out of control. Her alcohol tolerance was unbelievably high, but she always managed to get absolutely wasted on Halloween. At least she had Luke to keep an eye on her. They're practically attached at the hip and there's no way he'd ever let her do something stupid and hurt herself again. It had surprised Kasey to see how responsible Luke was with a drunk Angela. He focused less on drinking and more on making sure she was okay. He even turned her down when she tried to drag him to the bathroom for some... private time.

"You're not trick-or-treating with us?" Mara asked, turning her head to look at Angela. Molly gently turned her head back and reminded her to sit still so she could finish braiding her hair. She was getting pictures taken with Pretzel today—which is such a Molly thing to do, it's almost insane—and suggested that they all take some family pictures together since they didn't have any with the kids.

"Nah. I don't wanna get in the way of you kids hanging out with your dad." Angela's voice always sounded softer when she spoke to Mara or Gideon. He felt bad for ever worrying that she'd take her frustration with him out on the kids. She leaned in closer to the small standing mirror she'd set up on the dining room table and applied some lipstick. Red, as always. When she wore lipstick she preferred dark colors to anything else. "Me and Luke are going to a grown-up party at the bar with all our friends."

"And I'll be having a party for you kids here," Molly said with a smile, carefully tucking some plastic flowers into Mara's braid. Kasey could handle the basic stuff for Mara's hair but braids were something he was never good at. Molly would go to Angela or Muffy if she wanted anything more complicated than a ponytail. He should probably learn how to do more hairstyles for Mara's sake. He had a lot to learn about his kids. A lot he could do to be a better father.

He had to see if Molly was willing to teach him how to cook. He couldn't rely on her cooking forever. She already cooked for herself, Angela, and Luke most days. With Owen helping out until Angela recovered, that's another mouth she was feeding. He hated the idea of adding to that. She was too stubborn to accept no as an answer when it came to helping the people she cared about, but if he could prove to her that he wasn't completely incapable in the kitchen then maybe she'd have less to worry about.

Well... She'd probably always worry about him. Worrying about each other was just in their blood.

"All done, Rosie!" Molly tucked a stray strand of hair behind Mara's ear and helped her down from the chair. Gideon stood up from his spot on the floor next to Pretzel and stretched. Today was honestly the longest Kasey's ever seen his son sit still. Gideon was intrigued by the way Pretzel immediately flopped over when Molly put him in a sweater and wanted to copy him. As long as he didn't get his clothes dirty, he could do whatever he wanted to entertain himself. Kasey learned the hard way that having kids meant doing a lot of laundry.

He didn't understand how they managed to drag in practically every bit of dirt from outside.

They left for Simon's shortly after Molly finished cleaning up everything she used for Mara's hair. She brought along a backpack filled with some clothes because she wanted a different outfit to wear for her photos with Pretzel. Ange wasn't kidding when she said Molly loved that cat like a child. He guessed it shouldn't surprise him too much, though. A cat was the one thing Molly wanted that their father couldn't give her. Kasey looked down at the cat, who was happily trotting along between Molly and Mara. He was good for her. Molly deserved at least one thing she's actually asked for.

Not that she ever really asked for anything to begin with. She's too selfless. She never asked for what she wanted but she was willing to give everything for the people she cared about. Sometimes it felt like even asking her for a favor was taking advantage of her. Molly was kinder than anyone else Kasey knew. Dad always worried about the world eventually beating her down the way it did to Mom. He said that both of them were too kindhearted for this world. Mom lived to make people happy and sacrificed her own happiness to do it. Did Molly even know that ballet was something Mom was practically forced to do?

...He didn't think he could ever tell her that. Finding out about Mom's postpartum depression nearly destroyed her. He couldn't do anything to taint Molly's image of her further. Molly was stronger than she looked but she was also so goddamn fragile at times. He never knew what exactly could set her off and he was terrified of being the one to do it. He already ruined things with Angela and was still working on fixing it. At least he knew if he hurt Molly, it wouldn't be on purpose.

Would he have lashed out at Molly if Angela had been the one to fall into a depression? Would he have taken care of Angela if she couldn't do it herself or just hung her out to dry?

"Hello, earth to Kasey!" He was snapped back to reality by Angela flicking his shoulder. Ouch. She sighed at his wounded reaction and rolled her eyes. "Molls was asking if you and the kiddos wanted to come over after this for some stew."

"I might have made too much again," Molly giggled. Of course she did. It happened way too often to be considered an accident. She always just "happened" to have leftovers for him and the kids when they came over. She's the reason he hasn't had to buy bread for the past couple of weeks. He shouldn't be surprised that she's picked up on the art of bread making so fast. Molly's always been a fast learner, and her stubbornness only helped her with that. She'd always commit to learning something until she was practically a master at it.

He accepted her offer because why the hell wouldn't he? Saturday was his one true day off before he had to dive back into grading papers and making lesson plans. He should spend it with his family.

Molly went on to ask the twins what they wanted to do for their birthday. Just the thought of it was going to give Kasey a heart attack. How the hell were they already almost five years old? He could still remember when Lumina told him she was pregnant. How he almost fainted at the doctor's appointment where they found out it was twins. The thought of being responsible for two kids instead of one was terrifying. Knowing he couldn't be there for them as much as they deserved killed him inside.

Nearly five years and this is the first birthday he's actually getting to spend with his children? The first birthday after their mother's death? He knew they probably wouldn't care about doing anything big. They'd be happy just to spend their birthday with him. Still, he wanted to do something different from the usual. He got a letter the other day that mentioned a circus coming to town around their birthday. He could take them to that, assuming it wasn't too noisy for Mara. Her headphones only helped so much.

"Can we get different cakes? Granny made us share last year and it was boring. I don't want a princess cake."

"I dunno, G-Man. That's asking a lot from Mol—"

"Sure thing! Just let me know what you guys want and I'll make it happen!" Molly cut off Angela with a smile, pretending not to notice their sister's stern look. Mara frowned. She always got anxious around any kind of disagreement, even the smallest ones.

"You're not an entire bakery, Molly. You can't just go around offering your services to every single person that asks. There's a limit to what you can do."

"This isn't a service, it's a gift."

"Fine, it's a gift. It's still more work for you and we both know damn well you're already taking on too much!"

"I'm doing just fine," Molly hissed, cheeks flaming in frustration. "You're turning into a worse worrywart than Kasey! What happened to letting me live my own life?"

Pretzel meowed in indignation along with his owner. Angela's dark eyes narrowed, the anger in them nearly palpable. Kasey's never seen his sisters like this before. Molly's always been stubborn but she didn't get angry. It wasn't in her nature. Even getting her to speak up when she didn't like something was difficult. She was always worried about upsetting other people. Dad told her to always be kind and she seemed to interpret that as being a pushover. And Angela's never as much as raised her voice at Molly. None of them have.

"I'm sorry I'm trying to keep you from working yourself sick," Angela droned sarcastically, stomping ahead with a roll of her eyes. "Fine. Do it. Do everything if you want. Just don't come crying to me when you end up in the fucking clinic again."

"Angela!" Kasey glared after her. She stopped and turned to him, a scowl on her face. That's taking it way too far, and even she had to know that. What's even the point of acting so tough? She's the one who damn near fought the doctors and nurses at the hospital when Molly was in her coma, wanting to spend practically every moment with her. Angela was the first person Molly saw when she woke up. She was the one who was able to stay calm when Molly relapsed while Kasey fell apart and panicked every time.

There's no way in hell she'd leave her alone in the clinic. Even if it was her own damn fault (because he couldn't deny that she was right, Molly had a tendency of overestimating what she could handle), Angela would be right by her side waiting for her to recover.

"Don't 'Angela' me! She wants to be treated like an adult so I'm going to talk to her like an adult." Angela scoffed. "Of course you're taking Molly's side on this."

"I'm not taking anyone's side, Angela."

"Sure feels like it," Angela grumbled under her breath. Kasey could feel a headache coming on. All he wanted to do was take some nice pictures with his family. Was that too much to ask for? He thought things had finally settled down.

"We should hurry and get to the studio. I don't want us to have to walk home in the rain," Molly muttered, giving the kids a hollow smile in a poor attempt to comfort them. Mara wasn't convinced and tugged on Molly's hand, quietly asking if she was alright. She's been quiet for a few minutes now.

"Aunt Molly?" Mara insisted when Molly didn't answer at first. "It's fine. Me and Giddy can share a cake this year. I don't want you and Aunt Angie to argue."

I have a bad feeling about this... Kasey sighed as Molly promised that Mara and Gideon would get their cakes. He should probably keep an eye on her before she wound up pushing herself too far.