A/N: I literally took this equation right out of my textbook because I needed a break from homework. Ugh, junior year is crazy though… Yesterday was HOMECOMING and we won 31 to 28! So I had planned on having this up before I went but I was having a little too much fun, to be honest, and then I got kicked out of the game for being a damn idiot. But God, was it fun xD Anyway… enjoy! See you all next time xx Mariah :)

Ages:

Jim - 63
Melinda - 59
Katie - 34
Aaron - 30
Mackenzie - 24
Lana - 17
Emma - 14
Freya - 6 months

"Hey, mom?" Emma asked, peeking her head into her parent's bedroom. The light was off and the humidifier was going, she could see her mother toss in bed, groaning as she came into the room."I know you aren't feeling good, but I really need your help."

Emma came over to the empty side of the bed, sliding on and over to her mother as she turned the side lamp on.

"Oh baby, come here." Melinda groaned, pulling her teenage daughter in for a hug. "I missed you. I just don't want you kiddos getting sick."

"I know. Dad is just helpless when it comes to math. He such a science guy," she sighed, sitting. "I'm having trouble with this equation."

"Alright. Did you bring your book?" Melinda yawned and moved a hand through her hair as she sat up slowly.

"Mhmm," she hummed, opening to the page. "I've been having trouble with this section's formula. Well, the whole section in general. I'm not great with fractions."

"Well, I'm glad you asked for help instead of acting like it was all good like Aaron used to," Melinda said, grabbing the book and looking over the page. "Well looking at this just makes me cringe. I never liked math, but I was good at it. Well except college but that was for a different reason. You're looking at this one right?" She pointed to the one she had circled in highlighter in the workbook.

"Yes. I was good with whole numbers, but the fractions are throwing me off." She said, pointing to a problem. "I have to do this bunch of eight and I tried doing them but got them all wrong."

"Okay. Show me your work," Melinda said as she handed the notebook to her. "I see what you're doing wrong. It's just a little mess up." She pointed the pencil to the page, writing out the equation. "You just write the original equation out and make sure to give yourself enough space to solve it in its entirety. Then you subtract eight from each side." She started to write out the problem, subtracting as Emma watched her write it out. "Now here's where you went the wrong way sweetie, you don't multiply by the fraction you multiply by its reciprocal, which is 5/2. Then simplify and you'll get your answer which in this one is fifteen. Make sense?"

"That's what I was missing! I knew it was something with an r but I just could not put my name on it and I left my binder in my locker. This is just an old notebook I found in a box in the basement. I think it was leftover from Aaron or Kenz because we know Katie never left any empty notebooks." The teen explained, handing her mother the box of tissues just in time for her sneeze. "Thank you so much, mom."

"You're welcome," Melinda said, wiping her nose subtly. "I'm going to go back to sleep. I'll see you..." She paused to sneeze again. "at dinner. If your dad lets me out of the room. Better hurry before he finds you in here."

"I love you. Feel better," she grabbed her notebook and workbook before hugging her mom and getting out of the bed, booking it out of the room, and closing the door to hear her dad's footsteps.

Crap. The water for her tea must've finished.

"Melinda get back in bed. That ghost can wait. You're as sick as a dog." He said, walking up the last step to see Emma walking out of the room and toward her own. "Oh, it's just you. I thought I said no one should bother your mom?"

"I needed her help with something," she explained herself, opening her bedroom door. "I'm sorry dad. You're terrible with math."

"I could have probably figured out your problem. She's not feeling well and needs her rest." He said, seeing my book. "I know I am not as good at math as she is, but just come to me next time? I can always just look it up on the internet."

"That's why I asked her. She can show me how to do it. Not just tell me the answer. You're just as terrible at fractions as I am." She said, walking into her room. Her father was in the doorway as she sat at her desk, setting her stuff down again and opening to the homework she needed to finish. "I promise to leave her alone from now on. I only have a little bit left of math. I just have some history to brush up on for a test." She pulled a black folder from her backpack labeled history and put it on the desk for later.

"Okay. I get that. Just finish your homework and bring that laundry down. Dinner will be done in a little over an hour." He said, nodding to the basket as he left. "Want your door open?"

"I'll do it and sure, leave it open." She said, picking up her pencil. She moved to the next equation as he left, saying something she couldn't quite catch to her mother before he closed their bedroom door.

Lana came in not two seconds later, her phone in hand and lighting up her face. "Want to go to the movies after dinner? The Pearson twins want dates to that new action movie tonight."

"You're gonna have me go on a date with a seventeen-year-old because you want action from Jason Pearson, really?" Emma laughed. The best thing about having a seventeen-year-old sister when you're fourteen was she wanted to make bad and fun decisions with her. They were the closest of friends too. Nothing got between them, and when something did it wasn't for longer than a day.

Lana nodded. "Kasey is a gentleman otherwise I wouldn't suggest it. He won't do anything," the seventeen-year-old smiled, starting to type out a yes. "Well, he might kiss you, but is that a terrible thing? So will you come with?"

"No. I suppose not," she giggled, scribbling out the rest of the problem before she turned. "Sure. I'll go. You just have to convince dad."

"Oh, that's a piece of cake." Lana shrugged, sending it off. "I'll help you pick out an outfit before dinner. Leave your hair like it is. It's cute."

Emma played with her hair, smiling. It had taken her thirty minutes this morning of messing around with pins to get it half pinned up like this. At least it looked good. That made it all better.

"Thanks," she spun in her chair, turning back to her homework. "I need to finish this otherwise I can't go."

"Okay. Then do that Ems." Lana laughed, getting up from the bed. "I won't bug you. Promise. Wish me luck."

She nodded, getting back to her homework as she heard her call out to her dad. Oh, she'd have to butter him up with something really good to get him to agree to let her go with.

The dinner table was quiet.

Everyone was eating, slowly. Mackenzie was holding a sleeping Freya on her shoulder next to Emma. She was talking to her parents about a date with Scott that morning. The first one without Freya. He'd came every day for the extra two weeks Freya was at the hospital. She was so little from being born a little early that she had to stay until she made weight. Mackenzie was let out after her c-section stitches came out.

Now, it was six months later and they were basically living together but had no time to actually date each other with the new baby, so he'd taken her to breakfast today and she said he was just wonderful. The subject dwindled after that and they were talking about something for Asher's birthday. Katie was planning something for his eighth birthday. Something with Star Wars.

Lana had been able to convince their father to let Emma come with her to the movies after agreeing to do the dishes for the rest of the week, but her night was practically ruined when Katie had sent an email out to all of her students that she'd forgotten to assign a writing assignment during class. Lana was currently trying to write it at the dinner table now, so she could still go out.

Emma also still had a few equations of math. She'd put it off to finish her History but still didn't do her math. She was cramming it now too.

"I thought there was a rule about homework at the table," their mom coughed and both younger Clancy girls looked up from their homework.

"I thought there was a rule about if you're sick, then you're stuck in bed, but somehow you got yourself out here." Lana laughed and then took a drink of her water. She started to eat her burger, taking a break from the assignment. "Plus my very annoying sister/teacher forgot to remind us about the rough draft for a big paper. It's required and due tomorrow. I only had my introduction paragraph written and somehow before my date tonight I have to write the next two paragraphs."

"What's your excuse, Emma?" Jim leaned over, looking at the fourteen-year-old's math homework. "You still didn't finish it?"

"Algebra is hard and I don't understand what I don't understand." She sighed and then tossed a french fry into her mouth. "Plus I had history to do and put it off until now."

"What's the problem?" Melinda said, holding her hand out for the workbook. She took it and looked at the last two problems she had to do. It was the last review problem for the unit. Circumference. "Oh, calculating the circumference is a troubling thing, Emma. Do you have the formula?"

"Yeah," she picked up her pencil and wrote it out in her notebook. "So… how do I do it?"

"So you need to find the formula for r and write the original formula for circumference which is C= 2πr. Then you divide 2π from r and C so that you can start solving for radius." Melinda explained showing her the explanation in the workbook, putting it back by her.

"Alright," she jotted a few things down, trying to solve the equation. It kind of made sense. The way her mom explained it. "Like this?"

"What'd you get?" Melinda asked, wanting to see her work.

"Still solving. One sec." She wrote out the division of the circumference and then showed her mom. "I got fifteen."

"Yeah, that was what I got. Just followed the formula in my head," Melinda said, looking at the next problem she'd written out at the bottom of the page. "Good job. Now just repeat that with the next problem."

Emma nodded and took the notebook back, finishing the homework. "Will you double-check it for me while I'm out? I'll leave it in your room when I got to change."

"Sure," Melinda nodded, turning to Lana who was sitting next to her, rereading a highlighted part in her book as she ate her fries. "I'd love to look over your rough draft too, Lana, if you'd like. Also please tell me you bought that book and it isn't the school's?"

"No, it's mine. I don't know why, but I'd totally love it if you looked this over. I feel like I'll pass, but I really want to get better than just a C. Katie recommended that I buy the book and highlight it to try and get a better feel, but I feel like something is still missing from my essay. But the highlighting just helps with everything." Lana explained, showing her the book and her paper. "Like if I read something that is a big plot point I'll highlight it in this color. Certain things with minor characters are in this color. It's just so much easier to do homework."

"That's good. I'm glad Katie's studying skills are rubbing off on you." Melinda said, leaning into her father as he rubbed her shoulders. They'd finished their dinner and he stole a kiss from her. Melinda nearly dropped both books then and Lana scoffed, grabbing them.

"Mom, you're like sick." Lana scrunched her face up in disgust. "Just think of all the bacteria in her mouth dad. Why?"

"I think they know that. They don't care," Mackenzie laughed as she stood, rubbing little Freya's back as she tried to coax a burp from her. "I'm gonna go give Frey a bath and try and get her down. Can you bring my plate in for me Lan?"

"Sure. I'll bring it in." Lana sighed, finishing the last of her fries as she starts to write the beginning of her fourth paragraph.

Her father's pager beeps, breaking their kiss, and Melinda turned to look at her writing. "That's a good start," Melinda encouraged, rubbing Lana's back. "Once you finish just bring it to my room." She looked back at Jim, smiling "You gotta go, babe. Drive careful. It was snowing last I looked outside."

He was leaning into his chair, reading his pager. "Multiple victim fire with multiple burn injuries and bone fractures." He said, reaching over to finish his glass of water. "I needed to leave thirty seconds ago, but I am going to finish this kiss and then I'll go."

"Jim..." She laughed, nearly sneezing as he leaned in to kiss her one last time. She wrapped her arm around him, despite knowing he needed to leave. "You need to go."

"I love you all. Lana, please keep an eye on your mom's temp before you go, and if it goes above 101 again..." He kissed Melinda's forehead, standing up and going toward Lana. "Call me if it goes that high. Please."

"I will. I'll keep her hydrated and Mack can too. Don't worry," Lanna assured him as he hugged her and then went to Emma, kissing her cheek.

"You girls be safe tonight at the movies. Kissing is all you should allow for a first date, you know." Jim muttered as he walked out of the room and toward the front door. "I'll try to be home before midnight."

A few hours later, just before midnight, Jim walked into his and Melinda's room looking pretty beat.

"Get a good case?" She sniffled and looked up at him from Emma's math homework, reaching for another kleenex.

"Yeah. A few, but a case is a case when you get called in from dinner with your family." He yawned and pulled off his scrub top. "What are you doing?"

"Double checking her work," she said, writing down a solution to an equation. "She fell asleep waiting for me to finish. There were like thirty problems to go through."

"Where is she? I didn't see her when I went to check on her and Lana." He said, pulling off his bottoms as he grabbed a pair of pajamas. He opened up the covers, seeing Emma asleep. "There she is."

"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you that she was asleep in your spot." She laughed and then coughed, regretting the decision to laugh as she closed the workbook and put it on the side table. "There's only one equation left. Want to give it a try my little math student?"

"Sure." He said, sliding into bed as Emma tossed onto her side. "I'll move her when I'm done." He took the notebook and looked at it. "Yeah. I don't know if it's right."

She looked it over as he passed it back. "It's right." He sighed, nodding. "Oh come on, it's just some stupid math problem babe."

She moved, but he still didn't look until she nudged him. He turned to see her poking him with a pencil, then she pointed at the notebook. He looked down at the paper and couldn't stop the small smile that spread across his face. He briefly looked at her before putting a checkmark beside what she wrote down.

"I'm bringing Emma into her room. I'll be right back," he grinned, kissing her neck as he picked the girl up. "Don't you dare fall asleep on me."

"You do that," Melinda said, reaching under the blanket and pulling off her nightgown and letting the garment fall to the floor. "And trust me… I slept basically all day. I'm fine."

Now completely bare, she smiled and then watched her husband open the door, looking back at her.

"Hurry back now," she chuckled.

"Yes ma'am," he said, rushing out of the room.

She laughed at his antics, looking down at the open notebook to see what she had written.

X = I love you