A/N: I will come back to the last chapter eventually, but I just had this swirling around my head during my free period and wanted to see where it went, but enjoy! xx Mariah

Ages:

Jim - 34
Melinda - 31
Ned - 10
Katie - 6

Mentioned:

Delia - 34
Aaron - 2

Melinda was about this close to tearing her head off. Katie was so picky about any food that she wanted.

"Yes, I know you like the red ones Katie, but if we buy them will you still eat it later honey?" Jim said, kneeling down to her as they looked at the two bags of apples.

This was the last time she and Jim would go shopping with the kids. This was the last time they would go shopping. This was the last time they would ever watch Ned with Katie.

Why had she let Delia convince her that trading sons would be a good idea?

At least Aaron didn't cop an attitude with her yet. He talked to her about everything and most importantly he never stopped telling her how much he loved her. He was kind of getting the hang of the sentences now that his second birthday had come around. A little. They were little sentences, but she could get really excited about everything with her children. It was mostly because he was definitely attached to her hip most of the day.

But they'd been at the apple station for over fifteen minutes so that Katie could pick out the perfect shade of apples before deciding entirely she wanted red apples.

"I don't know daddy, but mama says we should eat green stuff cause green means good. So can we get both?" The five-year-old asked.

Giving a hopeful look at her father, he shrugged his shoulders and picked out four apples of each color in a bag. "I think that's a good idea, but only because you don't know what kind Hannah likes. Deal?" Jim said, and they all prayed that she said yes.

"Okay! That's a very good idea daddy," Katie and hugged him, letting him pick her up again.

"Hallelujah! We've made a decision." She cheered softly and high-fived Ned as he played on his GameBoy silently. "Can we get the rest of this list now guys?"

"Yes," Jim said, placing the apples in the cart as he kissed Katie's cheek. "What's next?"

"Yes mama, what's next?" Katie giggled, copying was her favorite thing right now. Jim set her down as he stepped forward to help Melinda.

"Well, we still need to get eggs, milk, and two loaves of bread," she said, handing off the list to Jim as she pushed the cart.

"That's a lot of bread," Ned laughed, shaking his head.

"We just eat a lot of sandwiches between school lunches and Jim's late-night snacking after work. You don't realize how much bread you probably go through Ned." Melinda sighed, pushing the cart. "We also need sandwich stuff. We need more peanut butter and bananas for Aaron. Ham and turkey for the rest of us."

"Can we get cheerios too?" Katie asked, practicing her spins around in front of the cart as they passed the cereal.

"You're so annoying..." Ned groaned, trying to get away from her as he played his game. "I can barely concentrate with you near me."

"I am not. Ned Banks, you take that back!" Katie groaned, following Ned to annoy him. She tugged on his arm and he shoved her off, a little too hard and she landed on the floor. He stopped immediately, turning toward her and she punched him in the groin. "I hate you."

Jim swooped in and grabbed Katie quickly as he walked out of the aisle without another word. He was going to take care of this now. Melinda just chuckled, looking at Ned as he'd fallen to his knees.

"That's just what you get, kid." She shrugged, grabbing the cheerios that Katie had wanted and put them in the cart. She walked down the aisle a bit more before she found her usual cereal and helped Ned up from the floor, brushing the dirt off his pants. "You good?"

"Alright, I'm fine. Don't clean me off like my mom," Ned groaned, stepping away. "I didn't mean to push Katie that hard. I'm sorry, I just wanted my arm back."

She nodded, patting his back. "Yeah. I'll accept that because I can tell it's true, but you still better apologize to her. Now, let's go get some ingredients for cookies. I kind of want to bake some homemade ones." She said, going back to the cart and pushing it.

"What kind of cookies are you gonna make?" Ned asked, playing his GameBoy.

"I'll probably bake peanut butter cookies," she suggested, smiling at him. She wanted to extend a lifeline to Ned, maybe he would open up a little. Delia had told her to try and see what was up with him. "Would you like to help?"

"I like that idea," Ned said, turning his game off and putting it in his pocket. "My mom only bakes around the holidays. Do you think you could get some of those fruit snacks again? They were really good."

"Sure bud," she smiled at him and grabbed herself a bag of brown and a bag of white sugar.

After Jim had returned with Katie and Melinda and Ned had gotten all of the ingredients for cookies, Melinda had gone with Katie to grab some fresh bananas and a jar of peanut butter before meeting them at the register.

Jim was still in the cereal aisle, looking at the grocery list. He could stare at Melinda's handwriting all day, from the intricate and neatness to the way it made him kind of smile because her handwriting was just that beautiful.

"Are we actually going to put anything else in the cart or are you just going to stare at the list?" Ned groaned as he played his game. He'd gone back to his usual self. "We've been here forever."

"I agree with Katie. You are kind of rude today." Jim said, jabbing his side as he pushed the cart forward down the aisle. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Ned replied, walking near Jim while playing his Mario Bros. game.

"Ned, hey." Jim stopped him at the end of the aisle, grabbing a box of granola and putting it in the cart with the rest of the groceries. "It's me you're talking with." They continued to walk to the end of the aisle and walked straight toward the dairy section. Jim grabbed a carton of whole milk off the first shelf and set the carton into the cart as he reached out to touch Ned's shoulder. "I want to talk to you, bud. I can tell something is up. You know you can talk to me about anything Ned. Right?"

"Yes. I know," the boy sighed, looking up at Jim as he closed his game. Ned would never admit how much he liked Jim. He wasn't comfortable with expressing his feelings, even if he was ten. He struggled with how to handle them and Jim knew that. "I don't like that my mom is marrying that guy. I don't want a new dad. I want my dad."

"Trust me, I know how you are feeling bud." Jim sighed, looking at him. "I didn't like it when my mom started dating after my dad died either. It just felt like after twenty years of having my parents together that it was the worst thing in the world to see her with someone new, you know?"

Ned nodded, going to get the eggs like Melinda had said. "I like Tim. He's nice and all, but I just don't know if I want to live with him every day."

"Tim's a pretty cool dude, Ned. I know that from working with him and from being friends with him. I think you should give him a chance. Maybe even laugh at his jokes sometimes because he can be funny." Jim said, taking the carton of eggs from him as he looked at the list again. "Can you go grab those loaves of bread? I think that's all we have besides stopping at the deli counter."

Ned nodded and went to get the bread as Jim put the eggs in the cart. He walked over to get some yogurt

in between going to the deli counter. The girl smiled at him as he looked at all of the food spread in the case.

"How can I help you?" The same girl asked, pulling on a new pair of gloves as he looked up at her.

"I'd like a pound of ham and turkey to start," he asked, pushing his cart a little farther as the girl started to pull sliced meat from the case. Ned came back with the bread silently as he found his favorite three-cheese pasta. "Hey, Ned. Find everything?"

"Yeah," the ten-year-old nodded.

"Anything else for you sir?" the girl asked as she finished bagging the meat and weighing it, placing the stickers on the meat as he grabbed the bags from her and put them in the cart.

"I'd also like a medium container of the three cheese pasta you've got right there," he said, pointing to it before grabbing the packages of cheese. "And that'll be it."

"Alright," the girl says, scooping the pasta into the container and grabbing the sticker. "Have a great day sir!"

"You too," he said, smiling at her as he took the container too and put it in the cart. "Now Ned, promise me you'll apologize to Katie... even if she did hurt you too. She apologized. I didn't hear anything from you. She's only five and for all you know, you'll be best friends one day and we'll all laugh about how you two used to loathe each other when you were little."

"Yeah right," Ned laughed as they began to walk away from the deli and toward the register. "But yeah... I'll say I'm sorry."

"Good. Let's go find those girls," he said, smiling as they round the corner again toward the front of the store.

Katie mirrored her mother in cute spring dresses and leggings and he grinned. They were both so beautiful. His girls. They both wore big smiles on their faces as Melinda held Katie in her arms near the checkout area.

"Look bug! It's daddy " Melinda waved to him and set Katie down, who held two different packages of fruit snacks in her arms. Melinda had the bananas and it looked like Katie had also convinced her to get blueberries and strawberries. "Hey, babe. Did you guys get everything else?" She set the fruit and peanut butter in the cart as Kaie hugged his legs.

"Yeah. We did," he kissed her, pulling her in. It was a minute before she pulled away, smiling and touching his face. "Did you?"

"Mhmm!" Katie giggled, pulling his attention down as they pulled back. "Mommy found her favorite tea in the whole wide world!"

"I'm glad you both had good luck in finding your sweet spots," he laughed and rubbed her head, smiling down at her. "I finished up the rest of the list so unless there is anything else we need to get... we should be ready to check out."

"We should be good," Melinda said, stepping back to place her tea inside the cart. "We just need toothpaste which is right up here," she said as she bent down to pick up Katie. "We're going to make smoothies tonight and cookies tomorrow, right?"

"Yes!" Katie giggled, hugging Melinda. "And mommy said we could color in between too. Do you need a new picture daddy?"

"I would love one Katiebug. I could put it in my locker at work" he said, kissing Katie's cheek before he kissed Melinda again.

Melinda laughed this time as their lips touched and Katie giggled, hugging them both as they pulled away.

"You guys are gross with all this kissing mommy," the six-year-old shook her head.

"Oh yeah? Says who?" Melinda furrowed her brow at her, even as she smiled at her. "I like kissing your daddy. Is that such a bad thing, bug?"

"No," the little shook her head as she giggled. "It's good mommy! You should love daddy."

"Then why can't she kiss me?" Jim asked, tickling her as they separated, Jim, held Katie now as Melinda pushed the cart toward the register.

"Well duh, I'm here and Ned is too." Katie giggled and hugged him, pulling back after a little while. "But I guess you kiss mommy with me here."

"Thanks, bug," he winked and set her down, kissing her cheek. "I'm glad to have your approval." Jim went over to the shelves near the checkouts to grab toothpaste and grabbed their usual brand.

Ned had shut his GameBoy off again and walked over to Katie. "Hey, Katie?" Ned said as she followed closely behind her mother to register three.

"What Ned?" The six-year-old muttered, looking over her shoulder at him. "Are you gonna be mean to me again?"

"No, I won't." Ned sighed, walking toward him. "I want to say I'm sorry for shoving you."

"Well okay," she giggled, turning around to hug him. He almost jumped back, but inside he wound his arm around her awkwardly before she pulled back. "But only if you kiss me on the cheek."

"No," Ned muttered and pulled back. "I gave you a hug."

"Ned Banks! Kiss me on the cheek or I will tell your mom all about how you were mean to me," she said and crossed her arms over her chest. "And that is worse than kissing me, right?"

"Uh yeah, I guess... fine." He muttered and walked up to her. "But if you tell anyone I'll kill you." He kissed her on the cheek and then walked over to the register by Melinda and she followed him. "You happy?"

"Yes. Thank you." Katie giggled and blushed.

"Why do you have to talk all the time? You're only six." Ned whined, sighing as he looked at her as she stuck her tongue out. "Still younger than me."

"That doesn't mean I'm not smarter than you," Katie giggled.

"They are unbelievably cute and are totally gonna get married one day," Jim said helping her unload the cart at the register.

"You think?" Melinda asked and took the toothpaste from her hand, smiling at her.

"Yeah..." Jim laughed, kissing her cheek. "And she's gonna have him wrapped around her finger and boss him around with big words and make him kiss her when he apologizes. And to think... it will have all started when she was six and he was ten. Just remind me to lecture him before they start dating."

"I will now kiss me again. Katie cut us a little too short before." Melinda said, smiling at him as he put the last item from the cart up.

"And you wonder where Katie gets that bossiness from..." Jim replied and turned to walk forward before he turned back and kissed her neck, wrapping his arms around her. "Just kidding."

"Yeah," Melinda giggled, patting his back. "You better be, babe."

UPDATE AT 12/6/2020: I just had to sneak a quick update to a chapter where Katie and Ned were being cute and adorable as kids. I'm just lovin' them so much lately lol... Well, I'm going to be now it's almost three am here where I am in Wisconsin. Night! xoxo Mariah