The four decided to live together in the First Family Suite. Mercedes' office was returned to its original purpose, and Christian got a roommate. The suite was full, but the adults soon made it crowded.

As she always did, Mercedes hummed as she worked in the kitchen. Making her sons' snacks, she laughed at the task of performing times two, but it all felt effortless in action. When she felt herself dragging at a chore, she was rejuvenated by the sight of her sons together.

Captain peeked at Christian's homework and asked, "Why do you write funny?"

"It's cursive."

He held his pencil tightly as he squirmed in his seat. "Wow, I don't know that yet. You must be really smart." He was looking for any chance to stall working on his worksheets, and talking to his brother seemed like a distraction his mother would overlook.

The student of the states' best rated private school agreed, "Because I'm older than you."

He gasped, "Momma, that ain't true, is it?"

She laughed at the conversation but honestly announced, "I don't know." She served the kids their plates. After taking four days off to learn her new son, she was returning to work. She promised, "I'll take my break before you go to bed, okay?" She kissed their foreheads.

Sam stomped out of his bedroom. As he tried to hide his feelings from the kids, his face was flat but flushed. "Mercedes, can we talk?" He clenched a packet of papers and watched her light dim when she noticed; she was caught.

"You have to get him settled in before you get him to sign. A NDA, a lease, you'll even say that you're offering back child support for the little one," Tank explained to her as he passed her the thick folder. "But resting in the middle of all these pages is the form for Sam to sign over his rights. He'll be so tired of reading, he will believe anything you tell him."

"Is that legal?" Mercedes whispered as if they weren't the only two in the lawyer's office.

"No, it's called duress. He can say what you did, but the papers are signed. It's all up to what the judge believes."

Their plan fell apart when Sam flipped through the packet, too amazed by its size to start reading, and luckily stopped on the forms to give up his rights to his son.

Captain watched his parents walk away, but after they were closed off in privacy, he grabbed his empty glass and ran up to the locked door. The seven year old boy put the glass between his ear and the wood. He sank to sit on the floor, prepared to wait for his parents to speak up.

Christian stood over his brother and preached, "It's wrong to eavesdrop on this sort of stuff."

"Dad's mad."

Christian joined his brother on the floor and leaned in. "What is he saying?" He scowled as his brother grew a smug smirk at his quick turn into hypocrisy. "I'm worried about my mom… and Sam," he swore.

Captain tried to focus on the aggressive whispers on the other side of the door. He repeated the only words he could pick up. "Tricks… Papers… Oh, I'm not supposed to say that word." Surprised by how quick the conversation ended, he hopped up and pulled his brother along. "Hurry up, she's coming."

Mercedes walked out in such a cloud of frustration that she didn't notice the kids' abandoned seats.

Sam hunched forward as he sat on the side of his bed. He reread the relinquishment forms as if the fire inside of him needed to be relit. He picked at every word with a rugged glare. His jaw clenched, and his brow furrowed.

After stealing a peak at his father, Captain returned to the table. He hated to know that both of his parents were upset, but he promised, "We can fix it." He wasn't ready to give up his new family. His plan was quickly summed up with "They'll listen. We're cute."

"If that was enough, I would have a giraffe," Christian pouted.

"Well, it works on Dad." He decided, "You know what Momma likes. You can talk to her, and I can talk to Dad."

He nodded, knowing he could melt his mother's heart without saying a single word to her.

While the kids were crafting up a plan, so was Sam.

He was ready to play just as dirty as Mercedes. For his kids, the bar could fall into a bottomless pit. Deciding to take her tricks of hiding files, he brushed off an old scam his ex left behind. He snuck into her room with a flash drive and clicked through her computer for the most crowded file to hide his bug. With the malware saved, he could sit back while all of her computer activities were recorded and save for only him to claim.

Sam tapped his heel, and still slouching, he wrung his hands between his knees. He watched the blue bar with such an intensity that hearing just his name gave him a jump. He spun the chair to find his son watching. He smiled as he felt the need to return to a conversation they've had more than a few times. "Christian, I'm your dad. You can call me Dad too." A chuckle escaped him when he noticed that he missed his chance to dust off his Darth Vader impression.

"Sam," the seven year old repeated. Although his father was waving him to come closer, he was only doing so to see the screen. "What are you doing on my mom's computer?"

"Well, um, it's a surprise for her." He would never lie to his kids but being vague was an option. When the bar vanished, he took the drive out of the port, and the file snapped shut. He reached out to rest his hands on Christian's shoulders. "Let's go play."

"There's still fifteen more minutes of study time."

A stony "Oh" fell from his lips. He huffed and looked into the kid's brown eyes. As badly as he wanted to help, homework wasn't his strength. He began to lead the way back to the kitchen but challenged, "So, we can play afterwards?" His memory of the schedule was fuzzy.

"Yes," he answered. No scheme was going to cut his study time short. Knowing what Sam didn't, Christian shared, "We can move all my toys into the living room."

"But wouldn't it be easy to play with them in your room- where they belong?"

"No."

They played the day away, only breaking for dinner. Both boys laughed and showered their father with compliments. One son was blindly genuine, but the other was overacting for his audience. Later they were released to begin their nightly routine; Captain skipped a lot of steps in his new pattern.

Sam sat in his bed and sketched in his book. Cleaning the living room was on his to do list, but he couldn't let his spark of inspiration pass him. He looked up from his furniture design when he felt his son's presence enter the room. "Wait!" With the kid frozen in front of him, he twisted his lips and rested his chin against his knuckles. "Which one are you?" he challenged as if the Iron Man pajamas weren't a give away.

He imitated his father as he waited.

Sam laughed, " Oh yeah, you're Cap." His pencil slowly picked back up as his son crawled onto his bed. He had opened his bed to his son on the first night of them living in their new home, but Captain was too amazed by his new brother to part from him.

Captain crossed his legs and sat at Sam's knees before praising, "Thank you for getting me a Momma."

The comment made him sink back against the headboard, but Sam promised, "I didn't know you wanted one."

"I didn't know either, but I like her. She is nice and pretty… and she smells good. Can we stay with her forever?"

"Cap, I-" He huffed, unsure if he could make that promise. "I don't know what's going to happen with all of us, but wherever we are, I'll make sure that you can always call her and Christian." He petted the kid's freshly detangled hair, hoping his words had sunk through his thick curls.

He perked up when Christian entered the room. "Do you need help picking out your uniform for school tomorrow?" With the seven year old's independence being well established, Sam didn't know any other reason for the kid to come to him that late.

"Can I sleep in here?" He surprised his father but was quickly granted access. He rounded the bed and crawled in. After his brother was done squirming for comfort in the middle space, he opened his book.

"He has to read to us," Captain announced as he poked at his father to lie back.

Mercedes entered the suite with her head hung. She took one deep breath at the relief of kicking her shoes off and another to build the nerve to look into her toy scattered living room. She stepped over the toys to find that her nanny cam on the shelf wasn't as hidden as she thought.

She had checked her surveillance after every crowd rush. She swore that the camera was only placed so she could have a quick "pick-me-up peek." Every time she checked into the live stream, she was met with three laughs- one she only heard on rare occasions. She'd sit back and watch the show happening above her head.

She carefully approached Sam's bedroom, following the only light left on in the back half of the suite. Looking into the room caused her smile to return. She leaned against the doorframe and admired the three crowding the bed.

Christian slept on his stomach with his hands tucked under the pillow he hogged for himself. His hair spread in disorder as he had spent most of the hour drowsily shifting to keep his space against his brother. On the table beside him was his book that put his father to sleep with only two pages.

Captain let out soft snores as he rested flat on his back. His right elbow poked at his father's chest, and his left arm stretched across his brother. He had stolen the covers, but most of them were wrinkled under him as only one of his legs wanted to feel the cool air.

And Sam was trying to hold his balance on the edge.

At that moment, Mercedes knew that she'd do anything to keep her chances of seeing a scene more sweet.