"Lily, honey, could you go get your brother's bottle from the kitchen!" I called out.

"Yes, Mommy!" Lily said, zooming past me to get some milk for Elijah.

"Dad! I want to cook! Will you teach me how to make something?" Lily asked him as she walked back over to me and handed me Elijah's bottle.

"Yeah. Of course." Gabe chuckled, opening the freezer to look for some meat no doubt.

"Pasta?" Lily asked.

"Yeah. How about you take the hard part which is the sauce." Gabe said, lifting Lily onto the counter.

My little girl was already nine years old and her brother was almost one. I couldn't believe how fast my angels were growing up.

Lily was still homeschooled and she was a great help at home. We made sure to bring up going to school every year and it was a no every time. She still had her worksheets, her assignments, her tests and school work to do at home. But there was a lot more fun. Like going outside and playing a game we made up called Facts. We'd take turns pointing to things we saw and the other person had to state a fact about it. We could never repeat facts and we ruled out the really easy and obvious facts.

Lily loved to read more than anything. She was reading on an advanced level. Her vocabulary was almost better than mine from all the reading she was doing.

I was so proud of my daughter. She hadn't had a panic attack in a whole year and a half. She was doing really well. She was good at telling me when she noticed a trigger so that we could handle the situation before it escalated.

There were lots of triggers that I hadn't expected, like the sound of our new kettle whistling when the water boiled. She told me immediately and I shut it off. After two months, it stopped bothering her so much, it just made her slightly uncomfortable.

Elijah on the other hand was one happy little boy. All he did was babble on and on, he had turned nine months a week ago and he said his first word which was 'Lala' clearly referring to his sister. Lily cried when she heard it and ever since then, he said it quite often, further proving that it wasn't just a coincidence, he really meant to call out to his sister.

"Cheese!" Lily cheered, placing a large block of cheese into a pot.

"Yeah, half of that, baby, we don't need that much cheese." Gabe chuckled.

"Aw, but I like cheese." Lily said, pouting as she removed half of the block of cheese.

"Good. Now the tomatoes, can you peel them like daddy showed you last time?" Gabe asked her, kissing her cheek.

"Sure... Daddy how come hot water will make the peel come off so easily?" Lily asked curiously.

"The hot water makes the outer layer get softer and makes it so much easier to peel that way, otherwise it would be harder and it would be stuck to the tomato and so much harder to remove. We can do the same with almonds, right? Remember the coffee cake we made with the almonds in it? We put the almonds it boiling water and then the peel came right off." Gabe said to her.

"Oh yeah. But why does it get softer? How come heat makes stuff softer like that?" Lily asked.

"Well. You know how we said everything was made up of small particles?" Gabe asked her.

"Yeah." Lily nodded. All of those particles are held together with small forces between each particle. If you put enough energy into those particles, you can stop the forces from holding the particles together." Gabriel explained.

"Oh yeah! And then I remember we talked about how fires were just energy that's released from the wood or whatever else is burning!" Lily said.

"Exactly, so that means heat is energy!" I added.

"Oh! So there are molecules in the tomato? And when we heat them up, the heat makes the forces between the particles stop working?!" Lily asked.

"Yes! Exactly! That's my smart girl!" Gabe said, kissing her forehead.

"Wow! That's cool! So, there are particles in the peel and the tomato, and the particles of the peel are connected to the particles in the tomato because of the forces. But the heat from the boiling water makes the forces stop working properly and the peel comes off!" Lily explained, making sure she got it all.

"Exactly!" I said, feeling so proud of her for making all those connections in her tiny little mind.

"But the particles in the peel are all put together with forces right?" Lily asked.

"Yeah." Gabe nodded as Lily plopped yet another tomato into the hot water.

"So how come those forces still work?" Lily asked.

"Some forces are a lot stronger than other forces. The forces in the peel particles are so much stronger towards each other than towards the tomato particles." I explained, wondering if it made sense to Lily.

"Oh... so... that's why if I put a spoon in the hot water, it's particles stay together... nothing comes off or anything." Lily said. "So, the spoon particles have stronger forces."

"Exactly." I nodded.

"And which forces are stronger the peel forces or the spoon?" Lily asked.

"Which do you think?" I asked Lily.

"Uhm.... The spoon?" She asked.

"Yeah, why do you think?" I asked her.

"I don't know, it's harder, so it seems like the particles will stay together better." Lily shrugged.

"Yeah, you know when we move something, like a big chair, it makes us tired right? Because we've used energy, right?" I asked Lily.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"So you can't take a piece of tomato peel and you can pull it apart, right?" I asked her.

She nodded, doing exactly what I said.

"It didn't take much energy at all, huh? But what about the spoon, can you pull it apart?" I asked her.

"No." She giggled, trying to pull it apart even though she knew she'd fail.

"You only needed a tiny bit of energy to rip that peel apart, but the spoon couldn't even budge, even with all the energy you used." I said to her.

"Oh wow, so the spoon forces are so much stronger, Mommy!" Lily said.

"Yup. Much, much stronger." I nodded.

"You know what the strongest force is?" Gabe asked Lily.

"What?" Lily asked.

"The force of my love for you, and you and you!" Gabe said, pointing to each of us.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"You're crazy, Daddy!" She giggled.

"I'm serious, nothing will ever break us apart! Because I love, love, love, love you!" Gabe said, kissing her cheek repeatedly.

She giggled and kissed his cheek with a smile.

"You're right, I love you too, Daddy! And Mommy! And my little cutie!" Lily giggled, blowing both me and her brother a kiss.

Before long, Lily and her handsome father had prepared dinner for the family and we sat on the couches to eat. The dining table just wasn't comfortable enough.

"Hey, Gorgeous? Let Elijah have some time with his big sister and come here." Gabe said.

"Yes, please, Mommy!" Lily giggled, holding out her arms.

"Who's the cutest little boy in the whole wide world?! It's Elijah! Yes it is!" Lily giggled as she pulled Elijah into her lap and continued to play with him. Lily was just so perfect for handling her brother so well at her age. Never did I see a single shred of jealousy towards her brother, all she ever wanted to do was hang out with him.

She ate her dinner with him in her lap. All I could hear was his constant laughter and her giggles which followed it. I laid back against my husband's chest after we ate our pasta and he just watched our kids, his eyes sparkling with joy.

"I can't believe how perfect you are and how perfect they are. Thank you for this beautiful life, Doc. I could never have done it without you." Gabe said to me, kissing my cheek.

"Mommy, Eli's hungry, where's his food?" Lily asked, setting her brother down on the couch and running off to get him some food from the fridge.

"I took it out and warmed it up, Darling, it's on the counter." Gabe said.

"Oh, found it." She chuckled, running back with his food in her hand. She sat down on the couch again, pulling Elijah back into her lap and feeding him one spoonful after the other.

"Lala!" He squealed as he ate. He seemed to be enjoying his food quite a bit.

After he ate his food, he just rested against Lily, looking pretty tired and before long, he fell asleep with his head resting in the crook of her neck. She was rubbing his back and smiling.

"Look, I put him to sleep." Lily whispered excitedly.

"Good job, Cutie." Gabe chuckled, handing her the book he'd told her she could go back to reading after lunch.

She started reading the story as Elijah slept on her and then before long, she was asleep too. I took my babies up to their rooms for a little nap and then went down to the couch in the living room with my husband.

"God, Ava. Do you have to look so damn gorgeous?" He asked me making me blush.

"Do you have to be so handsome?" I asked him.

"I do." He nodded. "How else could I teacher compete with a doctor?"

I laughed and laid down, cuddling into his side.

"I think we should get Lily a gift." I said softly.

"She's been really good lately, huh?" Gabe said.

"Yeah. She deserves something special." I nodded.

"Alright. We can drop them off at Kiara's place tomorrow and go get something ready. Deal?" Gabe suggested.

"Deal." I agreed.

"Ava. You know what's crazy?" Gabe asked me.

"What?" I asked.

"Even after you and I becoming a couple, meeting your family, us moving in together, building our home, adopting our perfect daughter, adopting a puppy, battling Lily's past, having a baby and now just living with a pet and two children... I still get this feeling every time I see you... like my heart is beating out my chest, my stomach is fluttering and my head is spinning. Actually, it's gotten worse with time." He told me.

"Really?" I asked, feeling my heart flutter with joy.

"Yes, really. God, I already love you endlessly, but somehow every moment of my life makes me love you even more. Look..... feel this." He said, taking my hand and placing it over his heart. It sure was beating really fast.

He saw my stethoscope laying on the coffee table from when I got home several hours ago and he picked it up.

I took it from his hands and decided to listen to his heart.

"It's fast, huh?" He chuckled. "It's your fault."

I laughed and smiled at him.

"What's your diagnosis, Doc?" He asked me.

"You have a healthy heart, Teach. A healthy relationship, a healthy family, a healthy life all together." I told him.

"Well, that's because I chose the right person to take care of my heart. And I'm so glad that God gave me the patience to wait for you to finally have a revelation and realize you loved me too." Gabe laughed.

"Oh, shut up. I wasn't that bad." I said, turning red.

"You said my brain cells were committing suicide because I was so stupid and they couldn't bear to live with me." He laughed.

"Wow, I was mean." I laughed.

"Yeah, you were. But it's ok, I love you anyway." He chuckled, planting a kiss on my lips.

"Thank you, Teach. For teaching me how to do this thing." I said with a smile.

"What thing?" He asked.

"Life." I giggled.

"Thank you for agreeing to let me show you." He said, pulling me in for a long, passionate kiss.

I had my beautiful, loving, cute, smart husband, my perfect, understanding, caring little girl, and my adorable, loud, happy little boy. And all I could think was how I had it all, everything I ever could've dreamed of.