"Mommy, I think I want to make a get well soon cake for Henry."

I looked up from my laptop, lifting an eyebrow at Josephine's small frame walking towards me.

"He's not been feeling well for days now. I think a cake might help him feel better," she said, jumping onto the bed with a toothy grin.

Whatever Fred and I were doing, we were doing something right. Josie definitely had Fred's compassion and my assertiveness, and I was proud of the being she was blossoming into.

"I think you're right," I said, placing my laptop on the nightstand, "let's make him a cake."

I boosted her up into my arms, and as soon as we made our way downstairs, I placed her on the counter. I grabbed the recipe book Adora had made for us a couple of years ago, flipping through it.

"I want to do all the mixing. You can do all the messy stuff, like washing the dishes, because that's just yucky."

I smiled, turning around to face Josie. Her legs were swinging off of the counter, and a warm smile crossed her face.

"How about you read the ingredients out to me and I'll grab them from the pantry and then we can both mix them together?" I suggestively asked, placing a hand on my hip.

"Okay, fine," she bluntly replied. I could tell she wasn't exactly pleased with this arrangement, considering she loved to take charge of everything.

I opened up the book to the page we needed and placed it on her lap, peering over her shoulder before preheating the oven. She began spitting off ingredients before I could make it to the pantry, earning a giggle from me.

"Cake mix, baking powder, baking soda, gra-nanulated sugar. Did I say that right?" She asked, her eyes meeting mine.

"It's granulated, my love. Try to say it again." I grabbed the ingredients she'd spat off, placing them on the counter.

"Granulated?" She asked.

"Look at you," I said, smiling, "beautiful reading. What's next on the list?"

"Salt from the pantry, and everything else is in the fridge," she replied, rather confidently.

"Are you sure? I think you're forgetting something,"

I said, knowing she'd forgotten to look on the next page for the buttercream recipe. I grabbed the icing, sugar, and vanilla extract, and walked out of the spacious pantry.

I kicked the door shut with my foot, placing everything on the counter. "Looks like we're going to have one heck of a cake."

She smiled up at me. "You know, this is for all of us. Not just Henry."

I giggled. "Grab the scale, mixing bowl, spatula and whisk from the drawer above your head."

After a quick visit to the fridge to get the milk, butter, and heavy cream, Josie had taken everything out and messily placed the items on the counter.

She impatiently watched as we measured the ingredients one by one and placed them in the bowl. Once we were done, she grabbed the whisk before I had a chance to and began mixing, her tongue between her lips as she concentrated as much as she could.

"What a view."

I turned my head to see Fred leaning against the door frame, admiring the view of his five-year-old daughter messily whisking the cake batter together.

Josie jumped off the counter, leaving her half-mixed batter a mess.

"Daddy," she yelled, running towards him. He caught her and threw up in the air, making my eyes go round.

"How's my favorite girl?" He asked, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Isn't mommy your favorite?" She questioned, turning her head to look at me.

I laughed. Did I quite expect that from our daughter? Not necessarily. She knew how much Fred loved them both- he made sure to get them gifts whenever he went anywhere, and he spent nearly every waking moment that he wasn't in the office, with them.

"Of course mommy's my absolute favorite. You're my favorite, too, though," he smoothly replied, grinning over at me.

"Can you tell me the story of how you met mommy and how you asked her to marry you?" She asked, smiling over at me. "I don't think you've ever told me how you managed to catch her. Plus, it'll keep me busy while I finish mixing the cake."

My eyes met Fred's. We weren't quite prepared for Jo nor Henry to ask about that just yet, but it wouldn't do any harm to entertain her.

"Why are you making a cake? Whose birthday is it?" Fred asked, panic in his voice.

"It's a get well soon cake for Henry to make him feel better," she deadpanned. Josie was leagues ahead of everyone, and just expected everyone else to know exactly what she was on about at all times.

"How about when the cake's in the oven, we can go up to Henry's room, and I can tell you both how I begged mommy to give me a chance," he said, gently rubbing her back.

She jumped out of Fred's arms and ran over to me, standing on her tip-toes to see the now mixed cake batter.

"Thanks for finishing that up, Mommy," she said, smiling up at me.

She pulled the mixing bowl off of the counter, and we poured the mixture into the two cake tins that I'd prepared.

"I want to put them in the oven. Pretty please?" She begged, batting her long eyelashes.

Before I could even make out words, Fred interjected. "You will do no such thing, that's mommy's job."

Josie tilted her head over, rolling her eyes. "Party pooper."

~*~

Once Alexis had placed the cake mixture in the oven, we decided to wait until the cake was done before disturbing Henry. When I'd checked up on him, he was fast asleep.

Josie wasn't happy. She was simply too eager, and she didn't calm down until she knew everything about everything.

She was attempting to coat the cake in icing, but was failing miserably. Ever so often, Lex would grab the knife off her and fix up whatever was fixable.

"Done, finally. I'm never asking to make a cake again. It's so so so much effort," she said, lying down on the kitchen floor.

"You're not done," Alexis giggled. She began writing words on the top with icing, and from where I was sitting, I couldn't see what it said. She looked extremely proud of how well she was doing, though, so I left her to it.

"Now we're done, " she said, looking down at Jo.

"Can I take it up? It was my idea," she said, batting her long eyelashes up at her mother.

"You were literally just complaining about how much effort it was three minutes ago," Lex responded, grabbing the cake from the counter.

"How about Josie and I take it up together? There's a very small chance of you dropping it that way," I suggested, grabbing the plate from Alexis's arms.

Josie smiled and nodded, and we followed Lex upstairs. She slightly opened the door and peeked into Henry's room.

"How's my boy?" She softly asked.

"My head hurts, my belly hurts, my nose hurts, everything just hurts."

"Can we come in? Josie has a surprise for you," I said, earning a toothy grin from Josie.

"Sure," he croaked.

I leaned down for Jo could grab the other side of the plate. We slowly made our way over to his bed and placed the cake on his lap.

His eyes immediately lit up. "You made that for-for me?"

He pointed at himself, a broad smile on his face.

"Yes for you, silly," Jo replied, before Lex or myself had the chance to.

"Let's cut us a few slices," Lex offered, picking the plate up off of his lap, "Josie's been so lost without you, so she wanted to do something special for you."

"Miss ya, Henry. Ooh! Guess what? Daddy promised he'd tell us the story of how he met mommy."

"Miss you, too, Josie. And really?" He asked, looking up at me.

"Yep. But you have to promise me something bud. You'll try to get better as soon as you can."

"I promise, " he said. He pulled the plate out of Lex's hand, taking a huge bite of his cake.

"Start from the beginning, I want to know everything," Josie began, before I had a chance to speak.

"Well, first, mommy and I were best friends. Me, her, and uncle Jo were inseparable."

Alexis took a bite of her cake, a grin tugging at her lips as she cuddled up to Henry and Jo.

"And then, mommy and I had a weird night."

"Nope, spare those details."

"Mommy got a tattoo," I whispered.

"Fred," she laughed, shaking her head.

"Fell in love with her," I said, chuckling. "Then mommy got a boyfriend."

"Dun dun dun," Josie giggled, crossing her legs.

"And daddy got possessive and territorial," Alexis laughed.

"Mommy and I didn't speak for a long time," I said, "but she saved me."

She smiled, tilting her head over to rest on top of Henry's.

"And then we were boyfriend and girlfriend for a long time," I said, "and then we moved away for college. We broke up, didn't speak for another long time, and now here we are. With you heathens."

Josie giggled, but then abruptly stopped. "I'm gonna need more detail than that."

Alexis lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah, what kind of detail?"

She looked over at Alexis, a dumbfounded look on her face. "All of it, mommy."

~*~

"Can I not love on mommy?" I asked, looking down at Hero.

"No," he said, "that's gross."

"Well, if you knew how you were made-"

Lena placed a finger over my lips, keeping her eyes fixated on cutting the onion on the counter.

Hero wrapped his arms around her legs. "My mommy."

"My wife, kid," I said, looking down at him.

"We get it, everyone's attached to Mommy," she nervously giggled, placing the knife on the cutting board.

"Hey, Hero," I said, rubbing his head, "give us a minute. Go see what Fran's watching."

"Don't kiss," he said, pointing up at me.

I held my hands up, but then wrapped my arms back around her middle from behind. I pressed a kiss to her cheek, rubbing her stomach. "Are you okay?"

She smiled, nodding. "I'm good."

"Overwhelmed?" I asked, trailing my hands down to her hips.

"A little," she said, looking over her shoulder at me.

I smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips. "You're the best mom ever."

"Thank you," she muttered, leaning her head back against my shoulder.

"Wanna make another?" I whispered, smiling down at her.

She nervously looked up at me. "Funny."

I pulled away from her, leaning against the counter. "Hey. Benny's coming by tomorrow."

"Oh, that's great," she said, smiling over at me, "is he staying?"

"I think so. He's got a three day weekend coming up."

"Nice," she said, "he's more than welcome to stay here."

"I'll let him know," I said, watching as she dumped the chopped up onions into the pot.

She let out a sigh, peeking into the living room. The kids were being suspiciously quiet.

"Look at them," she said, slapping my arm.

I looked over at Hero and Fran. They were lying together on the floor, watching TV.

"Yeah?" I chuckled, looking down at her.

She waved her hands around in the air. "He's peaceful."

"You know, we have good kids," I said, leaning against the counter as I folded my arms over my chest.

"Busy ones, too," she said, "specifically Hero."

I shrugged. "He's a boy. We run ninety to nothing from the day we come out."

"Have you met Josie?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow, "and Alexis? I think they prove the theory that it's not just boys."

I nodded, looking over my shoulder at Hero. I chuckled when I saw him walking on the arm of the couch, nudging Lena's arm.

"Hero!" She yelled, "get down before you give me a heart attack."

"Shoot, mom! You weren't supposed to see that."

I laughed, watching as he ran around the perimeter of the kitchen. "What's for dinner?"

"Vegetable soup," she said, placing her hand on his head to slow him down.

"Vegetable soup?" He grimaced, opening the fridge, "what about chicken fries?"

She tilted her head over, looking back at me.

"Chicken fries and vegetable soup," I said, "so you get some vegetables in your body."

"Vegetables are kind of boring, Dad," he said, leaning against the fridge.

"They're good for you," I said, "you need them."

"Doesn't make them any less boring," he muttered.

"You need to be thankful for your mom's wonderful cooking," I said, "and not complain about it."

"You're right," he said, "thanks, Mom, for the vegetable soup."

She smiled. "You're very welcome, love."

"Daddy?" Fran called, walking into the kitchen.

"Hi, princess," I greeted, earning a big smile from her.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hey, Frannie," Hero said, "it looks like you have two of those chocolate donuts on your head. You know what I'm talking about?"

I chuckled, looking down at Hero.

"I like them," Fran sweetly replied, looking up at Lena.

"I like them, too," Lena said, "they're called space buns, Hero."

"They look like donuts," he confidently said, nodding.

I threw him over my shoulder. "I agree. Let's make some chicken fries, yeah?"

~*~

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