I was doing my hair and makeup when Matt came in and sat in the chair behind me.
"You're so beautiful. You know that?" He said, his voice smooth.
"Of course I know that silly." I giggled.
"Listen..."
"No."
"You didn't even hear what I was going to say!"
"You are not going anywhere."
I watched him put his hand to his head, shaking it.
"Cait, I've been discharged from the military, it's nothing of that sort."
I turned around for a minute.
"Then what?" I asked.
"Well, I got a call from my father-
"Sorry. But I thought he uh, well-
"Yeah, well he's transitioning into a care home, and well he needed some help moving in, and my brothers kind of sick, and.. Well. I was going to go for about a month to take care of them..."
I turned around.
"Not to be a bitch-
"Did you just cuss?" Matt said with a snort.
"Yes, but, not to be a bitch, but your father let alone your brother doesn't call you, even when you were on your deathbed, and then when their a little bit light of good health you're supposed to rush up there to save them?"
"I'm not saving them, I'm just being the good guy."
"You know Matthew, even super heroes need breaks."
"Oh, the full name. I feel so threatened." Matt said, getting up.
"Don't." I mumbled.
"What?" He said, casually smirking.
He came up behind me and started to tickle my sides.
"I said don't!" I giggled.
"So can I go?" He said, tickling me harder.
"F-f-fine!"
He grabbed me by my waist and spun me around.
"You know, that's why I love you." He said, taking my hands.
"That better not be the only reason."
"Well." He said with a hint of sarcasm. He pressed his lips on mine.
He left a week after, and he'd be gone for about a month.
Not too bad, I thought to myself. We'd call every night, or if things got stressful on either end once a weekend. Just four weeks.
That was enough time to finish my challenge.. Maybe..
I aged up all of the kids.
Anna and Elizabeth were now young adults, and were ready to take on the world. Elizabeth is going to be a shrink, don't ask me how that is going to work out, and Anna was going to acheive her goals of being a singer.
Belle and Ella are silly little girls now. They both have their own personalities that flare at unusual moments.
And Peeta is a small bundle of giggles and happiness. He is the definition of adorable.
The girls enjoyed the karaoke machine immensely.
"Baby-baby-baby-"
"Oh I thought you'd always be nine?"
"It's mine!"
"But he's singing about his child. Baby baby baby oh! Does that not sound like child birth to you!?"
Ella took her palm, and introduced it to her face.
Meanwhile, I was teaching Peeta his skills.
"Kitty."
"K-k-k-abababa"
"Okay.. That was close but... Kitty."
"Mama?"
"Good enough!"
The girls actually got out their "IF's" and were playing with them.
Unlike their siblings. There are about twenty running around the house...
Peeta took to walking a lot better than he did with talking. He took his first steps in a matter of minutes.
"Did you feed Elephant Belle?" I asked, walking into the computer room.
"No! I told Ella to do it!" She responded.
"Ella did you feed Elephant?" I asked again.
"No! I asked Belle to do it!"
I ran to Elephants cage, he was sitting there like usual, but his breathing was slow, and he was kind of twitchy.
"No! No! You can't die!" I yelped.
I quickly filled his food dish, and cleaned the walls of his cage.
"It's better... See?"
Elephant slowly rolled over on his back.
"NO!"
Elephant's breathing came to an abrupt halt, and when I picked him up his body was quite limp.
"Girls! Can one of you get me a shoebox?"
And.. Well... We made Elephant a lovely grave by the tree...
"Hey stranger!" Bridget's voice loomed from the phone.
"Well hello there!" I replied.
"Do you have some time to hang out?"
My response was almost immediate. With the girls at school I could have a babysitter come and look after Peeta for a couple of hours. I hadn't spent much time with Bridget lately, and now was my chance.
"Ohhh! To you Bridget!" I sang, pointing to my singing partner.
"What's the verse! What's the verse!" She yelled, staring at the words darting across the screen.
After our failure of karaoke, Bridget tugged me over to the pool table. "I suck at pool!" I muttered. "And you think I'm any good at it?" She replied. My very first shot, which just happened to be the break, didn't hit a single ball. "They're right there! How could I miss that!? My goodness!" I yelled. We both started laughing uncontrollably.
After about an hour of dedication to get at least one ball in the hole we both decided a forfeit was in reach. "Spencer would be quite disappointed in me." Bridget said, looking at her pool stick. "Where is he anyways?" I asked, tossing the balls in the holes, so other people didn't get the bright idea to steal them. "Oh, they had a job in Bridgeport to do, he'll be back sometime next week." She said, sighing. "How's the little one?" I asked, changing the subject. "I still can't believe you've dealt with 55 of the little things. I can barely keep up with 1!" She said, giggling. "It get's easier." I said. "Yeah, I'd hope so."
We ended our time together with a silly picture, because we were us, and that's how we roll.
When I got home Peeta was sitting on the floor, playing with his xylophone. I scooped him up into my arms and hugged him tightly. "Hey big guy." I whispered, taking my hands through his hair.
I had to set him down, to confirm the feeling in my belly. It was indeed a kick, or two, and it filled my heart with joy. "I'm already half way there." I whispered to myself. The last few kids were going to be the hardest, but I could already see Matt and I's future. 100 kids. I couldn't wait to say those words. 'I have 100 children.' That would be the day.
Peeta tottled back over to his xylophone and began filling the living room with a small melody, of randomly hit bars.
Belle, and Ella loved to dress up as princesses, which did fit with their names quite well indeed. However, Belle wanted a yellow dress and no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find one, so she settled with red.
I always felt quite neglectful with Jumangi, since he didn't get much love. He had an asortment of toys, but nothing was better than to scoop him up into my arms like a child and to squeeze him into an embrace.
My belly was growing at a fast rate, and I was getting worried. However, it could be the possibility of twins or triplets, so I let it slide. I missed being pregnant, even though it was not long ago that Peeta had been born, but it was a feeling that I didn't want to let go, it got easier every time.
After hours and hours of tings and tongs I finally picked Peeta up. "OH NO! Peeta! It's THE CLAW!!!" I said, rearing my hand into the air. "No! Mommy!" He said, his mouth wide.
"It's going to tickle you! Look out!" I said, bringing it down. I let my fingers explore his tiny belly, putting him into a state of giggles. "Oh no! Peeta! The claw got you!" I giggled.
My belly was still growing, and growing big it was. At times I could feel mutliple little feet kicking, and at other times they were still.
Belle wanted to sing with me so I set up the karaoke machine and we got to it. After countless Hannah Montanna songs, and One Direction, she finally got bored.
She had wonderful timing, because right as we stopped I went into labor. "Mom! What do I do!? What do I do!?" She screamed. "It's okay honey! Just call the babysitter, okay? Mommy will be right back."
The contractions went into full swing, and I knew at that moment for a fact it was more than just two or three. I grabbed my keys and raced out the door, probably leaving my girls in a state of panic, but in a few minutes I got a call from the babysitter, confirming that they got to the house.
After a few hours I came home with 5 little precious "apples."
Welcome to the world little Nandri, Apfel, Pomme, Tamil, and Siyao. Welcome to the world.
