Day After Day

Halloween!

AN: September/October 2038. Got super excited about this one and wrote it at the beginning of the year, and then had to wait to post it until Halloween. I wrote this and then realized there's one other piece of info I have to reveal in fic before there's a full family tree I can unveil so hopefully that'll be out soon.

"What do you want to be for Halloween?" Jacquie excitedly asks their six-year-old.

Richelle pauses helping Noah decorate cookies, wanting to hear Jesse's response.

"I wanna be a leopard! Like Mommy!" Of course their kid, who notices everything, would notice she wears the same costume every year. Or at least for the years he can remember. The first couple years she let Noah and Jacquie plan matching family costumes, but then Jesse decided he wanted to pick his own costumes.

"I think we can do that, little leopard cub." Richelle has gone back to helping Noah decorate, but she stops again when Jesse lets out the most adorable little growl in the other room.

Noah gently takes the piping bag she's holding, "You should go talk to him about leopards. I can finish these."

"But I said I'd help you decorate," she argues weakly.

"I'll be fine. I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about what he's going to be for Halloween."

"Mommy! Mommy!" Jesse barrels into their tiny kitchen and Richelle is very appreciative of the fact that Noah took the frosting bag she was holding so their son doesn't knock it out of her hands. "We're going to match for Halloween this year!" He tells her, resting his chin on her stomach and looking up at her.

Richelle brushes a hand through his hair, it's getting long, she thinks. "I heard." She leans down so she can stage whisper to him, "Maybe we should ask Mama and Daddy to match with us too."

His eyes widen and he looks like he can't believe he didn't think of it first. "Daddy, will you be a leopard too?" Richelle tries not to laugh at his little puppy dog eyes.

Richelle can see that Noah's trying not to laugh too as they play along, "But then Mama will be the only one who isn't a leopard. I don't want her to feel left out."

"'M gonna ask her next. She's not gonna be left out." He tells them earnestly. Richelle watches as he debates whether or not he wants to run and ask Jacquie now to prove he means it or wait until he gets a response from Noah.

"Well in that case, I guess I can be a leopard too."

Jesse throws himself at Noah to hug them before running back out to the living room. Richelle follows him out and watches as he launches himself on top of Jacquie.

"Hi Mama," he says, panting a little, grinning up at her goofily from her lap. "Daddy said he would be a leopard too, but only if you were a leopard too, 'cause he doesn't want you to be left out. Will you be a leopard for Halloween?"

Jacquie gasps, "A whole family of leopards?"

Richelle folds herself into the empty space on the couch next to them.

"Uh-huh." Jesse nods his head aggressively.

"I think that sounds like a great idea. Maybe we should go to the zoo this weekend to do some research."

Richelle stifles another laugh when Jesse's little brow furrows. "But Mama, they don't have leopards at the zoo."

"They have snow leopards," Jacquie offers.

"Not real leopards, Jacquie," Richelle reminds her.

"Yeah Mama, they aren't real leopards." Richelle ruffles Jesse's hair affectionately, at least somebody listens when she talks about leopards. That's not true, she knows that Jacquie and Noah listen, but they don't understand that the differences are important.