The family has been having a great time at Mr. and Mrs. Brooks house. It's Saturday, and Romeo, Charlie, and Greyson went out to the backyard to hang out together. April and Arielle were upstairs in the kids room watching a show, and their grandparents are sitting in the living room talking.
"Honey, what should we do with the kids tonight? Maybe go out to eat?" Mrs. Brooks asks her husband. He thinks for a second and nods, smiling.
"Sounds like a plan, Hon. We should tell the kids after lunch and we can leave around 6pm." Mr. Brooks replies. April suddenly comes downstairs, entering the living room.
"Hi Grammy, hi Papa. Have you seen the boys?" she asks. They look at each other. Didn't they come in a while ago?
They both get up and go outside to the backyard. They can't see them. Mr. Brooks specifically said don't go too far. Romeo knows better than to go into the forrest without a grown up. They walk into the forrest for about a minute or so, then they hear them.
"Oh, there they are, Honey." Mr. Brooks said.
"Romeo, Charlie, Grey!" they call. The boys quickly run over to them. Romeo walks up, looking a little guilty.
"Oh, Grammy, Dad. We saw a deer and we followed it. We didn't go that far though." He explains.
Just like his mom, Romeo's grandmother is a bit less strict on him than his grandfather. She smiles at the boys, walking closer and bundling them up together.
"Okay, boys. I'll just remind you, if you go out here again, remember don't go into the forest without a grown up, okay?" she tells them. They all nod quickly.
"Sorry, Mrs. Brooks. We were so surprised to see the deer, we wanted to follow it." Charlie says. She smiles, nodding.
"Alright, boys, time to come inside now." Mr. Brooks says. They all walk back inside together. April and Arielle are both waiting for them at the back door.
"Bubby, I've been looking for you. Let's play upstairs, Nugget wants to have a tea party." April tells him, going to reach for his hand, but he shakes his head.
"Me, Grey, and Charlie are gonna watch transformers downstairs." He says. The girls look a bit sad.
"Well, maybe we can do the tea party now, then watch your movie after? So we can all be together." April says. She knows their baby sister really wants to do the tea party.
Greyson and Charlie nod. "Yeah, let's do it." Charlie says. Their grandparents watch from a few steps away. Romeo looks like he wants to say no, but nods anyways.
"Okay, fine." he says. He looks at his friends.
"Sorry, guys." he says. They shake their heads.
"No, it's okay. We wanna play with your sisters, too. They're our friends." Greyson tells him. Charlie nods, agreeing. The kids go upstairs to their room, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Brooks in the kitchen.
They decide to get started on lunch. Making salad, chicken, and vegetables, they set up the table and call the kids downstairs. They all come down and sit at the table.
"Grammy, we were all playing upstairs!" Arielle says happily. She smiles at her, kissing her cheek.
"Thats good, Sweetie. I'm glad Bub and his friends played with you guys." she tells her. Once they're all done, they all go into the living room.
"Uncle Myles, can you put transformers on? Bubby wants to watch." April asks. He smiles and nods, looking for the movie for her.Mr. Brooks speaks up.
"By the way kids, we're gonna go out to eat for dinner tonight. Just do something fun and celebrate the big sleepover." he says. The kids all get excited.
"Thats gonna be so fun, Dad!" Romeo says. The other kids nod. Mr. Brooks looks at Romeo and remembers what Calvin said.
"Hey Bud, come and help me in the kitchen." he says. Romeo gets up and follows him into the kitchen. They put some candy in a small bowl and microwave two big bowls of popcorn for everyone. Mr. Brooks makes everyone drinks and turns to his grandson.
"So, Romeo, I think we need to talk." he says, making Romeo freeze.
"Am I in trouble?" he asks. Mr. Brooks shakes his head quickly.
"No, of course not. I asked you to help me because I wanted to tell you that I think it upsets your father when you call me 'Dad". So, I think maybe it would be best if you started calling me Papa like the girls. Okay?" he says.
Romeo's heart breaks. Him and his papa aren't as close as he thought. Myles walks in the kitchen to check on them.
"But... Uncle Myles calls you Dad, so why can't I?" he asks, hesitating. Myles looks at them, then decided to take the snacks to the living room. He'll let his dad handle this conversation. He doesn't see what the big deal is, though. Romeo has always said 'Dad' when talking about him.
Mr. Brooks looks at his boy, sighing. "I understand Romeo, bit Myles is my son, that's why he calls me that. You're my grandson, so you call me 'Papa'. Understand?" he says. He feels so guilty. He doesn't want to do this; he knows Romeo calls him that because Myles is the only other boy, and he wants to be like him. But he also doesn't want to have any issues with his son in law.
Romeo opens his mouth to protest, but just turns around and goes back to his friends. Mr. Brooks feels horrible. Hopefully his relationship with Romeo doesn't change. If he was honest, he actually loves that Romeo loves and trusts him enough to call him 'Dad'. Calvin has his own names. The kids call him 'Poppy', 'Daddy', and Romeo still calls him 'Dada' from time to time. Those names are special and only for him. He shouldn't care about one word. But it's his wishes and Romeo is his son.
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The kids are all done getting ready to go out to eat. They all walk out to the truck and Mr. Brooks helps his wife in the passenger seat. He opens the back door and turns to the kids.
"Alright kids, get in and buckle up." he says. The boys climb in the third row, then Myles, McKayla, April and Arielle sit in the second row. He gets in the driver seat and starts the car, taking off toward the restaurant.
Once they get there and get seated, they look over the menu before ordering a few minutes later. They decided to go to a more family friendly restaurant so the kids could have things they'd like.
Once everyone gets their food they all enjoy dinner together, laughing and having a great time.
