Epilogue

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Daniels POV

*7 years later*

"Dad! Look what I made for my science project!" Aiden came running in with a board in hand. There was a brown volcano on it, that was foaming red 'lava'. "Wow. Look at that" I said, ruffling his hair. "Good job, Buddy" He grinned at me, his missing tooth showing and sprinted to the table to play with it. "Daddy! Isaac stole Myah's dolly!" Lily ran in, Myah in tow tears rushing down her face. Lily was six, and had just started school this year. Myah was four and had recently got a doll for her birthday. "It's okay Myah. Come here Princess" I picked her up and placed her on my lap. Lily hugged my legs and patted Myah's back.

"ISAAC!" I yelled up the stairs. Myah started hiccuping as Isaac came downstairs. "Yeah dad?" He asked. "Where's Myah's dolly?" He frowned. "The buttons on it are too small dad, Myah could choke on them, so I cut them off..." He trailed off looking guilty. "What happened to make you look so guilty?" I asked. He moved his arm from behind his back and revealed Myah's doll. It's stomach was cut up where the buttons once were. The stuffing was falling out and one of the eyes was hanging by a thread. Roger, our German Shepherd took it into his mouth and walked off with it.

Myah started screaming after him and Isaac looked at the floor guiltily. "What's going on in here?" Alexis came into the room, baby bump showing from under her shirt. "Mummy! Look what Isaac did to Myah's dolly!" Lily shouted and Isaac looked at Alexis with wide eyes. "Isaac, I know you're concerned about Myah choking. But, you shouldn't take her toys and rip them up without asking us first" She said, kneeling down next to Isaac. "I'm sorry" He whispered. "It's not me you should be apologisng to. I'm sure Myah's very upset with you right now and wants an apology" Isaac walked over to me, so I put Myah on the ground.

"I'm sorry Myah" He whispered, handing her the destroyed doll. She took it and ran to Alexis. "Mummy, can you fix her?" She asked. "I think we have to get grandma to sew her for you. We'll take it down to her at Christmas, okay?" Myah nodded and ran to her pop-up princess castle. A easter gift from my parents for Lily and Myah. Who gives presents on Easter?

"Mummy! Look at my volcano!" Aiden shouted from the corner of the room. He was holding the 1 litre bottle of white vinegar and was holding it over the volcano. "Aiden no! Not inside the house!" Alexis yelled. Aiden apparently didn't hear her and continued to pour the bottle's contents into the crater. Lily and Isaac ran over to watch it. Uh oh.

The volcano erupted and sprayed red foam all over the walls and the kids. "Ugh, Aiden" I groaned. The twins started giggling and Lily started crying. Her favourite pale pink dress was now covered in red food dye. "Lily, Angel. It's okay" I said, picking her up. She shook her head, "No it's not Daddy! My dress is dead!" She cried. I chuckled. Lily was a drama queen, since the day she was born. "Aiden! What I just say?" Alexis asked, going to take the boys to get cleaned up.

"I guess it's bath time" I said. I got Myah out of the play tent, lifted her up and carried the two girls to the bathroom. Alexis was in there already, running the water. The tub is big enough to hold three adults, so the kids all fit in together. Bath time was a shared time for all four of them. They didn't mind sharing. We offered the twins to have showers or bathe at a different time. They said no because they like playing with the girls. "Alright, clothes off kiddies" I said, placing the girls on the tiled floor.

Aiden flung off his clothes and jumped inside the tub. Always the enthusiastic one. "What about my dress? It's dirty and all wrong" Lily said, scrunching up her nose. "I'll fix your dress, alright? You just get in the tub" Alexis took Lily's dress and walked out to the laundry. "Daddy, can you get the bath crayons?" Aiden asked. "Yeah! And the monsters" Isaac said. The monsters were those action figures from Monsters vs Aliens that you get from McDonalds. They always get them with their kids meals.

I got up and went into the cupboard under the sink. I grabbed the bath toy box and pulled it out. I placed it on the corner of the bath and helped Myah take off her clothes. I lifted her over the tub stairs and placed her in. The water was already half way up and they started playing with the toys.

Alexis peaked her head through the door, "I'm gonna start on dinner, you can supervise them" She ducked back out and went to make dinner. I watched the kids play around, then got out the sponge and some shampoo. Some red colouring was in Aiden and Lily's hair so I washed it out and sponged the red off Aiden's arms and hands. "You are extremely troublesome, you know that?" Aiden just grinned at me and drew on the bath walls with the crayons.

We didn't really mind the kids drawing on the bath. We had our own bathroom upstairs, which was off limits to them. Our bath was always clean, and Alexis was determined to keep it that way. "Dinners nearly ready!" Alexis shouted from the kitchen. "Okay!" I shouted back. "Come on, everyone out before you turn into prunes" I lifted Myah out and wrapped her little pink towel around her. They all had towels with their names sewed into them. The girls had pink and the boys had blue. Birthday gifts from Alexis' mother when they each turned three. I dried them off and got them into their pyjamas. We headed to the dining room and had spaghetti for dinner.


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Alexis POV

I walked into the twins' room and helped them pick out some clothes. I got them in some sweaters, because it was quite cold today. They had matching brown pants, with different coloured checkered dress shirts and their sweaters over the top. "Get some shoes on, please. And where are your beanies? It's going to be cold" I said and quickly made their beds. We were headed to Dan's parents house for the whole of Christmas Day. They ran into their closet and grabbed some shoes and their beanies, Aiden had his red converse and grey beanie. Isaac had his grey beanie and black vans.

"Come on, downstairs" I walked downstairs with the boys following behind. Dan was at the door getting the girls into the car. They had their christmas dresses on and thick cardigans. They wore their cute beanies. Lily had an owl beanie and Myah had a penguin beanie. "Come on boys, in the car" Dan called and ushered them into the car. I locked up the house and got in the car. The drive was two hours long, so we played 'The Lorax' for the kids.

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"Ahhhh!" Mark screamed as the kids tackled him. "Grandpa!" They cried. Rhonda laughed at them and picked up Myah. "Hello Sweetheart, what have you been up to?" She asked. They walked off with Myah telling her all about how Isaac stole her doll. "Okay! Okay! I surrender!" Mark shouted and stood up and carried Lily into the living room on his shoulders.

"Presents!" Aiden shouted and sprinted after Mark. Isaac grabbed my hand and dragged me to the christmas tree. "Alright, blue box for Isaac" Mark shouted tossing the box to Isaac. "A big pink box for Myah" Mark shook the box in front of Myah's face and she giggled and took it from him. "A little pink box for Lily, and a massive blue box for....ME!" He shouted and hugged the box. Aiden glared at him and tried to jump and reach for the box. "Oh alright you can have it" He handed it to Aiden as he ran off.

The kids opened their gifts and started screaming and laughing. Isaac received a basketball and Aiden a soccerball. Lily got a canvas and some paint, and Myah got a doll and toy pram. Rhonda came and kissed my cheek handing me a small box. I opened it and saw a gold necklace. It was a heart locket. I opened the small locket and saw a photo of the whole family. The kids, Dan and I, Mark and Rhonda, and my mum.

I thanked her and watched as Daniel opened a big box. "Sweet!" He said, there was a bunch of surfing magazines in the box and six tickets to a football game. "Daddy! Look at my new dolly!" Myah yelled holding on to Dan's pants. Dan bent down and picked her up. "Wow, look at that. It's nearly as pretty as you" She giggled and hid her head in his neck.

"Well, I'm hungry. Anyone else?" Mark asked. Rhonda nodded, "Let's get dinner on the table then" She walked into the kitchen and I followed. "Okay kids! To the dining room!" Dan called, and they scrambled carrying their new toys with them. I helped Rhonda get the food to the table and we all sat down to a great christmas dinner.





THE END

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