In Flames Extras

Father's Day

Giggle.

Eddie cracked one eye open at the sound of his kids' laughter. He checked the alarm clock to find that it was seven in the morning and that his alarm hadn't gone off. Frowning, Eddie pushed himself up to go check on the kids when a hand pressed against his chest gently and forced him to lay back down. His sweet wife appeared above him with a finger pressed to her lips to tell him to be quiet.

"The kids really wanted to make you breakfast in bed so I need you to pretend you're asleep," she whispered. His eyes widened in panic and he started to sit up. Mariana snickered at his fear and quickly slid one of her legs over his hips so she straddled him.

"They're fine. Diego is doing most of the cooking with Chris' help. Hope and Jess are not allowed near the stove," she assured him. Her hands slid down his shirt clad chest as he relaxed against her and settled back against the pillows. A lazy grin spread across his lips as he settled his hands on her thighs.

"Happy Father's Day," Mariana murmured. She leaned down and captured his lips in a sweet kiss that had him pulling her closer, if that was even possible, and savoring every last bit of her love. Her warm brown eyes sparkled as she pulled away, lips ghosting over his before she pressed a line of chaste kisses against his jaw.

"Is this my present?" he hummed.

Mari chuckled and tilted her head to the side as she sat up straight. "Nah, that'll be later tonight."

He let out a frustrated groan. How on earth could he possibly wait when his extremely hot wife was currently on top of him with that mischievous grin? She knew exactly what she was doing.

Little footsteps sounded on the stairs and Mari rolled off of Eddie and teasingly covered his eyes with her hand. "You need to pretend your sleeping damnit."

"Alright, alright, Miss Bossy."

She poked him in the chest and rolled her eyes. "That's Mrs. Bossy to you. Married for years and you still forget."

He grinned while he rolled over to grab her pillow and bury his face in the fabric. Eddie evened out his breathing and shut his eyes but kept his ears tuned to the sound of the little knock on the bedroom door. Mariana quietly walked over to open it and shuffles echoed through the room.

And then all hell broke loose.

"Wake up daddy!" "Good morning!" "Happy Father's Day!" "We didn't burn anything!"

Four voices chorused together as little bodies launched themselves onto the bed. Eddie rolled onto his back and pulled his girls into his chest, pressing a kiss to each of their dark curls as they giggled.

"Good morning guys. Did you make me breakfast?"

"Mom's recipe," Christopher explained as he and Diego laid out the plates onto the bed. "We made enough for everyone."

"Thank you buddy. You guys didn't have to do all of this."

"We wanted to," Hope announced gravely. "Because you're the best daddy in the world."

Edmundo Diaz had faced a lot of shit in his life but in that moment, surrounded by his kids and his wife, it all was worth it. He pulled Hope into a hug and blinked past the tears in his eyes. Mari teased him often that old age was making him soft, but they both knew it was the absolute love from their kids that made them feel so blessed.

He settled Hope and Jess on his lap and sat up to give everyone space to pile on the bed. The boys climbed on and sat at the end of the bed, facing them, as Mariana sat next to him so she could take little Jess from him and help cut up her food.

Hope started rambling on about all the fun activities they had planned for that day and Eddie nodded along, not a single word registering in his mind. Instead, he looked to his wife who smiled up at him. He leaned over to steal a kiss from her and then whispered in her ear.

"Thank you."

"No," Mari replied. "Thank you for being an amazing father."

He wore many titles. Son, husband, brother, firefighter, captain, soldier. But by far his favorite and the one he was most proud of would always be dad.

A/N: where have I been? Oh, y'know, doing homework for summer classes, working, writing 25k words of a werewolf romance in one week. The usual. Yeah anyways, no idea if I'll post it here when I'm done but...that is indeed what my brain has been focusing on for the past few weeks. 

Btw, Eddie is an amazing father and all the people being like "where's Buck?" on the Father's Day post,,,,pls stop. I'm the legal guardian of my friend's cat but that doesn't make me his mother.