"I love her and that's the beginning of everything."
-F. Scott Fitzgerald
Four Years Later...
"Mommy!"
Toni groaned, and squinted her eyes shut, burying her head into the couch pillow, trying her best to look asleep.
"Mommy!"
The shouts were getting closer, and she knew her five minutes of peace were up.
"Mommy!" A little boy with red hair and brown eyes shouted in glee, bounding on to the couch, and landing roughly on top of her.
Toni yelped in pain, sitting up fully and moving her son off of her.
"Leo, I told you. Please don't jump on Mommy."
"Sorry." The little boy smiled, and then crawled up to her face, wrapping his arms tightly around her neck.
"Mama told me to come find you and ask you to make me lunch, but not to tell you she told me to." He whispered, in total confidentiality, "In a minute she's going to come in here and pretend to be upset with me, and I'm supposed to play along."
"Oh really?" Toni cocked an eyebrow, looking up as the sound of footsteps neared the living room.
Cheryl stepped into the room, and Toni had to stifle a laugh right away at the mock expression of shock and disappointment on her face.
"Leo! I told you to leave your mother alone and let her rest."
Leo giggled, and buried his face in Toni's neck, hugging her tighter.
Toni smiled dubiously at her wife, shaking her head disapprovingly, "I'm wondering why you were so insistent I go relax if you were just going to send him running in after me five minutes later."
"Wait, what?" Cheryl glanced over at their four-year-old son, pouting, "You told her?"
"This boy tells me everything." Toni ran a hand through Leo's red hair approvingly, "He always lets me know when his Mama's misbehaving."
"You're such a mommy's boy." Cheryl informed her son, stepping towards the two with a huff.
She leaned forward, kissing Toni's forehead, "I do want you to relax. I just need him off my hands for a minute while I try to get the baby to go asleep, and then I'll take him outside and we'll leave you alone."
"That's all right." Toni stood up, "I didn't really want to be alone anyway. I'll make the kid lunch."
She opened out her arms, picking her son up, and turning towards the kitchen.
"That kid's getting too big for you to pick him up." Cheryl warned, but Toni ignored her, walking into the kitchen and leaving her behind.
A few minutes later, Toni set a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich down on the living room coffee table, sighing at the persistent wails coming from upstairs.
"I'm going to rescue your sister from Mama, and when I come back down I'll peel you an orange." She said to Leo, who plopped down on his knees in front of the table, grabbing a sandwhich half and biting into it.
Toni hurried upstairs, stepping into the nursery to find Cheryl helplessly bouncing a screaming baby in one arm, and waving a stuffed lamb in its face with her other hand.
"What are you doing to my daughter, Blossom?" Toni stepped forward, extending her arms and taking the crying infant from her hands with a laugh.
