Where You Belong

84

Caught by surprised on his way down the stairs, Scott grabbed onto the banister to balance himself as he was nearly bowled over by his daughter and her cousin.

"Claire. Katie. You need to be careful on the stairs."

"Sorry, Daddy," Claire said quickly, tilting her head and raising her shoulders as she smiled sweetly at him.

"Sorry, Uncle Scott," Katie echoed, mirroring her cousin.

Scott sighed in defeat as he met his daughter's eyes – the ones that looked exactly like his wife's. He couldn't say no to those eyes. "Its okay girls; just be careful next time. Especially around the younger kids." Both girls were six, only a few months apart, and there were several younger cousins that could be hurt on the stairs.

"We will, Daddy."

"Yeah, we promise."

"Good." He smiled, taking in the matching sparkle in their eyes. "What are you two up to?"

"We gonna wake up Uncle Derek!" Katie said brightly. "He missed cartoons this morning."

"I, uh, don't think that's such a good idea, girls," he said quickly, minding the fact that his brother-in-law's girlfriend had shown up the night before and he definitely didn't want his innocent six year old walking in on something. "We should let Uncle Derek sleep. He was very tired last night."

"But Grandma Jane said we could," Claire pouted. There was a policy at 'Grandma's house' that the kids were not allowed to open closed bedroom doors without permission.

"Grandma Jane didn't know how tired Uncle Derek was."

"Please, Daddy?" Claire pushed, giving him the eyes again.

He felt his heart tug at her expression, and wished for the millionth time that he could say no to his girls. "Leave Uncle Derek alone," he managed to repeat, and then off of his daughter's fallen expression, added, "But you can go and wake up Mommy."

"Yay!" Both girls shouted as they continued up the stairs.

Scott continued down the stairs, shaking his head. He would pay for that later. It was a little after nine, and his wife liked to sleep much later than this when she had the chance.

Once on the ground floor, Scott made his way through the living room and into the kitchen, which was alive and busy at this time of the morning. The scent of brewing coffee hit his nose first and he made a bee-line to the coffee maker, before popping a bagel into the toaster. "Morning," he greeted.

"Morning, dear," his mother-in-law greeted him as she passed him a plate on her way to the table, where she joined her husband, daughter and son-in-law.

Once the bagel was toasted, he added some cream cheese and joined the family at the table. "Where are the kids?"

"We sold them to the circus," Tim quipped.

"Ah, good. I thought it was nice and quiet."

Kathleen rolled her eyes at her husband and brother-in-law. "Most of them are out back. The older ones are supervising."

He yawned, and then flinched as he heard the kitchen door open behind him and familiar footsteps approach. And when the hand smacked him across the side of the head, he wasn't the least bit surprised.

His wife then plopped herself down in the seat next to him, reached for his mug of coffee, and glared. "Why would you send the girls in to wake me up?"

"Because they were upset when I stopped them from waking up Derek."

She rolled her eyes. "Honey, you have to learn to say no to them."

"That's easier said than done," he responded, even as his wife now slid the plate with his bagel over to the space in front of herself.