"It's ma birthday." Sophie bounced on her bed.
"Birthdays are like Christmas but just for you. Or me. Or whoever's birthday it is but you know what's I mean." Emma giggled and flopped down onto Sophie's bed.
"Let's go wake mommy and daddy up." Sophie headed toward the door.
"Kay I'm going to the toilet a sec." Emma ran to the bathroom.
"What are you doing?" Sophie asked as she opened the door. Frankie quickly rolled of Maura covered himself with the duvet. Luckily Maura was still dressed.
"Uh, we, uh. We were just wrestling." Frankie said hoping that his daughter would ask no further questions.
"Okay, what day is it?" Sophie smiled.
"Uh, Saturday." Frankie edged toward the en-suite door, still covered by the duvet with his pyjamas in his hand.
"NO!" She shouted knowing her father could hear her through the now closed bathroom door. "Do you know mommy?" Sophie asked sighing.
"It's the 23rd. Which means that it's your birthday!" Maura pulled her daughter into a big hug.
"Mommy knew." She glared at her dad as he exited the en-suite bathroom.
"I knew too. I was being sarcastic. How could I not know you've been telling us how many days since, everyday since a month ago!"
"She told you to? I thought it was just me?" Emma climbed onto Maura and Frankie's bed.
"Nope, I tells everyone and then they all know." She sighed as if the other people in the room were completely stupid. "What's the time?"
"It is..." Frankie turned to look at his alarm clock. "Half past seven."
"Do you think that's early?" Emma tilted her head.
"Before Sophie and Bethany arrived half past seven would have been really early, now that we have two kids half seven is a lie in."
"So it's not early?" Sophie asked.
"Not anymore." Frankie laughed getting up. "I'm gonna go check on Beth."
Frankie walked in and the 7 month old was happily babbling to herself.
"Morning baby." He lent over the side of the cot. As soon as she saw her father Beth broke out into a huge smile and sat up.
"How long have you been awake for? I hope you slept well because today is going to be a long day." Frankie talked to his daughter who babbled back at him. "Shall we get you dressed?" He laid her down on her changing table.
Jane walked into Frankie and Maura's house and saw the girls bedroom door open and her little brother standing over her baby nieces changing table.
"Hey Frankie." Jane mumbled.
"What are you doing up? It's not even eight yet!" Frankie smirked.
"Ma decided to wake me up and tell me it was Sophie's birthday. I already knew- what aunt doesn't know when her nieces birthday is? Now I'm up at stupid o'clock and I can't go back to sleep." Jane groaned still half asleep. "Oh, what the hell?" She looked at Frankie who was changing Beth's diaper.
"You get used to it." He told her.
"Well you shouldn't, that is just foul miss Rizzoli." Jane was answered with fits of giggles coming from Beth. Soon after the adoption and before she started school Sophie decided she wanted to change her surname to Rizzoli and of course Frankie was over the moon. All I want to do know is marry Maura and make her a Rizzoli too, he thought.
"Right then." Frankie sat his daughter up. "Do we want a dress or a skirt?" He asked his daughter, who as always happily babbled her reply to him.
"Why do you talk to her if she doesn't talk back?" Jane asked her brother curiously.
"Because..." He began opening his daughters mini wardrobe. "...if you ask her questions and talk to her she gets used to hearing words that we say a lot and she'll start to understand them."
"So you training her to talk?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Frankie pulled out a black dress with a red belt. "This one?" Beth grabbed the dress in her tiny hands and pulled it toward herself. "Okay then!"
"Hey auntie Janie." Sophie hugged her aunts leg.
"Morning birthday girl! What time did you guys get up?"
"Frankie and Maura said it was at 7:30 which isn't early."
"Yes it is! Definitely too early for a weekend. Right do you two wanna come help me make breakfast?"
"Yeah!" The two five year olds chorused and ran out the room.
"How do you do it? They have so much energy!"
"Like I said Jane, you learn." He carried his youngest daughter out of her room and into his room to get Maura.
