Missing

Misbehaving

  I held Sierra's hand as Jon and I walked to the baby section to look around. I smiled at all of the little things and felt excited at the idea of having a baby around again. I was happy for once, but that was because Jon was here. By tomorrow morning I'll be alone with the kids and things will be hectic as they always tend to be when he's away.

I felt Sierra pull away and I quickly turned around to see her and JJ messing around with Jon. He was so good with them and they worshiped him. I hate that he's gone all of the time because I feel like they suffer and miss out on their dad. I laughed and went back to picking out a few outfits. Completely lost in thought I jumped and grinned as Jon came up behind me and wrapped his arms me and kissed my cheek.

"You scared me!" I laughed

"Mission accomplished"

He grinned taking one of the outfits from me and putting it back

"Not this one"

I laughed and shook my head. I quickly looked around for the kids. JJ was right behind Jon, but Sierra was no where in sight. I panicked rushing past clothing display after clothing display

"Sierra!?! Jonathan help me find her. Where is she?"

Realizing she was gone he took off looking for her. Suddenly she popped out from inside a hanging display laughing. Angrily I grabbed her arm and bent down

"Sierra Good!! That is NOT funny!! It is NOT ok for you to run off and hide from mommy and daddy. What if something happened to you? Don't you dare move from my side again"

She started to cry and screamed "I WANT MY DADDY!!"

I sighed in frustration as Jon walked over and picked her up. She had Jon wrapped around her little finger and she knew how to get what she wanted from him. Sierra was his little princess and no matter how much trouble she got in he got her out of it. I felt bad for JJ because she got all of Jon's attention. I feel like he expects too much out of him. Completely irritated I grabbed JJ's hand

"You deal with it then. I'm taking JJ to the Lego store."

Jon's POV:

I watched Jenn walk away frustrated and upset with JJ before going over to a chair next to the dressing room and sitting Sierra down.

"Sierra" I sighed as she giggled "That's not funny. Stop laughing. Don't ever ever do that again."

She looked up at me swinging her dangling feet under the chair. I knew to her she was just playing and didn't understand why we were mad at her.

"Daddy? I want a teddy"

I made a face watching her. She didn't deserve anything after her little stunt, but I just couldn't say no. I held out my hand and helped her off of the chair and headed towards the Lego store.

"DAD!!! LOOK!!"

I smiled watching JJ run up to me excitedly with his new Ninja Turtles playset.

"That's awesome. We should put it together later. I think we should get new teddy bears...what do you think?"

Both kids grinned from ear to ear and jumped up and down. Jenn and I laughed and started walking to Build A Bear.

Jenn's POV

I knew that Jon's "idea" to get a new bear came from Sierra. She'd been bugging me since the last time I was in the mall last week. She didn't really deserve it, but he'd already offered and then JJ would suffer too. Once in the store Sierra took off towards the sparkling rainbow bear. The store wasn't too busy so I was able to keep my eye on her from where I was. I grinned watching Jon and JJ play around with un-stuffed bears and dogs.

"Is that bear your favorite?"

I turned back to see a strange woman talking to Sierra. I walked over and stood behind Sierra holding her shoulders smiling suspiciously

"Such a pretty little girl. I just love curly hair"

She reached out to touch her hair and I pulled Sierra back and politely smiled

"Thanks. Come on Sierra lets go find daddy"

I quickly ushered her over to Jon who looked at me confused

"What's wrong?"

"That woman over there was talking to Sierra and trying to touch her hair" I whispered

Jon looked back at the woman who had apparently left the store because she wasn't there. He looked back at me confused

"Huh?"

"I'm not making it up Jon. She was there. She must've left. She made me uncomfortable."

"Alright well, just stay here with me."

We finished up at Build A Bear and started wandering the mall. I was so exhausted. I sat down in a chair along the way. Jon smiled at me and played around with JJ as he waited.

Jon's POV

"Daddy tie my shoe!"

I made a face and bent down to tie JJ's shoes. He was old enough and knew how. I really should just make him do it

"JJ, next time you need to tie your own shoes. I know you know how"

"Jonathan!"

I looked over at Jenn and saw her pointing at Sierra. I quickly got up from the floor and ran after her. I grabbed her arm and pulled her over to me

"Daddy I'm running!"

"No, no you're not. What'd we talk about earlier? Stay over here"

I took her hand and started walking back towards Jenn. She suddenly ripped her hand away and took off running and laughing. I didn't normally ever get mad at her. I hated to be mad at her, but she was testing me and I'd had enough. I quickly walked to her and grabbed her hand and knelt down

"Sierra! You stay right here. Do you hear me? If you run away again I'm going to spank you. Do you understand?"

I've never spanked either of them. I never had to, but the threat was always there. Her eyes welled up with tears and I felt bad for being so angry, but she needed to listen. Tugging lightly at her hand we walked back over to Jenn.

"Lets go get some lunch. I'm hungry. Are you guys hungry?"

I held tight to Sierra's hand as we walked towards the escalator. She wasn't going to get away again. Not this time.