Tall l.h.

123.

The rest of the tour was pretty boring. We got home late on a Thursday night. I was glad to be home after so long. I was getting the kids into bed, they were mostly asleep already, when Luke jingled the keys to get my attention.

"I'm gonna go get Piplup from the kennel." He said, looking tired. I shook my head and left Andy to go to sleep.

"No it's too late," I said squeezing his arm lightly as I walked into Pippa's room. She was already passed out in her bed. "She can wait until the morning."

"No," he shook his head, "It won't take long. I'll be back in ten minutes tops." He kissed my cheek quickly before he left Pippa's room and then the house. I pulled her blankets over her and gave her Bunny before I closed her door and went through the house, checking the lights and everything in the bathroom and Luke's music room.

I went into the kitchen and checked the locks on the back doors. I was surprised to find them unlocked. They'd been unlocked the entire tour. I turned the lock and opened the fridge. We didn't have any food, and I was hungry. I opened the cabinets and found a bag of potato ships, but they ended up being stale.

I went to mine and Luke's bedroom and checked the locks on the doors there. They were locked tight. It was odd that these doors were locked but the kitchen doors weren't. We always made double sure they were locked because we didn't want Pippa going outside upon her own accord and Andy was shockingly good at opening doors. It was the same way in our old house even though we had a fence around our yard that we always locked behind whoever opened the gate.

I flipped back across my bed and closed my eyes. My own bed felt better than any bed I could ever sleep in. A deep sigh escaped my lips and I soaked in the silence, flashing back to a simpler time before I had two kids and before I even had Luke. Back when I was single with only the beach and my yellow cat.

Now I had Luke, a baby and a cute little girl with a puppy and a black cat.

I frowned. What had happened to Butter? I moved out of the 5sos house with the rest of the guys and never even thought to take him along. Poor guy was lost.

I was suddenly startled by Piplup jumping up onto the bed. I smiled, happy to see her. "Hey!" I said cuddling her as she licked my cheek. She was happy to see me too. Luke came in carrying Scrubbles. He dropped the cat on the bed and Scrubbles came over and rubbed against me. I laughed and rubbed his ears. He purred at me and Luke sighed tiredly.

"Okay, off the bed." He said swatting at them to go away. Piplup went out and I assumed she was going to see Pippa. Scrubbles didn't get off the bed. He just curled up on my pillow. Luke pulled his shirt off and then stepped out of his jeans before he crawled into bed. "So tired...." I laughed at him and moved Scrubbles off my pillow. He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him. I leaned over him and kissed his nose.

"Go to sleep." I whispered, "Tomorrow, I'll make breakfast and then we can spend the day relaxing." He hummed at me, his eyes closed. He must have thought that was a good idea. I giggled at him and kissed him lightly before I got under the covers and went to sleep myself.

I woke up to Luke nuzzling against my shoulder. I turned over away from him. I didn't want to get up yet. As long as the kids were asleep, I could sleep, and neither of them were up yet. But Luke was up.

"Hey..." He whispered in my ear before he kissed just under my ear. "Sydney."

"What?" I grumbled as Luke moved his hand over my hip and around me, pulling me back into him.

"I'm happy to be home." He said, nuzzling my shoulder again.

"Me too." I said burying my face into my pillow. It smelled like the cat and it wasn't all that pleasant. "But I want to sleep."

"Sleeping is overrated." He said giggling lightly. "Come here." I felt the bed move and then I felt him grab my hand and pull until I was out of bed. I groaned at him as he unlocked the french doors. "Oh stop." He said as he pulled them open and then pulled me outside onto the porch.

It was already warm out and I knew it was going to get warmer throughout the day. I put my head down against his shoulder. He put his arms around my shoulders and he kissed the top of my head.

"You're the biggest whiner in the morning." He said laughing as I buried my face into his neck.

"I like sleeping." I grumbled putting my arms around his waist.

"I know." He said rubbing my shoulder. It felt nice standing in the sunshine, just cuddled up to him.

"I like this better I think." I said leaving a kiss on his neck.

He giggled and hugged me closer to him, "You're cute." He said burying his face in the top of my head. "You also smell like cat and baby wipes."

"I bet you say that to all the girls." I said laughing, squeezing his waist lightly.

"Nah, just the cute blond ones." He said as I pulled away from him a little bit. I moved up and kissed his cheek, making him smile.

"I love you." I said hugging him tighter still. He groaned and hugged me back just a little bit tighter.

"I love you." He responded before he moved down and kissed me very seriously. I scrunched my nose at him and he raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Mummy?" Pippa came through the door in our bedroom rubbing her eyes. "Andy is awake. I tried to get him but he's too heavy." She looked sleepy and Luke let go of me before he hopped over to her and lifted her up. She cuddled into his shoulder and walked inside. I followed them and closed the door before I went to Andy's room. He was standing up in his bed crying to get out.

"Hey baby!" I said picking him up, "I bet you're hungry." Andy wrapped his arms around my neck and held onto me as I carried him with me to the kitchen. Luke had sat down on the couch with Pippa. She had her nose buried into his shoulder and he was talking to her quietly, poking her sides to make her giggle.

I put Andy down in the high chair when I remembered we didn't have any food in the house.

I looked around, hoping something would appear, but we still had nothing to eat.

"We need to go shopping, Baby." I said walking into the living room. Luke raised his eyebrows and I laughed, "We have no food."

"What are we gonna eat then?" He asked as he quit messing with Pippa to let her curl up against him.

"I don't know." I said shrugging, "We can go out and eat. Or we can skip breakfast and have a big lunch out. Or we can go shopping and I can make a big dinner."

"Daddy?" Pippa asked sitting up. Her hair was crazy and Luke giggled as he flattened it down, "Can we go play on the playgrounds?"

I sat down and gasped excitedly, "I have a great idea!" I said, exaggerating a bit. Pippa giggled and Luke rolled his eyes. "Why don't you take Daddy and Andy to the playground at the park while I go shopping for food. And then, when I'm done, I'll meet you guys at the park."

"Can Uncle Ashton and Annie come too?" Pippa asked. "I want to play dragons." I laughed and shrugged.

"Well maybe you can convince Daddy to ask him." I said getting up. I looked at Luke and he looked like he was waiting for her to ask him to call Ashton. "I'm gonna leave Andy there okay?" I gestured to the baby and Luke nodded before I went into our bedroom to get dressed.

Back to normal life.