Bonus [2] : Have You Ever Heard of Stapling Your Lips Together?-8

And fourteen years later, Charles looked down at the developed version of the picture, observing everyone in the photograph. "You looked exhausted." My fourteen-year-old son told me. The almost spitting image of his father with his curly hair and green eyes, was seated beside me, flipping through a scrapbook he had found when we came up here. "I'm not going to be looking like an energizer bunny after giving birth to you, am I?" I rhetorically asked him, and he laughed. He flipped through some other pictures in the scrapbook, his eyes narrowing. "Why do parents make their kids take baths together and take pictures?" "Why do you ask stupid questions?" I heard Annabeth say, sitting next to me, her long hair brushing against my arm. "Why are you guys up here?" Lauren added, sitting on the ground in front of me. "Yeah, isn't your party down there?" Annabeth said. I looked at Charles waiting for what he was going to tell his sisters. He shifted his eyes towards me and I knew he hated to explain himself in situations. I held my stare with him, letting him know I wasn't going to tell them. When he gave up, he sighed. "Um, there's a lot of people down there. I just got a little tired, so I came up here to get space from everyone." "Did you get anxious?" Annabeth asked, concern written all over her young face. Charles looked a little ticked off that his sister was able to see right through his tired excuse. "Yeah." "You can tell us, you know?" Lauren said. "It's okay." "Plus, we saw mum pull you upstairs and your eyes were wide." Charles shrugged, his feet digging into the floor of the attic. "Just a lot more people than I expected." "Yeah, I never took in that our family is really big." "You got dad's brother's and their families. That already makes so many people in one room that you can't keep up." Lauren said. "Then you have mom and dad's friends and their families." "Which is a lot." The twins said together. "Then add your own friends into the mix," Annabeth said. "Which is also a lot because Charlie clearly has to be-" "Mr. Popular." They said again at the same time. "I'm not Mr. Popular." Charlie snorted, evidentially relaxing as a smile crossed his face from his sisters' words. "Charlie Cahill- soccer star," Annabeth put her hands up like the words were in front of her. "Straight A student." "You're popular, dude," Lauren said. "Your girlfriend is even downstairs." "Girlfriend?" I raised my eyebrows. Charlie groaned. "Annabeth." "Girlfriend?" I repeated. "She's not my girlfriend ma. I don't feel anything for her." "Yeah, right." Annabeth laughed. "Liar." "Shut up." Charlie rolled his eyes as we heard footsteps. "So, this is where you all disappeared to?" Sam looked at each of his kids, his humour glinting in his eyes but I could sense his worry as his view shifted from the twins over to Charlie. "Everything okay?" "Yeah," Annabeth said, getting up and helping Lauren to her feet. "We'll go entertain guest." When they disappeared, Charlie was still looking down at the scrapbook. Sam sat on the other side of him, raising an eyebrow at me. I mouthed, 'attack' and Sam nodded, looking down at the scrapbook. He didn't get them often but when he did it was usually caused by his surroundings. We looked down at a picture of toddler Charlie on Sam's shoulders. Sam sighed dramatically. "I miss when you were three. Rarely ever talked." Charlie snorted. "I miss when I didn't start to see the greys in your hair, old man." Sam gave Charlie a look and we laughed. "This is exactly what I was talking about. You're fourteen, not eighteen today. Take a deep breath kiddo. Stay a kid." I pouted, giving Charlie a hug. "My baby's growing up so fast." "Mom." He whined, and I let go of him as he laughed. "Relax, it's not like I'm going anywhere." "You say that now. But later you're going to get tired of hanging out with your family. Then we're only going to see you at brief moments a day. Then you'll make excuses not to see us. Then you go off to university or college or wherever the hell you want to do after you graduate and then-" "Okay," Charlie put his hands out, laughing at how dramatic I was being. "Once again. I'm only fourteen. Breathe parents. I'm not going anywhere." "Breathe parents." Sam mocked, glancing at me. "You see how he dictates us?" "I know," I shook my head. "It's crazy. Imagine he gets taller than you next. I can't." I wiped fake tears away and Charlie rolled his eyes, smiling slightly at our teasing. Sam looked at Charlie intensely, trying to figure out what was going on in his son's mind. "Are you okay, now?" Charlie stood up, wiping his hands on his pants. "Yeah, I'm better. Thanks." "Anytime." When we returned downstairs to where our family and friends were, Charlie found his way towards his friends, immediately joining the conversation with ease as he got comfortable. Looking at the people we loved in our home, Sam pressed a kiss to the side of my head. "He's growing up too fast." I told him. "Unfortunately, we can't do anything about it, Hazel," He responded. "That's life." That when my father came up to me with the most recent addition to my family in his arms. "I'm going to go bring out the cake. She fell asleep outside." I held my youngest in my arms, laughing. "She can sleep anywhere. Thanks." Sam moved a lock of her wavy hair out her face to reveal her thumb in his mouth, a bad habit she's struggled to quit. "At least we have more years with this one when Charlie leaves the house." Madison Cahill was the child I think looked the most like me but acted completely different. I smiled looking down at her in her bright blue princess outfit. I smiled at the sight of Charlie laughing with his friends, at Annabeth and Lauren talking to adults as easily as they talked to everyone and remembered that my kids, our kids were our world. They always would be. No matter how old they got. I would go through any pain for them whether it was the same pain of pregnancy or more. I wouldn't care. To see them at their happiest would mean everything. And it did mean everything. It always did. THE END