"Jackson, baby, we're going to be late!"

The affectionate warning is called out as April put in her second earring. Mornings were always nothing short of an absolute rush in the Avery household, ever since they'd had their third (and supposedly final) child. Samuel Norbert had come along as somewhat of a surprise, the oldest of the bunch, from a long weekend of celebration after she'd finished up all her medical school work and both halves of the couple finally got to identify as a Doctor of their respective specialties. It'd definitely made her first year of being an intern even more challenging than usual, but she'd come through and they both had the happiest, sweetest little eight-year-old that they knew.

Elizabeth Madeleine had been significantly more planned than her big brothers. As soon as her boards were finished, she'd been conceived the night of in Seattle after a marathon of sex. She was a little diva, there was no doubt about it, all too resemblant of Grandma Catherine. She'd been dressed up in little princess costumes since the beginning and it seemed as if that had influenced her personality development from the beginning.

"I got 'em, I got 'em!" Jackson hollered as he rushed down the stairs, after Samuel, with little Beth on his hip. A tutu was worn over her normal clothes. Sometimes an effort was made to reign in her rule, but ever since she'd become pre-K, they'd both become more lenient with her. That and becoming a big sister had taken a big hit on her.

"I'm ready, mommy!" Samuel announced as he barreled into April's legs, his tiny arms wrapping around her. He had no shame about being affectionate with either of his parents, even as he grew up.

"Good job, Sammy," the mother praised as she ran her hand through his curls of hair lovingly. "Let me get your baby brother and we'll be all ready to go, okay? Your lunch is packed and on the counter for you. You can grab it."

April moved to pick up her youngest from the high chair, Motherese voice coming in as she cooed to him. Michael Harper had made his way into the world after his namesake's death, an impossibly long labor that ended up requiring impressive medical intervention that perhaps would have made the Harper Avery proud. Only four months old, his personality was still developing. Both older brother and sister were completely obsessed with the baby, poking and prodding in the way that young children did. And they both loved to tell all of their friends and anyone who would listen about him. Jackson and April hadn't worried about Samuel as an older brother, but there'd been a bit of conversation about Beth. Instead, she'd learned from the best.

It was a reminder, truly, about how special it was to have multiple children. They weren't the only ones looking after each other - they had their siblings as a backup, too. It made April look back fondly over her childhood years and Jackson question what his own would have been like with siblings.

"There's my little bean," she grinned as she scooped him up. New nicknames had been come up for each child: peanut for Samuel, nugget for Beth, and bean for Michael. His arms flailed in protest, knowing routine meant the car was next, his least favorite thing.

"My little sports star," Jackson chuckled, kissing the short hairs on top of his. "C'mon, kids! Off to the car. Mommy's got to get to work. You know how much she loves being back."

Samuel and Beth race out to the car together, Beth insisting that she was going to win. Mother and father smile lovingly, pausing a moment to get a kiss of their own before falling their children out to the car. It doesn't take long to get their youngest strapped in despite his fussy persistence, Beth much happier to have her father strap her in. Samuel was now completely insistent about being a big boy and not having any kind of car seat, something that had taken some convincing for April to be able to go along with and not completely panic.

The older two get dropped off first at their separate elementary school and pre-K academy, giving the couple a minute to breathe with just the two of them. Mostly. Michael can't interrupt and question conversation in the same way that his siblings could, but he still liked to make his presence plenty known.

"You know, I still can't believe your department required you to have an evening test on that specific day," April commented off-handedly. Each of them had things about each other's job that was a little hard to wrap their heads around. "But the teacher-parent meeting went really well. Mrs. Venesky adores Sam, says she's his absolute favorite in his class. And she's really impressed with how advanced his reading level is, liked that we let him read to Michael and Beth. Apparently every day he asks if he can help her clean up when all the other kids are running outside for recess."

April couldn't help but tear up a little fondly. She'd blame it on all the hormones that she still had in her system while she was breastfeeding her youngest, but really, it was just her. If anything was going to hit her emotions with that kind of raw pride and happiness, it was motherhood.

She loved her life. She loved every crazy piece of it. It didn't matter that Jackson was close to fifty now while she had just barely kissed thirty-five. People were much more open and accepting of it than they had been twenty years ago, but even if they hadn't been, it wouldn't have mattered to her. Being with Jackson had brought her confidence like nothing else in her life. It made her a better doctor, a better wife, and most importantly, a better mother. Her children would always be the most important thing on her spectrum no matter what happened in her life.

"It kind of sounds like he's becoming a real teacher's pet," April concluded with a sly smile flitting across her lips, reaching over for the free hand that Jackson kept resting on the center console and giving it a squeeze.

His thumb reflexively gave hers a squeeze and he glanced over at her, a real smile appearing across his expression. April's joy was absolutely infectious and always had been, her happiness was his happiness. It was a two way street like that, constantly growing and adding to each others. And their kids contributed to it like nothing else. He'd never pictured himself having more than one after his own only child upbringing, and yet, now he would have had a dozen kids with her if fate allowed for it. He'd been a man of his career and research for so long, and April and their children had been the people to open up his life to an entirely different world. A much happier, much more fulfilling one than what he'd had before. Jackson had never considered himself unhappy before all of it, but now, he knew that he could never go back to the way that things were before. He needed his wife and his kids in the same way that he needed oxygen. That was irrefutable.

"Yeah?" He paused. "Sounds just like his mom." He teased.

"Uh huh? Why don't you explain the concept to me, Dr. Avery?"

"Anything for you, Miss Kepner."