Jamie and Eddie thought when they had gotten their last kid out of diapers, everything else would be a breeze. In the eight short years they'd been married, they had adopted one child at the exact same time they'd given birth to their first child, making it seem as though they were raising twins, waited a few years and decided to have one more, but little did they know, three years later, the final Reagan baby would make a surprise entry into the world, making their family complete.

Kenzie had been dropped at the police station one night while Jamie was at the precinct. It's not like it was the first time it had ever happened, but for some odd reason, he instantly connected with the baby. He knew Eddie was at home, extremely pregnant with their first son, Connor, but he couldn't bear the thought of sending the newborn into foster care. Since he and Eddie had already been cleared to be foster parents, he offered to take the baby home with him after she was checked out at the hospital and cleared for release. It literally took he and Eddie both less than twelve hours to fall in love with her. She didn't cry. Once babies were abandoned and realized no one was coming for them, they eventually quit crying, so even though she was only three days old, Kenzie was already showing an independent spirit. As Jamie and Eddie sat with Erin, filling out the paperwork for legal adoption, Eddie's water broke. That afternoon, Connor Luke joined the Reagan family. Connor happily made up for all of the quiet in the house. He didn't cry as much as he just liked to hear himself make noise. Jamie and Eddie constantly caught themselves cracking up at the faces Kenzie would make at Connor when he would begin "talking". She couldn't figure him out.

Henry took particular interest in watching Jamie interact with the littles. He was never really one for baby talk, so he would prop them up on either side of him in the sunroom and talk to them about the game or whatever was on the news as if they were full grown adults and were going to answer him back. As the "twins" grew, all of the Reagans enjoyed seeing what all they could get into while Jamie and Eddie ran to keep up with them. They really were easy babies and fairly easy toddlers, both happy children for the most part, which is probably what gave Jamie and Eddie the false hope that their next baby would be just as easy going. Sawyer, third in line and second daughter, was a handful from the start. Kenzie and Connor were not fans of the way that Sawyer cried night and day. In fact, the two of them packed their bags the second day she came home from the hospital and demanded to go live with Frank until she was older.

"You can't leave," Jamie reasoned with them as he led them to the sofa and took a seat on the coffee table in front of them. "Who's going to take care of Mommy when I go back to work?" They both shrugged. They didn't really care so long as it meant they were going somewhere quieter. "How about this, when you can give me the good name of a reference who can keep the household and take care of Mommy and baby Sawyer while I am gone, we will talk about you going to stay with Grandpa. Deal?"
"Deal," they both sighed sadly.

Jamie smiled as he picked up his two four-year-olds and carried them back up to their room.

"They run away?" Eddie asked, exhausted after finally getting Sawyer down for the night.

"Tried to. I got them back upstairs and in bed."
"Did you set the alarm?"

"Yep. If those two go anywhere, we'll know it."

"Oh I wasn't thinking about them. If she cries all night again tonight, I may run away to your dad's house," Eddie dead-panned as Jamie climbed into bed beside her. "You deal."
"He chuckled as he wrapped her in his arms. "It will get better, Babe. We just got real lucky with the first two."
"Well, this is it, big boy. No more after this one. I was already tired chasing two four-year-olds. Now this one is determined to never let me sleep again. We're done. Finished."

Three years later, Finn arrived.

"You know what causes this, right kid?" Danny asked as Jamie dropped off the three oldest to stay at his house while he went to stay at the hospital with Eddie.

"I have an idea," Jamie smiled. "Thanks for keeping them."
"No problem. Erin and Jack are going to come over later. Dad and Grandpa already at the hospital?"
"I told them I'd call them when we got close."

"Which means yes?"
"Probably. I've got to go." He stuck his head into the livingroom where the kids had already piled up on the sofa. "Group hug guys, I've got to go."

They got up and made their way over to where he knelt with open arms. "Be good for Uncle Danny. Understand?" They all nodded as they collapsed into his arms.

"Yeah, cause if you aren't good, I'll tape you to the ceiling fan, turn it on high, and throw marshmallows at your face."

Sawyer's eyes got big. "He's kidding," Jamie winked before he kissed her on the head. "Love you."

"Daddy," Kenzie tugged at his shirt, "can't you just stay here with us? We don't need another baby. Three of us are plenty."

Jamie looked at her perplexed. This was the first he was hearing about not wanting another little brother. Unfortunately, there was no time to unpack that, so he decided to attempt to make a mental note and come back to it later.

"Too late, Kenz. Finn's on his way… and if I don't make it to the hospital before he gets here, Mommy may kill me." He bent down and kissed her on the head. "Take care of Connor and Sawyer. I'll come and get you guys in the morning. Bye Connor."

"Um… I think you three are forgetting something very important," Danny said as he closed the door behind Jamie.

"What's that?" Connor asked.

"Uncle Danny is in charge. Let's work on a booby trap for when Aunt Erin comes to visit." The kids all lit up at the mention of a booby trap and quickly went to work setting an Erin sized trap, much to Danny's delight. While the four of them worked diligently at torturing Erin, Finnigan Xavier Reagan made his grand entrance into the world. At 8 pounds and 12 ounces, Finn was the chubbiest baby Eddie and Jamie had ever delivered.

Frank and Henry were the first two to the hospital once they got the call. "Finnigan X," Frank chuckled as he picked up his newest grandson, wrapped in blue blankets. "Yes, you are a good looking boy if I do say so myself."

Finn was a much easier baby than Sawyer. Thankfully, the older kids took to him pretty quickly and weren't ready to move out the moment they returned from the hospital.

"Dad," Kenzie said as she and Sawyer sat in his lap watching television while Eddie put Finn down for the night, "can I go stay with Lizzie this weekend?"
"Who's Lizzie?"
"My friend from school."

"I don't think so, Bug."

"Why?"

"I don't know Lizzie's parents."

Kenzie took a deep breath and sighed. "Then can I go stay with Rosemary? You know her parents."
"We'll talk about it. What's your big rush to get out of here this weekend?"
"Finn's down," Eddie announced as she rejoined the family in the livingroom. "Hey, I don't think I told you… I talked to my Mom and she has decided to come in this weekend to see her newest grandson. I stupidly agreed to let her stay here."

Jamie raised his eyebrows and looked at Kenzie. "Now I know why you wanted to leave."

"Alright, girls. Time to get ready for bed," Eddie sighed as she stretched out her hand for Sawyer to take. Sawyer yawned as she started to get up.

"Kiss first," Jamie smiled as she turned around and kissed him on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Daddy."
"Sweet dreams, baby."

Kenzie never moved as Sawyer bounced off and grabbed Eddie's hand. "Kenz, let's go. It's getting late."

"I want to stay with Dad. I'm not a baby. I don't need to go to bed with the babies."

"I not a baby!" Sawyer huffed as she stomped her foot.

"Yes, you are."

"Kenzie Reese." Eddie's patience was wearing thin.

"You two go ahead," Jamie said, stepping in as the voice of reason when clearly Kenzie had no intention of leaving his lap. "I'll take care of Kenzie and Connor."

"Sounds good." Eddie left with Sawyer as Jamie turned his attention back to Kenzie.

"Why are you giving Mama a hard time, huh?"

Kenzie didn't say anything but just sighed. "Can I go stay with Grandpa?"

"Look at it this way, Bug. Just like when we brought Sawyer home and you and Connor thought you were going to leave, you aren't going anywhere… because if you leave, we all have to pack up and come with you… and we're all too tired to do that right now. Besides, you've got a new little brother that needs you."

"No he doesn't. Can we get a dog?"

"No," Jamie chuckled. "Connor!"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Are you ready for bed?"
"Can I have five more minutes on this game?"

"No. Bed. Now." Connor sighed as he handed over the iPad to Jamie. "You too, Bug. Let's go." Jamie got up and followed them both to the bathroom as they brushed their teeth and then into their bedroom. Connor climbed onto the top bunk and underneath the covers. Jamie straightened out the comforter and tucked him in tight. "I love you, buddy. Goodnight."
"Night, Dad."
Kenzie had yet to get into bed and was instead looking through the closet.

"Kenz, let's go."
"I'm looking for something."
"What?"
She took another look around. "Umm…. This." She picked up a green and pink striped beanie."

"You don't need that."

"I just needed to know where it was."
"Ok. Now that we know, get in bed," Jamie chuckled, knowing good and well Kenzie could stall all night when it came to going to bed. He put his hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her over to the bed. He held back the covers as shed climbed in. "Got Wally Bear?"
Kenzie pulled her teddy bear out from under the covers and tucked it in the fold of her arm. "Daddy, can you and me and Connor go to Coney Island this weekend?"
"Probably not this weekend, but we'll go sometime soon."

"Can I go to Uncle Danny's house…"

"The only place you can go is to sleep. Now." Kenzie sighed as she rolled over onto her side. "Sweet dreams. I love you."

"Love you too."

The following day, Eddie got a call from Mrs. Higgins, Kenzie and Connor's second grade teacher. "Hi Mrs. Reagan, do you have a moment?"
"Sure," Eddie said as she took a seat. "What's going on?"

"Well, I just had a few concerns about Kenzie's progress in my class and was hoping you or your husband may be able to stop by after school so we might all discuss it."

"Sure. May I ask what it is regarding?"

"Well, it seems that her reading scores have taken quite a dip this year. I was hoping you or your husband may have some insight. She said Mr. Reagan always helped her with her reading but he hasn't been doing it the past few weeks."

"No. He's been on nights the past few weeks while I've been at home with the new baby."

"Ah."
"Yeah… I think my darling daughter may have a big case of jealously. I'll call Jamie and get him to stop by and meet with you after school."

"Sounds good. Thank you."
Eddie rolled her eyes as she dialed Jamie. "Hey," he smiled as he kicked back at his desk for a brief moment. "How's it going?"
"Well, I just got off the phone with Mrs. Higgins."

"Uh oh." He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. "Which one did what?"
"Apparently our very smart daughter isn't performing very well in reading."
"Huh? Kenzie? She reads the Wall Street with Pop every weekend."

"I know that and you know that, but it appears she is unmotivated when it comes to Mrs. Higgins class. Can you go meet with Mrs. Higgins after school and motivate our darling daughter?"
"Yes ma'am."

"Do not go easy on her Reagan. I know how you are when it comes to your first born…"
Jamie chuckled as he looked at the picture of his kids on his desk. "Don't worry. We'll get it all straightened out."

Jamie took off around 3:00pm and made his way to St. John's Catholic School. He parked the car and made his way inside where Kenzie and Connor were expecting to make their way home.

"Daddy? What are you doing here?"

"I have a meeting with your teacher," Jamie answered. "Actually, you and I have a meeting with your teacher. Lead the way." Kenzie looked to Connor who just grinned.

"Can I go play outside at the playground?"

"No. I don't want you out there by yourself. Sit right here and we'll be out in a few minutes."

The Reagans made their way into the classroom where Mrs. Higgins was sitting behind her desk speaking with the school counselor, Mr. Fallon. They stood to shake Jamie's hand the minute he walked in. "Hi Mr. Reagan. Thank you for coming in today."

"Yeah. Thanks for hanging out to speak with us. My wife told me a little bit but can you explain what's going on?"
"Well, let me start out with Kenzie and Connor have been for the most part an absolute delight to have in class this year."
"Thank you."

"I have noticed a recent dip in Kenzie's reading scores. She hasn't been turning in her reading journal showing that she reads every night and when I kept her in during recess to make up the reading, she told me she couldn't even remember the site words." Jamie furrowed his brow as he looked over the progress report and class assignments that she had pulled for him. Kenzie crossed her arms and looked at the floor as Jamie looked over at her.

"Bug? What's going on here?"

"I can't do it."

"I know you've had some big changes lately," Mrs. Higgins offered. "Might there be some j-e-a-l-o-u-s-y?"

"I'm not jealous of Finn," Kenzie mumbled. "I'm a-n-g-r-y."

Jamie and Mr. Fallon both grinned. "Kenzie Reagan, are you honestly going to sit there and tell me you can spell the word jealous but you can't read this See Spot Run book?" Kenzie shrugged. "I don't buy it. You've been doing the USA Today Crossword with Pop since you were six and reading the Wall Street Journal with Grandpa since you were four."

"I can't do it anymore."

Jamie looked at her perplexed, but with a slight grin.

"I know for a fact you can," Mr. Fallon said. "I've seen you pick out much harder books in the library. What was that one you got the other day? Life in the Blue House?"
"Life in the White House, Mr. Fallon," Kenzie giggled.

"Ah yes. The one about the people that work at Disney."

"No. It's the one about that people that work for the President."

"In the North Wing?"

"In the West Wing!" Kenzie chuckled.

"So why aren't we turning in homework?" Jamie asked.

Again, Kenzie shrugged. "Come on, Bug. If you don't start doing well in this school, these guys are going to send you to a special school after you get out here and you have to sit and read for four hours. Then you'll come home, eat supper, study for another hour and then go to bed. Every day. And then you will have eight hours of tutoring on Saturdays and another four hours on Sunday after mass."

Kenzie's eyes went wide. "Fine! I can read! I can read the stupid books!"

"Language," Jamie warned.

"I can read. I just… haven't. But I can. And I didn't turn in the reading journals because you and me do that. Mommy doesn't do it right."

"Ah. What would you like Mommy to do differently?"

"Nothing," Kenzie sighed.

"Bug…"
"I want her to take care of the little kids and let me stay up and wait on you to read. And I want us to read every night like we used to."

"Well, we may not can do that every night, but we can definitely try to squeeze it in most nights. How does that sound?"

"Ok.."

"No more slacking in school. Understand?"
"Yes sir."

"Good deal. And no more lying to your teachers. Apologize to Mrs. Higgins and Mr. Fallon."
"I'm sorry."

"Thank you. No ipad for two weeks."

"But…"
"No buts. Let's go."

When the Reagans arrived at home, Jamie instructed Kenzie and Connor to go upstairs and wash up for dinner while he talked to Eddie. "So basically she's jealous of Finn?"
"Something like that. She just wants to read with me like we normally do. No big deal. I'll just have to make sure to make time."

"Why in the world won't she just read with me?"
"I don't know, Babe. But look at it this way. You do so much. If reading The Cat in the Hat is one thing I can take off of you, I'll do it in a heartbeat." Eddie smiled. "Oh I also told Kenz no iPad for two weeks."

"Sounds fair. How'd she take it?"

"I really didn't give her an option."

After dinner, Connor was anxious to play with their new art set that Erin had gotten for them. "Come on, Kenzie. We got plenty of time before bed!"

"Take Sawyer with you," Jamie instructed. Kenzie and I have some homework to do."

"Really?" Kenzie's eyes lit up.

"Absolutely. Go get your book and meet me in the livingroom." Kenzie read the entire book cover-to-cover in less than ten minutes. Jamie sat back and smiled as she didn't even ask for help or sound out a word. "Great job, Bug. What's next?"
"We have to do these sight words."
Jamie held up the twenty flashcards one-by-one as Kenzie rattled off each correct answer. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Ummm…." Kenzie was looking for any reason to prolong their time together, but couldn't think of one.

Sensing his daughter's hesitation to give up his attention just yet, he offered her a solution. "Because if we're done, we could just sit here and talk for a while."
"Let's just sit," Kenzie smiled as she nestled into the crook of his arm. "Daddy, will you tell me a story about when you and Uncle Danny, and Uncle Joe, and Aunt Erin were little?"

"Let me think," Jamie said as he tossed a few ideas around in his head.

There was one time that Grandpa and Grandma left us at home while they went to our Parent Night at school. Uncle Danny was about 16, Aunt Erin was 14, and Uncle Joe was 12."
"How old were you?"

"About your age. Maybe a little smaller. Me and your Uncle Joe decided that we wanted to make chocolate milkshakes and we got in a fight over who got to make theirs first. When we plugged it in, we started fighting over who got to do it first and one thing led to another and the next thing we knew the crazy thing leapt out of our hands and spun all the way around the kitchen."
"Did you make a mess?"
"We didn't just make a mess. We had ice cream on the floor, chocolate syrup on the roof, and whipped cream on the windows. We both started screaming and when Uncle Danny and Aunt Erin ran in, they got covered in chocolate."

"Oooo. I bet Uncle Danny was mad."

"Yep. Mom and Dad weren't too happy either. Me and Joe had to spend the entire afternoon and the next day scrubbing the floors, walls, and windows. After that, Grandpa said if we ever wanted another milkshake, he would just take us out to get one."

"Can we go get one?"

"Not today, but maybe one day soon."

"Daddy! Connor won't let me have the paints!" Sawyer yelled as she came stomping into the livingroom, paintbrush in hand and absolutely livid.

"It's because she's trying to paint on the wall!" Connor grumbled as he came in, hot on her heels.

Jamie raised his eyebrows and looked to Sawyer. "Is that true?"

"Well… I…"

"Are you supposed to paint anywhere but on the paper?"

"No sir."
"That's right. Why were you trying to paint on the wall?"

"I wanted my room to be purple instead of pink."

"Well if you want it to be purple you need to talk to me and Mommy. No trying to paint the walls. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Finn's down," Eddie said as she joined the conversation. "What's going on in here?"

"Sawyer tried to paint the walls," Connor answered matter-of-factly.

"What?" Eddie's eyes got huge.

"I wanted purple walls."

"We talked about it," Jamie said as he watched Eddie's blood pressure rise.

"And we also talked about it a few nights ago, didn't we Sawyer Kate?"

About that time, Jamie's phone rang. He picked it up and saw Danny's name on the caller id. "Here," he said, handing his phone to Kenzie. "Talk to Uncle Danny while I keep Mommy from killing Sawyer."

"Hi Uncle Danny," Kenzie cooed as she answered the phone.

"Hey Kenz. What are you doing?"
"Watching Mommy yell at Sawyer for painting on the wall." Jamie frowned in Kenzie's direction as he took the phone away from her and handed it to Connor.

"You try."

"Hey Uncle D."

"Hi Connor. What else is going on over there?"

"Nothing." Connor, being slightly more sly than his sister, made his way into the kitchen. "Dad had to go to school today to meet with Mrs. Fallon so Kenzie's in trouble too."

Danny chuckled. "Is anybody over there not in trouble?"
"Well, Finn's asleep and I haven't shown them my spelling test yet, so we're good. It's just the girls."

"That's why I'm glad I had boys. Look. Tell your dad to call me when he gets a chance. Ok?"

"Ok."

Connor made his way back into the livingroom where all of the action was taking place and handed the phone back to Jamie who was trying his best to referee Eddie and the girls. "Uncle D says to call him back later after you get done yelling at Sawyer and Kenzie."

"I'm not yelling. Go brush your teeth and get ready for bed." He turned to Kenzie. "You too, Bug."

"What about Sawyer?" Kenzie frowned, not the least bit excited about going to bed before her younger sister.

"Sawyer's going too," Eddie answered. "And even if she wasn't, it wouldn't matter because Daddy said for you two to go. So go."

"But I'm not even tired," Kenzie groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

"And that is the international sign that you are. Go."

Once they got the kids in bed, Jamie and Eddie retired to their room for some well-deserved alone time. They both collapsed into bed, completely exhausted.

"How much longer until they're all in college?"
"Including Finn?" Eddie asked. "Eighteen years."

"Ok forget that. How long until they're old enough to all go away for the night?"

Eddie thought for a moment. "Including Finn? Eight years or so…"

"Til the weekend?"
"Two days."

"Well there's something we can celebrate."

Eddie giggled as she snuggled into Jamie's side as he wrapped his arms around her. "I love you."

"Love you too," he smiled as he kissed her. And with that, it only took about two minutes for them to fall asleep.