Hermits United~ An RP of Pete's world awesomeness!

John watched the 'dramatic rescue' with a great deal of entertainment, trying not to laugh at the fact that she'd kept the hot pad in the refrigerator.  He helped her 'frost' the muffins - again, trying not to laugh - then turned to the teapot as she put the candles on top, opening the lid and peering inside.  "Looks like it," he told her with an affirmative nod, pretending to pour out the tea once she'd fetched the cups, then picked one up and delicately took a 'sip' from it.

maggie giggled at the way his pinky stuck out from the handle of the almost insultingly tiny cup, and tried to copy him, then picked up a muffin and dunked it in her own teacup, miming taking a bite. matthew, having gotten bored of chasing his brother for the rattle, decided to raid his sister's pantry, finding the pear and stuffing it in his own mouth, suddenly getting a new tooth and starting to wail.

(John:  "SEE?!  SEE!!?  PEARS ARE EVIL!!"  )

John grinned as she giggled at him, then tried to copy him, about to reach for a muffin for himself when Matthew started to wail.  "Oh, blimey..." he mumbled, quickly setting down his teacup and shifting over to the boy, scooping him up as his brother watched, wide-eyed, from across the room, still gripping the rattle in one hand.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" John asked his crying son, noting a few specks of blood on the pear he'd had in his mouth.  I always knew no good could come from pears... he grumbled silently to himself with a slight scowl of distaste.  "Did you get a new tooth?  Let's see..."  He craned his neck to look down into Matthew's wide-open mouth, able to see a little spot of white on his gums that hadn't been there before.  He sighed, smiling at him a little and rubbing his back soothingly.  "Finally got in that tooth you've been working on, eh?" he noted softly, remembering the incident not all that long ago when David had gotten in his first tooth.  "Well, I suppose that's a good thing - now it won't bother you so much anymore..."

matthew continued to wail unhappily, looking at his father with tear-filled eyes and trying to look as pitiful as possible. he wasn't really all that bad off, and he did feel a bit better, though his gums did still hurt a bit. maggie took the pear away with a deep scowl and thought about scolding her little brother but thought better of it. David crawled over after a few moments, demanding food. it would soon be time to start cooking lunch.

John just smiled sympathetically at the wailing baby, patting his back a little.  He glanced up at Maggie as she snatched away the pear, then turned to David, giving a light sigh before smiling again.  "I suppose it is nearly lunchtime now, isn't it?" he said, keeping Matthew on his lap until he had calmed down a bit before placing him back on the ground and getting to his feet.  He took a cursory glance around the room, making double sure there was nothing there the boys could get into or hurt themselves on if he left the room for a few minutes, then headed towards the baby gate.  "Anything sound good to you?" he asked Maggie, considering the options and which of them he could also feed to the twins, or if he'd have to puree them something separately.

"uhh...muffins?" she suggested, twisting her apron frill around her little fingers. "or sandwiches?" she wasn't very imaginative when it came to making things to eat. she rifled through her pile of plastic food and said "pickle?"

in the other room, john's phone started to ring.

(Yeeeaaah... I'm not very imaginative, either, unfortunately... xD)

John laughed at her suggestions, pausing for a moment at the gate to look back at her.  "Well, I don't think muffins or pickles would make for a very good lunch, unfortunately," he told her, "but I think we have everything for sandwiches, and I could just make the boys some puree..."  He trailed off at the sound of his mobile ringing in the other room.  "Oh, I wonder if that's your mother..." he said as he eschewed the gate, simply climbing over the fence and hurrying into the other room, not bothering to look at caller-ID.  "Hello?" he answered, making his way back into the living room at a slower pace.

"hey," Rose's voice sounded through the phone. "just making sure everything's going well there?" she heard one of the boys let out a happy squeal and said "sounds like it. d'you want me to bring lunch home? it's practically dead here and I feel useless. I don't think they really need me, so I'm gonna head out for lunch and go to the chemist's after."

John smiled at the sound of Rose's voice.  "Yeah, everything's fine - Matthew finally got in that tooth, but other than that it's been pretty uneventful so far," he told her, stepping back over the baby gate and plopping down on the floor in front of the sofa.  "Lunch would be brilliant - I was just getting ready to head into the kitchen and see if we had everything for sandwiches, but I think we've had enough of those lately.  Maybe Chinese, or something?  That sound good to you?"  He paused at her mention of going to the chemist's, raising an eyebrow. "...What would you need to go to the chemist's for?" he asked obliviously, forgetting completely about the conversation from the night before.

"that sounds great, actually. I can pick up some egg drop soup for the boys, I bet they'd like that." she frowned a little at his question. "oh, y'know, just...stuff." she sighed. she never liked talking about such things outright, and most men didn't like to hear about it either, that was for sure. "anything else I should pick up while I'm out?" she asked.

matthew and david both crawled over to their father, trying to climb in his lap since they could hear mummy's voice. david let out another loud coo for her.

(Hmm... I really should've had him ask, shouldn't I? I thought about it, then decided against it, but now I'm second-guessing myself. xD D'you mind if we edit our posts? And then I'll edit this one to add a new post after we're done? )

EDIT: (Sorry 'bout that ^^')

"Yeah, that sounds good," John agreed, giving a little nod.  His eyebrow crept up a bit further at her evasiveness, but he didn't press her - he could tell she didn't want to talk about it, whatever it was, and it didn't seem to be an urgent matter, in any case.  "Nope, don't think so," he told her, grinning as the twins crawled over, giving them each a boost into his lap.  "The boys say 'hi'," he added amusedly, noting David's loud coo - he was sure she would've been able to hear it over the phone.

"yeah, I can tell," rose said with a little laugh. "hello, boys," she cooed through the phone. "mummy's gonna be home soon, okay? be good for daddy!" she giggled again and sighed. "right, I'll be about a half hour or so, I think. see you soon." maggie wandered over too, pretending to sip out of her teacup again.

John giggled a little, holding the phone downward so the boys could hear her more clearly.  Matthew smiled and clapped his hands a little in excitement, and David gave a happy laugh.  John grinned at their reactions, then put the mobile up to his ear again after she'd finished speaking to them.  "Alright.  Thanks, love," he told Rose affectionately, before hanging up, giving Maggie a smile as she wandered over and reaching to pet her hair.  "You need a good brushing," he noted amusedly, staring at her ruffled reddish hair.  "I probably do, too, now that I think about it..."

"aww," maggie protested with a pouty frown. "but daddy..." she whined. david reached up for the phone, wanting to figure out how he had gotten mummy's voice to come out of it, and if he could get it to do so again. matthew started to chew on his fingers again, less interested in the phone and more in the prospect of lunch. he was getting pretty hungry.

John gave a light snort at her protests, looking down at the boys as David reached for the mobile.  "Nooo, you can't have my mobile - we don't need you dialing China... or another planet," he told him amusedly, placing the phone in his breast pocket.  "Mummy will be back with lunch soon - don't worry."  He gently scooted the boys off of his lap, then headed over the gate and into the bathroom to grab the hairbrush, returning moments later.  "Alright, c'mere, you," he said to Maggie, grabbing her and sitting her on his lap before beginning to brush out her hair.

seeing her father returning with the hairbrush, maggie gave a happy squeal and ran away across the living room, trying to hide in the corner before she was snagged and plopped in his lap, giggling.

rose made it to the chinese place and ordered, then popped next door to the chemist's, only to find out her prescription had expired over a year ago. she sighed and dialed up martha, figuring she would probably be able to get a new prescription sent over quickly.

John laughed as she fled, chasing after her and managing to catch her quickly.  Once caught, her hair was smoothed fairly quickly, save for one or two knots he had to carefully work out to avoid pulling.  "Alright, all finished - off you go, then," he told her with another little giggle once he was through, shooing her off his lap with a grin.

-----

Martha picked up after two rings, answering with "Rose?  Ohh, what've Maggie and the boys gotten up to this time?"  'Boys' obviously included John - sometimes it seemed as if the man was nearly as accident-prone as his children, though she had to admit it wasn't always entirely his fault.  Apparently, 'top-secret alien stuff' was a hazardous occupation, or else he was just very unlucky, but it seemed he'd had a bit more than his fair share of injuries or even brushes with death over the past three-and-a-half years she'd known them, though most had been minor and hadn't needed her treatment, or else had been beyond the scope of her abilities to heal - she'd only heard about them after the fact.  That being said, not all of said injuries had been work-related...

"what? oh, no, they're fine," rose assured the woman quickly. "all just fine, I just talked to them. no, I just popped by the chemist's and my prescription for birth control expired a while back--I was wondering if you could send over a new one so I could pick it up?" she knew that you were ordinarily supposed to have a...rather invasive checkup before a new prescription was given, but she was hoping martha would understand and not require it immediately...if at all. it wasn't fun.

=====

david was chewing on a teething ring and matthew crawled over to him, grabbing it and trying to take it away. both boys were quickly yelling.

Martha was slightly surprised at the news that all was well, in addition to the unexpected request.  "Oh... I see.  Well... You're really supposed to have a checkup before I can prescribe something like that... but I suppose I can fudge the rules this once, if you promise to make an appointment soon," she agreed with a hint of amusement.  "I'll send over the request right away."

-----

John's eyes widened with alarm as the boys abruptly started yelling.  "Oi...!  Alright, now, calm down!" he cried as he hopped to his feet, quickly striding over to the toybox and sifting through the contents.  A few moments later, he drew out another teething ring, then shuffled over to the twins, holding it out to Matthew with a look of slight consternation, hoping he'd release his grip on David's ring and take the new one instead.

(Welp, it's that time of the night again.  See ya tomorrow~)

"oh, thanks, martha," Rose sighed in relief. "I haven't even thought about it since before maggie was born, I think. but we were only expecting two--three's definitely plenty."

-----

matthew ignored his father for a few moments, intent on the teething ring his brother refused to give up, then let it go and took the one from john instead, starting to munch on it, fuzzy little brows furrowed. there was at least one more tooth ready to go, if he could just work it through...

(okay, g'night!)

(Quick post and then I'mma probably poof again~)

Martha gave a slight laugh at that.  "Yeah, I can definitely understand that," she agreed, "especially with how... energetic... your three are."  She paused, considering that, before saying with a bit of amusement, "Talk to you soon, Rose.  ...Well, hopefully not too soon, but you know what I mean."

-----

John gave a sigh of relief when Matthew finally gave up on stealing David's ring, sitting back and staring at the teething boys with bemused concern.  He couldn't remember going through the process himself, of course, but it had to be uncomfortable...

rose offered a small laugh. "yeah, i know what you mean! I'll make sure to make that appointment. thanks, martha." she hung up and decided to stock up on bandages and ointment and such things in case maggie decided to have another day of accidents, then noticed the non-aspirin cold medicine was on sale, and got some. they were usually healthy, but flu season was coming up and they hardly needed a repeat of that incident a while back! plus pete, jackie and tony might appreciate it too. finally, her prescription was ready and she hopped up to the counter, grabbing it and heading back next door for the takeaway, then heading home, eager to see her children again...

-----

david was mostly playing with his teething ring, waving it around and munching on it intermittently, but matthew was intent, chewing as hard as his little baby gums could manage until, with a sudden war cry, he threw the ring and started wailing for the second time that day, the top tooth now in to match the bottom he'd gotten earlier. maggie sullenly covered her ears with her hands, glaring at the noisemakers.

(that's cool, today's gonna be chaos. the fam's all coming home...)

(Oh dear... That does sound like it would be chaotic... xD)

(Oh my gosh Matthew x'D)

"Sure thing," Martha said cheerfully, before hanging up herself and getting back to work.

-----

John was watching Matthew warily as he gnawed on the teething ring, knowing what was likely coming next.  Still, he jumped at the baby's abrupt war cry, his eyes widening, then winced as the wailing started up again, wishing he could bury his head in the couch pillows.  Instead, with a long-suffering sigh, he scooped Matthew up once more, cradling him securely against his chest and bouncing a little as he patted his back.  "There, there...  I know..." he murmured soothingly, glancing up at Maggie and noticing her glare and covered ears.  He couldn't exactly say he blamed her, though he was sympathetic to Matthew's plight, as well.

With all the noise going on inside the house, he was unable to hear the tires coming up the driveway...

(it's proving to be pretty much a mess)

(lol, that last sentence looks so ominous XD)

rose climbed out of the car and had to knock on the door since her hands were full with the food and medicine bottles she'd decided to buy. maggie jumped, hearing the knock and running to hide behind john in fright, whimpering. matthew had fallen silent at the knock and all three children had stopped what they were doing to stare at the door apprehensively.

(Aww no.  What's wrong?  xP)

(Yeeeaaah... I debated whether or not to include the ellipsis or not, but I decided for it, because ellipses.  xD)

John gave a surprised jolt at the sudden, unexpected knock, his head swiveling round to stare at the door for a moment before Maggie distracted him.  He frowned, reaching around with one hand to rub her back for a moment in an effort to soothe her - that nightmare must've affected her even more than he'd thought...

Setting Matthew back down on the floor, he stood, staring at the door for a moment longer.  He thought it was probably Rose with her hands full, and he just hadn't heard the car pull up, but nevertheless, a protective rumble began in his chest, strengthened by the obvious fear and apprehension the children were putting out.  With one last quick glance back at them, he stalked toward the door, peeking out the window on the way and relaxing as he saw their car in the driveway - it was indeed Rose, after all.

"It's alright - it's just Mummy," he reassured the children with a slight sigh of relief, taking the last couple of steps toward the door and opening it.  "Glad to see you - I didn't hear you pull up.  Thought you might be a creeper."  He gave a slightly nervous giggle, reaching to rub the back of his head with a touch of embarrassment.  He'd completely forgotten that he was still wearing the much-too-small apron Maggie had given him over the pajamas he also still had on.