Disclaimer- I own nothing.

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. School has been really difficult, and I finally have ONE Friday night with some free time. So why not make a new story?

Since the last fic I posted was angst, I’ll post a fluff fic. This came to me after reminiscing on the memories of me and my dad, so I thing I’ll dedicate this to him.

And yeah, I know the whole “Matt & Emily with kids” is kinda overused, but I couldn’t help myself. The idea sounded kinda cute.

“Daddy, can you help me with my homework?”

Matt jerked out of his ten minute nap to find his eight year old daughter standing in front of him, a pencil in one hand and paper in the other. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the kitchen clock.

“Sammy, it’s eleven o’clock. You have school tomorrow. You need to be in bed,” he chastised her, and she hung her head.

“I know, but you and momma were really busy tonight and you told me to watch after Adam, and I didn’t have a chance to ask you to help Me.” she whined.

Matt sighed, vaguely remembering asking her to watch after her younger brother.

“Well, can’t we do it in the morning? If you get up early enough, I could help you right before you leave for school,” he offered, hoping she would comply. But the thing with eight year olds was that they usually didn’t compromise on anything.

“Please daddy? Just show me how to do these first few problems, then I can finish the rest when I get to school tomorrow, before class starts. Please?” she stuck out her lower lip and gave him the well-known sad puppy dog eyes. Emily was invulnerable to this, but he always had a soft spot for his only daughter.

“Fine, but just the first few, then you can finish it at school. Okay?” Matt said, defeated.

Sammy smiled and climbed into the chair next to him. She placed the thoroughly erased paper in front of him. “Okay, I know how add the numbers, but I don’t understand the ‘carry over’ part. Ms. Sherwood didn’t explain that part very well,” she told him.

“Did you ask her to clarify it for you?” Matt hinted, and watched in slight amusement as Sammy blushed and averted her eyes. “I’m didn’t think so,” he said after a moment of silence.

“When you have two numbers that add up to a two digit number, you bring the first number over and place it just above this number. See?” he asked, pointing out the one over the two.

“Okay, but I don’t get why you put it up there. It looks lonely,” she pointed out.

Matt snorted. Next thing he knew, she’ll be complaining about air pollution and the homeless on the streets. Like mother like daughter, he thought.

“Yeah, but you add all of those numbers up, so technically that number is included with the rest of them. You do the same with the next row of numbers, until you get to the last row. Then you bring all the numbers down and-“

He was cut off by soft breath hitting his arm. He looked at Sammy to find her fast asleep, her head resting on her arm and a curtain of auburn draped on the table cloth. He chuckled, dropping the pencil on the table. Apparently, few eight year olds ever saw this time of night for more than a few minutes. Careful not to wake her, he gently gathered her in his arms and carried her to her room.

Sammy’s room consisted of more dark colors rather than bright ones. Her green, flower printed comforter was thrown to the side, and a few teddy bears and a soccer ball littered the floor. A small collection of books were neatly stacked on her book shelf, one of her prized collections. Sometimes, when they weren’t too busy, she would beg one of her parents to read a few chapters of a Little house on the Prairie, or ask for help to pronounce a word she couldn’t comprehend. At first he thought it unusual, but he learned to accept his daughter’s love for literature.

He laid her down on her bed then drew the comforter up to her chin. He gave her a small kiss on her hair before switching off the lamp on her nightstand.

“And just what are you doing in here at this time of night?” a sly voice asked. “I thought I told you to limit the bedtime stories before nine.”

Matt turned to see Emily, cradling their ten month old son to sleep. She looked at him with stern eyes, with a sparkle of playfulness in them. She narrowed them slightly.

“Honestly, I love the fact that you spend time together, but this is going overboard just a little, in my opinion.” She whispered firmly.

“Hey, don’t blame me. She came to me with homework, I asked her if we could finish it in the morning, and-“

“She gave you the eyes, didn’t she?” Emily cut him off. Matt nodded his head, not bothering to explain.

Emily rolled her eyes. “You need to learn to ignore that look. She could get away with murder, if she wanted,” she said, handing the baby to him. Matt took him carefully.

“I know, but you know me and kids. I’m a sucker for them, especially my own,” he said, closing the door to Sammy’s room. Emily shook her head and watched as Matt laid Adam in his crib. He closed the door, leaving a little crack to be able to hear things from inside the room, and turned to Emily. He put his arms around her and hugged her.

“They’re getting big. Sammy’s ‘bout to start third grade and it won’t be long ‘til Adam doesn’t need a crib anymore,” he said into her hair. “I feel old.”

Emily chuckled. “Don’t give into midlife crisis yet, honey. We’ve still got one more to go.”

Matt froze. He broke the embrace and stared his wife in the eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked as she walked towards their room. She stopped at their door and grinned at him.

“You figure it out.”

Yay! Fluff galore! Anyway, I just wanted to point out that this will only be a one-shot, as in no sequels, no second chapter, nothing.

Also I take requests now. Note that I will do up to only ‘T’ rated stories. Nuthin else.

Read and review to make my day, er, night!

ACM