The grass is greener, greener on my side.

I unbuckled Sara from her car seat, keeping a smile on my face despite how tired I was and how she kept yanking on my hair. The other two girls were already asleep, Jo carrying Sienna upstairs to put her down in bed. "Mama," She said loudly, a huge triumphant grin on her face since I could swear she knew how much I melted every time she said it, mama was her first word after all.

"Aren't you tired baby?" I asked her, closing the car door behind me.

"Exhausted," A voice said back and I jumped, Jo's arms wrapping around me just in case I might lose hold of the baby. "Sorry," He added in a soft voice and I let him take Sara from our arms. She was definitely the sassiest of the twins, maybe even Sienna too. The girls were all so different, it was easy to tell already, even though the twins were only 2.

"No sleep," She added with a pout, her eyes taking in her surroundings. We'd been coming to the Hamptons house every summer, whenever we had a three day weekend, any reason we could find to get away from the busy city. "Play instead," She smiled again and I grinned at her.

"It's way past your bedtime cutie," I told her, following Jo up the stairs to the bedroom the twins shared. Sienna was almost five and as helpful as she was with the girls, she liked her space. She even had her first boyfriend, not that that really meant much when you were so young.

Jo laid her down carefully and a groan escaped her. "No please," She  tried again, flashing her most dazzling smile. Our girls looked a lot like me, but they had their dads smile. Usually that smile got me into trouble, I was such a sucker for it.

"Sleep please," Jo retorted with a grin and lowered his head to kiss her on the forehead. I smiled at the two of them then walked over to the bed to do the same, "We'll play in the morning and have pancakes for breakfast."

"Ice cream," She pouted again, such a princess. She definitely got the sassiness from me. 

"You'll have ice cream if you're a good baby," I went on, keeping my sweet smile in place as I played with our daughter's hair, trying to make her relax. It was easier said than done, she was a hurricane and definitely the crazier of the girls. She coudln't stay still or quiet for more than 30 seconds and when it was bedtime? She never wanted to sleep.

"No!" She said back, her tiny voice a little too loud and making me hold my breath because I didn't want Stella to wake up and have to deal with two babies instead of one. Her tiny hand reached for my hair and a second later she was about to cry already, throwing a tantrum just because she was tired, but still didn't want to sleep. "Mama." She whined.

I shot Jo a look that was a mix of desperate and exhausted, not sure I could handle a crying fit after that awful drive. He untangled our daughter's fingers from my hair before he picked her up, carrying her out of the room before she could start screaming. "It's time to go to bed baby, aren't you sleepy?" He asked softly as he held her against his chest, his eyes on her.

"Sleep with mama," She said back stubbornly. I had no problem cuddling my girls to sleep, but it always meant Jo spending the night on the couch while all of his girls took over our bed.

He glanced at me, looking unsure of what to say. "Let's make a deal. Daddy will take you to mama's bed, but once you're there, you have to sleep," I said with a serious expression on my face, trying not to break it because that usually meant that she fell asleep in our bed but woke up in hers.

"Is that okay cutie?" Jo asked to our little girl, who, despite everything, seemed to be pretty happy to have all our attention for herself.

"Yes daddy," She smiled up at him, a big toothy smile that could warm even the coldest of moods. "Cuddles," She added while grabbing fistfuls of his shirt in an attempt to hug him. 

He grinned back at her as we walked into the room, our bags were still downstairs but luckily the bed was clean and it was all we really needed right now. We laid down fully clothed with Sara situated between us. My eyes locked on Jo's and I smiled before closing my eyes and pretending to be asleep. It was a trick of the trade and usually worked on the twins, Sienna had become a pro on telling when we were faking it instead. "Night baby," Jo said softly and the bed shifted ever so slightly while he most likely gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. 

"Night daddy," She said in a whisper and I peeked my eyes open to find both of her eyes closed and her lips parted. 

I opened both of my eyes and smiled at Jo before looking at Sara again and watching her fall asleep, our sassy little baby looking like a real angel. I could stare at my girls all day long, they were so gorgeous. I wanted to keep them young and innocent forever, skip over the teen years completely when they'd hate me and blame all of their problems on me. I had been an awful teenager, I could only pray that the girls would be at least half as bad as I was. "I think she's asleep," I mouthed to Jo, not wanting to make any sudden move and have her start screaming. 

He nodded his head as we both got up, my breathing stopping when our baby turned but she didn't wake up. Thank god. Jo walked around the bed and reached for my hand before I set two pillows by each side of Sara, always afraid she'd fall someway since she always moved a lot in her sleep. Once outside our room I let out my breath and Jo smiled at me, "Finally alone." 

I smiled back as we walked down the stairs, "Thank god. I felt like it took a century to get here." I sighed since travelling with three babies wasn't exactly easy.

"We better enjoy some peace until it lasts." He grinned, pulling me against him and heading to the kitchen, "What do you want to do?"

"What do you want to do?" I asked back, a grin on my own lips.

"We should open a bottle of wine and watch a movie," He suggested, that sounding like a dream to me. What once had been normal, was a luxury now, we were always so busy or exhausted or both that I couldn't even remember the last time we had gone out on a date. Being parents was amazing, but a lot of work too.

I raised one eyebrow at him, knowing that there was no way he could sit through an entire movie right now, "So that you can fall asleep after five minutes? No thanks."

He shot me an amused look, "Okay mami, what about yes to wine, no to the movie, and we sit on the porch to enjoy the night?"

"That sounds perfect," I replied, keeping my eyes on my husband as he grabbed a bottle of chilled wine from the ice chest we had brought. I reached for two glasses and an opener and we walked outside, the silence around us so surreal since it was practically extinct in our house. "Do you hear that?" I lifted an eyebrow at him as we walked around to the porch, sitting down beside each other.

He listened to the silence for a second before shaking his head, "No."

"Exactly," I grinned and tried to contain my excitement while he opened a bottle of champagne, holding both of the glasses out as he poured us each a full glass. I wasn't breast feeding anymore, but I still rarely ever drank. I'd gone from a wild girl to a mom, it still was hard to believe sometimes. "I love coming here," I said quietly before bringing the glass up to my lips and taking a long slow sip.

"That's why I keep bringing you back," Jo winked at me and then took a sip, setting the bottle down on a table beside him. 

I leaned into his side and stared at the moon, closing my eyes for a second and then opening them when I felt like I might doze off. "Every time we come here I end up pregnant," I grinned and looked up at him.

He nodded his head with a somber look on his handsome face, "So we're not having sex this weekend."

"Joseph!" I poked his side but kept my smile in place, knowing that we'd probably make it a night, if that, without sex. 

"Don't Joseph me," He groaned, making me pull back and narrow my eyes on him.

"Don't groan," I retorted.

"Don't narrow your eyes," He said back but at that point was smirking for how silly we were being. 

I bit down on my lip to conceal the grin threatening to widen my lips, "Don't threaten me with no s.ex."

"Never," He laughed and stopped the silly argument with a kiss, cupping my face with his free hand until we were both smiling against each others mouth. When he pulled his head back regretfully, he pushed my hair behind my ear. "But no more babies for a while, I don't think I could do that."

I nodded in agreement, "I know, those three little crazy girls are already enough." I said softly but was still smiling because that was the effect talking about our babies had on me. "We'd end up having no sex at all."

"That sounds like a nightmare," He said seriously, no matter how silly that sounded. We were parents, true, but we were still young and loved each other like crazy, the attraction between us was as strong as the first day if not stronger...I needed my husband in every possible way. 

"I agree," I smiled, the idea of no sex sounding awful. We were tired most of the time, the girls were all walking but still loved being held. Not only was that tiring, but it was hard on my body too. They weren't seven pound babies anymore. "Lets make a pact; we will have sex at least once a day. If one of is too tired, then the other person is in charge of oral."

Jo stared at me with a serious face, struggling not to grin as he parted his lips, "I'm too tired for sex. Please me woman."

I let out a loud laugh and then covered my mouth, always afraid I'd wake my babies up even though they were all tucked away in bed. I guess I was still used to living in an apartment... here there was so much more freedom. I missed living in a house. "My husband the romantic," I replied and smiled at him. 

"I do what I can," He said and moved his hand up and down my arm to warm me up. "Are you tired?"

"Are you offering to go down on me right now? Because I wouldn't say no," I grinned up at him and he laughed. "I'm always tired," I admitted. I'd become a stay at home mom, the kind of person I never thought I'd become... but raising three little girls? It was a job, definitely the hardest job I'd ever had. But also the most important and worthy one too. 

"I know you are," He said with a sigh as he ran a hand up and down my arm, while we both silently wondered if and when we'd stop being so exhausted all the time. It was probably not happening for the next ten years. If that.

I tilted my head back to look at him with a silly grin on my face, "Was that a yes?"

"Nice try, but it wasn't," He grinned back at me and the way my lips turned downwards in a pout almost instantly.

I stared at my husband, my eyes big and dark just like Sienna's, "I'm starting to feel rejected. Don't you love your woman anymore?"

"I love my wife more than myself. And that's a lot to say." He paused to let out a chuckle. I swear, sometimes he was the silliest. "But I think we can wait a little for going crazy sexy, there's more I want to do with my mouth now."

"That still sounds naughty," I pointed out, smirk still in place as I took a sip of wine. 

He laughed this time, shaking his head, "I meant talk. God only knows when we'll have some time to do that again without having three crazy girls around." He grinned at his own words even if that was true. The girls needed so much attention that sometimes to get some time for us together I had to visit him at work.

 

"What happened to your original plan of having an entire baseball team?" I grinned at him, remembering how we'd joke about having enough kids to form a team. "Have you changed your mind already?"

Another laugh escaped Jo as an eyebrow raised, "If we have another, we might never have time for sex again."

I pouted once more, "As much as I love our girls, I still want a baby boy."

"Knowing our luck? The next one would be a girl too," He said seriously but still smirking.

"Meh," I replied and wrinkled my nose, thinking about all the hard times we were one day going to go through with the girls; periods, sex, pregnancy... god, that last one was frightening enough to work as birth control. "I've just decided that we should never let the girls date."

"Oh god," He muttered and poured himself another glass of wine. 

I shot him an amused look as I watched him, "Does the thought alone make you want to get drunk?"

"Yes," He said seriously as he downed the glass, one more glass away from falling asleep.  "We're going to have so much craziness and hormones to handle that we'll get grey hair before time."

I let out a chuckle, not wanting to admit how right he was, "Don't worry, I'm on the pill baby. No more kids at least for a while."

"See we did everything wrong. We should have had a boy first so that the girls would have had a big brother to look out for them," He said seriously, glancing at me.

"Hey, you wanted a girl!" I protested and poked his side, a silly grin on my lips since it really wasn't up to us.

"I didn't know I had a say in that, did I?" He asked as he did his best not to smirk but failing.

"No, but if you had your choice you still would've chose girls," I replied matter-of-factly, remembering how he'd wrap an arm around me at night to set his palm flat on my belly, telling me how he'd hope it'd be a beautiful girl that looked just like me. He spoiled me with his words sometimes. I couldn't be any luckier. 

"Sienna was so easy..." He trailed off.

"The twins aren't?" I grinned back at him, knowing what a handful they were sometimes, Sara especially. They kept us on our toes all the time, Sienna too. Once she'd be old enough, she'd be plenty of help with the girls. She reminded me a lot of my sister who practically raised me.

Jo let out a sigh before grinning, "I love those girls, but they're going to make my hair go grey."

I ran a hand through his hair and faked a pout, "You'll still be the sexiest man alive."

"Even if I won't be, you'll be stuck with me anyway," He grinned at me before kissing my lips slowly, until I was grinning again.

"I don't remember agreeing to that," I muttered against his mouth as I leaned my head back to rest on the nape of his shoulder.

He shot me an amused look, "Oh you did. I didn't buy you a diamond ring for nothing."

I faked a silly sigh, shaking my head, "I can remember now. Vaguely." I said back then stopped, blinking my eyes, "Did you hear that?"

"What?" 

"Mami!" Sienna's voice broke the silence and a second later she came out on the porch, her pout full force and her eyes big and desperate. "I had a nightmare." She said sobbing, running to me and climbing on to my lap. 

Jo unwrapped his arm from around me and caressed our daughter's cheek instead, "It was just a bad dream monkey, it's over now."

She ignored his words, snuggling against me, "It was scary. There was a huge dog that wanted to eat me."

"And there you are instead, all safe and sound," I said quietly as I looked down at her with a small smile on my lips, rubbing her back.

Our big little girl pulled her head back, still pouting, "I want a puppy mami." She said and Jo laughed since that was so random. Our apartment was already a mess, we didn't need any pet. I wasn't even sure if we had enough room for one.

"But it'd get huge and try to eat you!" Jo widened his eyes at her, being silly.

"Jo," I glared at him.

Sienna, who was a really smart girl, stuck her tongue out at her dad, "That's not true dad!"

"There you go, now you know that baby. You can go back to bed," He smirked at our baby, squeezing her foot.

"I want to stay here instead," She said as she cuddled me, looking on the verge of falling asleep. "Please," She added since all week we had been working on manners.

I smiled and kissed her forehead, "Won't Bunny miss you?" I used her favorite stuffed animal as bait, the bunny rabbit she had been carrying around with her since birth. He uncle had given it to her and when he left for college, she missed him like crazy. 

She frowned again and looked at Jo who was watching the two of us with a smile on his handsome face, "Will you bring me Bunny please daddy?"

He laughed again and shook his head, "I think I just heard Bunny crying and calling out for you."

"Lies," She wrinkled her nose but grinned as I tickled her side, her little giggle warming my heart because she really was so adorable. "I don't love tickles!!"

"But we're having a tickle party right now and if you want to stay, you'll get tickles too," I told her, still tickling her sides while Jo tickled her feet. He kept his distance though, the last time I tried tickling her feet I got kicked in the face.

"Okay I'll go to bed!!: She cried out, still giggling like a silly baby. "Stop!!"

"What did you say? More tickles?" Jo asked as he moved his hands to tickle under her arms.

"Stop daddy!!" She laughed with her smile wide like Jo's, her eyes squinting. "I'll go to bed I said!!"

 

Both Jo and I stopped and I watched as he got up, grabbing her from my lap and pressing a noisy kiss on her cheek before setting her back on her feet. "Good night baby," He said smiled at our daughter.

She pursed her lips together and lingered a moment, making me fear that she'd change her mind again. Instead she looked at me, "Mami I want a goodnight kiss from you too." She said quietly, even pouting a little.

I bent over her, my smile big and my eyes too. Times like these, my girls melted my heart and made me feel emotional. "Oh baby come here," I wrapped my arm around our oldest daughter and kissed her cheek, "Sweet dreams."

"And if I have a nightmare again?" Sienna asked with a worried expression on her face as I pulled back.

"You can come to us again." Jo tried to reassure her, looking at her, "But it won't happen, don't worry."

She seemed to believe him and with a nod she started marching back into the house. We watched watched her until she disappeared then Jo looked back at me, "Who's going to interrupt us now? Stella?" He asked with a sigh and sat next to me again.

I cuddled against him, a small smirk on my lips, "Doubtful. She's the only one who always sleeps through the whole night."

"Great," He commented shortly, mostly being silly. "Do you think we're having a Sara round two?"

I let out a soft chuckle, tilting my head up to look at him, "I hope not. But even if we did, we'd still have the rest of the night. It might be late for the girls but it's early for us...and you know that summer nights always last longer."

"Mostly when I don't have to work the day after," He grinned back at me, remembering how years before when it was just us we'd spend the whole night on this same porch, talking, drinking, making love...now it was different, but it was just as amazing. I honestly wouldn't trade my life for anything. 

"Tonight I have you all to myself instead," I smirked back, relaxing against his hard chest. 

"Such a needy wife I have," He said in an amused tone and pressed a kiss against my cheek. I wrinkled my nose before grinning at him, trying to remember the last time we were alone and able to relax. Technically we were still on parent duty, but it was late and the girls had already made their rounds and were now safely tucked into their beds.

I shrugged my shoulders and faked a serious face, "Your needy wife wants real kisses."

Jo laughed softly and set his fingers on my chin, tilting my face upwards before lowering his face towards mine and kissing my cheek at the last minute. "Oops, I missed," He grinned while I rolled my eyes with my smile back in place. 

"No wonder our daughters are so silly. I married the silliest man alive," I told him. 

"Twice," He replied with an amused look on his handsome face.

I smiled wider and leaned my head back against his shoulder, "Does it make me twice as lucky?"

He shook his head, our first wedding ending in a disaster. "No," He said simply.

I looked up at him with an eyebrow raised, "How come Mr No?"

"Because you weren't so lucky the first time," He said with a shrug and smiled, wanting me to know that he didn't care about the past. I was more than lucky to have another chance. I'd been an idiot back then and was still making up for my mistakes, I would be forever.

I let out a sigh, but smiled again eventually, "Without our first marriage we wouldn't be here."

"Such wise words, no wonder why I married you," He said as he struggled to keep a straight face but his lips quirked into a smirk.

"You married me because I was pregnant," I said back, amusement in my voice and showing in my face too.

Jo grinned, "No, I got you pregnant because I wanted to marry you again and I needed to find a trick to keep you with me forever."

"Lies," I said with a little laugh, knowing for a fact that neither of us had originally planned on having a baby so soon... not that we regretted it. Our girls were perfect and if I had the chance to go back? I'd do everything the same. "You almost had a heart attack when I told you instead."

"Almost doesn't count," He said matter of factly, still grinning. 

"The same thing happened when we found out we were having twins..." I trailed off, always trying to prove my points. Jo was the same way. We liked being right. 

He pulled me onto his lap and held my body tight, "What are you trying to say silly woman?"

I wrinkled my nose as I looked up at him, "I just want to hear the magic words I love hearing."

"I love you?" He tried and I grinned again.

"No, but I love those ones also," I said seriously and kissed his cheek.  

He raised one eyebrow at me thinking hard. "I have no idea."

"Oh, come on! You're not even trying!" I protested, poking his chest with an index finger.

He thought about it, again looking confused before his face finally lit up, "Oh you want me to tell you that you're not wrong."

I nodded my head as a pleased smirk curved my lips, "Yes. And when you're not wrong, what are you?"

"Me? I'm right," He grinned back at me, holding me tight and enjoying the silly moment because we didn't have time for many.

"No, you have to tell me I'm right instead!" I went on, being a stubborn woman even over something so silly. He wouldn't have me any other way.

"Oh okay!" He said and grinned wide, "I'm right instead."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, though I was as amused as he was, "I give up."

"You're right," He kissed my nose before pulling me against his chest and nuzzling my neck.

 

"Was that so hard, silly husband?" I lifted an eyebrow playfully as I kept my body motionless against his, feeling like I could relax finally because all of my girls were safely tucked in their beds upstairs.

He let out a sigh, "Yes."

I laughed and adjusted my head to look him in the eyes, finding that perfect smile playing on his lips. I stole a quick kiss then set my head back against his shoulder. "I want to take advantage of being alone for once and have sex, but I'm too tired... does that make me officially old?" I wrinkled my nose, thinking about how we had truly changed so much over the years. It seemed like just yesterday that we were getting back together. We had one hell of a past, but I was so grateful for my life; for my amazing husband and our gorgeous girls. Of course there were a million things I would've done differently when I was a kid, but I got my second chance and I was blessed.

He grinned down at me and at my silly face, kissing my nose and only making me wrinkle it again before he pulled his head back. "No, that only makes you human," He said simply. We weren't necessarily old, but we weren't that young either. Time was passing for us too and we had tons of responsibilities, we were busy a lot and a lot tired too. 

I frowned, disappointment on my face, "I'm not your goddess anymore?"

Jo let out a soft chuckle, pulling me against him as he hugged me, "You will always be. But even goddesses need to rest sometimes."