"I'm home." Dom smiled as he walked in.
"Daddy!" Joy shouted, she rushed out of the living room into his arms.
"Hello my princess. How are you?" Dom asked squeezing her in a tight hug.
"I am good daddy, how are you? How was your day?" Joy asked.
"My day was lovely princess, thank you for asking. How was your day?" Dom asked as he carried her while walking to the living room.
He sat down on the couch and held her in his arms. He could never get used to this feeling. He remembered when she was a newborn and he had held her in his arms the same way. Now she was five going on six and she was growing so fast, faster than he could imagine.
"Well it was fun, Aunt Lulu made the best macaroni and cheese, and before that we went out to the park with Maggie and after that we came back home and then I watched some tv oh and we called Alfred to check on him and he said he was fine, then mommy came back and we played together all afternoon then she went to go make dinner, then I was watching tv alone and then you came back." She said in one breath.
"Wow, that sounds like quite a day. I am happy you enjoyed it princess." Dom smiled.
"Daddy, you look tired." Joy said as she saw him yawn.
"That's because I am tired. I just need to eat dinner and go take a shower and I'll be fine." Dom said yawning once more.
"Okay then, let's go daddy, let's go have dinner." Joy said climbing off his lap and pulling his hand so he followed her.
"Yes my princess, I am right behind you." He chuckled following her.
"Hi Natasha." Dom said as they walked into the dining room and Natasha was busy setting the table.
"Hi." Natasha replied looking up breifly.
"Mommy, daddy is really hungry and tired, he needs to eat dinner now so he can go take a shower and not be tired anymore." Joy said as if this matter was of the uttermost importance.
"Ahh, I see." Natasha said amused. Joy looked so cute when she had such a serious expression on her face.
"Yes mommy, so can you please set the table so we can have dinner together?" Joy asked.
"Of course my darling, but go wash your hands first." She replied.
"Okay, daddy wait here, we're going to eat soon." Joy said as if she was talking to Maggi, then she nodded and ran away.
"What was that about?" Dom asked surprised, he could not help but chuckle. Joy was getting more amusing by the day. The way she spoke, walked and chose to interact with them was starting to be a new box of surprises each day.
"I have no idea, but she seems to love you so much she demands you eat quickly." Natasha shook her head and laughed.
"Anyway, I thought you were going to be home late." She said.
"I thought so too, but I finished things quickly." Dom replied.
"I see..." Dom said standing around awkwardly.
"Are you going to sit down or what?" Natasha asked walking past him into the kitchen.
"Oh, I thought you wanted to finish setting the table first." Dom replied.
"I'm already fine, sit down. Joy is going to have my head if I don't treat her daddy properly." Natasha joked walking back into the dining room.
Dom chuckled and sat down while Natasha put his dinner in front of him.
"Hello brother of mine." Lulu said walking into the dining room.
"Hello Lulu, how was your day?" Dom smiled as she sat down on her seat.
"Good, good, I took good care of Joy if I do say so myself." She said smugly as both Natasha and Dom laughed.
"Sure." Dom replied.
"So, Natty, what's for dinner?" Lulu asked smiling.
"Natty?" Dom asked confused.
"Yes, that's my new nickname for Natasha." Lulu smiled.
"Well that's new." Dom laughed.
"Yes, you miss a lot while you're at work." Lulu bragged as Joy rushed back into the room.
"I really don't care Lulu." Dom replied.
"So what's for dinner?" Lulu asked again.
"Well one of my favourites, beef stroganoff and rice." Natasha said dishing Joy's meal.
"It's your favourite mommy?" Joy asked.
"Well yes, my dad used to make it all the time, it was one of his quick meals." Natasha chuckled. Dom and Lulu smiled.
"That sounds really nice mommy." Joy smiled.
"It is." Natasha smiled as she sat down.
"Let's eat." She smiled.
...
"You have to go to sleep now princess, last night you stayed up too late and I don't want you to get used to doing that." Dom said as he tucked Joy into bed.
She was reluctant, she wanted to stay awake for longer. She kept on saying she was not a baby and she could stay awake.
"I know you want to stay awake, but it's best you go to bed now. I'm telling you, you will appreciate it in the morning." Dom said.
"Okay daddy." Joy said, she finally gave in.
"Good girl, have a goodnight, sweet dreams, and I'll see you in the morning." Dom said placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.
"Goodnight daddy." Joy yawned closing her eyes.
Dom smiled and got off her bed, he switched off the lights and closed the door behind him.
"She finally agreed to go to sleep." Dom said plopping on the couch in the living room.
"Finally. I thought she would never go to sleep, she's been up and about all day, I thought that by now she would have run out of energy." Lulu said sighing.
"Sounds like someone is exhausted." Dom laughed and Natasha laughed as well.
"I have to admit, she's full of energy all the time." Lulu groaned.
"We told you." Dom said.
"Joy is well joyful, and that's a good thing, but it can get you tired so quickly." Natasha laughed.
"Isn't that the truth." Dom laughed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, you guys were right. Anyway, Natasha that dinner was delicious as always." Lulu said and Natasha chuckled.
"Why thank you." Natasha smiled.
"Lulu is right. It tastes the exact same way your dad used to make it." Dom said.
"Yeah... thank you." Natasha said.
"I remember that one time where grandfather and my parents left on a really important business trip and he asked your dad to take care of us for a weekend, your dad was so busy that he didn't restock the groceries, all that was in the fridge was a huge bowl of beef stroganoff which we all survived on for the entire weekend." Dom laughed.
"Yeah, I remember that, I remember that so well." Natasha could not help but laugh.
"He literally forgot every single time he went out to go buy some groceries, we just kept on eating beef stroganoff with pasta or rice." Natasha laughed.
"Wait, that happened?" Lulu asked shocked.
"Mhmm, it happened alright." Dom replied.
"Then where was I?" Lulu asked.
"Well if I can remember correctly, you were still a toddler then, so your parents took you with them, but they had to leave the guys, so they stayed at my house for the weekend." Natasha said drinking some water.
"That wasn't even the worst part of that weekend." Dom said.
"Really?" Lulu asked.
"Mhmm, the worst part was when we ran out of toilet paper!" Dom laughed.
"Goodness, please don't remind me about that, don't." Natasha burst out in laughter.
"But I just have to, we ran out of toilet paper, honestly, it wasn't your dad's fault, he wasn't used to having four extra guests around, he only had enough for you and him, but he underestimated the bowels of four twelve year old boys, because not only did Charlie clog the toilet, but Michael used all the toilet paper." Dom laughed.
"No way, why didn't he just go out and buy some more?" Lulu asked shocked.
"I told you, he kept on forgetting to buy the things we needed when he went out, he was so stressed with work that was the only thing on his mind." Natasha laughed.
"And mind you, we ran out of toilet paper on Friday and we still had Saturday and Sunday to go." Dom said.
"Then what did you do?" Lulu asked.
"The only thing we could do, use water like our ancestors." Dom could not keep a straight face, he laughed loudly.
"You did not just say that." Natasha laughed, she could not control her laughter, she fell on the ground and held her stomach.
"How did I go years without knowing this story?" Lulu asked laughing.
"I don't know, but that was the worst weekend we every spent in your house." Dom laughed.
"Funny enough, my dad felt so guilty when the weekend ended because he didn't take care of us like he would have had he had time to focus." Natasha said calming down and sitting on the couch still laughing.