Lazy Sunday
Rating: G
Timeline: Post-season 7.
Summary: A lazy Sunday afternoon, Leslie and Ben playing with the triplets.
Note: Hello! I’m not quite sure this has enough fall cliches in it, but I tried… ;-)
“Daddy, here.”
Ben holds his hand out and a much littler, mittened-hand pushes a bright red leaf into his palm.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Ben tells his daughter. Sonia giggles like the enthusiastic mini-Leslie that she is and turns, her long blonde hair flying as she runs back to her brothers.
The triplets are attempting to use small, child-size rakes to “help daddy” and get all the leaves pushed into organized piles. Of course, it’s clearly more playing than raking, as the yard possibly looks even messier than when they started, but then Ben is just planning on raking for real later. This is really more of a scrapbook photo op, so he’s completely content to just sit on the steps of the back deck, surrounded by all the pumpkins that Leslie has been buying lately.
He’s smiling and laughing and taking pictures as their three precocious four year-olds spend a sunny but chilly Sunday afternoon playing in the fall leaves.
Ben hears the back door open and soon Leslie’s sitting beside him, but not before he quickly moves all of Sonia’s carefully curated leaves out of the way.
“What are those?” She asks, with a glance towards the leaves, while also handing him a mug of hot apple cider.
“A present from Sonia.”
“Oh, that’s so cute.” Leslie snuggles against him, as Ben’s arm wraps around her.
“I know, right?” Ben agrees with a smile, kissing the side of her chin.
“We can press some and put them in the scrapbook too.”
As if on cue, Sonia runs over again, her rake not quite making the whole trip and she hands him another leaf, this one bright yellow and orange. Then she climbs into Ben’s lap as Leslie carefully grabs the mug out of his hands to safely make room for their daughter.
“Is this one for me too?” He holds it up and examines it.
Sonia nods and buries her head against his shoulder.
“Daddy, it’s a leaf. And it’s pretty and…” she trails off as she sits up and starts playing with his hair. She says something else but he can’t quite make out what she’s talking about even though she stretches up and whispers right near his ear. It’s something adorable and nonsensical about pancakes and ponies.
Or maybe hamsters and pennies?
“Thank you. Do you want to find a leaf for mommy too?”
“Oh, can you find me a pretty leaf, honey?”
Sonia nods eagerly and gets off her father, moving over to her mom’s lap for a quick hug and kiss, all while Ben can’t resist tickling Sonia around her stomach, making her squeal and laugh, but she doesn’t really make any effort to get away.
He’s once again struck by how affectionate his and Leslie’s kids are-he thinks it must be a mark in the nurture column, as he can’t really remember his family ever being like this.
His parents definitely did not spend all that much time hugging and kissing in front of him and his siblings before the divorce. It was a lot more like yelling and judgmental glaring.
After an appropriate amount of cuddles, Sonia finally heads off to find her rake and runs back to the center of the yard. Wesley and Stephen have abandoned their own plastic lawn implements and have started just throwing the leaves at each other and when their sister joins them, she quickly finds herself covered in their leaves. To both Ben and Leslie’s relief, instead of crying, she gets down on the ground and starts gathering everything into a pile with her hands.
As they watch the kids, Leslie tells him, “We should go get pumpkins to carve later this afternoon.”
Ben makes a face and looks around the deck, his hands out for emphasis. “Um, what are-”
“These are for decorations, not actual carving, babe.”
“Oh,” he says, turning towards her, nodding and grinning. “Okay, sure. We need some carving pumpkins. Good call.”
There’s a few kisses and some whispered flirtations (including her telling him that when they get inside, she wants to warm up his chilly and perfect butt with her hands), before Sonia calls out to them.
Ben and Leslie watch as she smiles and then pushes her brothers down into her big pile of leaves.
“Oh, hey, don’t…” Ben starts to yell out to them, all while Leslie kind of giggles but also stands in concern.
Soon, both he and Leslie are in the yard too, rolling around and playing in the leaves with their little monsters.
Timeline: Post-season 7.
Summary: A lazy Sunday afternoon, Leslie and Ben playing with the triplets.
Note: Hello! I’m not quite sure this has enough fall cliches in it, but I tried… ;-)
“Daddy, here.”
Ben holds his hand out and a much littler, mittened-hand pushes a bright red leaf into his palm.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Ben tells his daughter. Sonia giggles like the enthusiastic mini-Leslie that she is and turns, her long blonde hair flying as she runs back to her brothers.
The triplets are attempting to use small, child-size rakes to “help daddy” and get all the leaves pushed into organized piles. Of course, it’s clearly more playing than raking, as the yard possibly looks even messier than when they started, but then Ben is just planning on raking for real later. This is really more of a scrapbook photo op, so he’s completely content to just sit on the steps of the back deck, surrounded by all the pumpkins that Leslie has been buying lately.
He’s smiling and laughing and taking pictures as their three precocious four year-olds spend a sunny but chilly Sunday afternoon playing in the fall leaves.
Ben hears the back door open and soon Leslie’s sitting beside him, but not before he quickly moves all of Sonia’s carefully curated leaves out of the way.
“What are those?” She asks, with a glance towards the leaves, while also handing him a mug of hot apple cider.
“A present from Sonia.”
“Oh, that’s so cute.” Leslie snuggles against him, as Ben’s arm wraps around her.
“I know, right?” Ben agrees with a smile, kissing the side of her chin.
“We can press some and put them in the scrapbook too.”
As if on cue, Sonia runs over again, her rake not quite making the whole trip and she hands him another leaf, this one bright yellow and orange. Then she climbs into Ben’s lap as Leslie carefully grabs the mug out of his hands to safely make room for their daughter.
“Is this one for me too?” He holds it up and examines it.
Sonia nods and buries her head against his shoulder.
“Daddy, it’s a leaf. And it’s pretty and…” she trails off as she sits up and starts playing with his hair. She says something else but he can’t quite make out what she’s talking about even though she stretches up and whispers right near his ear. It’s something adorable and nonsensical about pancakes and ponies.
Or maybe hamsters and pennies?
“Thank you. Do you want to find a leaf for mommy too?”
“Oh, can you find me a pretty leaf, honey?”
Sonia nods eagerly and gets off her father, moving over to her mom’s lap for a quick hug and kiss, all while Ben can’t resist tickling Sonia around her stomach, making her squeal and laugh, but she doesn’t really make any effort to get away.
He’s once again struck by how affectionate his and Leslie’s kids are-he thinks it must be a mark in the nurture column, as he can’t really remember his family ever being like this.
His parents definitely did not spend all that much time hugging and kissing in front of him and his siblings before the divorce. It was a lot more like yelling and judgmental glaring.
After an appropriate amount of cuddles, Sonia finally heads off to find her rake and runs back to the center of the yard. Wesley and Stephen have abandoned their own plastic lawn implements and have started just throwing the leaves at each other and when their sister joins them, she quickly finds herself covered in their leaves. To both Ben and Leslie’s relief, instead of crying, she gets down on the ground and starts gathering everything into a pile with her hands.
As they watch the kids, Leslie tells him, “We should go get pumpkins to carve later this afternoon.”
Ben makes a face and looks around the deck, his hands out for emphasis. “Um, what are-”
“These are for decorations, not actual carving, babe.”
“Oh,” he says, turning towards her, nodding and grinning. “Okay, sure. We need some carving pumpkins. Good call.”
There’s a few kisses and some whispered flirtations (including her telling him that when they get inside, she wants to warm up his chilly and perfect butt with her hands), before Sonia calls out to them.
Ben and Leslie watch as she smiles and then pushes her brothers down into her big pile of leaves.
“Oh, hey, don’t…” Ben starts to yell out to them, all while Leslie kind of giggles but also stands in concern.
Soon, both he and Leslie are in the yard too, rolling around and playing in the leaves with their little monsters.