Some years later...

Ryder's POV

The laughter of children running around, filled the air as I walked out the backyard of my dad's house, carrying a container filled with chocolate chip cookies.

"Come on, dad, let me help with the cookies," my seven year old son, Brayden, pleaded. I shook my head with amusement, already knowing every one of the tricks he had up his sleeve. Him and his twin brother, Caden, were little devils that were always getting into mischief.

I hoisted my one year old further into my arms, when she started to slip. Her small hand slammed against my face and I winced. "Princess, daddy's face is not a tambourine." I placed the container with cookies on the highest shelf I could find, then looked for an available chair to slump into. I spotted one next to Nissa and walked over towards it, stopping evey now and then to say hi to a family member or pausing for people who wanted to gush over my daughter.

"Hey, Ryder," she greeted with a smile, cooing at Riley and I nodded in reply. "Hi, Ry Ry."

Riley squirmed in my arms, giving her a big toothless grin. She opened her mouth and made a weird attempt of speaking, only managing to let out a few incoherent sounds.

"Who's the most adorable baby here, you are, yes, you are," Nissa cooed, grinning.

"Are you seriously talking to my kid like she's a dog?" I asked her in disbelief and she laughed.

"You're an ass."

"Language!" I scolded her, placing my hands over Riley's ears, who just laughed and bounced up and down in my lap.

Nissa's eye widened. "Sorry. Sorry, Ry Ry. Don't make that your first word, okay? If you do, you're mom will kick my ass-shit! Sorry!" I laughed, unable to help myself.

"I heard about you and Seth breaking up, I've never liked him, so kudos to you," I told her with a grin and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, thanks, a-hole," she answered, shaking her head. "Where's my best friend?"

"She went to the bathroom," I told her with a fond smile as my mind ran to my beautiful wife as she rushed to the bathroom, cursing me out, because according to her, it was my fault she now had a tiny bladder.

Nissa shook her head with a laugh. "I can't believe you got her pregnant, again."

I shrugged. "It's her own damn fault for being so fucking sexy."

"You're too much."

"Daddy!" I heard my six year old, Macy, scream from across the yard as she ran towards me, her face stained with tears. Handing Riley to Nissa, I rushed towards her. I crouched down and braced myself for her force. When Macy was in a rampage, she got this strenght that I was pretty sure she'd inherited from her mom. When she reached me, she rushed into my open arms, sniffling.

"What's wrong, princess?" I asked her, standing up with her in my arms.

"Brayden and Caden won't let me have any of the cookies." Cookies? What cookies? Those sneaky little bastards had better not...

"Brayden! Caden!" I shouted, walking over to the tree house my dad had built for me when we had moved here. The twins loved it and would always climb up there, whenever we would visit my dad. The two little demons, innocently peered over the tree house's edge, giving me questioning looks and I shook my head. "Get down here now!" They glanced at each other and made that face they usually made when they were silently agreeing to something. I hated that face. They slowly climbed down the tree the house was fixed on and jumped to the ground in front of me. "Who gave you cookies?"

"What cookies? I haven't seen any cookies. Did you see any cookies, Brayden? I didn't. Dad, are you hallucinating?" I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to crumble. Unlike Brayden, Caden still hadn't learned to keep up appearances when he was caught in trouble.

"Shut up, Caden!" Brayden mumbled, with a glare, for Caden's ears only, throwing me an innocent smile.

"What, Brayden? I'm just telling dad that we haven't seen the cookies he brought. It's not like we tricked Grandpa into grabbing them from the shelf and giving them to us under the pretense that dad had send us to do so." Brayden growled at Caden's outburst and I smirked.

"Caden, did you guys steal the cookies we brought with us for everyone else?" I asked slowly and he shook his head rapidly, giving me a guilty look. "Caden..."

"Okay, okay, dude, don't nag us so much, I'll tell you everything...It was Caden's idea!" Brayden spoke up before Caden could, pointing an accusing finger at Caden, who turned wide, betrayed eyes on him. "Sorry, Cade, I'm not going down in this ship. Nuh uh."

"Actually, Brady, you are," I informed him and he turned surprised eyes toward me.

"What? Why, dude?" he asked with genuine surprise and I had to roll my eyes.

"Because you lied and stole. Once we leave grandpa's house, you can forget about video games, television and friends; you're both grounded." They both turned towards me and gave me their best sad look, quivering lips and watery eyes included. My eyes widened. Shit. Where the hell was Casey when I needed her? They knew I was a sucker for that look. Casey was the one who dealt with that look. Unlike me, she was immune to it.

"Stay strong, daddy," Macy spoke up, tightening her arms around my neck. I turned to her and gave her a kiss on the nose.

"Right. You're grounded, period," I told the boys, keeping my eyes above their heads so I wouldn't be sucked into their sad, puppy eyes.

"But, dad..." I heard them whine, dragging out the last letter in 'dad' as I turned around and headed to the back yard deck with Macy in my arms.

"Grounded! Period!" I shouted over my shoulders and I heard them groan, before Brayden turned to Caden and began to scowl him for outing them out. Shaking my head with a smile, I couldn't help but feel proud of myself. I couldn't wait to tell Case.

Speaking of the devil, I grinned when I spotted her, wobbling out the back door, a hand resting on her lower back. Casey was pregnant with our fifth child, and looked ready to pop any minute and I couldn't be more excited.

"Casey!" I called out to her and she turned towards me, smiling when her eyes fell on Macy and I. Walking over towards her, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of her forehead. "You are never gonna guess what I just did!"

"Daddy, I wanna tell her!" Macy interjected from my arms and I turned to her.

"Okay, fine, but just this once," I replied with a smile and she nodded excitedly. Turning to her mom, she paused for a dramatic effect, breathed in and then let the news out.

"Daddy grounded the twins!" she exclaimed, pride visible all over her face and I grinned.

Casey turned wide eyes to me. "You did?"

I nodded. "Yep!"

"Honey, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you!" she replied, reaching up to kiss me. I had to lean down to allow her that access since she was much shorter than me and very much pregnant. When she pressed her soft lips to mine in a lingering kiss, I almost moaned. Kissing Casey had always been intoxicating and even after years of being married to her it was one of my favorite things to do, well...that and other very explicit things.

"What did they do this time?" she asked, pulling away from me, and I instinctively chased after her. She gave me a small kiss on my nose and I gave her my infamous pout in return, making her smile.

"They ate the cookies, momma! And they wouldn't share with me," Macy pouted in my arms.

"I'm sorry, baby. Momma will make you some, just for you, when we get home, okay?" Casey answered, giving our daughter a kiss on the forehead. Macy nodded, grabbing Casey's face in her hands and placing a sloppy kiss on her forehead, making Casey chuckle. Out of all of our kids, Macy was the most affectionate. She never failed to let her mom and I know that she loved us and was always giving us kisses. "How much does momma love you?"

Macy grinned. "As much as a minion loves a banana." We laughed and Casey nodded.

When Casey pulled back, a sour expression marring her face, I grasped her hand, worriedly. "Baby, you okay?"

"I think I'm having a baby," she turned to me with excited, terrified eyes and my own eyes widened.

"Okay! Let me hand Macy off to pop." Rushing towards my dad, I shoved Macy into his arms when I reached him.

"We've got to go, the baby is on the way," I told him in a rush when he turned to me with questioning eyes. Realization registered and he grabbed Macy into his arms.

"She's on her way?" Nissa asked, rushing up to me, Riley in her arms. I nodded and gestured for her to hand me Riley. Kissing my daughter on the forehead, I handed her back to Nissa.

"Dad, what's going on?" Brayden asked running up to me and I stopped, crouching down in front of him.

"Your sister is on her way, kid, go get your brother and go tell momma you love her." He nodded and I pressed a kiss to his forehead before he bolted in his brother's direction.

Resuming my way to Casey, I sped up. "You ready to go, sweetheart?"

She nodded. "I just have to say bye to the twins."

"God, I can't believe this is your fifth!" Nissa exclaimed, standing next to Casey, rubbing her back soothingly.

"I know!" Casey retorted, turning accusing eyes my way. "This is it, baby. No more."

I smirked, and she glowered. "If you say so."

"Ryder, I'm serious!" she whined with a pout and I smiled walking towards her and taking her in my arms.

"I know, but so I'm I. I told you I want as many mini you's as possible," I told her, glancing down at her and she shook her head with a sigh.

"I hate you."

"I love you too, beautiful," I whispered, planting my lips on hers, giving her a soft kiss. She shook her head, fighting a smile and I chuckled. For as long as we'd been married, I never doubted her love for me. I could see it in her eyes every day.

We had gotten married right out of college, right after she'd passed the bar and right after I'd been drafted to the NHL. I hadn't become a cook like I'd wanted but I couldn't complain since I had an amazing job in one of the best hockey teams and cooked almost every day for my wife and kids. Cooking for them and watching them enjoy what I made, was enough.

Casey had become a successful lawyer and she loved every minute of it. After our first two kids arrived, though, she had decided to become a stay at home mom. Eventually, the house started to fill up with our kids and I had in mind to keep making it even more full.

The twins were the eldest of our kids and the sneakiest. Those two boys got in more trouble than both Casey and I could sometimes handle. The boys were my spitting image, but had inherited Casey's beautiful hair and lips. We later had Macy. Macy had inherited both my hair and eyes, but everything else, was her mom's contribution. I'd suggested we name her Macy in honor of Casey's twin sister, which had made Casey cry. Riley had come a few years later. The spitting image of her mom, she hardly looked like me, except for her blue eyes, which were exactly the same shade as mine.

My kids and wife were my entire world. That was one of the reason as to why I couldn't begin to fathom as to why Casey's mother would even think of doing what she did. Thinking about not having one of my kids in my life nearly about broke me. They were my life, my reason to breathe.

"Momma! Are you ready to puke that baby out?" Brayden shouted as he rushed up the deck's stairs, with his brother in tow, breaking through my thoughts and I held back a laugh.

They wedged themselves between Casey and I, and I shook my head, pulling away from her.

"Hey, buddy, yeah," Casey answered with an amused smiled.

"If she hurts you, momma, just think about Brayden falling into the toilet, it'll make you laugh," Caden suggested, his face set in a concerned look. His mother smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Okay, baby, I'll do that," she promised, leaning down to kiss them both. When it was too difficult for her to do so, I hefted the twins in my arms and lifted them up, to where she didn't have to lean down to kiss them. After she'd kissed them both and told them she loved them, I lowered them to the ground after kissing them both on the head, and rushed her out to the car.

Once we she was safely in the car, I hopped in and drove off into the hospital's direction.

"Hey, Ryder," I glanced at her, "I love you, baby."

I grasped her hand in mine with a smile. "I love you too, sweetheart."

***