"Boys, it's time for your bath," Juliet called up the stairs. She stood on the bottom step with one arm on her hip and the other draped in two towels. When she didn't hear the pitter-patter of two sets of feet she called again, "Bath time, now! Don't make me come up there!"

She closed her eyes and listened.

Finally, she could hear two sets of feet slowly making their way to the staircase. They whispered to themselves and the occasional thud sounded as they continued their journey. Suddenly their feet picked up speed as the raced down the stairs.

"I'm gonna get there first!"

"No, I am!"

"What have I told you about running in the house?" Juliet scolded holding out her arms to catch them both as they flew off the last step. "Collin, James, I'm not going to tell you again."

"We're sorry, mommy." They said in unison. Two sets of identical blue eyes met her own and she felt her heart melt at their apologetic faces– they were biding time of course; they weren't truly sorry. But they were so damn cute, who could resist them?

"You know it's for your safety," Juliet told them. "The last thing I need is for the two of you to get hurt. Okay? I worry."

"You don't have to, mommy." Collin stepped forward and wrapped his small arms around her waist. "We're big boys now."

"I will always worry about you," Juliet leaned down and placed a kiss to Collin's blond hair.

"Yeah," James nodded in agreement with his brother. "We're big boys now, mommy, so we can take baths by ourselves."

She eyed the eldest twin and held the youngest tighter.

"We're old enough to do soap, and the shampoo, and the conditioner." James smiled at her. "We can do it ourselves."

"I don't know babes…" She pushed Collin back gently to stand them next to each other. "That's a big responsibility."

"But we can do it!" James told her.

"Yeah!" Collin met his brother's nod.

"Guys," Juliet sighed. "I really don't think you're old enough, I'm sorry."

"But mommy, we're five now. Remember?" Collin held up five fingers.

"Honey, I know how old you are–" Juliet began.

"But that's not fair!" James protested. "Daddy can, uh, take baths by himself."

"Daddy is a big boy, you two aren't."

"Yes, we are!" James stomped his foot. "We are old too old enough!"

"What he said!" Collin shouted folding his arms in a huff.

God help her. Juliet rubbed her temples and sighed again. Though the two little boys had to be dragged from any body of water, pool or ocean, getting them to take a bath was a nightly hassle. Every night they had a new problem, a new tactic to try and get out of it. This was tonights. Bathing themselves.

Juliet could imagine the pool of water on her pristine floor and two half–clean boys drying themselves on the new white towels her mother-in-law had given them. She really didn't feel like drying, cleaning, and washing tonight. It had already been a long day. She also wanted this argument to end so she could get them into bed and enjoy a glass of wine with her husband.

"You know what, fine!" Juliet gave in to the persistent stares.

"Yes!" Both boys cheered.

"But!" she shouted grabbing their attention. "I want you both squeaky clean and the bathroom exactly how it is. If not, you'll be taking two baths a day instead of one. Deal?" She eyed her sons.

An obvious bluff to anyone except the two five-year-olds– she hoped. She didn't think they were old enough to call her on her bluffs just yet but the look Collin was giving her… she held her breath. If either of them was going to figure it out it would Collin. He was the brains of the operation while James was the brawn.

Collin looked her up and down before giving a single nod, "We accept." He held out his hand to her.

"Okay," Juliet gave them a false smile. "I'm going to help you guys get started."

Ten minutes later she found herself perched on the bottom step as she listened to the twins in the bathroom. They talked to each other constantly, often arguing about whose turn it was to use whatever they were failing to share. She closed her eyes and listened for any reason to go into the bathroom. She had little faith that they would keep their end of the bargain.

The door opened in front of her momentarily distracting her from her conundrum.

"Honey, I'm home!" he shouted with a laugh. "Where are the boys?" he asked shutting the door behind him. He was always greeted by his sons. Always.

"Bath," Juliet pointed to the open bathroom door in front of her.

"It's not even six," he frowned. "How the Hell did you get them in so early?" His own personal best was six-thirty.

"I told them they could bathe alone if they promised to clean themselves and not make a mess."

He snorted, "Oh, wait. You're not joking?"

She shook her head.

"Amazing," he mumbled looking at his wife. She always knew how to wrangle their boys together, Hell, she could wrangle him as well. They were all at her mercy. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?" He smiled leaning down to kiss her lips.

"No," She pulled away. "You didn't." She smiled and kissed him. She broke the kiss when she heard shouts coming from the bathroom, "Check on them," she whispered.

"Me?" he whispered back.

"Yes! I promised them, but you didn't." She grabbed him by the arms and turned him around.

"Jules," he whined.

"Shawn," she matched his tone.

"Fine." he huffed much as Collin had earlier. "I don't like spying on them."

"Get used to it!" Juliet sighed.

Shawn gave her a final look before taking a deep breath and walking into the bathroom. He was surprised to find a minimal amount of water on the floor and both boys covered in suds.

"Daddy!" They shouted at him with a smile.

"Hi, guys." Shawn smiled taking a seat on the bathroom toilet. "What are we doing?"

"We're taking a bath," Collin told him.

"All by ourselves!" James added proudly.

"I see that," Shawn nodded. "Did you wash behind your ears?"

Collin and James shared a look.

"Did mommy send you?" James asked accusingly.

"No, not at all!" Shawn shook his head. "It's just, well, if you don't wash behind your ears mushrooms will grow!" Shawn made a face and wiggled his fingers behind his ears.

"Ew!" Collin exclaimed. "I hate mushrooms!"

James responded by rubbing a washcloth behind his ears.

"You guys are doing such a great job," Shawn told them with a smile. "Such a great job that I think I can talk mommy into letting us have pizza for dinner."

"Pizza!" They shouted with a cheer.

"But you have to finish, okay?" Shawn stood from the toilet seat. "You can if you need any help." He walked from the bathroom and grinned at his wife. "Can you believe we actually won this one?"

"We?" She folded her arms. "I won this one, you popped up in the end and claimed victory."

"Same team," He shrugged wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "I love you," he told her.

"I love you." She hugged him back.

"So…" he trailed off.

She sighed, "Yes, we can have pizza for dinner."

"Yes!" He pumped his arm in victory.

"I'll call if you get them dressed."

Shawn nodded. They should be done by now anyway. He watched as Juliet walked down the hall towards the kitchen to order their dinner. He waited until she was out of sight before he walked into the bathroom and abruptly froze.

"Guys…" He looked at them. "What happened here?" The floor was soaking wet and they were in the middle of a fight for a bottle. James and Collin had their hands on the same soap bottle and dropped it the moment their father spoke.

"He started it!" James pointed at Collin.

"Nuh-uh!" Collin pointed at James.

"Guys!" Shawn hissed bending down to their level and checking behind him for his wife. "We did so good, mommy is ordering pizza! We have to clean this up." Shawn shut the door behind him. He drained the bathtub of water and wrapped each boy in the appropriate towel; James in blue and Collin in green. He made quick work of the water on the floor by grabbing his towel from the bar and mopping it up.

"Get dressed," he told them continuing to wipe up the floor. They did as they were told and once they were clothed and Shawn was satisfied that all the water was up they exited the bathroom.

"See," James stopped before his mother in the kitchen. "I told you we could do it." He continued walking into the living room.

"Uh, yeah." Colling agreed walking swiftly to follow his brother. Juliet watched them silently as they sat in front of the television and turned it on. She glanced at Shawn as he walked into the kitchen.

"Water on the floor?"

He nodded.

"You used your towel, right?"

He nodded again.

"Good because you're not getting a new one. You're using that wet towel tonight and every night they continue their little experiment."

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look?"

"Shawn," she warned. Her tone was serious but her smile told him she didn't really mean it.

"I love you," he said wrapping her in a crushing hug.

"I love you, too." She returned the hug with a smile.