This chapter is dedicated to Kendra who helped me immensely with this entire fic. Without her help, I would have been clueless and lost. Thank you for all the help Kendra!

This chapter is also dedicated to everyone who ever reviewed this fic. You know who you are and you also know that you are awesome. :)

Disclaimer – Nope, not mine.

"You have got to finish you vegetables my dear." Tess coaxed her three year old as he pushed away the carrot sticks and the peas. The mashed potatoes he had finished but the peas and carrots still remained on the plate.

"Don't want." Matthew told her mutinously, his lips set in a sulky pout.

"But don't you want to be a big strong boy?" Tess asked helplessly as Matthew's eyes began to grow huge and water. Oh dear, she was completely no good at temper tantrums. She knew they were common for three year olds but god; she hadn't yet gotten a handle on how to deal with them. The first few times she had tried being sweet and coaxing but that only made the tantrum worse and made her want to tear her hair out. The next few times she had tried being stern and unyielding and instead of tantrums she got a bucketful of heart-rending tears that made her feel like the Wicked Witch of the West. Needless to say she hadn't yet figured out the fine balance between being sweet and unyielding. And she had a sneaky suspicion that there was no balance and that tantrums and tears were something she would have to deal with whether she liked it or not.

"Don't want veggies." Matthew's voice had now increased a few octaves higher and Tess turned towards Jason in a silent plea. Jason who had been watching the exchange with some amount of amusement because Tess looked like she wanted to cry and trepidation because he knew that Matthew started crying, or better yet wailing, the whole neighborhood would hear his heart rending wails and he and Tess would be looked upon in the light of murderers. Such were the powers of a toddler's tears.

"Come on, eat them up buddy. If you don't-" Jason paused, trying to think of a suitable scare tactic. Ah yes, he had one. "If you don't, the monster under your bed will get you because you are not a good little boy." That should have done it right? But from the look on Tess's face, apparently not. Jason winced and inched backwards. Oh dear, he had committed a horrible child rearing faux pas.

"Jason?? Are you nuts? Now you've scared him!" Tess said exasperatedly as Matthew began crying in earnest. She got up from her place at the table and scooped him up from his seat. He clung to her and sobbed while she soothed him.

"I didn't know!! I mean, I didn't think it would be a big deal. Every kid knows there are no monster's under their bed, only dust bunnies." Jason moaned guiltily. This had been the third time this month where he had accidentally made Matthew cry. The first time had been when he had told him that cars didn't really talk. Matthew had been crushed to discover that his red engine wouldn't ever respond to him. The second time had been when he had accidentally loaded Matthew's favourite stuffed dog into the washing machine and all that came out ripped shreds of the dog. Matthew had taken one look at the dog and burst into heart-rending tears and Tess gave him the evil eye for an entire week. God, he sucked at this parenting thing.

Tess had by now calmed Matthew down with the promise that if he finished his vegetables, then she and Jason would take him out for a drive and ice-cream. That was kind of like flirting with disaster because ice-cream in the nights was a bad idea since Matthew always fell asleep before they could get him to brush his teeth and they never hard the heart to wake him up while he was asleep. But hey, at least he was eating his vegetables, so that didn't make her a horrible parent right? Also they very well knew the danger of waking a sleeping child. Only disaster and no sleep would follow. So Tess was fine with bribing him with ice-cream as long as he ate his vegetables. That sort of softened the blow in her opinion.

"Man, I suck at being a parent," Jason said mournfully, poking at his own food. Tess came and stood next to him; amused. She dropped a kiss on his head and squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"Nobody is perfect. And we are new at this so I can let go of the fact that we are going to be hit and miss at quite a few parenting things. I'm sure by the time the next one comes along, we'll be practiced pros."

"I am not sure any parent can be a pro at raising kids. I mean, they are the biggest mysteries since space. And even the frontiers of space have been sort of breached. But you never know when your own kid is going to scare the shit out of you." Jason said doubtfully as he processed this. "But hey, I am totally down with trying and practicing. After all, practice makes perfect." Jason grinned at her.

"That's my man," Tess replied smiling.

Sure they were no great shakes at this parenting thing and every single day was a revelation and huge learning process with a very steep curve all rolled into one but Tess loved every minute of it—well most of it as did Jason. After all, having a child of your own was one of the biggest things that could happen to a family. Having someone depend on you for everything and idolize you and love you unconditionally was sort of humbling. Sure there were fans who did that but children always loved you, no matter what. Even when they were fighting, a few minutes later everything was fine and they still loved you.

And she and Jason had come a long way from being the shitless scared parents of old. Well, they still were shitless scared that they would mess up but at least they didn't call the for every little thing. But to her credit, Dr. Martindale had taken it in her stride and now made some gently mocking jokes about it.

"Finished." Matthew announced triumphantly and Tess looked and saw that he had indeed finished his vegetables.

"That's my boy," she said proudly and he beamed at her, happy at the praise. Jason clapped and whistled and Matthew giggled.

"Now I believe we owe someone ice-cream? Jason questioned innocently as he came around the table and stood next to Matthew.

"Me, me!" Matthew yelled happily as Jason swung him up into air. He was about to throw him up but then realized that would probably make him vomit. Hey, he was already learning, see?Tess smiled and collected the dinner plates and put them into the sink before following her boys out.

Outside, Matthew was giving Jason a long list of all the flavors he wanted to eat while Jason wrestled with baby seat and strapping him in. When he was done, he opened the door for Tess and then raced around to the driver's seat. He couldn't help it. He wanted ice-cream too.

Once he was inside he revved up the engine and reversed out of the driveway while Matthew still continued with what flavors he wanted. They probably wouldn't let him have it and he would probably throw a tantrum but as of now, everything was all good. Also, he had just now very graciously offered to share with them some of his humungous ice-cream sundae.

Tess was appropriately awed and thanked him breathlessly which made Matthew giggle and Jason smile.

Tess looked over at Jason. "We did good, didn't we?"

Jason looked back at Matthew and then at her and grinned.

"We did excellent babe."

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The End

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I am no rock star but I sure do feel like one upon finishing this. Thanks to everyone who followed this story from start to finish and who put up with my incredibly erratic updates. You are all rockstars in your own right. :)

Much love.