Work Text:
A/n, this is for the Gone Country Challenge forum on fanfiction.net for one of the March prompts.
I don’t own CM or the song.
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"Used to be the paper, now it's paper dolls; I'm dodging Crayolas on the kitchen floor. And sometimes I rush to work for peace and quiet, but I miss it all once I'm out the door. And when the world gets crazy and cold, lucky me, I get to come home to that. My favorite piece ain't got a frame, it's on the 'fridgerator door with the misspelled name..." - Lisa Brokop (Big Picture)
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“Ow! Janie, Ella!” Derek Morgan called as he hit his knee on a kitchen cabinet while somehow managing to dodge a purple crayola.
“Yes, Daddy?” came his daughter’s voices as the four-year-old twins scampered into the kitchen.
“What have I told you about picking up your crayons?”
“Put them back in the box when we’re done,” Ella supplied.
“That’s right, but guess what I almost tripped over?” Morgan asked gently.
“What?” Janie wondered.
“This,” Derek replied scooping up the crayon and dropping it into Janie’s hand.
“Oops, sorry, Daddy. We didn’t mean to,” she assured him as she hugged his leg.
“It’s okay, just try and remember to put them up next time, okay?”
“Yes Daddy,” they answered in unison as Ella joined in the group hug.
Derek smiled as he ruffled their dark hair that was identical to their mother’s.
“Hey girls, did you show Daddy what you made him last night while he was at work?” Emily asked as she walked into the kitchen freshly showered and dressed for work. Morgan had worked late on a consult last night so it was just Emily and the girls at home.
“I get it!” Ella cried as she shot out of the kitchen and ran to the living room.
“MMM, morning,” Derek whispered as he pulled his wife into his arms.
“Morning, Derek, what was all the comotion about?”
“I damn near tripped on one of the girls crayons.”
“Daddy! You said a bad word! You have to put a quarter in the naughty words jar,” Janie scolded as she held out her hand.
Nodding Derek reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. “Yes, ma’am, here you go,” he said handing it to her.
She ran over to the counter and dropped it in, picking up a paper doll on the way back to her father’s side. “Will you play paper dolls with Ella and I when you get home? We can play tea party.”
Derek smiled used to be he’d read the paper when he got home but now he was surrounded by paper dolls and Barbie. He wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world, though.
“Look Daddy, see what Janie and I maded you?” Ella cried as she ran into the kitchen clutching a piece of colorful construction paper.
“Let me see, baby.”
Smiling broadly the little girl placed the picture in her father’s hand.
“It’s beautiful, is this you and Janie and the cat and the dog?” Derek guessed.
“Yes, and we writed your name,” Janie pointed out jabbing her finger at the word written in purple crayon.
Derek smiled at the way Daddy was spelled, they’d spelled it Dade. He loved the effort. “I love it, I’ll put it on the fridge,” he said grabbing the tape and doing just that. Glancing at his watch he sighed. “Okay, kiddos, Shelly will be here any minute, Mommy and I need to get to work. I love you,” Derek said kissing his girls.
“Love you to,” they chorused.
Five minutes later the twins babysitter had arrived, and the two adults were out the door.
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“Finally some peace and quiet,” Derek commented.
“Yes, but you wouldn’t know what to do if it was always this quiet,” Emily reminded him.
“Yeah I know, but it’s nice every now and then, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“We have the best girls, though,” Derek replied.
“Yes, we do, and they love their daddy very much,” Emily said.
“and I love them just as much,” Derek said as he turned his eyes back to the road and concentrated on getting them to work, all the while thinking of the beautiful picture his family made.
Finished!
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