The rest of the weekend passed in relatively the same manner, save for the trip to the park and the rest of his friends. Jr got to spend a lot of time with the triplets and their mother. More time with the children than the mother though, but he didn't mind. 

It started with Terry asking if she could take uncle Jr some pancakes for breakfast the next morning. It behooved Thalia to say no considering she was in the process of teaching her children how to share and it was a work in progress. So she sighed and said yes. Terry and Thad walked across the hallway, under the ever watchful gaze of their mother, and knocked on his door, since they were too short to reach his doorbell. 

He must have just been coming out of the shower because when he opened the door, his hair was still wet, there was a towel slung on one of his shoulders, a few damp splots that were visible through his white t-shirt, and not that Thalia was looking, but his jeans were unsnapped and hanging tantalizingly on his lean hips. Oh and his feet were bare.

" Good morning ubcle Jr, !" his number one fan aka Terry piped up, " we're having pancakes for breakfast, do you want some?"

There was no way that Jr was going to say no. He said yes and both children grabbed a hand each and dragged him across the hallway.

Jr chuckled as they dragged him into their apartment. The pancakes were already piled up on the table, piping hot and smelling delicious. He smiled at Thalia as he walked,( was dragged) into her apartment, and resisted the urge to kiss her goodmorning. He saw that Theo was sitting at the table a stuffed animal firmly in his grasp looking a little flushed. Then he noticed that Thalia looked a little peaked as well. He wondered if Theo had a bad night.

" Hey Theo, did you have a good night?" he asked sitting down in the chair he was assigned by Terry and Thad. Theo smiled and nodded, but otherwise didn't say anything. So Jr turned to Thalia, " and what about you mama, did you have a good night"

The children giggled at him calling her mama, and Thalia smiled and nodded. She was lying, she hadn't had a good night, Theo had woken up with an attack and had to be monitored for the rest of the night. She'd been too worried to sleep. 

Jr could see how tired she was so he got up from his seat and gently placed his hands on her shoulders and directed her to her seat, after he had whipped the apron off her. 

She looked at him questioningly and he grinned, then with a flourish worthy of broadway he whipped the apron over his head. He looked ridiculous, considering the apron proudly sported motifs of the care bears. Then he twirled around making all three children laugh and her smile.

"Right , how many pancakes will you be having young lady?" he asked holding the plate of pancakes up in one hand and a fork in the other, like waiter in some fancy restuarant.

Terry giggled and said "two please," so he placed two pancakes on her plate.

" That will cost  you, a grand total of a hug please, uh uh, payment comes after you're done eating. And you young sir? will you be having two as well, ah three well then that will cost you a tad bit more than a hug, I may have to throw a handshake in there," and so it went, til he had served all the children with pancakes, and had dribbled syrup and fruit on them and placed some glasses of juice in front of them.

Thalia watched him, amused. And then he was standing in front of her.

" And you young lady, how many pancakes will it be for you?"

" three please," she said,.

He placed three pancakes on her plate, poured her a glass of juice and drizzled some syrup on her pancakes for her. And then Theo spoke up.

" You forgot to charge her, uncle Jr,"

He hadn't forgotten, but asking the kids to pay up in hugs was far different from asking their mother to pay up in hugs.  

" She owes you the same as me, a hug and a handshake."

Her children were a little too smart for their own good,she decided. Jr smiled ," ah but she made the pancakes, so she doesn't have to pay." He wanted her to pay, don't get him wrong, but he'd spent the night having somewhat innapropriate thoughts about Thalia and a hug could possibly lead to a bodily raction he wasn't quite ready to share with her, at least not in front of her children.

Once he had made sure that everyone was served he joined them for breakfast. He discovered that breakfast was a lively affair in this household. 

He also discovered that five year olds were well springs of information, you just had to filter what was said to get the useful information. For example he discovered that mama, had never had anyone to get rid of the lizards for her before, and sometimes she used to scream and come sleep with the kids in their room. He discovered that mama, got sad sometimes because she culdn't do boy things like play soccer as well as a boy would. He discovered that mama was very good at pretending because she always pretended she wasn't worried when Theo got sick.

He discovered all this because he sent Thalia to the couch to get some much needed rest, while he kept the children entertained with their favorite video. She fell asleep watching with them. And when Jr had joined the children once he was done with the dishes, Theo had crawled into his lap and snuggled with him, stuffed animal in tow. 

Jr had been surprised because Theo had been reserved around him up until this point. Surprised but pleased. It was also Theo who while his brother and sister had sat enraptured by the tale of Aladdin,had filled Jr with much appreciated information.

It was also Theo who reminded his siblings not to make too much noise, because "mama's sleeping," whenever they got a little too loud. 

Thalia was woken up by gentle but strong arms shaking her shoulders, and opened her eyes to Jr's face, and for a moment she wondered if she was still dreaming, his lips looked delectably kissable,. But then one of her kids jumped on her legs, and there went the fantasy,.

"Mama look, uncle Jr made us lunch!" Terry informed her. Jr was still hovering over her, so when she did get up to look over the couch and into the kitchen , she found her face full of of his chest, and damn but he smelled good. She mourned the loss of his warmth and scent when he moved away, but did her best to keep her face schooled in a blase expression.

She'd had her face in his chest and he was pretty sure she had been enjoying it, and it hurt him on a physical level to move away, but it had to be done. He could practically taste the blooming between them. 

" I shall not defile innocent eyes, I shall not defile innocent eyes," he repeated silently in his head in an effort to refrain from doing something quite ual to her.

Jr had indeed made them lunch she saw, judging by the plates on the table.

" You didn't have to, " she said looking up at him.

" I wanted to , come on," he said pulling her up and off the couch. Then he turned to face the children, who were still watching Aladdin, for the third time that morning, it would seem they really liked the movie " Go wash your hands and sit down please."

Thalia watched in shock as all three stood up, Thad paused the movie, then walked into the kitchen and washed their hands and say down obediently.

" I'm dreaming, " she whispered, " what have you done with my children, who are these well behaved minions of yours,?"

Jr chuckled, and winked at her, " I have my ways,". To be honest he was just as surprised as her that they were listening to him so well. Maybe they were just really hungry.

After lunch the children asked if they could please, please, finish their video, and they had been good so Thalia said yes. They watched Aladdin, three more times that afternoon before Thalia finally cut them off and banished them from the TV. They decided they were going to go play Aladdin in their room, thus leaving her and Jr alone in her living room.

" Thank you for staying and watching them, they really like you, I hope we didn't keep you from anything," Thalia said once they were alone.

" You need to stop thanking me, I like your kids, and no, you didn't keep me from anything, you actually saved me from an afternoon of immense boredom. Besides, I have gained some valuable knowledge this afternoon."

Thalia looked at him funny, her eyebrows furrowed in question. Jr smiled.

" I can now quote Aladdin the movie word for word," he said. Thalia giggled, " how many times did you have to watch it,?" she asked.

" A total of six times," he groaned.

Thalia laughed, " Oh you poor man, I am so sorry,"

Jr turned to face her, " how many times have you watched it?" 

Thalia smiled a secretive smile, then patted his knee, " you ask such dangerous questions,." He laughed, though he was feeling anything but amused. Her touch sent electricity shooting up his body, but judging from the way she was unaffected she probably hadn't even realized what she had done.

He had dinner with them that night as well, and returned to his home a very happy man.