The following week was the start of the school year, and Thalia and the kids were busy trying to get used to the new schedule, so they did not get to see as much of uncle Jr as the children would have liked. 

Thalia wouldn't let them go say good morning because she nad the kids left way too early in the mornings, and he usually wasn't home by the time Thalia banished the children to bed. She did let them leave him pictures under his door,though, just to let him know they were thinking of him. Well to be exact, they drew him pictures then informed their mother that they needed to deliver them, and she didn't have a rational reason to say no.

Jinyoung taped the pictures that he found under his door proudly on his fridge, and even if the drawings didn't have each childs name on the bottom he had a feeling he would have known which picture came from which child, they all had such unique personalities. He'd have to put his intuition to the test one of these days.

He missed them though, a lot and by Thursday he was slowly reverting to his old grouchy self, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Jb.

" Dude, can you please just go see the woman," Jb finally said, " you're getting on my nerves."

Jr sent his friend a look, like he felt wronged for having such said about him. Jb rolled his eyes, " You've been moping all day, man, and sighing every five minutes, looking at what i'm guessing is a picture from one of the kids, just go see the woman."

" I can't, " Jr whispered, and Jb sighed then run his hand over his face. He was not equiped for handing out advice and man to man heart to hearts, that was more Youngjae or Marks forte, but he was also Jr's best friend and the only one present so unfortunately the responsibility fell to him.

" Why?"

Jr sighed, " I'm not sure I can handle rejection," he said dejectedly. Jb raised his eyebrow at that, he couldn't have heard his friend right. It seemed like his break up with Mei really had affected him more than they thought.

" And you're sure she'll reject you?"

Jr nodded glumly, . Jb smiled slowly," that's never stopped you before,."

Jr thought about that for the rest of the day, Jb was right, fear of rejection and or actual rejection had never stopped him before. He could do this, he would do this. He was going to ask his gorgeous neighbour out on a date, and maybe he'd cheat and ask the kids to come with them as well, so maybe she'd say yes, because it wouldn't really seem like a date. Seemed like a solid plan.

So Friday afternoon he left work early so he could hopefully catch the  kids before they went to bed. The babysitter, Yura opened the door for him when he knocked. Thalia wasn't back from work but the kids were back from school. He asked if he could see the kids, and Yura, good babysitter that she was, called Thalia first to ask if she could let Jr in to see the children, video called, so Thalia had a visual confirmation of the person she was saying yes to. Yura was a very good babysitter, and so once she had permission she let Jr in and he found Thad and Theo watching, you guessed it, Aladdin. Terry was nowhere in sight.

The two boys run up to him to hug him as soon as they say him, then just as quickly returned to their video.

" Where's Terry?"he asked Yura.

" She's in her room, I haven't been able to get her to come out, all afternoon, "

" Is she sick,?"

" No, I think she's sad about something, but she won't tell me what," Yura explained.

Jr nodded, then headed for the childrens bedroom. He found Terry curled up under her bed, her hands wrapped around Theo's stuffed animal, one thumb in .

" Hey Terry, can I come in?" he asked,. She looked up at him and nodded, but her thumb didn't come out of .

Jr walked into the room and sat down on her bed, then held his arms out for her, she looked at him for a moment then she crawled out her covers and onto his lap, snuggling her head into the crook under his chin.

" You want to tell uncle Jr what's wrong,"he asked quietly as he rocked her back and forth on his lap.

" Somebody said something mean to her today at school," Thad said from the doorway. He and Theo made their way into the room and crawled onto the bed with him.

" Is that true sweety?" Jr asked her, and she nodded.

" Can you tell me what they said?" he asked her, she didn't respond. So Jr looked at Thad and Theo, .

" They said she probably didn't have a daddy because she didn't know how to be a girl," Theo said. " She wanted to play football with us at recess, and the girls told her that if she was a proper girl then she wouldn't want to play football, she'd play with the jump rope or draw like the rest of them."

" And then one of the girls said that's why she didn't have a daddy, because she didn't know how to be a girl." Thad finished.

Jr frowned, and had to remind himself that as a grown man, he could not just go and fight five year olds. They would probably arrest him for that.

" Oh sweetheart, you know that's not true right, there is  absolutely nothing wrong with you, girls can play football if they want to, girls can do absolutely anything they want to,"

" We told her not to listen to them, but she still feels sad, " Theo explained,. 

Terry didn't say anything, just sniffled into his shirt, and he realized belatedly that she was crying. It broke his heart, but there wasn't anything he could do about it beyond try and make her feel better. So that's what he did. He asked if she wanted him to tell her a story, and she nodded, so he made himself comfortable, on her very girly bed. The sheets and covers were decorated with pixies and fairies,flying through a field of flowers with a rainbow in the sky. His legs were outstretched and Teerry was cuddled into his chest, and he smiled when she handed him the book she wanted him to read. Ninja turtles. Girls could absolutely do anything they wanted to do, including read Ninja turtles to make them feel better.

The boys decided they would much rather go play with their toy trucks that listen to the story so they disappeared into the living room where Yura watched them.

They were halfway through the story and Terry was giggling at Jr's impressions of the characters when Thalia got home. She stood in the bedroom doorway and watched him read for a while before he finally noticed her.

A part of her had hoped she'd find him when she got home, but the rest of her hadn't been sure. So she was glad to see him. And another little piece of her heart melted at the sight of him and her daughter. He looked so at home, almost like he was meant to be there. She shook her head at the thought. Thoughts like that were dangerous. She couldn' fall for him. That way lay heartbreak,.

" Hey, look mama's home, " Jr said once he noticed Thalia standing in the doorway. She looked like a librarian, which he supposed was fair considering she was a librarian. She was dressed in mid calf length dark grey straight skirt, and white blouse, tucked into the skirt, and her hair was in a bun up atop her head. There was a pretty little silver belt that graced her little waist where the skirt met the the blouse, and her reading glasses were on a beaded chain around her neck. She looked very prim and proper. He wanted to mess her up.

" Mama, !!" Terry called out scrambling out of Jr's arms so she could go  embrace her mother.

" Hey baby, "

Jr got up and followed Terry, then stopped in front of Thalia, " Hi, " he said smiling at her.

" Hey, "

" How long have you been standing there,?" he asked.

" Oh I don't know, maybe for two pages now, you looked like you were enjoying yourself, didn't want to disturb." she said smiling. He grinned back completely unashamed that he had been enjoying the book almost as much as Terry had.

He shrugged, " it's a good book,."

" Uh huh, i'm sure it is,." Terry let go of her mother and now that she was feeling a little better she ran off to the living room to go join her brothers.

" So can I talk to you for a minute?" Jr asked befre Thalia could return to the living room

" Yeah sure, "

" Look I know it might not be my place but ," he explained to Thalia about what had happened at school with Terry and about why she was sad.

" I wanted to talk to her, but I didn't know if that would be ok with you, I don't want you to think i'm overstepping my boundaries or anything," he finshed.

Thalia sighed, then smiled at him, " thank you for telling me, i'll talk to her tonight."

Jr smiled, " ok then,. So do you guys like tacos?"

Thalia looked at him a little confused by the sudden subject change.

" I'm making Tacos for dinner, I want you guys to come share with me," he explained, " Oh and I'm not taking no for an answer, "

Thalia laughed. Tacos didn't sound too bad, and she didn't particularly feel like cooking tonight. " Lead the way then,"

Jr smiled, and mentally high fived himself, he just got his first date with Thalia and the kids, so what if they didn't know it was a date. He did, and right now, that is all that mattered.