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Princess Dresses and Barbie Dolls

Summary:

Two years after the birth of their first child, Alex and Farah find themselves back in London for Price's birthday. However they had no idea how their friends were going to react to having a child around, but there was only one way to find out.

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“I hate you.”

“I know, I know, you tell me that every day.”

Soft rays of morning sunlight filtered in through the window above their bed, casting the room in a gentle yellow glow.

“I hate you.” Farah whined again, grumbling at the pain in her in her lower back as she attempted to turn over.

“I know.” Alex repeated again, his hand finding its way to the small of her back, rubbing gentle circles to try and ease her discomfort. He knew she didn’t actually hate him, or at least he hoped she didn’t, but it really was his fault she was in this state in the first place.

“Alex, you cannot keep me locked up in here forever, this is basically kidnapping.” Farah declared, finally managing to roll over to face him. “I’ll call Price.”

“He cannot do anything to me from halfway across the world.” Alex grinned, leaning forward to kiss her nose. “And I think he would agree with me as well. Doctor said bed rest until the baby is born, so you’re staying in bed. The moment I let you out that door you will try and do your work. Doctor said no work.”

“Doctor doesn’t know anything.” Farah bit back angrily. She had never taken time off of work before, she hated being away from her troops for longer than she had to be and it was all Alex’s fault for knocking her up. She had told him to be careful, but he assured her he had the best pull out game in the world.

He was wrong.

And now she was nine months pregnant.

“You’re due any day now, my love.” Alex hummed again, running his fingers across her belly. “Just rest, please? It’s safer for you and the baby.”

“I hate you.” She echoed once again, wanting to cuddle closer to him but grumbled when her belly stopped her from getting any closer.

“I love you too.” Alex chuckled, getting up from where he was lying on the bed and climbing in behind her so they could cuddle properly. “Better?”

“Mm.” Farah mumbled, shutting her eyes in an attempt to rest, trying to focus on Alex’s hands running over her back and stomach. “If I have mountains of paperwork to do after she’s born, I’ll shoot you.”

“You won’t-“ Alex started to say, about to reassure her that he had done all the work for her, but he stopped. “Wait, did you just say ‘she’? We’re having a little girl?” He asked, sitting up so he could look at her.

Fuck, Farah cursed inwardly, she wasn’t supposed to tell him. He wanted it to be a surprise, but Farah hated not being able to plan ahead. She hated the unknown, she had to find out what they were having the moment she found out she was pregnant.

Alex, on the other hand, wanted to wait.

“I’m sorry for ruining the surprise.” She muttered sadly.

“Don’t apologise baby.” Alex purred, bending down to pepper kisses along her jaw. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day.”

“You wanted it to be a surprise.” Farah replied, leaning into his kisses.

“She’s nearly here, anyway.” Alex chuckled.

“Only a few days.” Farah said, her eyes glazing over ever so slightly. “Our entire world is about to change in a few days. Nothing will ever be the same again.”

Alex pulled her into his arms, snuggling into the crook of her neck.

“It will be an adventure.” He whispered, a sense of hope on his voice. “What did we say when we got married, hmm? We will face every adventure together, no matter how scary it is.”

“I remember.” Farah replied with a small smile. “I love you.”

“Oh? You love me now?” Alex scoffed in amusement, biting her ever so gently.

“Alex! Stop it or I’ll smack you.”

“Stop what? I’m not doing anything!”

“Alex!”

Nearly two years later, the duo turned trio found themselves at London airport. The new father not so happy about their little predicament. He was acting like more of a child than their toddler was.

“Nope, still not happy about this.”

Farah rolled her eyes as she lifted their bags out of the military plane and into the car that was waiting for them, all arranged by Price of course. Her lovely husband had done nothing but complain ever since they had landed, and she refused to give him any satisfaction now.

“Get in the damn car.” Was all Farah responded with. “Her ears are still tiny, remember, she cannot be out here for long.”

“That’s why I brought these.” Alex said, motioning to the baby wearing giant, red headphones that was strapped to his chest.

“In the car, now.” Farah said more firmly, pointing to the car.

“I don’t want to go.” Alex whined. “I don’t want them to meet her, I’ll be replaced as the favourite!”

“Well too bad.” Farah replied, shaking her head at him. “Price wanted us to come for his birthday so get in the damn car. Now.”

Alex pouted before he finally moved to get in the car, knowing better than to argue anymore. She would have his head in a second. But he was still holding onto his baby girl tightly, it was as if he thought she might float away if he let her go.

“You need to stop worrying.” Farah said as she got into the car, motioning for the driver to leave. “The boys will love her.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.” Alex responded. “They’ll steal her! And we all know how irresponsible they are! If we leave her with them, she might end up… like them.” He said worriedly, his eyes widening.

“Says the man holding his baby instead of putting her in a car seat.” Farah said with a raise of her brows.

“Hey, it’s not my fault we forgot it in Malika’s car!” Alex replied hotly.

“Well, you reminded me when we were already halfway across the ocean so yes, it is your fault.” Farah responded. “You could have at least put her in her carrier.” She scolded, reaching over to fix her daughters socks.

Alex didn’t respond to her, he just glared at her before turning away and hugging his daughter tightly.

Farah just chuckled; he was such a dad. It was like he was born just to do this.

It didn’t take them long to reach Price’s house after that and they were barely parked on the side of the road before the man suddenly appeared next to the car, as if he had teleported or something. Farah barely had time to reach forward and thank the driver before the car door swung open.

“Gimme.” Price demanded, holding his arms out for the baby. However, Alex wasn’t letting go.

“No, she’s, my daughter.” Alex replied swiftly, turning so he could kick at the older man. “Go away.”

“No, I want to hold my grand baby.” Price replied, dodging all of his blows. Thankfully while the two boys were arguing, one Kate Laswell swooped in and plucked the baby right out of Alex’s arms.

“Kate!” Alex and Price almost yelled in shock.

“Sssh, you’ll scare the baby.” Kate teased, holding the girl above her head.

“Oh my god we need to go home-“ Alex started to say as he turned to his wife, but Farah shut him up quickly with a kiss.

“Help me with the bags, yeah?”

Reluctantly, Alex slid out of the car, throwing a rather annoyed look at Kate and Price.

“I’m going to die of heart failure while we are here.” The man groaned, watching as Price and Kate hurried their daughter into the house without a second thought for her parents.

“You’ll be fine.” Farah grinned, handing him one of the bags. “Besides, they haven’t seen her since she was born. It will be good for her to socialise.”

“With a bunch of grown ass army men?” Alex replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, better than the grown ass army men she is used to seeing at home, no?” Farah grinned, leading the way inside. “And it will be good to have a few babysitters, maybe we can finally have that date night you have been promising me for months.”

“Oh yeah…” Alex chuckled as he followed after her. “That.”

As soon as they walked in, they were immediately greeted with the sight of their two-year-old currently getting showered with gifts by Kate and Price, neither of them caring about how Farah and Alex were supposed to get them back home.

Alex just motioned towards them, looking at his wife as if to say ‘I told you so’ but Farah just smiled before leading the way to the spare bedroom.

“It’ll be good for her to have a family, Alex.” Farah whispered as the entered the hallway.

“She does. Me, you, Malika, and Gaz. She doesn’t need anyone else.” Alex grumbled.

“Since when did you get so bitter?” Farah joked as they neared the guest bedroom, moving to the kick the door open with her foot. However, before she could the door swung open and Alex was nearly toppled over by two very large german shepherds followed by a very flustered looking Rodolfo.

“Riley! Duke!” He called, offering the pair an apologetic look. “Sorry, I’m Rudy, nice to meet you. You guys are upstairs, Price said he didn’t want the dogs in the good room.” He said as hurriedly as he could.

Alex and Farah just blinked in shock as the man raced past them, following the dogs.

“Who was that?” Alex whispered with a tilt of his head.

“Rudy… oh. Gaz’s boyfriend.” Farah informed him. “At least… I think that was his name.”

“He cannot blame us for forgetting.” Alex mumbled as they walked up the stairs. “We have parent brains now; we cannot remember everything.”

“Gaz will be so upset with us.” Farah replied with a chuckle, heaving a sigh of relief as they got to the room and dumped their bags on the floor. There was only a single moment of peace before Soap crashed in the room headfirst, tackling Alex onto the bed.

“I missed you!”

“I guess we know who the favourite is, then.” Farah said, putting her hand over her heart on offence.

“You’re my favourite.” A fourth voice joined theirs and Farah just grinned, hurrying across the room to force Ghost into a hug.

“Oi, watch it LT.” Alex warned, throwing Soap off himself to give Ghost a rather threatening look.

“Listen mate I’m flattered you’re threatened by me, but you know I’m not into women.” Ghost replied, still hugging Farah tightly.

“Quit bickering we’ve been here for five seconds.” Farah scolded, moving out of the hug to help Soap up off of the floor. “So, where is my Kyle?”

“Gaz?” Ghost asked. “He is out in the garden, Price and Kate sent him out there to get some strawberries from the greenhouse.”

“Okay!” Farah chirped happily before racing out of the room to go and find her best friend. Alex was left standing alone in the room with the other two, grabbing their arms quickly.

“So is Rudy his boyfriend or…?”

“Yes.” Soap nodded. “They’ve only been dating for a month or so now and already adopted two dogs and moved in together.”

“They’re giving in to the stereotypes.” Ghost sighed with a shake of his head. “Making us all look bad!”

“Where did you pick him up then?” Alex asked. “I’ve never seen him before… or did Gaz just show up with him one day?”

“Mexican special forces.” Soap informed him as they moved out of the room to go back downstairs. “He and Alejandro are our new best friends.”

“Alejandro? Best friends? What?!” Alex echoed, still very, very confused.

“They helped us on the last mission.” Soap laughed. “They’re good people, I promise.”

“Rudy is still a little wary of us, though.” Ghost informed him. “He will be fine when the colonel arrives though.”

“A colonel.” Alex scoffed. “You replaced me with a colonel? Like colonel sanders?”

“Yes we did and he’s cooler than you.” Soap smirked, ducking as Alex lunged at him, sending them both flying down the stairs into the lounge where Price and Kate were with the baby.

The adults were not impressed, but little Sadia found it hilarious.

Ghost joined them at the bottom of the stairs moments later, hauling both boys onto their feet.

“This is going to be a fun week.” He chimed teasingly, putting his arms around them before shooting a Price a knowing look. “I hope you are prepared to have everyone in the same house again.”

Price’s determined gaze did not waver.

“I’m always prepared, lieutenant.” He fired back, holding the child up in his direction. “I’ve got a secret weapon this week.”

“Hey, leave my daughter out of this!” Alex scolded, prying himself out of Ghost’s grip so he could rush across the room to grab her, hugging the two-year-old close to his chest. Sadia didn’t understand what was going on though she found it absolutely hilarious.

Outside, Farah had finally tracked down Gaz in the greenhouse.

“KYLE.”

The younger man fell backwards into the vegetable patch behind him in shock, an entire strawberry bush in his hands. It took him a moment to realise who had called his name but when he did, he was immediately on his feet pulling her into a hug.

“Jesus, you scared the shit out of me.” He chuckled, strawberry bush still in hand. “You’re going to have to explain to Price why his carrots are squished, and his strawberries are… gone.”

“Well, he’s too busy fussing over Sadia to care.” Farah chuckled, hugging him tightly. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you in so long.”

“I’m good.” Gaz hummed in response, pulling out of the hug. “And you? I hope that American has been treating you well.”

“As well as he can… for an American.” Farah said with a wink, trying not to laugh as she stepped back to see the entire strawberry bush still in his hands. “Should we get this inside?”

“Yeah, I don’t know how I’m going to explain this. But he asked me to pick strawberries, so this is what he gets.” Gaz chuckled, falling in beside her.

“So, Rudy hmm?” Farah teased as they walked inside, bumping shoulders with her best friend as he proceeded to try and hide the look on his face. Farah just rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, you have to tell me!”

“Nothing to tell.” Gaz said quickly, quickening his pace to get away from her as quickly as he could.

“Kyle! You can’t hide from this all week!” Farah called with an amused grin, trotting after him happily.

“YES, I CAN!”

Farah just laughed; she was glad to finally be back with her family. She was still worried about her men back home, but she was glad to have a break

However, that euphoric feeling did not last long as she walked into the lounge room to see the entire group fighting over her daughter.

Alex was lying on the couch, giggling two-year-old held tightly against his chest as he used his legs to fend off Price and Soap.

“Oh my god.” Farah sighed, putting her hands over her face. Maybe Alex was right, they were not going to get a single moment of peace with their daughter here.

“Farah, come help me.” Kate called from the kitchen, holding the bush Gaz had just brought in.

Farah just sighed, casting one last look at her husband and daughter before trailing over to the kitchen. Well, this was going to be a long week.

That night, Sadia found herself perched on the couch with her favourite uncle, just like she usually did. Gaz was the only one she saw regularly, either on the phone or in person, so of course he was the favourite.

“Bang bang.” Sadia insisted, holding a rather large nerf gun up to Gaz with an expectant look in her eyes. He should have known buying her this toy was going to get him in trouble at some point during this holiday. He had brought her a big one and one small enough for her to hold now, just to make sure he annoyed Alex as much as he could.

“You want to shoot someone?” He queried, sliding off of the couch to sit next to her on the floor. The girl shook her head, forcing the gun into his hands. “Oh, you want Uncle Gaz to shoot someone?”

Sadia gave him a pleased smiled, nodding at the man.

“Okay, who shall we shoot?” He asked her, picking her up to place her on the couch before he clambered up there too. The two-year-old hopped over the cushions, peering over the back of the couch.

“Jaddi and Baba!”

Gaz climbed up on the couch next to her peering over as well to see who she was pointing at and of course she was pointing at Alex and Price. Gaz groaned inwardly; he knew he was going to pay for this later, but he would do anything for this girl.

“Okay.” Gaz whispered, loading his gun. “You wanna shoot too?”

“Mhm!” The girl nodded eagerly, grinning as Gaz reached down and picked the tiny gun up.

“Ready?” Gaz whispered, loading the tiny nerf gun he had brought the child before he had placed it in her hands.

“Ready!” The child echoed. She was still learning to talk but could mimic a lot of sounds now and had started echoing everything that everyone was saying. However, she understood what most things now, it was going to get much worse when she could actually form a coherent sentence.

“Okay, copy uncle Gaz.” The man whispered with a grin, peering over the armchair of the couch, and aiming his own nerf gun at Price who was currently busy going over work with Alex. Sadia got to her feet shakily and copied Gaz as best she could.

“Bang!” The child giggled, pulling the trigger, and sending one of the foam darts straight at her father. Gaz followed soon after, hitting Price smack bang in the middle of the forehead.

“Hide!” Gaz whispered, pulling the child down behind the couch cushions. Sadia couldn’t help but break into giggles as both Alex and Price let their disdain known.

“What the hell was that?” Price called out, getting up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table.

“I think someone just tried to take us out, Captain.” Alex added, getting up as well. Gaz and Sadia kept hidden behind the cushions on the couch, hoping they were both safe here.

However, they were wrong.

“I found the little snipers.” Alex chimed, popping his head over the couch.

“Run!” Gaz shouted, scooping the child up and racing into the kitchen where Farah and Kate were still cooking.

“Mama help!” Sadia giggled as she and Gaz quickly found solace behind her mother.

“What have you two been up too? Farah asked with an amused grin as she tossed the salad, giving Price and Alex a confused look as the pair stormed into the kitchen.

“They tried to kill us!” Alex said, pointing an accusing finger at Gaz and Sadia.

“We did no such thing.” Gaz said with a solemn shake of his head. “I cannot believe you would tell such lies.”

“Lies.” Sadia echoed.

“You wouldn’t be accusing a two-year-old of lying, would you?” Kate queried, raising a brow at Price.

“What’s this then, huh?” He asked, holding the foam bullet up.

“That’s a nerf bullet, Price.” Kate said in the most dead-pan voice she could muster.

“No, it is evidence to prove they tried to murder us!” Alex proclaimed.

“Look at these innocent faces!” Farah said, motioning to her daughter and best friend. “They would never!”

“The judge has ruled them innocent.” Kate said with a knowing grin.

“I’ll get you one day.” Alex threatened jokingly, pointing at the two of them. Gaz and Sadia just stuck their tongues out at the pair of them as Price and Alex backed out of the kitchen.

“Stop tormenting your Jaddi.” Farah scolded, turning to her daughter. “He is letting us stay in his house.” She paused, tapping both of their noses. “But your Baba is free range.”

“Alex is free range? That’s what I like to hear.” Gaz chuckled, putting Sadia on his shoulders. “Come on, let’s go torment your baba.”

“Yay!”

Kate and Farah shared a look with one another as the pair exited the room, shaking their heads at one another.

That night, Alex was really feeling the effects of this bullying.

“Oh my god, I don’t know how I am going to do this all week.” Alex groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. He had just spent the rest of the night play fighting with both Gaz and his daughter, and he had lost nearly every round. The only time he won was when Sadia decided to turn on Gaz last minute.

“The game of ‘let’s bully dad’ will get old soon.” Farah reassured him from where she was sat on their bed, their daughter asleep in her arms.

“I sure hope so! Sadia’s punches don’t hurt but Gaz’s do.” He groaned, falling into bed next to his wife, as gently as he could so he didn’t wake his baby girl.

“Just punch him back.” Farah chuckled, wiggling down under the covers as slowly as she could.

“I could never, he’s like our other child.” Alex hummed softly, reaching over to turn off the light before he snuggled up next to his girls.

“Mm, you’re right.” Farah whispered in reply, her eyelids heavy with sleep as she gently moved their daughter onto the bed in between them. the girl stirred a little and both parents froze but she thankfully didn’t wake and just rolled over.

“Maybe Gaz is good for something.” Farah said with an amused smile.

“Hmm? And that is?” Alex mumbled, reaching over to run his hands through her hair.

“She’s never slept this soundly in her life.” She replied with happy sigh. Alex just chuckled.

“Maybe we need to bring him back to Urzikstan with us, he can be our live in babysitter.”

“Don’t give him that offer, he would most definitely take it.” Farah hummed sleepily. “He’s always begging to come and stay with us.”

“Would give us a chance to fight together again.” Alex reasoned, turning to her with a grin.

“Malika would be out of her job then.” Farah replied, yawning sleepily. “Sleep, I don’t doubt tomorrow will be any less tiring.”

“Mm, I love you angel.” Alex purred.

“I love you too.”

The next morning the three of them were in a tangled mess of limbs, Sadia lying over her father’s face. Once upon a time the mornings were Alex’s favourite part of the day, he would wake up before the dawn and cuddle his wife before they both got up to work together.

Now? Now they had this little crotch goblin to deal with.

Alex can’t remember the last time he cuddled his wife.

But no matter, he would not change it for the world.

“That cannot be comfortable.” He mused, prying his daughter off of his face. The girl cried out in annoyance.

“C’mere baby.” She said sleepily, hugging her daughter to her chest, hoping the girl would go back to sleep.

However, she was toddler in a new space and did not want to miss out on anything that was going on downstairs. There were so many new people and things to see, the moment she was awake she was ready to go.

“It’s not even six yet.” Fatah grumbled as the toddler climbed off the bed, her hair sticking up in all directions as she waddled towards the door. The woman sighed, reaching over to smack her husband. “Go get her.”

Sadia was already trying for the door handle by the time Alex crawled out of bed, walking over to pick her up.

“Come on Princess, no one else is awake yet.” He yawned; however he was quickly made to eat his words when the door swung open. Ghost, Soap, Rudy, and Gaz were on the other side of the door, looking at their old friend with grin. “Well never mind.” Alex said. “It seems everyone is awake.”

“Gah!” Sadia said happily, clapping her hands.

“We are going for a walk.” Gaz informed them. “Do you want us to take her?”

“She’s not even ready yet.” Farah groaned from where she was still lying in bed, rubbing her eyes.

“Everything is in her bag, right?” Gaz asked. “ It’ll give you two a chance to sleep in.”

Alex just shot a hopeful look at his wife who just shrugged and rolled over.

“Right, if you really want to.” Alex chuckled, holding his daughter out to him.

“Enjoy your sleep in!” Gaz shouted, grabbing the child and her bag that was sitting next to the door and racing down the stairs. Rudy, Ghost, and Soap followed soon after him, leaving Farah and Alex alone.

“I take back everything I said about coming here.” Alex chuckled as he wandered back over to the bed and crawling on top of his wife.

“Oh, is that so?” Farah asked sleepily, trying not to laugh as Alex immediately ducked down and started trailing kisses down her neck.

“Mhm, they can have her for as long as they want.” Alex grinned, strong hands gripping at her hips.

“Alex, Kate and her wife are literally on the other side of the wall.” Farah replied, turning her head to catch his lips.

“You’ll just have to be quiet then.” Alex said.

“Me? I think it’s you we have to worry about.” Farah teased, grinning as he chased her lips.

“We will just have to test this theory then.”

About an hour later the boys had finally returned to the house from their walk. Sadia had insisted on walking ahead with the dogs, refusing to stay in her pushchair. So, the boys were quite surprised when they returned and she was still full of energy, but neither of her parents were up yet so it was up to them to entertain her.

“Kate’s old barbies.” Gaz chimed happily, dumping an old wicker box in the middle of the group. The lot of them were sat on the floor in the lounge now, trying their best to stay quiet as they were the only ones awake so far. Price and Kate had yet to show their faces as well, and they were the ones in charge of cooking breakfast, so the group was going to have to fend off their hunger by playing with these barbies.

“Are these really Kate’s?” Soap chuckled, holding one of the barbies dolls up to the light. “I cannot imagine Kate playing with barbies.”

“Me either.” Rodolfo grinned, grabbing one of the dolls and holding it out to the little girl.

The toddler grabbed the doll and stared at it for a moment before she cast it to the side with an unsatisfied huff.

“Oh? Do you not like barbies?” Gaz asked her, but her attention was fixated on something else entirely.

“What’s she doing?” Ghost asked in a sudden, rather panicked tone, capturing everyone’s attention. The group turned to face him just in time to see him jump up onto the couch as the child started crawling towards him.

“I think she likes you.” Gaz grinned, watching his friend panic. “Don’t worry she won’t bite you.”

“She might, she’s teething.” Soap piped up, waving the barbie around in his boyfriend’s face. “C’mon Si, she’s not that scary.”

“Yes, she is.” Ghost said quickly, moving back further as the child continued to crawl towards the couch. Instead of letting this end the moment the child reached the base of the couch and realising she couldn’t climb, Soap decided it would be a good idea to scoop her up and place her right next to Ghost on the couch.

The girl giggled happily before crawling full speed at the man. Ghost had very little time to react before the child had a hand on his knee and he knew he could no longer move. He didn’t want to hurt her or make her cry; Alex was only upstairs, he didn’t want his life to end today.

“Soap, Gaz, move her please.” Ghost begged, breathing a sigh of relief as Gaz put down the barbie he was holding and got up off of the ground. At first it looked like Gaz was getting up to help him, but he should have known better than that. Instead, Gaz picked the child up again and placed her directly in Ghost’s arms.

Ghost hated them both and as soon as this baby was safely out of his reach, he was going to murder them.

He told them he didn’t want to hold her before she even arrived, he was scared he was going to drop her or hold her too tightly or accidentally hurt her and now she was in his arms pulling at his mask.

The mask seemed to be the thing that got her attention, she was fixated on the thing and kept pulling at it, unsure about what it was.

“Fuck you Gaz.” Ghost whispered, frozen like a rock, his eyes not leaving the toddler. The baby paused for a moment, looking up at him before she attempted to repeat what he had just said.

“Uck you Gah!”

“Oooh, I’m telling on you.” Soap taunted, pointing a finger at Ghost.

“This is not my fault. It’s not my fault!” Ghost said quickly, in a rather panicked tone. But he still was frozen solid as the girl in his arms continued to babble away happily.

“She won’t hurt you, Ghost.” Rodolfo said with a hum.

“You hold her then.” Ghost insisted, hands clearly shaking.

“It’s your mask she is interested in.” Rodolfo continued, motioning to his mask that the girl was pulling on. “Take it off and she will leave you alone.”

Ghost frown but decided that was the best course of action, pulling the mask off of his face and giving it to her. The two-year-old giggled happily, pulling at the fabric as if she was figuring out how to put it on.

“See?” Gaz piped up. “Not so scary now, right?”

Ghost just turned his head and glared at his three friends, all of them were clearly enjoying watching him suffer.

“Look.” Soap chuckled softly, motioning to the girl who had managed to pull Ghosts mask over her head. It was around the wrong way, though, so Ghost reached forward and very gently turned it around so she could see. “You look just as scary as Uncle Ghost.” Soap praised, earning a giggle from the girl before she attempted to growl at the lot of them.

Ghost just rolled his eyes.

“I don’t sound like that.” He grumbled, glaring at the toddler.

“You do.” Gaz said, trying not to laugh before he got up from where he was sitting. “I’m going to go wake Price, I’m hungry.”

“Is that wise?” Rodolfo said with a worried look, he was very concerned about the fact these men seemed to have very little boundaries.

“Yes, I’ll just tell him his grandchild is starving.” Gaz shrugged with a grin.

“I’ll help!” Soap yelled, racing after him.

“Wait! Don’t leave me here with-“ Ghost started to say but before he could finish they were gone, leaving him with Rodolfo and the child. He attempted to shoot a look at the other man, but Rodolfo was not offering him any help, instead turning to clean up all the toys.

“Shit.” Ghost muttered under his breath.

“Shit!” The two-year-old mimicked, making Ghost groan in shame. Alex was going to absolute have his head for this.

“You plan on giving that back to me?” He asked the child with a frown, and the toddler just shook her head. She was enjoying the mask so much he didn’t know if he would ever get it back now.

Luckily, he had brought others.

Sadia stopped for a moment before she pointed directly at him.

“Si!” She said happily, copying What Soap had called him before.

Ghost swore he felt his cold heart thaw at that moment. Maybe he had to reconsider the thought of ever having kids.

“You’re not so bad, Are you?” He whispered, eyes widening as the girl crawled forward again and hugged his face.

Rodolfo turned his head ever so slightly to watch the two of them, chuckling as Ghost finally moved his hands to hug her back.

“See? Not so bad.” He called out.

“Tell anyone about this and I’ll murder you, Rudy.”

“Noted.” Rodolfo said hurriedly, turning back to the barbie box.

Thankfully Gaz and Soap returned after that, dragging a very sleepy looking Price behind them. Luckily for Ghost, Sadia liked her grandfather more than him and immediately reached for him.

“Jaddi!”

Price, still half asleep, wandered over to the couch and plucked the child up into his arms.

“Eh? Did you turn into ghost over night?” He joked, grinning as the toddler nodded happily. “Shall we feed you? Not your uncles though, they can starve.”

“Hey! You can’t let us starve!” Gaz protested, falling back onto the couch with a solemn sigh.

“He hates us!” Soap cried, crumpling on top of Gaz in sorrow.

“We will be feeding you all.” Kate said as she entered the room, her wife trailing along behind her, both of them already looking like they were on a mission. “No Farah and Alex yet?”

“I think they’re enjoying their alone time.” Ghost said with a wink, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from Audrey and Kate because he wasn’t wearing his mask like he usually was.

“Alright, we’ll start breakfast without them then.” Kate grinned, pulling Gaz up off of the couch so he could come and help them in the kitchen.

“We should probably start and finish before Alejandro and Valeria get here, or they’ll eat everything.” Gaz said, throwing a knowing look at his boyfriend. “They’ll be here soon?”

“Mhm, Ale texted earlier.” Rodolfo nodded.

“Okay, breakfast time!” Price shouted, the child in his arms cheering happily.

Breakfast was chaos after that, as usual. Nothing was ever normal when the entire family was under the same roof together like his, but that’s why they all loved it. They barely had any time to get together like this nowadays so chaos or not, they were going to enjoy every single part of that.

Farah and Alex did not appear downstairs until clean up started, the pair of them looking rather well rested. A couple of looks were shared around the room at the sight of them, but everyone kept their mouth shut. They didn’t want to cause any drama this early in the morning, Farah was not one to take any shit from any of them. The only one who didn’t know anything was up their daughter, who just looked very happy to see them.

“Mama! Baba!”

“Have you been good for your uncles and grandparents?” Alex hummed softly, taking his daughter out of Kate’s hands.

“Uh-huh.” The girl nodded, hugging her father tightly a strange sense of peace falling over the room… for a short, singular second before Gaz decided to open his mouth.

“Alex! Ghost and Soap taught her how to swear!”

Ghost and Soap barely had time to react before Alex handed his daughter off to whoever was closest before him and Farah chased after the both of them at the speed of light.

“WE DIDN’T MEAN TOO!”

“IT JUST SLIPPED OUT!”

Gaz giggled happily to himself as he propped himself up on a chair next to his boyfriend, the other man giving him a scolding look.

“What? It was getting too quiet.” He said in his defence, turning to lean on his shoulder. “Chaos is the norm around here.”

“You’re a troublemaker.”

“And that’s why you love me.”

About an hour or two after that, Valeria and Alejandro arrived, both of them arguing about something as usual. Rodolfo was more than relieved to see their faces, though, he was far more used to their crazy than he was to the 141’s crazy.

“I told you to pack your toothbrush, but you never listen to me, do you?” Valeria scolded, poking her boyfriend in the ribs.

“I thought you said that you were going to pack it!” Alejandro replied with a pout. “I’ll just use Rudy’s.”

“Gross.” Rodolfo said as he entered the room, giving his best friends a rather thankful look.

“You been surviving here without us?” Alejandro smirked as he pulled the other man into a hug. “They been bullying you?”

“They’ve been fine.” Rodolfo chuckled, screwing his face up as Valeria poked and prodded him like she usually did.

“Have you been eating properly?” She asked with a scowl.

“Yes, stop acting like my parents.” Rodolfo grumbled, his eyes lighting up as he heard Gaz enter the room behind them. He had warned his best friends about everything before they came, except for one minor detail.

“Is that a baby?!” Valeria blinked in shock, looking at the child Gaz was holding. “Did you two have a baby?!”

“I told you this would happen if we left Rudy in Britain.” Alejandro said with a disappointed shake of his head.

“Not ours.” Gaz informed them as he walked up to the group, grinning as Valeria pulled him in to a half hug, giving him a quick kiss on his temple like she usually did.

“You stole a baby?” Alejandro asked without missing a beat.

“No, we did not steal a baby.” Rodolfo said, scowling at his best friends. “She is Farah and Alex’s daughter. We are watching her while they murder Ghost and Soap.”

“Murder, what for?” Valeria asked, reaching out to tap the child on the nose.

“Teaching her bad words.” Gaz chuckled, bouncing her on his hip. “They were screaming before but now they have stopped, so I just assume they are dead.”

“I think I am going to love your parents.” Valeria said to the child with a knowing grin.

“Are we sure it is safe for there to a be a baby here with all you losers?” Alejandro asked, however before they got their answer there was a loud bang from the back of the house followed by a rather high-pitched scream that the four of them all assumed came from Soap.

“Jesus Christ.” Alejandro swore. “Should we go save them?”

“Nah, they will be fine.” Gaz reassured them, before motioning to their bags. “Come, I’ll show you where you’re sleeping.”

Valeria and Alejandro just shared a look with one another before they moved to grab their bags, this week was going to be rough one, that’s for sure.

Farah and Alex returned shortly after that, thankfully there was not a drop of blood on their clothes which meant Soap and Ghost were most likely alive. Less paperwork for Price then. However, it seemed they just kept running into problem after problem when it came to their daughter. Farah was starting to think Alex was right, maybe bringing her daughter around these idiots was not the best idea in the world.

“Uh, what’s going on here?” Alex asked, stopping in the doorway of the second spare bedroom, a look of shock on his face. His daughter was sitting on the bed with Valeria an array of cards and poker chips sitting in between them while Alejandro was busy rambling away to Gaz and Rodolfo.

“It’s just go fish.” Valeria shrugged from where she was sitting on the bed, looking over the top of her cards at the pair. “Nothing to worry about.”

Beside her sat Sadia, who really had no interest in playing, she was just sticking the cards in her mouth.

“Don’t worry, I made sure to tell her no gambling until she’s old enough.” Alejandro reassured the pair.

“Farah, Alex, this is Valeria and Alejandro.” Gaz sighed, introducing the two couples. “I promise they aren’t as bad as they seem.”

“Oh! Rudy’s parents, right?” Alex asked with a knowing smirk in the other man’s direction.

“They are not my parents!” Rodolfo muttered under his breath, sinking down further in the chair he was in.

“Yeah, we are his parents, nice to meet you dude.” Alejandro said, getting up from where he was sitting to shake Alex’s hand.

“I’m just glad there’s another girl here now.” Farah hummed, walking into the room and propping herself up next to her daughter.

“Mm, is it really that bad?” Valeria whispered, pressing her lips into a thin line.

“Too much testosterone.” Farah chuckled, motioning to the four men in the corner of the room who were already getting along like a house on fire.

“Don’t worry, I’ll put all of them in their place if need be.” Valeria chuckled before putting to more cards down on the bed. “Sorry kiddo, looks like I win!”

“Uh oh!” The child giggled happily, still having no idea what the hell was going on. She was just happy to be included.

“I just hope we all make it to Price’s birthday party next week.” Farah sighed, watching as her daughter moved to lie down on the bed. Clearly it was time for a nap, that girl could sleep anywhere. “I had hoped coming here would be a bit of a holiday, but I should have known better than to expect a relaxing time with these idiots.”

“Oh yeah?” Valeria asked as started to bundle the cards back into their box. “You decided to come here on holiday?” She said with a rather judgemental laugh. “If I wanted a holiday, I would be going in the opposite direction to the 141.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Farah sighed deeply, lying down next to her daughter. “At least here we have babysitters and no work to do. Alex and I were supposed to go on a date this week because we have babysitters now, but apparently the babysitters also need to be babysat and Alex refuses to leave them alone with her.”

Valeria chuckled, looking up as the boys moved to join them on the bed. “I think this is the safest place in the world for her.”

“That’s what I keep telling him.” Farah scolded, looking up at Alex who had positioned himself behind her and their child.

“If we left her alone with Soap and Ghost who knows what might happen.” Alex grumbled.

“We told them we would babysit.” Gaz said, sitting on the floor at the edge of the bed. “They trust us enough.”

“Alex just has attachment issues.” Farah sighed.

“Why don’t you two come out with us tonight, then?” Valeria asked suddenly, tilting her head at the pair. “We’re going to see a movie.” Beside her, Alejandro nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, we can go get food and drinks afterwards as well.”

Farah’s eyes lit up at this suggestion, looking up at her husband with an excited grin on her face. It was clear that she was sold on this idea immediately, but Alex had a rather unsure look on his face.

“I dunno.” He hummed, turning a wary look to the child asleep in between them.

“She will be fine.” Farah reassured him.

“It’s not her I am worried about.” Alex grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. He had not been apart from his daughter for more than ten minutes since she was born, he was very unsure about leaving her.

“Rudy and Gaz will be here.” Valeria offered, motioning to the pair, also trying to ease his worries. “They will keep the rest of them in line.”

“Yeah, she will be fine. Don’t you want to come and watch Magic Mike with us?” Alejandro asked with a sarcastic chuckle.

Alex screwed up his nose slightly, casting another look at his wife. He wanted to say no, he really did, he didn’t want to leave his baby girl alone with these buffoons, but Farah looked so excited.

He couldn’t say no to her.

Especially because he had been promising her a date night for months now.

“Fine.” He sighed, sinking down further in the couch. “We can go.”

Farah clapped her hands happily before reaching out to give Valeria a high five, it was clear the two girls were much happier about this than the guys.

Gaz and Rodolfo on the other hand were not as happy.

“Can’t believe we didn’t get an invite.”

“We are nothing but babysitters to them!”

The night approached quickly after that, and soon the two couples found themselves waiting at the door.

“Are you sure you know what to do?” Alex asked once again, scowling as Gaz pushed him towards the door.

“You let us look after her this morning without a second thought, why is this any different!?!”

“I was still here!”

“Oh my god would you stop worrying and get the hell out of here!” Gaz shouted, shoving him out the door and slamming it in his face. The group inside the house all let out a small chuckle as they heard Alex yelling something unintelligible before Farah finally managed to drag him to the car.

“I am glad they’re finally getting out.” Price sighed, using the edge of the counter to pop the top of his beer off. “Alex really needs to relax.”

“I don’t think that Alex knows how to relax.” Kate quipped. “He hasn’t been able to relax since he met Farah.”

“He’s too protective.” Ghost added.

“And it’s cute.” Rodolfo interjected from where he was sitting on the floor, rolling around the toy cars with the child. They were attempting to keep her distracted, so she didn’t realise her parents were gone.

“Yeah, it’s CUTE.” Gaz echoed, backing up his boyfriend.

“Alright, tonight should be pretty breezy as long as she-“ Kate started to say, however she was cut off as the toddler basically screamed.

“MAMA?”

“-She doesn’t realise they’re gone.” Kate finished with a sad sigh, sinking into the couch.

“They’re her parents, of course she is going to miss them.” Gaz mumbled.

“Guys we have a problem.” Rodolfo spoke up, he was still trying to desperately distract the child, but she was not having it, looking around the room with a frantic look in her eyes.

“Oh shit.” Ghost muttered as the tears began to well in her eyes.

“What do we do? What do we do?” Soap whispered frantically, the entire room watching her like she was bomb about to go off.

“You are going to do what you do best.” Gaz said, jumping into action and grabbing Soap by the shoulders.

“What do I do best?!” Soap nearly shouted as he was being dragged away.

“Make a fool out of yourself!”

The rest of the group in the living room did everything they could to keep the child’s tears at bay while Gaz and Soap were off in the next room doing who knows what, but the child was getting more and more agitated when she couldn’t find her mother or father anywhere in the room. Thankfully the two younger men returned soon, and the entire room erupted into laughter.

“I am only doing this for her!” Soap declared as he walked back into the room, a very angry glare on his face. Gaz trailed in behind him, attempting not to die of laughter as he looked at his best friend.

“I present to you, Princess Soap!” Gaz cheered happily.

Price had to stop himself from spitting out his beer as he looked at the sergeant, the younger man dressed head to toe in a pink princess dress, paired with fairy wings and a wand and all.

“Do a twirl for me, your highness.” Ghost mocked from where he was sat, grinning under his mask.

“I can and will murder you with this wand, Si, its sharp enough!” Soap threatened, waving the wand in his boyfriends’ direction.

“The pink brings out your eyes.” Kate teased.

“More importantly, it’s working.” Rodolfo spoke up, motioning to the girl who had her eyes fixed on Soap.

“Princess.” She babbled, crawling over towards Soap at high speed.

“Come on Soap, get in character.” Gaz whispered from across the room, Soap just glared at him before he spun in a circle, waving his wand dramatically. The entire group attempted to hold their laughter, but they just couldn’t, he looked so goofy like this.

But he still pushed through, he had to do it for her.

After about three hours of Soap running around in a princess dress and heels, the girl was finally worn out and ready to sleep. Thankfully she was used to Price putting her to bed now, so there was no screaming and crying when mama and baba didn’t show up again.

Price had her in his room, the two-year-old lying on his chest as he attempted to get through another reading of the three little pigs. She had made him read it nearly four times now and it was even putting him to sleep. On the fifth read through he found himself dozing off the moment the wolf started threatening the pigs again, but thankfully she was already asleep by this time.

He thought he might try and move her to her crib, but he was too exhausted to even move and if she woke up all hell would break loose. She was a good kid, but even good kids get angry when they were tired. He was sure one night like this would be fine.

The two couples didn’t return until nearly four o’clock the next morning, the four of them stumbling upon Price and Sadia knocked out in his room. Price hadn’t even turned off the light and he was still holding onto the book he was reading to her.

“Wait that’s so cute.” Valeria whispered, shooting Alex and Farah a look. “I told you she would be fine.”

“Okay, okay you were right.” Alex whispered, his voice slurring a little from all the alcohol he and Alejandro had been drinking. He hummed happily before taking his phone out to snap a picture of the pair. “Price is going to hate me for this but it’s too cute.”

“It’s adorable.”

The three standing in the door turned to see Farah basically in tears, head in her hands.

“Farah?” Alex asked worriedly, scooping her into his arms. “You okay?”

“I don’t know why I’m crying it’s just so cute.” Farah sniffled.

“Hormones.” Valeria joked. “You might want to go and grab a pregnancy test in the morning.”

“Oh my god don’t say that.” Farah grumbled, wiping at her eyes.

“Okay, I think it’s time for bed.” Alejandro piped up, wrapping his arms around his own girl before dragging her off down the hall. “You two enjoy the rest of your night.”

“You too.” Alex called, smirking at his wife before he coaxed her up the stairs. “Come on, I think you just need to sleep.”

But the thought lingered in Farah’s mind late into the next morning, so much so that she sent Kate out to get her a pregnancy test before the rest of them woke up.

Valeria may have been joking with her last night, but sadly, she was right on the money.

“Fuck.” The woman cursed as she looked down at the very positive pregnancy test.

This was definitely something she was not expecting, but nevertheless she felt a small tingle of excitement in the depth of her gut. Or maybe that was just their new family member making themselves at home.

She grumbled, putting her head din her hands, nearly jumping out of her skin as she heard the door to their room swing open.

“Alex, is that you?” Farah called from where she was standing in the bathroom.

“Mhm.” Came a half-hearted reply. “Just me.”

Farah just grumbled, walking out of the bathroom, and leaning on the door frame.

“Why do you look mad?” Alex asked worriedly, his eyes searching her face. What had he done this time? Should he start apologising just in case?

Farah just glared at him, holding up the positive pregnancy test she had in her hand so he could see it.

“You’re an asshole.”

Alex just gave her a sheepish chuckle, crossing the room until he was standing next to her, hand slinking around her waist. He was trying so hard to contain his excitement as he planted a kiss on her cheek.

“Well, you did say you wanted two…”

“You’re on thin ice, boy.” Farah replied with an amused smile.

“Can I see it?” Alex asked, holding his free hand out. Farah didn’t think much of it in the moment and handed the test over, however as soon as it touched his hand, she knew she had made a mistake.

The moment his fingers closed around the test; he was immediately sprinting out of the room.

“ALEX!”

But her shouting did not stop him, instead he ran full force down the stairs.

“PRICE! WE GOT AN EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR YOU!”