.° ☀️₊˚ෆ ❝ LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE ❞
๋࣭ ⭑𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 ₊˚﹟📷' 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 ˚‧｡⋆🫧⋆｡‧˚
⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵, 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙬, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 ‧₊˚ 🌻⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ "JUST RELAX." Maddie told the boy. "Pretend you don't see the camera."

"But I can see it." He huffed. The girl had talked the boy into letting her take pictures of him, she told him she was trying to expand her portfolio, which was mostly the truth. "I feel awkward."

"Quit being a baby." She waved him off and he huffed. "Okay." She hummed. "Let's try something different." She made her way over to him, letting her camera hang from her neck. "Turn this way. Head up." She adjusted his stance and titled his head a little. "There. Don't move."

"If you say so." He mumbled, not moving as the girl walked away from him. She raised her camera and snapped a few pictures before moving farther away and adjusting the camera lens for a wide shot.

"What are you two doing?"

"Don't distract him." Maddie nearly hissed at the ginger boy as he walked over to them. "I finally got him halfway relaxed."

"Well, Mads, it's kinda hard to relax with you barking orders like that."

"I don't-"

"You kinda do." Josh added. "Can I move now?"

"Yeah." She huffed and he let out a breath as he walked over to the two. "Give me your email before you leave and I'll send you some of these after I do some editing."

"Okay. Yeah." He nodded, a smile on his face and she returned it before looking around. The yard was empty, the other kids were nowhere in sight and she tilted her up at the Feder boy.

"Did you, by chance, bring any of your baseball stuff?" She asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, why?"

"Nate, you get the kids out here. I don't care how you do it."

"On it." He saluted before making his way towards the house.

"Josh, get your baseball stuff."

"Okay."

"I'll be back with some bases." She turned and made her way into the house, passing Nathan as he carried Becky and Bean out of the house, the other kids following him and she laughed. She pulled the closet open, waving at the women as they gave her a weird look.

"Hey, Maddie, what are you doing?" Deanne asked the blonde from her spot on the couch where she was reading a book.

"We're playing baseball." She answered, grabbed two small towels, an old baseball cap, and a t-shirt - she was pretty sure it was her dad's. When she had what she needed, she made her way out the door and smiled as Nathan and Josh tried to teach the younger kids how to swing a bat.

"Okay." She grinned as she walked over to them. "Josh, can you set up the bases?" She asked as she handed him the stuff she had collected and gave her a confused look but took the items anyway. "What? It's what we have." She shrugged and he laughed as he dropped the hat on the ground then he placed the other things in the shape of a baseball field, it was definitely smaller than a real baseball field but it would do.

"Alright." Nathan got the kids attention with the clap of his hands and they all looked up at him. "Captains are Becky and Bean. You two come here." He waved them forwards and they walked over to him. "Becky, you're first."

"Maddie." The girl smiled up at the blonde, who made her way over to her.

"Bean?"

"Nate." He looked up at the ginger boy, who cheered before high-fiving the kid. They went back and forth until everyone was divided into teams, Becky's team consisted of Maddie, Andre, Keithie and Charlotte, while Bean's team was Nathan, Donna, Greg, and Josh.

After a coin toss, and a few quick rules, they started the game. Maddie stood on the pitcher's mound, with a glove and a tennis ball - Josh had more than a few baseballs, but they figured the tennis ball would hurt less if one of the kids got hit. Josh stood on home plate, a smirk on his face as he and the blonde had a little stare down.

"Stop flirting and throw the ball!" Nathan called out and Maddie rolled her eyes at him before she turned to the side then she threw the ball and Josh hit it, sending it across their makeshift field and the kids ran to get the ball as he ran from the hat they were using as home plate to the towel that had been put out for first base, then he went to second base. Not that he was actually running, he was jogging and making faces at Maddie.

"Andre!" Keithie shouted, then he threw the ball to the boy who caught it and stepped on third base, just a few seconds after Josh had.

"Safe!" Nathan yelled and Maddie rolled her eyes when Josh made a face at her. After a while of playing, and not keeping score, the kids went back inside to rehydrate and get some snacks while Maddie and Josh cleaned up the bases.

"This was a good idea." He told her. "How'd you know I'd have my baseball stuff?"

"It was a guess." She shrugged. "I'm glad the kids enjoyed it."

"I don't think I've ever seen Greg smile like that." He added.

"You are so lucky." She mused as she sat on the ground, her legs stretched out in front of her as she leaned back on her hands.

"What do you mean?"

"I've always wanted younger siblings." She told him. "Don't get me wrong, I love the life my dad and I have. But I always thought that if I had a brother or a sister I'd be, like, this super cool role model or something."

"What about Nathan?" He asked as he sat next to her. "Didn't you say he was your brother?"

"There's a possibility that he's my brother." She corrected. "And he's older than me."

"Well, you can have mine." He nudged her with his elbow and she let out a small laugh.

"Thanks." She gave him a smile as she shifted closer to him, her hand finding his. "Hey, when you leave, we'll talk right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Definitely." He wrapped his fingers around hers and she smiled up at him.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Kurt shouted as he led the way, the other three were carrying Rob who had an arrow sticking out of his foot. "Hurry up!"

"Oh! You're moving it! You're shaking it!" Rob shouted clearly in pain and Maddie laughed.

"Rob got shot!"

"You are one very strange girl." Josh muttered as he followed the girl across the yard to where the guys were putting Rob in a chair.

"My hammy! My hammy!" Eric shouted.

"You're complaining about your hammy!?" Rob shouted. "I got an arrow in my foot! Ow! Easy!"

"Arrow roulette?" The blonde as she and Josh stopped next to them, their hands laced together.

"Yeah, now, don't tell anyone else." Marcus told her and she nodded before pulling her hand from Josh's, then she raised her camera and started taking pictures.

"What's going on?" Sally shouted as she walked out of the house, the others following her.

"Rob got attacked by an Indian!" Lenny answered.

"Because that's believable." Maddie muttered, getting a laugh from the boy that stood next to her.

"Yeah, but then he got away!" Eric added and Maddie took another picture.

"What?"

"He got attacked by an Indian?" Deanne questioned.

"Daddy, what happened?" Everyone looked over to see a girl making her way down the hill, and just like Jasmine, she was hot.

"Amber! I'm glad you got here." He greeted, his teeth clenched in pain. "This is my daughter, Amber, everybody." Marcus waved, a dopey look on his face.

"You got another one?" Kurt questioned.

"Dude, high five." The blond man held his hand up to Eric, who shook his head.

"No, no high five, my wife's coming." Eric told him as the women approached, all freaking out, which Maddie snapped a picture of.

"You made me look at this!" Deanna shouted, pointing at her husband.

"This is killing me!"

"Bridget, come down here, daddy's hurt." Amber called out and everyone looked up to see if he had yet another hot daughter.

"You got another one?" Kurt asked as the girl version of Rob came down the hill.

"Hey." She said scary similar to the way Rob does.

"That one makes-" Josh wrapped his arm around her head to cover Maddie's mouth, to keep her from saying what he knew she wanted to say and she giggled against his arm.

"Hey." Kurt, Lenny, Eric, and Marcus mimicked as the girl made her way down the hill.

"DNA." Lenny added.

"Now I get it." Eric laughed.

"Rob's her mom and her dad." Marcus added and Maddie laughed, but it was muffled by the boy's arm.

"Now that makes sense." Kurt nodded.

"Shut up." Rob groaned. "Foot, arrow, why?"

"I think we have to pull it the rest of the way out." Eric said.

"Oh, let me do it." Lenny started towards the foot.

"I wanna do it!" Maddie shouted, pulling away from Josh. "Let me!"

"Shh! Shh!" Gloria shushed them and they all stopped, the blonde pouted. "We're gonna be alright here. All we need is a poultice with some maize that will draw --"

"Oh, shut up!" Rob cut her off. "That poultice shit doesn't work. It never worked. Are you insane? Get some alcohol on this bitch. You should know plenty about that, you were born during the prohibition."

"And there's the snap." Marcus whispered to Lenny and Kurt as Maddie bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"That was bigger than I thought it was gonna be. Wow." Lenny whispered back.

"Snap, crackle and pop." Kurt added.