The Silva Household

Libby answered the door. "Hey!" she greeted, giving Rachel a warm hug. "Come on in! All of the kids are out doing something. Honestly, it's so peaceful without a bunch of kids running around."

"Yeah, of course! I should know!" said Rachel, laughing at her own joke. "But," she carefully took a seat, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. (Rachel had grown a bit more feminine in the way she dressed) "How are things? Summer's almost over..."

Libby sat down with her. "Things are just fine. I worry about Isaiah though, all of his siblings are going to be off at Hogwarts, he might get lonely..."

"Oh, that's not a problem! You can drop Isaiah at my house anytime, he can play with Hayley and Anthony anytime you like." Rachel sighed. "They grow up to quickly... I can't believe Emily and Victor are starting Hogwarts! It's amazing how time flies by. And summer is almost over, I can't believe it."

"Matilda and Josiah are starting this year," Libby pointed out. "I wonder how things will go... I'm a bit worried about it, to be honest."

"Josiah will be just fine!" Rachel assured her. But unfortunately, she didn't know how she could be polite about Matilda' situation. "But Matilda on the other hand..." Rachel decided to just switch the conversation before it got even nastier and erupted into Mommy War's. "We should do something together since summer is ending... like go to Anton Towers or something... I haven't been there in a couple years."

When Nicolas appeared at the Silva's house, he almost got ran over by Matilda and Josiah. They were both in swim suits and running around, squirting each other with water guns, paying no attention to Nicolas.

Nicolas walked up to the door just as Matilda chased Josiah behind the garage, screaming "You're in the jungle, baby! You're gonna die!"

Max was sitting on the couch of the living room, intently focused on his newspaper. When he saw Nick come in the living room, he set it down on the coffee table, and he approached him.

"Alright Nick, I'm just going to get straight down to business. We need to have a heart to talk. A man to man. A guy to guy. A... well, you get the idea. So sit down."

"... Okay, then," Nicolas sat down on the couch with Max, looking at him. "It must be important if you wanted me to come here. What's going on, mate?"

Max looked around to make sure that there were no screaming children with water guns around, and he took a deep breath. "I am thoroughly concerned with you and your wife's sex life." he said bluntly, complete with a straight face.

Nicolas stared at him for a moment. "What? Why are you--what?" he finally managed to say.

"Nicolas whateveryourmiddlenameis Sawyer,haven't you ever heard of a fine invention called condoms? These enable you to have sex without the worry of your partner getting pregnant." he said with a proud nod. "Libby and I have been using them for a long time now."

"Rachel told me once that it went against her religion. I haven't bothered her about it since. Besides, it's not like our kids were accidents and we have anything to worry about..."

"Oh..." Max paused and debated over it. "I forgot, you two are those religious people. Ah well. Silly Catholics! Condoms are for rational people!"

Later that night, Max came into the bedroom to get settled in, with a faint smile on his face. Even though he loved his children, and missed them while they were off at school, it would be nice to have a break and focus more attention on just his wife and Isaiah.

And of course, the departure of the children was a cause for celebration. So he sat waiting up in bed, waiting patiently for Libby.

Libby entered the bedroom shortly after. She smiled at Max, and cuddled up in bed next to him. "Hey, honey," she murmured. "Aren't you glad that Matilda and Josiah are gone? We pretty much have the whole house to ourselves."

"I know... I have to admit, it will be a bit of a relief." he snuggled closer to Libby, and stroked a couple loose strands of hair. A few minutes later, he craftily began to stick his hand up Libby's nightshirt.

"Come on, Max, do we have to do this tonight?" she protested, but unconsciously her hand started to approach his midsection. God, had Max always looked so... delicious? "I have to go to work early in the morning."

"What? It will be fun..." he said, with a wide smile, plus a wink. "Besides, tonight is a cause for celebration... 'Hooray! Two more kids are out of the house! Let's throw our clothes off!'"

And so, they took it off and got it on. But Max forgot to wrap it. Oops.

Twenty minutes later, Max leaned back against the pillow, completely nude, and he sighed. "Oh, that was great, Libby... we hadn't done it in a couple weeks, so..."

Later that day, after work, Max came in the house, holding a stack of letters, bills, and magazines that came into owl post. Instead of looking usually happy, he had a grave expression on his face.

"Lib, we need to talk." he said in a firm. Something was definitely up. Max didn't usually sounded so serious.

Libby, who was relaxing on the couch with their big lab. "What's wrong?" she looked up at him, unable to get up from Paul sitting on her legs and his head on her stomach.

"Libby," Max paused to sigh again, and plopped down on the couch, and threw the mail at the coffee table across from them. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with our kids. It's only been two weeks into the fall school term, and today we got seven letters from the professors about their misconduct. Two for Jared, one for Josiah, and four for Matilda."

Libby groaned, reaching out and shuffling through the letters. "Jared's are the same as always... Josiah needs to talk less in History of Magic... Matilda needs to talk less, pay attention, do her homework, and another 'pay attention' letter. Good God, if that woman doesn't shape up I'm going to send her a Howler."