Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So, what’s the battle plan this time?” Colin whispered to Penelope as he stood next to her drying up the dishes that Penelope had been washing up from dinner.

“How about you take the spelling and I take the maths?” Penelope asked in a hushed tone.

“Oh come on Pen, you know I’m dyslexic!” Colin hissed at her, annoyed she would even suggest it. 

“Fine, I take the spelling and you do the maths” Penelope hissed back. 

Penelope and Colin loved their children, they truly did. They were the proud parents of four beautiful kids: Thomas who was twelve and now taller than Penelope with bright red curly hair and bright blue eyes, Agatha who was twelve with the same bright curly red hair and dark blue eyes, Jane who was nine with chestnut curly hair and dark blue eyes and Geroge who was six with chestnut curly hair and bright blue eyes. 

Sure it was a handful raising four children. Colin and Penelope often found themselves chasing around after them while they attended lovely schools and a variety of extracurricular activities. Thomas was into sports and attended football twice weekly and swimming once a week. Agatha was into horse riding and went at least three times a week, as well as a dance class at weekends. Jane had joined her local scouting group and attended weekly, while also having piano lessons twice a week. George attended a dance class at weekends and a sign language class during the week with Penelope. 

It was a Thursday night, one of the few nights of the week that they were all at home and Colin and Penelope found this to be the perfect time to get them all together to ensure any homework was completed. Penelope looked at Colin with a cheeky grin as he threw the towel down on the worktop, dropping a kiss on her lips.

“I love you” Colin said as he pulled back, looking deeply into Penelope’s eyes. Even if they bickered over who did which piece of homework, he still absolutely adored this woman in front of him. 

“Yeah yeah” Penelope said with a chuckle. “Get the kids”

* 📔 *

“Right guys, washing up’s done so it’s time to get your homework” Colin said to the children, who had been sitting in the living room. Thomas was tapping away on his Switch, while Agatha was reading and Jane was playing Barbies with George. Upon hearing the word homework, all children groaned in unison. 

“No complaining guys, it gets done tonight” Penelope said sternly, coming through the living room to help George collect his school bag from their coat rack by the front door. 

The children all managed to get their school bags to the dining table and took a seat before gathering the various pieces of homework they had been given. Thomas was planning to use the laptop first as he had to research local flooding that had happened recently for his Geography class. Agatha was writing a book review for her Literacy lesson, the reading book open as she wrote. Jane had sat next to Colin and got her maths homework ready, Colin looking down at the work in confusion. Penelope sat with George and got out his school reading book and journal to mark his progress, which he had been making a great deal of since they had started attending the signing lessons. 

Colin let out a large sigh, causing Penelope to speak loudly across the table. 

“Everything ok babe?” She asked calmly, not looking up from where Thomas was attempting to read the words on the page. 

“This has to be a joke right?” Colin said incredulously, looking up across the table at Penelope, who was encouraging George to try and read his reading book, using signing when needed. 

“What is?” Penelope asked, looking up at him.

“Polygon properties Penelope” He replied, with no look of humor at all on his face. “What the hell is a polygon?”

“It’s a shape Daddy” Jane said cheerfully, like that would answer Colin’s question. He looked at her and smiled and then looked back to Penelope shaking his head. 

“See, Jane knows what it is. She’ll teach you” Penelope said, smiling at her daughter before smirking at Colin, which earned a stuck out tongue from him, and finally returned her gaze back to George.

* 📔 *

A little while later, the family had all swapped around the table while they tackled any other bits of homework. George had now finished his reading and was allowed some time to play on his tablet while the others continued to work. Agatha was now making a poster about photosynthesis for her Science class, with Colin watching closely (though he didn’t need to help much). Thomas was the other side of him, now answering questions about his drama performance using a script from ‘James and the Giant Peach’. Jane sat next to Penelope, writing out her spellings as Penelope said the words. 

“Accidentally” Penelope said slowly, making sure she pronounced the word clear enough, before saying it a second time. 

“So, how do you think your performance went?” Colin asked Thomas as he noticed that Thomas looked at the question for a while, not attempting to write. 

“I don’t know” Thomas answered, a little but glum. 

“Preferred” Penelope continued reading the spellings slowly, repeating it again and waiting for Jane to finish writing. 

“Mate, I bet you were great” Colin replied, bumping into his shoulder affectionately and Thomas blushed slightly from it, grimacing. Colin kept forgetting that as he got older, he didn’t enjoy the affection as much as he used to. 

“I could have been louder” Thomas said. 

“Antisocial” 

“Then write that for the improvement, but think about what you did well. Maybe your body language? Or facing the audience?” Colin suggested, seeing if it would help. It clearly did, as Thomas smiled at him. 

“The teacher said I had good facial expressions and body language” Thomas said, beginning to write it down. 

“See!” Colin exclaimed, smiling brightly at his eldest. 

“Enthusiasctically” 

“Seriously?!” Colin exclaimed, looking at a startled Penelope and Jane. 

“What?” Penelope asked. 

“Enthusiasctially. Penelope, she’s nine. Nine!”

* 📔 *

The children had now finished homework time and Colin had begun the bedtime routine with George, taking him off to read a story after he had had his bath. Jane was currently still in her bath and Agatha was sitting reading in the living room. Penelope had taken that moment to make herself a cup of tea. 

“Mom?” Thomas asked sheepishly from behind her. 

“Yes Thomas?” Penelope replied as she turned to face him. 

“I forgot to tell you about my cooking ingredients” Thomas answered, looking anywhere but Penelope. 

“Oh, when is it for?” Penelope responded sweetly, while Thomas was still looking sheepishly at the floor, his cheeks and tips of his ears pink. “Thomas?” Penelope gestured for him to answer when he remained silent. 

“Tomorrow” Thomas said, chancing a glance up to watch as Penelope’s face turned from kind to annoyed. 

“Thomas Bridgerton!” She exclaimed, her hands landing on her hips. “How many times have we told you to let us know the ingredients as soon as possible?”

“Too many” Thomas said as he looked down again. Penelope sighed.

“I’m sure your Dad can sort it” Penelope said, speaking calmly once again. She didn’t like to lose her cool around her children given how her own upbringing had been. “Just remember to give us a bit more notice next time, ok?” 

“Ok Mom” Thomas said and Penelope gave him a quick hug. 

“I love you you menace” She said as she squished him tightly while he hugged her back. She was enjoying getting a hug from her eldest child who had begun to shy away from affection from his parents. 

“Would now be a bad time if I said I need my PE kit washed for tomorrow too?” Thomas asked, his voice once again sheepish and Penelope pulled back to look at him with frustration etched on her face. 

“You are just like your father, you know that?” Penelope said and let out a chuckle.