3 of Everything (The triplets)

[Steven Sanders]

3 of everything. It had become his motto over the years. Three sets of school supplies, three sets of robes, three plates for dinner on nights like tonight- rare nights during the school year when his girls came home.

Maybe he was one of those parents that had a hard time letting go. If he was, he sort of thought he was entitled. After losing his wife, he was entitled to hold on to his girls.

He made dinner as best he could to fit with their different tastes. Bobby and Callie were easy... mostly, they'd eat anything. Linny's tastes were harder to please, but he knew her well enough now that he thought he had it down.

He wanted to hear how school was, and he was sort of counting on Callie to tell him what was really going on, or if there was something he needed to know that the other two wouldn't tell him.

And it was with this thought that he waited for his daughter's to arrive home.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Common sense would have seemed to dictate that the triplets would all arrive together. But Linette was too busy doing her makeup or something, and Bobby was off with one of her many friends doing something. They were both late, and although Callie wasn't necessarily one for punctuality, either, this was their father. She always made time for Daddy.

So it was that she arrived first, in her torn jeans, black t-shirt and her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. She apparated in an alleyway a few blocks from her house and walked the rest of the way. Seeing the house in front of her, she took off at a run and burst through the door.

"Daddy!" she cried, running to him.

[Steven Sanders]

"Callie!" Steven replied, never getting sick of that happy, proud rush he felt when saw one of his girls. They were growing up so beautifully, and so much like their mother, it killed him. Callie had taken him by surprise, and he surpressed the urge to ask her if she had traveled safe. After all these years, he was still getting used to their magical abilities.

"Beautiful as always, Callie. I'm glad you could make it. All right... give me the good stuff before your sisters get here." He always relied on her to keep him filled in. He felt like there was a lot the other two weren't telling him, and he just wanted to be sure they were all okay.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie wrapped her arms around her father and squeezed him tightly. “And you’re looking as handsome as ever. I’ve missed you so much. You restore my faith in men, you know that, right?”

She pulled back and sighed. “There’s not really much to say about the others. Just the usual… Linny’s breaking all the boys’ hearts, and Bobby is surrounded by at least a dozen boys at any given time, yet she swears they’re all just friends. I worry about her, Dad.”

[Steven Sanders]

Steven lead his daughter further into the house as he walked towards the kitchen. "In the mood for a soda pop?" he asked, opening the fridge and grabbing one out for himself.

"You know, I'm more worried about Linette and her relationships than Bobby," he told Callie. Friends were harmless, after all. But still, he trusted Callie, and he was probably the most worried about her, since he heard the least about her. So now, he was worried about all three of them. It never ended. "Are her friends treating her okay?"

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie adored her father. If only all men were like him, she wouldn't have such a negative attitude about them. "Sure, Dad. I'd love a soda pop."

Once in the kitchen she sat down at the table and turned to face him. "I think Linny's got things under control. If she went for a different type of guy I might be more worried. Bobby... sometimes, I swear, she's just too desperate for a boyfriend that she might just do anything for a guy who says all the right things, you know? So far, most of the boys that she calls friends seem OK, but I don't for a second believe that they really just want to be her friend. But we did have fun at the Yule Ball... we told you about that, right, Dad? Bobby and I didn't have dates, but a couple of her friends were hanging around... and I asked a little first year boy to be my date. He was so adorable... Dad, why do boys turn into jerks when they get older? Why can't they stay sweet?"

[Steven Sanders]

"I'm going to choose to not be offended by that, Calisto," Steven said, teasing his daughter. "Since you did say I restored your faith and all of that. Words every father longs to hear. But boys are jerks. You shouldn't date them until you're 40."

He handed her the soda from the fridge and stood across from her. "Girls mature faster than boys. The guys in your school are all around the mental age of about 12. The ones who are actually 11 or 12 can get away with it. Which is why I feel safer about Roberta. There's a very small chance that there's a guy who could say or do all he right things."

While he said this, however, Callie's concerns became his concerns. "Just keep an eye on her for me. Linette, too. And you know I'll tell both of them to keep an eye on you. Speaking of, where are your sisters?"

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

As if on cue, Linette made her way into the house. "Hello?" She called out, somewhat surprised that no one was around. She could have sworn Callie had left already. She saw her leave while she was doing her make up on her bed. It was one of those days though where all 12 sixth year Gryffindor girls were in their room and Linette had gotton caught up in convorsation with a few of them and instead of just being a few steps behind Callie, she was a half-hour late.

Linette heard voices from the kitchen and made her way in that direction. She saw Callie and her father talking at the counter, drinking soda pop. "Daddy!" Linette exclaimed with joy as she ran over to her father and hugged him tight.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie rolled her eyes at him as she popped open the top of her soda can. “Psh, Dad, they don’t need to keep an eye on me. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don’t date… most of the boys at school are scared of me. Which is just fine by me.”

She still thought her father was a bit naïve about some of the boys in her school. There were a fair number of boys who were “players,” and who specialized in knowing all the right things to say and do to get a girl into bed. So far, they all seemed otherwise occupied, but she was fully aware of the attraction that she and her sisters held, being the only set of triplets in the school. If someone like Rabastan Lestrange were to set his sights on Bobby, she’d be putty in his hands. She meant to make sure that never happened.

Before she could mention any of this to him, however, Linette came bursting into the kitchen. “Glad to see you finally made it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Where’s Bobby?”

[Steven Sanders]

"Hey Linette," Steven said, wrapping his arms around her. Never once in the entire 17 years he'd been raising them had he ever confused his daughters. When they were little, they tried to trick him, and he may have played along, but it never worked. They were each so distinctly perfect and beautiful and different that he couldn't help but know exactly who they were the second they walked in the door. God, he was proud of them. "You look beautiful, sweetheart," he added and pulled away as Callie spoke up. He grabbed a soda for Linny as well, keeping the last one in the fridge until Bobby arrived.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

"Hey Cal," Linette said, hugging Callie. "And don't roll your eyes at me, miss. I don't know where Bobby is, I thought she was right behind me..." but then she got distracted. Linette was sure Bobby would come along soon enough. The three of them loved their time with their father.

"Thanks Daddy," Linette said, both for the compliment and the soda. "How have you been?" She asked, taking a sip.

[Steven Sanders]

"I've been well, darling," Steven told his daughter, asking the same question of her.

It bothered him a bit that Bobby wasn't here yet. Usually, Linette was the last to arrive, the most easily distracted of his girls. He didn't say anything though, sure that she was fine.

"Callie was just telling me about things at school. Going well, I take it? How was the ball? I heard you had a date."

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

"Daddy?"

Bobby had finally arrived to find the living room empty, and she appeared in the doorway to the kitchen a moment later. There was a shy smile on her lips and a blush to her cheeks that made it look like she had rushed straight here, which, she had.

"Hey Daddy," she said, throwing her arms around her father, and waving at her sisters.

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

"I did," Linette said with a wide smile. "His name was Micah, he was very sweet." Linette didn't really see Micah romantically after the ball, she didn't really do that - date for long periods of times. She felt like if she did, she'd get bored with him, and that wouldn't be very nice.

Then Bobby came in. "Hey Bobby!" She smiled at her sister. Now the whole family was together.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie took a sip from her soda and surveyed Bobby as she entered the kitchen. The shy smile and the color on her sister's cheeks didn't escape her notice, and she wondered silently what her "younger" sister had been up to that had caused her to be late. Usually it was Linette that was late, not Bobby.

Leaning her hand against her cheek, she set the can down and gave a wry smile. "'Bout time you got here," she commented. "What took you so long?"

[Roberta "Bobby" Sanders]

Bobby hugged her father, kissing his cheek before taking a soda and sitting next to Callie at the table. Looking between her sisters, she almost laughed. Linette thought nothing of her timing, and she expected as much. But with Callie... that cynical, always observant way of hers was still there.

Still, in answer to her question, Bobby shrugged. "I didn't mean to be late. Sorry about that, Dad. I was talking with a friend and lost track of time."

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie was positively itching to ask Bobby who this "friend" was. Most of Bobby's friends were guys, of course. If it had been someone like Neil, Callie wouldn't be so worried. Even Glenn, who Callie thought was a bit of a jerk, wouldn't have bothered Callie so much. But Callie had so many guy friends that she couldn't help but worry that, sooner or later, she'd make friends with the wrong kind of guy. She didn't trust most guys, but some guys deserved it more than others.

"Well, anyway. We're all here now," she said, giving Bobby one of her patented we'll talk about this later looks. "What's for dinner, Dad? Please tell me we're ordering pizza."

[Steven Sanders]

Bobby had given Callie a look in return, and their exchange did not go unnoticed by their father. He wished they had a mother sometimes, someone they might feel more comfortable with talking about boys (and he could only assume that this was about a boy). It broke his head a little.

"It's a little hurtful that you don't even think I can cook, Callie," he teased his daughter, but they all knew him well enough to know that anything that went into his oven came out black. "Yes, we're ordering pizza. It actually should be here in a few minutes. And I got cheesy bread just for you, Bobby."

[Linette "Linny" Sanders]

'Getting caught up with a friend' sounded more like one of Linette's excuses, but Linette knew well enough that it was more than likely that Bobby really was just chatting with a pal, boy or otherwise, and didn't think anything of it. Unlike Callie, Linette knew that Bobby wasn't like her, in the since that she basically dated any guy she could get her hands on.

"Oh Daddy, don't take offence..." Linette said with a cute little smile. "But we are sixteen, we just know better," she giggled.

[Callisto "Callie" Sanders]

Callie grinned at her father. “Actually, Daddy, I just really wanted pizza. I’m so in the mood. They never have pizza at the school… it’s all English food.”

Never mind that she was half-English and had been raised here all her life. Like Bobby, she felt more akin to her American side, and hoped one day to go there. Women were more liberated there, or so she had read.

“So, what’s been going on with you, anyway, Daddy? Anything new?”