Family Stories - the Sequel

chapter 35

Saturday, 1st October -> Katie's birthday

Owen: 58; Amelia: 52; Luca: 23; Leo: 16; Lily: 16

Ryan: 27; Katie: 27; Riley: 10; Ian&Connor: 8

Liam: 25; Robin: 24; Victoria: 6; Audrey Blake: 4; Madelyn: 10 months

Finn: 25; Dennis: 24; Mason-Anthony: 2

Ruby: 25; Ethan: 25

Mira: 20; Harriet: 21; Eva-Maeve: 3

---

"Good morning.", Mira mumbled in Harriet's arms, surprised that she had been able to wake up by herself without being forcefully woken by their daughter like usually. She turned around to nuzzle into her girlfriend.

The couple had skipped the getting-to-know-each-other and dating phase considering they had been best friends for years. The brunette smiled and stroked her partner's back, kissing her forehead meanwhile.

"Where's Eva?", the twenty-year-old wondered. "Oh, wait, I can hear her.", she realized. Apparently, all eight children were demolishing their grandparents' bedroom. "My poor parents.", she chuckled.

"I mean, good for us.", Harriet joked because they had been able to sleep in a bit after staying up late yesterday. "Brandon texted. He said he'd take care of the food and drinks for our picnic near the playground.", she shared.

The three parents had opened a group chat to stay in contact without leaving anybody out. Mira had requested this and the other two had agreed. The family was currently taking it slow. The first two weeks of October, Brandon got to spend time with his daughter a day each.

Then, he would get to see the three-year-old twice a week until the end of the month, before they wanted to try out a new scheme of him having his daughter over for one sleepover a week from November onwards.

Since Thursday was the day Harriet and Mira came home later, the blonde had volunteered to have Eva over from Thursdays to Fridays because his ex-fling wanted the girl home on weekends, which he could understand. Brandon was happy that he was even getting to see her after all.

"As he should. We bring the kid, he brings the food.", the young redhead joked, making Harriet laugh. "No, just text him a thank you.", she rethought her approach and smirked.

---

Ruby: 25; Ethan: 25

Leo: 16; Lily: 16

---

"Mom messaged me and asked when the two of you are going to be home.", Ruby announced to her siblings at the breakfast table. They glanced at each other and shrugged. "Lily, I hope you are planning to tell them about what happened."

"No!", the sixteen-year-old immediately replied, shocked by the suggestion. "No word to either mom or dad about this, especially not to mom. This will trigger her and make her think of the asshole.", she argued. The Hunt siblings and their partners had once agreed on calling Jacob "the asshole".

"Lily, are you kidding?", Leo meddled. He knew he had no right to tell his sister anything, but he hated it when she was so stubborn. "You almost got shot last month, you got cheated on several times, got your heart broken, and were being touched against your will yesterday."

"I don't need a reminder, thank you.", Lily mumbled, unhappy as can be. To shield herself, she hugged her own body and stared at the plate in front of her. "You overcame a lot of bad things too, I wanna be like you.", she announced, not having to clarify that she meant her older sister.

"Lils, you're your own person and that is good.", the twenty-five-year-old softly pointed out. "Do you know why I so badly want you to tell our parents?", she asked, which caused the teenager to look back up at her and shake her head. The curiosity was getting the best of her. "Because for one, I know they will do whatever it takes to make you feel better. And secondly, because of the bad things that happened to me. I wouldn't be where I am today without help. That's something I had to learn as well. But once I was open to support of my loved ones, it got better."

"It's very thoughtful of you to want to keep Amelia out of this for her sake, but you know your mother, she wouldn't want that.", Ethan carefully joined the conversation. "And since you aren't on the most perfect terms with Owen right now, it would be smart of you to choose to tell either both of them, or just Amelia for now."

"And I can come with you.", Leo volunteered. "Just because I am not interested in love and finding a partner, doesn't mean I can't love platonically. I just want you to be okay.", he admitted and shrugged.

"I know.", his same-aged sister offered him a small smile. They weren't as close as they used to be as children anymore, but in moments like this, the two L's would always be there for each other. "Can we stay a little longer and play Mario Kart?", she wondered.

"Sure thing!", her soon-to-be-brother-in-law's face lit up since he had wanted to ask the same question. Whenever it was only the four of them, there usually was no way around a proper Mario Kart round.

---

Ryan: 27; Katie: 27

---

"Oh my God, that was such a great idea.", Ryan said after opening his eyes and risking a glance at the alarm clock. "When was the last time we even thought about sleeping in until 10am?", he rhetorically asked.

"It's honestly not ten hours of sleep when you come home at 12am and have sex several times until it's almost two though.", his wife reminded him. "Thought you knew that, Mr. Vet.", she teased him.

"Do I hear complaints?", the twenty-seven-year-old questioned, making a face. Katie shook her head and started giggling when he rolled back on top of her to nibble her neck. "So, you want more?", he wondered. She nodded. "Happy birthday.", he whispered in her ear.

"Yeah, happy fucking birthday to me.", the blonde agreed excitedly, making her husband chuckle. An hour later, once they had repeated their nighttime actions in bed and the shower, Ryan went downstairs to make coffee. "Can you also make eggs and bacon?", she begged him.

"Anything for you.", the young brunette responded and watched Katie's face light up when she came downstairs ten minutes later and found a small pile of presents. "If it's okay with you, the kiddos would like it if you waited with opening their gifts for you until they're back."

"I can do that.", the twenty-seven-year-old answered. She was wearing nothing but her husband's shirt and panties right now and it kind of made her feel like they were in the lazy beginning phase of relationships they never really had considering they had moved into the house with a toddler instead of living there on their own as a couple at first. "I love you."

"I love you more.", Ryan replied and pecked her lips. "Now get over to the counter and take a seat, your food is almost ready.", he winked, making her smile. "My parents will be over for dinner with the children, until then we can do whatever we want."