Together | Chris Evans & Lizzie Olsen

31.

31.

"Mommy, wake up!" Lizzie opened her eyes sleepily. Maeve and Jane sat on her bed. 'What is? Why aren't you in bed?' Lizzie looked at the alarm clock and saw that it was half past four in the morning. "It's all white outside." Maeve said. 'That's snow, darling. Just go to sleep for a while.' Lizzie closed her eyes again.

"But mom, everything is white outside." Jane shook Lizzie back and forth and Lizzie opened her eyes again. She sat up in her bed. "Have you never seen snow before?" she asked. The girls shook their heads. 'Come with me.' Lizzie pulled the covers off her and got out of bed.

She walked to the window in her bare feet and pushed the curtain aside. To her great surprise, a huge amount of snow had fallen. The whole garden was full of snow. Maeve and Jane came to stand next to her and the three of them looked outside. "Look, when it's light outside tomorrow morning you can play in there." Lizzie said looking at the snow.

'Is snow cold?' Jane asked. Lizzie nodded. 'Yes, but I still have some gloves, thick coats and hats lying around so that will be fine.' She replied. "I wish Dad could see the snow too." Maeve said. "Yes, I understand, honey. Dad will be home again in a week.'

"And then it's Christmas." Jane said. Lizzie nodded. The Christmas tree had been in the house for a few weeks now and the girls couldn't wait for Christmas. They talked about it a lot at school and they also made a big deal about it at home. Lizzie loved it. She had watched a lot of Christmas movies with the twins over the past few weeks and she couldn't wait for Christmas Eve.

She wasn't just looking forward to Christmas because Christmas Eve meant fun. It also meant that Chris returned from work. She missed him so much. Dodger also missed his owner very much. The dog was having a real winter blues so it was a good thing when Chris came home.

"Come on, you guys go back to bed and sleep for a while." Lizzie said. She closed the curtains again. "Can we sleep at your place?" Maeve asked. She pouted and Jane followed suit. Normally Lizzie wasn't in favor of it, but because Chris wasn't there it was an easy fit.

"Windshield, but only if you actually go to sleep." She looked sternly at the twins. The girls nodded and crawled into bed. 'Good night mommy.' Jane said. 'Good night Djee. 'Good night mommy.' Maeve said. 'Good night Maeve.'

Three later the alarm went off and Maeve and Jane were immediately wide awake. They had not forgotten the snow outside and they were in a great hurry to play outside. They had breakfast and then put on clean clothes. Lizzie braided the girls' hair and then they brushed their teeth. Maeve and Jane were given a winter coat, a hat and gloves and then they ran into the garden. Dodger enthusiastically ran after the girls.

They were able to play outside for fifteen minutes before they had to go to school and they made good use of it. The kids loved it. They threw snowballs at each other and they built a snowman. Lizzie looked out the window with a smile on her face. She was happy that the children were having such a good time.

After fifteen minutes of playing in the garden, Lizzie took the children to school. After she had delivered the children there, she drove on towards the forest. She had taken Dodger for a walk. Lizzie was just about to get out of the car when she saw she was getting a call. Her home screen had the name Chris on it. Immediately Lizzie got butterflies in her stomach and answered the call.

"Hey." Lizzie said enthusiastically. 'Hey! How is it over there?' Chris asked. 'Its way. I just dropped the girls off at school. They are crazy because a lot of snow fell last night.' Lizzie told me. 'That you still got them to school.' Chris chuckled. 'It did take a lot of effort. How is it over there? Are the recordings almost ready yet?'

'Speaking of the recordings. I have bad news.' Chris started. Lizzie immediately knew from his voice that something was wrong. "What is it Chris?" All kinds of scenarios immediately ran through Lizzie's head.

'I won't be home for Christmas. Due to a technical problem we are behind on filming and they really want to continue through Christmas.' Chris explained. 'What?' Lizzie couldn't believe her ears. Did she understand that correctly? Chris wasn't home for Christmas.

"Lizzie, say something. I don't like it either but I can't do anything about it. 'What should I say? You promised. You promised the kids! What should I say to Maeve and Jane now? They miss you so much.' Lizzie exclaimed in frustration.

'I'm sorry. I'm doing everything I can to be home for Christmas but they won't let me go.' Chris replied. 'I do not care. You promised. You've been gone for five weeks and for five weeks I've been doing everything for the children. I make breakfast, I take them to school, I wash their clothes, I give them a bath, I go out with them to do fun things. You have no idea what I've had to go through alone these past few weeks. You can't do this to me.' Lizzie started to cry.

"I'm sorry Liz. You're doing great. Jane and Maeve are lucky to have a mother like you.' Chris said. 'But not with a father who is never there. Every day they ask, every day they cross off a day on the calendar and every day they want to call you. Chris, you can't afford not to come home.'

'I know. I'm going to do everything I can to be home for Christmas.' Chris promised her. 'Don't promise things you can't keep.' Lizzie muttered. 'I'm really going to do everything I can. Really and truly.' Lizzie could hear in Chris' voice that he was having a hard time but she didn't care.

'I should go. You can tell the children yourself.' Lizzie didn't wait for an answer and hung up. She immediately burst into tears. Christmas was already ruined...