Winter's Storm (A Shadowhunters Tale)

II

Patrick had gotten the whole family, minus Dyani, into his caravan to go to the store. It was quite the feat considering the disputes he'd had to break up just to get them that far. Braeden and Tahlia had fought over who had to ride in the cramped back seat. Braeden lost this fight and inexplicably complained the whole ride down. It was one of many issues. The older children piled into the old beaten up truck. Dyani was in the driver's seat before the rest were even out the door. Dyani was always the one to drive. If she wasn't around Wesley was the second choice because Connor hadn't gotten his license yet and being Reagan's passenger was terrifying. The others piled in soon after the Caravan had left: Reagan calling shotgun, Connor with his coffee in a traveler mug, and Wesley all smiles with his list. Enyeto had hopped into the truck bed right before they left but no one kicked him out. He let his tongue hang out in the wind as the truck snaked through the forest and into town. They had to park some distance from the store. It was two days before Halloween so small costume stores that made their annual appearance every Halloween like this one were expected to be this packed. They found their family in the costume section where Tahlia and Adsila were arguing over which one of them would get to be Harley Quinn and which would be Poison Ivy. Braeden had already picked out a Scream costume for himself and was now threatening Luca with a plastic butcher knife. Chenoa was laughing at Patrick who was wearing an awful stick on mustache over in the couple's costumes section. Dyani began to skim the racks. While letting her fingers glide over the various fabrics she stopped in the middle of a distracting theme. She couldn't pull her eyes from the fairy themed costumes with their green and blue wings and skirts made of leaves. She felt something tug in her. It was a familiar feeling brought on by reminiscing. She almost smiled when she thought of how funny these costumes would have been to wear only a few years ago...
"Ani!" Reagan called her name and waved her to the other aisle.
Dyani left the fairy costumes and went to where her parabati was standing, "Yeah?"
"I found the perfect costume for us!" She beamed as she shoved the costume toward Dyani.
"What's this?" Dyani took the costume and searched for the tag. Upon finding it she laughed, "This is ridiculous. 'Heist Hottie Gangster', really?"
"Then I can be the cop hot on your trail!" Reagan held up her costume. Dyani gave her an uneasy look and she begged, "C'mon! Just try it on. You'll look super good in it!"

-

Dyani emerged from the change room in her costume before Reagan did. She looked in the mirror and shrugged. As silly as the costume was Reagan was right, it did look good on her. The long and absurdly high waisted pants made her already long legs look even longer and even she had to admit that her butt did look kind of cute. The matching striped hat and white blouse gave her an immediate confidence boost. She made a few faces into the mirror and tipped her hat like the gangsters in the old black and white movies always did.
"Looking dangerous." Wesley commented from the doorway of one of the other change rooms. Dyani blushed. How long had he been watching her? She smiled and turned to him. He was leaning on the doorframe wearing a classic blue police officer costume. It made his arms look amazing. They always did but maybe it was just the whole 'man in uniform' thing that made them look even better. "Reagan got you into the whole group costume thing too?" He asked, gesturing to his outfit.
"I guess so." Dyani shrugged with a smile.

Reagan burst out of her change room wearing a short blue dress that barely resembled that of a cop's uniform and as soon as she laid eyes on Dyani let out a squeal, "You look so hot!" She turned to Wesley, "Look at her butt! I told you she'd look hot, right?"
"She's hot." He said casually and laughed at Dyani horrified expression.
"What about Connor?" Dyani rushed to move the focus off herself, "Is he a part of this too?"
"Yes! Obviously!" Reagan turned to knock on her brother's change room door, "Hurry up!"
"I'm just having some trouble with the last part." He shot back.
"Just come out. I'll help you with whatever it is." Wesley offered.
The door slowly opened and Connor strolled out awkwardly in a pinstripe suit that matched Dyani's pants. Wesley smiled and approached him.