gilded » david dobrik au

epilogue

happy early bday drowsydobrik

"You really went all out this year, didn't you?" David laughed, glancing around at all the lights, decorations, and Santa statues I had placed strategically throughout the house while he was gone at work.

"It's Talulah's first Christmas! It needs to be magical," I replied with a shrug as I struggled to place the star on top of the tree.

"She's eight months old. She won't even remember it."

"Okay, David Downer, I will," I raised my eyebrows at him to shut him up. "This is also going to be the first time we've both been off work for more than two days in a row since we had Lu, so can't we enjoy it?"

"Hmm, I am enjoying it," he grabbed my hips and lifted me off the step stool to put me back on the floor. "I'd be enjoying it more if you were with me instead of finding a decoration for every square foot of this house. She's asleep, you know."

"We are not having another child right now. One is enough," I warned him, but I couldn't stop the stupid smile from growing on my face the closer he got to me.

"I'm no stranger to condoms, sweetheart. We've been together since junior year of high school."

"I don't think you can say that if we broke up for four years," I told him. "I need to finish the tree."

"You know Willy is going to knock down every single ornament he can reach," David reminded me, and I glanced at our beautiful perfect cat sleeping so peacefully on the couch. He would never. "Fifteen minutes. My family's gonna be here tomorrow, and then I'm gonna have to go three whole days."

"God, how will you ever survive?" I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes at how stupid he was.
He just smiled and said, "That's what I'm saying!"

"You have twelve minutes," I finally sighed. "And I mean that."

We actually had more like eight before Talulah started crying, but David made it work. He took her outside to swing while I finished up the decorations and made sure the guest bedroom was clean for John and Kim. Sam, Emily and Owen were coming too, but they chose to stay in a hotel room instead of sleeping in our living room, which I thought was a great idea.

My grandma passed away the week after we had Talulah. She had lymphoma and was seriously ill my entire pregnancy. She even moved in with us about three months before Talulah was born so I could be sure she was taken care of.

I was one hundred percent sure that she stayed alive to make sure we were safe and to see her great granddaughter, and once she was sure, she finally let go. It was sad, but I knew she was much happier, finally reunited with her husband and son again. No more pain and no more suffering. When I found her that morning, she had a small smile on her face.

So I had no family, but David's treated me better than they treated him, and I had a beautiful little blonde daughter with the prettiest brown eyes in the whole world, who smiled just like David and laughed at any funny face I made. My life was going just fine.

The next day came. I was in the kitchen trying to cook grilled cheeses while also keeping Talulah entertained when I heard a familiar voice say, "Where's my niece? And where's Mona?"

"Jeez, good to see you too, Emily," I could hear in David's voice that he was just slightly offended. "Try the kitchen. Hey, Owen!"

The footsteps were fast, and Emily in all her redhead glory was in front of me in an instant, wrapping me in a tight hug. "My Mona! I've missed you! And oh my precious little Lu!"

She picked her up out of her high chair and swung her around, only smiling at the little baby giggles. I warned, "Don't kill my baby."

She completely ignored me. She continued talking to Talulah, "Pictures don't do you justice, pretty girl! Your mama needs to put you in pageants. You could be a toddler in a tiara!"

"Aunt Mona!" Owen, who was way too big, ran up and hugged me around the waist. "I missed you."

"Hi, buddy," I pushed the pan off the hot burner and leaned down so I could look him in the eyes. "You're a full grown adult now! What are you, twenty? Twenty five?"

"I'm nine," he giggled.

"Are you sure?" I pretended to be skeptical and furrowed my eyebrows. "I think your parents are lying to you."

"Don't even start that," Sam warned, picking the grilled cheese up out of the pan and taking a huge bite out of it. He then proceeded to say, "You burnt this."

"You're an a-s-s hole," I snatched it from his hand. It was barely burnt. "That was my lunch."

"A-s-s spells ass!" Owen yelled out, a cheeky smile on his face. Oh, well. It wasn't my kid. At least I tried.

"Look what you've done," Sam frowned, but a smile quickly peeked back through. He looked at Owen and told him to never say that word again. "Give me LuLu."

"She's mine," Emily replied with a smile, still holding my baby tightly to her chest. "We need another one."

"No, we don't."

"Sam."

"Emily."

"Sam."

"We'll talk about this later," he responded. "If you hand over the baby."

She gladly did.

They swooned over my little angel baby until John arrived and stole her for "grandpa time". Emily, Kim and I sat in the kitchen gossiping while the boys and Talulah played outside and probably also gossiped.

"I knew it'd be like this one day," Emily smiled as she said it.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Me and Sam, and you and David, and kids," she sighed. "I was so confused when y'all broke up because I was so certain that y'all were it for each other. I could not even imagine David being so open with anyone else."

"Me either," Kim spoke. "I know I say it all the time, but he spoke the world of you, Mona. I mean, before I ever even met you, I was convinced you were the nicest, funniest, smartest person in the world. He acted like you were the most perfect person on the planet. I'm just so glad it all worked out in the end."

"Yeah," I smiled, resting my chin on my hand as I looked out the window to see David sitting on the ground, shaking toys in our daughter's face. The sun was setting, and they were both smiling at each other like they knew they were meant to be together. It was a feeling of contentment that I had felt every single day since I married David. It was everything I had ever wanted, a happy little family in a cute white house and a one eyed cat named Willy. My life had never been perfect, but with David it was as close as it could get. "Me too."