Laura glances over at five-year-old Amelia, who’s looking very innocent at what truly is a straightforward question. Being in kindergarten has been good for Amelia – she’s making a lot of friends her age and getting socialized like a real child, which she was in desperate need. Things have been quiet in Beacon Hills for some time, so she hasn’t had to be subject to the jostled in- and out-of-town adventures that she did when she was an infant.
“What kind of birthday party, sweetie?”
Amelia shrugs, twisting from side to side as she plays with the hem of her dress. “I don’t know. Madison Rollins had a fun party, and there was a magician, and a bouncy house and cake and ice cream, and all her friends got to come and bring presents and then we got bags of candy at the end.”
“That sounds like that was an awesome party.”
“Yeah. And my birthday is soon, and I’ve never had a birthday party before. So can I? Please?”
Laura takes a deep breath, because as fun and exciting as birthday parties are for the children, she can only assume that they are chaos bombs waiting to explode on the adult side. Still, having birthday parties are a right of passage that every average child should get to enjoy.
“Let me talk to your dad when he gets home, okay? But maybe a small one.”
“Really?” Amelia’s smile hits her right in the weak mom spot, and she already knows she’s going to cave to this simple enough request.
“Yeah, really.” Laura turns her eyes back to dinner as Amelia skips back to her homework. “So, who would you want to invite?”
“Madison and Zoe and Sylvie and Marcus but only if he promises not to eat any boogers, and Maria …” More children’s names follow soon after until she listed her entire class. And then she perks up at the end. “And Joy! Can I invite Joy even if she’s not in my class?”
“Yes, you absolutely can.” Good. There will be back up. Putting Derek and Dawn to work should be easy enough.
“And can I have a magician? And a bouncy house?”
“You said that Madison had those at her party. Do you want your party to be just like hers?”
Amelia considers thoughtfully. “So those things aren’t at every birthday party?”
“Not necessarily. A lot of them do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make them into whatever you want them to be. You can make it a mermaid party or a circus party – you get to pick.”
The daunting idea of that task seems to calm her as she considers. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“You do that,” Laura nods as the door to the kitchen swings open.
“Think about what?” Parrish asks as he makes his way in, and Amelia leaps to her feet.
“Daddy!” She launches herself at her father, and he scoops her up, resting her on his hip. “Mommy said I could have a birthday party!”
“Uh, Mommy said she would talk to Daddy about maybe having a birthday party. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Mia.”
Amelia ignores the correction, turning to focus on her father. “Please, Daddy? Can I have a party?”
Parrish glances to Laura, raising an eyebrow, and she raises one in return. “Why don’t you go wash up for dinner, sweetie, and me and your mom will talk about it?”
Amelia nods, letting him set her back down on her feet, and she runs off to the bathroom. Parrish then turns back to Laura and takes another step closer. “What’s wrong with a party?”
“She wants to invite her entire class. So that will be twenty plus five or six-year-olds hopped up on sugar and soda and taking out that energy on everything they can get their hands on.”
“A fair concern.”
“There will also be at least one major meltdown if things don’t go according to Amelia’s perfect plans, as well as one fueled by crashing from sad sugar and just generally being overtaxed and overstimulated.”
“She’s five. That can happen any day. There will probably be one if you tell her no, she can’t have a party.”
“… That is true.”
“Plus, imagine the delighted look on your daughter’s face when you manage to bake her a perfectly sculpted, three-tier mermaid cake,” he teases as he makes his way closer.
“Is that the cake I’m making?”
“Also, how delighted I will be when I get to eat the scraps and misfires of said cake.”
She laughs. “I see how this works. You’re just trying to get me to bake a bunch of cakes.”
“It is one of your better skill sets,” he smirks as he leans in to kiss her softly. She kisses him back before sighing softly.
“I guess it would be kind of unfair never to let her have a birthday party.”
“It would. And if we invite Joy, we can at least tag in Derek and Dawn. Maybe some other adults too.”
Laura sighs softly. “Okay. Okay, what could it hurt?”
Parrish grins before pulling her closer. “It’ll mean the world to her.”
“Yeah, I know it will,” she nods as she goes to turn off the stove. “I just hope we don’t wind up regretting this later.”
“Oh, we absolutely will,” he nods. “But it also won’t be the last time we do it either.”
“Last time you do what?” Amelia asks as she makes her way back into the room, drying off her hands on her dress.
“Throw you a birthday party,” Laura replies, and immediately the little girl’s face brightens. She runs over, throwing her arms around her parents’ legs and pulling them close.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Laura can’t help the smile that crosses her face as she pulls her daughter closer. This moment is worth it. She just hopes she will still remember this a few months from now.
- - - - - -
“Is it just me, or are your ears ringing too?”
A few hours earlier, the house had been full of screaming children bouncing off the walls and shoving as much sugar as they could get into their tiny little bodies without making themselves sick. Some of them didn’t succeed in not making themselves sick. Laurel doesn’t want to think about it anymore.
Instead, she flops on the couch, closing her eyes and basking in the quiet of the disarrayed house. Balloons scatter in the corners of rooms, though some of them are beginning to float down to the ground. Paper plates, napkins, and the occasional clumps of food have been left haphazardly around the house. And wrapping paper, ribbon, and mud are tracked on various floors throughout the first floor.
But for the first time in hours, it’s quiet. Not even their child is running scattershot through their home, because they managed to convince Uncle Derek and Aunt Dawn to host a sleepover so that Laura and Parrish could have the chance to clean up.
Parrish doesn’t respond to her question. Instead, he looks over at her. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not listening to your very valid concerns about the damage they could do.”
Laura laughs, before nudging him enough that she could lift his arm and settle into his side. “It’s okay. You were also right. It’s an important right of passage, and it wasn’t fair for me to try and keep her from it.”
“Okay. I’m still sorry.”
“I think we both are,” she sighs, before tipping her head to look up at him. “But now that we have this valuable life experience, we know what not to do next time.”
“My vote is no soda. I never want to see soda again.”
“Duly noted. No soda.” Laura glances up at him with a small smile. “But I think for first-time party throwers, we threw a damn good birthday party.”
“We’ll have to get the Amelia report back in the morning, but I concur.” He leans down to kiss her gently, before looking out over the rest of the room and wincing. “Guess it’s time for us to get cleaning.”
“We probably should. Or we could also take a nap and have that be a problem for future Laura and Jordan.”
He grins down at her, before shifting to scoop her up and pull him away with her. “You know, I happen to like the way you think.”
She laughs and lets him carry her away to their quiet of their untouched bedroom. The cleaning will still be there for them when they wake, but at least for now, they can bask in their victory of having thrown a successful birthday party. As far as Laura knows, they have earned it. They survived the party. They survived the children. In the morning, they will likely survive cleaning up too.
set 8 | i'll tell you the dreams i've been keeping ~ canon au ~ 1,500
Laura glances over at five-year-old Amelia, who’s looking very innocent at what truly is a straightforward question. Being in kindergarten has been good for Amelia – she’s making a lot of friends her age and getting socialized like a real child, which she was in desperate need. Things have been quiet in Beacon Hills for some time, so she hasn’t had to be subject to the jostled in- and out-of-town adventures that she did when she was an infant.
“What kind of birthday party, sweetie?”
Amelia shrugs, twisting from side to side as she plays with the hem of her dress. “I don’t know. Madison Rollins had a fun party, and there was a magician, and a bouncy house and cake and ice cream, and all her friends got to come and bring presents and then we got bags of candy at the end.”
“That sounds like that was an awesome party.”
“Yeah. And my birthday is soon, and I’ve never had a birthday party before. So can I? Please?”
Laura takes a deep breath, because as fun and exciting as birthday parties are for the children, she can only assume that they are chaos bombs waiting to explode on the adult side. Still, having birthday parties are a right of passage that every average child should get to enjoy.
“Let me talk to your dad when he gets home, okay? But maybe a small one.”
“Really?” Amelia’s smile hits her right in the weak mom spot, and she already knows she’s going to cave to this simple enough request.
“Yeah, really.” Laura turns her eyes back to dinner as Amelia skips back to her homework. “So, who would you want to invite?”
“Madison and Zoe and Sylvie and Marcus but only if he promises not to eat any boogers, and Maria …” More children’s names follow soon after until she listed her entire class. And then she perks up at the end. “And Joy! Can I invite Joy even if she’s not in my class?”
“Yes, you absolutely can.” Good. There will be back up. Putting Derek and Dawn to work should be easy enough.
“And can I have a magician? And a bouncy house?”
“You said that Madison had those at her party. Do you want your party to be just like hers?”
Amelia considers thoughtfully. “So those things aren’t at every birthday party?”
“Not necessarily. A lot of them do, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make them into whatever you want them to be. You can make it a mermaid party or a circus party – you get to pick.”
The daunting idea of that task seems to calm her as she considers. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“You do that,” Laura nods as the door to the kitchen swings open.
“Think about what?” Parrish asks as he makes his way in, and Amelia leaps to her feet.
“Daddy!” She launches herself at her father, and he scoops her up, resting her on his hip. “Mommy said I could have a birthday party!”
“Uh, Mommy said she would talk to Daddy about maybe having a birthday party. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Mia.”
Amelia ignores the correction, turning to focus on her father. “Please, Daddy? Can I have a party?”
Parrish glances to Laura, raising an eyebrow, and she raises one in return. “Why don’t you go wash up for dinner, sweetie, and me and your mom will talk about it?”
Amelia nods, letting him set her back down on her feet, and she runs off to the bathroom. Parrish then turns back to Laura and takes another step closer. “What’s wrong with a party?”
“She wants to invite her entire class. So that will be twenty plus five or six-year-olds hopped up on sugar and soda and taking out that energy on everything they can get their hands on.”
“A fair concern.”
“There will also be at least one major meltdown if things don’t go according to Amelia’s perfect plans, as well as one fueled by crashing from sad sugar and just generally being overtaxed and overstimulated.”
“She’s five. That can happen any day. There will probably be one if you tell her no, she can’t have a party.”
“… That is true.”
“Plus, imagine the delighted look on your daughter’s face when you manage to bake her a perfectly sculpted, three-tier mermaid cake,” he teases as he makes his way closer.
“Is that the cake I’m making?”
“Also, how delighted I will be when I get to eat the scraps and misfires of said cake.”
She laughs. “I see how this works. You’re just trying to get me to bake a bunch of cakes.”
“It is one of your better skill sets,” he smirks as he leans in to kiss her softly. She kisses him back before sighing softly.
“I guess it would be kind of unfair never to let her have a birthday party.”
“It would. And if we invite Joy, we can at least tag in Derek and Dawn. Maybe some other adults too.”
Laura sighs softly. “Okay. Okay, what could it hurt?”
Parrish grins before pulling her closer. “It’ll mean the world to her.”
“Yeah, I know it will,” she nods as she goes to turn off the stove. “I just hope we don’t wind up regretting this later.”
“Oh, we absolutely will,” he nods. “But it also won’t be the last time we do it either.”
“Last time you do what?” Amelia asks as she makes her way back into the room, drying off her hands on her dress.
“Throw you a birthday party,” Laura replies, and immediately the little girl’s face brightens. She runs over, throwing her arms around her parents’ legs and pulling them close.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Laura can’t help the smile that crosses her face as she pulls her daughter closer. This moment is worth it. She just hopes she will still remember this a few months from now.
“Is it just me, or are your ears ringing too?”
A few hours earlier, the house had been full of screaming children bouncing off the walls and shoving as much sugar as they could get into their tiny little bodies without making themselves sick. Some of them didn’t succeed in not making themselves sick. Laurel doesn’t want to think about it anymore.
Instead, she flops on the couch, closing her eyes and basking in the quiet of the disarrayed house. Balloons scatter in the corners of rooms, though some of them are beginning to float down to the ground. Paper plates, napkins, and the occasional clumps of food have been left haphazardly around the house. And wrapping paper, ribbon, and mud are tracked on various floors throughout the first floor.
But for the first time in hours, it’s quiet. Not even their child is running scattershot through their home, because they managed to convince Uncle Derek and Aunt Dawn to host a sleepover so that Laura and Parrish could have the chance to clean up.
Parrish doesn’t respond to her question. Instead, he looks over at her. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not listening to your very valid concerns about the damage they could do.”
Laura laughs, before nudging him enough that she could lift his arm and settle into his side. “It’s okay. You were also right. It’s an important right of passage, and it wasn’t fair for me to try and keep her from it.”
“Okay. I’m still sorry.”
“I think we both are,” she sighs, before tipping her head to look up at him. “But now that we have this valuable life experience, we know what not to do next time.”
“My vote is no soda. I never want to see soda again.”
“Duly noted. No soda.” Laura glances up at him with a small smile. “But I think for first-time party throwers, we threw a damn good birthday party.”
“We’ll have to get the Amelia report back in the morning, but I concur.” He leans down to kiss her gently, before looking out over the rest of the room and wincing. “Guess it’s time for us to get cleaning.”
“We probably should. Or we could also take a nap and have that be a problem for future Laura and Jordan.”
He grins down at her, before shifting to scoop her up and pull him away with her. “You know, I happen to like the way you think.”
She laughs and lets him carry her away to their quiet of their untouched bedroom. The cleaning will still be there for them when they wake, but at least for now, they can bask in their victory of having thrown a successful birthday party. As far as Laura knows, they have earned it. They survived the party. They survived the children. In the morning, they will likely survive cleaning up too.
She’ll likely regret the mess, but not much else.