Snapshots, an across the universe fanfic

Short little vignettes of Max and Lucy throughout their years.

Disclaimer: I do not own Across the Universe or any Beatles songs.

"I wanna see her, I wanna see her!" exclaimed four-year-old Maxwell Carrigan, shaking his light blonde bangs out of his face and trying to catch a glimpse of his new baby sister. His father came around to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll see her in a minute, Max," he said. Max grinned and bounced on the balls of his feet eagerly. A small gap came between the many doctors surrounding Mrs. Carrigan's bed, and he stood up eagerly on his toes. He scowled when he was again pushed out of the way and his father left his side.

"She's so beautiful," sighed his mother somewhere amongst the small horde. Max groaned and crossed his arms across his little chest.

"Mom…I want to see her!" he cried in anguish, causing most of the adults to turn and glare at him disapprovingly. He looked up at them with innocent cerulean eyes, knowing he was about to get a harsh scolding from his mother. But to his surprise, she laughed weakly and said "Would you mind letting my son through?"

There was no need for any of the doctors to move. Max immediately crouched to the ground and wove through the legs of the adults, popping up on Mrs. Carrigan's bedside.

He gasped as he saw his brand new, peacefully sleeping sister. She had light blonde hair and big, beautiful blue eyes just like he did. He looked up at his mother expectantly.

"What's her name?"

"Lucille," she replied with a loving smile down at her daughter. He scrunched his nose up in slight disgust.

"Lucille? That's a sissy name…"

"Now, Maxwell…"reprimanded his father. Max wasn't in the least perturbed.

"Can I call her Lucy?" he inquired excitedly. Mrs. Carrigan ran a hand through his hair and kissed the top of his head.

"Of course, dear," she responded. He slipped his small hand into his sister's even smaller one, causing her to lock eyes with him.

"Lucy…" he mumbled, and she burbled happily.

Mrs. Carrigan sighed as she toddled over to the couch and collapsed into it heavily. This was her third pregnancy, and as pleased as she was to be adding another member to their family, she didn't think she could go through this process again. Perhaps if they had been more than six short years apart, she wouldn't be so tired. Or perhaps if she didn't have a six and four year old to take care of. Both of them were incredibly bright for their age, able to speak well and use vocabulary beyond their years. Unfortunately, that meant their little quarrels would last for hours.

Harsh kicks erupted from her belly and she closed her eyes wearily, hoping there was a chance she'd be able to drift off after the baby calmed down.

To her dismay, there were two screeching cries of "MOM!!" and then a rumbling of small feet tumbling down the steps. Mrs. Carrigan opened her eyes and saw her daughter standing with her hands clenched into tight fists down at her sides, glaring at her brother who covered in dirt.

"What is it, dears?"

"It was all her fault!" Max blurted out suddenly, turning his back to her.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Kids…" scolded their father as he came into view from the kitchen door. "There's no need to shout. What's the matter?"

"Max broke the flower pot I made you," Lucy accused.

"I did not! If you didn't push me, I wouldn't have run into it!"

"Well, if you didn't push me…" The argument continued, resulting in all-out scream fest that made Mrs. Carrigan's head pound. Eventually, as she rubbed her temples, she cut in firmly saying "That is quite enough. Both of you go to your rooms and don't come out until I say so."

Both of them exchanged venomous scowls and tromped up to their rooms, slamming the doors behind them and causing their mother wince in pain. Her husband sat down on the couch next to her, placing a hand on her belly and an arm around her shoulder.

"Maybe we shouldn't have had another child," she said. "I swear, the two of them are bad enough sometimes that they could be twins."

"They'll be happy and teasing each other by dinner time," reassured her husband, giving her a kiss on the temple. Ironically, shouts emanated from the floor above them. Mr. Carrigan looked back at his wife sheepishly. "Alright, make that bedtime."

She groaned, to which he got up from the couch. "You don't worry about a thing. I'll calm them down and clean up the mess upstairs. You relax."

She nodded and shot him a grateful look as he rushed up the stairs. Unfortunately, his yells to reprimand his children only added to the noise, causing more pain to her head and even the baby was disconcerted by the ruckus.

Mrs. Carrigan looked up to the heavens. " God, please bring me a quiet baby."

Six-year old Lucy Carrigan let the sand slide through her fingers contentedly as she played in the sandbox at recess. She loved school, but recess was one of her favorite times of day. Though her friends Emily and Jane were in the other first grade class, she still enjoyed making sand castles and humming songs about nothing by herself.

The school bell rang and the older kids joined the younger ones for their recess. She looked around worriedly. The big kids, particularly the sixth graders, found much enjoyment in torturing the little ones. Emily had had her hair pulled and Jane had been chased around for one entire recess. Lucy had yet to be a victim, but she knew her luck was running short.

Sure enough, a big foot came down on her beautiful sand castle. She looked up fearfully and saw Teddy McCartney, the nastiest, meanest sixth grader of them all, hovering over her with a vicious grin spread across his face.

"Aw, did I mess up Wucille's little swandcastle?" he sneered. He purposefully stomped on another part of it. "Whoops…I did it again!"

"Stop it!" she cried, tears starting to burn her eyes at the use of her full name and his boorish behavior. This time he kicked out another tier with a swipe of his foot. She pushed him as hard as she could, not understanding why he would ruin all of her hard work. "STOP IT!"

"Hey! Nobody pushes me around!" he exclaimed, pushing her forcefully and causing her to topple backwards. She landed on the ground with a thud and scraped her elbow against the hard cement, promptly beginning to cry.

"'Oy! McCartney!"

Teddy turned around and there was Max, posse in tow, walking towards them with arms folded and eyes narrowed.

"Buzz off, Carrigan," Teddy derided, folding his own arms and making himself a little taller. "This ain't your time to be playground hero."

"Oh, yeah? Well, that's my sister you're messin' with, smarty." Teddy glanced dubiously behind him at the still tearful Lucy, turning back to her brother slowly.

"Lucille's your sister? Man, this just gets better, doesn't it?" he said, coming within a foot of Max's face. Even though Teddy stood a good foot taller than him, Max closed the gap even more, making the space between them mere inches.

"First of all, it's Lu-cy," he snarled, giving him a jab in the chest. "Second of all, you mess with her? You deal with me." Teddy snorted and gave him a forceful shove.

"Who do you think you are? I could pulverize you any day." Max quickly regained his balance and came up to his challenger again.

"Yeah? Name the time." Other boys, both young and old, that had gathered around to watch this possible fight "ooed." All of them knew big and butch Teddy could beat small, but quick Max any time, but most of them were still impressed that a fifth grader had the guts to stand up to a sixth grader.

Before the two could go at it, however, a shrill whistle sounded behind them and Mrs. Edison, Max's teacher, broke through the group.

"What in heaven's name is going on here?" she demanded.

"Maxwell wanted to fight me, Mrs. Edison. I told him I didn't want to, but he wouldn't stop!" Teddy insisted, hiding his bully persona in order not to get in trouble.

"That's bull crap! He hurt my sister!" Max retorted angrily.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"That's enough out of both of you." Mrs. Edison interrupted swiftly, pulling the boys apart from each other. "Now, Teddy, did you hurt his sister?"

"I didn't mean to…" he mumbled.

"He's lying!"

"Enough, Maxwell. Leave Teddy alone and I'd better not hear that kind of language again, you understand? Teddy, leave Maxwell alone and I'd think you'd better come with me."

"Fine," they replied huffily in unison. Mrs. Edison directed her attention to a sniffing Lucy, who was inspecting the cut on her arm anxiously.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" She nodded, large tears still dripping down her face. "I'll be right back with a Band-Aid, okay?"

She left, dragging Teddy behind her. As he left, he stuck out his tongue, to which Max returned with the one-finger salute. Everyone who had been watching gasped.

"You'd better not let Missus Edison see you do that," warned Billy, one of his friends. Max shrugged indifferently, and shooed away the watchers. Then he went over to his sister and sat down next to her.

"You okay, Luce?" he asked, putting an arm around her shoulders. She nodded again, but this time she began to cry steadily once more. Max held her close.

"Aw, Lucy, don't cry. That Teddy Boy? He's just a bully, he ain't nothin' to be scared of. He won't mess with you any more. If he does, he'll be talking to my fist." She shook her head vigorously.

"Don't! Mom'll find out, and you're already going to be in trouble for today." He waved off with a scoff.

"Whatever, she'll probably just yell at me or something. I don't care." Lucy buried her face into her brother's neck, still a bit out-of-sorts.

"Max?"

"Mmm?"

"Will you sing me a song?"

"Which one?"

"The one about the submarines." He grinned deviously, and began tapping the beat to the song with his foot. The crazy old man who lived down the street sang this at the top of his lungs every Friday when Max walked home from school. Much to his parents' dismay, he had learned it quickly and it had become one of his favorite songs. Most of the time, Lucy found her brother's screeching horrendously annoying, but there was the occasional time when it cheered her up.

Sure enough and to her delight, he bellowed out the song in a high falsetto.

In the land where I was born

Lived a man who sailed to sea

And he told us of his life

In the land of submarines

So we sailed up to the sun

Til we found the sea of green

And we lived beneath the waves

In the land of submarines

We all live in our yellow submarine

Yellow submarine

We all live in our yellow submarine

Yellow submarine

And we live a life of ease

Every one of us has all we need

Sky of blue

"Sky of blue!" he repeated, giving her a light bop on the nose with his finger. She giggled.

and sea of green

"Sea of green!" Lucy answered happily, though her words were somewhat mumbled through her laughter.

In our yellow…

"In our yellow!" he reiterated.

submarine…

"Ahaaa!" both of them wailed together, falling into a fit of laughter and not able to finish the song. When their chuckles subdued, the bell rang for classes to resume. After getting to his feet, he held out a hand and helped his sister up.

"Thanks, Max," she said, sniffing away the last of her tears.

"No problem, Luce," he replied, giving her head a ruffle and running off to catch up with his class.

Lucy pushed her long, blonde hair out her face with a headband, checking the lightly applied makeup in the hallway mirror. She inhaled and exhaled deeply. This was it. Her first day of high school. She couldn't believe she only had four short years before college, and part of her couldn't wait. The other part was scared shitless.

Easy, Lucy her mind told her Let's just start with getting through the first day.

The sound of feet coming down the steps brought her out of her reverie.

"Now, make sure your sister gets to her first class alright. Don't just abandon her on the front step," her mother was saying somewhere above her.

"Yes, mother…" replied Max, and Lucy could practically hear him rolling his eyes. Sure enough, when he came into view, he was keeping his gaze towards the heavens and mocking their mother as she continued to give him instructions.

"I want you to be waiting for her and bring her home right after school, you understand? She doesn't need to get into trouble on the first day."

"Ma. Come on, it's me…" he said, gesturing grandly and beaming at his reflection in the mirror. "What sort of trouble could I get into?" Mrs. Carrigan crossed her arms.

"Plenty. Now, go get your things. Just because it's your senior year-"

"Doesn't mean I can slack off, yes, yes, I know," he groaned as he disappeared into the kitchen. Lucy couldn't help but grin. The two of them had basically had the same conversations. They either argued about his schoolwork or argued about taking care of his sisters. The intensity varied, depending on their moods or tolerance for each other.

Mrs. Carrigan sighed in exasperation and turned to her daughter. Smiling, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and looked her up and down.

"You look lovely, honey. Ready for your first day?"

Lucy nodded as bravely as she could.

"If anything goes wrong, anything at all, you just find Max, okay? You have his class schedule, don't you?"

"Yes, mom," she replied, sounding an awful like her eldest sibling. "I think I'll be fine, though. Really."

Her youngest sibling, Julia, came down the stairs, ready for her first day of fifth grade. Julia looked at her sister and scowled.

"Why am I always the last one to do anything?" she groused as she sat on the step.

"Don't worry, Jules," Max said as he came back from the kitchen, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, a cap shoved over his growing mop of hair, and a piece of toast in his mouth. "Pretty soon you'll be in high school, too. Probably be more badass than me or Luce will ever be-"

"Language, Maxwell."

"Sorry, mother," he sneered. He looked at himself in the mirror one more time before turning to Lucy.

"Ready to go?"

"I think so." She took her books off the hall table, bringing them to her stomach.

"Okay. 'Bye, Ma," Max said, grabbing his car keys off the table and giving his mother a kiss. He went over to his youngest sister and grinned.

"'Bye, Jules. If any boy gives you trouble, tell him he'll have me to deal with," he said, wrapping her up in a bone-crushing hug and kissing the side of her face dramatically. He headed out the door, though not before Mrs. Carrigan could say "Watch out for your sister." one more time to him.

"Goodbye, sweetheart," she said to Lucy, embracing her and kissing her cheek. Lucy waved and blew a kiss to Julia before scampering out the door, jumping into the passenger seat of Max's baby blue, convertible Chevy.

The short car ride there was mostly silent, but a comfortable silence. When they arrived at the school, students were already filing into the doors. Lucy glanced up at them nervously.

"Hey," Max said, getting her attention. "First day always kind of sucks. But don't worry about it, it's not a big deal. Just figure out where you're going and go. Most teachers don't give a shit whether you're late or not, but beware of Roberts."

"Why should I beware of Roberts?" she asked as she got out of the car.

"Trust me, you don't want to fuck with her," he chuckled as he joined her at her side. The two of them walked towards the school, Lucy clutching her books to her stomach tightly as if it were a shield.

"Hey, Carrigan!" shouted one of Max's old buddies. He raised his hand in greeting.

"Is that your sister, man?"

"Yeah."

"Damn…" the friend replied, giving her a look over.

"Keep yours eyes off my sister's tits, Harrison," Max said, causing his sister to turn beet red. Though she vehemently denied it, Lucy was beautiful, and Max was well aware. He figured with homecoming a couple months away and she being fresh meat, she was sure to get a date. He didn't mind, but he wanted to fend off the pervs who were looking for a quickie best he could.

As they went through the doors and slowly made their way down the crowded hall, Max was greeted by many other people outside his close group of friends. Lucy was impressed at her brother's popularity, though she was not at all surprised. His slacker, bad-boy qualities came off as irresistible charm to the girls and a shit load of old fashioned fun to the boys. She did notice, however, that he was not at all popular amongst the teachers.

"Hat off, Mr. Carrigan," scolded an old, male physics teacher from his classroom door.

"Aw, come on, Mr. Starkey, it's first day of school."

"Rules still apply." Max rolled his eyes and took off his hat, but immediately put it back on once they got out of his sight. Lucy turned to look back at Mr. Starkey.

"I have him for Physics 101, you know."

"Sucks to be you, then. He's a hard ass. Gives out shit loads of homework, no late work," he grumbled, shaking his head a little. Eventually, the crowd thinned out and they found her first hour class.

"You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah."

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Maybe I'll see you at lunch or something. If not, see you after school!" With that, he glanced at the clock in the hall, muttered various expletives, and scurried up the steps. Lucy smiled to herself as she walked into her classroom, thinking it had already been a very interesting day.

"You're doing it again," Max said, rolling his eyes but grinning.

Lucy looked up from her perch on the windowsill. "Doing what?" she asked innocently.

"Smiling for no good reason."

"Mmm, I have every good reason," she responded, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them.

"Let me guess. It has something to do with a particular limey, am I right?"

She pretended to think about it for a moment, then nodded vigorously. Max leaned against the doorframe and shook his head in playful exasperation. There had always been a bit of romantic tension between his sister and his new English friend, but it seemed not long after she arrived in New York, she had fallen for him quickly and was now dancing about their apartment in a love-sick daze.

"Jude's just…I don't know…"she trailed off, letting her long tresses fall in front of her face.

"British? Drop Dead Sexy? Good in the Bedroom?"

"Yes, Yes, and definitely yes," she replied with a wicked smirk. He squeezed his eyes shut in disgust.

"Okay, bad question."

"Oh, come on. I found out within the first three hours in New York that you and Jude slept regularly with Prudence. You think I wanted to know that?"

"She told you?" he snorted. She nodded, and he burst out laughing.

"Wow…well, if it makes any difference to you, Jude only slept with her twice. I, on the other hand,-"

"Gah! No, stop!" she screeched, putting her hands over her ears and burying her face into her knees. He chuckled as he walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"Okay, okay, you win."

Lucy pulled herself out of her crouched position and scooted closer to her brother. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she sighed.

"Please don't go, Max," she said sadly. He wrapped his arms around her frame and rested his head the top of hers. He wished he could reassure her that he'd be fine, that he'd fight the war for a few months, then come home safe and sound. But first, he needed to reassure himself of that. He'd never let Lucy or even Jude know this, but he was scared out of his mind. The warnings he had received from multiple people when he dropped out of college seemed insignificant at the time. In his mind, nothing like that could ever happen to him, right? He thought wrong. Now, he was staring down five horribly short months until he was taken away from all of them.

"Hey, how come I wasn't notified about the love fest?" said Jude teasingly as he came into the doorway, a mug of tea in his hands. Lucy turned her head and smiled at him.

"Sorry. It's a brotherly-sisterly sort of love fest."

"Or is it?"

"You fucking perv," Max muttered, grabbing a pillow from the nearby couch and tossing it in his best friend's direction. Jude dodged it easily, though some of his steaming hot tea spilled over.

"Shite…" he mumbled, setting down his mug and massaging his hands.

"Karma's a large and clearly unwanted bitch, my friend."

"Shove it. I'm getting some ice," he announced, shuffling into the kitchen. Lucy resumed her position on Max's shoulder and closed her eyes. Jude was amazing; he really was, but no one could bring her the same sort of peace that her brother did. Oh sure, they fought like any siblings did, although their arguments were much louder than most. But they were normally over petty things that they laughed about later.

She had thought Princeton had been bad, only seeing her brother on holidays and rare visits home. Now he was being shipped off to a completely different country, rampaged by war and destruction. She worried their seemingly unbreakable connection would be lost, and she didn't think she could handle losing that.

As Jude re-entered the room, she pushed those nagging thoughts to the back of her mind and pulled away from her brother. It wasn't long before the two of them were off in their own little world, slightly ruining the moment she had shared with her brother. She didn't mind, though, what they had was good; another snapshot to add to the many late-night conversations, fights, and adventures the two of them had built up over the years.

There is not nearly enough brotherly/sisterly fluff out there, so I felt the need to write some.

I always loved the idea of writing them when they were younger.

Sorry if the ending seemed abrupt. I didn't know how else to do it.

Please review!