"It's morning!"
Lara groaned and rolled over. Why was it morning? Who's definition of morning was it? Why did it have to be declared? And why so loudly?!
"Mommy! Mom Alice! It's morning!"
"Five more minutes," she heard Alice request and felt her roll onto her side.
Opening her eyes slowly, Lara peeked to see that Charlie was standing only a foot away, bent over slighting, apparently waiting for her to open her eyes. "My alarm hasn't gone off yet," she grumbled.
"But...it's morning...and I'm hungry," Charlie complained. "Mom Alice said that she was going to make me pancakes."
"I said brunch!" Alice mumbled grumpily.
"Charlie...Darling...Sweetheart…" Lara whispered as she closed her eyes again and then opened them as she grabbed her phone and pressed a button (really any button would do) in order to get the time. Crap. That couldn't be the time. She groaned. It was time for them to get up, even if it wasn't a work day. "Five more minutes?"
Charlie sighed dramatically and threw her head back. The five year old was already dressed...and by dressed, that meant in a Rapunzel costume. Lara really didn't care. She was clothed and not running around the house naked, so that was a blessing all on its own. "I'm starving...it's been a long time since I had dinner…"
"You had cookies after dinner."
"That was even longer ago."
Lara just stared into her daughter's matching blue eyes. They both blinked at each other for a long moment. This five minutes wasn't going to be alone, it was going to be her daughter standing there staring at her and talking to her the entire time. "Five more minutes…" Her eyes closed again and she sucked in a breath before a very familiar and yet jarring (because she hadn't expected it) sound filled the bedroom.
No five more minutes.
"Okay! We're up!" Alice said as she rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. She could hear the bathroom door close from bed as she slowly opened her eyes to find a sonic screwdriver aimed at her. "Crap! It can't already be eleven!"
"Language!" Lara and Charlie shouted together.
"That word is also part of language!"
Lara just sighed and stared at her daughter. "I thought you were going to wake up and read your book…"
"I did," Charlie said as she climbed up onto the bed and them apparently thought it was a good plan to climb on top of her mother to stare down at her. "Also, why was my unicorn moved?"
"That wasn't me," she whispered and then did eyes towards the bathroom, which got giggles from Charlie.
"Toothless is supposed to keep watch from high up! So he can swoop down if there are any scary things!" Charlie explained matter of factly and excitedly at the same time.
"Excellent tactics, young jedi princess time traveller…"
"I do try."
"Why are you and Mom Alice so tired?"
"We work."
"Summer vacation time we should take a vacation…"
"You are a wise padawan…"
"I thought I'm a jedi?"
The bathroom door opened and they both looked over. Alice joined them a moment later. "No lightsaber?"
"It's nearby," Charlie whispered. "Just in case…"
Alice grabbed Charlie, lifting her off of Lara, before pulling her into a tight hug. "You want to help me make pancakes?"
"Can I put chocolate chips in them?"
"As long as you let me braid your hair while you wash your hands," Alice said as she carried her away.
Lara lay there for an additional minute, savouring the quiet and the entire bed to herself before finally getting up. Even if she was tired and she'd gotten woken up on a non-work day, there was never a better reason for them to get up than the bright shining face of their daughter.
"Pancake festival!" Lara declared as they all sat down together to eat.
There were chocolate chip pancakes and then regular pancakes along with a plethora of toppings littering the table. There were just endless possibilities. She sipped her coffee and pondered what kind of pancake she wanted. She looked across to Alice, who was also drinking coffee, and then looked to Charlie who was adding whipped cream to her chocolate chip happy face pancakes that already had strawberries and blueberries on top.
"Let's not forget that there's that big barbecue at Davis' tomorrow," Alice reminded.
"Who's going to be there?"
"Everyone," Charlie answered. "Uncle Davis-"
Charlie had pretty much grown up within this circle of DEO agents, so everyone that they worked with Charlie always referred to as an 'uncle' or 'aunt' and their kids were her 'cousins'. Lara felt like this was fine and even though the teacher always found it confusing, she and Alice could care less. This was their family and it could include as many people as they wanted. The most important part of it was for Charlie anyways.
"I think that Vasquez and the Danvers might even show up," Alice interrupted.
"What about the boss?" Lara questioned.
"Well, we'll see how persuasive the Danvers are…"
"Can't they just close up your work for one day?" Charlie asked.
"Nope," Lara and Alice responded simultaneously.
Sipping her coffee, Lara knew that even though they wished that that was a possibility...for the world to be simpler and kinder, this was their career. If not for the DEO, they would never been brought together, they would have never been a family, and some of them might not be there now. They owed a lot to the DEO and their boss.
"You're always over at the Harewoods, I don't know why you always think it's so exciting," Alice commented. "What is it that you girls do over there?"
"Well, if it's after school...boring homework..." Charlie grumbled. "They don't have lightsabers...which is weird."
"So weird."
"But we play dolls and princesses…"
"Well, you like playing dolls and princesses," Lara pointed out.
Charlie just shrugged and then went to work eating her pancakes.
As they sat there, she thought that perhaps they should invest in some lightsabers or some foam swords or something for the Harewood house. After all, Charlie did spend enough time over there, the Harewood girls might as well learn some sword fighting skills.
"We're going to go, right?" Charlie asked, food in her mouth.
"Of course we are," Lara told her daughter. "At least for a while…"
"Which means we'll be there the entire afternoon and evening," Alice supplied. "We're in charge of bringing beverages."
"Beverages?" Charlie questioned. "Juice pouches? I prefer Pacific Cooler… Not grape. Who likes grape? Unless it's an actual grape...and they have to be green."
"Right, we'll get pouches too."
Lara groaned for a moment. "That requires a trip to Costco…" Of course it would be worth it to go to Costco to get alcoholic beverages, but she still wasn't thrilled about it. It always seemed to take four hours and every time she went, it seemed like the samples were just closing up, so she didn't even get free snacks during the tortuous trip. Plus, it was one of those places where she pondered shooting or imprisoning about half the people in there. They either didn't know how to drive, park, push a cart, or act like a decent human being. It was a horror house...really...but they had such a good alcohol selection...and good prices to match.
"They have Pacific Cooler pouches at the grocery store," Charlie piped up.
"We need adult juice pouches too…"
"Adults can drink the Pacific Cooler ones too."
Lara was practically whining now, "But I don't want to…"
"Moooooom...you get what you get and you don't throw a fit…"
Alice laughed at that. "Yeah...Mom…"
"Shut up," Lara grumbled to her wife.
Damn it, she needed alcohol for this barbecue.
The End.