A/N: So this plot bunny popped up in my head last night and refused to go away. It's not an entirely original idea; just a window into the Chelsie world I wrote in my fic Jolene. Unlike that story, I intend this to be almost entirely fluffy. Because the world needs more fluffiness. And Chelsie kids.
I didn't write much of them in Jolene (that story is like 90 percent angst), so this will be ficlets from their point of view. For those who haven't read Jolene, the title of this is in reference to the Carson children.
Enjoy!
Alex was five years old. He liked lots of things.
He liked playing with cars and trucks on the back porch at his house. Sometimes he played with Chris and Eddie. Sometimes they played in the family room, in front of the fireplace. Sometimes Da got on the floor and played with them.
Food! Alex really, really liked food. Like his Da. Once, when he was four, he went into the kitchen and found apple tart, fresh out of the oven.
He ate all of it.
Da always ate a lot of apple tart, and Da was the tallest man he knew. If he, Alex, ate the apple tart, he'd grow big and strong.
Just like Da.
But he didn't grow big and strong.
He got sick.
It was awful.
He didn't like apple tart anymore.
"Can you guess, Alex?" Daisy cleaned the counter in front of him. "What's Aunt Beryl making for dessert?"
It was afternoon at The Red Fox. After Da picked him up after kindergarten, he always brought him to work with him. Sometimes Alex stayed in Da's office at the hotel and played on the floor. Sometimes if Uncle Tom wasn't too busy, he'd let him play behind the huge desk in the lobby. People always smiled at him there.
Sometimes Da or Uncle Tom walked with him through the long hallway from Downton to Aunt Beryl's restaurant, where Mam worked.
When Alex started kindergarten, they started letting him walk there alone.
He liked that.
It made him feel big.
Eddie and Chris still went to preschool. They stayed with Aunt Anna and their cousins during the rest of the day. Like Alex used to.
He didn't look up from his picture, scribbling with the blue crayon. He liked blue.
"If you guess right, she'll let you have some," Daisy said. "It's almost time for your snack."
"Can I have some milk?" He asked. He looked up because he needed to find the purple crayon. He reached for it before it rolled further away from him. Daisy grinned.
"May I."
He sighed loudly. "May I have some milk?" She raised her eyebrows, and he remembered. "Please?"
"Yes, you may. One cup of milk, coming right up." She set out a cup and walked back into the kitchen.
The door to the outside opened. It was Mr. Mason. He was what Aunt Beryl called one of her "rebulars". What rebulars were, Alex didn't know.
The grocery man carried two crates of milk behind the swinging doors. He came out again and sat down next to Alex.
"Hello, Alex," he said. "Are you drawing a picture today?"
Alex didn't know why Mr. Mason asked a question when he could see what he was doing. But he knew he shouldn't be rude.
He liked Mr. Mason. At the grocery store he always gave Alex and his brothers a candy bar to share.
"Yeah," he said. He grabbed the yellow crayon and pressed it down on the paper. He bit his lip, concentrating.
Daisy poured a carton of milk into Alex's cup. She and Mr. Mason talked, but Alex wasn't interested in what they were saying.
He was almost finished with his picture.
Setting down his crayon, he glanced at Daisy and Mr. Mason. They didn't notice.
The floor was a long way away.
He turned around, his picture clutched in his hand.
He dropped to the floor.
Three ladies sitting in a booth heard and saw him, and laughed.
Alex darted around the side of the bar. The big doors to the hotel were closer, but he couldn't push them open by himself. Just as he reached the swinging door to the back hallway, he heard Daisy call for him.
Mam's office door was open.
"Mam!" He cried, waving his picture. "I drew you a picture!" He ran around her desk and stood behind her chair.
Mam turned around from her computer. "Inside voice, my lad," she said, taking off her glasses. But she smiled and took the picture, so he knew she wasn't really mad at him. "Ooh, how lovely! Tell me about it."
Alex leaned against her chair. She put her arm around his shoulders. Mam was warm, and she always smelled nice.
Maybe that was why Da liking kissing her.
He pointed at the picture. "This is the mountain by our house. And there's the trees by Solomon Creek, and there's Da and me fishing, and there's you."
"It's beautiful! I like the colors. Thank you, lad." She gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Daisy came to the doorway. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Carson," she said. "I thought he was sitting there, and then he wasn't."
Uh oh.
He squirmed, trying to wriggle out of Mam's arms. She held him tight.
"Alexander."
He knew that voice.
He didn't like it. It meant she wasn't happy.
"Did you come back here without telling Daisy?"
He thought about saying no. But she was Mam.
She'd know.
She always knew.
"Uhm hmm."
He didn't like it when Da got mad. He really didn't like it when Mam was. She hardly ever yelled, but when she was mad, it made him want to run and hide.
"That was very wrong." Her breath tickled his face. She tilted his chin up, making him look her in the eye. Da said they had the same eyes.
"You need to apologize to Daisy. Now." She let go of him so he could turn around.
"S-sorry, Daisy," he mumbled.
"I accept your apology." She tilted her head. "I thought you wanted a snack. If your mum will let you have one." She looked at Mam, and Alex held his breath.
Mam nodded.
He let out his breath.
He really, really, really liked Aunt Beryl's desserts.
Daisy opened the office door wider. "It should be just about done. Have you guessed what it is yet? Here's a hint – it's not apple tart."
Alex made a face. Then he sniffed. The smell of something really good came from the kitchen. "Um…cake! Is it cake? Chocolate!"
Laughing, Mam stood up behind him. "It smells wonderful. I think I might have some, too."
She lifted him back onto his stool at the bar. Aunt Beryl was talking to Mr. Mason.
On the counter was a plate with a piece of chocolate cake, with strawberries on top.
And his cup of milk was there, too.
Alex started eating his cake while Mam talked to Aunt Beryl and Mr. Mason. Daisy brought her a cup of tea and an extra fork. Mam cut off a corner of his cake and put it in her mouth.
"Mmmm," she sighed. She sipped her tea and smiled at Alex. "Delicious. Aunt Beryl says she'll make more for your brothers' birthday next week. Isn't it good?"
He nodded, chewing, humming along to the music playing in the restaurant.
He liked listening to music. He liked the guitar he'd gotten for Christmas. Someday he'd have a real one.
When he was big.
There were so many he things he liked, and so many were in this room.
Music, chocolate cake, sitting on the stool at the bar. Drawing a picture. Daisy, Mr. Mason, Aunt Beryl.
Mam rubbed her thumb over his lip. "You have a milk moustache," she laughed. She kissed his forehead and cut another piece off his cake.
He liked her laugh.
Of all the things Alex liked, he liked Mam best.