The alarm blared to life with such ferocity that Casey felt her heart seize in her chest as she was yanked from the land of sleep. The tousled hair and mischievous eyes that had been lurking in the darkest corners of her dreams vanished faster than she could chase. Casey caught her breath and marveled how the old clock could still scare her after waking up to it every morning for so long. She scrambled to slap it off with a muffled groan and dragged herself out of bed. Somewhere upstairs Simon was already crying.
Clad in yoga pants and a Slayer t-shirt that had wandered very far from its original owner, Casey McDonald made her way up the stairs and through the living room before heading to the top level of the house. On the way she picked up dirty laundry, discarded toys, misplaced shoes, and one blunted arrow that looked like it had been snapped over someone's knee. Likely Lizzie after being shot with it one too many times by Edwin. Casey huffed, lugging her cargo through the dim hall, wondering how long it would be before Edwin outgrew his juvenile desire to get under his sisters' skin.
"Rise and shine, Liz," she rasped, pushing her sister's door open one-handed. The multi-color haired teen moaned, face buried in her pillows in the room that had once been Casey's. Lizzie had moved into it to avoid sharing a room with Marti or the baby, finding that both cost her hours of sleep and caused her attitude and grades to sour as a result. The necessity for the move had forced Casey to do the one thing she had been trying like hell to avoid. Move into Nora and George's room in the basement.
"I'm up."
Satisfied Elizabeth wouldn't fall back to sleep, the oldest McDonald continued on her rounds. Marti's door was ajar, the bed already empty. She moved on and threw Edwins door open with a 'bang!' that startled the teen awake. He sat up, bare chest heaving, and glared at Casey like she'd torn down the moon.
"What the hell-?!"
"Out of bed," she huffed, no longer bothering to berate the less than angelic language her youngest step-brother had gained from prolonged exposure to her eldest step-brother. "It's the first day of school."
Edwin's groan followed her the last few feet to the final door of the hall, behind which Simon's cries had lessened considerably. When she cracked the door open it was to find Marti already in there, her baby brother held tight in her skinny arms. She had bed head and dark smudges under her eyes, but she nodded gamely when Casey quietly requested for her to get dressed and brush her teeth before heading down for breakfast. Of all the Venturi-McDonalds, Marti had adjusted best to the new circumstance, crying less than possibly even Casey herself. The older girl tried not to begrudge the little wisp her inner strength.
Dirty clothes found their way to the hamper, toys were replaced in the closet and shoes were tossed haphazardly to the bottom of the stairs to find their long lost twins. By the time Casey was ready to head down to make breakfast she could hear Edwin and Lizzie arguing over the shower and spied Marti tugging a new onesie onto Simon, already dressed for the day herself. The eldest McDonald remained in her pajamas, more willing to risk grease popping onto the Slayer shirt than onto one of her clean blouses. Breakfast was eggs and bacon with enough toast to feed a small army which was what came thumping down the stairs approximately 45 minutes after Casey's alarm had started screaming.
"Got everything you need?" she asked all the children with a forced cheeriness as she took Simon from Marti. The replying group grumble was less than inspiring and she frowned at the gathered household. "Oh, come on, guys, the first day of school is always the best part!"
"For you maybe," Edwin scoffed, spraying crumbs all over the table so that the girls cringed in disgust. Being the only half-grown male in the house had really turned Edwin into a pig. "We all know you were a total Dorkasoraus in school."
"Hey! Only Derek can call Casey silly names!" Marti piped up around her bacon, drawing the eyes of everyone at the table to the empty chair sitting directly across from Casey. It's vacancy was as haunting as the other two open spots at the table and Casey fought herself to keep from thinking back to tousled hair and mischievous eyes, instead clearing her throat and telling Marti to finish her breakfast.
"Whatever," Edwin mumbled, shoving one last piece of toast into his mouth before standing, backpack flung over his shoulder. "I'm out."
"Wait for the girls," Casey reminded absently, still honed in on the seat where the most annoying person in her life had once sat.
"They know where the bus stop is," the boy griped, drawing his sister's eye, "Why do I have to-?"
"Edwin," Casey cut in sharply, voice crisp and ringing, "Not today."
He scoffed and sighed and rolled is eyes, but Edwin didn't leave. He waited by the door, face not half so boyish as it used to be, until his sisters were ready to go. Lizzie and Marti dropped kisses to both Simon and Casey's cheek before heading out. As the door closed behind them Casey heard Lizzie complaining that they wouldn't even need to catch the bus if Derek hadn't taken the Prince to college.
The sound of the lock clicking into place echoed through the empty house just like it had every other time the kids went out letting Casey McDonald know for certain she was well and truly trapped in this situation. With a breathy sigh she turned to Simon whose eyes were already on her; waiting to be held, to be dressed, to be fed, to be loved. His older sister couldn't say no to those eyes, unlike some people in his life, and so took him into her arms, making sure to prop his head as she finished trying to convince him mushed up eggs were the tastiest thing in this world.
By the time she'd finished feeding the baby he had a situation in his diaper that was also now her responsibility to handle and she did so quickly and efficiently, having become quite the pro over the last several months. The only person that could do it faster was Lizzie, her ever changing locks of color seeming to lull the boy into a soothed trance so that she could swipe, diaper, and bottom before he even realized what was going on. But Lizzie was at school now so Casey managed. She would be at school for 7 hours everyday for the next 9 months so Casey would have to manage.
Breakfast got cleared and Casey got dressed. She'd already switched up her morning routine for the last week trying to acclimate herself to what would be the new norm. Showers had to happen at night when someone was around to watch Simon. It was too dangerous to leave him alone even for a few minutes to wash. She yanked on black stretch pants and a clean white t-shirt over her bra and panties and left Simon in the onesie from breakfast before strapping him into the babybjorn Nora had gotten at her shower. Edwin had broken the stroller over the summer and there was really no money laying around for a new one. As it was Casey was keeping her eyes off the calendar where the words "ELECTRIC DUE" were scrawled in big red letters on a date not terribly far away. George had written that way in advance so that it wouldn't sneak up on him and now it was sneaking up on his children.
With a brief check that her face didn't have any smushed egg or runny make-up on it, Casey placed an oversized beanie on her brother's head and left the house the same way her siblings had nearly an hour earlier. At the next house, another door opened and Emily stepped out, the tall, loping figure of Sam following right behind. The two shared a brief kiss before the young man bounced off the porch to head towards his car parked on the street. As he approached the driver's side he looked up and spotted Casey and Simon looking on. He waved and smiled and Casey did the same. By the time he pulled off Emily was waiting at the bottom of Casey's porch steps, smile as bright as it had been everyday of high school when she'd used to wait in the same spot.
"Morning, Em," Casey greeted, mirroring her best friend's expression if only to trick herself into the mood, "Did the kids stop by to walk with Dimmy to the bus?"
"Of course they did," Emily assured, falling into step beside the taller girl as they started heading in the opposite direction as Sam had, "You only drilled in into their heads a million times."
"Safety in numbers," Casey recited, adding a little bounce to her gate when Simon started to fuss, "Dimmy shouldn't walk alone when he's got a house full of friends right next door."
Emily smiled warmly, deep set eyes seeming to sparkle in the early morning sunlight. "Yeah, well, my parents really appreciate you having them do that, Case."
The brunette only hummed a modest reply before the two fell into conversation about other things. Emily had bumped into someone from school the day before and wanted to wonder freely what they were up to since she hadn't thought to ask. Casey pondered how their work schedules would change now that kids were back in school, parents had their days free, and tourists had all head home. They talked briefly about Emily's parents, skipping over mention of Casey's. The former dancer coyly asked how things with Sam were going and the other girl pretended to be embarrassed.
When Sam and Emily had started dating it hadn't had the effect on Emily and Casey's friendship the way both girls had always heard such situations would. Possibly because Casey had noticed the way Emily had begun to look at Sam as high school drew to a close and how close they had gotten the following summer. When it turned out they were both staying in town to go to school it was just all too convenient and when Emily had finally caved and admitted she had an interest Casey was actually happy for them. They'd been together a little over a year and no one saw it ending anytime soon.
Still, Emily was tactful enough not to go into unneeded detail about anything and Casey appreciated that. She had spent time with the couple together and while it wasn't weird to watch her ex fall in love with her best friend, she was still glad she wasn't being made privy to the nitty gritty of what went on with them behind closed doors. Emily had the bad habit of turning people she was talking to into a captive audience, but Sam seemed to be smoothing out that rough edge of hers. They really were great together.
"I just still can't get over that fact that he and dad can talk so long about sports, of all things," Emily finished just as they reached work, a little laundromat and dry cleaners that was less than a 10 minute walk from their street. "I mean it's just so boring!"
"To you maybe," Casey laughed stepping through the front door, bell ringing over head as they moved to sign in. On her chest, Simon was awake and alert, shifting his head back and forth as he watched the rack of plastic covered shirts going round and round, the loud noise of it seeming to amuse rather than upset him. Casey tickled his side with the capped end of the pen before moving around the front desk. Their boss, Stuart, was already stationed there, kindly old face bright and happy to see his two faithful employees.
"Good morning, girls!"
"Morning, Stuart," they both chimed before Emily asked after Diane, Stuart's wife and co-owner of the mat. As if summoned, the bubbly woman appeared from a door behind the shirts and headed over to greet them, arms already out to receive Simon.
"Oh, there's my handsome boy!" she cooed, thick glasses making her eyes look simply enormous as she held the baby to her chest. Simon gurgled happily, quite used to this treatment by now, and made a harmless swipe at the woman's face, her soft cheek like putty under his hand. "He's getting so big!"
"He's starting to wobble around," Casey beamed at the same time Stuart sighed, "You just saw him yesterday!"
Casey had also started bringing Simon to work over the last two weeks to get him used to what would be the new norm for him as well. No more siblings at home to babysit. She had bit her nails to nothing with worry over the prospect for half the summer before finally breaking down and begging Stuart if she could bring the small child in, tears streaming down her face. In the end her worry had been completely unfounded as the older couple had seemed to get insulted at the thought they wouldn't allow Simon around. Diane, more than anyone, fawned over the child and watched him while Casey managed the front. It was like she'd been sent from heaven just to help Casey in her time of need.
Life had been hard. Too hard.
After Simon came along things had been all smiles and rainbows for the Venturi-McDonald clan. Until they weren't. When Casey had come back from her first year at Queens, sans her obnoxious other half, it had been to find her mother in a state she'd never seen her in before. Nora was lethargic and sad and just completely not herself. She'd welcomed her eldest into their home wearing nothing but a dirty robe, Simon hanging limply from an arm and her eyes red from what Casey could have only guessed was weeks of crying.
The house had been a mess, clothes and baby paraphernalia all over. The kitchen looked like it hadn't seen the rough end of a sponge since Casey herself had left and and the kids were no better. Back then Lizzie had had an attitude the size of Quebec due to sleep deprivation and Ed had already been told he'd need to repeat the 9th grade. Marti seemed to be the only one that had had any luck staying on course, small smile ready as ever to greet Casey, though she did wilt considerably when she heard Derek had decided to stay away all summer.
Casey had held it together. Acted like laundry spilling down the stairs was normal. Pretended as if she couldn't smell the dirty dishes growing mold in the sink. Didn't berate Nora when she would sit there, empty smile gaping wide, as Simon screamed his head off upstairs. Never questioned why exactly George wouldn't come home from work and help her. She had been her same happy, responsible self, pitching in to help around the house as much as she could. One week in she'd cleaned up the place, sorted and paid the bills that had been piling up in her step-father's absence (using his information), and sorted out all the petty disputes that had popped up between her siblings.
She figured if she helped Nora out for a bit, she'd have some time to get back to herself.
She figured if she helped Nora out for a bit, it'd give George a chance to catch up with work and have more time for his family.
She hadn't figured that Nora would see what she'd done with the place and decide Casey was ready to handle the entire thing on her own.
She hadn't figured that Nora would see her intervention as a chance to escape.
Casey had woken up not even a month into the first summer of her college career and found her mother gone from the home she'd built with her second husband. Nora had taken nothing but a few outfits, all the items out of her purse, and a family photo that had hung near the door. Her phone lay dead on the nightstand where it had been for God only knew how long and out of her wallet she'd dropped her bank cards. She clearly did not want to be found. At least that's what the police had said when Casey had called them in hysterics.
By the time George finally popped up the same night the kids were doing their best to get their sister off the couch. The man had understandably taken the news very hard and had been at the bottom of some bottle or another for the next few weeks. When he'd finally gone back to work Casey hadn't questioned the long hours, the dwindling checks. When she'd woken up in July to find George also gone she hadn't even bothered to call anyone. She'd already decided she wouldn't be returning to college, had secured her job at the cleaners, and had done everything she could to ensure no one would come around asking questions about who was looking after the kids.
No bills could be late.
No mail could be left jamming the box.
No one could be told.
Liz, after she'd had a turn around of character, had suggested they call her and Casey's father and ask him for money, but her sister couldn't risk it. Dennis would ask questions and want to talk to Nora and would demand Lizzie come live with him. Ed, Marti, and Simon would be foisted off on some distant Venturi and Casey wouldn't let that happen. It had taken years to get this family working as one and she wouldn't let it be ripped apart. So the only person that knew the extent of their situation was Emily and she was sworn to secrecy. Even from Sam and her parents.
Casey knew the kids wouldn't tell anyone. Too humiliating.
She never called Derek.
"Casey, dear?" Diane called, bouncing Simon against her chest. Soon enough she'd ask Casey to let her borrow the bjorn. "Could you come help me in the back for a moment?"
"Of course," the young woman agreed, nodding to Emily and Stuart as she approached the rear of the store. The side they had entered on was the dry cleaners. The laundromat was through an opening to their right and spanned a much wider area of publicly accessible space.
In the back room where the still dirtied suits and such hung, Diane shuffled over to a small desk where an ancient computer and a small stack of record books sat. The woman tapped the top of it with her withered hand and Casey took a seat, posture perky as she waited for instruction. Diane was momentarily distracted, chattering at Simon in Vietnamese, but she eventually turned to her employee, eyes blinking in the dimmer lighting of the back. The machines were already running and so she had to speak up to be heard.
"One of the machines has been acting up so I'm hoping you can get someone to come look at it no later than Wednesday afternoon," she informed, lips pursed as she shifted into business mode, "And we also need to order more PCE before the end of this pay period."
Casey nodded astutely, taking rapid notes as she asked her boss to describe what she meant by 'acting up' and making one more hopeless plea to let her set their mat up with regular solvent delivery rather than constantly reordering.
"As soon as they know you're comfortable with them that's when they jack up the price," she sniffed, hiking Simon up in her arms as she glanced towards the front. Casey conceded, assuring her boss she would get these calls made as soon as possible and then allowed Diane to depart from her. Soon other employees would be arriving to work the machines and bag the clothes and Diane liked to supervise that work even though she was too old to participate anymore. She took the bjorn. Casey knew Simon was safe with her and so didn't worry as she began clacking away at the computer, looking for nearby mechanics and forming a list she could call through to see which if any had someone who could fix an EazyClean type EC124 washing machine.
The new normal started now.