I am sorry for this little sad one shot. I had cried while writing the beginning and the end. It was supposed to be something else but this is what came out and I like this and I hope you all do as well. Mistakes found are my own.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hart of Dixie or the characters used from the show. The unrecognizable characters are ones I've made up for this.
She sat at the kitchen table, her glass of milk sitting untouched, her plate of cookies sitting on the plate, no appetite for either one of them. Tears were rolling down her cheeks where the tears earlier in the day had dried, her black dress tossed hastily in her old childhood bedroom. Her mind numb with the news that made her come home. At first, it was the disbelief that brought her home, needing to see it for it to be true, not that it had helped, made it worse.
"Ya know I never did understand this whole thing between you and dad," her brother stated, sitting next to his younger sister at the table, picking a cookie up, quickly putting it down with a sigh.
"That's 'cause you are my annoying older brother," she retorted, softly. It was something she had with her father, moments with him; she would cherish forever, the only things she had left of him. "You had your little wood shop with dad, and I got cookies with dad," she shrugged.
"I would believe you, if I didn't know better," he scoffed lightly. "You and dad had that weekly trip to Fairhope," he pointed out. One day each week, their father set it aside to spend it with his kids. Tuesdays were Jacob's day, and Thursdays were Eloisa's day. He didn't want either one of his kids to feel left out or like they weren't loved the same. He loved both of kids the same amount, and they were both special to him.
She shrugged. "I guess they were just a thing with us," she said, thinking back on it, she couldn't pinpoint the exact cause of how the milk and cookies with her father started.
"I know it's different," he said, getting choked up. His mother had taught him that was okay to show his emotions, and even though he was a man that it was perfectly okay and normal for him to cry. It only made him stronger in the end. "I could never replace dad, but for tonight, I can fill in for him," he suggested.
"You can't replace him, Jake, but you are like him," she said with a smile, handing him a cookie. "I'd be honored to share my cookies and milk with my big brother. It is one of those things dad would want. Us sharing and looking after each other," she sniffled.
"I will always be looking after you, even though you now have a husband to do that. I am going to be here whenever you need me. Eloisa you are my best friend," he stated, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"I know," she smiled, breaking her cookie in half dunking it in the milk. "It goes both ways, Jacob," she assured him, biting a chunk off of the cookie.
Jacob grinned, dunking a piece of his cookie into the milk. He may have just put his father to rest a few hours ago, but sitting here with his sister sharing milk and cookies, it felt like the massive hole that had been left in his heart from his father's passing was slowly starting to mend. It was going to take time and he may never fully heal from this broken heart of losing his father, but that was okay because that one piece that won't be fixed was placed with his father. He had his mom and his sister along with his own family much like his little sister had her family.
"Everything okay?" Wade asked, walking downstairs to the kitchen. The night from the kitchen illuminating the hall from the staircase for him to see enough without bumping into anything in the middle of the night. "I start to wonder when I wake up at 2 in the morning for my wife to be out of bed," he said, kissing the top of her head, sitting next to her.
"I would be sorry if it wasn't for this spawn of you that needs cookies and milk this time every day," she retorted, handing her husband one. "Jake was never like this while I was pregnant with him."
"I am starting to wonder which one of you wants the cookies more," he smirked, dunking his cookie into the milk. Zoe didn't find it funny and sent her husband a glare. "3 more months and I will take care of our daughter when she wakes up in the middle of the night hungry," he said.
"Oh yes you will and more than just feedings," his wife remarked.
"Looking forward to it, it'll be like when I was a bachelor in college but instead of drunken nights it'll be a while new party," he joked, pressing a hand to his wife's stomach. "You little cookie be good for mommy," he warned. "Go up to bed and I will clean this mess up," he told his wife, sharing a kiss with her.
"Daddy!" His 6-year-old daughter's voice carried through the house. Wade stepped out of the kitchen. He was making dinner. It was his day off, and Zoe was working late.
"What can I do for ya, cookie?" He asked, the nickname sticking with her through the years.
"Maggie stopped being my friend today," she said sadly.
Wade pulled his little girl into a hug, picking her up to place her on the counter top. "Then it is Maggie's loss. You will go into school tomorrow and find a new best friend," he told her, grabbing a cookie for her and one for him, before pouring half a glass of milk for them to dunk their cookie into.
It wasn't the first time they shared milk and cookies, but then it was just a snack with shared smiles as his daughter gave him a run down on the events in her day. And he was determined to make sure it wasn't the last time either.
Wade placed the plate of cookies and two glass of milk on the table. Over the years, the one glass of milk they shared turned into two. Every major thing in his daughter's life was told to him during their milk and cookie time. Now that she was off living her own life miles away, they didn't get to do their ritual like they had before, most the time it was either over the phone or through a video chat. There were days that Zoe would join them, but she mostly left them be, knowing just how special they were to father and daughter. Today would be one of those rare days that Zoe would be joining them.
What he wasn't expecting was for his daughter's boyfriend to be joining them. Should have though.
"We're getting married," Eloisa announced jumping right into it, holding her fiancé's hand under the table. Wade leaned back in his chair a smile on his face, remember the talk he shared with Felix two weeks ago over a beer. He was happy for his daughter.
He jumped into a conversation with his future son over sports as his wife and daughter gushed about the ring which happened to be Felix's great grandmother's ring and how Felix proposed. Which was a late snack of milk and cookies, the ring sitting a top of the cookie pile, an idea that Felix ran past Wade wanting to be sure, it was okay to do something like that knowing how personal milk and cookies were to both Wade and Eloisa.
"Dad?" Eloisa asked into what appeared to be an empty house. She frowned wondering where her dad went to. Her mom told her that her dad as at home.
"Cookie," Wade smiled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I am always happy to see you, but what are you doing here? Nothing bad I hope," he commented, motioning for her to follow him to the kitchen. Getting cookies and milk out felt natural to him.
She waited for her dad to join her at the counter. She already told her mom the news. For whatever reason she was excited to share her news with her mom, but when it came to telling her dad, she was a bundle of nerves.
"You are going to be a grandpa again," she told him, digging the sonogram out of her purse to give to him. This was her first child, but her brother already had two kids with the talks about adding a third one to their family via adoption.
"Oh, sweetie," Wade smiled, a happy tear running down his check. "I am ecstatic for you," he said, his eyes trained on the sonogram. "My baby is having a baby of her own," he laughed happily, moving around the kitchen counter to hug his daughter. "Congrats."
"Thanks dad," she whispered, tears of her own falling.
Checking in on their kids, who decided that they were going to have a camp out in the living room, brother and sister headed back upstairs. They passed their rooms, their respective significant other still peacefully sleeping. Their parents' bedroom door was ajar slightly and together pushed the door open to see their mother sitting up in bed, tears freely rolling down her cheeks, looking at family pictures.
"Mind if we join you?" Eloisa asked.
Zoe shook her head holding her arms out for her two kids. "Come look at some pictures, and we will call it a night," she told them. Jake and Eloisa sat on opposite sides of their mom, their heads resting on a shoulder as they laughed over old pictures and stories.
When morning came Felix and Jake's wife, Kensie found them curled up together with their mother. They let them be and got breakfast started for the kids who were starting to stir awake in the living room.