Happy Halloween!
A/N
Little Halloween/Bonfire night oneshot set in the Miracles universe :)
Set when the twins are 6 and Maddie is 5.
Also, Happy Halloween!
Reviews welcome,
Laura xxx
Zoe Walker-Hanna's eyes fluttered open, she blinked a few times and then put her glasses on.
She checked the time: 9:30.
"Oh heck." She sighed, she had meant to wake up at least 2 hours before, she and Max were holding a Halloween/Bonfire Night party for the ED, Darwin, Keller, and AAU staff, as well as Sophia, Madison, and Ethan's friends. Usually, the hospital staff would have a party at Albie's or the Hope & Anchor, but due to funding problems it couldn't be held at either venue.
Zoe and Max had offered to hold the party at theirs, as long as there was no alcohol. Zoe had planned some activities for the children in the kitchen, like pumpkin carving and decorating, as well as some Halloween cartoons in the front room, and the adults would be in the rooms at the back of the house, chatting.
It was Max who had the idea to invite the children's friends round, Zoe hadn't warmed to it at first, but, as usual, he had persuaded her to say yes to it!
The consultant got out of bed, grabbed her robe, wrapped it around herself, and went downstairs.
"BOO!"
Zoe shrieked and spun round to see Madison.
"You cheeky monkey!" said Zoe.
"Happy Halloween Mummy!" Maddie giggled.
"Happy Halloween" Zoe said with a smile, ruffling her youngest's hair.
"Come into the kitchen" Madison offered. "Dad's been decorating!"
"Ooh" Zoe replied.
They entered the spacious kitchen.
On the countertop island was a pumpkin candle in the middle, all around that was bowls of various sweets. Zoe could smell pumpkin pie cooking, and there was bat shaped fairy lights strung up. There was also a banner saying "Happy Halloween."
"Very festive!" Zoe approved.
"Happy Halloween" Said Max, who was trying his best to persuade Sophia to eat some toast.
"Happy Halloween." Smiled Zoe. "Sophia, why are you as miserable as a black cat who doesn't have a broomstick to fly?"
"Don't want it." Her daughter muttered. Zoe realised that there was no jam, the toast was just buttered.
"She doesn't like simply buttered toast!" The consultant scolded her husband.
Max went scarlet. "I'm sorry, I was so wrapped up with the decorations..."
"It's okay, Daddy." Sophia piped up. "You just forgot. And I forgot to remind you."
"See, she's okay with it." Zoe reassured her husband, retrieving a jar of strawberry jam from the fridge.
Max sighed with relief.
Zoe carried Sophia's plate of toast to the countertop, got a knife out of the draw and spread some jam on the still warm toast.
"Here you are" Said Zoe, handing Sophia her plate. Maddie had already finished and Ethan was finishing off a bowl of cereal.
"Are you enjoying that?" Max chuckled at his son. Ethan was usually very fussy, but today he was wolfing his Cocopops down.
"I'm glad to see that" Zoe smiled.
Max wrapped his arms around his wife. "How are you?"
"I'm okay thanks, thank you for doing the decorating." His wife smiled, kissing him. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Later on...
Zoe got dressed into a pair of black jeggings and a top with "witch, please!" on it. For the Halloween party, she was going as a cat and Max was dressing up as a vampire. Zoe knew that the other adults probably wouldn't dress up, but she and Max were big kids at heart!
The consultant thought of the amount of people that were coming. The 3 children were allowed to invite 3 friends each, there was at least 10 ED staff, plus a lot from Darwin, AAU, and Keller.
"Thank goodness that our house is big enough." The consultant thought to herself, closing one eye and applying some bright green eye shadow.
She did the other eye, applied some eyeliner, with a "cat eye" flick at the end, and was ready to go.
Zoe peeked outside to the garden. Outside, there was a large bonfire which the family had built the day before. They were only having a few fireworks, but still, it was something.
She went downstairs. Sophia and Ethan were in the front room, watching "Spooky Buddies", their favourite Halloween film.
Max and Madison were outside, checking for any hedgehogs who had fallen asleep in the bonfire pile during the night.
"Anything?" Zoe asked.
"Yes, this little guy." Max was holding a hedgehog, who had curled up into a ball of prickles.
"Right, put him at the bottom of the hedge, well away." Zoe said. "And make sure that you put your jacket in the wash afterwards, he may be cute but he probably has fleas!"
"I've found another one!" Said Maddie.
"Okay, Dad will be back in a minute." Replied her Mum, standing next to her. "Are you looking forward to tonight?"
Madison nodded. "I can't wait to see Eliza." She referred to her best friend.
"And Jackie, and Anna I hope?"
"Yep!" Maddie grinned. "I'm cold."
"Go back inside, then. Your siblings are watching 'Spooky Buddies", you like that don't you?"
"I do! Where's Sam?"
"Snoring on the sofa." Zoe chuckled. "It's alright, I'll help Dad."
"Okay, I love you Mummy." Said Maddie, giving Zoe a quick hug.
"I love you too." The elder beamed.
Maddie went back inside.
"Is she okay?" Max asked, walking up to his wife.
"Yeah, just a little bit cold." Zoe responded. "Let's look for more hedgehogs, because I'm cold too!"
A while later...
"Hold still" Zoe ordered Ethan. It was late afternoon and they were preparing for the party.
Maddie was going as a cat, Ethan a skeleton, and Sophia, a witch. Her best friend, Emma, was also going as a witch, only she was wearing a pink wig, but Sophia was wearing a purple one.
Zoe had finished the black base and was almost finished with the white part, but Ethan was finding the facepaint brush ticklish.
Finally, the consultant was finished, and was quite pleased with the end result. "Smile!" she snapped a picture on her phone.
Ethan went off to get changed into his costume.
Next was Maddie, who fidgeted a lot, but her makeup was simple: just a nose and some whiskers.
Sophia was last, she had some white facepaint on to pale her complexion and bright red lipgloss, not much though.
Zoe did her facepaint and got started on Max. "No fidgeting." She ordered.
Max's facepaint took the longest, he would not stop fidgeting! Finally, he was done. He had white facepaint, with black lips (he said no to red) with trails of red down the sides.
"You look scary" Zoe chuckled. "D'you think that I did a good job?" She said, holding a mirror up.
"Wow, definitely!" Max was impressed. He bared his teeth. "I need my fangs now."
Zoe handed him the fake fangs and he put them in. He growled at her. "Convincing?"
"Very. I wouldn't like to meet you on a dark night!" Zoe chuckled.
Maddie ran back into the room, and jumped when she saw her Dad. "Daddy's a vampire!"
Max chuckled. "I'm still me underneath, don't worry."
His daughter nodded. "Have you seen Bruce?" she referred to her teddy bear.
"Here he is" Zoe handed the toy to her.
"Thank you" smiled Maddie.
Later on...
"Right, are you ready?" Zoe asked. It was evening, and time for the party, they'd already had one or two trick or treaters knocking at the door.
There had been a knock at the door, Zoe knew that it was Sophia, Ethan, and Maddie's friends.
"As I'll ever be" Replied Max.
Zoe opened the door to a load of children. "Right, head through to the kitchen. There's apple bobbing, pumpkin carving, and there's some other stuff as well. If you don't want to do that, then there's Halloween films on in the back room. " she said.
Sophia, Ethan, and Madison greeted their friends and led them through to the kitchen. Max was keeping an eye on them, whilst Zoe kept an eye out for the adults.
"Happy Halloween!" Zoe said to Mo a while later, giving her friend a hug.
"I like your cat ears, I couldn't dress up because I've come straight off shift" Said Mo.
"Very unfestive!" Adele teased her sister, the younger Effanga had a pair of devil horns on.
Mary-Claire, Harry, Essie, and Sacha arrived next.
"D'you want me to take over with the children for a bit?" Essie asked Zoe.
"Yes please, Hocus Pocus in on in the other room and I think Max wants to watch it! How has your day been?" Zoe fell into conversation with the nurse.
The rest of the staff arrived.
"Where's Max?" Robyn asked.
"In the back room watching Hocus Pocus" Zoe chuckled.
"Ooh, I used to love that film!" Said the other woman.
"Feel free to watch it" Smiled the consultant. "I'll be outside, the bonfire is almost ready to go."
Zoe and Max stood together, watching the fireworks.
"This has to be one of the best Halloweens that I've ever had, and we've been able to celebrate it as a family." Zoe whispered into her husband's ear. "I love you, Mary-Jane."
"Ditto, Spiderman." Max smiled, giving her a kiss.
The End, I hope that you've all enjoyed :-) x