Cherry was brushing her hair as she looked out to the midnight blue sky with the stars twinkling like diamonds. She heard shoes click against the marble floor behind her.
"Don't even think about it." she droned as she continued to brush her thick, wavy hair.
"Oh, have a sense of adventure, Cerise." Forte hopped on the table next to her to join her star-gazing.
"I did, when I was a child. Maybe you remember, I had a free spirit with child-like wonder."
"Whatever happened to that?"
"I grew up."
"Now, now," Forte cupped her face in his ancient hands. "I grew up too, but you don't see me a miserable soul."
"I'm not miserable, just tired. It's been ages since you and I had a vacation together."
"If I recall the last vacation we had was our honeymoon to France."
"See what I mean?"
"Why don't we get out? Have a little fun? Just you and me."
"What about Flick?" Cherry asked as she looked out her doorway to see their daughter playing with her doll house. "She's totally helpless without us."
"She gets that from me," Forte admitted, lowly. "We could take her with us, we should just get out and see the world."
Cherry hummed, thinking of where to go. Nothing really came to mind. She turned to her equally dark hearted husband. "Where would we go?"
"How about London? I have an old friend there who's expecting her granddaughter to visit with her family."
"Wouldn't we clash the happy, merry, family reunion?" Cherry cringed as she used cheerful adjectives.
"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, she's used to crowded places with people. She ran an orphanage after her own children grew up and married."
Cherry gave in and accepted. The family set to rest in their own rooms, keeping the deal of awaking at midnight and getting ready to go together. It was Forte's turn tonight to send Felicity to bed and he tucked her in to tell her what was going to happen to all of them.
"Flick, your mother, myself and you are going on a trip in a few hours." he said as he took the buckles out of her hair, drooping the pigtails down to fully down to her shoulders like her mother.
"Where are we going?" Felicity asked, sounding a little startled.
"London, I have family from there."
"I thought we were French, Papa."
"I'm actually English on my maman's side of the family, your maman isn't French either."
"What?"
"Your maman is American, I taught her how to speak French like me when she was younger, then when we married, we had you. You are French, American and English."
"Wow... So why are we going there?"
"To visit an old family friend of mine," Forte nearly formed a joyous smile, much to the surprise of his daughter. "I'm sure you'll find a playmate, she has a married granddaughter with a great-granddaughter and a great-grandson."
Felicity smiled as she lowered herself in bed. She then let out a yawn and made herself comfortable. Forte smiled at her as she was instantly falling asleep. He then gave Cherry's handed down tangerine colored teddy bear. Cherry called him Tangie when she was a lot younger, but Felicity renamed him as Mozart, her favorite composer other than her own father.
"Bon nuit, Papa." Felicity murmured as her eyes felt heavy and she fell right asleep.
"Bon nuit, Fliss." Forte said back, then blew out her candle and closed the door gently behind him to get some rest himself.
The Forte family slept in the comfort of their own rooms. Felicity slept soundly, dreaming of many things that normal little girls would find nightmarish and unpleasant. Cherry was in her room, dreaming about being a happy-go-lucky innocent child again.
Forte didn't dream, he almost never did. He didn't really sleep at all ever since he became immortal the first time. He often lied awake in his bed reading and sometimes he'd only find joy in sleeping when Cherry would invite him to sleep in her bed with him. Forte checked his watch every hour on the hour to keep track of when he should wake up his wife and daughter to get ready to go to London.
When midnight hit, Forte knocked on his wife's door first. He knocked gently as always and cracked the door open, and he was surprised to see Cherry was wide awake and dressed with her bags ready to go.
"My, how long have you been up?" Forte asked.
"An hour after you sent me to sleep." Cherry replied, sounding brightly awake.
"You don't sleep a lot, do you?"
"I spend the day exhausted and spend the night restless, funny how that works, huh? Who is this girl we're meeting anyway?"
"Wendy is expecting her granddaughter, Moira."
"Wendy? Moira?" Cherry turned to Forte. She felt like she had heard those names somewhere before, but now she couldn't think of where. It was like they were part of her childhood somehow. Cherry then shook the names off. "Very well, off we go then?"
"I haven't woken Flick yet." Forte replied, then let out a gasp as he saw his daughter all dressed up with her backpack and jacket on. Her hair was even done in their traditional pigtails. "Flick, how long have you-"
"I slept for a full 45 minutes." Felicity replied.
Forte looked at her, then back at his wife. He thought he was the restless one, but perhaps he was wrong. The family contacted Monsieur Valjean. They all waited in the brisk cold evening as everyone else they lived near were still asleep. The carriage arrived and Forte told the coachman where to go as he sat next to Felicity as she was happily in between her parents.
No one spoke for a while, they were occupied by the sound of the horse's hooves click-clacking right outside. Felicity was nervous and excited to meet her new playmates, Cherry looked at least accepting and acknowledging of this vacation in a foggy old city as foggy and old as her marriage with Maestro Forte for will, as they usually say in marriages, til death do us part, which means that very likely, the two will never divorce or become a widow or a widower. Forte kept looking to make sure they were going the right way. It would take a while, hopefully Moira would be fine with her husband and children.
"So, how long have you known this Wendy and Moira?" Cherry couldn't help but wonder, but was also wondering to herself where she had heard those two names before.
"Oh, a long time," Forte stroked his hair behind his ear slightly. "Wendy's mother and my maman were old friends in England before her family had to move to France for a better life. There, she met my father, had children... And, well... You know... I kinda knew Wendy, she was always so imaginative and spiritual. She had a younger brother at the time, but she was so nice and sweet to him, always telling him stories. I just wish that my own sister could have been that way toward me..."
Felicity's eyes flickered. "I have an aunt?"
Forte sighed that she had heard that. "Oui, her name was Angelina. She was always shy and delicate around others, but she had to be the worst of between herself and my brother, Braxton. Angelina always said 'I was second fiddle, and that's all I would ever be'."
Cherry shuddered slightly. She remembered during the events of The Enchanted Christmas that Forte had screamed those exact words to Fife when he tried to literary bring the house down with his music. She tried to keep quiet though, since her husband was really touchy about that and almost killing her like he tried to kill everyone else.
"Oh." Felicity turned from him and glanced out the window as it grew dark and foggy. "Are we almost there?"
Cherry glanced out the window. "Seems like it. Charles, do you know anything about these children?"
"Moira and her husband have two children, a son named Jack who plays baseball a lot, and a younger daughter who was recently in her school's play as the leading mademoiselle. Her name is Maggie. I am hoping that a young daughter would give Felicity a nice playmate." Forte clarified.
Felicity had a small smile. She wasn't very good with first impressions, plus she was often shy around others, especially children in her age group. She was very nervous in social gatherings when she would meet her best friend, Chip Potts, she found herself getting more nervous around him the more she would be able to see him. She hoped that Jack and Maggie would be kind to her and at least let her join in the fun.
Finally, after what felt like a whole day of traveling, the horse carriage stopped. "We're here, monsieur and madame."
"Merci beaucop, Monsieur Valjean." Forte said, escorting his family women outside, taking their hands and helping them drop.
"Oh, snow!" Felicity smiled brightly. She loved snow more than anything when it came to nature.
"Careful, Felicity." Cherry quietly scolded so she wouldn't slip or hurt herself. She knew how accident prone her daughter was like how accident prone she was when she was Felicity's size.
"Horsies, Mom!" a little girl spoke up.
"Maggie, stay close." a voice said.
The Forte family saw the woman mentioned earlier.
"Oh, are you Moira?" Cherry asked the woman once she got her children together.
"Yes, I am," Moira smiled, shaking her hand. "You must be Granny Wendy's friends."
"Well, I am," Forte replied. "I am Maestro Forte, this is my wife, Cerise, and our daughter, Felicity."
Moira looked down to see Felicity hiding behind Cherry's legs. "Pleased to meet you, Felicity."
"Felicity, come out and say hello." Cherry prompted.
Felicity swallowed hardly and came out, shaking the woman's hand like a proper child or stranger. "Bonjour, Madame." she then smiled a little when she saw the children. Maggie looked a little younger than her, and Jack seemed slightly older than her.
"Bonjour?" Maggie tilted her head. "Are you French?"
"Oui, I am French like my Papa." Felicity replied with a smile.
"That's cool! I've always wanted to learn French! Can you teach me?"
"Umm... Okay, I will try, Maggie."
Forte smiled that his daughter actually jumped right into a conversation and already socially bonded with the daughter. He didn't expect her to talk with the son, but this did just as nicely.
Cherry found herself captivated by Moira's husband. He did to her as well.
"This is my husband, Peter." Moira introduced, seeing they were both quiet and looking at each other.
"Peter..." Cherry said, quietly.
"Cherry..." Peter said back, quietly.
Cherry looked long at him and stepped forward. "H-Have we met?"
"I don't think so, but you look so familiar."
"So do you, maybe I'm mistaking you with someone else... but... Something about you seems... Mature and grown up..."
"Peter was always the adult, he's always telling the kids to grow up," Moira told Cherry. "I swear, he was never a kid."
"I get what you mean, my wife used to be so sweet and innocent as a child, and now she's like she forgot what it was like to be happy-go-lucky and care-free like a kid." Forte said to the wife.
"Well, let's go see Wendy before we freeze." Moira said, coming to the decorated house with the family friends. "London's a magical place for children. It was for us."
"And very expensive." Peter joked.
Cherry smirked a little, then flinched once Maggie and Jack started throwing snowballs. Maggie was teaching Felicity how to make one and what to do with it.
"Don't do that," Peter scolded. "You could put someone's eye out."
They all gathered up the stairs and went to number 14 to knock on the door and meet this Wendy they had been hearing a lot about today. Moira was telling the children how to act with her grandmother and to be on their best behavior. Forte and Cherry didn't tell Felicity what to do or how to act, she always knew how to act from her upbringing.
"Is Granny Wendy the real Wendy from my play?" Maggie asked her mother, her eyes lightening with excitement.
"Yes." Moira smiled.
"No, honey, not really." Peter disagreed. He arranged his children to look prim and proper with a first impression for Wendy. He then knocked on the door, while Cherry kept staring at him.
"Cerise, what is it?" Forte whispered to his bride.
Cherry squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "It's just... Something about Peter looks very familiar to me... But, I can't think of where and how I know him..."
"Maybe he was a friend when you went to a summer camp when you were younger?" Forte suggested with a shrug.
"Oh, well, it's probably not that important." Cherry shrugged too, waiting for someone to answer the door and let them inside.
A man with wild white hair answered the door.
"Uncle Tootles." Moira introduced.
Cherry thought he seemed familiar too. She knew that name from somewhere.
"It's snowing!" Uncle Tootles exclaimed like an excited kid. He then slammed the door on them suddenly.
Jack laughed, then started to choke on his gum.
"That man is bizarre." Felicity spoke up.
"Flick, we do not say things like that aloud." Forte tutted.
"Sorry, Papa..." Felicity said, sheepishly.
A woman came to the door and opened it, screaming happily. Cherry flinched and plugged her fingers in her ears from the noise.
The woman looked at Maggie, Jack, and Felicity, screaming and laughing. "Oh, look at these adorable children."
"Who is this...?" Cherry quietly asked herself.
"It's good to see you, Libby...Linda...Lisa." Peter tried to figure out her name too.
"Liza." the woman responded.
"I said that." Peter lied, coolly.
The woman, Liza, laughed and screamed again. "Oh, Moira, how are you?"
Moira rushed in to the heat exposed house before they would all freeze to death.
Forte bent down and scooped up Felicity in his arms so she wouldn't get trampled as they walked in together and Liza doted on Moira's children.
"Granny Wendy will be right down." Liza told them.
The families walked in. Forte smiled with the warmth and was looking forward to seeing Wendy again, while Cherry had strange feelings. Something about this all seemed familiar, but at the same time she felt like she had not been in the house or met any of these people before. What was her deal tonight?
"Something feels familiar..." Cherry said, quietly.
"I feel it too, you look familiar to me, but I feel like I don't know you from anywhere..." Peter was just as confused as she was.
Cherry groaned and rubbed her head. "Why is today so confusing? It seemed so simple until we met you folks and I heard your names..."
"Maybe you're thinking of the play my daughter was in. Classic tale it is about a boy who never grew up..."
"Oh, Peter, look at this." Moira came over with a framed picture of a boy.
"Who's that?" Peter asked.
"It's you."
"Was I ever that young?"
"Yes."
Cherry glanced at the picture. "Now I know I've seen you somewhere, Peter... But where?"
"What's gotten into you?" Peter asked after sharing a kiss with Moira.
"Oh, this house," Moira sighed, like thrilling nostalgia chills around her body. "Some of those things I was when I was young have never left me. Peter, we were children in these rooms."
"Lost, lost, lost..." Uncle Tootles was now on the floor on his hands and knees.
Cherry glanced at him, then looked away in disturbance.
"Cerise, isn't this a wonderful house?" Forte asked. "Yes, there's Joyuex Noël things, but I'm glad I'm with you..."
Cherry didn't answer, she looked disturbed.
"Cerise, I know you hate happiness, but can't you be in a good mood for our daughter's sake?" Forte sighed, crossing his arms.
"I'm sorry, Charles, it's just... This place is reminding me of something, but I can't think of what..." Cherry replied, raking her fingers through her hair.
"Hello, boy..." a distant voice said.
Cherry heard it and decided to follow it. Peter was frozen and looking up the stairs. Cherry looked at him, then looked up at the stairs and had the same reaction.
"Hello, Wendy..." both of them said at once, feeling like something unsettling was happening inside of them both, but they didn't know what it was. They had the same feelings, but they didn't understand what it could have been at all.