A/N: I cannot even begin to describe how amazing the response to this was! Thank you all so much! Here's the next chapter x
After arriving at the main gate, the little entourage headed towards Ariel's Grotto at Disney California Adventure Park to have breakfast, deciding to start there and then make their way across later.
Once again, Beca is impressed by Stacie's ability to think of everything.
"You mean you made reservations? For breakfast?" Beca asks, laughing when she looks at Tamara's enthralled look as they walk past all sorts of things she's sure the four year old wants to get up close to and see.
Stacie shrugs, a smile on her face, "Would you want to wait around before getting some grub into your tummy?"
Beca's stomach chooses that moment to grumble and the DJ rolls her eyes, "No…I just don't see why you'd have to-"
She cuts herself off when she sees just how buzzing the place is with energy.
It's not ridiculously filled to the brim, but it's more people than Beca is totally comfortable handling.
Stacie bumps into her gently, and teasingly says, "As your PR manager, it's my job to think ahead. And as my baby's mother? It's my job to make sure we don't get grumpy."
Beca takes in the large King Triton holding up his trident, and then her gaze lowers to see Ariel smiling down at them happily. Beca's gaze lowers further to the actual entrance and sees the sheer number of strollers all around.
"Dude, how many kids can they even put in there?" The shorter brunette asks incredulously, taking hold of Tamara's hand for a bit while Stacie laughs under her breath at Beca's reaction face.
They descend the spiral stairs and arrive at Ariel's Grotto where, they "get to attend a royal undersea breakfast banquet with Ariel and her friends!"
The teen who had excitedly said that, was obviously being well paid, Beca thinks as they take a seat inside rather than on the patio. She doubts there would be any other way for someone to be that excited about Ariel and her friends.
Tamara thought differently obviously.
The second the teen, "You can call me Kat, I'm going to be your server this morning!", had sat them down, and had mentioned Ariel, Tamara was over the moon.
"Mommy really?" Her blue green eyes wide as saucers as she looks up at her mother, hope filling her voice as she sits up straight in anticipation of the answer.
Stacie nods her head enthusiastically, "Really babygirl. I didn't know you liked Ariel though." She says teasingly, and Beca smirks because like hell she didn't know.
Tamara gasps, utterly shocked at that, and somehow her eyes look as if they widen even more and okay maybe Beca is a little concerned at that, but she gasps and then she's looking at her mother like she doesn't know how she could possibly not know, "Don't say that! What if she hears you and thinks I don't love her?"
Tamara looks around as if to check for any signs of Ariel or otherwise and then looks back up at her mother with a look of disappointment as she very seriously says, "I sing Under the Sea with you all the time." She shakes her head slowly as she says this and it takes everything within Beca not to laugh out loud because this kid is so precious, it's unfair.
Stacie exaggeratedly widens her eyes, "Oh! That's right! How could I forget?"
Kat comes back after giving them time to look over the menu, and Beca has to admit the service is something out of this world.
"Can we please have a chocolate chip cruiser waffle? We'd like a plain milk with that please." Stacie orders for Tamara who looks up at Kat and nods her head to confirm and adds on a, "Yes, please."
"Sure thing!" She jots it down and then looks back up at Stacie to get her order.
"I'd like the breakfast sandwich, and may I please have a cup of coffee?" Stacie asks politely, closing the menu and handing it to Kat.
"Absolutely!" She takes the menu and then turns to Beca and smiles widely, "And for you?"
Beca clears her throat and says, "I'd like a coffee as well, and can I please have the fresh berry Belgian waffle."
Kat writes that down, "That's a wonderful choice. I'll be back with your coffees now, unless you want me to bring them out with your food?"
Stacie looks to Beca, knowing she can handle the wait, but not really sure if Beca would be able to go another minute without her caffeine fix.
Beca shakes her head, "No, no. Please do bring the coffees now, I'm in need of a boost in the a.m."
Kat laughs and nods, "You got it ma'am! I'll be right back then!"
She's off like a shot before Beca can ask her not to call her ma'am, and that leaves Beca scowling slightly, grumbling down at her lap that she isn't old enough to be called ma'am yet.
Tamara isn't paying them any mind, she's beyond preoccupied by all the things around her, things that would have had Beca suffering from sensory overload.
Just as promised, Kat is back with two cups of coffee, sugar and cream. She also puts down Tamara's milk box besides Stacie, before assuring them that she'll be back as soon as their food is ready, and to, "call me over if you need anything at all!"
Beca dives for her coffee, forgoing all add-ons for her first cup.
Stacie rolls her eyes at Beca's antics and sips at her own coffee much more calmly, rather than as if the answers to all of the world's questions lie at the bottom of her cup.
"I get this is like the 'happiest place on Earth' but…no one is naturally that happy." Beca whispers to Stacie, out of Tamara's earshot, indicating over to Kat who is having an obviously jovial conversation with an equally enthusiastic smiling person.
"Yes well, not everyone has your sunny disposition Beca. It can't be helped."
Beca snorts and decides not to reply, which in hindsight probably let Stacie think she'd one upped her.
Beca actually laughs when Tamara sees her very cruise-ship like waffle being placed in front of her, and Beca's glad that Stacie caught sight of their food coming and thought to record Tamara's adorable reaction.
"I get to eat this!" Tamara exclaims, giggling excitedly and very carefully scooting forward so that she can reach her food even better.
Midway through their impressively delicious breakfast, Tamara freezes.
She just completely stops moving, and if there wasn't movement and sound still happening all around them, Beca would have thought time stopped.
"Tammy? Are you okay?" Stacie asks gently.
"Ariel," Is all Tamara whispers under her breath, awe and reverie seeping into her tone. She's facing the entrance to the dining area and she can see as the underwater princess walks in.
Beca, badass as she is, can admit when something is too cute for words.
And this awestruck child sitting in front of her, hardly breathing in fear of causing the character to disappear, is the epitome of too cute for words.
Beca didn't realize that by, 'Ariel and friends,' Kat meant the other princesses, not just the fish and shrimp, or whatever crustacean Ariel had with her.
But Beca only realizes this when Tamara drops her spoon onto the table in her shock as she sees the next princess walk in.
"Anna!"
Sure enough, and much to Tamara's irrevocable delight, Princess Anna of Arendelle is here and making her way over to their table.
"I didn't actually think she'd be one of the princesses here! It's usually Ariel with like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Tammy's not ever going to get over this." Stacie mutters to Beca excitedly, grabbing the camera and turning it on, as Beca just sits there watching with a somewhat confused look on her face.
"Oh my! What is that amazing smell?" The redheaded princess takes a deep breath, shutting her eyes, a smile on her lips as she crouches down beside Tamara, opening them before locking eyes with Tamara as they both exclaim, "Chocolate!"
Beca, who would normally be rolling her eyes at anyone being so bubbly, is struck silent by the woman crouching by Tamara, now having a full on back and forth exchange with the four year old.
She doesn't know what's come over her in this moment, but Beca's fairly certain it's got something to do with a shade of blue she's never quite seen the likes of before in her life.
"And this is my mommy and Beca! We're gonna be right here for a whole week!" Tamara exclaims, eyes wide and bright, gesticulating with both her hands excitedly.
Princess Anna gasps happily, "All week! Right here? You mean I might see you around again? But wont you get sick of eating the same thing? No, that's silly, of course not! You get to eat chocolate chip waffles! That's good! More than good! That's frozen! Wait, what?" She rambles on in her awkwardly adorable way, eliciting a cheerful giggle from Tamara, and causing the grownups to smile.
"Frozen…that's kinda weird in the middle of summer, huh?" Princess Anna asks, kind eyes watching as the little girl nods her head, giggling away.
Stacie manages to sneakily pan the camera over towards Beca a few times and even manages a few pictures of the badass DJ totally letting her dorkier self loose what with smiling at the adorkable face character and not throwing out snarky comments.
Beca is pretty sure she's kind of a little bit weird for finding a 'damn Disney face character attractive, what the hell is the matter with you?' yet she still finds herself unable to look anywhere other than at the princess.
It takes a while for Beca to realize the look on her face must be rather lame for such a badass DJ and she finds the ability to reign herself in, and fix her features into one of grumpy uninterested grumpiness.
And that's when it happens.
She looks up at her.
Beca watches as Princess Anna's face goes from smiling to slightly pouty, as she looks at Beca, "Are you grumpy cuz you didn't get the wonderful chocolate-y waffles? I would be too…even though your berries look really yummy too!"
Beca just blinks, her face coloring at that, mouth hanging open slightly, until Stacie lightly nudges her as she's holding back a laugh and Tamara ends up pulling her focus, "Princess Anna? Can I please have your autograph?"
Princess Anna's eyes brighten as she smiles charmingly, "Of course! Silly me, I mean I probably should have offered, my sister would have, she's so good at the princess things…have you met Elsa yet? I seem to have lost her and I could really use your help if you could point me in the right direction. After I sign this of course!"
Stacie hands over Tamara's autograph notebook and a pen, which the four year old then regally hands over to the princess, who somehow manages a curtsey in her position, eliciting another giggle from Tamara, "Oh my goodness! Look, that's me and my lovely sister! Oh, I'm going to sign right here, and then when I find Elsa, I'll tell her to sign right beside me!"
Beca averts her eyes for what is most likely the first time since the princess walked over to their table, and she feels like such a freak for having been staring this whole time.
'What the hell is the matter with you DJ? Snap out of it.'
Tamara asks if she may, "please have a hug?"
And she gets an enthusiastic nod in return, "Yes please! I love hugs even more than Olaf does!"
Stacie captures these moments on camera and she's so thankful that the character is being so sweet, knowing it must be pretty tough to make it seem so personal and not at all rushed with every table these characters go to.
"Do you think you could give Beca a hug too? We love watching and singing Frozen together and I think getting a hug from you would make her smile!"
Stacie manages to hold back her sudden urge to giggle at the look of horror passing over Beca's face at the mere suggestion that she loves Frozen.
Princess Anna however looks mighty pleased with this tidbit of knowledge, grinning up at Beca with a dazzling smile, "I would love to! Just as much as I love that you love watching and singing along with Frozen!"
Beca grumbles but she knows Tamara would be upset if she were to upset her favorite princess, and so she rolls her eyes as she stands up and stiltedly accepts the hug that the character gives her.
"Oh wow you're tiny. Also tense, but that's so not the point, you're such a compact person…oh my God, sorry." The princess says quietly as she's hugging Beca.
Which causes Beca to scoff as she pulls back from the hug, "I am so not tiny!"
Which of course has Stacie laughing out loud, hardly able to keep the camera steady because her hand is shaking so bad.
Princess Anna's face is flushed at her inability to stop from saying things that pop into her head. Beca thinks the flush is a nice addition to Princess Anna's face, and she really can't stop thinking that she looks so beautiful, which is kind of disturbing because, 'dude that's a Disney character!'
Princess Anna giggles as she says, "Sorry, but you kind of are really tiny. It's okay though, I'm shorter than my sister…she's like this tall!" She raises her arm and stands on her tip toes as she tries to show them visually just how exaggeratedly tall her sister is.
Tamara is having a field day of course, and Stacie can't stop laughing at the incredulous look on Beca's face, though Stacie is happy to note that Beca's amused and quite receptive of the slight teasing coming her way.
It's soon after that Princess Anna bids them goodbye as she walks to another table, leaving behind a very happily satisfied Tamara, kicking her feet back and forth as she finishes her waffle, wondering if Ariel will come by to say hello too.
"Don't." Beca warns when she sees Stacie opening her mouth to say something.
Which causes the taller brunette to laugh, "What? I was just going to say that I think you handled yourself really well. No cursing her out or anything."
"Yeah, I didn't think Disneyland would've appreciated me cursing around here. Plus, Tammy might've stopped talking to me for life if I upset Princess Anna."
The two women look at the aforementioned girl, who is munching on her cereal now, watching as the other princesses walk around breezing over all the tables.
"You're right about that. She'd drop me in a heartbeat for Anna, I'm sure." Stacie says, shaking her head as she goes back to her own breakfast.
Beca settles for picking at the berries and sporadically throwing them into her mouth, eyes searching for the redheaded goofball princess as she does so.
Her eyes find the princess kneeling by twins at a few tables over, who are enthusiastically hugging her and laughing as they meet, probably, one of their favorite characters ever.
Beca unconsciously smiles as she watches this woman work her magic on yet even more children, and she finds herself thinking that it takes a special kind of person to be so good with kids and people. Beca wouldn't be able to do it if she had to. She would probably end up emotionally scarring the kids for life.