I was going to do a chapter any day before this but Christmas and family got the best of me. I hope you enjoy this chapter! x Merry Christmas! Happy New Year for the future!
"Nate, honey. Do not embarrass Scarlett. It's her first boyfriend and well, we're trying to make a good impression on him and his family." I said to my husband, straightening his tie.
"But, Caity... She's my Princess. I can't just let any guy date her." He whined.
"Stop whining. God, I don't know what's with you Gray men and being over-protective of your daughters. Jason, out of all people, threatened to kill the guy Avery was dating if he hurt her." I laughed at Jason's love for his daughters. I pushed Nate to the living room and went into the kitchen to see Kris helping out with desert. "Hey, pumpkin." I smiled.
"Hi, Mommy. I'm nearly finished with the desert." She said. I gave her a one armed hug.
"Thanks, sweetheart. It looks perfect." I smiled, admiring her art work. The doorbell rang and Scarlett rushed past her father to answer it.
"Welcome to my home!" She exclaimed. I came out of the kitchen, Kristyn following. "This is my Dad, Nate and my Mom, Caitlyn, my brother Matthew and my sister Kristyn." She introduced us. I shook hands with PJ's parents and waved at his siblings.
"Your home is beautiful." PJ's mother complemented. I thanked her and led everyone to the living room.
"So, PJ, what's your career path?" Nate asked. Scarlett and I glared at him. PJ didn't seem too fazed.
"I want to be a chef." He said proudly.
"He's a fantastic cook." His dad gushed.
"Well, my grandmother Connie owns a restaurant." Kristyn said.
"It has five Michelin stars." Scarlett said.
"I've been there before. It's awesome." PJ said. Scarlett smiled proudly and held his hand. I looked over at Nate and smirked.
"Oh and your Grandpa Han's a cop too." Nate said, talking about Mara's dad, Han.
"Cool." PJ's brother said. I giggled and smirked at Nate who rolled his eyes.
"Kristyn? Help with dinner." I said, getting up as Scarlett led everyone to the dining room. "Matt, ask for choices of drinks." I called out. He didn't reply and I rolled my eyes. Typical.
...
Dinner went smoothly as could be. Nate softened up to PJ and actually started to like him which actually started to frighten Scarlett a bit. As they were leaving, PJ took his time by talking to Nate about sport cars. Nate said that he would teach him how to drive some of his own cars. As the door closed Scarlett placed her hands on her hips.
"You are kidding me." She said. He shrugged and smiled, kissing her cheek and grabbing my hand, leading me upstairs. "I will get my revenge, Daddy." She called after us.
"How about a lack of allowance instead?" Nate asked, stopping on the top stair step and looking down at her. Scarlett laughed nervously.
"Never mind. Be best buds as far as I'm concerned!" She said, smiling fakely. I hit Nate and he went upstairs.
"Why do you embarrass our kids?" I asked him.
"Because it's fun. Why would we even have children if not to embarrass them once in a while. Like that time at the AMAs when Kris went to pick her award up, I whistled." He laughed as I snickered at the memory. Kris was blushing furiously as she sat back down. She refused to talk to any of us.
"Ok, point taken." I said, raising my hands up in defense. He came up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned my head on his shoulder as we swayed to the classical music that Matthew was playing downstairs on our grand piano. Matthew's quick fingers made my eyes droop a little.
"You tired?" Nate asked, kissing my forehead. I nodded, mumbling incoherent words. Nate picked me up bridal style as I squealed.
"I can walk you know." I said, giggling as Nate dumped me on the bed.
"I know. But it's so much fun doing that." He said, taking off his blazer. I rolled my eyes playfully and played with the hem of my collar. Nate came on top of me and stroked my face. I met his eyes and he kissed me. "You know-" He started.
"'I love you?'" I finished for him. He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I love you too, baby." I kissed his plush lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck as our tongues battled for dominance. Nate's hands found the bottom of my dress as he tried pulling it up.
"Mom, Dad, can I...? Oh shit!" We heard.
"What?!" Nate groaned.
"Hello, Kris." I said, sighing.
"We seriously need to buy a bell for this kid." Nate said, unimpressed.
"What did you want?" I asked, ignoring Nate.
"...Or maybe we can lock our door when we're in the zone..." Nate continued. I rolled my eyes and waited for Kris to start what she needed to say.
"Just was going to ask if I can have a sleepover?" She asked me.
"Or we take away her allowance..." Nate, please, shut up.
"Sure. When?" I asked.
"When we have our holidays. I'll invite; Eddie, Madison, Allie, Tori and Izzy." She said.
"No boys." Nate said. Kris glared at him and looked at me with puppy dog eyes.
"As long as Matt is there to supervise." I said.
"Yes! Thank you!" She said, hugging me. "Gotta go text them. Bye!" She closed our door.
"Did you just say 'yes' to-" Nate shut up as I glared at him. "I guess we won't be..." I nodded.
"Goodnight Nate." I said, getting out of bed and into the bathroom. I closed the door and smirked as I heard him yell.
I waited at Starbucks with Mitchie and Mara, waiting for Amelia. She was coming with William and she had been sending me pictures of him. "Gosh, she looks so different." Mitchie commented as I showed her and Mara a recent photo.
"Blonde hair suits her." Mara nodded, her manicured nail pointing at Amy's hair. Mitchie and I nodded, agreeing. I sipped on my Cinnamon Caramel Latte and scrolled through pictures, tweeting now and then. I had posted a picture of Mitchie, Mara and I with our new hair colors. Mitchie's was dark bright blue, Mara's was light lilac and mine was red velvet. We had thousands of approvals. They even asked what our hair smelt like. They had to ask C3 that. On a live chat to confirm that Connect 3 were going on tour for six weeks, they smelt our hair and said stuff like, 'It smells of cake, cherries and strawberries.' or 'Blueberries and grapes!'. Jason yelled grapes and Shane yelled blueberries. Nate didn't stop sniffing my hair and he tickled me.
Someone's hand closed around my eyes as I grinned. "Uh, why is it dark?" I asked, pretending not to realize.
"Hi! Guess who?" Amelia said.
"Scarlett?" I asked. Amy gave a noise of incorrect answer. "I know it's you Amy." I giggled. She giggled as I stood up and hugged her. "I've missed you!" I said. She hugged Mitchie and Mara.
"Miss you guys loads too!" She said. We heard a baby gurgle and I awed. "Meet William." She said, grinning.
"Hello!" Mitchie, Mara and I waved. William giggled and waved back.
"He's so handsome." Mara said, stroking his cheek.
"Awe!" Mitchie said, grinning as he smiled at her.
"How have you been?" I asked Amelia.
"Great. Life is fantastic. Right, straight to it. I want you, Mitchie and Mara as my bridesmaids." She said, grinning. We nodded and squealed.
"Wait, who's maid of honor?" Mara asked.
"No-one. I just want a intimate wedding. No maid of honor or best man. All equal here." Trust Amy to be different. We agreed and nodded. "Right, how are the kids? My big brothers?" She asked.
"They're good." Mitch, Mara and I left it at that. The boys have been preparing and rehearsing for their upcoming tour. GC4 have been busy with their new album and our other kids, well, they've been proper teenagers.
"Great! That's fantastic. Now, you all are invited to William's birthday party. Can you make it on Saturday?" She asked us.
"I'm free." I said, clapping William's hands together.
"Sure thing!" Mara said, grinning.
"I guess I'm free..." Mitchie drawled out, teasing us.
"Fantastic! Well, sorry for not staying for too long. Broadway calls! Love you!" Amelia said, kissing our cheeks as we said goodbye. She got William to wave at us and we awed and cooed over it.
...
William giggled as he blew out his birthday cake candles. Everyone cheered and Amelia picked him up. "He's so adorable!" Scarlett said, holding her arms out as Amy put him in them.
"Can we...-?" Kris started.
"No!" Nate and I said. Amy laughed and patted Nate'a shoulder.
"Don't worry, lil' Kris. You can babysit for me." She offered. Kristyn shrugged and played with William's fingers.
"Maybe." She said. "Don't come cheap." She said. Amy's mouth hung open as I snickered.
"You're right. She is just like me!" She gasped.
"Truth hurts, doesn't it?" Shane said, walking past.
"Shut up." Amelia mumbled.
"I'm thinking about 500,000 a week." Kristyn offered.
"Kris, no kind of babysitter would do that for that amount of money." Nate said.
"Did say that I didn't come cheap, Daddy." She smirked.
"Golddigger." Nate said. Kris struggled for a comeback.
"Curly haired dude." Was the best she could come up with.
"And proud to be one." Nate ruffled her hair.
"Not the hair!" She said, hitting him.
"Lord help us." Amelia whispered to me. I nodded. We walked off to find Mitchie and Mara laughing about something. "Sup." Amy said.
"Nada. Just talking about Shane's new hair products." Mitchie said.
"You're kidding me." I said, giggling.
"Nope. He bought ten bottles of hairspray this morning. Even the girls don't use as much as he does." Mitchie said.
"Dylan is copying Avery now. It's a phase she's going through." Mara said.
"Oh, Kris is passed that. It was funny watching Scarlett yell at her for borrowing her clothes." I laughed with them.
"Now I want a daughter." Amy pouted.
"Get cracking right on it, then!" Mara said as Amy's fiancé waved at us. Mitchie and I giggled as he blushed a light shade of red.
"I will kill you." Amy said, joking. "Maybe when everyone's left, then." She said, running off to greet some guests. Jason came and pulled Mara into him.
"Jasey!" She giggled.
"Oh, come on! Guys!" Mitchie whined.
"Whatever." Mara giggled. Shane and Nate joined us too. "Here, go make googly-eyes with your husbands." She said.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes playfully.
"What does that mean?" Mara smirked. Mitchie caught on.
"Ooh, someone's angry they're not getting 'any' in the bedroom department!" Mitchie whispered, nudging my arm.
"Two words." Nate gestured with his fingers. "Kris. Bell." Jason and Shane were confused.
"What does that mean?" Jason asked. Nate raised an eyebrow at Shane and he got it.
"He means that lil' Kris is disturbing their bedroom time. They're inserting a mental bell in her brain so they know when to stop." He winked at us.
"Poor Kris! You guys are just evil for thinking of putting a bell in her brain." Jason said as Kristyn went up and hugged him.
"You tell 'em Uncle Jason!" She giggled. "Sorry that I am disturbing... maybe if you will lock your door or something...?" Nate glared at her. "Oh yeah, you were going on about that earlier in the week. Oh well." She stalked off.
"Don't the sounds make it obvious?" Nate mumbled.
"Baby, don't worry, she's going to a sleepover soon." I offered.
"No. She's the one hosting it. That means how many more kids in our house disturbing us?" Nate said.
"Oh yeah... I'll book a hotel room for the weekend then you'll have plenty of time to go on tour and remember our little rendezvous." I smirked. The girls laughed.
"Very funny(!)" Nate playfully glared at me and pulled me into his side, kissing my cheek.
"Look at them. They're so cute!" Mitchie said. I winked at her and she grinned. "It's so sad that we're not going on tour with you guys." Mitchie sighed.
"If we hadn't had kids then we will totally go but gotta think about the children." Mara said.
"But all of you are going to a see a couple of concerts, right?" Shane asked.
"Yup." I said. "You guys are going to call everyday, right?" I asked.
"Yup." Nate said. The girls and I groaned.
"What?" Jason asked.
"Different time zones. I am not going to be called at 3 a.m in the morning just to speak with you." Mara said, with us girls agreeing.
"Can't you properly sleep till after six weeks?" Shane asked.
"Shane? We need our beauty sleep. How are we going to get that if our stupid husbands call us at one specific time in the early hours of the morning when we have jobs?" Mitchie asked him.
"Fair enough. We'll lose our sleep to call you when it is most convenient." Shane teased.
"Be careful of what you do, Shane." Mara warned. "And don't forget boys, Cait and I are still black belts." She smirked at me.
"Meaning?" Nate asked us.
"We can kick your asses when you come back home. If you do piss us off. If you don't then you're nice and safe." I said, patting his shoulder and grinning when William made his cute butt over to us. I picked him up and wiped some dribble off his lips.
"Oh my, he's such an angel!" Mitchie said, stroking his face.
"Isn't he?" Mara agreed, making kissy faces at poor William. Amy came over to us, smiling in relief.
"He toddled off somewhere and I was looking for him. Thanks guys." She said. William put his arms out.
"You wanna go to mommy? Ok, mommy, here he comes!" I flew him over to her and he laughed.
"Hmm, someone needs a change." Jason said, swatting the air. Amy sniffed William's bum and moved her head away in disgust.
"Be right back guys." She said, walking off with William.
The rest of the night went by smoothly and William loved every little bit of his party. What a cutie.
Scarlett & Matthew's Prom came and went and Matt managed to convince Grace Montez to be his girlfriend. They were keeping their relationship under wraps though. The paparazzi haven't even guessed a thing. I woke up and felt Nate's side of the bed. He was in the other side of the world, doing what he loved with his older brothers.
Sighing, I got out of bed and put on my dressing gown. I went downstairs using the newly inserted lift we had gotten done because Matthew broke his leg a couple of weeks ago and was too lazy to hop upstairs. I stepped in and pressed the down button which took me down to the kitchen.
Oblivious to my surroundings, I went to the fridge and opened it, looking for what I wanted to eat. Instead I got a carton of apple juice and put it on the counter island, grabbing a cup from the sink's side. I covered my mouth as I yawned and finally turned around. "What are you doing up so early? It's your holidays!" I said to Matthew and Scarlett.
"We're thinking about college applications. Kris and her mates are still asleep." Matt said, rubbing the tiredness off his face.
"So... What have you decided about college?" I asked, sitting down and looking at the screen of Matt's laptop.
"We're taking a gap year for our careers." Scarlett said. My face was emotionless. "Well, we don't have too. We just thought that acting while we're still young would help boost our PR. Matt's got an offer to star in a new TV show but he can decline it and I can decline any offers I have to go to college." She rambled. I sighed and smiled softly at them.
"Hey. It's not me going to college here. I'm pretty sure your Dad would agree when I say it's your decision. Matt, accept that offer. Scar, your idea is pretty clever. You are both clever young adults and your father and I would support you in any decent decision you make, sweethearts." Matt kissed my cheek and grinned.
"Thanks, mama." Scarlett said, hugging me. "Pancakes do you good?" She offered to us, standing up.
"Yeah, fine with me." I said as Matt helped get the ingredients out. I poured the apple juice into my cup and sipped, enjoying the rich appley taste. "Make two each for Kris and her friends." I said. Scarlett nodded as she reached up to get a frying pan. I decided to text Mitchie and Mara and go on Twitter.
"Matt!" Scarlett shrieked. I looked up and smiled. "Stop it." She moved back, holding a spatula in front of her face.
"You know I love you..." Matthew started.
"Yeah you do so much that you wouldn't want to throw flour on me." She pleaded.
"And you most definitely care about you." He went on.
"Yes so much that you would not throw flour in my hair after I've washed it ten times this morning.
"But in times like this, sis, you can't expect me to not get my revenge from when you broke my leg." He hobbled closer to her.
"I didn't know I slammed my car door on your leg!" She said. "After Grace and I heard the snap we were shocked. Trust me."
"Ok. Deal time. If you drive me anywhere I want to go to for the duration my leg is healing, I won't throw this flour in your pretty hair." He said.
"Ok, fine, deal." He held his hand out.
"Promise?" He asked, smirking.
"Promise." She shook his hand and sighed in relief. I will miss those two knuckleheads when they go lives their lives in the Big Apple. They hugged and went back to making pancakes.
Life was changing and sometimes I just had to accept that. If I didn't accept it then things will be boring.
Sorry I took ages to make this chapter. Writer's Block and Christmas was drifting through the air. Next chapter will be three years after this. And it will be the sneak preview from Director's Cut, episode 3.
Peace out, Merry Christmas, Snow, Happy New Year, Birthday 6th Jan-Bex.