A/N: Final chapter, final age update! Matt & Sasha are 41, Olivia is 19, Emilia is 16, and Georgie is 12 :)
"The Pondskipper Chronicles"
7. Twenty-Four Years Later
Emilia and Georgie had been working on the sign for three days, and now they stood side by side, holding it, waiting at the airport. 'Welcome Home, Olivia!' it said. Sixteen and twelve years old they now were, and all they wanted was to see their sister, now nineteen, as she'd return to them. She'd been away for college, stateside, and this would be the first time she returned home; they wanted to make it special. Their parents must have been on the same train of thought, as they'd been checking her flight information, fixing her room, stocking the house, for about a week now.
"It's late, I'm telling you," Sasha shook her head, looking at the board.
"I don't know, I…" Matt was scanning it, too, but then the display changed.
"It's here, she's here!" Georgie declared. "Mimi, get the sign up!"
"Be careful, alright?" Sasha told them. "There's going to be a lot of people walking by," she reminded them, but him especially. His accident had left him on crutches for months, then on a single crutch until finally he had been able to leave that one behind, too. There were still times when he got shaky, but overall he was fine. It didn't keep his parents from being very cautious with him.
"I know, I know," he insisted, while Emilia pointed.
"I see her!"
Olivia emerged from the mass of people, her mother's smile all over her face. She dashed up to her siblings, who dropped the sign just in time to reach out their arms into a group hug. "Hey, guys!" After a minute, she moved to be received by her mother, who held her close, a grateful smile on her face. "You're not crying, are you?" Olivia asked her.
"No, that'd be him," she nodded back to her husband.
"Hey, now, there's no crying here, but there will be if I don't get a hug," he smiled.
"Wouldn't want that," Olivia moved to hug her father. He kissed the side of her head, looking back at her. "How was your flight?"
"Bad movie, chatty neighbor… It was perfect," she shook her head.
"Come on, let's get home."
It would have been natural for the conversation in the car to center around Olivia, but the moment they had driven off from the airport, all she wanted was to hear about Emilia and her upcoming showcase. Olivia had foregone the activity when she was still in school, and it was her younger sister who had gone and taken to the song and dance routine… She was in her first year of Glee Club.
Matt said she had his moves, and Sasha said she had her voice… Emilia just loved it all. She'd tried it out by curiosity, knowing her parents' history. It hadn't taken long before she'd fallen for it. This would be her very first performance in front of an audience, and it just so happened that Olivia had a couple days off at the time; she wasn't going to miss her baby sister's show if she could help it. Emilia had confided how happy she was to have her there, that it made her just a little less nervous.
After they'd arrived home, a shower and a nap came before their first family meal in a while. There was more talk about the show, then about Olivia's life overseas, and then just to see their brother blush, the girls had turned their questions to the subject of Georgie and his 'girlfriend' Rose.
The next day, Emilia woke up early, sneaking off into the yard with her music in her ears, going through her choreography. She'd been at it for ten minutes or so before she looked up and found her father looking on from the open window, leaning on the sill.
"Looking good," he told her, smiling.
"Hope so," she called back. He came down and joined her in the yard. "Nervous?"
"Would it be terrible if I passed out up there?" she cringed.
"You're not going to pass out. You're going to be great; we both know it. I was nervous my first time, too," he revealed.
"What happened?"
"Well, our 'star' singer, Rachel, had dropped out to join the musical, and our director brought in a friend of his to take her place. She was kind of… special," he laughed. "April Rhodes, her name was."
"From 'Cross Rhodes?'" Emilia startled.
"Yes," Matt confirmed. "We did the first number, and then after that she left. But then Rachel came back, and we did our second number… It's still one of my best memories," he smiled.
"But you weren't nervous?"
"At first, sure. But then something happened, being in that room, getting ready, waiting to go on… There's this… this spirit that comes alive in there. You'll probably be nervous, but you won't care."
"Right…" she breathed out, and he laughed, hugging her.
"No matter what, we'll be there to cheer you on."
So in mid-afternoon, they were off to Emilia's school, and she went to join her group while the rest of them queued up for the auditorium. "She'll be alright, won't she?" Sasha asked Matt, having apparently taken over the role of the nervous one.
"Of course," Matt offered his arm, and Sasha took it with a smile. They got their seats, Matt next to Sasha, next to Georgie, next to Olivia.
"Can I be in Glee Club, too?" Georgie asked out of the blue.
"Do you want to?" Sasha laughed, tugging his ear.
"I don't know, maybe," he shrugged. "What if I'm not good?"
"Plenty of time to look into it, you know?" Matt pointed out. That made Georgie smile.
Finally it was time for the show to start, and Matt had his camera out to capture the whole thing, so did Olivia. The lights dimmed, the curtain opened, and so it began. Emilia had told them she had one brief solo moment in the first song. Already they were following her every move as she danced among the others, and when she stepped up front, Matt felt Sasha's hand on his knee. He took her hand in his, remaining focused on the camera, though his mind was with his wife. He knew exactly what she was thinking of.
They were generally staying away from the term 'full circle,' but it did fit the situation. They had not met on the stage, but the stage had been such a massive influence on their relationship, their friendship, that to see their daughter up there, doing this thing that she loved as much as they did, it felt right. The five of them, they were a family who could say without a doubt that distance didn't have to hurt. Sometimes it only made you stronger.
THE END
