We might be officially one fifth through this story! I'm aiming for 100 chapters, but it might be slightly more... thanks for all the reviews! Just saying, I had a bottle of V this morning and haven't quite sat still since. Big mistake, I think. Read and review,
Rhyleigh xoxox!
"Where's Uncle Carbo?" Ellie called, running through the house.
"He's not home from work yet, bubs", Ben said, staring intently at the recipe book and stirring the contents of the pot carefully with his wooden spoon. After four years of being a father, he decided that domestication was the way to go, and was trying his hardest to set something edible on the table every night, that didn't come from a box or a takeaway shop. He had produced spaghetti bolognese and fried rice so far- both with great difficultly.
(Even Rachel- the least domestic person in the universe- had to laugh. "How do you guys live? You're all useless!")
"I just got a message", Retta called, coming into the room with the baby in her arms. "He says he's got a surprise for us".
"The last time he said he had a surprise he came home and announced he was a florist", Nathan said dryly, Ellie climbing into his lap.
"Maybe he's been promoted", Sammy joked.
"Don't laugh, Sam".
As he stirred the sauce, Ben thought to the last surprise he had been let onto. It had involved kisses to his cheeks, screams of 'Benji Benji Benji' and the announcement that he was proposing to Retta. That incident, of course, had ended with a pregnant Melissa and himself sitting on his parents' doorstep in their pyjamas while the alarm that he was unaware they had, wailed. With a smile on his face, he turned back to his sauce.
"Guys, we're gonna be eating tonight!" Ben announced gleefully, waving around his wooden spoon.
"Domesticating yourself, Benny?"
"I'm going to be the only person in this house who knows to cook". Ben glared. "There's five adults living in this house, how is it none of us know how to cook?"
"I know how to cook jelly", Ellie said absently, reaching for a grape from the bowl.
The four just stared at the little girl, before bursting out into laughter.
"That's one step up from Carbo", Nathan agreed. "But seriously, Retta, where is he? He should have been home hours-"
The screech of a car horn cut him off, and everyone turned towards the door.
"What the hell was that?" Ben wanted to know, completely abandoning the stove and heading towards the hallway. "Come on, Ell, let's go investigate".
Taking her father's hand, Ellie padded out the front door…
To find Carbo standing proudly in front of a van.
"What the hell is that?" Ben demanded.
"Surprise!" he said excitedly.
"What the hell is that?" Nathan repeated, following his brother out into the driveway to see his housemate. "Oh my God…"
"Please tell me that isn't ours", Retta said faintly and Sammy reached out to take the baby from her.
"Isn't it beautiful?" he said dramatically.
"Isn't it a heap of junk?" Ben rephrased. "Where did you get it from?"
"I bought it! We needed a family car!"
The Calamari Castle had a variety of cars, parked in its driveway and garage. There's was Ben's yellow car, Retta's bright red car, the beast (sometimes, they were sure that Carbo loved it more than he loved his family), Nathan's piece of junk (as Ben so kindly referred to it on a daily basis), and the van from the flower shop that was there about fifty percent of the time (with no back seats, Ben had pointed out, before calling it totally useless. "Of course it doesn't have back seats! That's where the flowers go!").
"It's ours!" Carbo said excitedly.
"Oh my God", Nathan and Ben said in unison.
"You know, Carbo", Sammy said gently, bouncing the baby on her hip, "When someone buys a family car, they generally consult the family before bringing it home".
"They generally talk about it before even thinking about bringing it home", Ben corrected. "When did we discuss buying a family car? I don't believe we ever did".
"I've been thinking about it for a while", he admitted.
"Carbo's been thinking". Nathan shook his head in amazement, receiving a glare from the man in question.
"What are we supposed to do when we all go somewhere?"
Ben had to admit, it was a practical idea- they were currently taking two cars minimum when they were all going somewhere. The van, while it was hideously ugly and probably didn't run that well (the chugging of the engine gave that away), was a vehicle that could get them from point A to point B.
Hopefully.
"And we're gonna fix it up like we fixed up the beast!" he enthused.
"We don't drive the beast", Nathan reminded him.
"But we're gonna drive this one".
"I like it", Ellie declared. "Can we go for a drive?"
"Wanna sit in the front seat?" Carbo said excitedly.
"This I've gotta see", Ben murmured, the sauce on the stove the furthest thing from his mind.
So, with the whole household watching him, Carbo lifted Ellie into the passenger seat of the car,
"Sometimes you've just got to surprise the engine when you turn it on, but don't worry; Ell and I'll fix it". He shrugged, climbing into the front seat.
It was at that moment that Retta broke down laughing at her husband.
"Hey Uncle Carbo, we can go and get ice cream for dessert!" Ellie said brightly, buckling her seatbelt.
"My sauce!" Ben squealed, running into the house.
It was just another ordinary day in their house, Sammy laughed, as the ten seater van trundled out the driveway and down the road, a four year old giggling in the front seat.
I wrote this one because I realised there was no 'family car'- and really, who else but Carbo would do something like this?
(Apart from Dave in one of the very first episodes.)