So, time for this story to come to an end. I have absolutely loved writing it and hearing all your thoughts :) I'm extremely fond of Ellie, Finn, Rachel and their little family, so having positive feedback has meant the world to me.
Please enjoy!
Cats, Ellie has decided, are the best animals in the world. Much better than spiders, certainly.
She grins to herself as she watches Spider – definitely living up to his unusual name – scaling the curtains with ease and then meowing when he reaches the top. It's a proud little meow that he repeats until she looks at him.
"Well how are you going to get down from that?" she asks, chuckling. "And if mom catches you she won't be happy."
He only stares back with big blue eyes. Yes, definitely the cutest little thing. With a playful flick of his tail, he somehow manages to move from the curtains to the top of the bookcase, and then proceed onto the sofa in a few bounces of energy. "What're you doing?" Ellie laughs as he dives onto one of his toys. This cat is 100% crazy, which is probably why he seems to fit in with the family so much.
To everyone's surprise, he seems to be enamoured the most with her dad. More often than not she finds Spider curled up on her dad's shoulder, or chasing his feet as he tries to walk up the stairs. Smiling, she slides onto the floor beside the hyper kitten and reaches for one of his toys. In an instant, he's up and trying to pounce on her hand. Tail and legs flailing in every direction, she can't hold in her giggles. "You are the funniest cat in the world." He mewls, rolling onto his back as he chews on a fake mouse.
With a smile to herself, she stands and retreats into the kitchen for a drink. In there, she finds herself grazing the kitchen for food but disappointed when there's nothing but fruit and some weird health bars. "What have I done to deserve this?" she talks aloud with a sigh, "not even one lousy candy bar."
"If you want candy, you can go buy your own," she jumps at the sound of her dad's voice, eyes widening slightly.
"Dad." Ellie places a hand on her pounding heart, "did you just get back?"
"Yeah, and we heard you routing around in the refrigerator. Figured you were on the scavenge again."
She looks appalled, "scavenge?"
"You get it from me," he chuckles, "I eat when I'm bored."
Ellie's just about to argue when she realizes his statement is very much true and accepts defeat with a sheepish smile. Thankfully, chaos seems to be occurring in the living room, with her cousins cooing over the kitten. Then she hears something that makes her eyes almost roll to the back of her head, "can we teach him to skateboard?"
"He's a cat," Blaine says to his youngest son, "cats don't skateboard."
"They do if you teach them," Daniel announces, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. To the nine year old, it probably is.
The pitter patter of four tiny paws seems to grow louder and louder, until she notices her dad suddenly wince. Turning, he shows off the cat scaling the back of his legs and headed for his butt.
"Spider!" she grumbles, "no!"
"A bit too late," Finn croaks out.
She grabs hold of the naughty kitten before he does any more damage, and takes his squirming little butt back into the living room. Everyone seems to be shrugging off their winter coats and shoes, with Sarah squirming to get out of the pushchair. Ellie beats Rachel to it, almost getting knocked over by the ball of energy that is her three year old sister. "Kitty!" Sarah announces, "kitty." Spider seems to appreciate someone just as crazy as he is and joins her in a mad dash around the living room.
Uncle Kurt looks onwards with a look of fear, "are you sure you'll be alright with the boys tonight? You seem to have a lot on your hands . . ." As if by fate, Lily decides to announce to the world that she's hungry.
"A couple more won't make any difference. If anything, it might cancel out the crazy," Finn says as he leans against the doorframe.
"Are you calling us crazy?" Ellie raises her brow.
"Yeah," Daniel and Caleb cross their arms in sync, almost like some god awful 90's boyband (Ellie cringes just a little).
Sarah, watching her older siblings, quickly catches on. "Yeah." She finishes, her arms crossed just as sternly as her brothers'.
Finn and Rachel share a look as if to say 'did that really happen?' before grinning. "You get it from your mom, I swear." Finn smirks, earning a pillow thrown in his direction. More join as they follow Rachel's suit and make him pay for his choice of words.
"Right, that's it, you're all grounded," he chokes out through heavy laughter, then points to the innocent baby in her stroller, "especially you." Lily gawks back at him.
"You're mean, daddy!" Sarah sticks out her tongue.
He grins, "love you too."
Things seem to calm for a few minutes, with Rachel going to feed Lily, ad Kurt and Blaine's departure leaves the boys all headed outside to hopefully wear themselves out. Her dad smiles down at her, Sarah now in his arms and brushing his short, greying hair. "So, what's the plan lieutenant?"
"Well, I have homework to do . . . but also video games to play. What a dilemma," she taps her lips thoughtfully. Finn raises his brow, expression growing serious. Having a dad as a teacher definitely sucks sometimes. "Alright, alright, I'll do some homework. Geez."
"Good," he smiles once more, "'cause I wanna play video games and I don't need you cramping my style." When she turns to look at him with a look of shock, his eyes are twinkling and smirk twitching with the urge to laugh.
"That was sneaky."
"Why thank you." He lowers Sarah onto the floor so she can play, but instead she surprises them both by running up to the couch and oh so elegantly climbing onto it. There, she waits for Finn. "Play," she announces, pointing to the PS4 controller. Finn grows sheepish then, glancing at his eldest with a blush to his cheeks.
He idly rubs the back of his head, "I let her play a little sometimes, okay? She just likes pressing the buttons."
"Some real family bonding time," she laughs, looking at the last game he played, "over GTA 5. Dad, you're terrible!" She nudges his side and looks to Sarah, "you'll be raising a little vandal."
"We only played it once," he defends.
"Playing what once?"
Both their heads shoot to the door as Rachel walks back into the room with a sleeping baby against her shoulder, eyes narrowing at Finn. "Nothing!" It comes out as a squeak.
Sarah takes this as the perfect opportunity to throw her dad into it, "bang! Bang!" she pretends to shoot Rachel with her finger guns, grinning the entire time.
"Finn," Rachel begins, her voice raising dangerously.
He reaches for Sarah, shushing her as he lifts the girl easily into his arms. "Babe, we never ever play games. She must have got it from somewhere else. TV these days . . ." Rachel is clearly far from convinced, and her says that she'll bring it up later. Ellie notices her dad visibly gulp and stifles in her giggles.
She does take some pity on him, however (though it's still pretty funny seeing him get in trouble) and he makes for a quick change of subject. "So," she announces, throwing herself down onto the couch and assuming a comfortable position. "I figured out what I'm going to do with that money that Kate's mom gave to me."
Both heads turn, their interest piqued. "Oh," Rachel slowly nods, "are you keeping it then?" She slowly moves to join Ellie, as does Finn.
"I was going to give it back," she says honestly, "I still don't really feel like I deserve it, but I was thinking about it . . . I'm probably never going to get an opportunity like that again." Ellie gives a small shrug, "and I considering blowing it all on a great shopping spree, I'm not going to lie." Her dad rolls his eyes, while Rachel only chuckles. "but then I realized that I could put it toward college. I know it's more than a year away and I don't even know where I wanna go, or what I wanna do. It'll still be there in a year, though."
She catches her parents sharing a look again, one that she struggles to decipher. Her dad wraps his arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. "I think that's a really good idea, Princess."
"You do?"
"Of course!" He beams, "I'm really proud of you."
"Me too," Rachel chips in.
"But please do me a favor?" She frowns at her dad's random question, though nods nonetheless. "Can you please not mention college for at least another six months because you're making me feel really old."
Ellie groans, "Dad, you are really old."
"Sorry, what did you say?" he cups a hand around his ear, grinning.
"Oh my god," she rolls her eyes. "You are so lame."
"Aww, don't say that about your dear old father," Rachel smirks.
He pouts, "don't you start!" She manages to escape before they start bickering, dashing up to her room with Spider diving after her feet. Lowering onto the bed, she gives an absent smile. The feeling of content overwhelms everything else. She allows her mind to wander, wondering if she'll ever see Kate again. There's no definite no or yes, only an open prospect. The only thing she's sure about is that it's too soon now, but one day she'll be older, and a little wiser – by then maybe something good could come out of seeing each other again. Ellie drops back onto the mattress, staring at the ceiling. Thoughts are whizzing all around, most of it relaying the events of the past ten months, and then to the time ahead of her. She hasn't got it all figured out yet, the future doesn't seem as scary any more.
Is it bad that I'm feeling a little nostalgic since Ellie is almost all grown up? It probably is ^.^
Everyone have a wonderful New Year!
Please review :)