"I don't think this is gonna work." Serena Joy grunted as she tried to zip the larger part of Reason's backpack shut.
"I'm not paying to check a bag." Reason declared, trying to stuffed Maudie's little yellow sweater down, so maybe it would make things easier.
Reason, Serena Joy, Alex, and Hannah, who were all in Reason's bedroom, backed away from the bed and the back pack on it. "I thought your parents were paying." Alex pointed out.
"They bought the tickets, but I'm pretty sure I'm on my own for everything else." Reason answered.
Reason had tried to beg off going to her parents, saying that she didn't know if she could get off in time to make the flight, and even if she could, she still didn't have enough wiggle room for tickets for both her and Maudie. She was told that if she could get off, they could provide the tickets. She thought about not and saying she did, but she felt bad outright lying to her parents again, so she asked, amusing that while Rawls would probably be amendable, Howard wouldn't let her out of the drawing. She was wrong. The plane tickets arrived in the mail a few days after that. There was no getting out of this.
Maudie, who had been watching from the corner at that point, hopped her way to the adults. "I help?"
"No, baby, I don't think you can." Reason told her, rubbing her face wearily.
"Look, maybe we should move stuff around." Serena Joy suggested, "Something you can leave behind."
With that being the only suggestions, they laid everything out on the table: Both their two brushes, children's shampoo, a bar of soap, Reason's tee shirts and the sweater she currently wasn't earing two pairs of jeans and her blue Eiffel Tower poplin dress, Maudie's little yellow sweater, her slivery lilac sweater, her white long sleeve shirt and blue floral jumper, three pairs of jeans, her brow plaid dress and the little white sweater, the gown she had wore when the Winchesters baby sat her last new years, set of yellow footie pajamas, sand every toy Maudie owned.
"Okay, so tomorrow's Christmas Eve and you're leaving the day after Christmas, right?" Serena Joy asked.
"Yeah." Reason answered.
Picking up the tee shirt, Serena Joy suggested, "Then maybe we don't need to bring your whole warrobe?"
Reason nodded, taking the tee shirt and putting it back in the closet.
"And do you really need the dresses?" Hannah asked, pointing at the poplin.
"Christmases back home are more formal." Reason told her, folding the dress up as small as she could make it, then putting in the back pack.
Picking up the soap, Alex pointed out, "Also, they're probably let you use the bathroom soap. And toothpaste."
"Right." Reason agreed, putting them to the side. She looked around for another place to cut and realized some of Maudie's toys would have to go. Tucking her hair back she crouched down to the toddler's level, saying, "Maudie, baby, I think you're going to have to pick some toys to stay here until we get back."
"No!" Maudie whined.
"I'm sorry, but we can't fit everything in the bag." Reason told her sincerely. Reaching out and stroking the child's arms, she added, "Besides, you're going to get some new toys probably while we're at Grandma and Grandpa's'."
"Why can't we stay here?" Maudie asked.
"Oh, baby, its only over Christmas." Reason assured her, picking her up and holding her.
"We stayed here last time." Maudie pointed out.
"Grandma and Grandpa want to see you again." Reason was telling Maudie when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Seeing an opportunity for the distraction, Reason switch gears, "Let's go see who that is."
Still carrying Maudie walked to her door, peaked through the hole, revealing Sam holding a large wrapped box. He had the boys on leash on and Dean was holding a smaller wrapped box.
"Oh, look what Mr. Sam and the boys got for you." Reason said in high pitched voice, hoping this would improve the toddler's mood.
Maudie's face did brighten a little as she realized the implication. "Me?"
"Yeah, you." Sam confirmed as he was ushered in.
"Do you need help with that?" Reason asked, as Sam struggled, to get inside.
That was when the women entered the living room. "Here, let me take the boys." Hannah offered, hurrying towards her husband and taking the hardest leads.
"Thanks." Sam told her, "So where do you want it?"
"Here's fine." Reason told him.
Sam sat it down, and it was soon joined in a small pile of presents wrapped in paper.
"Okay, which on do you want to open first?" Reason asked.
Maudie reached out and pointed to the largest package, one of the two Sam had brought.
"Okay." Reason said, pushing it towards her and helping her start the tear.
"She is going to be so confused when they do this again in a couple of days." Alex whispered to the group.
Maudie got a large swath of a paper off the package, revealing a picture of large pink dollhouse, with a green roof and what looked like green balcony. As Serena Joy looked on, it reminded her of the Dream House she and her sisters had shared as a kid.
"Fank you." Maudie said, then asked, "What this?"
"It's a doll house, baby." Reason explained.
"Fank you." Maudie repeated, going to Sam and hugging his leg.
"You're very welcome." Sam replied, leaning down and hugging.
When all was done, Maudie had the dollhouse and a Strawberry shortcake doll, a set of outfits for her baby doll, which she was playing with more now, an orange piggy bank with antlers, a plush creeper bank, and coloring book.
They let the kids play for a while. The doll house had an elevator and all three of them were fascinated by it, seeing what they could make fit on the platform and making it go up and down, up and down.
"Yeah, she's gonna run that battery down." Reason commented, "You really didn't have to, guys."
"We wanted to." Hannah told her. Besides, they had actually found the doll house at thrift store. Sam opened the box when no one was looking to make sure it was in good condition. After a beat, Hannah changed the subject. "Reason, can I make an observation."
"Sure." Reason told her, not sure if she wanted to hear whatever the observation was.
"You don't—seem happy to be going back home." Hannah declared.
Reason sighed. "It's not that I don't want to go to my parents it's just—they literally had a memorial Facebook page trying to find me. People ran Kit out of town and Avery turned him into a eunuch. All because I couldn't own up to –well, you know. How—how do I face everyone after that."
"They don't—they don't know about Avery." Hannah try to console her my minizine it, then she realized, "That's not helping, is it?"
Reason shook her head. "Thanks for trying tough." She knew Hannah had meant well.
"Maybe you could tell them you can't come." Hannah suggested, "I mean, you do have a small child."
"When I was Maudie's age, I'd been back in froth in an airplane at least two dozen times." Reason told her, "Dad was in seminary out of state. No, I have to face them sooner or later."
Hannah wrapped her arms around the girl. "It's going to fine. Remember, whatever happens, you have people back here who love you."
That actually made the mom feel a little better. "Thanks, Hannah."
They managed to tear the kids away from the toys long enough for Maudie to pick what she wanted to bring. They packed the new toys, except for the doll house, her dolls, her seal and Nessie.
"Okay, I think we did it." Reason declared, zipping up the back pack. She threw it over her back, then put the diaper bag on her shoulder. "Thanks for all the helps guys."
Alex walked up to her. "Ah, before you go, one more thing." She pulled out something square wrapped in green paper.
"Y-you didn't—" Reason stammered, taking the package.
"I wanted to." Alex assured her, "I figured you could use it. Go ahead open it."
Reason tore the paper off, revealing the black day planner. "Thank you. I love it."
The pair went in for a hug. "Let us know when you land, okay?" Alex requested.
"Okay." Reason agreed.
Fifteen minutes later Reason was standing in a long line at the airport terminal with Maudie in her arms. "Mommy, how much longer?" Maudie asked.
"Just a little, bit, baby." Reason said, bouncing her gently up and down and looking a head of the line, thinking she might have lied. "Hey you want to play a game? I spy with my little eye something you don't see."
"Is it big?" Maudie asked.
Reason's eyes darted around the room, because, she hadn't actually picked something out yet. She was just trying to keep Maudie from getting too fussy. Suddenly, she got an idea. "Yes?"
"Is it big as me?" Maudie asked.
"Bigger." Reason told her.
"Is it big as Mommy?" Maudie asked.
"Even bigger." Reason answered.
"What color is it?" Maudie question.
"Clear." Reason responded.
Maudie paused for a moment with baffled look. Suddenly she got her own idea. "Is it the window?"
Reason grinned. "Yeah, good job, Maudie. Now it's your turn."
The pair took turns until at last they got to the front of the line. "Okay, Maudie, that's enough for now. Mommy's gotta get the ticket's out." Reason told her, pulling the tickets out of her jacket.
The next part was one of the parts Reasons had really been dreading: Security.
Reason hadn't actually had been on a plane in years, well before Maudie was born, but she knew they had strengthened measures. Although, some of stuff she found online preparing for the trip scared her. Especially the part about how, during random test, government agents posing as passengers were able to sneak weapons through surciety anywhere from 80 to 95 percent of time.
Reason would be more comfortable if that was the number of times they were found. It didn't help the security measures were scaring her daughter.
It probably wasn't the security that was scaring her as they hadn't even reached the x-rays yet, but the noise, and the intensity and the people in uniforms going down the row. She also didn't like having to take off her shoes.
"Mommy, I'se don't like it here." Maudie told her, burying her face into her chest, "Wanna go home."
"It's just a little bit longer Maudie, I promise." Reason assured her, botching her up and down.
Just then a guard came down the row with security dog.
"Doggie!" Maudie shouted, trying to reach for it.
"No, no, baby, that's dog's working." Reason told her quickly, keeping tight hold of her, "It's got a vest, see?"
"Oh." Maudie responded, "Sorry, doggie."
Finally, after what felt like forever, they made it to the front. "I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I've been on a flight, do I just put my carry-ons in this thing?" Reason asked nervously.
The security person at that point, a man roughly the same age as Sam, looked at her like she was idiot. "Yes." He said slowly, "You put the bags there."
Reason got the dipher bag off, then sat Maudie down, slipping the lead of the harness around her hand. Taking off her back pack, she put it on as well.
"Mommy, what's that do?" Maudie asked.
"It makes sure our bags are okay, baby." Reason told her.
Maudie got her befuddled look. "Why wouldn't they be okay?"
Before Reason could try to explain, the security said, "Your bags cleared. Please don't hold up the line."
After stumbling through the surcity exercises, Reason took collected her carry ons from a plastic bucket feeling a little dazed. Maudie hadn't cared for the process either, and looked as put out as her mother felt. "What happens now, Mommy?"
Reason pulled herself together and confidently pointed to the boarding area. "For now, we're going to sit with those people and then we'll sit and wait for someone to tell us our flight is going to board."
Maudie looked confused. "Mommy, why them people? Are they goin' to the same place as us?"
Reason opened her mouth then closed it, taking a moment to think. "They're going on the same plane as us, and will go to the same airport. Once we get to the airport, then we will go to different places." She knew she had to be careful with her words because a three-year-old's thinking was very concrete, and there was a chance she could assume they were all going to her grandparents'.
"Oh." Maudie responded. After a moment, she added, "I'se hungry."
"Well," Reason began, "Let's see if we can find something to get for lunch."
Thirty-five minutes and the world's most expensive happy meal later, their group was called to board. Reason picked Maudie up to get on the plane and the child gave her an uncertain look.
"It's okay baby." Reason told her as she showed the people their passes, "Mommy's going to be sitting right by you the whole time."
They got to their seats. "Which seat do you want?" Reason asked Maudie.
"The window!" Maudie chimed happily.
Reason smiled, happy that Maudie was back in good spirits it appears. "Okay, window seat it is."
She sat Maudie down and got her settled, before stowing the carry ons, "Okay baby girl, what do you want from the bag?"
"Coloring book." Maudie requested.
Reason handed her a coloring book and crayons and took down the Storybook Bible and a couple of dolls for when she inevitably got tired of coloring. When she finished, she set down, just as a primly dressed elderly woman sat down next to them.
Finally, they got off the ground. As they went up in the air, Maudie looked down out the window. Seeing the ground get further and further away scared her. She leaned over, clinging to her mother. "Mommy, I don't like the window seat anymore."
"Then we can switch when they tell it's safe to get up." Reason told her, pulling her into an awkward hug.
"When'll that be?" Maudie asked.
"I don't know, baby." Reason admitted.
"Mommy, sing." Maudie requested.
"Lord, I have a heavy burden, of all I've seen and know. It' more than I can handle…" Reason began.
Maudie shook her head. "Rest song."
Reason knew what she was talking about, "I am the sea on a moonless night. Calling, falling slipping tides. I am the leaky, dripping pipes. The endless, aching drops of light. I am the raindrop falling down. Always longing for the deeper ground. I am the broken, breaking seas. Even my blood finds ways to bleed…
After they were permitted to move around the cockpit, Maudie crawled up into Reason's lap and continued coloring for about an hour and a half before she got bored. "Mommy, I'm bored."
Reason glanced over to the woman next to them and found she had head phones and was reading a book. "How 'bout I read to you?" Reason asked.
Maudie nodded.
Reason opened the Storybook Bible to where they had left off, "He's here! Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help His people, just as he promises in the beginning…."
By the time Reason was done with that section, Maudie had fallen asleep on her lap. After she woke up Reason took her to the bathroom and then she played with her doll, then went back to coloring. By then they started to descend.
The sudden changed startled Maudie, who buried her face into Reason's chance. "Mommy, what's happening?"
"It's just the plane landing." Reason told her, "That means we're there." She started bouncing Maudie up and down and singing, "I'll be waiting, anticipating. All that aim for. What I was made for. With every heartbeat, even by blood bleeds…"
After the plane landed and they dismounted, Maudie wanted to walk so Reason slipped the lean of her hardness over her hand.
"What now, Mommy?" Maudie asked.
"Now, we look for Grandpa." Reason said, peering out at the sea of people, "He said he'd meet us here."
The pair looked out and Maudie spotted a man holding a sign. "Grandpa!" She squealed running to him, only to be stopped by the end of her hardness.
Reason looked at the direction her daughter was running, and saw her father, holding a sign with her name on it.
"Dad!" She called out walking up to him.
Her father smiled, leaning in to hug both his daughter and granddaughter.
AN: Two things:
First off, sorry about this is late but this time I have a good reason: I graduated this weekend! (Finally! Here comes the hard part, right?)
Secondly, someone had a good write-in name, so I'm adding it to the list of possible names: Grace.
So now, the choices are Grace, Mary, Marie, Caroline, Coraline, Raquel, Jaqueline, or Clarice .