Hannah bounces in her seat as Lex drives them to the mall. They're going to meet Alice and Deb for a girls' afternoon together, and Hannah was so excited when they'd invited her along. Lex had promised lunch, painted nails, and ice cream. Deb and Alice had promised a surprise.
The sisters get to the mall, and Lex gives Hannah a piggyback ride as they go inside to find the others in the food court. The pass Toy Zone on their way, where Lex works part-time, and Lex says hi to one of her coworkers. They get to the food court, and immediately Hannah spots Alice and Deb waiting at a table in the middle of the court.
"Hey there, sweet pea!" Alice says, as Hannah jumps down from her sister's back to hug her and Deb.
"Hi, Alice!" Hannah says excitedly. "I'm so glad you got to come back to live with your daddy, 'cause that means I can see you more often! Are you gonna babysit me again now that you're back?"
Alice giggles, picking up the five year old and swinging her around. "Only if your daddy asks me to," she says.
"Oh, I'm sure he will," Lex says with a laugh. "If he ever calls you asking you to take Hannah to Dr. Hidgens' house, tell him you're busy."
"What? Why?" Deb asks.
"We have a plan— me, Hannah, Peter, and Ethan— to get Dad and Hidgens together because they obviously like each other," Lex says, smirking. "Hannah's kinda like the bait to draw them together, and the rest of us have to stay clear to make sure Dad's the one to take her."
"Assuming he even says she can go to begin with," Alice points out.
"I can be very annoying," Hannah says proudly. "And if I use my puppy eyes, Daddy can't say 'no' for very long!"
All three teens laugh at that. It was true. Very few people were immune to Hannah's puppy dog eyes, and their father was not one of them. Lex lets her sister climb back on for another piggyback ride, and the group picks a place to order and gets in line. Hannah insists on the Cinnabon, but it looks like something weird's going on there with another customer, so they decide to avoid it altogether.
They end up going to the pizza place on the other end of the court, and stand off to the side while waiting for their food. They talk about school a bit, as well as friends and family.
"My mom's decided to go back to school," Deb says. "She wants to be an actual vet instead of a tech."
"That sounds cool!" Lex says. "When is she gonna start?"
"Next fall," Deb replies. She's holding Alice's hand, until their food is ready. She insists on carrying the tray with all of their food on it, so Alice grabs the bottle drinks. They find a new table, since the old one's already been reclaimed by someone else.
They sit and talk about movies they're excited to see, movies they've already seen and love, and TV shows as well. Eventually, when they're all done eating, they clean up and head for the nail salon. This time, Hannah walks alongside them instead of being carried. She holds Alice's hand and babbles about Disney.
"My favorite princess is either Belle or Ariel," she says. "Ethan's mommy is making me a gold dress so I can be Belle for Halloween! She said it's gonna be really fancy!"
"Wow!" Alice says, listening attentively. "I wish I had a fancy gold dress."
Hannah gasps. "Maybe she can make you one, too!"
"I'll have to ask her," Alice giggles. She won't ask, but it satisfies Hannah.
"I also really like the movies that aren't about princesses— like Aristocats and Peter Pan and Robin Hood and the Jungle Book and—" Hannah keeps listing other Disney movies until they get to the nail salon, then goes silent as she heads straight over to the rack of nail polish.
"Four manicures," Lex tells the employee quietly. "I'm paying for mine and hers—" she points to Hannah, who's picked out a bright turquoise.
"And I'm paying for the other two," Alice adds. Deb tries to protest, but Alice won't hear it. "You paid for my lunch, babe."
Deb huffs but doesn't argue further, and the three teens go to pick out their own colors. Lex goes for a dark purple, Deb goes for black, and Alice picks out bubblegum pink.
"Thank you guys for inviting me and Hannah," Lex says. "I don't get to do this kind of thing very often, if ever..."
"We should definitely do it more often," Alice says. "Not necessarily the mani's, but like... just hanging out, us girls!"
"We should invite Rachel and Sofie next time," Deb says, and Alice smiles and nods cheerfully.
Hannah goes quiet again at that. She doesn't do well with strangers— small interactions, like letting the lady paint her nails, was one thing. But hanging out with the same stranger all day? The almost-Apothy-thingy was a nightmare for Hannah in more than the obvious ways.
While they wait for their nails to dry, the teens talk more about their other friends, and Hannah watches the TV that's playing the cooking channel there in the salon. Some kind of competition. Hannah doesn't watch enough TV other than her cartoons to know what show is playing.
Afterward, the group heads a few stores down to the ice cream parlor. Hannah gets cookie dough, her favorite, and Lex gets Rocky Road. Deb and Alice share a cookies and cream milkshake.
"So tell me more about this match-making plan of yours," Deb says as she takes a sip through her straw. Alice nods, leaning forward.
"Well, our side is pretty easy," Hannah says.
"Banana here is gonna bug our dad about going to visit Dr. Hidgens," Lex explains. "And he's probably gonna ask me to take her, but I'm always gonna be busy with Ethan. If my dad calls one of you guys, you gotta be busy, too." Deb and Alice nod, agreeing to do it.
"You said Peter was in on it?" Alice asks.
"Yeah," Lex says. "He's gonna start by texting me when Dr. Hidgens is home, that way we can time things right with Hannah. He said he's also gonna try a few things himself to try and get Dr. Hidgens to make a move on Dad."
"So all we have to do is refuse to take Hannah to the professor's house?" Alice checks, and Lex confirms it.
"That sounds like an absolutely brilliant and devious plan," Deb says, smirking. "Or at least the start of one. How are you gonna get them to actually, you know, get together?"
"Still working on that," Lex admits. "Right now we're gonna focus on getting them more exposed to each other, then we'll get them to talk about that stuff."
They finish their ice cream, and start saying their goodbyes. Lex carries Hannah back to the car and buckles her in the carseat, then drives them home. Ted's still doing catch-up work, though not as much as he's needed to do in the last few weeks.
"How was it?" Ted asks, closing his laptop when they come in.
"We had fun!" Lex says, beaming.
Hannah shows off her sparkly turquoise nails, and Ted 'oohs' and 'ahs' at them. "What about you, Sunshine?" He asks Lex.
Lex shows him the dark purple she'd picked, and Ted grins.
"Just like that bracelet you gave me," he says. "Back when you were... oh, I guess about nine or ten?"
"I was ten," Lex says quietly. "You gave me that bracelet kit for my tenth birthday. I made you that bracelet first thing, and you wore it until it broke a week later."
"You were devastated," Ted chuckles. "I still have the pieces, though." Lex tears up, and rushes forward to hug her dad.
"I love you," she mumbles, and Ted hugs her back tightly and says it, too.