"Mom have you seen my red nail polish?" asked Lizzy as she came into the living room.

"Oh, which one, the burgundy one?" asked Ellie, her eyes glued to the TV.

"Yeah, I need it for my date with Charlie tomorrow," said Lizzy.

"Uhm, I think I borrowed it but I can't remember where I put it... oh my god, no no no, don't look out the window!" said Ellie as she ducked behind Pete's shoulder.

Both parents were curled up on the couch under a blanket, and, taking advantage that the younger kids were already in bed, were watching some sort of scary movie. This got Lizzy's attention.

"What are you watching?" she asked.

"Nightmare on Elm Street" said Pete.

"At this time of year?"

"Yeah. Your mom and I got into a discussion earlier about how scary this movie was when it came out, so we decided to watch it tonight. And just like I told her earlier, it's really not scary. But she still can't handle it."

"It is scary!" Ellie tried defending herself.

"Is it the original?" asked Lizzy.

"Yeah," said Pete.

"Oh, I love that one!"

"Wanna jump in here and join us?" asked Pete.

"Sure!"

Both Pete and Ellie moved so there was a spot in the middle. Lizzy walked up to the couch and sat down in between the two of them, letting herself be covered with the blanket.

"How much have I missed?" she asked.

"Just the beginning," said Pete.

"And Mom's already scared?" she said, laughing.

"Hey!" said Ellie as she nestled up close to Lizzy. "I'll have you know my sisters made me watch this movie as a child and I found it terrifying. I've never been able to watch it as an adult."

Pete laughed. "You mean that time you spent the whole time crying?" he teased.

"I was six! Six!" said Ellie.

Lizzy was enjoying the back and forth between her parents. Suddenly the music changed and a scary image showed on the screen, prompting Ellie to duck her head behind Lizzy.

"Mom, it's fine!"

"No, it's not!" she said, head still ducked behind her oldest daughter.

"Look at the special effects, though," said Pete.

"It's so eighties," said Lizzy.

"It's genuinely so bad, it's good" said Pete.

Lizzy laughed. "Mom, you can look now, nothing's happening," she said.

"Did she go outside?" asked Ellie.

"Yeah," said Lizzy.

Ellie raised her head slowly, but still covered most of her face with the blanket.

"I don't like where this is going. Oh god, it's a dark alley. I remember this part, that's where she finds Freddy Krueger, isn't it?"

"Well honey we just have to wait and see, don't we?" said Pete.

"Oh no, I don't want to watch this part," said Ellie.

"Mom, you're overreacting, it'll be fine!" Lizzy laughed.

"Your mom is a wimp, in case you didn't know," teased Pete.

"And your dad is a bully," said Ellie, with a frown on her face.

Lizzy couldn't help but laugh.

After a few moments there was another jump scare. Ellie whimpered while both Lizzy and Pete laughed hard.

"Oh god, it's him!" exclaimed Ellie, hiding behind Lizzy again.

"But look at the way he runs, it's like he's drunk!" Lizzy pointed at the screen.

"And look honey, his face is clearly a mask!" he added.

"Well I'm glad you two are having such great time at my expense!"

This made Pete and Lizzy laugh even harder.

"But the quality is so bad!" added Lizzy. "How can you be scared at that?"

"Well, I'll have you know back in my day, this was the height of cinema technology," said Ellie.

"Honey you're making yourself sound old, I was around when this movie came out too, I didn't find it half as scary as you did!" said Pete.

Ellie sulked. "You weren't forced to watch it!"

"You didn't even watch it! You spent the entire time crying!"

"I did watch some of it" said Ellie

"Oh yeah like the credits?" Pete joked.

Lizzy couldn't stop laughing. Nestled in between Pete and Ellie -her parents- watching them bicker about one another over a bad horror movie, knowing that her siblings were just upstairs in what was a safe and happy home… if this wasn't bliss, she didn't know what it was.


A/N Thank you to each and every one of you for reading, favouriting, following and commenting on this story, including guest reviewers I haven't been able to respond to. It truly has kept me going during the tough times. Thank you. Special thanks to xxx4evaSummerxxx for the emotional support during the past year and a half. This would not have happened without her. Go check out her stories based on this movie as well!

If you want to fill your heart with more heart-warming adoption stories, I recommend you check out the Keep it Crazy families on YouTube. The families are related (cousins through the mums' sides) and both have adopted children from the US foster care system. The Crazy Middles have 21 kids, 19 adopted. Crazy Pieces have 11 kids, 8 adopted, and are also currently in the process of adopting more 2 teens. They're not only inspiring and heart-warming but also hugely educational.

Lastly, my PMs are always open so feel free to reach out if you want to get in touch. I don't bite! :)