-Wednesday, September 12 / 5:57 pm / John's car-
Katrina: 16 months, 3 days old
Casey: 23 months, 3 weeks old
Rose: 6 weeks along
"John, Casey's birthday is soon," Vriska reminded her husband as she glanced at her daughter in the back seat. "We haven't even decided what we're going to do yet."
"Shoot," mumbled John. "How can I forget my own daughter's birthday?! I'm an awful parent!"
"John, you're really busy!" Vriska laughed. "I understand it not being the first thing on your mind. But, what are we going to do for her birthday? Just the same thing that we did last year?"
John turned a corner and shrugged. "That sounds good. Are we inviting the same people we did last year?"
"Yeah, we haven't seen Jennifer and Mitch in forever! And Karkat and Terezi, obviously and...Rose and Kanaya?"
The brunet was about to say something, but something else caught his eye.
"Holy shit," he laughed, "is that Timmy Teddy's?!"
Vriska was confused. "What the…? What is that?"
John laughed again. "I used to love that place as a kid! It got closed down, though… Something about health code violations… I can't believe they're reopening it!"
Vriska rolled her eyes. "Sure, you used to love that place when you were younger, but what the hell is it?"
"Oh!" John laughed nervously. "It's like...an independent Chuck E. Cheese's, I guess. Same concept and all."
The cerulean-blood crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "John, I don't know what that is."
"Okay," the human sighed, starting to talk with his hands a little, "it's this pizza place for kids. There's games and ball pits and playgrounds and...kind of creepy singing robots. But I liked those kind of places as a kid, and I'm sure Casey would too."
"Are you suggesting we have her birthday party there?" asked Vriska. "But John, she's only two. The only thing she'd be able to do it play in the ballpit. Katrina, too. And Blake, if Dave and Jade can come."
"I almost forgot!" he laughed. "If I remember correctly, there should be a place called 'Pirate's Cove' that has stuff for smaller kids."
Vriska perked up. "Did you say...pirates?"
John laughed and nodded.
"Well, I'm glad that's settled!" Vriska smiled. "We're going to have Casey's party there."
-Thursday, September 13 / 4:38 pm / Seattle-Tacoma International Airport-
"Look, Bro, you can go to your stupid puppet convention or whatever, but don't bother me or Jade or Blake, okay?" Dave sighed, lugging both his and Jade's suitcases across the airport terminal. "We'll swing by the hotel and drop you off, so...have fun jerking off to the Muppets or something."
"Dave!" Jade elbowed her fiancé with the arm that wasn't holding Blake. "We're in public!"
"Oh, hush, you only think it sounds bad 'cause you never went to public school." The blond continued to march onward, finally exiting the airport and coming up on the carpool. "John said there ain't enough room in his car, so Spiderbitch should be here, too."
Dave stopped to check his phone for messages before continuing on. "Alright," he mumbled, picking up the suitcases again, "he said he's over here somewhere…"
"Dave!" a familiar voice called. Said human immediately looked over at a brunet leaning his head out of a silver car, waving his arms and being all showy.
Jade forced a smile, but was a bit embarrassed at all the attention being called to them (it was bad enough with Bro's ridiculous anime shades). Just to get things over with, she decided to join her friend and his wife at their cars.
"Hey, Jade!" John exclaimed, getting out of the car. "Long time no see, huh?"
"Yeah, right," scoffed Jade before hugging John with her free arm. "Anyway, what's going on?"
"Oh!" He looked over at Dave and Bro, who were bringing the suitcases over to the cars. "Well, Dave and his...Bro will just come with me, since I know where the hotel is and stuff. And you'll go with Vriska and Casey back to our house, okay?"
The dark-haired girl cocked her head. "Casey?" she asked. "I didn't know Casey would be coming! Is there enough room for Blake's car seat?"
John led her over to Vriska's dark blue car parked directly behind his. "There's four—well, five, technically—seats here, Jade. He'll be fine. I'll go get your suitcase, but it would probably be a good thing for you to go ahead and go because of work traffic."
Jade patiently waited for Dave to bring over Blake's car seat and strap it into the back seat next to Casey's. Casey stared at Blake through the window, confused as to who he was, even though they had seen each other only a couple of months earlier at Rose and Kanaya's wedding. Once Blake had been placed in his car seat, the two toddlers began to interact in whatever way babies did.
Vriska and John and Jade and Dave said their goodbyes, assuring one another they'd see each other again in less than a few hours, before Jade climbed in the passenger's seat next to Vriska. "Don't go over 75," she stressed to the troll, though unintentionally coming off as it being a joke.
"I won't make promises!" laughed the cerulean blood as she shifted the gear before pulling out of the carpool line.
The car was awkwardly silent for the first ten minutes they were in there together. Vriska had already driven onto the interstate before anyone said anything.
"Mommy?" cooed Casey from the back seat. "We go home?"
"Yes, Peanut," responded Vriska. "We're going home right now."
Jade cracked a smile. "Blake's just started using bigger words," she told her.
"Oh really?" Vriska continued to keep her eyes on the road. "How is...everything?"
The brunette shrugged and glanced at her son in the back seat. "It's...alright," she confessed. "Blake's fine, but...I worry sometimes. About Dave."
"And why is that?" Vriska asked. She looked over her shoulder before changing lanes.
"Well, let's just put it this way: You live with your husband and daughter. I live with three kids."
Both Vriska and Jade giggled. "Why is that?" wondered Vriska as she looked in the rearview mirror to see Casey.
Jade sighed. "Well...the way Dave and his brother act, it's just...not mature. Not that I'm criticizing Dave—no, I love him, and that's just the way he was raised—but he's an adult, and a dad! He shouldn't be acting like he's still a teenager!"
"Well, in his defense, he was raised to act like a teenager." The blue blood coughed before continuing. "Anyway, have you talked to him about it?"
"Not really," replied Jade. "I'm...afraid I'll offend him or something. But I want Blake to be raised maturely, not...showing up to his first day of kindergarten with a katana or something."
"Dave seems like a very flexible person, Jade. Just talk to him about it." Vriska paused before remembering something. "Oh! I almost forgot!"
"What?"
"Casey's birthday party is this Friday night," Vriska told her. "John and I were wondering if you guys would like to go."
"Yeah, yeah!" said Jade. "Where is it?"
Vriska rolled her eyes. "Some place called 'Timmy Teddy's.' I know nothing about it other than John used to go there as a kid."
Jade thought for a moment. "Do you know what it is?"
"Like I said, I know nothing about it other than John used to go there," Vriska shrugged. "I think he said there's an area for little kids to play in, but I'll have to ask him again. We wouldn't be having her party there if it weren't toddler-friendly."
"Sounds good to me."
-Friday, September 14, 3:54 pm / Timmy Teddy's Pizzeria & Arcade-
"John," Karkat whispered to his human friend, "what the fuck is this place?!"
There were screaming children everywhere. The guy standing near the entrance stamping people's hands for admission looked like he was stoned out of his mind, and the guy working the prize counter didn't look any better. Speaking of drugs, the place reeked of marijuana, cigarette smoke, and vomit. Just the smell made Terezi throw up in her mouth a little.
It was definitely a good thing John had called ahead of time and reserved a table for Casey's "party." Since the grand re-opening of the place had been just a week earlier, the restaurant was packed. Once the group got admitted into the establishment, a party coordinator—this time a woman, who thankfully smelled perfectly normal—led them to a table right at the very front of the restaurant.
Karkat was ultimately confused by this place. What kind of fun was watching little brats running around and beating each other up over tickets that could only claim worthless items such as costume jewelry and Matchbox cars? To add to the uncomfortableness of the place, Casey's reserved table just so happened to be right in front of the creepy animatronic band onstage.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," a very bored-sounding waitress told the group as she handed them the menus with food not included in the birthday package.
"Okay, it says here that the birthday package includes 'one pitcher of cola, one pitcher of lemon-lime soda, unlimited water, and two large pizzas of your choice,'" he read from the menu. "Is there anything else you want to get?"
Terezi scanned the menu for a few more seconds before voicing her opinion. "Cherry soda," she said with a smile.
"Terezi, no," Karkat rolled his eyes.
"Hey, it's alright," John told the mutant blood. "Also, is two pepperoni pizzas fine? You can just pick them off if you don't want them."
After little discussion, everyone agreed.
"Well, I guess this is it, then." When the waitress returned with the three pitchers of provided drink, John placed the orders for a fourth and the two pizzas. The waitress informed the party that the pizzas would be made as soon as possible, and then returned to whatever "work" she had been doing before.
Literally no one there could say a word—they were too creeped out by the place. "John," Vriska finally said, "how did you ever think this place was fun?!"
"Look, when you're four years old, everything is fun."
Casey managed to slide out of her booster seat and began to run around the table. "Casey—" Vriska began to scold, before realizing her daughter just wanted to see her friend.
"Mommy?" the toddler asked. "Me, Katwina pway?"
Vriska smiled and stood up to retrieve her daughter. "No," she firmly said. "You can play after you eat." After returning to their seats, the blue blood looked at everyone. "Is that okay?" she asked, just to make sure.
Everyone nodded. "Yeah, I want Blake to eat before he plays," Jade agreed, "just because of germs and stuff…"
About ten minutes later the same waitress reappeared with two trays of pizza. "I'll be right back with the soda," she boredly told the party before leaving yet again.
"Well." John looked around at everyone sitting at the table before picking up a pizza cutter. "Let's eat…!"
-Saturday, September 15, 10:07 am / Karkat & Terezi's house-
"That was fucking Faygo, you dumbass!" Karkat screamed into the phone, listening to Terezi retch in the bathroom. "Terezi's been throwing up ever since we got home last night!"
"Well, that's her fault she drank it," John sighed, not really concerned about the situation. "Vris is sick, too. But," he continued under his breath, "that's kind of something to expect from a restaurant that got closed down because four kids were murdered…"
"What?"
"Nothing."
Karkat sighed and walked into the bathroom just as Terezi flushed her vomit down the toilet. "I'm going to go now," he told the human. "Terezi has a lot of homework to do, and I promised her I'd take Katrina to the park."
"Alright. Talk to you later."
John hung up and got off the couch just as Vriska walked downstairs. He couldn't help but notice her depressing aura as she walked past him—she avoided eye contact and seemed to sigh without actually doing so.
He followed his wife into the kitchen. "What's wrong?" he asked, leaning up against the counter.
Vriska quietly laughed and looked up at her husband. "It's kind of...embarrassing," she confessed.
"Hey," John said, walking over to the troll. "Nothing's too embarrassing for me to hear about."
The blue-blood scoffed. "When I was throwing up," she began, "I actually hoped—just for a second—that I was pregnant. I even checked to see. But it came out negative, and…" She let her words trail off with a tinge of sadness.
John sighed and went to embrace his wife. "Is this about Larissa?" he gently asked, hoping to not upset her.
"I...don't know." She tried her best to hold tears back, but eventually gave up the attempt and buried her face in John's shoulder.
"Look, Vriska…" The brunet pushed his wife off of him and carefully wiped the tears from her cheeks. "...I know some bad things have happened since we got married, and we've gotten through them just fine. And even though the Larissa thing hurts...I think we'll get through it. We can have a new baby when you feel like you're ready. But, in the meantime, we have Casey to take care of. But just remember…" He cracked a smile. "I'm always by your side, no matter what."
-Saturday, September 29, 3:18 pm / Roxy's apartment-
Katrina: 16 months, 3 weeks old
Casey: 1 year & 1 week old
Rose: 9 weeks along
"So will we have a place to get dressed there, or will we have to come ready, or…?" Vriska asked, beginning to take off her bridesmaid's dress.
"Of course!" Roxy laughed and unzipped the dress for her soon-to-be-stepdaughter-in-law. "I would say get there about ten or so, since the ceremony starts at noon…"
Rose came out of the bathroom and grabbed a hanger. "It fits," she sighed, pulling the pastel pink dress up onto the hanger and placing it in the closet.
Her mother sighed and glanced at Kanaya, who was hanging up hers as well. "Rose, you don't have to be embarrassed about your body," she reassured. "I was pregnant with you, you know; I know exactly what it's like."
"Mom!" whined Rose. "I'm not talking about that! I just want to make sure your 'perfect day' is absolutely perfect." She was a bit annoyed with her mom, as Roxy had been all hyped up about the wedding—almost too hyped up.
Ms. Lalonde softly laughed and began to hang Rose's dress up. "I don't think it'll be absolutely perfect," she told her daugher with a hint of a smile. "There's lots of things I wish could happen. I wish I had more friends who could come, I wish Joseph had more friends who could come, I wish...I wish Mamma and Pappa could be here." She sniffed a bit before wiping her eyes.
As soon as she said this, the women heard a loud knock from the front door. "I'll get it," Roxy told everyone before getting herself together.
She walked over to the front door and opened it, expecting it to be a salesman or a package. But as soon as she saw who was standing there, her jaw dropped.
"Mamma?! Pappa?!"