Disclaimer:
I don't own David, Steven, Suzanne, etc. I'm not using this for money. Yatsa, Yatsa, and Yatsa.
Claimer:
I own Sarra (Sarah), Benjamin, Gabriel-Ryan, August, and Tyler.
ETC:
I've never been to LA. And I haven't seen the first half of the movie.
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Excellent
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Seventeen years
later…
Los Angeles,
California
"Sarra Hope-Divinity Gold! Get down here!" David Gold yelled up the stairs to his daughter.
As much as he hated to wake her up this early on a Sunday, the family had to catch a plane to New York. For the first time in a long time, Steven had picked up the phone to Phyllis's pleading that they come for the holidays. So now David was forced into going back to New York to visit them – and the idea that his sixteen-year old daughter was about to rip off his head wasn't too pleasant either.
"No! And I'm not going to come down if you keep calling me by that stupid name!" Sarra yelled back, half-asleep.
"It's not stupid!"
Sarra got
up and looked over the banister rail to her father, "Who came up with
Hope-Divinity? Couldn't you just pick
one or the other!"
"Sarra! Get down here!" David told her, not needing
the lip he was getting.
The teen merely, grinned evilly at him, and went back to her bed. She curled up in her blanket, 'They're waking me up now?'
Steven appeared behind his partner, "I'll get her. Finish packing the car." He said, heading up the stairs towards the teen's room, "Sarra…"
David smiled, and turned around. He headed toward the door, stopping to grab some of the suitcases and backpacks sitting on the ground, when the phone began to ring. Sighing, he set down the bags.
As he moved to pick up the cordless, the ringing stopped.
"Dad! It's Grandma!" Sarra told him.
"Thanks,
Sare." He picked up the phone, "Hello, mother."
There was a momentary pause on
the other end, before a voice spoke, "Hello, David. What's the matter? You
sound tired."
"I'm extremely tired, the car isn't packed yet, and Sarra is giving me and Steven a hard time."
"Well, then I won't keep you long. I just wanted to remind you that Ben will be picking you three up at the airport."
"I know. I'm assuming they're there."
"Yes."
David looked up as Sarra stumbled down the stairs, "Tell Suzanne I said hi and tell Ben I have his sweater and it's coming back in one piece."
"I will. Tell Sarra I said hello." Phyllis told him, "I'll let you go now."
David grabbed the chocolate bar from his daughter before replying, "Goodbye, mother." He put the phone on the counter; "There's waffles on the table and there's juice in the fridge. Eat a real breakfast." He told her, "Where's your father?"
"In the bathroom. He said he needed to shower. Want me to finish packing the car?"
"No, I want you to eat breakfast. I'll be down in a few minutes." He headed for the stairs, and climbed them. He slowly made his way to the bathroom, and knocked, "Steve? You alright?"
"Yeah." He replied through the steady pulse of water, "You joining me or what?"
David accepted the invite, and entered the steaming bathroom.
Downstairs, Sarra was smirking at her parents, before getting up to get the orange juice. She grabbed the phone, as she opened the door of the fridge. She started dialing a number with one hand while holding the juice in the other. Juggling the two, she went back to the table, and waited for someone to pick up the phone while pouring the liquid into the only clean cup in the house. 'Can men clean anything?' She thought, as the voice mail picked up on the other end of the phone.
"You have reached the Cortland household. If you're trying to reach Lauren or James, please press one. If you're trying to reach Alexiae, press two. If you're trying to reach Gabriel-Ryan, press three. And if this is Sarra trying to reach Gabriel-Ryan, press four."
Sarra smiled, and pressed four on her phone, "Hey. We're leaving in about an hour, so call me ASAP. After we're gone, you won't be able to call me until tomorrow morning, because my dads put a lock on my phone for twenty-four hours. I'll talk to you later. I love you." She hung up the phone, and gulped down the OJ. She stretched and moved to the stairs. 'We need an elevator.' Quickly she jumped up the fifteen stairs and walked around the banister, heading toward her bedroom.
She pushed her door open and looked around the room. Her bed was completely torn apart – her comforter was on the floor, as were her three pillows. Her body pillow was twisted in a pile at the foot of the bed. By her computer, a pile of candy wrappers and a couple of empty cans of soda were laying and becoming sticky. Sighing, she began to clean up, and then quickly changed her clothes.
As she made her way back out of her room she glanced up at her clock, which read 10:09 am. 'It's been twenty minutes. What the hell are they doing?' She thought as she made her way to the bathroom. She knocked, "Dad! Papa! What are you two doing? Check that, I don't want to know! Come on, we need to get going."
David emerged from the bathroom, clothed in jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket. His new glasses were in his hand, and he looked at Sarra, "Did you clean up your room?"
"Yep." She replied, as Steven emerged from the bathroom as well.
"Well, if everything's set up here, let's go pack up the car." He directed, before kissing Sarra on the head and heading down the stairs.
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Benjamin Gold looked up at his mother as she walked around the house, "Mom. Chill."
"I can't chill, Benji. Your cousin, and your uncles are going to be here in not too long and I can't let Sarra see this house messy."
"Mom, the last time she was here she was three years old. I don't think she even remembers it. She doesn't remember Grandma or Grandpa." He replied, "The only reason she remembers us is because of the trips we take to LA."
Suzanne sighed, and continued about her cleaning, "You should go wait for them at the airport."
Ben nodded, "Oh, can I pick Cody up? He wants to meet them."
"Sure."
With that, Ben happily took the car keys and ran out of the house, "I'll be back!"
-*-*-
Sarra stepped off the plane onto the jet way, behind her, David and Steven followed slowly, "So what's Grandma like again?" She asked, pulling the second backpack strap on to her shoulder.
"She's very nice, and you like her." David told her.
"Right, Dad." She looked at Steven, "What's she like, Papa?"
Steven smiled, "She's very nice, and likes everything to be perfect. She loves shove food into people, which is why you were such a pudgy toddler."
Sarra nodded, and smiled. Emerging from the jet way, she looked around. She saw Ben standing not far way and waved at her. She waved back, started his way, and flew into his arms. "Missed ya', Benny-Boy." She said, happy to see him again.
"I know." He let go of the girl who was more of a sister then a cousin, and looked up at his uncles, "Hey, Uncle Dave. Uncle Steve." He hugged them both, "So let's go get the bags and we'll be off for the house." He led them toward the suitcase carousels, "So how was the flight?"
"Okay. If we got anymore turbulence, I was gonna puke." Sarra told him.
"You shoulda' seen Tyler on his first flight. My god. He threw up all over mom and me. Cody was disgusted when I called to tell him. I think I shouldn't have told him what it looked like."
Sarra smiled, "Moron." She looked at her shoes, then looked up, "So…Am I finally going to get to meet Cody?"
He continued walking, without replying.
"Ben? Can I PLEASE meet him? Come on! Please?"
Ben smiled, "We're picking him up on the way to the house. He's been asking to meet you too. I just thought I'd toy with you and him for a while."
"Thanks, Ben!" She teased in a mock-annoyed voice.
David and Steven laughed at the two, before stopping in front of the carousel.
Sarra looked at her parents, "And what, may I ask, is so damn funny? Am I that entertaining to you two?"
"First of all, don't say damn. And second, keep your eyes out for the bags." Steven replied, "But yes, you are one source of comic hilarity in our lives."
Sarra sighed while smiling, "Um…our bags aren't that hard to spot – just look for the ones that look like leopard and the two that are hot yellow and pink."
After a few minutes, the bags appeared and the two adult men moved to get them.
"Why again did they buy those bags?" Ben asked.
"Because they're nuts." She looked at him, "They let me pick them."
Ben smiled, "Come on. The car's this way."
-*-*-
"Yup. And you're Cody. This is my dad, David, and this is my papa, Steven." She replied, smiling at the eighteen-year old.
"Well, you're different then I imagined. Ben never told me you were this…"
"Outgoing?"
Ben looked at Cody, "It's more like loud. And yes, I've told you what she's like. I've told you what she's like a thousand times over."
"No, you
haven't."
Sarra bent forward, "If you
two are gonna have a tiff, we should pull over."
"You are definitely related to Ben."
"He's like my brother." She told him, as the car came around the bend of the road. After a few more minutes, a house appeared, which David quickly identified as his parents'. Ben began to pull into the driveway, and was soon parked just outside of the garage.
Phyllis, Walter, and Suzanne stood outside the garage, one child – a little boy – was running around Suzanne's feet and a baby – a girl – was asleep in Phyllis's arms.
Sarra was the first to emerge from the car, after crawling over David's lap and out the door, "That wasn't funny, Dad!" She scolded, as she noticed the people in front of her, "Hiya!"
The three adults were taken by surprise of the instant warmness of the girl who'd essentially just seen her grandparents. Phyllis looked at her, "Hello, Sarra."
"Hi, Gramma! Hi, Pop! How ya' been?" Sarra laughed, hugging them.
"We're fine, thank you." Walter replied.
David and Steven appeared behind their daughter, each rubbing their eyes and holding a bag in one hand, "Caffeine. I need major caffeine."
Suzanne looked at her brother, interested at his choice of words.
David
smiled, "It's what happens when one spends everyday with teenagers. Especially with the drama kids, and throw in
Sarra. Anyone would start talking like
this." He reached forward to hug his
sister, then his parents. He bent down
and looked at the little boy, "Hello, Tyler. How are you?"
The six-year old smiled,
"Hello, Uncle Dave. Do you like my
plane?" He held up his green and blue plane.
"It's very nice, Ty." He stood back up and looked at the sleeping baby, "How's my niece?"
"Well, August is starting to seem like Sarra. She's a sound sleeper and she's got a lot of friends at the playground." Suzanne told him, taking her daughter from her mother.
After a few more minutes of hellos, the group migrated to the house.
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To Be Continued…
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Cassie Jamie
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