Disclaimer: I do not own Lizzie McGuire; Disney does.
A/N: Warning: this chapter is pretty long, and it has a little Miranda/Larry fluff, something that I hadn't planned on, but it kind of wrote itself! I was surprised how much fun they are to write.
Chapter 4-Rain, Arrivals, and Polo-gate
"Are we there yet?"
Lizzie leaned forward trying to peer through the sheets of torrential rain falling all around them and sighed.
"No."
There was a long pause and the only sounds were from the radio and the constant rain on the windshield.
"Are we there now?"
"No."
Once again a long silence filled the car.
"What about-"
"Emily Grace McGuire if you finish that sentence-,"
Lizzie had several threats in mind, but none seemed appropriate
"…well just don't, it won't be pretty."
"Sorry mommy."
Lizzie sighed, the normal three hour drive had turned into five hours filled with two massive traffic pile ups, road construction, and now, as they finally made it into Houston, a torrential downpour. To make matters worse, the normally well behaved Emily had whined and fussed the entire time and would only listen to her Disney sing-along CD's. Lizzie thought that if she heard Hakuna Matata one more time she would scream. Luckily Lizzie had managed to get the radio back on under the ruse of wanting to hear a weather report. They drove along in silence for the next 15 minutes or so and Lizzie thought, and prayed, that Emily had finally dozed off, but then she heard
"Look, it's the park by Aunt Randa and Uncle Tudges house, we're almost there!"
A few minutes, later the two pulled up to Miranda and Larry's house; Lizzie couldn't remember a time when she had been so happy to see it.
"Okay Em, just grab your overnight bag, we'll get the rest when we leave tomorrow morning, and here, put on your rain coat so you don't get soaked."
Lizzie grabbed her own overnight bag and jacket and prepared to make a run for the large, covered front porch.
"Ready?" asked Lizzie.
Emily nodded seriously as though they were about to make a run across enemy lines. Lizzie suppressed a smile.
"Okay, we go on three." Lizzie said
"Okay mommy."
"One, two…"
"Aieeee-eee," Emily squealed as she bolted from the car
"Three." Lizzie finished, sighing to herself as she watched her daughter narrowly avoid flipping head over heels into the mud. Lizzie got out and slammed the door, and almost fell herself. Somehow the two made it to the front porch in one piece. Lizzie rang the doorbell while Emily jumped up and down.
"Wasn't that fun, Mommy," Emily exclaimed while hopping from one foot to the other. Lizzie rolled her eyes and began to pound on the door
"MIRANDA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD OPEN THE…."
Miranda opened the door grinning, "My aren't we impatient tonight."
Lizzie, at the end of her rope, had a few choice words for Miranda. Emily, however, had plans of her own.
"AUNT RANDA" Emily squealed happily as Miranda scooped the little girl up in a huge hug. Lizzie squeezed passed this inconvenient Hallmark moment and into the warm, dry house. She dropped their bags on the floor and noticed a silhouette standing in front of the kitchen door.
"Lizzie!" the silhouette exclaimed.
She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Hey Larry, you look great!" And he did, under Mirandas guidance his dark hair was now stylishly cut and while he didn't wear high fashion, he had lost the green collared polo shirt. In fact standing there in a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue t-shirt he actually looked handsome.
"You don't look too bad yourself kid," he said giving her a hug
"Please," Lizzie rolled her eyes "I look like a drowned rat, I-"
She trailed off as a little blonde streak came flying past her and into Larrys waiting arms.
"UNCLE TUDGE!"
"Hey munchkin," Larry grunted as he scooped up Emily, "I've missed you."
"I missed you too," she said snuggling in for big hug, "do you have any new toys from NASA"
"Of course I do, lets go see them."
Larry always kept an eye out at the gift shop and anytime he saw a cool new toy or t-shirt he would get it for Emily; she now had quite a collection.
"Space shuttle me," Emily begged. Larry did the countdown and they took off up the stairs.
"Be careful!" Miranda called up after them
"Don't get her too wound up," Lizzie warned, "She needs to go to bed!"
Lizzie turned to Miranda and gave her a tired smile.
"I just wasted my breath, didn't I?"
Miranda laughed and gave Lizzie a reassuring hug.
"Don't worry, we'll just let him deal with the consequences."
Lizzie laughed and nodded her head in agreement
"Want to see something scary?" Miranda asked flashing Lizzie a mischievous grin. Lizzie gave her a curious look and nodded.
*
Miranda led Lizzie over to the hall closet and opened the door.
"My parents sent me an old box of photo albums and yearbooks from when we were in middle school and high school. They needed the space for all the 'family heirlooms' they bring back from Mexico every summer."
"Oh you mean those trinkets?" Lizzie asked.
Miranda looked at her oddly and rolled her eyes.
"Yes Lizzie, exactly, trinkets… Anyways here's the box, I haven't even gone through it myself so I'm pretty curious."
The box was stacked carefully on top of two other boxes that caught Lizzie's attention.
"Ooh, what's in this one," she asked eagerly, trying to peer into the middle box labeled 'Miranda's Personal Mementos'.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all," Miranda said sharply trying to block her view
"Miranda Isabella Sanchez, what are you hiding?" The full name threat always worked with Emily so Lizzie decided to give it a try.
"Its just junk…trinkets" Miranda insisted
Lizzie faked right and went left; Miranda tried to block but only succeeded in knocking all three of the boxes over. A flood of polo shirts with green collars covered the hallway floor. Lizzie's jaw dropped as she realized Miranda's deep dark secret.
"Lizzie," Miranda hissed looking panicked. "Quick, help me get these put away before…he," she motioned upstairs.
"Miranda are those-"
"What are you implying?"
"Have you been hiding…?"
"Not necessarily"
"Does he know?"
"Who says they're his?"
"There are green collars everywhere"
"I don't see green collars…what green collars?"
Lizzie processed the last few seconds.
"Why?"
"Its for his own good, Lizzie, you don't understand…you could never understand"
Lizzie finally broke down and laughed, Miranda looked so ridiculous crawling on the ground, frantically shoving the shirts back into their boxes.
"Aren't you going to help," Miranda asked irritably.
Lizzie laughed even harder. "I think you're doing a good job on your own."
"Please don't say anything," Miranda begged.
Lizzie smiled, "I don't know, I'll have to think about this."
Miranda stood up, hands on her hips and threatened, "I'll go call Gordo right -"
"Okay, okay, good point," Lizzie admitted, "your secret's safe."
"Good," Miranda continued, "now lets never speak of this again."
*
Thirty minutes after 'Polo-Gate,' Lizzie had finally changed out of her wet clothes and into a comfortable pair of pajama pants and an old t-shirt. The two women were curled up on the living room couch with cups of tea. The box of pictures had turned out to be of Miranda's parents, in other words, her parents had sent the wrong box.
In the mean time Lizzie had gotten Emily into her pajamas while Larry had been given the job of actually getting the five-year-old in bed; making her stay there was no small task. Lizzie had decided to give Larry the benefit of the doubt and guessed it would probably take him a good half hour to accomplish this task. Miranda wasn't as kind and had said an hour, at least. There was now five bucks riding on it.
"So, are you excited about the reunion?" Miranda asked, as they got comfortable
Lizzie shrugged and thought about it for a minute.
"Yeah, I guess, I'm excited about seeing everyone, but…"
"Gordo?" Miranda whispered quietly.
Lizzie nodded her head slowly.
"Are you still going to tell him?"
Lizzie nodded her head again, this time a bit hesitantly.
"Lizzie!?" Miranda warned.
"I am, I am" Lizzie promised "Its just, how do you…how do you…?"
"Tell someone that five and a half years ago you had his child and never told him?"
"You know it sounds so much worse, when you say it!"
Miranda laughed.
"Well that's why you're going to say it."
Lizzie groaned and leaned her head back
"Are you sure, you're welcome to the job, in fact you can be the one to tell my parents too."
"Oh no, that one is all yours, they all are; it is your secret Lizzie. I still can't believe you never told your parents who the real father is."
There were a few minutes of silence as both Lizzie and Miranda gathered their thoughts. Miranda was the first to break the silence.
"Lizzie, are you still in love with him?"
Miranda had expected Lizzie to have a fit at the question and deem it out of line but she was surprised by the answer.
"Sometimes I think I do. Whenever Emily smiles, sometimes I can almost see him, or when I look in her eyes and I see his," Lizzie stopped for a second and tried to stop the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Sometimes when I'm lying in bed at night; I can still feel him next to me. I remember how we used to lie and bed at night and just talk, sometimes for hours and…"
Her voice trailed off and the tears began to fall. Miranda leaned over to give her a hug.
"Am I interrupting something?"
The two looked up to see Larry standing there, looking half amused and half worried.
They looked back at each other and said unison, "Cone of silence!"
Realizing what had just happened, they broke into a fit of laughter.
"Lets just hope you're better at the 'cone' than you were before, Miranda"
"Hey" Miranda protested, "One slip up and you're branded?"
"So Larry, is my child asleep yet, or did you just give up?"
"She's asleep…finally!" Larry collapsed next to Miranda looking exhausted.
"Ooh," Lizzie exclaimed looking at the clock, "28 minutes, I win, I win, fork over the five Miranda!"
"Not until I check and see that she is really asleep."
"You two were betting!" Larry exclaimed "you didn't think I could get her to sleep, Miranda I would expect that from you… but Lizzie?" Larry was trying to sound upset but he was working hard to hide his grin.
"Oh poor baby," Miranda cooed putting her arms around him and kissing his cheek.
"I love you and I have complete faith in you."
"Oh you guys are so cute!" Lizzie exclaimed, "I miss that, it's been a long time"
"You should date more Lizzie," Larry scolded, "you're too pretty to stay in all the time, in fact if I weren't attached…"
"Don't even finish that sentences, mister," Miranda threatened, but she was smiling.
"Thanks Larry, but I get out plenty."
"Lizzie, ballet recitals and Gattie Town do not count."
"Those aren't the only places I go, Miranda."
"When was the last time you went out on a date?"
Lizzie squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before replying
"It was you know a month, well two months ago." Lizzie saw Mirandas 'I told you so' expression and got defensive.
"Miranda I am two years away from 30, I have a five year old, and I work like a maniac. You do the math and you figure out why I don't have men lined up at my door!" Lizzie saw Miranda start to open her mouth and decided it was good time for a subject change.
"Now what about you two, you have been engaged for how many years now, does the phrase 'common law' mean anything?"
"Ouch" Larry winced, "diversion, nice tactic Lizzie, I like it."
Lizzie grinned.
"Thank you Larry, I thought it was a nice touch."
"Well I for one" Miranda spoke up "don't care what other people think, I like my life and what WE have just fine."
"And you Larry" Lizzie asked putting on her best therapy voice "are you happy with 'the way things are'."
"Choose you answer very carefully," Miranda warned.
Thunder boomed in the background
"Well I…" Larry paused, "talk about your loaded questions." He looked as though he was looking for the perfect words.
"I get to wake up next to the woman I love everyday, it doesn't matter if she's my wife or not, I know that she'll always be there. Yes, I do want to marry her, but I'm willing to wait as long as I have to." Larry stopped to smile at Miranda before continuing.
"Married or not, I'm the luckiest guy on earth."
Miranda leaned over and wrapped her arms around him.
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, I love you."
Lizzie sniffled and wiped away a tear.
"I want a hug too!" she wailed
Miranda and Larry both laughed.
"Come here," Miranda pulled her over for her own hug.
"You know, this is the real reason why guys don't say nice things much, THIS is what happens!" Lizzie settled back into her spot, wiping another stray tear. She noticed that Miranda had a slightly confused look on her face, but decided it was probably nothing.
"Mommy?!"
Lizzie turned around to see Emily at the foot of the stairs clutching her battered teddy bear, Ben (no one knew where that name had come from) , and her favorite blanket that Miranda gave her when she was born. Lizzie noticed something peculiar about Emily's head. Her ears were pointier than usual.
"Why are you up sweetie," Lizzie paused, "What's that on your head?"
"Those are my Vulcan ear muffs," Larry spoke up, "I figured that they'd muffle the sounds of thunder, you know, so she could sleep better."
" I was asleep, but the storm woke me up and I was lonely"
"Oh, come here baby" Lizzie opened her arms and the little girl happily crawled into her lap. She snuggled against Lizzie feeling warm and soft.
" Are you excited about our trip, Em" Miranda asked
Emily nodded, her blonde curls bouncing along with her
"My grandma said we could go to Disneyland and the beach"
"Ooh" all the adults chorused in unison.
"So how was drive here" Larry asked, "we expected you a couple hours earlier."
"A nightmare" Lizzie answered " wrecks, road construction, storms, idiot drivers…you name it we experienced it"
" Mommy said the 'GD' word"
"Tattletale!"
"Lizzie, Lizzie" Miranda shook her head sadly "What will we do with you"
"She also said…" Emily stopped for dramatics and leaned forward beckoning for Larry to come closer.
"Emily we don't need to share" Lizzie warned
"She said the 'F' word," Emily whispered nodding her head for effect
"Lizzie" Miranda and Larry admonished her
Lizzie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"New topic please"
"No I think we need to discuss Lizzies potty mouth," Miranda insisted.
Lizzie smiled innocently at Miranda. "You know Larry, you look great, but what ever happened to all of your old polo shirts; they had so much character."
Miranda's eyes widened. "Uh, Lizzie's right, new topic."
*
For the next few minutes the three reminisced about high school and the people they had known and wondered what going back would like. Emily sat in her mothers lap, quietly listening.
"Hey guys," Lizzie said after a about ten minutes, "She's finally out."
"We must be pretty boring," Larry laughed.
"Hey, I can't speak for the two of you, but I am extremely fascinating."
"Sure Miranda," Lizzie said, "You keep thinking that."
Miranda pretended to look offended. "Hey!"
"I'm going to take her to bed, before she wakes up again." Lizzie stood up carrying Emily, but almost didn't make it.
"Good grief, I've forgotten how big she's gotten," Lizzie started to look a little sad. "I miss my baby."
"She's still your baby, Lizzie" Miranda reassured her"
"Only when she wants to be, she's 5 going on 15."
"Need some help getting her upstairs?" Larry asked getting up.
Lizzie shook her head. "Nah, I'll be okay. Sleep tight guys. Are we still leaving at 7:30 tomorrow morning? "
"Yeah" Miranda answered, "That should give us enough time to get there and get checked in and stuff."
"Okay," Lizzie started up the stairs "see you guys early tomorrow then"
*
A few minutes later Miranda and Larry were still curled up on the couch together listening to the rain pound the roof.
"Larry," Miranda turned slightly to look up at him.
"Yeah."
"What did you mean by you'll 'wait as long as you have to' for me?"
Larry looked down at her slightly confused. "It means I'll wait until you're ready to get married."
"Yeah but, you're the one who wants to wait to get married."
"No," he shook his head slowly, "that was you."
"No, I've been ready for a while, I've been waiting for you."
"I've been ready since I put that ring on your finger, YOU said you didn't want to rush things."
"Well yeah, but that was five years ago, I didn't want to rush things, but I didn't want them to stall out either."
"You're not happy with us?" Larry sounded surprised and a little hurt.
"No, No!" Miranda assured him, "I just thought you wanted to wait, and I was okay with that, but I've been waiting for a couple years now."
"Well why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want you to feel pressured, I love you, I didn't want to push you into anything."
"Well I love you too, I gave you that ring because I wanted to marry you then and I still do."
The two looked at each other for a minute letting all the new information sink in.
Larry spoke first. "So if you're ready, do you…?"
"Well, do you…?"
"I've always…"
"Yeah, me too."
The two stared quietly at each other as the rain continued to fall.
A/N: Awww… I wonder what will happen! I actually don't know yet, I'm working on it. And don't worry Lizzie and Gordo will meet again soon! I know this is going kind of slow, but I know where I want it to end, so thanks for the patience!
A/N: Warning: this chapter is pretty long, and it has a little Miranda/Larry fluff, something that I hadn't planned on, but it kind of wrote itself! I was surprised how much fun they are to write.
Chapter 4-Rain, Arrivals, and Polo-gate
"Are we there yet?"
Lizzie leaned forward trying to peer through the sheets of torrential rain falling all around them and sighed.
"No."
There was a long pause and the only sounds were from the radio and the constant rain on the windshield.
"Are we there now?"
"No."
Once again a long silence filled the car.
"What about-"
"Emily Grace McGuire if you finish that sentence-,"
Lizzie had several threats in mind, but none seemed appropriate
"…well just don't, it won't be pretty."
"Sorry mommy."
Lizzie sighed, the normal three hour drive had turned into five hours filled with two massive traffic pile ups, road construction, and now, as they finally made it into Houston, a torrential downpour. To make matters worse, the normally well behaved Emily had whined and fussed the entire time and would only listen to her Disney sing-along CD's. Lizzie thought that if she heard Hakuna Matata one more time she would scream. Luckily Lizzie had managed to get the radio back on under the ruse of wanting to hear a weather report. They drove along in silence for the next 15 minutes or so and Lizzie thought, and prayed, that Emily had finally dozed off, but then she heard
"Look, it's the park by Aunt Randa and Uncle Tudges house, we're almost there!"
A few minutes, later the two pulled up to Miranda and Larry's house; Lizzie couldn't remember a time when she had been so happy to see it.
"Okay Em, just grab your overnight bag, we'll get the rest when we leave tomorrow morning, and here, put on your rain coat so you don't get soaked."
Lizzie grabbed her own overnight bag and jacket and prepared to make a run for the large, covered front porch.
"Ready?" asked Lizzie.
Emily nodded seriously as though they were about to make a run across enemy lines. Lizzie suppressed a smile.
"Okay, we go on three." Lizzie said
"Okay mommy."
"One, two…"
"Aieeee-eee," Emily squealed as she bolted from the car
"Three." Lizzie finished, sighing to herself as she watched her daughter narrowly avoid flipping head over heels into the mud. Lizzie got out and slammed the door, and almost fell herself. Somehow the two made it to the front porch in one piece. Lizzie rang the doorbell while Emily jumped up and down.
"Wasn't that fun, Mommy," Emily exclaimed while hopping from one foot to the other. Lizzie rolled her eyes and began to pound on the door
"MIRANDA, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD OPEN THE…."
Miranda opened the door grinning, "My aren't we impatient tonight."
Lizzie, at the end of her rope, had a few choice words for Miranda. Emily, however, had plans of her own.
"AUNT RANDA" Emily squealed happily as Miranda scooped the little girl up in a huge hug. Lizzie squeezed passed this inconvenient Hallmark moment and into the warm, dry house. She dropped their bags on the floor and noticed a silhouette standing in front of the kitchen door.
"Lizzie!" the silhouette exclaimed.
She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Hey Larry, you look great!" And he did, under Mirandas guidance his dark hair was now stylishly cut and while he didn't wear high fashion, he had lost the green collared polo shirt. In fact standing there in a pair of faded jeans and a dark blue t-shirt he actually looked handsome.
"You don't look too bad yourself kid," he said giving her a hug
"Please," Lizzie rolled her eyes "I look like a drowned rat, I-"
She trailed off as a little blonde streak came flying past her and into Larrys waiting arms.
"UNCLE TUDGE!"
"Hey munchkin," Larry grunted as he scooped up Emily, "I've missed you."
"I missed you too," she said snuggling in for big hug, "do you have any new toys from NASA"
"Of course I do, lets go see them."
Larry always kept an eye out at the gift shop and anytime he saw a cool new toy or t-shirt he would get it for Emily; she now had quite a collection.
"Space shuttle me," Emily begged. Larry did the countdown and they took off up the stairs.
"Be careful!" Miranda called up after them
"Don't get her too wound up," Lizzie warned, "She needs to go to bed!"
Lizzie turned to Miranda and gave her a tired smile.
"I just wasted my breath, didn't I?"
Miranda laughed and gave Lizzie a reassuring hug.
"Don't worry, we'll just let him deal with the consequences."
Lizzie laughed and nodded her head in agreement
"Want to see something scary?" Miranda asked flashing Lizzie a mischievous grin. Lizzie gave her a curious look and nodded.
*
Miranda led Lizzie over to the hall closet and opened the door.
"My parents sent me an old box of photo albums and yearbooks from when we were in middle school and high school. They needed the space for all the 'family heirlooms' they bring back from Mexico every summer."
"Oh you mean those trinkets?" Lizzie asked.
Miranda looked at her oddly and rolled her eyes.
"Yes Lizzie, exactly, trinkets… Anyways here's the box, I haven't even gone through it myself so I'm pretty curious."
The box was stacked carefully on top of two other boxes that caught Lizzie's attention.
"Ooh, what's in this one," she asked eagerly, trying to peer into the middle box labeled 'Miranda's Personal Mementos'.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all," Miranda said sharply trying to block her view
"Miranda Isabella Sanchez, what are you hiding?" The full name threat always worked with Emily so Lizzie decided to give it a try.
"Its just junk…trinkets" Miranda insisted
Lizzie faked right and went left; Miranda tried to block but only succeeded in knocking all three of the boxes over. A flood of polo shirts with green collars covered the hallway floor. Lizzie's jaw dropped as she realized Miranda's deep dark secret.
"Lizzie," Miranda hissed looking panicked. "Quick, help me get these put away before…he," she motioned upstairs.
"Miranda are those-"
"What are you implying?"
"Have you been hiding…?"
"Not necessarily"
"Does he know?"
"Who says they're his?"
"There are green collars everywhere"
"I don't see green collars…what green collars?"
Lizzie processed the last few seconds.
"Why?"
"Its for his own good, Lizzie, you don't understand…you could never understand"
Lizzie finally broke down and laughed, Miranda looked so ridiculous crawling on the ground, frantically shoving the shirts back into their boxes.
"Aren't you going to help," Miranda asked irritably.
Lizzie laughed even harder. "I think you're doing a good job on your own."
"Please don't say anything," Miranda begged.
Lizzie smiled, "I don't know, I'll have to think about this."
Miranda stood up, hands on her hips and threatened, "I'll go call Gordo right -"
"Okay, okay, good point," Lizzie admitted, "your secret's safe."
"Good," Miranda continued, "now lets never speak of this again."
*
Thirty minutes after 'Polo-Gate,' Lizzie had finally changed out of her wet clothes and into a comfortable pair of pajama pants and an old t-shirt. The two women were curled up on the living room couch with cups of tea. The box of pictures had turned out to be of Miranda's parents, in other words, her parents had sent the wrong box.
In the mean time Lizzie had gotten Emily into her pajamas while Larry had been given the job of actually getting the five-year-old in bed; making her stay there was no small task. Lizzie had decided to give Larry the benefit of the doubt and guessed it would probably take him a good half hour to accomplish this task. Miranda wasn't as kind and had said an hour, at least. There was now five bucks riding on it.
"So, are you excited about the reunion?" Miranda asked, as they got comfortable
Lizzie shrugged and thought about it for a minute.
"Yeah, I guess, I'm excited about seeing everyone, but…"
"Gordo?" Miranda whispered quietly.
Lizzie nodded her head slowly.
"Are you still going to tell him?"
Lizzie nodded her head again, this time a bit hesitantly.
"Lizzie!?" Miranda warned.
"I am, I am" Lizzie promised "Its just, how do you…how do you…?"
"Tell someone that five and a half years ago you had his child and never told him?"
"You know it sounds so much worse, when you say it!"
Miranda laughed.
"Well that's why you're going to say it."
Lizzie groaned and leaned her head back
"Are you sure, you're welcome to the job, in fact you can be the one to tell my parents too."
"Oh no, that one is all yours, they all are; it is your secret Lizzie. I still can't believe you never told your parents who the real father is."
There were a few minutes of silence as both Lizzie and Miranda gathered their thoughts. Miranda was the first to break the silence.
"Lizzie, are you still in love with him?"
Miranda had expected Lizzie to have a fit at the question and deem it out of line but she was surprised by the answer.
"Sometimes I think I do. Whenever Emily smiles, sometimes I can almost see him, or when I look in her eyes and I see his," Lizzie stopped for a second and tried to stop the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Sometimes when I'm lying in bed at night; I can still feel him next to me. I remember how we used to lie and bed at night and just talk, sometimes for hours and…"
Her voice trailed off and the tears began to fall. Miranda leaned over to give her a hug.
"Am I interrupting something?"
The two looked up to see Larry standing there, looking half amused and half worried.
They looked back at each other and said unison, "Cone of silence!"
Realizing what had just happened, they broke into a fit of laughter.
"Lets just hope you're better at the 'cone' than you were before, Miranda"
"Hey" Miranda protested, "One slip up and you're branded?"
"So Larry, is my child asleep yet, or did you just give up?"
"She's asleep…finally!" Larry collapsed next to Miranda looking exhausted.
"Ooh," Lizzie exclaimed looking at the clock, "28 minutes, I win, I win, fork over the five Miranda!"
"Not until I check and see that she is really asleep."
"You two were betting!" Larry exclaimed "you didn't think I could get her to sleep, Miranda I would expect that from you… but Lizzie?" Larry was trying to sound upset but he was working hard to hide his grin.
"Oh poor baby," Miranda cooed putting her arms around him and kissing his cheek.
"I love you and I have complete faith in you."
"Oh you guys are so cute!" Lizzie exclaimed, "I miss that, it's been a long time"
"You should date more Lizzie," Larry scolded, "you're too pretty to stay in all the time, in fact if I weren't attached…"
"Don't even finish that sentences, mister," Miranda threatened, but she was smiling.
"Thanks Larry, but I get out plenty."
"Lizzie, ballet recitals and Gattie Town do not count."
"Those aren't the only places I go, Miranda."
"When was the last time you went out on a date?"
Lizzie squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before replying
"It was you know a month, well two months ago." Lizzie saw Mirandas 'I told you so' expression and got defensive.
"Miranda I am two years away from 30, I have a five year old, and I work like a maniac. You do the math and you figure out why I don't have men lined up at my door!" Lizzie saw Miranda start to open her mouth and decided it was good time for a subject change.
"Now what about you two, you have been engaged for how many years now, does the phrase 'common law' mean anything?"
"Ouch" Larry winced, "diversion, nice tactic Lizzie, I like it."
Lizzie grinned.
"Thank you Larry, I thought it was a nice touch."
"Well I for one" Miranda spoke up "don't care what other people think, I like my life and what WE have just fine."
"And you Larry" Lizzie asked putting on her best therapy voice "are you happy with 'the way things are'."
"Choose you answer very carefully," Miranda warned.
Thunder boomed in the background
"Well I…" Larry paused, "talk about your loaded questions." He looked as though he was looking for the perfect words.
"I get to wake up next to the woman I love everyday, it doesn't matter if she's my wife or not, I know that she'll always be there. Yes, I do want to marry her, but I'm willing to wait as long as I have to." Larry stopped to smile at Miranda before continuing.
"Married or not, I'm the luckiest guy on earth."
Miranda leaned over and wrapped her arms around him.
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard, I love you."
Lizzie sniffled and wiped away a tear.
"I want a hug too!" she wailed
Miranda and Larry both laughed.
"Come here," Miranda pulled her over for her own hug.
"You know, this is the real reason why guys don't say nice things much, THIS is what happens!" Lizzie settled back into her spot, wiping another stray tear. She noticed that Miranda had a slightly confused look on her face, but decided it was probably nothing.
"Mommy?!"
Lizzie turned around to see Emily at the foot of the stairs clutching her battered teddy bear, Ben (no one knew where that name had come from) , and her favorite blanket that Miranda gave her when she was born. Lizzie noticed something peculiar about Emily's head. Her ears were pointier than usual.
"Why are you up sweetie," Lizzie paused, "What's that on your head?"
"Those are my Vulcan ear muffs," Larry spoke up, "I figured that they'd muffle the sounds of thunder, you know, so she could sleep better."
" I was asleep, but the storm woke me up and I was lonely"
"Oh, come here baby" Lizzie opened her arms and the little girl happily crawled into her lap. She snuggled against Lizzie feeling warm and soft.
" Are you excited about our trip, Em" Miranda asked
Emily nodded, her blonde curls bouncing along with her
"My grandma said we could go to Disneyland and the beach"
"Ooh" all the adults chorused in unison.
"So how was drive here" Larry asked, "we expected you a couple hours earlier."
"A nightmare" Lizzie answered " wrecks, road construction, storms, idiot drivers…you name it we experienced it"
" Mommy said the 'GD' word"
"Tattletale!"
"Lizzie, Lizzie" Miranda shook her head sadly "What will we do with you"
"She also said…" Emily stopped for dramatics and leaned forward beckoning for Larry to come closer.
"Emily we don't need to share" Lizzie warned
"She said the 'F' word," Emily whispered nodding her head for effect
"Lizzie" Miranda and Larry admonished her
Lizzie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"New topic please"
"No I think we need to discuss Lizzies potty mouth," Miranda insisted.
Lizzie smiled innocently at Miranda. "You know Larry, you look great, but what ever happened to all of your old polo shirts; they had so much character."
Miranda's eyes widened. "Uh, Lizzie's right, new topic."
*
For the next few minutes the three reminisced about high school and the people they had known and wondered what going back would like. Emily sat in her mothers lap, quietly listening.
"Hey guys," Lizzie said after a about ten minutes, "She's finally out."
"We must be pretty boring," Larry laughed.
"Hey, I can't speak for the two of you, but I am extremely fascinating."
"Sure Miranda," Lizzie said, "You keep thinking that."
Miranda pretended to look offended. "Hey!"
"I'm going to take her to bed, before she wakes up again." Lizzie stood up carrying Emily, but almost didn't make it.
"Good grief, I've forgotten how big she's gotten," Lizzie started to look a little sad. "I miss my baby."
"She's still your baby, Lizzie" Miranda reassured her"
"Only when she wants to be, she's 5 going on 15."
"Need some help getting her upstairs?" Larry asked getting up.
Lizzie shook her head. "Nah, I'll be okay. Sleep tight guys. Are we still leaving at 7:30 tomorrow morning? "
"Yeah" Miranda answered, "That should give us enough time to get there and get checked in and stuff."
"Okay," Lizzie started up the stairs "see you guys early tomorrow then"
*
A few minutes later Miranda and Larry were still curled up on the couch together listening to the rain pound the roof.
"Larry," Miranda turned slightly to look up at him.
"Yeah."
"What did you mean by you'll 'wait as long as you have to' for me?"
Larry looked down at her slightly confused. "It means I'll wait until you're ready to get married."
"Yeah but, you're the one who wants to wait to get married."
"No," he shook his head slowly, "that was you."
"No, I've been ready for a while, I've been waiting for you."
"I've been ready since I put that ring on your finger, YOU said you didn't want to rush things."
"Well yeah, but that was five years ago, I didn't want to rush things, but I didn't want them to stall out either."
"You're not happy with us?" Larry sounded surprised and a little hurt.
"No, No!" Miranda assured him, "I just thought you wanted to wait, and I was okay with that, but I've been waiting for a couple years now."
"Well why didn't you say anything?"
"I didn't want you to feel pressured, I love you, I didn't want to push you into anything."
"Well I love you too, I gave you that ring because I wanted to marry you then and I still do."
The two looked at each other for a minute letting all the new information sink in.
Larry spoke first. "So if you're ready, do you…?"
"Well, do you…?"
"I've always…"
"Yeah, me too."
The two stared quietly at each other as the rain continued to fall.
A/N: Awww… I wonder what will happen! I actually don't know yet, I'm working on it. And don't worry Lizzie and Gordo will meet again soon! I know this is going kind of slow, but I know where I want it to end, so thanks for the patience!