Ok, 63, before I thought I'd get it done and up but here it is, I have a feeling that I might be heading back down the incoherent ramblings road once again, but as long as you keep reviewing it then I'm just going to carry on writing it….as ever let me know what you think. XxX Kay
Abby and Amelia were standing in the kitchen with Lauren and Imogen as the two girls watched Maggie intently. Maggie had had the girls making cup cakes and they were now all set up for the oven.
"From scratch and everything, we didn't even use a packet." Imogen had informed them excitedly earlier. Both Abby and Amelia had passable cookery skills but they were both willing to admit that they were no Maggie as far as cooking was concerned; she appeared to have the ability to keep the baking department under control whilst producing extremely good results and keeping two five year olds entertained, and relatively clean. It was a feat that Amelia had great admiration for and Abby was slightly bewildered by. Amelia and Abby had been roped into the proceedings to make the topping, which they'd resolutely messed up. Burning chocolate was easy Maggie had assured Amelia whilst casting a some what derisory expression in Abby's direction, she'd been convinced she'd shown Abby how to do this before, but the pair had spent so long trying to rectify the situation before Maggie had taken over that they did nothing but laugh as Maggie scooped the congealed smoldering blob of disintegrated chocolate into the trash much to Lauren and Imogen's disappointment.
Maggie subsequently had mustered up a chocolate butter-icing in a trice much to the girls' glee and Abby and Amelia's astonishment as they were ordered out of the kitchen having been told they were much more trouble than they were worth, which in all fairness they were both inclined to agree with as far as kitchen duty was concerned.
"You know of all the rooms in the house I want to excel in I'd say that the kitchen wouldn't be all that high up on my list." Abby had muttered smilingly to Amelia as they'd headed back towards the couch.
"Oh, so you're not a believer in 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'" Amelia smiled over at her subtly as they heaped themselves onto Maggie's couch.
"No. I'm a believer in the notion that the way to a man's heart is through his…"
"Yeah, pants got it." Amelia nodded squeezing her eyes shut holding out her hand out to stop Abby, as much as she loved the idea of Abby and Nick she didn't need images of her older sister and her oldest friend doing whatever they did.
"You're not being coy now are you?" Abby chuckled at her.
"No, I'm just…" Amelia started, defending herself. "I don't want to hear about you and Nick, it's like me telling you about me and Jas, you know you get that 'she's my little sister' image in your head." Amelia said smiling as she shuddered at the thought.
"No I don't." Abby smiled defending herself now.
"Really?" Amelia asked raising an eyebrow, continuing before Abby could stop her. "Ok, so the other night, Jas and I were there, and neither of us could sleep…"
"Yeah, no, ok, yeah I take your point." Abby nodded over at her, cutting her off. Amelia hadn't even had a story, she could have come up with a thing or two but she'd proven her point as Abby frowned almost disgustedly.
"Exactly." Amelia nodded at her.
"Ok." Abby nodded back. "Are you thinking it may be time for a cigarette?" Abby asked as she looked at Amelia conspiratorially.
"D'you know I think it may be." Amelia smiled back as they both stood and headed for the back door, Amelia was beginning to wonder if Maggie ever used her front door, other than for mail.
"You're a bad influence on me for doing this y'know." Abby said indicating the cigarette she was about to light.
"Oh please, you don't have to accept them, I think I probably fund your habit don't I?" Amelia said chuckling as she fetched one from the packet.
"You know it's a bad habit." Abby told her as she took her first drag.
"Yes thank you, I've been told that." Amelia half chuckled over at her. "But all the latest research shows that if you quit before you're thirty, you pretty much eliminate the effects." Amelia told her with the traces of a smug smile.
"Oh well check you with all your 'latest research' " Abby said derisorily as she half nodded in Amelia's direction.
"You're just bitter because you're over thirty." Amelia smiled as she took an extra, obvious, showy drag.
"Give me a break Miss 'I'm only twenty seven'." Abby retaliated possibly slightly over defensively.
"That's the best come back you've got? 'Give me a break Miss I'm only twenty seven.' You should be able to come up with a better put down than that." Amelia smiled chuckling.
"Given how much older than you I am." Abby smiled back as Amelia nodded her agreement.
"I was impressed with your don't run out into the road reasoning y'know." Amelia told her honestly with a raised eyebrow.
"Jesus, she was close y'know." Abby said sighing and shaking her head slightly.
"I would have just yelled at her if I'd done it." Amelia said rolling her eyes.
"You think that's what I should have done?" Abby asked, she was interested in the way Amelia would have handled things, she thought Amelia was a good mother, Amelia was a good mother.
"No, the way you did it was a much better idea, I caught Lauren trying to stick her finger in a light bulb socket like a week ago and completely lost it with her, just yelled. It doesn't get the message across very well, it just made her cry." Amelia shrugged. "She probably won't do it again but only because she doesn't want to get yelled at." Amelia shrugged and smiled over at Abby.
"God I don't think I've run that quickly in years." Abby chuckled lightly as she blinked and shook her head.
"It's weird, they're like these tiny little people who rely on you and you're supposed to be responsible for, you keep up this pretence that you're in charge and stuff, but they run the show, they have the ability to make you stop whatever you're doing and go chasing after them, I was arrogant enough to believe that no one would ever have the kind of power to make me do that but she does, they both do." She smiled and laughed slightly as she looked over at Abby.
"It's very…weird." Abby said still smiling slightly, almost to herself as a satisfied air closed in on her demeanor. She was pulled out of it as she heard Amelia laughing lightly beside her. "What, you find my inability to accept all this funny now?" Abby smiled over at her.
"No, I'm just baffled by the fact that you're so worried about something that your so obviously good at." Amelia said shaking her head misunderstandingly as she looked at Abby's face her eyes narrowed contemplatively.
"Well…" Abby sighed pausing breathing out, the traces of a smile still on her lips as she scratched at an uneven patch of paint on the step beside her before shrugging and looking over at Amelia with a 'what can you do?' expression on her face as a car door slammed at the bottom of the path and they both looked up.
An entirely different smile began to curl over Abby's lips as the man stood by the cab, cash in one hand, cigarette dangling from the other as he counted out the notes. Abby pushed herself up off the step, bringing Amelia with her as they guy turned and began to head up the path, a smile cracking over his face as well as he spotted Abby.
Amelia hung back as Abby took a couple of paces down the path and met the guy who enveloped her in a big bear hug.
"Hey, how you doing?" He grinned at her as he let her go.
"Yeah, I'm good, I'm good, how are you?" Abby asked grinning up at him.
"Great, Mom tell you I have a new job?" He asked her still smiling as he rested one hand on his hip and dropped his cigarette butt by his foot.
"She might have mentioned it once or twice yeah." Abby said chuckling a little, Maggie had told her about at length.
"So am I going to get to meet this guy of yours?" Eric asked smiling at her almost mockingly.
"No, you're going to have to venture out of Minnesota if you want to meet him, he's in Chicago still." Abby shook her head, her hands moving to her hips, they paused as Eric's gaze ventured away from Abby and hit Amelia who was still standing by the step, looking a little awkward as she tried not to watch them. Abby's eyes followed Eric's and fell on Amelia, moving back and forth between the two, neither of whom seemed quite sure what they were supposed to do.
"God, you look really like Abby." Eric said breaking the awkward silence hanging between them as he looked at Amelia and took a step towards her.
"God you really don't." Amelia said chuckling a little as she narrowed her eyes slightly and she looked at her older brother. He was much taller than she'd expected him to be.
Abby watched their interaction with a subtle nervousness bubbling inside her, she had a feeling that the pair would get on, but the inevitable initial awkwardness was more than obvious, Amelia was doing her usual trick of pulling her sleeves down over her hands, a sure sign that she was uncomfortable as she crossed her arms over her chest and Eric was running his hand through his hair repeatedly as they both searched for something to say next.
"Mealia." Imogen's voice interrupted them as she pushed the door open behind Amelia who turned towards her instantly, thankful for the interruption and Abby and Eric both looked down at her, she paused for a second as she surveyed the newest arrival, looking a little shy all of a sudden as she looked towards Abby for reassurance.
"Yeah." Amelia said in response to Imogen saying her name getting Imogen's attention back.
"Lo wants you." Imogen informed her, her voice much quieter now as she looked from Eric to Amelia and back, shuffling slightly towards Amelia for protection.
"Why?" Amelia asked her frowning a little as she continued to look down at Imogen whose eyes were still darting between her and Eric.
"Dumpy bited her, she needs you to fix it." Imogen said earnestly as she retuned her eyes to Amelia. "But she's being brave and she decided not to cry." She added as her gaze wandered back to Eric and Amelia rolled her eyes, heading past Imogen and up the steps to go and tend to her daughter.
"This is Imogen." Abby smiled as she and Eric moved towards the house, introducing Eric as Imogen continued to watch him suspiciously, putting her arms out for Abby to pick her up which she did obliging.
"Hi." Eric smiled at the little girl in Abby's grip, holding out his hand for her to shake. Imogen watched him for a moment longer before whispering 'hi' her eyes never leaving him as he retracted his hand which Imogen quite clearly had no intention of taking.
"This is mine and Mealia's brother Eric." Abby told her as she bent her head to see Imogen's reaction. Imogen watched him for another moment before speaking.
"You can fly airplanes can't you?" she said quietly still looking at him.
"I can yeah." Eric nodded back at her, smiling a little.
"Your Mommy told me." She informed him seriously her eyes still suspicious as she fell silent and Eric nodded.
"Right." Abby said after a second when it became clear that Imogen had finished conversing with Eric, she looked over at him, he was still looking at Imogen a slight smile on his lips as he eyed her in the same way she was eyeing him.
"I should probably go and say hi to Maggie." He said tearing his eyes from Imogen, reaching to hold the door open for Abby as they headed inside.
Abby placed Imogen on the floor as the three of them headed towards the kitchen, Imogen's stare still trained on Eric. They headed in as Maggie placed the kettle on the stove and smiled at Eric, saying hi. She liked him being there, but she had in fact seen him two days ago and spoken to him yesterday so she wasn't overwhelmed by his appearance as she asked him and Abby if they wanted tea or coffee. Amelia was standing in front of Lauren, one hand on either side of her resting on the counter top, Lauren was sitting on the counter frowning slightly as she looked into Amelia's eyes and kicked her socked feet.
"If I pulled your ears would you like it?" Amelia asked frowning a little as she spoke to Lauren, who had a very minor graze on her arm.
"No." Lauren pouted.
"Ok, so the dog didn't like it when you pulled his ears." Amelia said simply, raising her eyebrows as she spoke, holding Lauren's gaze.
"I was playing with him." Lauren frowned. "Granny said he liked people playing." She told Amelia, looking over at Maggie who apologized to Amelia with her eyes as the kettle began to screech beside her. Amelia shook off Maggie's apology and accepted her offer of coffee.
"Lo, trying to get him to stand up by pulling his ear isn't playing sweetie, petting him is playing, throwing sticks for him to go fetch is playing not pulling his ears, dogs bite you when you do that." She said patiently.
"But I was playing with him." Lauren frowned juddering a little bit as she tried to get her point across.
"Lo, maybe you thought you were playing with him, but he obviously didn't, he's a dog Lauren, he doesn't get playing in the same way you get playing, and pulling his ears isn't playing anyway." Amelia said as Lauren insisted she'd been playing again and Abby, Eric and Maggie all suppressed little smiles as they took seats at the table.
"Granny I was playing wasn't I." Lauren said frowning as she looked towards Maggie, who looked a little flustered as she tried to come up with a response that wouldn't put her in Lauren or Amelia's bad books.
"No, Lauren." Amelia started, giving Maggie her out as she got Lauren's attention again. "If you do it again, if you don't play nicely with him then he'll bite you again Lo, that's the way it works ok." Amelia finished as she looked seriously at Lauren.
"I don't want to play with him now." Lauren pouted as she rubbed at her eye with a knuckle.
"That's fine." Amelia said effectively finishing their conversation as she picked her off the worktop and placed her on her feet as she walked dejectedly away and Amelia turned to find Abby smiling at her, trying not to laugh. Amelia cracked a subtle smile as well as she let out a soft chuckle and took a seat at the table in front of her coffee.
"So that's my niece." Eric said as he looked from Lauren who was now sitting on the floor beside Imogen 'playing' with the dog again and back to Amelia who nodded once and smiled down into her coffee for a second before looking over at him.
"Yeah, that's her." Amelia said smiling a little at him.
"He's never bitten anyone before Amelia, I'm so sorry." Maggie apologized.
"Oh, no, he probably didn't actually bite her anyway, and if he did I'm sure she was doing something she shouldn't have been doing." Amelia smiled over at Maggie and shrugged.
"Having them around makes life interesting." Maggie smiled between Amelia and Abby.
"What with trying to get themselves run over and attacked by animals yeah it does." Abby half laughed sharing a smiled glance with Amelia who was shaking her head, closing her eyes and sighing with a little laugh.
"You're Eric aren't you?" Lauren said more like an announcement than a question as she appeared beside him, between him an Abby.
"I am yeah, and you're Lauren right?" Eric asked laughing a little at her.
"Yeah I am, and that's Imogen." She informed him pointing at her friend.
"I know yeah, I met Imogen outside." He told her as Abby, Amelia and Maggie all watched her.
"You can fly airplanes can't you?" Lauren asked her eyes wide as she looked at him ignoring everyone else.
"That's right." He nodded at her.
"Immo's Daddy's sister can fly…" She paused trying to remember. "What can she fly?" She asked looking around at Abby.
"Helicopters." Abby supplied her answers as she took a sip from her mug and watched her.
"Yeah, hellipop…hellitop…hellitopters." She started trying to get her mouth around the word as she carried on regardless. " Daddy says that me and Immo can't go in her hellitopter, can we come in your airplane?" She asked looking expectantly up at him as she laid a little hand mindlessly on Abby's leg.
"Ummm." Eric started, as he looked a little bewildered and glanced between Abby, Maggie and Amelia who was laughing silently and shaking her head as she watched her daughter.
"Please." Lauren added as if she just remembered that that was the word that would get her what she wanted.
"Lo, you can't just invite yourself to go in Eric's airplane." Amelia shook her head at Lauren still smiling slightly.
"It's not just me Imm wants to go, and you can come too." She told Amelia assumingly.
"This is like inviting yourself to someone's house buddy." Amelia told her sipping from her mug again, there wasn't a chance in hell she was going to let Lauren go flying. Lauren looked from her mother and back to Eric, frowning slightly as she thought and held his attention.
"Can you ask us to come flying in your airplane and then I didn't invite us and we can get to go." Lauren asked finding the simple solution to the problem her mother was presenting. Eric looked at Abby quickly who was shaking her head in a 'when hell freezes over' way and then back to Lauren.
"Um, well my airplane is getting fixed at the moment." Eric started as Lauren shuffled to get onto Abby's lap to continue her conversation.
"When it's fixed then." She suggested jumping in as Eric chuckled and looked a little helplessly from Abby to Amelia.
"We'll see." Amelia said nodding at Lauren effectively finishing her harassment of Eric. Lauren frowned at Amelia and slipped off Abby's lap heading back to Imogen and Dumpy.
"Sorry." Amelia almost grimaced looking apologetically at Eric.
"She's quite bold isn't she?" He said smiling at Amelia and then over at Abby.
"Bold would be one way to describe her I guess yeah." Amelia nodded at him looking a little weary as she smiled helplessly.
"She's fine they both are." Maggie said, with a slight hint of pride as she glanced between her children and then over at her grandchildren. Abby and Amelia both looked at her smirking sceptically. "What?" She asked catching their glances, they both shook their heads and looked away from her wordlessly almost in unison. Maggie was in her element and they all knew it.
I said that I'd get the review responses done in this chapter and once again that was an empty promise, I might stop always telling you that I'll put them in the next chapter because I honestly don't know when I'll get around to it, but thank you very much for all of them as ever they are all extremely nice and very much appreciated. So cheers!