As Alex walked down the stairs, she could hear the commotion of her family downstairs. She tucked her hair behind her ear and peeked around the corner. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at the people that filled the room. Gus was sitting on her father's lap, while Ellie, Zoey and Liz talked together in the corner. Her mother and who she guessed was her grandmother and grandfather. She stepped into the kitchen quietly, not wanting to attract attention just yet.
"Oh my goodness," she heard a gasp, "Alexandria?"
"Hi grandma," she said, shyly. Suddenly, she was grabbed into a hug by the older woman. She could feel wet tears on her cheeks as her grandmother held her tight.
Abbey felt Jed's arm slide around her shoulders, kissing her temple gently. Tears filled her eyes as she watched her mother embrace Alex tightly.
Alex pulled away and smiled as she saw her grandmother for the first time. "I'm Grace Paxton," her grandmother said, "Your grandmother, but I guess you knew that."
"Yeah," Alex said with a bright smile, "I did." She wiped away a tear that had fallen down her own cheek.
"And I am your grandfather," a tall man said from behind her. She turned and grinned at the older man. "Well, don't I get a hug?" Alex laughed and threw her around the man's neck, hugging him tightly.
"Welcome to the family," he said softly.
"Thanks," Alex said, letting go of him.
She shrank back from her family, not wanting to be in the spotlight. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her Mom standing behind her. "Doing okay," Abbey asked softly.
"Yeah," Alex said, nodding her head. Abbey kissed her forehead gently, then moved past her to finish fixing dinner.
Alex sat at the table that afternoon, her eyes looking over each member of her family. She noticed that her mother resembled her grandmother, more than her grandfather, but that she had more of her father's personality. She noticed the Gus and Annie were complete opposites, but were identical at the same time. She saw that her grandparents had the same look in their eyes as her mother had for her father.
She smiled softly to herself, glad to have her family all around her. She took her sister's hand as her father bowed his head to say the prayer before dinner.
After dinner, the family sat in the living, with Alex playing chess against her father, Annie and Gus playing a game in the corner, her grandparents and mother having a conversation and Liz, Ellie and Zoey in the kitchen, drinking coffee and chatting.
"Your move," Alex said, propping her chin up on her hand. Her eyes flicked up from the chess board to watch her father. He studied the board, then made his move.
"Your mom told me you applied to colleges," he said, watching her move.
"Yeah," Alex said, "Yale, Harvard and Georgetown. Not like I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into the first two."
"I could put in a good word for you," he said, winking.
"Dad, if I get into college, I want it to be because I earned it," Alex said, moving her rook forward. "Check.." She grinned at the look on her father's face.
"When will you hear," he asked. "Check on you, now."
"Next week sometime," she replied. She moved her queen and looked back up at her father. "Checkmate. I'll let you know when I get the letter. Another game?" She smiled sweetly as her father muttered under his breath and moved to reset the game.
Alex lay in bed that night on her side, her eyes focused on the window. She heard her door creek open and looked up to see her mother enter her bedroom. "Hey," Abbey said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "How're you doing?"
"I'm okay," Alex said, turning onto her back. "It was…overwhelming at first, but I'm okay now. I talked with Ellie."
"I know," Abbey said, "You and her seem to get along well."
"We do," Alex said with a shrug. "Thank you for letting us be here."
"You're welcome," Abbey said. "We need to head back to D.C. on Sunday, though."
"I'm okay with that," Alex said, "I just needed to get away for awhile."
"I understand that," Abbey said softly, "Your father has a thing in Europe. You want to come along?"
"Really," Alex asked, her eyes opening wide.
"Yeah…sort of a last fling before college," Abbey said.
"Yeah I wanna go," Alex said, "When will we leave?"
"Tuesday," Abbey said, "We'll be back on the following Tuesday."
"Okay," Alex said, yawning.
"Get some sleep," Abbey said, kissing her forehead. "I'll see you in the morning."
Alex walked downstairs, wearing jeans, doc marten's and a thick zip up sweater. "I'm going riding," Zoey said, finishing her bowl of cereal. "Wanna come?"
"Sure," Alex said, grabbing a cup of yogurt from the fridge. She ate it on the way to the stables.
"So, Mom told me you're going to Europe," Zoey said, "It should be fun."
"Are you coming," Alex asked.
"Nah. I've got class," Zoey replied, "CJs fun to be around…Donna's not bad either."
"What all do these trips have," Alex asked.
"Depends," Zoey said, "Usually, you meet the city leader, attend galas and balls…CJ'll have an agenda for you."
"Agenda," Alex said.
"Yeah…and you'll have a Secret Service agent with you. Donna or Carol are usually the one that keeps you on track. One of them will be with you for most of the day," Zoey replied.
"Sounds exhausting," Alex said. Zoey nodded her head, then changed the subject to her relationship with Charlie.
"Call me when you get back," her grandmother said, hugging both Alex and Zoey tightly. "I'll see you both at Christmas."
"We know," Alex said, smiling.
"And behave yourselves. I know how much trouble twins can cause." She winked at the girls, then handed them back over to their grandfather, who swept them both in a large hug.
"You two can cause as much trouble as you want," he said, kissing both of their cheeks. "Alexandria, you keep this one in check. She's trouble, you know."
"Oh, I already know it," Alex said, winking at her twin.
Alex stooped down and hugged Gus tightly, slipping something in his pocket. "What is this," he asked, pulling it out of his pocket.
"An arrowhead," she said, "I found it when I was riding the other day. Don't be to much trouble to your sister."
"I won't," he promised, grinning. He had lost a tooth over the holiday and now had a gaped tooth smile.
"Alright. I'll see you at Christmas," she hugged him again, then stood as her sister helped him get into the car.
"Have fun in Europe," Liz said, hugging Alex tightly.
"I will," Alex replied, "Take care of Gus and Annie."
"I will," Liz said, glancing over at her family. "See you at Christmas."
"Yeah. See you then," Alex said.
Ellie was riding with them back to D.C., then was going to be taken to Johns Hopkins from there. They climbed into the limo and rode back to the base where Air Force One was being kept.
On the way, Abbey watched as Alex, Zoey and Ellie all talked about classes, or whatever came up. She smiled to herself as she saw Alex smiling and laughing, back to her usual self. The sparkle was back in her eye and she was confident the girl had fought back the demons that haunted her past once more.
She felt her husband grasp her hand and she smiled at him, kissing him gently on the cheek. She knew he was thinking the same thing that she was; their daughter had just needed to find her way back to her family.