Disclaimer: I still don't own Everwood. (Do you think I'd be in Mulhouse if it was the case? Lol.)
A/N: Here's chapter five (finally!). I'm really sorry for the delay but you know what it is… real life!
Chapter five: Surprise!
Time is amazing…
When you are a child you wish it would pass more quickly; wanting to be able to do whatever you want, on your own, without having someone forbidding you anything. But things changes, you change and you learn that time is a really precious thing because in the end of the day, you realise that you do not have enough of it… Amy learned it the hard way; losing so many people. Some of them died and others just left, leaving her alone with all this time that somehow seemed to pass more and more quickly. That is what she was thinking about on a December morning; the December morning he came back. She was in her office, looking at the falling snow through the window, lost in her thoughts when she heard Dr Brown screaming with joy. She rushed out of her office and saw something she did not see in years. Just in front of Louise's desk Andy was holding Ephram in his arms, both of them smiling widely. Behind them was standing a tall old man who was carrying a little girl in his arms and next to them was standing a couple. The four of them were smiling at Andy and Ephram. Amy's heart dropped in her chest. He was here. Ephram was here, in Everwood. She did not know what to do so instead of doing anything, she stood still smiling at the sight of the two men holding each other.
"Amy!" Ella said smiling widely. Amy waved at her while everybody turned around to look at her. Ephram and his father finally pulled apart and looked at Amy too. She caught his gaze but neither of them moved. It was like a picture. Everybody stood still looking at each other and smiling, simply enjoying the moment. Amy would never forget this picture.
Fran and Alberto decided to break the silence. He shook Andy's hand and she went to Amy.
"Hi." She said smiling. "Surprise!" Amy laughed and they quickly hug. "How are you?"
"Well…um… I feel a little dazed right now but I-I'm good… Really good." Amy answered. "What about you?"
"Urgh! I'm exhausted." She said rolling her beautiful green eyes. She turned to look at Andy who was holding Ella now and Ephram who was watching them. Fran smiled. "But it was worth it." She said giving a warm look at Amy who smiled. "Come!" she added taking Amy's hand and leading her to the old man.
"Paul, this is Amy Abbott, Amy this is Paul Simon." Fran said introducing them.
"It's nice to meet you." Amy said shaking his hand.
"It's nice to meet you too." he replied smiling. "Ephram told me a lot about you."
"Really?" He nodded smiling.
"Hi." Amy heard Ephram's voice behind her. She turned around and saw that he was just inches from her.
"Hi" she said pulling him into a hug. They quickly pulled apart and smiled at each other awkwardly. Since last summer they did not talk much except for few phone calls.
"I say, we all go to Sam's and have a big welcome back lunch." Andy suggested smiling, one of his hands still on Ephram's shoulder.
"But we still have patients…"
"Don't worry about that; Louise will reschedule." Andy said interrupting Amy and she smiled.
"It's an excellent idea." Harold said while shaking Ephram's hand; he had just stepped outside of his office. Andy, Alberto and Ephram took their luggage into Harold and Andy's office and when they were done, all of them went outside of the practice and walked down the snowy street toward Sam's. Nina was in her office when they arrived.
"I'll go get her." Andy said but Ephram grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Wait. I want Ella to surprise her." They exchanged smiles and Andy nodded.
"She'll love that." Ephram took his daughter from Alberto's arms and headed toward Nina's office, they stopped in front of the closed door.
"Okay piccolina, do you want to surprise Nina?"
"Siiiiii!" the little girl answered, nodding with excitation and Ephram laughed.
"Okay." He said and put her down before knocking at the door.
"Come in." Nina said. Ephram opened the door for his daughter and hid himself while she was coming in. Nina looked at the young girl a little puzzled.
"Hi." She said without recognising her.
"Good morning Nina." Ella said running to her. Andy's wife quickly stood up and took her in her arms.
"You know me?" she asked looking into Ella's eyes and at that moment it hit her. "Ella? Oh my god!" she said hugging her tightly.
"Hey." Ephram said showing himself for the first time. He smiled when he saw the surprise and the happiness in his step- mother's eyes. Nina ran to him and hugged him tightly, still holding Ella in her arms. "Oh my god Ephram! It's so good to see you!" She finally said, letting a cascade of tears falling down her cheek.
"What are you doing here? How come you didn't tell us?"
"That's why it's called a surprise." He said teasing her. She laughed and hugged him once more. At that point Andy, Amy and the rest of the group had joined them.
"Uh… I suppose you remember Francesca and Alberto." Ephram said pointing at his friends.
"Of course." Nina said holding a hand to them and drying her tears with her other hand.
"And this is Paul, Ella's other grand father."
"Yeah I know. It's really good to see you all again." She added literally beaming.
"Now that the surprise is done, can we eat? I'm starving!" Alberto said and they all headed back to find a table.
Time is weird…
Ten years had past, yet this lunch seemed so natural, so pleasant, and so great. It was like if nothing had changed, except that everything had. After all she was surrounded by quasi- stranger (except for Andy, his wife, her dad and Ephram) but Amy felt really comfortable; laughing at Alberto's bad jokes, listening to Andy, Harold and Paul talking about medicine, talking with Fran and Nina about Meg's nearing wedding. Everybody was happy but the happiest of them was certainly Andy. He did not see his son since last year and he was really missing him. They were getting along for a long time now. Ephram had forgotten his father many years ago and they often saw each other, especially since Carla's death. Andy had taken six months off when he learned that Ephram became alcoholic and he helped him through this hard time. This experience had brought them closer.
"I have to call Delia. She wasn't supposed to come back this week end from Denver but I'm sure she will now." Andy said to Ephram.
"How is she? I missed her so much." He said.
"She's good. She's got this new boyfriend… I already hate him." he said exasperated and Ephram laughed.
"Don't listen to him!" Amy said. "I met him, he's really nice."
"His name is Harry, he's 25 and he's a music teacher." Nina added, giving him a meaningful look.
"Really? How come she didn't talk to me about him? I called her like 2 days ago and she didn't say anything."
"Well, it's kinda new, I guess she waiting to see where it goes before she demand the big brother judgement." Amy said smirking.
"I see." He said grinning. "So how many rooms are left in the hotel?" he asked Nina who also owned a hotel now. Two years after the opening of Sam's and the success of her restaurant she wanted to complete her enterprise and with Andy's help she built a hotel above Sam's. Nina was an incredible business women and everybody was impressed by her achievement. Andy and she got married two years after Ephram's departure from Everwood (Andy's son and Carla had come to the wedding) and they had two children Claire and Chris. Two very different twins in personality and in looks; Claire was a younger version of Nina with bright blond hair but was as stubborn as Andy was. Whereas Chris looks a lot like Ephram and had Nina's kindness. They were seven now. Sam and Delia were in college; he was in his somophore year as a literature student and she was finishing her psychology curriculum.
"Are you kidding me?" Nina and Andy said at the same time.
"What? You're not expecting the five of us staying at home with you guys. With Sam and Delia coming back for the holidays there will be no room left for us." Alberto, Fran and Paul looked at each other.
"We have a solution here." Paul said to Ephram. "We suggest you and Ella stay with your father and the three of us will stay here at the hotel."
"No!" Andy, Nina and Ephram said at once.
"It's only for a week, plus you must be missing your old home and as you said it they can't take the five of us but they can take you and Ella." Alberto said.
"But…"
"No but Brown!" Fran interrupted him. "You're staying with your family. End of discussion."
"But…"
"Why is it that you always want to argue? I said you're staying with your family. END OF DISCUSSION!" she repeated her eyes looking menacing. The group burst out with laughter and Ephram agreed to stay with his family.
"It's settled then, but I'm not charging you anything." Nina said.
"No! We can't accept…" Paul tried but she cut him.
"You're family too. So I'm not charging anything." She said using the same tone Fran used with Ephram a few seconds earlier. Andy and Alberto looked at each other and laughed at their wives.
"I see my father has a bad influence on you!" Ephram said smirking.
Ella was had fallen asleep on Andy's lap. Therefore, they all decided it was high time to bring Ephram and his daughter home while Nina would bring Alberto, Fran and Paul to their room.
Delia was in her room looking for a missing paper when she heard the front door being opened. She went downstairs to greet her dad and Nina. When she arrived she saw luggage next to the door and heard laughter coming from the kitchen.
"Delia still hasn't called me back." Andy said a bit of worry in his voice.
"She's probably too busy with Harry…" Ephram said teasing his father. When she heard his voice Delia ran to the kitchen.
"Oh my god!" she said stopping at the frame of the door, her eyes filled with tears. "Ephram!" she said running into his arms. Andy and Nina smiled at each other and she cuddled herself in his arms.
"What are you doing here?" Delia asked still in her brother's arms, not wanting to let him go.
"Are you not happy to see me?" He asked faking offence. She hit him on the back.
"Don't be silly! Of course I am!" she said finally pulling away, a wet smile spreading on her sweet face.
She looked at Amy who was holding Ella's hand.
"Oh my god! Ella. Come here sweetheart." She said opening her arms to her niece. The little girl ran to her aunt and jumped into her arms. Delia proceed on giving millions kisses on her cheeks and Ella could not stop laughing.
"Hey, we're here for two week so give my daughter some air." Ephram said laughing and Delia smiled.
"You're so tall." She said to her niece. "She's beautiful." She said turning to Ephram. He looked at his watch and to his daughter who seemed really exhausted.
"I think it's time to take a nap piccolina." And the little girl nodded while he took her from her aunt's arms.
"I'll take care of that." Delia said. "Don't worry! Contrary to you, I was there when Claire and Chris were young…" she had added that when she had seen the look of worry in his eyes but she did not know she was going to hurt him.
"I'm sorry Ephram… I didn't mean to…" she stuttered. She knew he was feeling guilty for being absent from the twins' life.
"It's okay." He said trying to smile again. "Her stuff is in the entrance hall." She nodded and leaned to give a quick hug at her brother.
"It's the best Hanukah gift ever." She whispered, smiling.
"Means I can return your actual gift?" he asked smirking; she gave him an annoyed look and took her niece upstairs to Ephram's old room.
Ephram turned to face his father, Nina and Amy who were still smiling.
"I'm glad I still have an effect on you." He said laughing. He did not remember the last time he felt so happy. He opened the fridge, took a bottle of water and sat on the counter. At that moment someone opened the kitchen door and a very pregnant Hannah came through it.
"Hi Nina, Dr Brown. Hey Amy what are you doing…" she stopped and looked at them quizzically when she saw the look on their faces. She did not notice Ephram yet. "What's going on?" she asked with a chuckle.
"I can't believe you're still calling my dad Dr Brown!" Ephram said finally getting up. "After all he's your neighbour for eleven years now."
"Ephram! Hey." She screamed. He came closer and gave her hug. "Wh-What are you doing here? Oh my god, Bright is going to freak out. He just came back from work, I'm gonna get him." and she disappeared through the door. When Nina had moved with Andy, Nina's old house stayed vacant for 2 years until Bright and Hannah got married and decided to buy it.
"When is it going to end?" Ephram asked laughing.
"It's your fault!" Amy said. "You should have warned us. I nearly had an attack in the practice." A few seconds later Hannah was back dragging an annoyed Bright behind her.
"Hannah, I can walk alone. And what's with all the excitation? It's just the Browns…" he stopped when he saw Ephram standing between Amy and Andy.
"What's up maaaaaan?" he said giving him a manly hug. Ephram laughed at his friend who had not change through the years.
"Nothing much, just passing by." He said shrugging and Bright smiled.
"We have to celebrate!" Hannah said putting her arm around her husband's waist.
"I say we all have dinner together tonight." Nina suggested, sounding really excited.
"Good idea!" Bright said.
"Of course it is! No matter what the idea is as long as it involves food, Bright is happy." Ephram said teasing him.
"I'll call my mum and we can all help you Nin'." Amy suggested.
"Okay."
"Shoot! I have to pick up Thomas." Amy said looking at her watch. "But I'll come back with him and mum."
"Don't worry about your mum and dad, we'll call them." Andy said.
"I'll just come with you and after we'll pick up the rest of my troupes." Ephram said.
"Sounds good to me." Amy said smiling. Hannah and Nina exchanged meaningful looks.
"Wait!" Nina said before they leave. "Chris and Claire will finish school in less than half an hour…"
"We'll pick them up too." Amy finished, smiling. "I'm sure mister jerk over here will be delighted to cause other heart attacks." She said pointing at Ephram with a smirk.
"First of all I'm not a jerk and second of all I don't think Claire and Chris are old enough to have heart attacks." He said smirking back at her.
"Who's the doctor here?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well remember me to never ask for your advice in that particular area…" they left the house carrying on with their false argument.
"Okay! We have a lot to do." Nina said turning to the ones left in her kitchen. "Honey, Bright," she said looking to the two men. "you'll be in charge of the grocery shopping! I'll make you a list." Then she turned to Hannah. "Hannah, sweetie, you should…um get some rest." She said hesitantly knowing how touchy she is since her pregnancy.
"I don't need to rest." She replied firmly.
"But sweetheart…" Bright stopped and looked down at his hands when he saw the killing look his wife was giving him. Somehow she seemed taller than he was since she was expecting their baby.
"Okay then, go get Delia. We'll get started as soon as these two will be back." Nina said. She quickly wrote the grocery list and handed it to her husband. "Go! Fast!" she said. Andy and Bright left slightly relieved to leave their nervous wives behind. Hannah heard her husband asking Andy why Ephram talked about "troupes" and she acknowledged it was weird too. She asked the same question to Nina.
"Ephram brought with him Paul, Alberto and Francesca." Nina said giving her a look. Hannah quickly made the counting in her head.
"Seventeen? We'll be seventeen tonight?"
"Well eighteen if you count your baby…" Nina said.
"I hope we have enough chairs." Hannah said and the two women shared a giggle.
"I really don't mind though." Nina added. "The last time I saw Andy as happy, it was at Ella's birth. He was so worried about them."
"Yeah I know… oh my god! Did you saw Ephram and Amy?" Nina nodded and they shared another giggle. Just then, Delia entered the kitchen.
"She's asleep." She said to Nina. "Oh hey, Hannah. What's up?" Nina and Hannah looked at each other and proceed on telling everything that happened while her absence.
"So, I'll finally meet the only man of your life." Ephram said to Amy while she was driving them to Thomas's school. She looked at him and smiled
"Well, I met the only woman of your life like five months ago; I say it's about time you meet my significant person! Before I forget, you said to Delia you were staying two weeks but at lunch, Alberto said you were staying just one week."
"Albert, Fran and paul are going back after Christmas but I'm staying a little longer with Ella." He explained. They parked in front of the kindergarten and they went out of the car. Amy noticed her son walking out of the small building with two of his friends. When he saw her too, he quickly said goodbye to his friends and ran to his mum. She kneeled down and opened her arms for him.
"Hi handsome!" she said kissing him on his cheek. "How was your day?" she asked looking in his eyes.
"Great! I made you a Christmas card." He said handing her the red card he was holding in his tiny hands. "And I made one for daddy too."
"Awwww! Thanks sweetheart." She said kissing him once more on his cheek. She looked up at Ephram who was smiling. "Thomas, this is Ephram Brown, one of my old friends." The young boy looked at him and thought for a second.
"Aren't you Chris and Claire's big brother?" he asked.
"Yes I am." Ephram said holding his hand to him and he shook it.
"It's nice to meet you. Chris and Claire always talk about you."
"Nice to meet you too. I heard a lot about you as well." Amy looked at her watch.
"We better hurry up." She said taking her son's hand and heading to the car. Five minutes later they were in front of the twins' elementary school, waiting for them. Ephram was looking with apprehension through the crowd of excited children and tired parents. Amy pointed them in the middle of a group laughing and saying goodbyes. Ephram was shocked to see how much they grew up since the last time he saw them. He remembered that day. It was Delia's graduation day, a couple of months before Carla died. The twins were three years old at the time. For the second time of the day, he felt guilty for missing so much of their lives. Of course they wrote to each other, they often called each other and they send each other pictures, but it was not the same. Amy noticed his sad expression and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Look!" she said. "Claire saw you." She added smiling. He looked up and saw his sister running to them with a huge grin on her face. At first, Chris looked at his sister with confusion, but then he saw Ephram too and began to run as well. They jumped on him at the same time and the three of them fell in the snow, laughing hard.
"You're back." Chris said smiling widely.
"I am, indeed. For the holidays… two weeks!" he said with a huge smile.
"It's about time!" Claire said hitting him.
"Don't hit him." Chris said angrily at his twin. She ignored him and turned to face Amy and Thomas.
"Hi" she said smiling and waving.
"Hi" they both replied, waving back at her while she was getting up and dry the snow from her coat. Ephram and his other sibling were still playing in the snow.
"Guys, I hate to interrupt but Nina must be freaking out by now… we still have to pick up Paul, Alberto and Fran from the hotel so we should really get going." Amy said with a smile. The two brothers reluctantly got up and they all went to the car.
When they arrived, the men (Andy, Bright and Harold) were in the living room, cautiously and deliberately avoiding the kitchen area. Ephram, Paul, Alberto Thomas and Chris joined them while Amy, Fran and Claire went to join Nina, Hannah, Rose, Delia and Ella in the kitchen. In fact things were under control but the women loved that frightening power they had over their men: cooking and organisation. Claire sat next to her niece and began to play with her.
"Sam isn't here yet?" Amy asked while helping Hannah with the vegetables.
"He called. He should be here just before dinner." Nina answered. Ephram came into the kitchen and sat beside his daughter who gave him a sweet peck on the cheek. The rest of the room looked at him whether with questioning looks or their eyebrows rose with surprise.
"What?" he asked frowning.
"It's a restricted area." Fran said.
"When she says restricted, she means free-man area!" Delia added smirking.
"Ouh! I'm scared!" he said crossing his arms and faking shudders. "I'm here for Ella." He turned to look at his daughter. "Do you want Papa to leave?" he asked.
"No I don't but you have to." she said with a sad look and everyone else in the room burst out with laughter.
"Well I never thought I'd see the day where my own daughter will betray me." He said, getting up. He was about to head toward the door when he turned around and began to tickle his daughter.
"Papa… stop Papa I can't breaze…please Papa… okay, you can stay." She said giving up. At that moment he took her in his arms and gave her kiss on her forehead.
"I was just kidding, I just wanted to see you, piccolina." Then he put her back in her chair and went back to the living room. Hannah and Fran were watching closely at Amy during the scene and when everybody went back to their work they looked at each other smiling.
"Hannah can I put this in your oven, this one is already taken." Rose asked pointing at the second roast they preparing. Hannah took it as the chance she was waiting for.
"I'll take care of that." She said smiling and taking the dish from her mother-in-law's hands. "Amy, can you come with me?" she asked trying to sound as casual as possible.
"Sure."
"I'll come with you guys." Fran said. "Um…I'm dying to see your house." She added quickly as an answer to the curious looks she was receiving from Amy, Delia, Nina and Rose.
Hannah put the roast in the oven and turned to look at Amy and Fran.
"Is something wrong with the roast?" Amy asked confused.
"Nothing's wrong." Fran said while she placed herself beside Hannah. The two women looked at Amy with curiosity.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing… we were just curious." Hannah said.
"Curious about what?"
"About you and a certain handsome blue eyed guy…" Hannah explained smirking.
"What?" Amy said blushing a little.
"Brown!" Fran specified with excitation.
"Come on, we saw the way you were looking at him." Hannah said crossing her arms above her belly.
"I wasn't looking at him like that. Not in the way you think I was." Hannah and Fran rolled their eyes and they went to stand in each sides of Amy.
"Don't give me that crap, Amy. I know you."
"And I know Brown. I saw the way he was looking at you." Fran said with a smile. "Since your visit last summer, he didn't shut about you." Amy couldn't help but smile a little. She mentally slapped herself for doing that. She could not fall. She could not let that happen again. She let herself go from their grasp, took a deep breath and turned to face them again.
"I can't." she said and with that she went out, leaving a puzzled Fran and a sad Hannah behind her.
Sam arrived at 7:30 while the women were settling the table. He kissed his mum and greeted the others, and then he rushed to the living room. Nina smiled at herself when she heard the men greeting him and the reunion of the two step-brothers.
"Man! You're taller than I am." Ephram said. "It's so unfair!" He said faking frustration. "When I left I was a giant in comparison to you."
"What can I say? I'm lucky." Sam said teasing him. Fran and Amy arrived at that moment with Claire and Ella.
"Thomas and Chris, come wash your hands dinner is ready." Amy said and they all went to the bathroom.
Fran helped Ella while Amy was keeping an eye on the older ones.
"Amy?" Fran said hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"I know, it's ok. Don't worry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have left like that. I mean, what you said was right but it can't happen... not again." she said looking down at her hands. Fran put a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly at her.
"It's ok, I understand."
"We're done!" Chris, Claire and Thomas said.
"Okay then. Let's go."
Bright and Alberto had brought the table and chairs from kitchen and put them next to the dining room ones. Regarding the situation, the women had made a real miracle. They managed to prepare a meal for seventeen people in less than five hours, everything seemed delicious and in addition they did not seemed tired at all. The men looked at them with admiration.
"It's a team work." Nina said seating down next to Andy and Sam.
While he was eating, Ephram took a look around him. Everybody seemed so happy. He was happy. He never thought it was possible but it happened. He was happy again. He looked at Nina and his father and the love they had for each other and for each of their children. He looked at Rose and Harold who were smiling at each other like if they got married yesterday. He looked at Bright whose hand was on Hannah's belly, both of them smiling. He looked at Fran and Alberto and saw that she was scolding him because he had blobbed his shirt but he did not seem to mind, he was looking like if nothing could be better than this. He looked at Amy and Thomas who was handing her some bread after she had put more mashed potatoes in his plate. He looked at Chris, Claire, Delia and Sam and realised how much he would have loved to see them grew up. Then he turned to look down at his baby girl. She was eating her vegetables and talking with Paul.
"I love Everwood." She said smiling.
"You barely saw it." Ephram pointed out.
"I've seen enough." She said before taking a sup of her lemonade.
"I'm glad you kept your promise." Amy said smiling at her.
"Me too." but it was not Ella who had replied, it was Ephram.
Time is precious and admirable…
"Especially times like these." They all thought.
A/N: I loved writing this chapter so I hope you'll like it! Please review!