A/N: The ending is here! I was kind of uninspired for this, so it might not be so good.
Jolene's POV
Honestly, after everything that happened last night, I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep with my mind buzzing with different thoughts. Fortunately, I was able to fall asleep due to the fact I was pretty exhausted. Joseph and Joshua were fatigued as well. Once in our room, the three of us collapsed onto the beds and slept soundly.
The trip to the hotel was uneventful, unlike the experience in the museum. We just walked peacefully, talking and joking. Even Joshua was smiling.
Teddy left Dexter behind in the museum. Apparently, he could become pretty mischievous, so he was left to avoid trouble.
I woke up at around seven, about five hours before our flight left. At least the airport was not too far away. I looked at Joshua and Joseph, who were still wearing their clothes from the night before. I actually bothered to stay up later to change into pajamas.
I shook the both of them awake. "Come on, guys!" I told them. "We gotta get ready. Our flight leaves today!"
Joshua blinked, then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Joseph just moaned, rolled over, and mumbled, "Ten more hours, Mom!"
Mom and Dad! I went over to the door that connected our two rooms and knocked. A few seconds later, my mom opened the door, dressed in a white bathrobe and a towel wrapped around her hair. I heard the shower running, so Dad must've been washing himself at the time.
"Hi, Mom!" I greeted her. "Just wanted to make sure you and Dad were here from your party."
Smiling, she said, "We came back about an hour ago. When your father and I went to check on you kids, you were all sound asleep, hugging each other. It was really cute, like you three have always loved each other your whole lives, especially you and Joseph hugging." She laughed. "I took a picture to remember that moment."
I felt myself go red. "Mom!" I whined. "Why did you take a picture of that?! Now the fact that I had a sibling hug with Joseph in my sleep will haunt me for the rest of my life!" Never did I wish so hard that I could be a twin with Joshua. It would be better because we actually get along.
"Oh, he's not so bad," Mom told me, still smiling. "I know you two have a little rivalry, but I know you love each other deep down. As siblings, you should cherish the moments you share together, especially the ones that only you three know about that other people can't experience."
I was immediately reminded of the museum. I guess that could count as a moment we shared together, but we weren't really together. We just had pretty similar experience.
To avoid more conversation of who-knows-what, I told Mom that I was going to start getting ready. She nodded and shut the door.
I turned around and saw Josh packing his luggage while Joseph slept on, muttering something about cowboys and Romans. I sighed. I walked up to him, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him as violently as I could. "Wake up, doofus!" I said quite loud. "We're gonna leave soon!"
"Okay, okay," he complained. I stopped and he slowly got up, stretching. I went over to my already packed luggage and looked for something to wear. Hey, all I had to do was wash up and get dressed since I always pack my things away after I'm done using them. Joshua and Joseph, unfortunately, just leave their stuff lying around, especially Joseph, who is such an animal. I wondered how long it would take them to finish packing
About an hour later or so, we were outside the hotel eating breakfast while waiting for a taxi to drive by, when Dad suddenly cried, "Oh no!"
"What is it, Dan?" Mom asked him.
Dad was on his laptop, checking on our flight. He turned it to us and said, "Our flight back to Oakland, California is canceled. And it looks like the next flight back home is tomorrow."
I swallowed my food. "Why's it canceled?" I asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know," he replied.
"Wait, we're not going home today?" Joseph asked in surprise.
"Sorry, sweetie," Mom said, ruffling his hair. "We aren't going home today." He began to pout.
"Well," Dad said, "I'm gonna try and book the flight for tomorrow later. We'll need to figure out where we're staying for tonight."
"Cank ee go ack inko ow hokel oom?" Joseph asked with his mouth full. I was extremely disgusted.
"Don't talk while you're chewing your food!" I told him.
He swallowed, then repeated what he asked. "Can't we go back into our hotel room?"
"Joseph, we already checked out, and I don't want to waste more money besides buying our tickets for tomorrow," Dad told him.
"Can we do something while you guys discuss whatever?" I asked them.
Dad sighed. "I guess we could take you kids somewhere while Mom and I discuss where we'll stay for the night.
"So, where would you guys like to go for the day?"
Without missing a beat, Joseph and I answered in unison, "The Museum of Natural History."
Dad had a look of shock on his face, and I could figure out why. "Since when were you interested in that museum, Joseph?" he asked him.
"Uh... I don't know," he replied, shrugging. "Maybe I suddenly found it cool, or something like that." I guess he wasn't sure how our parents would react if he said it comes to life at night. That would sound crazy, actually.
Mom and Dad stared at him for a bit before Dad stood up and said, "Okay, the Museum of Natural History it is." I looked over to Joshua and Joseph, and they were both grinning from ear to ear like crazy.
"It's kind of weird seeing them like this," Joseph said as we stared at the dioramas for the cowboys and Romans.
"Used to seeing them as tiny people?" I asked him.
He laughed a bit then answered, "Yeah." We continued staring at them in silence.
"Hey, look," I told him. "I think this one is Jed." I pointed to the tiny cowboy that looked pretty similar, but it was difficult to tell.
"Who do you think is Octavius in these guys?" Joshua asked in sign language, motioning to the Roman diorama. When I looked in, I laughed. They all looked identical.
"I don't know," I answered. "Maybe this guy in the front."
We walked over back to Mom and Dad, who were still discussing where we could stay.
"Maybe we could stay at Elizabeth's place. She lives in the next town over..."
"Alice, you know your sister doesn't have enough room for the five of us."
"I know, Dan." She sighed. "I just don't know where else we could stay."
"Um, excuse me?"
We all turned around and saw Larry standing there. "Hi, Larry!" I greeted him.
Mom looked at me, surprise written all over her face. "You know this man, Jolene?" she asked with shock.
"Yeah, uh..." I tried to come up with a believable story. "We... met outside the museum as we were going back." I wasn't used to lying, and I didn't like it, but I didn't want them to know that Joseph ran back inside, because that would lead to me telling them that the museum comes to life at night, and that would make me sound insane. Luckily, Mom and Dad trust me all the time, so they believed what I told them.
Larry held out his hand. "I'm Larry Daley, night guard of the museum," he said.
Dad took his hand and said, "Dan and Alice Mullings. I guess you already know our children Jolene, Joseph, and Joshua."
"Yeah, your daughter and sons are great. Um, I happened to hear you guys talking about where you needed to stay?"
Dad nodded. "Our flight was canceled, so we're trying to decide where we can stay for tonight."
"Well, maybe your kids can stay here in the museum during the night," he offered.
I could tell Mom was uncomfortable with the idea. "Are you sure about that?" she asked with skepticism.
"I do it with my son, Nicky, and he loves it here," Larry replied. "I'm sure your kids will enjoy it."
"Mom, please?" I begged her.
"Come on, can't we do it?" Joseph pleaded. Joshua put on his puppy-face, which is seriously hard to resist.
Mom and Dad looked at each other. "They do seem to like it here, strangely even the boys..." Dad said.
"Larry, do you happen to have Wi-fi in the museum?" Mom asked.
He shook his head. "Sorry, why?"
"Well, I guess we could stay at Elizabeth's place where you can buy the tickets..."
"Hmm... alright." Dad turned to Larry and said, "They can stay." The three of us cheered. Well, two of us, since Josh is mute.
"Here's my number, in case you want to check on them later." Larry wrote on a piece of paper and gave it to Dad. He put it on his phone, then gave it to Mom, who did the same.
The hours went by so slow, and I could hardly contain my excitement. I couldn't wait to see my friends again!
I couldn't stay still at all as I dragged my luggage to the museum. Larry was waiting at the front with a boy about our age with crutches and his leg in a cast.
Mom kissed us on the foreheads. "Bye, guys," she said. "We'll call you later to see how you're doing."
"Okay, bye," I said.
She squeezed us a bit, then said, "Love you three." Afterwards, she climbed into the taxi Dad was waiting in, and they left.
Larry came down the steps to help us bring our belongings up. At the top, he introduced us to his son Nicky.
"Are these the ones you said stayed in the museum when it closed?" he asked his father.
"Yep," he answered his son as he brought our stuff through the revolving door.
"So, they know?"
"They know."
The next few hours were a blast as we got to hang out with Larry, Nicky, and all the museum exhibits, especially Ahkmenrah, Teddy, Sacajawea, Jedediah, Octavius, and most definitely Dexter. Joseph and Joshua were having a good time as well, except for when Joseph found out he wasn't the first person to ride Rexy.
As Dexter was doing adorable little tricks for us, Larry handed me his phone. "Your mom wants to speak with you," he said.
"Hello?" I said as I brought the phone to my ear.
"Hi, sweetie," Mom said.
"Hi, Mom," I replied.
"How are you guys doing?"
"We're fine. How 'bout you and Dad?"
"We're both fine. Your father was able to buy us tickets for the flight tomorrow."
"That's excellent!" I exclaimed.
"Tell me, are you and your brothers having a good time?"
"We're having the time of our lives!"
"That's great! So, what did you guys do so far?"
"Uhh..." Do I tell her the truth?
I know the mom was creepy for taking a picture of them sleeping. My mom does that with me and my sister, so that's where I got the idea.
Well, hope you enjoyed this! I am planning a sequel that I have not started yet. 'Til next time!
-RG
