A/N: So that about wraps it up! The amount of random little scenes I wrote and never included for a variety of reasons could fill up a chapter on its own by now.
"Milada Meulin Vantas-Leijon, get your shoes on! We're meeting Aunt Meulin and Uncle Kurloz at the restaurant in half an hour!"
"But I donwanna!"
Nepeta sighs heavily and climbs the stairs. Her five-year-old daughter is stubborn and hates shoes for whatever reason. They have to go; this is her mother's birthday!
"It's Grandma's birthday! We have to go!"
"But Mommy…"
Nepeta walks into her daughter's room and picks up the little girl's sparkly shoes. "Fine. Put them on in the car. You won't be able to come inside and have cake with us if you don't have your shoes on."
"But I want cake!"
"Then put on your shoes."
"Fine." Milada wrinkles her nose and steps into the shiny red flats.
"Come on, little love. Put on your coat and we're going out to the car."
"Oookaaay."
Nepeta leads Milada downstairs, to where Karkat is struggling to thread three-year-old Barrett's wriggling arm through his jacket sleeve. "Almost ready?" he asks.
"Yeah. I'll drive," she says, taking the keys off the hook. "We really ought to get going. Meulin won't get off my back for the whole night if we're late."
"So that's why you're driving?"
She half smiles and says, "You get the kids buckled up, I'll start the car."
"Got it." He hoists Barrett up on his hip and takes Milada's hand, saying, "Come on, honey. It's time to go for Grandma's birthday!" Barrett grins his huge, bright grin, just like his father's.
"Is cousin Cara and Anima and Cole gonna be there?" Milada asks excitedly. Meulin's three little children, all seven years old. Cara and Anima are practically indistinguishable. The five children like to run off to play while the "boring grown-ups" talk. It's still weird to be the boring grown-up from which the kids run to play out on the restaurant's back lawn.
"Yes, of course," Nepeta tells her daughter. "Let Daddy buckle you up so we can go." She pulls the car out of the driveway and heads to the restaurant where they will celebrate her mother's sixty-fifth birthday.
At said restaurant, Nepeta's sister and brother-in-law have already arrived. Kurloz nods a greeting and Meulin hugs both Milada and Barrett. Her hair is pulled back into a braid of some sort that Nepeta is sure Meulin spent hours on. Maybe Kurloz did the style for her. Meulin smiles at Nepeta and hugs her, too. "It's great to see you, too, Meulin," Nepeta jokes. "How's California been treating you?"
"The weather is lovely, much better than it's ever been 'round here," Meulin says, still poking fun at the temperature swings of the Midwest.
Just then, their mother walks up with a kind smile, seasoned with age. "My girls, all grown up," her mother says. "It's so lovely to see you all! And let me guess...Cara?"
"No, I'm Cara!" Cara protests, almost laughing. "That's Amina!"
"And here's little Barrett and big girl Milada."
"I'm big too!" Barrett says, trying to look grown-up. He's adorable.
"Yes you are, little one."
"What about me?"
"You too, Cole. My, you're getting tall!"
"I'm the tallerest out of everyone seven like me!"
The little boy's grandmother ruffles his hair. "Yes you are." She turns to the other four adults. "Shall we go in?"
"Let's go," Nepeta says, the laugh lines around her own eyes crinkling as she grins widely. She takes Barrett's hand and Karkat takes Milada's to lead the small family into the restaurant.
It takes all of ten minutes of talking for the children to get fidgety. Milada tugs at Nepeta's skirt and the mother crouches down to be eye-to-eye with her daughter. "Mommy? Can we go?"
"What do you want?"
"Chicken nuggets and fries. Barrett wants a hot dog and fries."
"Alright, then. Go ahead," Nepeta says, kissing her daughter's forehead. "Go play. Keep an eye on Barrett."
"Thanks, Mommy!" Milada chirps, running towards the grassy yard of the restaurant she's been to many times before, Barrett at her side. Meulin's tripletqs quickly follow, leaving Nepeta and her husband and her sister and her brother-in-law and her mother at the table.
"How's it been?" Nepeta asks. "I heard someone got a promotion!"
"I did!" Meulin agrees, grinning hugely. "Editor-in-chief at the newspaper!"
"Oh, that's excellent!" Nepeta's mother says kindly, her lined face forming the same old smile. "And you, Nepeta?"
"Nothing much. The vet practice has been doing really well, except that we took on an intern who is just completely the laziest person I have ever encountered. Oh, and Karkat has something new." She nudges him and he jumps.
"Right. I got hired to write for an A-list movie. One with a real budget and everything." He's gotten better about swearing around her mother since Milada and Barrett.
"That's great!" Meulin exclaims. She's gotten some sort of reconstructive ear surgery and she can now hear with hearing aids.
Before long, the food comes and Nepeta has been assigned to gather up the five children.
"Milada! Barrett! Cole! Cara! Amina! Come in, it's dinner!"
"Coming, Mommy!" Milada shouts. Nepeta catches a glimpse of her tugging Barrett by the hand and smiles warmly at the innocence of childhood. When she was Milada's age, she was meeting Karkat at...kindergarten. Which starts in just two weeks. Her stomach plunges to her feet and then up to her heart.
But this is a time for celebration, not the countless worries she has encountered upon becoming a mother.
All too soon, dinner and dessert are over and Barrett has fallen asleep in Nepeta's lap. "We should be heading home," she says, almost apologetically. Milada's falling asleep too, and of course Nepeta and Karkat have work.
"We should, too," Meulin says regretfully. "Gotta have a good night's sleep before we get back on the plane."
"Of course, dears," Nepeta's mother says. There is one last round of goodbye hugs and kisses and promises to meet again soon as Nepeta picks up a tired Barrett and Karkat takes Milada's little hand. Meulin grins at Nepeta and Nepeta replies with a nod at her sister. But then Milada tugs at Nepeta's hand, too, and they really must go.
Both children sleep on the car ride back home, but wake for bathtime and a few books before bed. Karkat reads to Milada tonight and Nepeta to Barrett. Karkat finishes Milada's books first and gives Barrett a hug goodnight before going downstairs. Barrett insists upon one more book.
Nepeta reaches the end of the book and says, "Now it's time to go to sleep, little love."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes. Goodnight, darling."
"Goodnight, Mommy."
Milada's not quite asleep when Nepeta walks up to her daughter.
"Mommy? Can I have a hug?"
"Of course, dear." She hugs her daughter and kisses her forehead again. "It's time to go to sleep now, Milada. See you tomorrow morning."
"See you in the morning."
"Goodnight, little love."
"Goodnight, Mommy."
Nepeta climbs down the stairs for the last time that night, joining her husband in the living room with two Pepsis, one bowl of popcorn, and Hitch.
"How long's it been since we watched this?" she asks.
"Do you remember our first date?" he replies. "Then."
"I remember," she says, kissing him. "Of course I do."
"Then let's watch."
They settle down, warm blankets wrapped around them, and Karkat flips on the TV. The movie plays and suddenly they're in college again, shy and awkward and cold, but also loving and ready to be loved and completely in love.
She nuzzles his neck and plants a soft kiss on him, careful to not leave even a hint of a mark. He kisses her on the lips in response, stealing every gasp of air from her lungs. Yep, still in love, even after how long it's been.
"I'll love you forever," he whispers.
"And I'll love you for longer."
"Longer than forever?"
"Mm-hmm."
"How long's that?"
"How long it will take me to stop loving you."
"Don't be silly, that'll never happen. But how does forever sound for now?"
"Forever?"
"Forever."
"Forever."
I have no idea what I'll start next but it might be this Humanstuck version of Disciple's journals because I told the general plot to a non-Homestuck friend and she told me to get it published.