Party! Well at least before everything goes bad.
Joseph watched as a little girl no older than 3 bounced her way outside. Her hair was bushy and curly similar to Merida's only a chocolate brown as opposed to Merida's fiery red. Her face was identical to Merida's at that age, freckles and all, but her eyes were that of Joseph's, a dark green instead of turquoise blue. Her face was covered in freckles and she had a gleeful smile on her face. She was wearing a light blue dress and it looked like she had been waiting all day for this moment.
She bounced outside, only to stop when she saw the four people she had never seen before.
She politely bowed and said in a thick Scottish accent "hi! I'm Kelly! I'm going to be 4 years old today!"
Well she was polite at least. Joseph bent down on one knew extending his hand. "Hello Kelly, My name is Joseph. I was a good friend of your mother."
Kelly shook his hand. "Nice to meet you!"
Joseph stood up smiling. Merida had done a good job raising Kelly. She was polite to him. She was probably polite to anyone; but hopefully not naïve enough (even for a child) to talk to strangers.
Kelly then turned to Elsa and the others "hello!" she said.
Anna being Anna swooped in and hugged the child "you are so adorable!" she said squeezing the girl tightly. Kelly wheezed shocked by Anna's strength
Merida stiffened. This woman had no business hugging her child. A simple handshake would have been enough! Kelly might be polite but that was no reason for anyone to just hug her!
Elsa felt her heart sink as she watched Anna hug the child. Kelly was Joseph's daughter! But here Anna was treating her like a teddy bear. Like they were going to be best friends or something!
Elsa couldn't blame anna for liking her; Kelly did look adorable, and Anna had always like children. It just made her uncomfortable that Anna was treating the situation so lightly.
Anna put Kelly down (who was trying to regain her breath) trying really hard not to squeal.
Kelly afterwards looked at Kristoff and waved shyly, before turning to Elsa. Her Eyes widened as she stared at the woman, noticing particularly her hair. She looked like an angel, with her pale complexion blue eyes and platinum hair.
Hi! Are you an angel!" she squealed, literally jumping in the air. Elsa flinched. She wasn't really sure what to say. She had never been called an angel before (nor had she dealt with many children. Plus she was still a little concerned about how she was going to even be with this child when she had a tense relationship with her mother (who didn't like her, nor would like the fact her child was around Elsa)
Elsa put on her best fake smile and extended her hand. "If that's what you think I am."
This had an unexpected result. Kelly tackled Elsa hugging her tightly. This caused Elsa to stumble and fall to the ground. Kelly fell on top of her, causing Elsa to groan
"Yay! An angel! Mommy! Auntie Rapunzel, can we keep her?" she asked her eyes shining with hope.
Anna burst out laughing. This girl was too much. She wanted to keep Elsa like she was some sort of pet.
Joseph for his part, gently lifted Kelly off Elsa, before pulling her to her feet. He looked at Kelly "I'm sorry Kelly, but this angel has to stay with me. We're getting married."
Joseph knew that that was going to tick Merida off; She gave him a subtle glare out of the corner of her eye. Well what was he supposed to do? She had tried to flirt with him for crying out loud.
Kelly pouted, before going to her mother and wrapping her arms around her leg "I want an angel…" she whined.
Merida gave a small laugh. Kelly was still in that childhood wonder phase. But the fact that she wanted to keep a grown woman as a pet was sort of amusing. Minus the fact that this woman was a bane at the moment.
Elsa was the same woman she had met several weeks before. this was no surprise, she had seen a picture in Josephs office. But now that she was this close to her. she was trying not to lose her temper. It wasn't like she wanted to; Kelly was right there.
It was just that she wasn't looking forward to having to deal with talking to her amicably, nor Joseph about what to do with Kelly. It was just such a dilemma. But she had to dig this hole.
Just seeing Elsa wrap her arms around the man she loved made her blood boil. She hadn't really intended Elsa to come, but she supposed Joseph would want her here so that Merida wouldn't try anything.
Not that Joseph would have let her. He loved Elsa too much for that.
Merida took Kelly's hand. "Come on dear, everyone will be here soon! Lets get you ready for the party." She led the happy girl over to the picnic tables where there was cake and presents everywhere.
Anna had the present for the little girl. Since she knew how little girls were. It was intended as a present from all of them.
The four followed Merida Rapunzel and Kelly to the picnic tables and sat down. Fergus and Elinor were nowhere to be seen. Joseph suspected it was because Elinor needed rest for the moment and would arrive when everything was fully prepared.
However the triplet brothers came running out the door, with some party favors in their hands and came to the picnic tables. They placed down the cake (which was chocolate) some drinks and anything else that seemed like it was needed.
Joseph chuckled. They hadn't changed a bit, even if they were much older.
A few moments later, maudie came out as well, with Elinor, who was looking weak, but perfectly happy, as well as several men.
They were friends of Fergus, if Joseph remembered correctly. They worked together on the police force for years. well the older men were. The younger ones were around Merida's age and a real pain in the neck from what he learned from Merida.
Fergus was probably the only reason they were here
Merida wasn't one for many friends. Rapunzel was probably her best friend, and the sons of Fergus friends were not even close with her. She was probably close to Kelly's friends mothers
But as Maudie arrived she said, "Everyone is here!"
Joseph frowned. Kelly didn't have any friends? Well she was still young, so school was out of the question. But she was literally the only child at the party. That was just sad.
Kelly needed more interaction with people her age. It would help her grow wouldn't it?
But he could worry about that later. When Kelly was tired and needed a nap after a very long party.
Merida and Kelly were at the center of the table, closet to the cake. Joseph and Elsa sat across from them.
What a perfect choice, don't you think?
Rapunzel sat on Merida's side of the table, while Anna and Kristoff sat on the other. The other party guests were at other tables.
Merida and Elsa couldn't help but send subtle glares at each other. They both knew they couldn't make a scene here, but they couldn't wait to be alone.
Joseph unfortunately, could notice this. Elsa was angry, and rightfully so. Merida had no right to steal Joseph from her. Not that Joseph wanted to go back to Merida. He just wanted to get to know his daughter!
Merida had taken that from him! He had missed his daughter's entire childhood! He wasn't there for her birth or anything else that was important in the first years of a child's life. if he hadn't met Elsa he would have happily stayed here with Merida to help raise Kelly. But now? He wouldn't leave Elsa, but neither did he want to abandon his own daughter.
Did Merida just expect him to drop everything for her? No they needed to find common ground. He would marry Elsa he was sure of it. But how he was going to accomplish that and still be there for Kelly was a complete mystery. Even worse, if Merida continued to try and flirt with him, well it wasn't exactly the ideal scenario
Oh what to do?
Joseph knew that Merida had one a fine job raising Kelly; she was more than he could have ever asked for in a child.
But she didn't know her father was siting across from her. The thought made him sad.
Just how would Kelly react? Not well that was for sure. Of course, he didn't know whether Kelly was aware of the fact anyway. Judging by her reaction when they had first met, she didn't know that he was her father.
Elsa watched the little girl. How she was Josephs daughter was a mystery to her. well she knew how she was brought into the world, but other than her features, this girl was the spitting image of her mother.
With whom they shared a mutual attraction to the same man and hatred of each other.
Elsa just couldn't believe one thing about Merida. The two had nothing in common. How? Just how did Joseph go from Merida to her? They couldn't be any more different if they tried
Love was just so confusing.
She sighed. She just wanted to get done with this party and false armistice. She and Joseph needed to talk to Merida (and Rapunzel it seemed) about why they had hidden Kelly's existence from Joseph. It was going to put strain on the both of them and the soon to be marriage.
Which if all went well, Merida and Kelly might have to attend (since Kelly would want to go; children were always like that.)
Just what was she going to do? She didn't want Merida in her life! The problem? Kelly. Her stepdaughter (or would be once she and Joseph were married) that meant Merida would have a role, however small in her life.
Yeah she wasn't exactly happy about it.
But she had to admit Kelly was a nice girl. Perhaps they would get along in the future. That is if Merida and Joseph came to some sort of agreement.
Merida watched Joseph and Elsa at the other end of the table. Neither looked very happy. At least as happy as they were trying to look.
She knew that Joseph was certainly going to have questions and that Elsa would probably be there as well.
But she wanted to talk to Joseph alone. Kelly was their daughter. Only her parents should get to say how she was raised. Elsa, as nice as she might be wasn't Kelly's family only Joseph was.
Therefore She was going to make sure she got Joseph alone before Elsa could get in the way!
But for now she was going to focus on her daughter. She raised a glass and loudly proclaimed "To Kelly! Another year has come and gone and here she is a year older. May she continue to be as happy."
The whole party raised their glasses smiling.
Kelly looked positively ecstatic. She was eating her cake like there was no tomorrow. Merida had to clean her face more than a few times (which was positively adorable in Anna's opinion)
The picnic went off without a hitch and soon it was birthday gift time. Kelly and the others sat down in a circle surrounded by a large amount of presents.
Kelly had an awestruck look on her face. that looked like a complete mountain! There were just some many presents that she had no idea what to do with them. true she was going to open all of her presents, there was just so many.
That being said, she dived right into the gifts grabbing the first one she saw. It was a small box that had the Macintosh signature on it. She ripped it open revealing a tiny charm bracelet.
She squealed, giving the elder Macintosh a hug, before returning to the other presents.
The next one she opened was much larger and more hastily wrapped than the previous one. This one was from the McGuffins. She opened it revealing a giant teddy bear.
Merida would have laughed. the bear was just so cute and cuddly, the exact opposite of how bears were in reality. She had seen a couple at the zoo and boy she was not really impressed. They were scary looking. Of course that had been when she was child. Still she didn't want her daughter to get the same idea she had at that age.
Kelly absolutely adored bears! They always looked so cute and cuddly. She had wanted a teddy bear for some time now! now that she had one she was so happy to have a new friend to play with! She held it closely before giving it to Maudie to hold.
There were only a few presents left. She grabbed another, which was from the Dingwall's. it was a movie Kelly smiled. she absolutely adored the DVD. She smiled giving the two men hugs before grabbing the one from her grandparents
As always Fergus and Elinor loved to spoil Kelly. It drove Merida insane. Kelly didn't need to grow up that spoiled or she might end up being to spoiled later on. However, being her Grandparents, they didn't care. They just loved spoiling Kelly in every possible way.
Inside the box was another stuffed animal. This time it was a dog. Kelly had always wanted a dog, but Merida didn't think that it was going to be a good idea. Guess this was just going to have to do for now.
Kelly squealed and hugged her grandparents, before grabbing the one that was clearly her mothers. She ripped it open revealing a small bow and arrow.
Merida still practiced archery everyone and a while. It didn't really help in life so much, but it was a fun activity to do. Kelly had expressed interest in doing the same. Of course Merida didn't get her a real bow, given how dangerous it was, so it was jut a toy one for now.
Kelly screamed happily "thanks mommy!" she said wrapping her arms around he mother.
Merida felt tears leak from her eyes. She loved Kelly. Her attitude was just so contagious.
"Your welcome sweetheart. I'll show you how it works tomorrow ok?"
Kelly nodded, grabbing the present from her uncles. She knew that her brothers were pranksters, and sometimes they drove her mom crazy, but she found it funny.
Inside the box was a can of worms.
Merida chuckled. Kelly was going to use that on someone later wasn't she? Well at least she knew who to blame for it once it actually did happen.
Kelly hugged her uncles, before grabbing the present that belonged to Auntie Rapunzel. She opened it revealing a small sun necklace.
Rapunzel smiled as she saw Kelly open it. Kelly was just so adorable.
Kelly ran up to Rapunzel. "Please Auntie Rapunzel, put it on me!" she asked.
Rapunzel laughed. "Turn around sweetie!" she said.
Kelly did so, allowing Rapunzel to clasp the necklace around her neck. Kelly turned around
"thank you Auntie Rapunzel!" she said before turning to the final present. It was from the new people she had met today. she opened it, revealing a tiny snow globe with a snowman inside.
Kelly smiled shaking the snow globe watching as the snow flakes swirled around. Kelly hadn't seen snow before; at least not that she could remember. She wanted to go on a snow vacation when she was older.
She went around and hugged Joseph. Joseph choked. His daughter was hugging him. for the first time in each others lives, father and daughter were embracing in the way that should always be done. He held her close smiling. He couldn't tell her the truth just yet; he had to talk to Merida first of course but this was a start.
Merida watched the scene. For so long she wanted to see Joseph and Kelly like this. they were father and daughter. Everyday should be like that. Kelly just didn't know that. but she would know very soon.
Afterwards, Kelly went up to Elsa, giving her a hug as well. Elsa was a little concerned about this one. Merida didn't want the two anywhere near each other. But Kelly had to thank everyone for the present. It was her birthday after all. Elsa hugged the child back.
After Elsa Kelly moved on the Anna giving her a hug as well.
Finally there was Kristoff. Kelly hugged him quickly, before backing off shyly. She then returned to her spot next to her mother.
Not long later she fell asleep.
Merida took Kelly in her arms before taking her inside the house and up to her daughters bedroom. She tucked the young girl in, before leaving the room and returning to her guests outside.
The police officers and their sons left shortly afterwards, leaving Joseph and his friends alone with Merida and her family.
Joseph looked at Merida. They needed to talk. He looked at Elsa "I'll be right back"
He grabbed Merida's arm and took her inside. Afterwards, Merida took him to an empty room. She shut the door behind them, before turning to Joseph.
They were alone together in an empty room. Great. But they still needed to talk about Kelly.
"listen-" Joseph began to say.
Before he could finish, Merida jumped at him, wrapping her legs pinning him against the nearby wall, around his waist and kissed him hard.
Oh boy. Merida just won't give up will she?
Also there is a new story i wrote. Its called "a moment in the sunset" its boot a Frozen story, but go shead and read it if you like.