(A/N): We're back with Vi, Evie, Hettie, and Pip.


January 16th, 1966

Vi

To say that Evie going to such extreme lengths to hide this note for us was concerning was an understatement to say the least- but to say the fact that she was repeatedly, forcibly telling us that she loved us, and that we shouldn't forget it, was concerning? Well, that was an even more outrageous understatement. "Evie- what's wrong with you?" The question was out of my mouth before I even knew my brain had formed the words, and she winced. Despite that wince, however, she kept the smile on her face as if she thought all would be lost if she let it slip for even a second.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just-" She raised her eyes for a second, clearly having to take them off of us to be able to think. When she lowered them back to us, I heard her sigh quietly before she reluctantly admitted, "You guys kind of freaked out last night and this morning, and I just thought... if something were to happen to me, I'd want to be absolutely sure that you all knew how I felt. I don't- I wouldn't want my absence to change anything." How could she say such a thing? Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hettie staring up at her as though she thought she'd gone mad- I couldn't blame her, considering I suspected a very similar expression resided on my face.

"Evie, of course things would change if you were- gone. You're our best friend, our sister- the very fabric of the universe would change if something 'were to happen to you'." Pip was far more eloquent than I would've been, given the circumstances- but then, wasn't that always the case? "Nothing's going to happen to you... right?" She. Hesitated. Then she noticed that we'd noticed her hesitation, and she held up a hand, causing Pip to blanch again.

"Nothing bad," She said, which was worrying.

"But something?" I asked, and even I could hear the desperation in my voice.

Evie glanced at me, then turned her eyes back to Pip, who was, somehow, still acting somewhat reasonable. "Unless you want me to just sit on this roof for the rest of my life, something's going to happen to me. Actually, even if I do stay on the roof, it's only a matter of time before I die from exposure, or I'm struck by lightning, or something." Pip's eyes darted to the overcast sky fearfully. "Pip, relax. Kh- I would know, if something like that was going to happen to me." We all eyed her skeptically- wasn't that kind of the point of getting struck by lightning? That you didn't see it coming?

"Y'know what?" Hettie asked, clearly rhetorically. "I'll say it: I miss being the weird one." Evie snorted.

Pip folded his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow at Hettie, who immediately cocked one right back at him. Typical. "Stop poaching my title- you were never the weird one. 'The bold one', yes, 'the unorthodox one', too, 'the wild one', certainly- but never 'the weird one'." Hettie looked simultaneously offended and touched by this.

"And you're 'the nice one'," She fired back when she finally found her voice, but Pip shook his head.

"That's Evie." Well... he wasn't wrong, exactly, I just think maybe we had two 'nice ones'. "Lou's the smart, cautious one, and Vi's the leader. I'm the only bloke, and- the weird one." We all frowned, at that, and he huffed out a quiet laugh. "It's not an insult, guys- and I suppose you never notice it, because you're my friends and you don't care about that sort of thing, but my family ran out of ways to say it without actually saying it a long time ago: Odd, peculiar, out of place, unusual, unfamiliar- trust me, I'm fine with 'weird'." His family had called him those things? When? I knew they weren't always the closest-knit family in the world, but I hadn't known they'd gone so far as to bad-mouth Pip to his face. Pip!

I wanted to hug him, but Hettie beat me to it- Evie might have, too, if she'd been on the ground with us. Hettie didn't hold her arms out, or even wrap them around him, no- instead, she did the very Hettie thing of digging her shoulder into the middle of his chest until he hugged her, and then she huffed quietly as though put-out, and finally wrapped her arms around his waist. We all knew she wasn't put-out; Hettie loved hugs, she just hated asking for them... or feeling as though she was asking for them. "You're not weird," She told him. "They just don't understand you. I don't either, sometimes, but that doesn't make you weird. You don't always understand me, either." It was a powerful move, because we all knew that Pip would never argue with Hettie on this, since continuing to argue for his own weirdness would only make her think that he thought she was weird... which Pip would never risk. Was it underhanded? Yes. Was that Hettie's specialty? Also yes.

"For the record," I told him as I patted his arm. "You're the tall one." He snorted into Hettie's hair, and had to pull some out of his mouth afterward- whether that was a side effect of the snort, or just a side effect of hugging Hettie in general, it was hard to tell.

"The sweet one, too!" Evie called down from the roof, and he hid his cheek in Hettie's hair to hide his blush; if I'd known that all it took was being called sweet... "Also, your parents are off the Christmas card list." Oof. That was a heavy blow, coming from Evie.

Pip must've been grateful for the support, because he said, "I think they just expected me to be in a different place in my life by now." It was a pretty big admission. "You know, Patrick was married with a kid on the way before he was my age, not to mention the job- and while I'm happy and proud of where I'm at... it's a lot to try to live up to. To fail, to live up to." There was a silence for a second, and I saw Hettie make a face.

"I mean... yeah, but do you want any of those things?" Pip pulled back slightly so he could stare down at her with a befuddled look on his face.

"Of course I want those things," He said. "I want to find love, and build a life and a family with that person, but... I don't know, twenty-five seems a little young, doesn't it?" I shrugged, even as Hettie grinned up at him.

"Exactly," She said. "Don't keep worrying about what your parents want, or what Patrick did before you- go at your own pace, find your own flow, and you'll be all the better for it." Evie and I both softened incredibly at that- our father's words coming from Hettie's mouth, the way they often did in moments like this.

Pip softened too, albeit slightly less. "And what do you want, Hettie? You planning to be the first female Prime Minister by the time you're thirty?"

Hettie snorted, and, being Hettie, gave the same answer she always did when asked about her future. "I'm going to be young, wild, and free forever- single and still working on cars even when I'm in my seventies. I'll only marry when they put me in a nursing home, and only to a man half my age." She winked at me over Pip's shoulder. "Kids? I can live without those, thank you very much." I rolled my eyes at her, and she laughed. "I'll be happy to babysit any nieces or nephews I might have, though," She said, looking at all three of us pointedly, and Pip groaned.

"Not you, too!"

Things were quiet for a minute, before Evie said just about the last thing I expected to hear from her- especially right now. "I don't think I want kids."


(A/N): Patrick Simon St James and Philip Ferdinand St James. Philip being the name of an apostle, and Ferdinand being the patron Saint of... well, many things, some of which are pertinent to Pip's story. Patrick being the patron Saint of also a lot of things, but primarily Ireland, and Simon is the apostle Simon Zelotes. In other words, Pip is Apostle Saint, and Patrick is Saint Apostle, basically. I was originally going to call Pip's brother 'Declan', but then I decided I wanted them both to be 'P' names, so I went with Patrick, instead. Also, I like the name Declan too much to waste it on this guy.

Also, since we find out something about Hettie later that might make you curious, only some of what she says about her future here ends up being true.

On another note, the Wright gang all have issues, so take everything they say with a grain of salt... especially about their goals, and futures.

Also also, given what we later find out about what Pip does for a living, let me just clarify that Pip (particularly his job, but his life in general) is not UNimpressive... it's just that his parents, and subsequently he, are more impressed with what his brother Patrick has achieved- which is, certainly, quite impressive... but that should in no way detract from Pip's own impressiveness.

As of uploading this, the last chapter of the year, my doc manager is now completely empty... time to fill it up with 2025's chapters. The last thing I had to remove from the doc manager (other than this chapter) was the freshly edited version of chapter 166 (the chapter where Jo first appears), since that's been sitting in there waiting to be edited for literally like... six months. It now contains a few extra precious moments (particularly involving Leo and Lisbet's budding relationship) and some mild foreshadowing (even for things that haven't happened yet- as of posting this chapter), so it might be worth going back and rereading it, if you're into that sort of thing.

Remember, stay tuned for the next chapter on 1/1/25, and the one after that on 6/1/25.