5 (jaylor) forever fearless nights and a mirrorball spotlight

chapter thirteen.

The days turned into hours until Taylor, Joe and the kids would reunite.
Taylor was relieved in the fact that her parents had arrived to help occupy the kids while she packed their bags.
She had two hours to get everything ready for them to all fly to New Zealand. Elena was running around the house screaming because she couldn't find one of the teddy bears she wanted to take with her.

Thea was all packed up and was helping Nora to put her bags in the car. She was trying to help her Mom, because she knew how stressed she was about packing them all up to go to New Zealand.
"Do you think I packed enough books?" Nora asked her as she put her bag in the back of the car. Thea smiled. "Nora, that bag is full of books. I'm sure that's enough." In fact, it was so full of books that she could barely lift it into the car.
"Really? It might not be-"
"Nora! You can't take up all the space in the back of the car with your books!" Luca groaned as he put his bag in the car. "Mom said we could have a bag. That means one. Not three! You are taking up all the room! There's-"
"Hey, it's okay. Look," Thea said, trying to diffuse the tension. Nora and Luca had been arguing ever since they both signed up for the spelling bee, but especially since Nora had beaten Luca by a point. A single point. One word. He'd been crushed. One point. A single word. "If we stack her bags up like this, it's fine. See? And if there's still not enough room, then I'll just have mine on my lap in the car."
"Nora should have to have one of her bags on her lap." Luca poked his tongue out at Nora. "She's the one with three bags."
"Luca," Thea sighed. "Stop being mean."
"What are the three of you muttering about out here?" They were interrupted by Andrea. "It's much too cold to be outside."
"I'm helping Mom with the bags." Thea smiled. "These two are arguing again."
"What are we fighting about?" Andrea walked out to stand beside them. She smiled down at her grand kids, her eyes warm.
"Nora has three bags and there's not going to be enough room for anyone else's!" Luca huffed.
"Luca is just upset that I bet him in the spe-"
"ONE POINT." Luca screamed. "I ALMOST WON!"
"Just because you don't know how to spell arithmetic!" Nora exclaimed as Luca ran back inside.
Nora went and sat in the car, slamming the door loudly behind her and Thea closed her eyes for a moment. She didn't want to make this moment anymore stressful for her Mom.
"What's happened?" Taylor asked, her hair windswept. Thea couldn't help but notice that her mother only had one of her cat slippers on. She wondered where the other one had ended up.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I tried really hard to calm them down..." Thea felt bad. She felt like she should have done more, felt like there was more she could have done to ensure this didn't happen. "It's my fault."
Taylor walked down the steps, pulling her daughter into her. "No, it's not. Mom, can you please help Lena find her teddy? I think its Mr Patrick Pumpkin Pie that she's lost. You know - the orange one that Austin got her last year with the brown bow tie? I think I last saw him in one of her sock draws? I don't know what he's doing in there... but she can't find him." Taylor kissed Thea's temple.
"Of course I can," Andrea smiled. "Lena! Where are you? I think I know where Mr Patrick Pie is!"
"HIS NAME IS MR PATRICK PUMPKIN PIE!" The three of them heard Elena yell from somewhere in the house. "BECAUSE PUMPKINS ARE HIS FAVOURITE SNACK AND SO ARE SOCKS. HE LIKES SOCKS VERY MUCH." Taylor laughed, because she knew for a fact that Patrick hated pumpkin. She didn't know where Elena had gotten that idea from. And now, she knew why she kept finding Mr Patrick Pumpkin Pie in Lena's sock drawers.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Let's come and find him, shall we?" Andrea headed inside.

"Are you okay?" Taylor asked her oldest daughter, running her fingers through her curly hair. "It's not your fault, alright?"
Thea nodded as her Mom spoke softly to her. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "They're still fighting about the spelling bee."
Taylor just smiled. She'd had to deal with way too many arguments at the dinner table about this fucking spelling bee. It was a bad idea to let the two of them compete head to head, but there was no going back now. Nora had won, with Luca a close second. So... she had to go and make sure that this was all sorted out before they had to leave. She hadn't even had time to get ready for the flight, let alone do her hair.
"Are you all packed?" Taylor asked Thea softly. Thea had been doing a lot better lately, and Taylor thought it was a good sign, even though recovery wasn't linear.
Thea nodded. "I sure am. I just need to get dressed."
Taylor smiled. "You go and do that while I sort out the twins, okay?"
Thea grinned. "Okay!"