From; OC x reader

To Adapt, is to Move on

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The trio were all taking the laundry off the line and looking at all the clothes, "you see that." Fatima points to a piece of clothing, "that one is Armani. It belonged to this guy Charlie, from Duluth. Oh god, he was this amazing crossdresser. Oh, he was beautiful and funny. And when he... anyway Trudy got her hands on it, and now she is always trying to hide it so she doesn't have to share it with anybody. Since we're on laundry detail..."

"It's up for grabs." Julie finishes while Fatima makes noises of agreement.

"What the hell is Armani?" Noah asks and the girls chuckle at him. As Fatima holds out the shirt and tells Julie to put it on. Noah wasn't paying attention though as he saw someone walk out the door getting closer to the clothesline when she looks up and sees the trio. The girls finally noticed that Noah wasn't paying attention and followed his eyeline to see the girl as well. Y/N panics for a couple of seconds but calms down a little bit and walks over to the other side of the clothesline where she starts taking off some clothes as Fatima lightly smiles at the girl.

Julie finishes putting on the shirt and Fatima looks at her, "Ms Mathews." she says as Julie does some poses for her.

"It's a shirt." Noah says confusedly, the girls chuckle at him again.

"Oh my god, you're such a guy." Fatima says. Noah rolls his eyes at that and reaches for another shirt at the same time as Y/N and she immediately retracts her hand and freezes. Noah looks up at her and Fatima turns to look at the exchange.

"Uh, sorry." Noah says and then gestures for her to take it as he moves onto another one. She does eventually take the shirt but ends up running back inside. This causes Noah to frown. Fatima turns to him, seeing his expression.

"If she didn't trust you in the slightest she would have gone back inside the second she saw you." she tells him. He looks confused for a second and is about to ask another question when he sees his Mum walk up the hill towards them.

"Julie," he calls out. His sister looks at him confused but he gestures behind her towards their mother.

"I can go talk to her." Fatima offers

Julie looks at her brother for a second then back to Fatima. "No it's okay. We got it." she replies. Then the siblings make their way over to their mum. "Hey."

"Hi."

"What are you doing up here?" Noah questions

"Well, I found your sweater in my bag." she says to Julie. "And some of your books. I couldn't carry all of them up here but I bought this one. I know you've been reading it at the moment." she says gesturing to the items in her hands. "We miss you." she says to both children.

"We miss you guys, too." They both reply. Tabitha hands the items to her kids.

"Then come back with me. This is not a prison, you can leave any time you want." she walks up to her kids playing with Julie's hair and rubbing Noah's arm, "we can talk to Donna. Say you made a mistake, that you changed your mind." they looks at her angrily

"We.. Why do you always do that?" Julie asks ,

"Do what?" Tabitha asks back.

"You make it seem like poor stupid Julie and weak little Noah have no idea what they are doing and everything will be okay once that we admit that we were wrong. Like we always have to do." Noah responds sternly, playing with the book in his hand.

"I didn't say that." Tabitha says softly

"Yeah. you know what? Forget it." Julie states as she gives back the sweater and starts to walk away, "I really don't wanna do this."

Tabitha grabs her arm pulling her back, "hey, hey, hey, hey, Julie. Noah. we have no idea where we are, we have to stick together as a family."

"Are you kidding me?" Julie asks "you're seriously gonna lecture us on family."

"We knew." Noah adds, "we knew what you and Dad were planning. We knew all about the divorce and how this whole trip was just one last hurrah just so you could sit us all down and break the news. So stop treating us like we are children."

"Okay, okay." Tabitha mutters. "You're both right." she looks at them, "look, your father and I love each other very much." This causes both kids to scoff and roll their eyes. "We love you both and Ethan very, very much."

"Thomas is dead! Okay?" they both yell.

"And I know that it's hard and I know that you lost but we all lost." Julie adds, emotionally, "but you have three other kids. Why aren't we enough for you?"

"It's not that simple, it's not that simple." Tabitha defends moving closer to Julie.

"I'm sorry. I can't." Julie says moving back to the house and running in.

Tabitha turns back to Noah who is looking at her expectantly, "Noah. Please."

"Mum, I'm an adult now. I can take care of myself. Okay?" He says sternly and follows his sister without letting her respond. Fatima comes up to Tabitha and takes the clothing from her and promises she'll give it to Julie.

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Fatima was leading Noah and Julie along the hallway, a hand covering Julie's eyes as Noah followed the duo. He already knew what the surprise was because he had helped Ellis set it up. "Okay, okay straight." Fatima directed

"Okay, I'm getting scared now." Julie chuckles

"Chill out Jules. It's good." Noah explains, assuring.

"Just a couple more steps." Fatima directed Julie into her and Ellis' room. "Okay, now." she says and Julie chuckles. "Now before I take my hands off, there's something I want you to know, okay."

"Okay." Julie responds

"Both of you." she says looking back at Noah for a second then turning back to look front, "there are no mistakes, just choices, and you guys chose what was right for you. And that's what matters."

"Okay." they both say. Fatima then takes her hands off of Julie's eyes and Julie gasps at the appearance of 2 beds near each other.

"Julie and Noah, please see your new sleeping arrangements." Ellis said, "equip with your very own cosy blanket and pillow. Naming rights are optional." Julie starts giggling happily.

"But wait, there's more." Fatima adds

"Oh yes, there is more." Ellis does a drumroll and shows curtains that block the beds off from another and the front.

"Curtains for privacy." Noah says, "You know for when I piss you off so much that you just wanna chop my head off." he adds, making everyone chuckle. And Julie stands up and hugs everyone in thanks.

"Come on, both of you. Try it out." They both flop down on a different bed and Fatima joins Julie on her bed while Ellis sits on a chair in front of them.

"Seriously, thank you." Julie says to Fatima

"Umm, excuse me. Ellis and I did most of this work, where the hell is my thank you?" Noah asks. Julie lowers the curtains and closes them off from Noah causing them all to laugh.