Lost

The Only Tolerable Kids Alive

Two weeks passed faster than Emilia expected it to. Her drive up to Seattle wasn't eventful, but it was rainy, as expected. In order to spend as much time with the kids as possible, Emilia spoke with Cora to rearrange her hours around their visit. 

She was lucky that her boss was so willing to help her out.

When Emilia got to the meeting location, she got out of her car. Miranda got out of the family car and the kids came barreling out a few moments later. 

"Emmy!" Jeremy cheered, hugging her tightly. 
"Hey guys!" Emilia hugged both the kids while Miranda came around the front of the car. 

Elena grabbed their bags and put them in the trunk while Jeremy got into Emilia's car. "Thanks for meeting us, Emilia. I don't remember where Charlie's is, and well, it's easier to meet here."

"I totally understand, I'd drive anywhere for those munchkins. No questions asked." The teen responded. 

Miranda smiled and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Call if you need any specific information, but I'm sure you already know what they can and can't have. No new allergies or anything, just please be safe with my babies."

"They'll be perfectly fine in my care, I promise." Emilia said. Nothing would happen to those kids as long as she was around. 
"Thank you again. I'm not sure when Grayson and I will be coming to get them but it could potentially be in August."

"That's fine, I know you guys have important stuff to do and you can't have kids around constantly."

A few more minutes of conversation and they were saying their goodbyes. "You two will be good for Emilia and Charlie, got it?"
"We will!" The two children chorused as Emilia got in the car. 
"They'll behave or I'll force them to watch movies with me, without snacks." There was immediate protest from the backseat. 

-

"Why's this store different from the one in Mystic Falls?" Elena asked as they went down the aisle that had condiments and bread products. 

"Different states, I guess." Emilia responded, placing four packages of buns into the cart. 

"Can we get the purple ketchup?" Jeremy asked, pointing to the shelf where the different ketchups sat.

"You don't eat the purple one, Jer. We bought a bottle two summers ago and you wouldn't eat it with anything." Emilia said, placing her hand on her hip. 

"It's still in the fridge at home." Elena added, crossing her arms. 
"I thought it was. So instead of getting the purple ketchup, how about we get the regular one and we can get the name-brand drinks instead of the store brand. Sound good?"

Jeremy pouted, but nodded without further protest. He somehow managed to convince Emilia to take them for lunch at the diner before they went home.

-

Charlie smiled at the sight of the three kids coming through the door. They were all family, no matter what anyone could say. If Bella had been with them, he'd be complete. "Hey!" Elena and Jeremy went to give Charlie hugs before taking their bags to the kitchen. 

"We brought back some food from the diner. Had groceries in the car so we couldn't sit down like we usually would." Emilia said, taking the food and groceries into the kitchen. 

"That's fine, I'll be working late tonight and won't be home for dinner anyway." Charlie said, following behind her. 

"I thought so, which is why we brought extras."

Emilia got the groceries put away before she sat down to eat with everyone else. Light conversation was made and Jeremy ended up going into a full on rant about his favorite dinosaur. The Spinosaurus was his obvious favorite, by the way he spoke.

Charlie knew then that he'd miss the Gilbert children being there whenever they had to leave.