Together (Demi Lovato Adoption)

Chapter Thirty-One

DEMI'S POV

We had plans to go to Disneyland for Sam's birthday, somewhere I had never taken my girls to before. It was a surprise for the birthday girl, and we somehow managed to keep it a secret all the way up to the day we were set to go to Anaheim without spoiling it yet. While my mom was reorganising everyone's suitcases, (don't ask, we're all weirdos), Maddie, Ellie and I were all gathered in the kitchen while Sam was colouring in the lounge room, earphones in and listening to Disney music.

"I've never been on a roller coaster before," Ellie said to Maddie the morning we were leaving. "I'm kind of nervous."

"You don't have to go on them bub, my mom doesn't like them either. She'll stay behind with you." I assured her, hoping to calm her anxiety as she groaned, clearly conflicted between her emotions.

"But I don't wanna miss out!" The silky-haired girl whined as she threw her head back in frustration.

"Well, you can come on with me. Just don't puke on me and we'll be all good." Maddie responded, making me chuckle. "You can do anything but puke on me."

"So I can cry on you?" Ellie asked, her eyes growing wide. 

"Sure." Maddie had an indifferent tone to her voice as I took a sip of water, trying desparately not to laugh at the two girls. 

"Can I pass out on you?" Ellie tried again, seemingly trying to earn a reaction out of her aunt. 

"If you really feel as though that's necessary."

"Can I burp on you?"

"I mean — sure, why not?"

"Can I pee on you?"

"Now we're crossing a line."

I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer as a chuckle escaped my lips while I stared at my little sister and my daughter, shaking my head in complete disbelief. "You two shouldn't be allowed near each other, you get too weird!"

"Like you didn't say shit that is equally if not weirder than this, Demi." Maddie teased, making grabby hands for my water bottle that I had just taken a sip from. 

"You know, we have other water bottles that you can drink out of." I sighed, forcing the water towards my younger sister who looked very pleased with herself. She disregarded what I had said with a wave of her hand, placing the bottle to her lips happily.

"Is your mom still repacking everyone's bags?" Ellie asked, laughing when I nodded my head with an eye roll.

"That woman is insane. But I love her." I was interrupted by my mother entering the room, a wide smile on her face as she clasped her hands together. 

"I finished repacking! Now we can go!" The excited look on my mothers face made me break out into a smile. It's hard to believe that just a few years ago, Dallas and I were abusing drugs and alcohol, my mom shortly afterwards suffering an addiction to Xanax, leaving our entire family just a bit broken. But just like everything we 'Delavato's' went through, we always came out stronger.

"Mommy! Why can't you just tell me where we're going?" Sam whined, pouting from her car seat in between Ellie and I. It was obvious to us all that Sam hated surprises, and much preferred to be in on the surprise, but once she learned she wasn't going to find out until we got there, she had gotten quite angry about it. 

"Sammy, it's a surprise! You'll like it, I promise!" Ellie tried to get her to calm down after my millions of attempts, which finally seemed to settle her. I understood she was only nervous, and that that was the reasoning behind her behaviour, so I was refraining on being too harsh with her. I knew that she would probably stop acting up if I told her where we were going, but I was not going to spoil the surprise after keeping it a secret for this long already.