NEW YORK
Lavender was nearly asleep in the passenger seat, the radio quietly playing Blink-182, Dylan softly humming along—careful not to wake his wife and daughter. They had flown to New York for thanksgiving, a promising weekend at the O'Briens. Lavvie and Dylan had gone to a few sessions for therapy, the tension between them lessening but it hadn't entirely gone away.
It seemed to be an unspoken thing between them, if one had done something they knew the other they didn't like—they just didn't say a thing. But, frustrations aside, they wanted to have a nice family event without a tuffle between them.
"Babe? You awake?" Dylan questioned softly, Lavvie humming out in response, squeezing his hand that she held on her lap. "We're almost there, want to wake Ror?" He asked, but she shook her head.
"Let her sleep, I'll carry her in if you get the bags." Lavvie mumbled, opening her eyes with a sigh. "She was up half the night, kept trying to get me to make cookies." Lavvie lightly laughed, though it had caused her to lose sleep as well.
"I was wondering why you nearly threw your coffee at me on the way to the airport." Dylan chuckled, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing it softly. "I'm sure Mom won't mind if you go up at take a nap." He told her, pulling into the driveway of his childhood home.
"No way, I need my fix of Julia." Lavvie retorted, grinning when the car came to a stop. She quickly undid her buckle, stepping out of the car and into the cold fall weather. Lavvie was careful opening the back door, leaning over to undo Rory's buckle and take her out of the seat.
Fortunately, Rory was a heavy napper, her head falling onto Lavvie's shoulder as she carried her up to the house. Lavvie allowed Dylan to get their bags, knocking on the door to the home she loved dearly. Almost immediately after knocking, she was greeted with a joyous Lisa.
"Come in, it's freezing out there!" Lisa exclaimed, waving her daughter in law into the home. "I swear you get prettier every time I see you." Lisa said, bringing Lavvie in for a tight hug and kissed her cheek.
"Gosh, and she's getting so big." The woman's eyes watered at the sight of her sound asleep grandchild.
"She's so tall, I'm not entirely sure where she gets it from." Lavvie joked, kicking off her shoes as they walked inside.
"May I?" Lisa asked, holding her arms out and Lavvie gladly handed her daughter over.
As if Rory realized she was no longer in her mother's arms, she began to stir awake. Her bright eyes stared up at Lisa, a high gasp leaving her mouth instantly.
"Nana!" Rory nearly squealed, wide awake within an instant. Her small arms wrapped around Lisa tightly and the woman laughed.
Lavvie smiled at the sight, wandering off to the livingroom to make herself at home on the comfortable couch. She always loved the holidays with Dylan's family, having never been close with her own—it felt more of a home to her than her family's did. Most people would complain about their in-laws, but Lavvie didn't have a single complaint. No surprise there though, the O'Briens didn't have a single mean bone in their bodies.
•••
"Uh, oh, here comes grumpy pants." Julia laughed, Dylan walking outside with a hoodie and blanket in his arms. Julia and Lavvie had been sitting on the back porch, a case of whiteclaws sat between them while Dylan had put Rory to sleep.
"Blanket, Hoodie, do you need anything else?" Dylan asked, throwing the things onto her after she'd texted him several times asking for them.
"If you wanna go down and get us some more drinks from the-"
"Did you drink them all?" Dylan groaned, interrupting his sister as he picked up the nearly empty box. "Two?" He questioned, the girls laughing in response with buzzes taking over their bodies.
"You can have the rest of mine." Lavvie offered her half dranken beverage and he shook his head, sitting beside her and opening one for himself.
Julia sat across from them smiling at the sight, "Dyl, remind me again how you got her?" Julia joked, Dylan quickly flipping her of as he wrapped his arms around Lavvie.
"Actually, it's more so how the hell did I get him?" Lavvie responded, grinning up at her husband with content.
"I still remember him calling me after you two got into that little twitter feud. He was like 'holy shit, Jules, Lavender Francis knows likes my acting! Ah, she's soooo pretty I could just marry her now!'" Dylan grimaced at his sister, her voice going up several octaves as she mocked him.
"I didn't sound like that." He defended himself, both Lavvie and Julia laughing out in response.
"Babe, you still sound like that."
🤍 liked by lavvie and 3,816,034 others
dylanobrien it's true, i have the best women in the world, in my life.
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lavvie glad you realize how incredibly awesome we are😌
dylanobrien it's almost like.. i purposefully married one of the coolest women ik
username dylan obrien, aka, the luckiest man on earth
dylanobrien wholeheartedly agree
username im in love 🥺
username painting rorys nails??
dylanobrien yep :) mama makes a mess doing it
lavvie no one said i was a skilled artist, okay joel?
username the first pic is now my favorite picture of all time
dylanobrien if rory wouldve sat still it would've been sm better:( but they're so beautiful wow