They headed back to Sean's house around lunchtime, still in a playful mood.
When Lola jumped out of the car her behavior changed all of the sudden, making Lana wonder.
"That's weird. Normally she does that when she is around Bex.", she said.
"Who knows what's going on inside her.", Sean chuckled knowingly before entering the house. "You can go to the garden. I am joining in a second.", Sean told her and stepped into the kitchen. Lana did what she was told and went to the back door, before opening it. As soon as she stepped outside a bunch of familiar faces appeared in front of her, singing happy birthday for Lana. Her eyes widened, as her hand flung over her mouth in disbelief. Ginny, Josh, and Bex grinned at her reaction, before turning in for a hug.
"It's soo nice to see you all, again.", Lana said. "I didn't know anything about that.", she laughed slightly.
"Well, I called them yesterday, super last minute. Gladly these three were able to make it for a little hangout and even more important: for some great lunch.", Sean said, standing now behind Lana.
"Oh yeah. We brought food from the most delicious Italian restaurant in town. And we should start eating because it is getting quite cold.", Josh laughed. He didn't have to say that twice, because soon after everyone was loading their plates up with variations of food that Ginny and Josh brought. And they were damn right. It was the most delicious meal they shared in ages, even if some of the warm food was already cooled down.
Their afternoon was filled with laughter and memories they shared from the Once upon a time Set and in between takes. Since they all moved back to LA, they hadn't had a proper hangout that was just dedicated to talking about who knows what, which made it way overdue. The five of them didn't stop talking for one second, shared more embarrassing stories that hadn't been told and new projects they had been in, in the last couple of years.
"Did Seans plan with waking you up work this morning?", Bex asked at one point, looking between the two of them.
"Oh yeah, it did. Flynn and Leo were so excited to wake up antie Lana. I can tell you.", Sean laughed before pulling out his phone. "And I got it on camera because it was the cutest. They just love her so much and started cuddling her like crazy monkeys.", he added whilst starting the video to show it to Bex.
Rebecca took the phone out of his hand and held it between Ginnifer and Josh, so everyone could see. It really was the cutest recording ever taken, but Sean and Lana forgot one thing. The video didn't end after the cuddles with the boys, no… it showed the whole moment, where Lana and Sean looked into each other's eyes and leaned in before Flynn interrupted the scene.
"Oh, man. I was ready to see that kiss!", Josh said disappointed when the boy pulled his father away from Lana on the video.
Sean's eyes immediately shot even more open than before, looking at Lana in shock for a little amount of a second before pulling his phone out of Rebecca's hand, to end it. His whole face blushed very noticeably red and so did Lanas.
"Wait. Are you guys together?", Ginny asked, grinning like an idiot. She always thought that they had an affair back then in the mid-seasons of Once upon a time but everyone denied it, even Bex who would have known since she was like the best friend of both of them.
"No, we are not! That was nothing. Forget about it. I just… got caught up in the moment.", Lana said defensively trying to get out of this situation.
"Hey… hey.", Ginny said calmly and put an arm on her shoulder to comfort her. She really is like a true Snow White in real life. "It's okay. It's non of our business. You'll tell us when you're ready and if there would be more than friendship. Don't worry.", she said smiling before changing the topic immediately.
Bex in the meantime gave Sean a knowing glance. After what she just saw she knew that Sean's feelings for Lana had never gone and watching Lana acting like that made her sure that she shared his feelings and Bex wasn't sure if she liked the idea of her two best friends together since a relationship could put their trio friendship at risk. But in the end, she wants them to be happy, even if it was in a relationship together.
Time went by quickly since they picked up on funny stories again, forgetting about the video. Unfortunately, their little catch-up had to end around five, since everyone had a family to attend to.
Sean picked up the boys and Amélie whilst Lana was making her infamous Lasagna, which the kids requested since she was back. They all ate together when they came back and snuggled a bit in front of the TV before it was time for bed.
Lana went with Leo this time, who just wanted to listen to a CD today.
"And can you lay down with me in my bed until I fall asleep?", the little boy asked, looking at Lana with his puppy eyes. Of course, she couldn't say no to that.
Sean was already back in the living room after he tucked Flynn in. He sat down on the couch after this kind of exhausting but beautiful day, scrolling through his Instagram feed. He grinned at some of the birthday wishes for Lana before recognizing how many people had commented on one of his old posts that he forgot to post a new picture of him and Lana. Well, it was kind of a tradition, that's for sure.
Grinning, he took the video from them singing happy birthday and cut it after the boys went in for a hug. Like that he was able to post it, knowing that a lot of fans would completely overreact. He thought about a fitting caption that was also a bit teasing because that's what he loved to do.
"After I got like a million comments that I forgot about @lanaparrilla 's birthday, I thought I would share my morning cuteness with you.
I actually was the first one (with my kids) that got to wish her a happy birthday.
And if someone is wondering why exactly she is wearing clothes: after Lana surprised Flynn for his birthday, she fell asleep on the couch watching "Inside out", which made Leo a bit upset since he wanted her to see the movie. Guess auntie Lana has to come back for a proper film night one day.", he wrote smiling.
"What are you up to?", Lana grinned when she saw him smiling in front of his phone
"I got an extreme amount of comments saying that I forgot a birthday post for you. So I thought I would post the video from this morning. No worries. I did cut it. Is that alright with you?", Sean asked, looking up to her and placing his feet down on the floor to make some space for her to sit.
"Yeah that's fine.", she said, sitting next to him and answering some of her text messages. "Gosh my mom just sent me another old picture from me on my birthday.", Lana laughed and turned her phone, for Sean to see. He had a closer look before grinning like an idiot.
"Honestly, where were you when I was in high school. Girls in my class weren't that good looking.", Sean laughed and got a playful slap from Lana for his comment.
"It is a cute picture. I like your glasses.", he grinned.
"I really didn't like them. To be honest, it was like one of the cheapest you could find since my family basically was poor.", Lana confessed, whilst looking down slightly.
"Hey. This is nothing to be ashamed of.", Sean said with a slight smile before turning his gaze back to the picture. "That's your dad in the background, right?", he asked reserved. He wasn't sure how Lana would react because her dad was a sensitive topic that made her emotional quite quickly.
"Yeah...that's him. I think you would have liked him. He was a very funny man with some great skills.", she said, smiling proudly.
"I would have liked to meet him and thank him.", he smiled before recognizing something else. "You got his eyes.", Sean grinned at her but Lana was still stuck with his first sentence.
"Thank him for what?", she giggled, nibbling at a glass of wine she brought with her.
"For you of course!", Sean said, looking directly into her eyes. The soft brown made his heart skip a couple of beats before Lana broke their eye contact, looking down on the picture again.
"That is really sweet of you to say…", Lana grinning whilst blushing slightly.
"I think he is really proud of you, Lana. And so am I. I hope your papa was able to see his daughter smile today because that was my mission.", Sean said calmly and smiled because of all the beautiful memories they had created today.
"Do you wanna know what I wished for this morning?", Lana asked and looked up again to meet his gaze. She didn't even bother to wait for a spoken answer from Sean because his eyes told her everything she wanted to know.
"I wished that the happiness I felt in this moment would last as long as possible and help me in times when I would need some of it.", she smiled whilst looking into Sean's ocean blue eyes that gave her hope, every time she was looking into them. And she didn't even need her sign of a feather to tell her that she was where she was supposed to be, because nothing felt more like home than being here with Sean, Flynn, Leo, and Amélie, who she proudly called family.