Jack carried his bag and Molly's off the plane. Mark followed suite carrying his bag and Emily's. As soon as they made it to where they could meet up with their family he heard the screams of his relatives and his blood all at once as the women ran at each other and made an awkward gloppy group hug in the middle of the Airport.
Mark dropped his bags and embraced Eric who then made a grab for his luggage. The two quarreled good naturedly over who would carry the bags. In the mean time, Melody ran and jumped into Jacks arms. Even though she was technically older than him, she only came up to the middle of his chest.
"It is so good to see you Jack I was so worried." Jack was surprised when she called him by his own name and wondered at how much she knew. "How is Zie, are you two dating yet?"
Jack sighed from relief; she obviously didn't know anything, and was only calling him by a common nickname.
"No, she is just a friend Mel." Jack smiled and she frowned. He leaned in and whispered not so softly in her ear, "Merida is a different story, and Elsa is a story for another time all together." He looked to see her eyes light up for the chance of gossip.
"Oh Jackson, it is so good to see you, I forgot how tall you were getting," Ariel came over to hug him. Her flaming red hair was obvious from all parts of the airport, and it bounced as she bounded over to hug Jack.
Jack finally dropped the bags and hugged his aunt, "Hi Aunt Ariel."
Jack flung his head to get his own hair out of his face so that he could see her clearly, after they embraced.
"Jackson dear, I wish you would cut this atrociously long hair," Ariel said.
"Actually, if you know a good stylist I am getting tired of it being so long." Jack said to everyone's disbelief, and to Cole's reluctance. Cole knew what Jack had planned and had realized that there was no talking him out of it. On the other hand, everyone looked at Jack in shock, in the past Cole had defended his hair choice with a sharp tongue.
"I am thinking white this time, and only a little bit shaggy, if you know someone who can do that, then we can talk." Jack winked.
Ariel was shocked and decided to push her luck. "And all these black grungy clothes..."
"I think I could be persuaded into a style change, I don't have much money so maybe-"
"Money, is no object!" Eric chimed in, "besides," he was immediately aware that he had spoken a little too loudly and cleared his throat. "You're family and I'd say it is the least we could do after all that has happened."
"Make-over? Really!" Melody squealed.
"I don't want you to spend your money on me, I didn't come here to mooch just for some style advice." Jack said realizing this was getting out of hand quick. He looked to his father for some back up or sympathy or something.
Mark came over and placed a hand on Eric's shoulder, "We are on vacation, you don't have to work on our account. Let's at least wait to talk about this after we check into our hotel."
Eric turned to Mark, "you know you don't need to spend your vacation cramped in a hotel room with the whole family, we have plenty of rooms for all of you at our place."
Mark grinned suspiciously, "I know, that is why I am taking you up on your offer to babysit my children while my wife and I stay at a five star hotel five minutes away."
"You don't mean?"
"Yep." Mark smirked.
"Oh you sly dog you, Arista will love that."
"Close enough that we can do things together during the day, and far enough that when it gets dark me and the missus can have some privacy."
"And she agreed to this?"
"It was Jacksons idea, he talked her into it. I put up some resistance too don't get me wrong. But he has changed a lot and the doctors said to work with him as much as possible. We think it might be a coping thing, but he really does seem like he is trying on some new things for the better."
"Was it that bad?"
"I don't know, I think it really shook him up at the very least. I want to talk about this more when we get to your place in private with Emily and Ariel. At this point I say we humor him, but let's not scare him by showering him with extravagant gifts."
"Okay, we'll set some boundaries when we get back to the house." Eric turned to look back at Ariel who was half smothering him and playing with his hair. "I'll go let Ariel know, you go get your luggage."
"Thanks for understanding." Mark smiled gratefully.
Eric pulled Ariel aside and spoke softly to her, he handed her a credit card and warned her that they would talk more about the shopping thing later, but she should go get him fitted for a new suit on their way back to the house at least. Ariel gave him a kiss on the cheek, it wouldn't satisfy her need to give him a makeover completely, but at least she would have his sizes by the time they got home. That would appease her long enough for her to make plans accordingly for that evening, and the rest of their stay.
First, she had to figure out a place that could dye his hair as white as he wanted, not her first choice, but it was a vast improvement to how he kept his hair now. By the end of the day, Jackson would rid of his long black hair and that was her vow.
** ** **
Jack could tell he'd caused quite a stir with his admitting that he was changing his look, and by the look on his Aunts face, she was already developing a battle plan.
Jack closed the door on a car too fancy not to have a complicated name that Jack would just murder should he try to pronounce it.
Jack pulled out his phone and typed:
We made it, I got wicked jet lag.
(Send)
It was about ten minutes down the road when he got the response he was waiting for.
That is great XD. What is Europe like?
-Merida.
Jack smiled and responded:
Foreign. :P