The Phoenix Bluff (Concurrent with Billy's illness thread)

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

Sal shook her head as she descended the stairs, wool socks itching her feet as she walked.

"Is he feelin' any better?" Mrs. White inquired from where she sat in the living room, darning a sock.

"Still runnin' a fever," Sal said, reaching past Vic (who was doing who knows what with some salt cod) for a glass and going to the fridge in search of juice. She found a pitcher jammed in the door of the fridge between the Purity syrup and the plum sauce and poured herself a glass, her eyes then venturing to the ceiling where Stephan and Wolfen were stuck, doing something very strange with a pack of Crayola washable markers.

"They eatin' them?" Sal nudged Vic, who looked up and then looked at her.

"Yup."

Sal sighed. "C'mon, ye two," she said, walking so she was right under the two kids. "Don't go eatin' the markers. That ain't good fer ye."

Comments

[random_xtras]

"We're not eating them, Oma!" chirped Stephan cheerfully. "We're licking them."

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Sal just stared. "Don't do that either. 'S not good fer ye."

Oh, to be taller...

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"They smell good!" He hung from his feet and stuck his tongue out to show her the stripes of colour on it.

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"Yes, b'y, I knows, but they ain't edible. Eat enough o' them an' ye might get sick." She shook her head and tried very hard not to smile at the spectacle.

[random_xtras]

"So that's the last one." Ella White lifted her head to look at the smiling man in the dark burgundy button down shirt, who stood there with a furry blue toddler on his hip and a dark-haired boy who looked just like him hiding by his side.

"Oooo." Both the babies on the roof stared.

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"Yes, b'y." Sal rolled her eyes slightly at Ella's matter-of-factness.

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"Black sheep 'o the family?" The slightly older woman smirked.

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"Fee!" Wolfen told Scrat, pointing to Zipporah. "Opa!"

"Was Opa blue?" asked Mykayla, her lilac brows lifting.

"Ja!" Wolfen bounced.

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Sal raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Ye kin figger out her language?" she asked Mykayla.

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"I know it," said the lilac-haired woman. "And I know who Opa is, too."

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"And when was the wedding?" asked Scrat, looking at her bemusedly.

Mykayla blinked. "Oh! Congratulations."

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Sal drummed her fingers on her lips as she tried to remember. "December 12th," she said after a few minutes. "We went to the States."

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"Did my invitation get lost?" His brows drew together slightly.

Mykayla blinked and looked up at him, surprised by the faint note of hurt in his voice.

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She popped down in a kitchen chair, grinning at Scrat's curious look. "He was passed out drunk, so we put this frozen pig in some of Mady's underwear and stuck it in his bed."

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"And?"

Sal looked like she was going to fall over laughing.

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"He screamed and fell out of bed. Then yelled about it so loudly that the whole house knew what had happened." She put an arm around Boba as he came over to lean on her.

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"Yes, I think so." She grinned at the little guy, then reached out to gently stroke Wolfen's black curls. "Kurt is quite charming."

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"Th' understatement o' th' year," Sal said with a sideways grin, blushing only slightly.

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"I didn't get to hug him during the roadtrip, but I bet it's nice." A show of dimples.

"You hug everybody," said Boba gruffly.

"Yes." She hugged him.

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She glanced up at Scrat as Stephan clamored joyfully about noodles and cheese, then dimpled at him and turned to Sal with a nod. "Of course we do."

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"Good," Sal said with a grin, walking away from her to set the table, Stephan still on her back, "'coz I woulda nailed yer feet t' the floor if ye'd said no."

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Scrat chuckled. "You would have tried, Mom."

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Sal returned little Stephan's hug, smoothing down his red hair. "How're ye doin', ad'ika?" she inquired softly. It was a rather rhetorical question, but she felt it necessary to show she cared.

[random_xtras]

"Good." His fuzzy little face grinned up at her, golden eyes dancing as his tail curled around her wrist in a baby version of his Opa's ankle hug.

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

She smiled widely. "C'mon then, let's eat, huh?"