stay bright.

Bianca laughed at the words, knowing that they were spoken with a jestering tone but likely with a hint of seriousness- as if it were something that Beckett had experienced numerous times. “What if I want to join her on these sugar escapades?” Bianca spoke, of course she would never go against anything that Beckett or Sofia asked her to do concerning Harper and was only even bringing it up to go along with the joking tones. “How many times has she gotten you to cave? Am I at a risk to her charms here?” She asked. “We really missed out on this lifehack before she was born- why did no one tell us?” Bianca questioned rhetorically, like it was the type of thing people would share. “I’ve gotten good at it, haven’t I?” She replied, leaning in slightly to the kiss upon her cheek. “I’m sure they’ll come around, don’t worry about them.” Bianca reassured with a slight shake of her head. 

“You don’t think that the idea of having ice cream behind the wall will be enough for her?” Sofia teased at the expense of their daughter who would likely be begging for it all day. “Do you want me to bring some things to occupy her with me? Some lunch as well?” She offered, wanting to make the day as easy as possible for him. “Yes! The free babysitters have been so great. My mum has been finding every excuse to come over so I’ve even been getting dinners as well.” She exclaimed. Sofia watched the road as he drove out of habit, keeping her eye out just in case of any dangers missed. “That’s good, her schedule has already been so out of whack lately- it’s been really hard to get her to bed on time.” Sofia spoke, easily remembering the begging for yet another story or another glass of water. “Do you want to stay and help? Read her a story?” She suggested 

“A little bird, huh?” Dominique repeated with a tilt of her head, “Does this little birdy happen to have a name?” She prodded, trying to get an answer out of him before forming an exaggerated frown at his next comment, “Awh, that’s so sad! They could make a book to movie series about your horrors.” Dominique easily teased, scrunching her nose up at him solidifying the teasing. “Oh, did she happen to mention the yelling that’s bound to happen over it? You’d think someone is getting murdered at her house.” Dominique replied- Many people might say that Dominique was over exaggerating over her comments but Dominique could be confident that was the reaction from her mother if she had come home with even a bit of dirt on her skirts. “Hm, maybe. I can’t confirm or deny.” She said, easily tiptoeing over the statement. “Blue? That’s going to completely clash with my hair and everything. Do you want me to look horrible for the rest of the day?” 

“Who knows, it could be your new life.” Dominique teased with a laugh, “That is true, but have you seen the man? He’s completely blind. He wouldn’t be able to tell you had those feelings even if you put a sign on your head.” Dom commented, “I think the best thing that you can do is just talk to him- anything else is just going to keep you confused and unsure of what’s happening.” She spoke before gasping at the next comment, “Ooh- that’s an idea! Do you want to text some of my friends so he can get jealous of people younger than him?” She suggested 

Even if Maddy tried, she wouldn’t have been able to stop her laughter. Of course that’s where it came from, she underestimated how much of an influence the school and teachers would have been at such an early age; Maddison was still learning herself. “Could you try a new favourite? If I’m honest, I’m sick of peas for dinner. Carrots, maybe?” Maddison suggested. Despite her jokes, she was glad for Daniel attempting to give that little push towards the kids especially as it was something that she was struggling with, Maddy often had to remind herself that it was now her job to encourage Ben with new foods rather than being a complete pushover.  Maddison nodded as the other spoke, glad for the advice that he gave. Other than Ben, Maddy didn’t have much family to ask about things like this and all of her friends had never been through a traumatic event- which she was glad for however it left her with very little people to ask for help. “It helps. I forget how resilient kids are, I’m sure he knows more about it than I give him credit, I just have to work out when and how to open that kind of conversation. How would you get a kid settled enough to have that kind of a conversation?” Maddy asked; whilst she knew that her nephews teacher probably wasn’t the person to ask these kind of questions to especially as they were talking about his education, but out of anyone she had tried to ask for help Daniel was the only one who seemed like he knew what he was talking about. 

Emma let out a soft sigh at his insistence of being ready- theoretically Emma knew that, afterall she was the one quizzing him whenever they had a spare moment and received only correct answers from him. Emma just wanted it to go well, she valued her parents opinion to the utmost standard and practically any major decision made in her life was heavily influenced by their opinions, as much as Emma would insist they were all her own. “It’s not going to be the same as when you met them before, they’re going to ask you a million questions, criticize everything about you,” She spoke despite his attempts to settle her. Everything that he mentioned were things that she was already stressing about; Noah really did know her. Emma had seen the grilling happen before with previous partners and none of them had passed the test that her parents had set out for them. “Are you sure?” Emma repeated, giving one more chance to back away despite her being the only one with hesitations. She moved her hands up to straighten up the collar on his shirt, “Okay, let’s go?” 

“How do we know that this isn’t what’s going to change her mind?” She spoke in response, whilst she had met Jennifer and knew that she wasn’t the type of person to change her mind based on one hypothetical meeting. Emma knew that his happiness was the main thing that Jennifer cared about, and it was something that was clear on both of their features. “Maybe we should, just in case it’s not clear enough.” Emma commented, the words easily getting a laugh out of her as he usually was able to do. Emma knew that it would be okay once she was actually there but the words of confidence helped her feel much more comfortable with it all. “I’m ready, so long as you’ll still like me very much later?” Emma asked, her own form of a joke before kissing him again. “You won’t leave me alone with anyone? Rori, maybe, but anyone else- I’m just going to say the wrong things.”