heaven sent;

Lacy had known Felicity all her life; they had never been close, but she was nice enough. They had hung out in high school, mostly drinking or sharing cigarettes. "It was definitely a good idea, a perfect excuse to get everyone together. I hope so, I mean it only really matters that he is having fun. Yes, a record store, it is going to be fun. Mark is a little Mitchell, Ian is following him everywhere, and Meghan is definitely my daughter. How's everything with you?"

"I thought so too. We're hoping to make it annual, you know? Something to look forward to every year. Who knows, maybe we'll even start adding a theme. Well, beyond the 'winter wonderland' of it all. A record store, of course. That sounds just perfect for you two. Oh, they all sound like they're getting on wonderfully," Felicity smiled. Sometimes she felt like she blinked and suddenly she and Joseph had four kids. "Everything is great, thank you. For us, it's Ava that's a mini Joseph and her and Benjy are the best of friends. Elena and Ava are a little more difficult, but we'll get there. I think we're all very much looking forward to the holidays."

At Felicity's sudden presence, Stella froze. The two of them had crossed paths before, of course–Havensdale Valley wasn't very big, especially if you removed the forests–but never had they spoke more than an 'excuse me' to each other as they reached for something in a store. "Fine." Her one word verged on sounding like a question. Had she even realised it was her she was speaking to? "Thanks... It's, uh... real swell to be here. The ice sculptures are certainly a bold choice."

Felicity had been on autopilot when she'd started speaking to her. She had 'hi-how are you-you look wonderful'd' almost everyone in the room tonight without thinking, without even looking up. She should have looked up. Felicity wasn't proud of it, but she'd researched Stella Belhaven, now McArthur. The Southern Belle with the big, bright career settling down in a small town and raising a family. The perfect family. With her... "No, thank you. We- Joseph and I- are so glad the whole town could come, near enough. Go big or go home, right? Do you- you need anything?"

Joseph spotted the narrowing of his wife's eyes before she had even uttered a word and was already making his way across the room to her, intent on stopping a murder, but someone else got to her first. "Yes, we're so happy you could be here. So sorry, do you mind if I steal my wife for a moment?" He had appeared behind her, hands on either side of her waist as he navigated her to a quieter corner of the room. "How are we doing?"

Joseph swooped in like the white knight he had always been, rescuing her from a minor meltdown. Felicity needed to be removed from Andrea's eye line so she could compose herself again. She looked over at her husband and let out a little laugh. "I'm coping, mostly. Do you think it's going well? It seems like it's going well. I just... Want it to go well," she sighed, resting her head briefly on his shoulder. "How are you, hon?"

Duke's eyes had been locked on Andy too, his lips pressed into a tight line as he tried not to laugh at the prospect of her knocking over one of the sculptures. Surely, she wouldn't, but a tiny part of him was hoping to see it. Suddenly being made aware that Felicity herself was beside him, he let the grin spread across his face. "Felicity, this is incredible!" He exclaimed, raising his glass to her. "Wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm doing astonishingly well on only a few hours of sleep a night. How are you? Andy keeping your blood pressure up?"

"Oh, thank you. That's so kind of you to say, Duke," Felicity smiled back, feeling herself relax the tiniest amount. Duke Callaghan was a perfect gentleman and such a sweetheart, Felicity just adored him. And perhaps she saw a little of herself there, too. Young, and in love, and trying to raise a family before you planned on being ready. "Of course, you are. How is the little darling? I swear it gets better, but I don't think we'll really get a good night's sleep for another forty years. I'm very well, thank you. Not counting Andrea and her unwanted shenanigans, of course. My fault, I did ask her home for the holidays."

"you have unprecedented levels of got this" odette would always root for her friends, if she had to be a one woman hype person then so be it. after tonight and what felicity pulled off, there was nothing for felicity to worry about. "i don't know, they say siblings and twins can either be co-dependant or can't get far away enough from one another, i'll be interested to see how that plays out. the girls are good, it's funny to see their little personalities form. they're with my parents for the evening. how are your lovely lot?"

"you're always too kind, odette. thank you," she added with a smile. felicity saw a future for herself in this town and it relied heavily on the close friendships she'd developed with people like the valentines. she so admired odette's poise, talent and success. "oh, that is very true. i'm hoping for something in the middle for mine, if we're lucky. elena and ava are already pushing each other's buttons... i'm sure isabel and quinn will be the very best of friends and sisters. wonderful! their grandparents will love having them. they're so well, thank you. elena and benjy are angels, thankfully. they are all in the other room with the sitters, i'll be through to check on them again soon."

"you're a darling for your kind words. remind me to drop in some pastries for you and the family" she smiled warmly. claire thought the party was perfect, she wasn't sure of another thing that could be added to make it better but she was sure that felicity will have thought of something and everything at the same time. "i'd love a drink, lets go celebrate your success"

"that would be divine, thank you claire. i'm so pleased for you and the bakery, that is such exciting news. we'll have to have you and chuck over for dinner after the holidays, too. yes, let's," she breathed at last, looping their arms and leading them over to the bar. felicity thought it was all going rather well, so far (touch wood). "do you have any plans for over the holidays?"

"That's better," Robbie smiled, finally calming down now that they had goss to toss. "It's been mental, Faye. Mental. There's just so much going on and I can hardly keep track, and you know that alone is killing me slowly. But yeah, no, she should be fine. My sword's devalued, but she should be fine." He made no attempt at hiding how bitter he was at that. "Sure," Robbie guessed by how late he'd been, but his eyes were automatically drawn to the door as Isabel stepped through it, and his breath was yet again unfairly taken by her. He'd already seen her in that dress, blonde. Why was it still affecting his very core? "Yeah..." he continued, snapping back to his present engagement - eyes catching his own enthralled reflection in those insane sunglasses. "Anyway," he cleared his throat, "what have you been up to?"

There had been so much gossip lately, Faye could hardly contain it all in her head without something spilling out. Robbie was talking and she was listening (she was!), but in the back of her head she could hear Isabel say 'best night of my life'. Looking at him now she was just so, like, fascinated. Did Faye have a crush on Robbie when she was a little kid? Sure, but that ended the second he threw mud at her. Literal, major, ick. But now? What had he done to Isabel? "You love being in the loop, I know. Have you been keeping notes? I feel like we need to be keeping notes or Jamie has to do a sub-podcast dedicated to Havensdale goss. Your poor sword," she added, rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. She was about to say something else when Robbie was instantly distracted. Her brow furrowed as she followed his gaze, but then it all made sense. Isabel Valentine had entered the building. "Oh my gosh, hello blonde!" Faye grinned. Robbie was so not subtle, right? She barely held back a giggle when he returned to the planet to feign interest in anything else that wasn't Isabel. "Oh, this and that. Nothing as exciting as you guys, not even close."

"No, probably not anymore. Still a nice town, the whole barrier trapping us all here is a negative mark for sure." Sabrina smiled at Faye; the girl reminded her of one of her sisters. "Sorry, I don't know about a curfew, still getting familiar with everything. Am I supposed to be inside right now?" She nodded her head. "You too, Faye. All over, I have traveled the world. But I am from Bordeaux, France. Is Havensdale your home?"

"Oh, totally! I swear, Havensdale used to be so normal. Right, of course you don't. No, no, don't worry. You're basically completely safe during the day, it's just like, at night things can get hairy if you're outside. For humans, anyways. Like me. You get on way better if you have like, teeth or claws, or wings." Faye listened to her intently, pressing a hand over her heart at her answer. She could only imagine what it was like to have traveled the world! Like, really traveled. Not just New Haven or the Hamptons. "That's so cool. I think I'd give anything at this point to go anywhere else but here. Oh! My grandma, Esmé, lives in France. Yeah, I've lived here all my life."

"Oh hey now, it's His Eminence Wilson to you." He instinctively pulled Faye in for a hug but - oh no - did she know? Did Jesse tell her? Did Isabel? He stopped short of a hug, holding onto her shoulders with hardly an arms length between them while he frantically searched her face for the answer. All he could find, however, was his own reflection in her stupidly enormous glasses, and he was promptly and physically taken aback by just how much he looked like he was about to shit himself. "Woah," he uttered, saving face by giving Faye a friendly pat on the back before shifting gears and playing it cool. "Did you hear about Jamie? Wild stuff, huh? Crazy."

"Oh, okay. Your Eminence," Faye laughed, scrunching her nose as Robbie stood holding onto her shoulders. She patted him on his own shoulders as he sort of returned the hug. She had literally never been more grateful to be wearing sunglasses because her face was giving it all away. Faye didn't know if her eyes would ever not look like saucers when she looked at Robbie now. "Oh my god, yeah. Absolutely unhinged behaviour, right? And I mean, really, what kind of an operation are they running down there? I so look forward to the day that she's out of med bay." Faye missed her roommate, a lot. "Is everyone here already?"

quinn wasn't sure what almost sent her flying off her chair. was it the ordeal of the evening she went through? the influx of information? the volume of fayes voice that pierced her eardrums? who isabel happened to spend her night with? the last one certainly sent quinns jaw to the floor. she was stunned into silence. never in all her days did she think this conversation was going to unfold in front of her the night after the town tried to cave in on itself. quinn looked at isabel, to faye, to isabel again and she still couldn't get it registering in her brain. once her brain finally managed to catch up with the conversation, she nodded in agreement with faye "izzy...i think you should tell him. the guilt would eat at you if you tried to ignore it. you're better than that. imagine how you'd feel if he had done that to you." @i-sabelvalentine

Isabel cringed when Faye exclaimed Robbie's full name and looked around them as if there was anyone that would be nearby that could possibly have heard her. The embarrassment of telling her best friends alone was enough to send her into an early grave; she didn't need the whole town knowing! "Yes, that Robbie." She confirmed, desperately trying not to hide behind her hands again. Upon hearing what Faye had to say, and that Quinn was backing her up on it, Isabel's head shook. "How am I supposed to tell him? No one–least of all Joey–needs to know that the best night of my life was spent with one of the biggest nerds in Havensdale Valley!" Her brain didn't even process what she had admitted to, when Quinn asked that.

"Wait... Hold on, can we back up for just a second? Did you just say 'the best night of your life'!? As in the best night of your life? Your life?" Faye could hardly catch her breath she was so shocked by all this information! Never in her life had she expected Isabel Valentine to spend the best night of her life with Robbie Wilson (Jr.). She simply could not compute what was going on here! Was it just... what? Some fluke? Did she like him? Isabel had never really liked Robbie. At least, not in high school. Faye was about to pick her jaw up off the floor when she realised what Isabel had asked Quinn.

Benjy heard his baby sister. He turned around, smiling at her. They had just seen each other at the McArthurs but it was always nice to see one of his sisters. "I did, I just thought about it when I got out of the car. Thank you, Faye."

"You're so welcome! I know I would be, like, totally lost without mine. How else could you roll your eyes at mom without her seeing? Kidding," she added with a grin. This was a pretty big deal, you know? Benjy out and about.

@havensdalestarters

"Benjy!" Faye shouted after him, having missed him leaving the McArthurs like, 10 minutes ago. If he hit a crowd, she'd never manage to pull him back out. Everyone had always wanted a piece of her brother. He was the best and everyone loved him. Thankfully, she landed by his side before Mrs Fitzherbert could catch up with him.

After checking on the kids in the Montgomery's makeshift nursery for what seemed like the hundredth time–thanks to three year old Jesse being an absolute terror to their youngest kid–Ethan finally returned to the ballroom and scanned the room for Stella. What the hell was he doing here? It might have been a town-wide event, but that didn't mean he was obligated to be here.

Felicity knew that this was the true test of the night for her, the final hurdle for her to leap over. She had to put her past to bed. Hating Ethan McArthur had to become second nature to her. Better yet, she should nothing him. Their families were going to grow up in this town together but that didn't mean they ever had to be together. One event a year, hosted by the Montgomerys, and that was it. She could do that, couldn't she? Her heart was in her shoes when she looked at him and she hated herself for that. Ethan McArthur... he was never going to be hers again.

Having arrived fashionably late to his own birthday party / 4th July celebrations at Sal's as one so often does, Robbie's mission was now twofold; pretend to be unbothered by the existence of Isabel Valentine for the rest of the day, and avoid Joey Salvatore at all costs, forever. Easy as pie. Speaking of, "I'm starving," he announced before practically lunging at the party food, adding a third layer to his mission involving fistfuls of beige food. "God bless America. God bless Sal."

Faye was super excited for Robbie's unofficial birthday party (not just because she was actually invited to this one, thank you very much, Leila Lexington). She was also totally freaking out about keeping her cool around him. Acting like she didn't know what she knew about him... and Isabel. Oh my god, even just thinking it she was gob smacked! Quickly adjusting her expression and her sunglasses, she finally made a beeline towards him and all Sal's gross food. "Happy birthday, Mister Wilson!"