Shake, shake, shake it!

Eggnog is disgusting to begin with, I can only imagine how much worse it tastes spiked. When did you get old enough to drink, anyway? 

When it’s really, really, really spiked, you don’t even care. Tastes like rum with cream in it. --Let’s see... about fifty-two years ago. Just have a Christmas drink with me, big brother. 

Emily hadn’t spoken since she woke up; the doctor’s said it wasn’t unusual given what she saw and everything that transpired. After waking up from her sleep in a cold sweat, she left her room and went to her brother’s room. Softly, she knocked on his door and poked her head in. She went to his bed and climbed in, laying right next to him. For her entire life, he was the one place that she felt comfortable, no matter what was going on in her life. She had him and knew she could go to him. 

“Knock knock?” Elijah called out from the entrance to his younger sister’s bedroom, smiling sheepishly at his sibling. With the royal wedding, he’d been busier than normal, but with Alaska and her new husband off on their honeymoon, the chaos within the castle had somewhat died down, leaving Elijah with more free time, finally. So the first thing he’d done on the morning of his day off, was come find his sister, feeling bad for not having paid much attention to her in the last couple of weeks. “I’m here to beg for forgiveness for being a terrible older brother. Forgive me?”

Emily was laying on her bed, listening to her music when she noticed someone standing in the doorway. Due to having her headphones in--one of the only real possessions she had--she didn’t hear Eli approaching until she had a mini heart attack at the sight of someone in her doorway. Emily sat up and pushed the headphones down, around her neck and sighed. “You gave me a start,” she mumbled, clutching her chest. She cocked her eyebrow at him, confused about what in the world he was going on about. “I suppose we can come to some kind of middle ground, but of course, first you will need to jump through a few hoops and balance a ball on your nose like a seal.” Emily was really good at acting, and kept her face serious until she finally smiled at him, and pat the bed next to her. “I would like to see the seal part, though. Whatever are you talking about? You don’t have it in you to be a ‘terrible’ brother. You’re the best brother I have. Shh. Don’t tell the others.”

Eli went over and plopped into the seat beside his sister, shaking his head. “It’s not– I made sure no one was dying, then made me way over this way once I heard it was just wedding related. They probably ordered the wrong flowers, or something,” he mumbled, crossing his eyes at his sibling before taking a hearty bite of his sandwich, sighing contentedly, but soon groaned at the thought of another wedding happening in the near future. He wasn’t even sure if he’d survive this wedding. “I hope that’s not anytime soon. I can’t believe how fast this wedding is happening– they’ve only known each other, what? Two weeks? Probably only spoken a couple of words to each other.” He really never understood the politics of being a royal, even being so close to the Conroy family. “Want a bite?” he offered, holding his sandwich out to Emily.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it wasn’t a real catastrophe.” Emily smiled at her brother. “It is so crazy how much pressure is on this wedding, or anything this family does. I don’t know how they do it.” It was hard enough working for them, she couldn’t imagine being one of them. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about - neither Will, nor Phoebe seem to be in a rush. And I guess Alaska’s wedding is enough to keep everyone else at bay for now. --I know, what if he turns out to be a crazy person? She’s just supposed to stay married to him? What if they can’t stand each other? Their situation makes me very sad.” Emily sighed and glanced up when Eli offered her some of his sandwich. “When have I ever said ‘no’ to food?” She took the sandwich and pulled off a piece of it, before giving it back. “Mmm,” she mumbled as she began eating it.

As a bodyguard, Elijah didn’t often get moments to just relax, since protecting the Crown and its subjects was a fulltime job, that often meant he was working around the clock, only getting a couple of hours at a time to himself. So after grabbing a bite to eat, he headed towards the dining room, finding his sister in there, who’d apparently had the same idea. “Hey– it’s just me. There’s some crisis going on outside, so everyone’s out there. The castle’s actually quiet for the first time in days.”

Emily let out a breath she had been holding and smiled at her brother. There were times when it seemed like she didn’t get to see him at all, even though they were in the same place, but it just made her all the more appreciative when she did get to see him. “Really? I hope it’s nothing major. I’m not sure Izzy could handle anything big happening - she is at her wits end as it is.” Even though it sometimes felt so strange to call the family just by their names around the house, the Conroy’s were adamant about it. Emily pat the seat cushion next to her. “Just a little longer and the wedding will all be behind us, and we can go back to our normal chaos around here. Until Will and Phoebe set a date, anyway.”