"Morning, honey...sleep hard?"
"Uh...yeah?" I said, quirking a brow. "Why? Did you?"
"I slept well, thank you..but I think you slept really, really well." He chuckled when I still didn't get it. "Your chin. Wipe it, please."
Wipe my...chin? Why did I -
I wiped cautiously at my chin, and my hand came back wet.
"Oh my gosh!" I gasped. "Was I seriously drooling? Oh gosh...I..ew. Wow..um..." I glanced around, horrified, before I wiped my hand on the hem of my skirt. "Sorry!"
"No harm done to me," he laughed.
"Yeah...well, that's really attractive..." I grumbled to myself, embarrassed. How could I get so embarrassed about drool? Apparently, I could. I started to sit, but he caught my arm and pulled me close.
"Oh, c'mon. Everyone drools once in awhile. Besides, you looked cute as all getout, sleeping so hard, drool or no drool."
"You're just disgusting," I grumbled, rolling my eyes and sitting up, trying to decide if I should be disgusted or laugh.
He gave me a wink before he sat and grabbed me into a kiss. It surprised me, and when he pulled away, I gave him a wide-eyed stare for a few moments before saying, "After seeing someone drooling, I don't think my first reaction would be to kiss them..but that's just me."
Laughing, he gave me a quick hug before I heard Hallie start to cry.
"Uh-oh...duty calls!" I grinned and crawled out from under the bench.
I scooped her up, and surveyed the quietness surrounding us like a thick blanket.
Everyone was still asleep. Merida's curls were strewn all across her face, and Blondie was wrapped up in her hair. Rayne was curled up on her side. Jase and Alexis were sleeping hard, and Allie was even still asleep.
"Wow," I whispered, and Flynn nodded. I bounced Hallie in my arms until she quieted, and then we just sat quietly.
Until Tangled Fan came bursting through the door and woke EVERYONE up by haphazardly tossing an oblong box onto her bed and then rushing back out, shutting the door relatively hard.
"What in the-" Merida growled, jumping up.
Blondie got up, too, but she was still wrapped up in her hair, so when she took a step, she stumbled towards the edge of the dresser. Flynn ran over and grabbed her, unwrapping the hair from around her so she wouldn't fall. And then there was Rayne. Rayne slowly unfurled her legs, then peeled one eye open; then the next, then she yawned and sat up, almost as if she were a robot or something. The girls came racing over to me, and Allie started crying.
"What IS that box?" Merida asked, boldly stepping to the edge of the dresser to peer down at it. She bobbled terribly as she leaned towards the edge, and I snagged her elbow to keep her from falling.
The box gave a few muffled thumps, and jostled slightly.
What in the WORLD?!
"What IS that?" I gasped, shocked. I backpedaled, dragging Merida backwards with me and hoping I didn't bowl any of the girls over.
Merida pulled away from me. I stumbled over my own hair, and rammed into Flynn by accident.
"Oof! Sorry, hon!" I exclaimed, looking up at him. His eyes were about as wide as mine probably were, and he only looked at me for a moment before he resumed staring at the box.
"Rapunzel, I bet'cha I know why Tangled Fan's been on eBay so much! C'mon, everyone."
"Why?" I pressed up against Flynn. I admit, I was terrified of whatever had made that box move and make noise. I didn't even want to know.
"Quit bein' so lily-livered an' help me out!" Merida told me, gesturing towards the bed.
I clutched at Flynn's hand. "M-maybe I should stay here and watch the..the girls?"
"Naw. Blondie!" Merida called to Blondie, and she looked up at her. "Watch the kiddos while we do this?"
"Sure, my arms are useless anyhow, cause they won't bend." Blondie said.
"Thanks. Rayne, c'mon!" Merida called.
I tried to back up another step, my heart thundering, but I couldn't, and Flynn wouldn't budge. Finally, Merida, giving a grumble under her breath, grabbed my arm and hauled us BOTH over to the edge.
Flynn finally came to his senses by the time he and everyone else had descended the dresser. He held his hands out to me. "Jump, I'll catch you. Then you won't have to crawl through the pillows."
"N-n-no, t-that's fine," I stuttered out, and he nodded silently towards the boxes.
"Come on...jump!" he gave me that grin. "I'm nervous too, if that helps any."
"No, actually..it doesn't," I grumbled, but I did jump.
He caught me, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before setting me down. Then he took me by the hand and half dragged me over to the box, where everyone else was gathered.
The box was extremely well-taped, so we all grabbed a corner ot the tape and started ripping at it until we got it off enough that we could pull the flaps open.
I squeezed my eyes shut when I helped yank the flaps up, and I must admit that I was terrified.
I opened them again to see everyone ducking to see what was in the box.
Merida reached in, and I saw a hand come out. Rayne grabbed the other hand and they started pulling with all their might; so Flynn gestured towards the other side of the box, and I hurried over to help him. I clasped a cold, plastic hand about the same size as mine, and with a grunt, I started pulling as hard as I could. Praying I didn't yank the hand right out of the wrist joint, that is!
They were dolls, apparently. And they were very well crammed into the box, surrounded by packing material.
With one last yank, Merida and Rayne managed to pull the one doll out, and once she was out, the other one - the one we were pulling on - came out so quickly that we all almost fell down.
Flynn let go of her hand and backpedaled a few steps, managing to catch himself, but I fell flat on my back. The doll slid to a stop right on my lap.
I sat up and pulled my legs out from under her.
Another - no, TWO more Rapunzel dolls.
"Whew. Thank you sooooo much!" the doll laying beside me exclaimed. "Thank you to both of you!"
I stood, holding a hand out to her. She gladly accepted it, and I pulled her up onto her feet.
The other one was already standing, and she immediately ran to the other one and gave her an excited hug. The other one stayed stiff as a board.
"Sis! I'm sooo glad we're outta there!" She exclaimed.
I walked over to Flynn, and he put an arm around me.
We watched as the other girl gasped, pulled away from her sister, and dove back into the box.
When she came back out, she held two brushes, a paintbrush, and...was that a chameleon?...in her hands.
She handed the chameleon to her sister, and her sister lovingly allowed it to climb up onto her shoulder.
She smiled, and then she opened her mouth. And never shut it.
"I'm Rose, and my sister is Lacey. Oh, and this is my chameleon, Pascal! Who are all of you? I'm sooo thankful to be out of that box! It was hard to breathe in there. Oh, Lacey tends to be really quiet, so don't mind her." Rose chattered.
We all murmered our names and welcomes, and Rose gave us all a broad smile.
Lacey hung back close to her sister, peering awkwardly at us.
"So...where do we live at? Like..you know...where we're displayed at?" Rose asked.
"Right over here." Rayne said with a warm smile, leading the way.
I hung back with Flynn, but Lacey hung back behind us.
Flynn helped me up, and then I held a hand out to Lacey.
She gave me a small smile, but wouldn't meet my eyes. She accepted my help, and climbed up onto the dresser.
"Wow, this is a great place! Look at this, Lacey!"
I turned to look at Rose, and saw she was on TOP of the bench.
How had she gotten up there? I stared at her, wide-eyed.
Lacey shook her head, and Rose rolled her eyes.
The girls were up by now, and so I walked over to pick Hallie up.
Alexis saw Rose and Lacey and immediately clung to my skirt.
I knelt beside her and pulled her up into my lap. "It's alright, sweetheart. They're nice." I kissed her hair and she cuddled up against me, burying her face into me. I sat there, Hallie in one arm and Alexis in the other, until Alexis felt confident enough to move.
Jase was already playing with Blondie.
Rose walked over to me, and Alexis hurried off to find Jase.
"Oh, these three are yours?"
I smiled and stood. "Yup...the redhead is Alexis, the brunette is Jase, and this little one is Hallie."
"May I hold her?" Rose asked, holding her hands out and giving me a smile.
"Sure," I handed Hallie to her and she gave her a huge grin.
"They're all so adorable!" She exclaimed. She gave her a cuddle before handing her back to me.
"So...this is where ALL of you stay?"
"Yeah...it gets interesting once in awhile, but it's nice." I explained.
"Where can we sleep at? I don't want to invade everyone else's sleep spots."
I explained where we all slept at, and she nodded, looking around.
"Well, I suppose I'll sleep on top of that bench there...it's pretty cool. Lacey can find somewhere to sleep...she'll probably never climb up on top of it."
"Ahh," I nodded.
"How long have you been married to your husband - what's his name again?"
"Flynn," I smiled. "We've been for two months - we got married on July 4th."
"Aw...cool!" She grinned. "He's lucky to have you. You're so sweet - and pretty!"
"Oh...I dunno." I felt my face heat up.
"I know," Flynn strode over and gave me a hug from behind.
I laughed and pulled away from him, self-concious. Rose grinned at our antics, and Lacey watched from a safe distance.
That's basically how the day went.
Rose stuck to my side, chattering nearly incessantly. Lacey kept at a safe distance, and so did Alexis. The rest of us just went about our normal routine - or about as normal as we could.
By evening, I thought my ears were going to fall off, from hearing and replying to Rose's chatter.
And I knew it was bugging Flynn that he couldn't be around me as much as he was used to...because we didn't really feel comfortable around the two new girls.
Finally, when Rose had taken a quick breather from chatting, I hurried over to Flynn, who was sitting on the wicker chair.
I leaned over the back and whispered. "Hey...you wanna go for a little walk?"
He gave me a relieved smile. "Sure, baby."
I concealed a smile and then I walked over to Merida. "Mind if you watch the girls for us for a bit?"
"I can't blame ye. Sure, I can watch 'em." She whispered the first part.
"Thanks so much," I grinned and turned back to Flynn.
We hurried off of the dresser, and as soon as we hit the floor, Flynn took me by the hands. "I thought you would never ask."
I laughed, but then he grabbed me into a passionate kiss.
When he pulled away, I took a deep breath and willed my heart to stop thundering.
"I've been holding that in all day." He gave me a wink, and I rolled my eyes.
I put my arms around him, and he pulled me close in return. "How're you holding up? Rose really took a shine to you."
"Yeah...she's very, ah...talkative." I mumbled, pressing my face against his shoulder.
He chuckled. "That she is...that she is. And Lacey's so shy."
"Yeah. Alexis is really shy about it, too...we'll have to make sure to give her plenty of one-on-one time, so she doesn't feel left out or anything. We've come so far already; we can't let her go now."
He kissed my hair and then pulled away to cup my face in his hands.
"Yup...we'll make sure to." he gave me that grin and I gave him a smile in return. "I love you."
"Love you too," I told him, and he pulled me close once more.
We stayed that way, in complete and utter, beautiful silence, until we finally decided to go back to the dresser, put the kids to bed, and go to bed ourselves.
Well, it's going to be interesting to see how tomorrow goes! Rose is surely the talkative one....and Lacey's a polar opposite! Hopefully, Alexis will start feeling more comfortable..I hate seeing her so uncomfortable in her own home!
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