Chapter Text
"Happy 28th birthday little sis!" Carmen cheered and ran over to the pair, hoisting Evelyn up and twirling. Evelyn just laughed and encircled her arms and shoulder around her neck as she started to slow down. They stayed like that for a while, Carmen swaying slightly while Evelyn sat contently in her big sister's arms.
“Cute slippers, by the way.” Carmen whispered into Evelyn’s ear and set her down into the floor. Evelyn beamed at her before retreating to Paige to hold her hand again.
“Are you hungry Evs?”
“Starving! What're we having?” Evelyn sighed dramatically as Paige lifted her by her midriff onto one of the kitchen countertops.
“Whatever you want, it’s your special day after all.”
“Thennnnn I want chocolate chip pancakes. With tons of chocolate and syrup!” Evelyn bounced, Paige’s hands on her waist making her feel safe.
“Whatever you please, birthday girl.”
It didn't take long for Paige to whip out a couple of stacks of flapjacks. After all, she grew up on the East Coast where they were certainly not hard to find.
Paige took out a few plates to take to the table. “Hey Carm, would you tell your parents that it’s time to eat?”
“Yeah, sure.” Carmen hummed and walked off to find them.
She came back a few minutes later and peered into the refrigerator. “Okay cupcake, what would you like to drink?”
“Chocolate milk!”
“Not today babe, you’re having enough sugar as it is.” Paige interrupted as Carmen chuckled and pulled out the regular milk, setting it on the counter behind her. “We’re having a cake and other sweets later too, remember?” She reminded as she pulled out an assortment of syrups and brought them to the set table.
Evelyn huffed but decided not to fight Paige on it anymore. She quickly forgot about it though when she saw the enormous pile of presents in the other room. She couldn’t help a chirp of happiness and ran over to take a peek.
She heard someone tsk behind her and she whipped her head around to see her mother and father sitting on the sofa adjacent to the coffee table. Her mother looked disapprovingly at the presents piled high before she and her husband moved to the dining room.
Evelyn gulped but followed them, taking her seat at the head of the table.
Paige and Carmen emerged a few minutes later, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Paige set a plate piled high with pancakes in front of Evelyn and poured a decent amount of syrup on them. She then served everyone else. Liam, Paige, and Lauren had blueberry, while Carmen and Evelyn had chocolate chip.
Evelyn frowned a bit when she saw the small serving of bananas on her plate, thinking nothing of it she ate them first and washed them down with milk. Happy that the worst part was over she stabbed a piece of pancake and brought it up to her mouth.
“I must warn all of you that the pancakes are very h-” Paige didn’t even get to finish her sentence as Evelyn yelped in pain and grabbed her milk glass and proceeded to chug the contents, a few drops trickling down her chin in the process.
“Hot.” Paige sighed as she wiped a few stray drops from the sides of Evelyn’s mouth with her sleeve.
“Gee, thanks for the heads up.” Evelyn snarked sarcastically and glared at Carmen who was laughing loudly before exaggerating a long blow on her next bite.
Their breakfast consisted of light chatter and when they were done Paige and Carmen cleared the table while Evelyn sat with her parents awkwardly.
“So, Thanksgiving is in a few weeks. Do you have any idea whose turn it is to host this year?” Evelyn asked her parents in order to break the stillness between them.
“Well, since it was at your uncle's house last year, that means it’s our turn this year.” Lauren said, looking bored as she surveyed the room.
Evelyn paled slightly but shook it off and forced a smile. “Wonderful, can't wait to see the rest of the family and go back to our house.” While she was forcing a happy face on the outside, inside she was panicking.
“Fuck fuck fuck! The one year out of 10 that it would be their turn I start having these bedwetting problems again? This just isn’t fair. Mother probably thinks I grew out of it a long time ago. She probably-scratch that, definitely would be disgusted if her 28-year-old daughter still wet the bed at night like some child!” Evelyn felt hot tears form in her eyes and quickly excused herself, making something up about getting her phone before rushing to the kitchen to find Paige.
When she found her she stuffed her face into her back and sobbed silently into the blonde’s shirt. Paige looked over at Carmen, surprised. Carmen just shrugged her shoulders.
Paige slowly turned around and pulled Evelyn’s face into her hands. “Sweetheart, why're you crying?” Paige asked, concerned as to why Evelyn held a hand over her mouth to hold in her sobs and hiccups. When the smaller woman didn't answer she sighed and lifted Evelyn into her arms, cradling her against her chest as she walked towards the entryway.
“They're g-gonna know.” Evelyn sniffled as she stuffed a thumb in her mouth and continued crying softly.
Paige sat at the bottom of the staircase and stared at the girl in her arms. “Going to know what, baby?”
"It’s their t-turn to host Thanksgiving this year.” Evelyn sniffled and rubbed her eyes. “My mama can sniff out a secret from a mile away.”
Paige sat thinking for a minute before realizing Evelyn’s claim. “Oh, that's what your pretty little mind’s upset about?” She put the pieces together and stood up again, slowly swaying back to the kitchen. “Are you scared that your mother is going to find out that you wet the bed sometimes?”
Evelyn nodded and buried her face into Paige’s neck. Paige just chuckled lightly and gently pulled the digit out of Evelyn's mouth, holding her hand as she set her on the countertop next to Carmen.
“We’ll get to that when the time comes. For now, let's focus on all your presents!” Paige bounced on her toes a bit and smiled widely, hoping Evelyn would copy her.
Evelyn did just that and wiped her eyes one last time before hopping down and rushing to the living room where all her presents sat just begging to be opened.
Evelyn didn't realize that her parents were even in the room as she saw all the pretty presents just waiting to be unwrapped. She only turned around at the sound of a cough from behind her. Seeing Lauren staring she blushed and plopped down on the carpet.
“Did you find your phone? You were gone for quite some time.” Liam asked as he moved closer to Evelyn and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Yeah, it was just hiding in my purse.” Evelyn held her phone up for added effect “Thanks for asking Dad.”
“Okay, let's start this!” Carmen cheered as she entered the room with a glass of wine in hand.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit too early for wine Carrie?” Evelyn giggled as she was handed a glass.
“Nah, it’s never too early.” Carmen snickered and took a sip of her own, glancing at their parents. “Do you two want any?”
“No dear, thanks though.” Lauren replied and took a chaste sip of her coffee.
“Which should I open first?” Evelyn puzzled as she looked at all the options, quickly spotting the Golden Goose shoebox and gasping in excitement. “Oh Paige, you shouldn’t have!”
“I just didn’t want you begging me for them every minute of every day.” Paige smiled as Evelyn beamed at her.
It took Evelyn about an hour to open everything. She got shoes and clothes galore, tons of accessories including many different pairs of sunglasses and a few older-looking books from her parents. She loved everything and hugged everyone as soon as she was done.
"We should all go watch a movie as a family now! What do you think guys?" Carmen suggested and grinned when Lauren and Liam looked at each other and shook their heads yes.
They all headed over to the in-home theater right off the side of the living room. They all sat in different rows of the large screening room. Lauren and Liam sat in the front two seats, and Evelyn sat in the row behind them with Paige and Carmen on either side of her.
"What does everyone want to watch?" Paige asked as she went to the back of the room where the computer system was.
"How about that Grinch movie that came out a while ago? I haven't seen that yet." Carmen asked and gave herself an internal high-five when Evelyn's face lit up.
"Mother, Father?" Evelyn pleaded.
"Fine by us, we haven't had the chance to see it either." Liam hummed as his wife just rolled her eyes.
Paige smiled knowing that this was one of Evelyn's favorite movies at the moment. She happily navigated to Netflix and clicked on it. Then she dimmed the lights and sat back in one of the comfy white reclining leather chairs.
She glanced over and saw Evelyn covering up a yawn with her hand. It was nearing the time the girl usually napped on days she didn't have work so Paige doubted that she would even make it to the middle of the movie.
“Would anyone like some popcorn?” Paige asked.
Everyone shook their heads yes except Evelyn who didn’t care for popcorn.
Paige poured the kernels onto the tray of the popcorn machine and waited a couple of minutes before she scooped the steaming popcorn into little containers and handed them out to everyone in the room.
“If you want more just go to the back, there's tons so help yourselves.”
At that point, Evelyn was struggling to keep her eyes open. The brunette would nod off every couple of seconds before jerking up and trying to watch the movie. Although adorable, Paige knew that it wouldn’t last much longer.
She leaned over and stroked her cheek. “Evelyn, sweetheart, just go to sleep. You've seen this movie already.”
“Not sleepy.” Evelyn replied, bringing her knees to her chest and nibbling the tip of her thumb.
Paige sighed and let the girl be, deciding that if she was tired she would eventually go to sleep herself.
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About half an hour later Paige saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over she saw Evelyn crawling over the armrest to sit in Carmen's lap. The older woman helped the girl by scooching up a bit and guiding the brunette’s head to rest on her shoulder. Evelyn then wrapped her legs behind her and stuck her thumb in her mouth before settling completely. Within minutes, her breathing slowed and she was asleep.
Paige leaned over to whisper to Carmen. “Mind taking her thumb out of her mouth for me?”
“Sure.” Carmen chuckled and popped the brunette's thumb out of her mouth, refocusing on the movie. Paige smiled and moved back to her original seat.