The Ink Family Legacy: Generation 5, Chapter 7 Part 2
Here's the part where the graphics will start to vary in quality. I shoot scenes out of order, and times like this make it glaringly obvious. |D
| Part One |
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Kira had officially moved into 'beached whale' status late into her eighth month of pregnancy. She was more than ready to be done with this one and see her baby already...
"Uh...uh oh. That's not a good twinge, is it?"
"Shit, shit, shit! Definitely not!! ABEL!!"
And some twenty hours later, Kira and Abel brought home twin baby girls! Looks like Abel was right about the multiples thing after all.
They named the first born and tinier of the girls September...
...and her livelier twin was named Sophia!
Both girls received a very odd looking doll from a distant Ink relative - someone who said their great grandmother's name was Eva or something. The dolls were kind of cute in a weird way, so they got to stay.
The two parents couldn't be happier, even if this meant that much less sleep for them.
Three children under three would definitely be a challenge, but they were ready.
And the three of them even had the same sleep schedule! Excellent.
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Lyle was used to Amy being off on her own, staring into the distance and humming. It was never hard to find her, really - she liked being in places where she could see everything. Until she heard him approaching, she was swinging so high that she could probably see all of Riverview.
"Practice over?" Amy inquired without turning around.
"Yeah. Coach got on my ass about not matching last season's time...again." Lyle chuckled.
Amélie laughed along. "Oh, well I'm sure it'll be fine. You're the fastest kid on the team anyway."
"Not nearly as fast as you. God, how do you even get that fast? That's like, Olympic times, and you look like you're not even trying."
Amy simply smiled, derailing Lyle's chain of thought.
"Ah, er, not that I think you're slacking or anything." Lyle babbled. "I just the word I'm looking for is effortless?"
Amélie laughed again, twisting in her seat.
"Well, it's true that a lot of things just come naturally to me."
Lyle knew this well. Ever since he became friends with her when she moved to Riverview, Amy was the portrait of ease. Academics and athletics were second nature to her, and of course she just blossomed into a beauty without the awkwardness he had gone through in middle school. If she wasn't so socially inept, she'd easily be queen of the school.
Ah, but speaking of queens...
"So, uh, Ames. You know, prom is coming up."
"Oh, is it? I guess it's about that time." Amy mused.
"Yeah - junior prom, can you believe it?"
"And, uh, I know that you're not really into the whole social scene and all. And that large gatherings of people make you anxious. But I was thinking...I mean, since I'll probably be at states around next year's prom..." Lyle hedged.
Amélie quirked an eyebrow, smiling knowingly. "Go on."
"Ugh, you're the worst kind of woman, you know that?" he groaned. "Here I am trying to ask you to prom and you're teasing me!"
"I'm nothing if not serious." Amy giggled. "Now come on, ask me properly."
"Fine, fine."
"I, Lyle Bloom, am officially asking you, Amélie Ink, to be my date for junior prom. That official enough?"
Amy grinned. "That was lovely. And yes, I'll go with you. Perhaps I'll even tolerate the crowd for more than an hour!"
The sunset light glinted off of Amy's teeth in an odd way. It may have been Lyle's imagination, but he could've sworn he saw an edge to her teeth that hadn't been there before. It sent a thrill of unnerving through his already erratic heartbeat.
But, as usual, he ignored it. Being mysterious was part of Amy's charm.
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Baby care. It never ends.
Well, that wasn't quite true. Kira was astonished at how fast time seemed to be passing. The girls were already close to a year old, growing more aware of their surroundings every day. They tugged at her hair with coordinated motions, and their little faces would light up when she spoke to them. Before long they'd be crawling around like their brother!
Although, she sighed as she tended to Sophia, Jude wasn't a crawler anymore. He was walking and talking. Kira never knew that becoming a mother came with all these mushy emotions! All she wanted to do was curl up with her babies and dream about when they were smaller yet.
But time marches on, and Kira couldn't be more thankful for that property.
"It's time for breakfast, Jude-bug." she said softly.
Jude sleepily picked his head up from her chest, having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Morning Mama?"
"That's right! We're going to see Uncle Seth, remember? Aunt Diana just had her baby!"
He perked up with that. "Baby?"
"Yep! A new cousin for you. It's nice to have a big family that loves you, hmm?"
"Yup! And I loves them too~" Jude cooed. "I love Mama and Daddy and Amy and Sophie and Temmy and everyone!"
Yeah, she would live her life over a million times just to experience these moments again. She had hear a hundred 'I love you's for every instance of worthlessness she felt.
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"I never went to prom Amy, and I always regretted it. But c'mon - Riverview prom is guaranteed to be ten times better than the grind-fest that was my senior prom." Kira encouraged.
"I know I should go..." Amy sighed. "But...people. People everywhere. Kira, you know how I can't be around most people."
Kira rolled her eyes - she knew that one quite well. She never felt more like a mother than the years where she had to drag her preteen sister-in-law to school everyday.
"Look, Lyle won't let anyone bother you, okay? And you could literally be home in a minute if you ran, even in those heels Row bought you. Just think of it as a life experience, okay? You're only sixteen once you know."
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that one." Amy conceded. "Alright big sis - let's get me into that dress so I can venture into the den of adolescent iniquity."
"That's the spirit!"
Meanwhile, downstairs, Lyle wondered how he always ended up sitting awkwardly next to the immensely intimidating older brother of his date.
"So...um...I'll have her home by eleven like I promised?" Lyle squeaked, his voice going up at the end.
"That's a given, of course." Abel replied, slightly bemused.
"Just remember."
"R-remember what?"
"I. Am. Always. Watching."
Oh god, why did he even bother? Why? It was just like Amy's twelfth birthday when he brought her flowers and all three brothers were there and he still had nightmares and -
"Are you guys done bonding?" Kira joked. "'Cause I've got one Amélie in ankle breaking heels ready for pictures."
"C'mon Amy! You gotta smile at the camera at least!"
Amy fidgeted shyly and murmured, "I'm not so good with photos."
Kira waved off her complaints as she fiddled with the digital camera settings. "Shush. I need a decent picture to remember what a kickass job I did with your hair. Plus, any pictures you take at the actual prom photobooth are going to be cheesy and posed."
"Alright, you two ready?" Kira called.
Abel smirked, folding his arms. "Now that they've switched around five times, I hope they are. Limo can't wait forever!"
"Ok, 3, 2, 1 - !"
"Oh c'mon Ames! Eye contact!"
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Pictures and limo rides over, Amy and Lyle stepped into the magical world that is prom. Well, I suppose it was magical if your definition of 'magic' is 'loud pop music and awkward grinding' then yes. Magic.
It was no surprise at all to Lyle that Amy absconded early on, the mass of sweat and cologne too much for her. He joined soon after, the cool night air soothing his lungs.
And once again, Amy was up on a vantage point, overlooking as much of the land as she could. He wondered why she liked heights so much...
But it had been an hour, and he kind of wanted his date back.
"Oi, Amy!"
Amélie twisted around to face him. "Oh, hey Lyle."
"Were you planning on leaving me alone in there?"
"Oh, no, not at all!"
"I just needed a little fresh air."
"I don't think you ever planned on going back inside!" Lyle laughed.
"Well, no. I was going to get you to come out here, of course."
"Ah, but it seems like the time got away on me."
Lyle rolled his eyes. "I'll say. It's already ten!"
Amy blinked in shock - that much time already?! Not wanting to ditch her friend any longer, she slid down the slide as gracefully as one could in a prom dress.
She sat next to him on the cool grass, still fighting with the volume of her dress. She wanted something slimmer, but Sparrow insisted...
"I usually don't look at things from this angle." Amy mused.
"What, too low for you?" Lyle teased. "Princess Amélie has to be in her tower, huh?"
"Ha ha."
Alright. Alone time, check. Playful banter, check. Now all Lyle had to do was to be smooth as hell and just take her hand all confident like...
After startling a bit, Amy smiled. "Trying to get fresh with me?"
"Oh god Ames, who says 'fresh' anymore?"
"Heh heh, Abel always said that if any boy tried to 'get fresh' with me I was to tell him that this is not Bel-Air."
"Oh? Going to whistle for a cab now? Am I being too fresh?"
"Why yes, you are positively before your sell-by date. Market fresh, even."
"Okay, this word play thing is ruining the mood. Can we kinda just...cuddle, or something?"
"Would I be holding your hand back if I didn't want to?"
And so, a few early 90s references later, Lyle and Amélie settled into watching the stars.
The sounds of the party inside mostly muffled and winding down, the moment seemed a little surreal. Watching the stars instead of attending prom, huh? Amy wondered if anyone else did that.
Something about the night made Amy chatty, having her share things with Lyle that she might not ordinarily. Most of them were silly, tangential thoughts that he didn't quite understand but laughed at anyway.
"Honestly Amy. You and your brother complex."
"Hey, I was being serious! It would be nice if I could stay with my brother forever. That what I thought was going to happen when I was a kid."
Lyle chuckled and looked up at the sky. "Well, things change, right? Who needs forever? I think here and now is pretty rad."
Lyle was caught off guard when Amy suddenly detangled herself from his arms and stood up abruptly.
"Ames? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." she replied curtly.
"Okay, something's definitely wrong then."
"It's just...it's just not something you would get, Lyle." she murmured.
"Oh, don't start with this again. Really Amy? I thought we got past this. You had that time in middle school where you were furious and depressed over things you wouldn't explain and I let you have your space, but honestly, that time's over."
"It's not...I just...barely understand it myself, Lyle."
"I get lonely really easily, okay? I pretend like I'm over it, especially in front of them, but I'm not. And when someone starts breaking apart my 'forevers', I just get so..."
Amy barely had time to finish composing her thought before Lyle stormed up to her, spun her around and pressed his lips to hers insistently.
And for a moment, forever was hers.
But then her sense of time rooted itself in the present, where a nervous Lyle was holding her hands and babbling on about something she was barely comprehending.
"I'm sorry, Ames. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I know you're really into that 'forever' stuff. I guess since we're still kids, I'm always thinking about the present, you know? That's why I'm pretty impulsive, and why I'm no good at long term things."
"But, um, I really do like you. And I don't see that changing anytime soon. So I guess what I'm trying to say is...be my girlfriend?"
Amy was still so out of the loop that all she could manage was a blank stare and a dull "Oh. Uh."
Lyle's face fell, clearly hurt. That snapped Amélie out of her reverie, and she found herself reaching her arms out for him as he turned away.
"W-wait! Lyle, Lyle, please wait. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry." she mumbled again. "My brain is a mess. Sometimes I feel a little out of step with the world, you know? And it's too hard to keep up. It's moving too fast! But I do know that I like you. Let's be together."
Lyle sighed, his shoulders drooping as an indulgent smile crossed his face. "Alright, you silly girl who thinks too much."
"Not that I'd be able to stay mad at you long anyway." he noted, stroking a thumb across her tear-stained cheek. "I'm far too fond of you."
"Is that a bad thing?" Amy asked.
"No. Just means that I'm more susceptible to your usual games."
Prom was almost over. The music was down to a dull hum, and the crowd had long grown thin. Only a few cars were left in the lot now. Lyle and Amélie didn't seem to notice much, though.
"Lyle?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's say...you could be with me forever. Would you?"
"Well...right now I'm inclined to say yeah. Could be the post-prom high, but I'm thinking yeah."
Amélie fell silent for a bit, then whispered a quiet line.
"Forever is forever, you know."
--- --- --- --- ---
Because an ominous part ending is an Ink trademark by now, that's why! Like twins, apparently. What is it with the Inks and multiples? September and Sophia are our first set of girl twins, though. Coincidentally, Orion/Rigel was the only set of boy twins, and the rest were mixed gender! Crazy, huh?
Part Three beckons~
...speaking of things I manage to do before an EP comes along to make it easier, Finn and Star went to prom. |D