Another Day in Waiting

During the weeks leading up to the visit, Arthur's feelings were attacked multiple times, with him suffering heavy losses. He didn't actually mind it at first, laughing with his loved ones, but that's when reality hit. It hit hard.

Corrin and Evelyne both acted cold towards him. He'd hear them laughing in another room and go to see what was so funny to them, but as soon as he entered they went silent and stared at him until he left. This gave more ammunition to backstabbing vultures that were constantly circling his head.

Granted, Arthur's current thoughts were taking Kate, Eli, and Ellie's teasings and amplifying them, but one could say that that was the intent. Luckily for him the worst part passed quickly and the children went back to their normal ways. Mostly. He could swear that sometimes Corrin would have the most sinister glint in his eyes, but how a seven year old would have that sinister of a glint in their eyes is unknown.

The others, well, never failed to have some laughs at Arthur's expense. After one joke went stale, they'd find out something else he'd done and make jokes about it. These were mostly supplied by Kate, and when he asked her why, she simply stated "Revenge" before walking away. After theorizing over and over without coming to a conclusion, he decided to confront her about it.

"Hun, why do you keep doing this to me... it's not like it actually hurts my feelings, thank you guys for that, but why do you keep fueling it?"

"Do you remember two years ago around this time? I realized I never got any real revenge for it." Kate smirked.

"Yeah I guess it makes sen- wait! Why do you need revenge we, we made up, right?"

"Right. But~ you... actually I've got nothing. Well I'm too far into this now. Try to survive until we leave for mother's place, okay honey? I'll give you a little something tonight to... keep you going." With a wink, Kate ran off to go do something with the kids.

When she found them they were taking turns balancing different objects on top of each other. A bit into the future it could be called genre defining modern art. Kate picked up Corrin's favorite dragon stuffed animal and Evelyne's favorite unicorn, placing them carefully on top of the respective owner's head.

"Hi Mom!" Both happily said as they continued stacking random objects.

"Ohoho, Evelyne, I'm going to go brag that you called me Mom again!"

"I already told you Mom is Mom, Mother is Mother!" Evelyne was slightly exasperated.

"I know, I didn't say I was going to brag to Ellie, I just wanted to brag that such a cute girl called me mom." Kate began to obviously fake cry at the last part of her sentence, leading to Evelyne hurriedly apologizing to her.

"Mom, I'm sorry! I didn't want to be mean to you!" Evelyne was pretty much in tears herself at this point.

"Oh, oh oh no, oh no, don't cry sweets, I was just joking around, look, I'm not crying anymore!"

"Meanie!" Evelyne did a humph and then began to pout.

"Aww, it was just a prank, Eve, can you forgive me?" Kate pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

"Okay! Corrin, it's your turn." Evelyne was back in a cheery mood, much to Kate's relief.

Leaving them to do their work, Kate went off to find Eli and Ellie in the living room napping. Ellie was curled up like a kitten while Eli was almost cradling her.

'Cute...' With a slight blush on her face, she rushed off to find her husband again, finding him still standing in thought where she left him.

"Cuddle, now." Kate pretty much tackled Arthur onto the bed, resting her head on his chest while he stroked her hair.

After a little bit of time, there was a voice at the door.

"We wanna cuddle too!" Corrin and a sleepy looking Evelyne were at the door.

"Come here my preciouses, give mommy some hugs." Kate mumbled.

Soon enough, the four of them were fast asleep, with it only being the early hours of evening. With a quick peak, Ellie told Eli that they would probably be eating alone anyways, so why not just go out to eat. Eli agreed and wrote a note explaining where they were.

A few hours later they came back from dinner to find the others still fast asleep. Doing what any sane person would do after an exquisite meal at a high end restaurant with someone they love... they went back to napping on the couch together.

Later on, when Kate woke up, she slithered out of the grasps of the bed's residents for some water. Filling up a glass, she saw Eli and Ellie still napping on the couch.

'What a lazy couple, wasting an entire day napping... at least we only did it for a few hours.' Kate thought to herself, unaware that she herself had slept more than both of the two combined.

To explain this is actually quite simple. Eli and Ellie were doing things until they decided to nap together, Kate walked in right after they'd truly fallen asleep, making it look like they've been sleeping for a while. When she took a nap of her own, the other couple was up within an hour. Leaving the house for multiple hours and coming back, they almost ran in to each other, but missed by a twenty minute gap.

After waking up in the morning, everyone looked fresh and felt ready to do anything. Their visit to Grandma Lorraine's was just days away, and all but one couldn't hold their excitement in.

The same could be said for the older woman who was whipping up a frenzy trying to get things ready. Seeing as a lot was done for the house on day one, what more could she have been doing for the past few weeks? Sure, on the surface there was now a marked quidditch pitch and a significantly bigger pond, but what else could this workaholic be doing?