Chapter Thirteen: Ups and Downs
Viviana woke to a small hand patting her shoulder and a little voice calling her name. "Bibibibi....Up!"
Yawning, the teen stretched and sat up, reaching for her little sister even before she was fully awake. "What's up, squirt?"
"Scawed," Mai sniffled.
https://i.imgur.com/56kGoyZ.png?1
"Don't worry, I'm here. There's nothing to be scared of," Viviana assured her, lifting her up for a snuggle.
https://i.imgur.com/7pu9X2l.png?1
"See? Nothing to worry about in here," Viviana said, pretending to look for monsters. "I have an idea. I'll read you a story and stay til you go back to sleep."
"Pwomise?" Mai looked at her big sister with complete trust.
"I promise," Viviana assured her. She helped Mai get under the covers and sat on her bed with a book.
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Mai fell asleep quickly, and Viviana tucked her in, kissing her cheek. Yawning, she went back to her own bed, glad the weekend was near. She needed a break from school, and time to work on her project.
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Several hours later, Brianne overslept, though she couldn't say she wasn't happy about not being woken by Mai's frightened cries. She decided she just had time for a bowl of cereal before dashing off to work. As it happened, she barely made it to the hospital in time, dashing through the doors only two minutes late. She hoped that late start didn't set the tone for the rest of the day.
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Viviana and Taro made it into the kitchen at about the same time. Seeing that Taro had reached the fridge first, Viviana decided to let him get his food while she filled Selma's bowl.
"Morning, Taro. Are you ready for your field trip?"
"Yep! I wonder if we'll see aliens today."
"I didn't on my trip to the science lab. But then they'd probably disguiese themselves anyway."
Taro sighed, disappointed. "True."
Viviana gave him a msichevious grin. "If you want to see aliens, you could always visit our Yomin cousins. Or Uncle Hikaru and Uncle Tim."
Snorting, Taro answered, "They don't count. I know them."
"True..."
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Viviana brought her breakfast into the living room to join Taro so they wouldn't have to call acrss two rooms to each other. The conversational topic shifted away from field trips and aliens, with Taro wanting to know all Vivana knew about Oasis Springs. He hadn't been there before after all.
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Brianne arrived home later that evening after picking up Mai from daycare. She was still musing over her day, a bit embarrassed that her inability to read an x-ray had delayed her treatment of a patient until she could get a new set of scans. Fortunately, that case had ended well for the patient. Then with the very next patient, she had trouble with the analyzer. She was very glad her third patient of the day had been easy, an obvious case of gas and giggles.
A friend had invited her out, so Brianne just barely had time to go to the bathroom and change out of her scrubs before she had to leave.
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Later that evening, Viviana took the initiative and gathered her clothes to wash them. She didn't usually do it without prompting, but her hamper was full and she wanted to wear a new outfit she had just bought that day, so it needed to be washed first. It made sense to just go ahead and wash it all at one time.
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Still excited from his field trip - which was disappointingly alien-free - Taro stayed up far too late chatting about his day. He had a snack before finally heading to bed a full hour later than usual. He would likely have a hard time getting up in the morning, but he didn't care.
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Brianne returned home to find Harry outside the house playing his guitar. "That sounds great, Harry! A new song?" she asked when he paused.
Harry shook his head. "No, new variation on an old one. But I'm glad you like it."
"Well, you are pretty talented," She said, leaning in to kiss him.
Harry set the guitar aside to return the kiss enthusiastically. "I'll have to do this more often if it earns me a kiss," he teased.
"Seriously, how was your party?"
"It was good. Don't let me interrupt too long, I know how you are when you have an idea in your head. I'm going to go check on the kids."
"All right. ANd I do want to hear all about it later."
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After checking on Mai, who was on the potty, and a soundly sleeping Taro, Brianne tracked Viviana down outside, bent over the washtub.
"Oh, thanks for starting the wash, Vivi. I was going to do that tomorrow," she said, pleasantly surprised.
Standing to give her aching arms a break, Viviana shrugged. "I just bought some clothes today when I went to the mall after school,, and I wanted to wear them tomorrow."
"Oh? I look forward to seeing them," Brianne said, trusting her daughter's taste in clothes. "You go on to bed, I'll take over here."
"Okay. Thanks, Mom.. Goodnight."
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Judging that the clothes were clean, Brianne unloaded the washtub and hung the clothes on the line. With their growing family, it might be time to invest in a more modern washer and dryer. For now, doing things this way saved on the plumbing bill.
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"MAMA!"
At the unhappy yell just as she finished hanging the last item, Brianne forgot her musing and came running to find out what had upset her youngest. At least she didn't sound scared, so it wasn't a nightmare.
