Chapter 1.17 Don't Grow Up

"That was your grand idea?"

Connor sighed, looking down. It was Rosie's idea to meddle in the first place. He was merely just roped into all this and now it seemed like he was the actual brains behind the plan. "Dying my mom's hair blonde isn't going to get to anything, all you've done was lighten her hair color." He grumbled, honestly a little annoyed.

"There's no need to be so mardy about it, sheesh!" Rosie sighed, rolling her eyes at him, "Besides, I thought it was a good plan. My Daddy likes blondes." She smiled slightly, feeling more proud of herself than she should do. 

"I'm not being mardy!" Connor quickly defended himself. He was not mardy.

"Are too." She smirked, folding her arms. She was trying to wind him up, again.

"Are not." He growled, annoyed already. It was early, and these early morning meetings were pointless.

"Are too." Rosie grinned, watching Connor getting annoyed. Even though it was slightly mean, there was something satisfying about seeing him annoyed. 

"Are not!" He snapped, snarling at her. "I hate you." He growled.

"Fine, I'm sorry." Rosie murmured, knowing that she needed Connor. He was smarter than she was, even though there was no chance she would ever admit that. "Can you please tell me what you were planning?"

"You should be." He growled, glaring still. He adjusted himself slightly before continuing with his plan "And I'm pretty sure my idea will work better than yours. Mine doesn't involve hair dye." He muttered, shaking his head a little.

Rosie was honestly a little disappointed, she honestly wanted to see what her Daddy would look like with different colored hair..."What is it?" She sighed, hoping this wasn't too much of a long winded plan. It can never just be simple with him.

"I was thinking about making both of them realize that they should be with someone, starting with my Mom first then moving on to your Dad." He murmured, and looked up at Rosie.

She nodded slightly, then asked "But how though? If we force them together, then they might break up." She bit her lower lip. If they did get together then break up, it would be even more difficult! 

"We'll do it over time. We can talk to my Mom today, and your Dad a little later on." He shrugged, and Rosie groaned

"That'll take forever though! And they're already old. Who knows how much time they have left?" She shrugged, frowning a little. 

"It's not going to be that spread out." He grinned a little. "Maybe a week or two, or maybe just today and tomorrow." He suggested, waiting for Rosie's reaction.

She nodded "Sounds like a plan. If you want, I'll talk to Erin and you can talk to my Daddy." She smiled slightly, thinking Connor's plan may be slightly better than hers.

"Deal. I'll talk to your Dad tomorrow though." He nodded a little.

"And I'll talk to Erin later today." She grinned. "Operation Parent Trap; Mission Two." She said in a deep, robotic voice, and both of them went into a fit of giggles.

There was a certain dread when Thomas saw that damn cake. He certainly didn't want it to be his birthday, but at least he had most things sorted out for himself. He had a good job, and Rosie hasn't got herself in any trouble, avoiding the fact that she dyed Erin's hair blonde, and the day he thought she went missing. As for love, he wasn't exactly too bothered about it. If anything, he wasn't dreading his birthday all too much. His life was pretty much the way he wanted it to be.

It wasn't just a big day for Thomas though, it was a big day for Connor too. His first day of school. He wasn't dreading it half as much as Rosie was, he was actually looking forward to it. He was hoping that it would be a good, and fun thing. 

Erin really wasn't looking forward to it though. She didn't want her baby boy growing up too fast. It was all going too fast for her liking. If only she had some sort of remote to pause time and pause everyone's age so she could just enjoy Connor still being young. She didn't want him to go off to school, because she knew next it would be high school and then he'd be moving out. She wanted him to stay a baby forever.

She sighed softly as she closed the drawer, frowning. Was it too much to ask to live in a place like Neverland? It probably was too much thinking about it...

Connor was about to get himself some breakfast when his Mom came up and hugged him tightly "Don't grow up too quickly." She mumbled, frowning. 

He was slightly confused, as he began to hug her back "I can't help it, Mom..." He trailed off, starting to feel a little guilty. He could tell that his mother was bothered about him growing up and getting older, and he honestly hated that he felt guilty. There was no actual way he could stop aging... Well, there was some age freeze potion, but that was way too expensive if it was even real. Only certain people have managed to get their hands on the myth. His train of thought ended when Erin hugged him a little tighter.

"Can't you just try though?" Erin whispered, not knowing how ridiculous she probably sounded. She really didn't want him to get any older though. 

"I'll try Mom." Connor mumbled, fairly certain he wanted his Mom to find someone she liked. Obviously whatever happened with his Dad didn't work out, and he just wanted his Mom to be happy. 

She smiled, a little happy he would at least try for her, "But don't think of me when your at school. I want you to have a good day today. And remember that if anything bad happens..."

"Tell the teacher?" He asked, a little confused. Wasn't that always the best thing to do anyway?

She scoffed "God, no. The teacher won't do anything. Tell me, and I'll make sure to beat up their parents." She grinned, and Connor laughed a little.

"What if the bully's parents are bullies too?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Then I'll get Thomas to beat them up." She smiled, and nodded. "We have back up, don't worry." There was the sound of the school bus pulling up outside and Erin gave him one last hug "Have a nice day." She mumbled, then let him get on the bus.

That day was pretty much like any other, doing laundry and making a few beds. She sighed as she waited for the dryer to be finished. She couldn't help but think about who she was before she came to Dragon Valley... Well, she certainly wasn't blonde, and she she didn't have half as many responsibilities. She knew why she left the city, and honestly felt the same way being around here as when she did about a week before she left.
She closed her eyes tight, not wanting this to happen, not wanting these thoughts again. She swore to herself she was done with that part of her life.
Opening her eyes again, she let those moments and memories fade as the dryer began to beep, meaning that it was done.

Wanting to get out of the house, Erin went to the Subway station at Town Hall. She made sure to have her guitar with her so she wouldn't look like a generic crazy, subway station stalker. Besides, her music usually helped her to take her mind off of things she doesn't want to think about. It was probably the best thing for her right now.

After a few hours of playing, and very generous tipping, she decided it was probably best to head home. After all, she couldn't spend her life in that subway station, forever playing music and living off vending machine snacks and crappy cafe coffee. 

As she ventured outside into the still snowy town, she couldn't help but wonder if it will ever actually stop snowing. She really hated the snow right now, it was annoyingly deep to walk around it but at least the roads were cleared off early that morning.

Erin came home to see Thomas, Rosie and Connor all in the front garden, building snowmen. She smiled softly, laughing a little at how far behind Connor was, and how Thomas was pretty much done. She went unnoticed as she watched her family in the snow, and honestly considered joining them. She didn't though, she didn't exactly feel like having too much fun right now.

Rosie smiled at the snowman she made, making sure the scarf was on just right. It had to be perfect! What would be the point of it being sloppy and a mess like her Daddy's? His even had a broken nose for crying out loud! Or at least it seemed like one... Dusting the snow off her jeans, and making sure her snowman was perfect, she went back inside.

Thomas came to help Connor with his snowman, seeing that he was struggling to make one.

"Thanks." He murmured, not all too happy about having someone help him. It made him feel like a baby.

Thomas smiled slightly, seeing Connor wasn't quite so thankful about the help "Its alright." He spoke quietly, then added "And its normal to get help sometimes, you know."

"I still don't like it." Connor glanced at Thomas, before shaping out the head. "But I guess its fine." He mumbled under his breath, honestly hoping he didn't hear that.

As Rosie walked inside, she noticed Erin sitting on the couch, and though what better time to talk to her than now? "I didn't know you were in." She sat down next to her on the couch.

She shrugged slightly "I've only been in for a while, I was out most of today." She murmured

"That's a really big fish." Rosie noted, watching the TV. She honestly wondered what Erin was watching, and why she liked it. All that was happening was some guy going on about a fish. 

"Yeah... I haven't quite figured out how to work the remote." She laughed a little, "I'm not all too keen on fish. They're all slippery and slimy." She crinkled her nose.

"Are you ever going to get married?" Rosie asked, fairly abruptly. 

"I-I uh..." Erin stumbled over words, unsure of how to answer the question. "I'm not really-"

Rosie cut her off by saying "Because you're not getting any younger." She pointed out simply "Why didn't you marry Connor's Dad? Or that guy you had over that one time?" 

Erin pressed her lips together, "Rosie... Can we please talk about something else?"

"Why?" She asked, oblivious to how upset Erin was getting with this conversation. She didn't want to think about Alex or getting married right now, especially not now.

"Because." She answered, unsure of an excuse why. She couldn't explain it all to Rosie without crying.

"Because what? Did they not love you?" She asked, more curious than anything now. She honestly didn't realize how much she was hurting Erin.

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Erin snapped, glaring at Rosie. "There's some things adults just don't want to talk about." She lowered her voice to a whisper, knowing Rosie didn't mean to be mean.

She looked down at her shoes, honestly wanting to lock herself away and cry. Today has probably been the worst day she's had here, and she's had some pretty bad days while being here. 

"I'm sorry." Rosie whispered, feeling really bad now "I didn't mean to make you angry." She looked away from Erin, feeling guilty.

"It's fine." She lied, and sighed standing up. "Come on, its your Daddy's birthday. We should be happy for him." She half smiled, and took off her outerwear, as did Rosie.

It was all happy for the second birthday within those two days, as Erin tried to ignore what Rosie said. She didn't mean it, she was just curious, that's all. She managed to push back her own emotions for her friend, and cheered along for Thomas's birthday.

As the candles went out, Erin couldn't help but wonder where she actually got to in her life. She was a single parent without a proper job, and the only stable thing she had here was this house and her family, and half of who she called her family weren't even related. She honestly felt as if she was having a Mid-Life Crisis.

Chapter 1.16 Parent Trap                                                                                    

Chapter 1.18 Snow Day