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"You're not serious, are you?" Veronica asked, holding up the clear plastic bag with the tiny, green costume she'd just pulled out of the shopping bag sitting on the dining table.
"It has Ava's approval," Logan replied, bobbing his eyebrows at her as he cleared out a bag full of Halloween decorations.
"Oh, I'm sure it has. Sparkles and glitter and all."
"You should have seen how her little face lit up and her hands went all grabby," he remarked, making short grabbing motions with his hands in the air.
"That's her current reaction to everything that's sparkly," she replied, a hint of annoyance in her voice, and placed the costume on the table.
"Hey, I asked you to come Halloween shopping with us," he threw a bag of plastic spiders her way which she caught mid-air, "Your answer was I trust you to pick something decent, big guy. It's decent."
"At least it doesn't completely swallow her like last year's pumpkin costume. Pumpkin," she held up her hands about two feet apart, then moved them closer together in a swift motion, "Ava. Still, when I said decent, I didn’t mean something like that . What happened to the good ol’ traditional furry animal costumes?"
A bag of little plastic skeletons flew across the table, and Logan caught it swiftly with one hand while indicating the large black garment bag that was draped over the back of one of the chairs.
"We're anything but traditional. Plus, it came with great matching costumes."
"Yeah, you won't get me into green tights, thank you very much."
Veronica crossed the distance to the large glass patio doors, arms loaded with several different bags of Halloween decorations and assorted hanging supplies which she dumped onto the floor. She pulled the step stool in front of the doors, then pushed up the blinds as she climbed onto the stool.
"Aw, c'mon, it's Ava's first real Halloween," Logan grumbled as he joined her and dropped his bag of Halloween decorations on the floor. "She's all excited."
"I think you're more excited about this than she is.”
A roll of scotch tape stuck between her teeth, she sounded like the generic muffled automated customer service voice. She wriggled her fingers at him, and he bent down to pick up the bag with the spider web, then threw it up at her. She ripped the package open immediately, and the large cotton web fell freely from the plastic wrapping.
“Tell me it’s not perfect.”
The roll of tape flew through the air, ping-ponged between Veronica's shoulder and the door and finally landed on top of her foot. As she bent down to pick it up, so did Logan, snatching it up before she could reach it. With a wide, toothy grin, he tipped his head to his side, and held the tape up high so she couldn’t reach it.
“Admit it. It’s perfect.”
“Where did you even get this idea?”
She stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach his hand with the tape, but he ducked left and right, dodging her attempts to take the small role from him.
“Pinterest,” he remarked and swung around on his heels, pressing his hands to his chest, holding the scotch tape hostage in a tight grip.
“And how exactly do you know what Pinterest is?”
One of her arms snaked around his left side, the other around his right as Veronica clung to his back, desperately trying to uncurl his fingers from the object of her desire.
“I’m a very devoted dad and I’ve been told by several trustworthy sources that that is where every parent gets their inspiration from.” Lifting his arms high in the arm, he wriggled out of her strong hold. “Please?” He turned around and extended his hand in her direction, fingers still tightly clutching the scotch tape. “Little fairy wings, glitter bodice and don't forget the tutu. Grade A cuddle-worthy.”
He opened his hand, jiggling the roll in his palm. With a sigh, Veronica snatched it out of his hand, took hold of the spider web she’d draped over her shoulder and went back to fixing the Halloween decoration on the large glass door.
“Do you know how long it took me to get over the fact that everyone in school kept calling me a pixie because I was so tiny?” she huffed and ripped a piece of tape off the roll with her teeth that she then used to secure the cotton web to the glass. “Ava will not be Tinkerbell.”
"But it's adorable, oh mother of the pixie queen."
She shot him a sulky look over her shoulder before she went back to the task at hand.
"We agreed on no Disney princess costumes. We're not joining in on the everyday craze of glittery dresses, perfectly styled hair and strawberry lip gloss. So no, she's not dressing up as Tinkerbell."
"Tinkerbell isn't a princess."
"Says who?"
He grabbed the trimming at the edge of the web and pulled it towards the door handle, straightening it out so Veronica could stick little strips of adhesive along the edge, pasting the decoration to the door.
"Want me to show you the official Disney princess list?" he smirked, giving her a cheeky grin that was answered with a frustrated huff.
"There's nothing such as an official Disney princess list."
"Oh, I beg to differ. And Tinkerbell isn't on it."
"No Little Miss Pixie for Ava, mister. And no green tights for me."
A few more strips of scotch tape, and the web was securely fastened to the left of the large double doors.
"It's perfect for us. We're just that whacky kind of a family," Logan reasoned as he held up the second spider web for her to put on the other half of the door. "Tinkerbell, Peter Pan and Captain Hook."
"Absolutely not."
Stepping off the step stool, she pushed it to the left with her foot before climbing back onto it and starting to plaster the web to the top frame of the door.
"You can be the crocodile if you don't want to be Peter Pan," Logan whispered into her ear as he came up behind her, an arm slipping around her to smooth out the web against the door.
Tightly biting down on her bottom lip, Veronica flipped around almost instantly, shot him a glare and bumped her fist against his shoulder.
"Ow," he muttered, rubbing the spot where she’d hit him, "Okay, you don't have to be the crocodile. But," he fished his cell out of his back pocket, pulled up a picture and held it up for her to see, "tell me this isn't cute as a button. The fabulous queen of the pixies."
There on the phone was a picture of Keith holding up baby Ava dressed in her Tinkerbell costume. Pointed fairy wings were sticking up behind either side of her head, and the costume was obviously one number too large at the top as the bodice straps were riding down her tiny arms, and one number too small at the bottom as the tutu barely covered her diaper. Both grandfather and granddaughter were beaming from ear to ear, very well aware of the fact that despite the sizing issues, Ava just looked absolutely adorable.
"My dad's in on this?"
"Well…" he mumbled, avoiding her gaze as he continued spreading the web across the door.
"Logan!"
Grinning at her sheepishly, he gave her the answer she most probably didn't want to hear, "He might have bought himself a matching costume, too."
"Oh my God he didn't. Please tell me he didn't."
"He did."
Veronica tipped her head back in frustration, eyes rolling skywards, "Smee?"
"See, we got the whole family in on this. It's gonna be super-duper."
"Super-duper?" she snorted, then went back to pulling strips off the roll of scotch tape and sticking them on the door to finish putting up the web.
"If it had been up to me, I would've bought you the slutty school girl costume."
"I specifically requested the sexy kitten, not the slutty school girl."
"Meow," he laughed, and kissed the side of her neck. "I get the whole pixie thing but what exactly is it about Peter Pan?"
"It's," she took a deep breath, then exhaled a low "embarrassing."
"Interest piqued. Do tell."
The web was almost completely taped to the door, only a few strips of adhesive tape missing at the bottom to hold it in place securely. She ripped off the last few strips and stuck them to the back of her hand before throwing the roll of tape up in the air. A hand flew up behind her, and Logan caught the roll mid-air with a flourish.
"This whole matching family costume isn't something that's just come into fashion," she sighed and stepped off the step-stool for the finishing touches.
"I'm still listening."
"If you want to know, ask my dad. I'm surprised he hasn't told you already given how he seems to be all chummy about this matching costume thing."
There was a bout of silence between them, that was broken by a content hum from Logan. Veronica spun around on her heels, and found him whistling innocently, his head crooked slightly to the side.
"Crap. He's told you."
"It was pretty delightful," he mused, biting back an amused chuckle, "Even Ava got a giggle out of it."
"You’re an ass." She picked up the bag with the little black spiders from the ground, and ripped the bag open with her teeth. “I hope he hasn't brought out the photo album.”
"There's pictures?" Logan came up behind her, encircling her waist with his arms, pulling her back against him. "Those I must see."
"No, you must not," she chuckled as she turned around in his embrace and placed a couple of fingers against his lips. "Some things better stay buried deep, deep down."
"No worries," he placed a tender kiss against her fingertips before he peeled her hand off his face, "That story will stay between you, me and that loveseat over there."
"What," she bobbed her eyebrows at him gleefully, "the couch suddenly not trustworthy enough anymore?"
"The stories that couch could tell…" He stumbled backwards, pulling her with him as he began the very short journey towards the couch in question. "If for whatever reason you should decide to look into the trunk of the Chevy and happen to find a large plastic bag in there that says Halloween City… I may have splurged on that slutty school girl costume nonetheless."
Amused laughter was echoing through the spacious living room when the back of his feet bumped against the side of the sofa. Leaning backwards over the arm just a fraction, he pulled her flush against him, and they both tumbled over, landing on the comfortably cushioned base.
"Knee socks?"
Making herself comfortable, she wriggled in his embrace and she hooked on leg over his, draping half her body over him.
"Black stripes," he mused as he slipped a hand under her shirt, coming to rest against the small of her back.
She licked her lips in anticipation and lowered her eyes, drawing little squiggles and swirls over his chest.
"What does it take for you to wear that awesomely hot gray suit you own?"
"Mmmh," he pondered, his eyes flicking upwards for a moment before he met her gaze again, "Impressive persuasion skills."
Veronica moved over, coming to rest completely on top of him. Placing an arm against his chest, she rested her chin on her forearm and sweetly batted her lashes at him.
"I've been a very bad student, Mister Echolls," she crooned in her best innocent, naive, sweet school girl voice, "I think I may need some punishment and detention."
"You’ve been very, very tardy, defiant and disobedient, Miss Mars.”
Their playful interaction on the couch was gravely interrupted by loud wails coming from Ava’s nursery. A dull woof echoed down the hallway from the kitchen, the muffled thud, thud, thud of Pony’s legs announcing that their dog was already on its way to investigate the cause of Ava’s displeasure.
“Crap,” Veronica sighed as she buried her face in Logan's shirt, "That was one pretty short nap."
"She probably just lost her binkie as usual," he brushed his lips against the top of her head in a gentle kiss, "I'll try to put her down again."
"Yes, please. Otherwise we'll have one cranky baby again tonight."
"You'll be in detention tonight, Miss Mars," he commented, a wicked, shit-eating grin spreading across his face as he slipped out from under her.
"Why, Mister Echolls, then you better hurry putting the offspring back down for her nap. Otherwise detention will be cut really short.”
She swatted his butt with a chuckle, causing him to bounce jauntily for a few steps before he adopted his usual swagger towards Ava’s room. He carefully pushed the door open and peeked into the darkness, the nightlight on the dresser the only thing illuminating the dim room. Pony sat crouched in front of the crib, alert and attentive, his tail thwacking happily against the floor while he observed the crying baby who stood in her bed, hands tightly clutching the rail. A pair of tiny chubby arms immediately rose into the air when Ava noticed her father walk through the door.
“Dada,” erupted from her lips with a loud sob, and the dog’s head shot around in Logan’s direction instantly.
“Did you lose your binkie, peanut?” he said quietly as he approached the crib. He patted Pony’s head, praising him for being a good dog and taking care of Ava so protectively, before scanning the floor quickly to assess that there was no pacifier anywhere to be seen. She wasn't sucking at the bright red soother, so she obviously had to have misplaced it during her nap.
“Dada!” she wailed again, impatiently bouncing up and down and demanding to be picked up with her short arms stretched out into the air.
"Okay, where's the binkie? Help daddy find it," he cooed at her and leaned over the rail to pick up the small, flat pillow in her crib in search of the plastic soother. Ava wasn't gonna have any of it though. Tiny hands clutching the rail, she rattled the wooden frame, swaying back and forth on her feet, and continued to cry loudly.
"Daddy's trying his best to find the binkie, sweetie pie."
She hobbled over to the head of the bed where he was bent over to the side, trying to see if she'd managed to drop the pacifier into the small open space between the crib and the dresser again. When he'd pushed the dresser to the side a few weeks ago after he'd found her trying to climb onto it from within her crib, he hadn't thought that that newly opened up space would create even more problems. At times, it felt like they had the Bermuda triangle in their daughter's bedroom. He'd jokingly told Veronica that he could deal with a black hole because those were prone to spit out their loot and prey somewhere on the other side, while things that dropped into the Bermuda triangle just vanished forever. And right now, it looked like red binkie number two had followed on the fateful path down the rabbit hole. If nothing else, Ava was going through pacifiers like some people ran through money.
The baby grew more and more impatient, demanding immediate attention as her crying grew to an almost deafening level. With a sigh, he lifted her out of the crib, and the little girl settled comfortably in his arms immediately. She placed her head against his shoulder, one last hiccoughing sob spilling from her before her thumb wandered directly into her mouth, quieting her wailing.
“Fiddlesticks. Darn the lost binkie,” he muttered, knowing that now that she was up in his arms, sucking contentedly on her thumb, he’d have a hell of a time putting her back down for another short nap. If he was lucky, she’d fall asleep in his arms if she was still at all tired.
“Big girls take big naps,” he cooed at her as he swayed back and forth on his heels, trying to lull her back to sleep. Given the way her eyes darted around the room rather alert, the chances for that happening seemed rather slim. The appeal of some frisky roleplaying tonight was a lot more tempting than another round of cranky baby though, so he decided trying to put his daughter down for a second nap was at least worth a shot.
The moment he leaned over the crib though, Ava realized what he was trying to do. She popped her thumb out of her mouth and started another round of heartbreaking wails. Fingers clawed into her father’s shirt as she desperately clung to him. She didn’t want to be put down in her bed again, so she was fighting him with everything she had to offer.
A frustrated huff on his lips, Logan straightened again, and was immediately met with a wide, three-toothed grin from the baby that once again snuggled comfortably against his chest. Born from a long line of actors was usually Veronica's annoyed response to their daughter's wailing attacks which always immediately quieted once she had either of her parents undivided attention and thus, had gotten what she wanted. Sneaky down to the core he'd called it instead. Given her parentage, neither was really a surprise.
“Ava wins this battle, but daddy eventually wins the war.”
He pulled the zipper of her sleep sack down, and her legs dangled out of confinement immediately. She wriggled her feet, kicking at the sleep bag, and three pacifiers tumbled out of it, hitting the floor one after the other.
"Huh," he breathed astonished, "guess the other side of the black hole was hiding in the bottom of the sleep sack."
Pony waddled over and nudged the colorful assortment of pacifiers closer to Logan's feet with his sloppy nose. Solid red, mint green with black dots and blue with little fish… Number two and three had vanished around the beginning of the month, and he wasn’t quite sure if number one actually was the binkie that had replaced all the other lost ones a couple days ago or if it was its package twin that had disappeared into thin air the week before. These were the first to ever reappear, so wherever the pacifiers vanished to, Ava seemed to know exactly where they were hiding as they hadn't been in the sleep sack when he'd put her in it for her nap. And wherever that somewhere was, it was within reach of her crib.
“Must investigate," he concluded and peeked down at the tiny form snuggled against his chest. "Know a good PI to hire, munchkin?"
Ava's just wriggled in his arms in response and popped her thumb back into her mouth.
"I know one. Wanna see if we can hire her to find your binkies?"
The baby crooked her head to the side and looked up at him wide-eyed, then pulled her thumb out of her mouth and enveloped him in as big a hug as she could manage.
"I take that as a yes."
He scooped the binkies from the ground and ushered Pony out as he left the bedroom. He eyed Veronica at the dining table, sorting through the bags of Halloween decorations still sitting on the table, and her eyes fell on father and daughter almost instantly.
"That I didn't want to see."
"What?" he asked sheepishly, turning his head from side to side as if trying to look for something imaginary that had caught her disapproving eye. "Oh, that," he finally conceded and indicated the tiny pajama-clad bundle in his arms with his head.
"Yes. That . Offspring. Nap time. Ring any bells?"
"She had different plans."
"That I can see."
He met her at the table, pulled one of the plastic skull-shaped cauldrons towards him and dropped one pacifier after another into the hole at the top.
"Guess where I found those."
She crooked her eyebrows at him, "You two took a trip to the Bermuda triangle without me?"
"In her sleep sack."
"Now that's interesting."
"Exactly my thought."
"Houdini has nothing on our kid apparently."
Ava started to fuss in his arms, twisting and turning in what obviously was an attempt to be put down at the table, while her tiny body folded over and little hands reached for sparkly fairy wings that lay discarded among the rest of the Halloween decorations.
"Glitter and sparkles," Veronica snorted as Logan sat the baby on the table and ten little fingers immediately took hold of the wings.
"Wanna put them on? Show mommy how adorable you look?" Logan smiled at his little girl as he pried her chubby fingers off the delicate nylon material. Ava stared up at him blankly at first, but then raised her arms in the air and matched his smile.
"Oh no," Veronica cut in immediately, knowing exactly that once Ava had on those wings, she'd be a goner. "No no no no. Absolutely no."
"Oh yes. Yes yes yes yes. Absolutely yes," he laughed and, back turned towards her, stepped in between her and their daughter as he slipped the two elastic bands over Ava's arms. When the wings were adjusted properly, he picked up the baby and stood her on the table. Her tiny head twisted to the left and the right, marveling at the sparkly green wings as her lips pursed into a big 'O'.
"Mommy, ain't I just enchanting?" he purred.
She rolled her eyes at him, "Marvelous."
"Green tights?"
She inhaled deeply, her gaze shifting to that little human being that stood so proudly on the table in front of her. Tousled bed hair, PJs sporting little rubber duckies combined with a pair of green sparkly fairy wings… if that wasn't what did her in already, it was her daughter's charming, almost toothless smile that finally won her over.
"One hour of trick or treating," she finally relented. "For Ava. After that it's game over. I won't wear the Peter Pan costume even a minute longer."
"Make it two and I'll even let you wear your Waldo costume for our little Halloween shindig."
He gave Ava a little nudge with his elbow, and she took a couple of decisive but wobbly steps towards her mother. Veronica scooped the baby up once she started to stagger and sat her down on her hip.
"You do understand you're not really in a bargaining position right now," she addressed her husband with a piercing stare. "That little trick you pulled right there was dirty. Downright dirty."
"You love me nonetheless," he quipped and picked up the bag that contained the two large, inflatable skeletons with pumpkin heads that Ava had taken a liking to at the store.
“Daddy thinks he’s so smart, doesn’t he, baby girl?” she cooed at her daughter, showering her with Eskimo kisses which caused the baby to giggle with delight. “But you and I, we know better.”
“My two women ganging up on me now?”
Veronica just smirked at him and shrugged her shoulders, “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve as well, just you wait.”
“Mmmh, detention needs to be doubled up for Miss Mars.”
“Veto’ed. That actually would be a reward for you instead of the punishment you deserve.”
A wide, satisfied grin spread across Logan’s face. He leaned in, his lips feathering over her earlobe as he whispered, “You can punish me all you want, honeybun.”
Placing her palm against his chest, she pushed him back with a chuckle, “Go finish the decorations. I’ll try to put the munchkin down for another N-A-P.”
“Green tights!” he called after her as she made her way towards the nursery with the baby in her arms.
Her response was just as naughty as he’d expected. One arm raised straight above her head, she flipped him off before she turned and vanished in Ava’s room.
“Dop-dee-dooo,” he whistled innocently, then did as he was told and returned to finishing the Halloween decorations.