Work Text:
Nani grunted softly as she sat down at the edge of her bed. She had way too much laundry to do – it was heaped in a mountain beside her.
Would it look bad if she just stuffed it under the bed until Lilo was gone? She was pretty sure Jumba and Pleakly wouldn’t care if she skipped a week. Well, Pleakly might care if he wanted the dress that was mashed into the pile of aloha shirts, board shorts and graphic tees that were stuck under her arm.
Her sister banged her way dramatically upstairs and threw herself against the doorjam, her long black hair brushing against her hips. “Nani!” Lilo shouted. “The microwave exploded again!”
Nani moaned and slumped against her bed. “Of course. On the day I have to take you to the airport.” Lilo ran over to the bed, reached over and grabbed Nani's hand. Nani huffed as she was pulled into a sitting position. She forgot how much Lilo had grown; at eighteen, then she was a million times stronger than she'd been at seven.
Lilo was a goalkeeper for her soccer team; she was pretty good at math and science and creative writing. She hadn’t declared a major but, Nani supposed, since she was going to be spending at least some of her time in space with Stich learning how to pilot a warship then she would have little time to figure it out. Most people went to college with undeclared majors anyway.
Nani couldn’t believe she’d told Lilo this was a good idea, but she knew her sister. She and Stitch were inseparable, and Lilo was wild and adventurous and righteous and tough. Nani was proud of what she’d done to bring her up, that she’d followed her instincts and gotten her sister that weird-looking ‘dog’ at the animal shelter.
When Nani rushed downstairs she didn’t find a burning microwave, but a group of friends sitting around the table, with a big cake and some streamers. “Surprise!” they shouted.
“For you, not me,” Lilo said quickly.
“Uh, thank you – why the heck are you throwing me a surprise party?” Nani wondered.
“It’s to thank you for everything you’ve done,” said Pleakly. “You’re tall enough to get the cereal off of the top of the fridge and nice enough not to ask why there’s glowing stuff in the attic!” he said.
“You are a nice lady,” Jumba added. “And you took us in even though you didn’t know us!”
“Thanks, guys.” Nani sat down at the table and glanced from face to face. Stitch sat in his place and, just barely, held himself back from rearing over the table and grabbing the cake Lilio had bought at a bakery.
And then there was David, who had never failed to support her when she and Lilo needed it. They shared a smile. Then they all dug into the cake.
Lilo held court, as she always did, with stories about what outer space is really like and what she had seen. “And then we ended up having to turn around and go four hundred miles in the other direction, which was a huge mess.”
Nani imagined and shuddered inwardly, taking another huge bite of the cake. “How long are you going to be up there the first time around?”
“Only about a month, and then a couple of months a year at a time. I love it up there, but earth is pretty cool all by itself,” Lilo said.
The wicked glimmer in her eye made Nani wonder if Lilo meant it. But she smirked back. The laundry would totally get done in the future, because this afternoon they were going to party.
^^^^^
Nani tried to make a mental list of all of the things she needed to tell Lilo when they drove her to the airport. Did she have enough clean clothing? Did she want her surfboard? They definitely had surfing on the east coast, but it would probably be way too cold for Lilo to ride the waves.
“It’s gonna be okay, Nain,” Lilo vowed, and Nani hadn’t realized her frazzled state was so obvious.
“I know,” Nani vowed, then she stopped and really looked at Lilo, whose confidence radiated outward like the warm sun. In the busy, tourist-laden airport she was a warm, fresh breeze.
Nani grabbed her sister in an embrace, which Lilo only mildly protested against. “Hey,” Nani said, squeezing Lilo for all she was worth. “You call when you get there, right? First thing.”
“Yeah, I promise,” said Lilo. She squeezed Nani back tightly.
“Don’t take rides from anyone you don’t know,” she added. “And be sure to wear warm clothing, because New York City is always cold, and if you get in trouble or you need anything…”
“I know I can call. Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Lilo asked. “Jumba could take care of the shop, and he could probably zap you there and back in about a day.”
Nani wavered for just a second – and though she was tempted, she knew her sister needed to do this in her own way, by herself. She had done her parents a credit by making sure that Lilo grew up true and happy. Now she just needed to let go. “Let’s talk about that around Thanksgiving.”
Lilo nodded. “Okay. I’ll call in a few hours.”
Nani watched Lilo walk away.
And then she stood in the terminal and watched as her sister boarded the plane and it taxied off into the distance. She watched that space in the sky where it hovered for a long time and wondered if she’d feel this nervous, happy and sad all at once when Lilo flew off into space every few months. But she wasn’t alone now, and she wouldn’t be alone then.
As if she’d conjured him, David cleared his throat. “Wanna go to the cliffs?” David asked. “We can watch the sun set, grab some waves?”
“Okay,” Nani said, turning away from the now out-of-sight plane. “Can we stop for pizza on the way there?”
“Okay,” David said. Nani let him wrap his arm around her, and enjoyed the warmth of the moment. She had no idea what happened now that Lilo was off on her own. But whatever it was, Nani would keep on loving her, even when she was exasperating.