Work Text:
The storm hits just after dinner.
Joel is just thankful Tess is home; can’t imagine what he’d say to the girls if she’d still been at the stables. The idea of four inconsolable girls without Tess isn’t exactly pleasant- they’re already worried enough about Ellie and Dina, in their new house just around the corner, now that they’ve upgraded from their starter one bedroom in the wake of adopting a set of orphan twins that had been abandoned and found on a raid of a local compound.
“Mama, what about Ellie?” Elsa frowns, and Tess pats her cheek tenderly.
“Ellie will be fine, sweetheart,” Tess reassures their youngest, continuing to stir the tomato sauce she’s simmering on the stove, adding another basil leaf. “And so will Dina, and the twins. It’s just a thunderstorm.”
“Why don’t we play a game- distract ourselves?” Joel suggests, and the girls perk up at the idea.
“Can we play Clue?” Maeve asks, and Ruth pouts.
“You cheat at Clue!” she accuses, and their eldest furrows her brows in an expression she’d adopted directly from her mother.
“Surmising the answer from context clues isn’t cheating, it’s literally the game,” Maeve counters, and Joel rubs at the skin between his eyebrows.
“Okay- okay. No Clue. How about Monopoly?” he suggests, and Darcy is already up, grabbing the board.
“Mama, can we listen to a cassette?” she asks, quiet and patient as always, and Tess nods, smiling at her.
“I’ll grab the radio, bring it closer so we can hear it,” Tess says, turning the stove burner down and following Darcy into the living room. “What’re you in the mood for?”
“The Carpenters, please,” Darcy requests, and Tess’s nose crinkles in amusement.
“That’s always your choice,” Tess teases, and Darcy shrugs, braid falling off her shoulder.
“I know what I like,” she replies, and Tess’s expression softens. She leans in, kissing the tip of Darcy’s nose.
“And I suppose that’s what I love about you, Darce,” she whispers, and Darcy’s noise squishes as her cheeks flush a pretty pink.
Darcy carries the worn board game box as Tess follows with the old boombox; she sets the old Carpenters cassette up to play as Ruth is put in charge of dealing out the correct amount of money to each player, and Maeve sets the properties and other cards up around the board.
“I better be the racecar,” Tess says as she sinks into the seat beside Joel, hand settling on his thigh, and Elsa beams.
“I picked that one for you, Mama,” she tells her, and Tess winks at her. “I’m the top hat, Daddy’s the dog, Maeve’s the shoe, Ruth is the thimble, and Darcy is the wheelbarrow.”
“So, the usual,” Tess teases, and Elsa giggles. “Mm, so funny to see money and think about using it. It’s been so long.”
“Is this what it used to look like?” Maeve asks, and Tess shakes her head.
“It was bigger, and green, and felt different- it was on special paper,” she explains, and the girls listen with rapt attention. “And there were coins, too. Some people used to collect rare ones. They were worth more.”
“My grandpa collected coins,” Joel remembers, and Tess looks at him, interest in her eyes. “And stamps.”
Ruth’s nose wrinkles.
“What’s a stamp?” she asks, and Joel chuckles.
“Well, things used to get sent in the mail, all over the country and the world. It needed something called a stamp to get sent. It was basically money for the postal service to send it,” Joel explains, but can tell the girls don’t really understand- which is fair, given their idea of the mail system was walking a letter to the neighbors. “They used to make ‘em with pretty pictures. People collected ‘em instead of sendin’ ‘em.”
“Ohhhh,” the girls chorus in unison, heads bobbing in nods. “Did you collect anything, Daddy?”
Joel scratches his chin, considering.
“Liked collectin’ movies, truthfully. It was nice to have a selection,” he replies, and Elsa nods fervently. “Sarah liked collectin’ things with butterflies.”
Their girls all look at Joel with wide eyes- it was rare to receive a Sarah mention, but as they all grew and surpassed the age that she was when she’d died, Joel had learned withholding knowledge of their eldest sister did no good. Especially not when Sarah would have loved them all so much.
“I liked dolphins,” Tess said, and confusion entered all their girls’ expressions. “They’re sea creatures. Little bottle noses and fins, squirt water out of the top of their heads.”
The girls look a mixture of horror and fascinated, and Tess laughs.
“Alright- enough of that. Let’s play.”
Joel squeezes Tess’s knee, causing her to turn her head to look at him; she smiles, expression soft, and leans in until she can kiss him tenderly. The girls all fake retch in the background, but Tess simply smiles against his mouth, hand pressing to his thigh once again, skating closer to his groin.
“Mama- Mama, your turn to roll,” Elsa persists, holding out the dice, and Tess breaks away, turning towards the game and removing her hand.
“Alright- I want Park Place. I have expensive taste.”