Chapter Text
The morning starts earlier than any sane vacation morning should, the sky outside their kitchen window still gray with that quiet half-light that belongs to airports and road trips. Gabby is already awake when the coffee finishes brewing, standing at the counter with the suitcase open in front of her while she checks the same pocket for the third time. Headphones. Backup headphones. Eli’s AAC charger. The dinosaur toy he uses when the world gets too loud. Snacks that will survive a three-hour flight without becoming something unrecognizable.
She pauses with one hand resting on the edge of the bag, mentally walking through the list again the way she always does before anything that involves travel, crowds, or moving pieces she can’t control. Airports mean noise, sudden announcements, long lines that move and then stop moving without warning. It’s not impossible, but it’s the kind of environment she prepares for carefully, building little pockets of stability wherever she can.
Behind her, the house creaks softly as someone upstairs moves, and then Eli’s low humming drifts down the hallway like a signal that the day has officially begun. Dani appears a moment later in sweatpants and one of Gabby’s hoodies, hair still messy with sleep but sunglasses already perched on top of her head like she’s preparing for a press tour instead of a family trip. She leans against the counter, watching Gabby reorganize the same bag again, and says gently, “You’ve checked that pocket four times.”
Gabby doesn’t look up. “Three.”
Dani tilts her head, amused. “Gabby.”
Gabby zips the pocket shut with quiet finality and finally glances over. “Airports are chaos.”
Dani pushes off the counter and crosses the kitchen, pressing a quick kiss to the side of her wife’s head. “It’s Disney World,” she says. “Chaos is part of the aesthetic.”
Gabby snorts softly at that but doesn’t argue, reaching for her coffee and taking a slow sip while Dani drifts past her toward the stairs like she’s already halfway into vacation mode.
Upstairs, Olivia is already dressed, which feels suspicious until Dani opens the bedroom door and finds her sitting cross-legged on the floor with the park map printed from the internet spread out like a battle plan. She looks up immediately, eyes bright with the kind of energy only children and theater kids possess before sunrise.
“Did you know there are four parks?” she asks before Dani even says good morning.
Dani folds her arms in the doorway. “Sweetheart, I know a lot about Disney.”
Olivia taps the map with intense focus. “But did you know EPCOT has science stuff and also different countries?”
Dani kneels beside her, scanning the map like she’s studying choreography. “I did know that.”
Olivia’s finger moves again. “And Animal Kingdom has a safari with real animals.”
Dani nods solemnly. “Still tracking.”
Olivia leans closer to the page. “And there’s a ride where you fly the Millennium Falcon.”
Dani pauses. “Okay that one your mom is emotionally invested in.”
Olivia blinks up at her. “Mom likes Star Wars?”
Dani snorts softly. “Your mother could teach a college course about Star Wars.”
Olivia considers that for a second, then nods like this is perfectly reasonable information and folds the map carefully back into her backpack.
By the time they pull up to the airport, Eli is humming steadily in the back seat while pushing his palms against Gabby’s shoulders from behind the driver’s seat, the pressure something he seeks when the world begins to shift too quickly around him. Gabby braces one arm casually so he has something solid to push against while she steers the car into the drop-off lane.
Olivia climbs out first the second the car stops, backpack bouncing against her shoulders while she stares at the massive glass building ahead of them like it might contain the entire future. Dani steps out beside her and lowers her sunglasses with dramatic ceremony.
“Okay,” she says, crouching down to Olivia’s level like they’re about to begin a mission. “Here’s the thing you need to understand about this trip. Disney World is not just a place.”
Olivia waits patiently.
Dani spreads her hands. “It’s a lifestyle. A philosophy. Possibly a competitive sport.”
Behind them, Gabby lifts Eli out of the car while he hums into her shoulder and murmurs without looking over, “Please don’t turn the airport into a motivational speech.”
Dani straightens up, unfazed. “I’m building anticipation.”
Olivia nods very seriously. “I feel very anticipated.”
Gabby shifts Eli slightly higher on her hip as he presses his face briefly into her shoulder, the familiar hum vibrating against her collarbone while she watches Dani and Olivia stand there like they’ve already stepped into some invisible spotlight.
The airport itself is loud in the way airports always are, sound echoing across polished floors while announcements ripple through the air overhead. Eli presses his hands against Gabby’s arms again while they stand in line at security, his humming rising and falling with the shifting noise around them. Gabby bends slightly so he can push harder, giving him the resistance he’s asking for without interrupting the slow shuffle of the line.
Dani watches them from a few steps ahead where Olivia is spinning slowly in place, reading every sign she can see.
“You okay?” Dani asks quietly when Gabby reaches her.
Gabby nods once. “He’s good.”
Olivia suddenly points toward the window where a plane is pulling away from the gate. “Is that ours?”
Dani squints dramatically. “That depends. Do you see Mickey Mouse painted on the side?”
Olivia laughs, and Eli hums a little louder as the engines outside begin to roar, the vibration traveling faintly through the glass wall beside the waiting area.
When they finally reach the gate, the morning has brightened enough that sunlight spills across the long rows of chairs facing the runway. Eli settles beside Gabby with his dinosaur toy in his lap, rocking gently while he watches the planes move beyond the glass. Olivia stands pressed against the window like she’s trying to memorize everything at once.
Every few seconds another plane rolls slowly across the runway, enormous and strangely quiet from this distance, and Olivia tracks each one like she’s cataloguing them for later.
Dani drops into the chair beside Gabby and exhales slowly, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Okay,” she says after a moment, turning her head toward Olivia. “Final question before we board the plane.”
Olivia doesn’t look away from the window. “What.”
Dani grins. “Are you ready for the most dramatic family vacation of your life?”
Olivia finally turns around, eyes wide with that huge, unfiltered excitement that belongs entirely to being seven years old.
“Yes.”
Gabby watches her daughter bounce back toward the seats, Eli humming quietly beside her while another plane lifts into the sky outside the glass, and she shakes her head slightly, smiling to herself.
The trip hasn’t even started yet, and already the rhythm of it is settling into place.