Author’s Note: Just some pure silly fluff I had a random idea for while travelling.
Summary: Kaylee enjoys an all too brief moment of peace while on a family road trip.
While the car wasn’t exactly quiet, Kaylee wasn’t about to complain. At least the questions of “when are we gonna get there?”, complaining about and bickering over everything under the sun (including the sun), and incessant corn jokes (there’s only so many one can take when driving through the Midwest) seemed to have ceased for the time being.
As far as she was concerned, the family road trip was going about as well as she had imagined. But after several days in close quarters without much chance to get outside and play, the kids were starting to push each other’s buttons a little too well.
And while Seth did a gold medal job of coming up with full-family entertainment during the long hours in the car, there were only so many rounds of the alphabet game she could play without wanting to smack whoever invented the infernal game in the first place.
Since Kaylee was currently driving, her court jester of a husband sat in the passenger seat. As shotgun, it was his job to act as navigator and kid mediator when needed. However, considering the awkward angle at which his head was resting against the window and the soft, even whistling sounds emanating from his person, she assumed he was taking a well deserved break.
Glancing up into the rearview mirror, she took in the current state of her children.
In the far back row of seats, Vivi appeared lost in her tablet.The look of focus on her round face reminded Kaylee so much of Seth’s ‘determined writer’ expression she felt her breath catch. Dirty blonde curls bounced freely as the teenager bobbed her head up and down to the beat only she could hear via her headphones. Kaylee could barely make out the gentle tap-tapping sounds of the stylus on the screen and assumed the little music goddess was busy writing yet another song for the album neither she nor Seth was ready for her to record.
Also in the far back, separated from his eldest sister by a bag of snacks, sat the baby of the family, Henry. Like Vivi, he donned headphones and was staring intently at the tablet in his lap. His single dimple made a brief appearance when he grinned brightly and let out the melodious giggle which always seemed to warm Kaylee from the inside out.
“Don’t trust the squirrel, Daddy, he’s nuts!” Henry’s tiny voice cried before he dissolved into a fit of giggles once more.
Kaylee had to swallow the snort of laughter that threatened to burst through. No matter how many times they explained that the animated bear on the screen, which happened to have daddy’s voice, wasn’t actually named Daddy, Henry didn’t seem to grasp the concept.
In the two seats directly behind Kaylee and Seth, the twins, Amelia and Fiona, were both equally transfixed by their own forms of entertainment. Amelia’s bright blue eyes were glued to her sketchbook , her pen flying effortlessly across the page. Kaylee was sure that by the time they stopped later tonight, each of them would have a brand new ‘Mia Original’ for their road trip art collection.
Fiona, Amelia’s carbon copy (though only in appearance), had somehow managed to figure out the art of sitting cross-legged in her seat. With her long blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun and her new wide-rimmed teal glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, Nona looked every inch of the stereotypical nerd she was quickly becoming. The worn copy of The Hobbit she almost literally had her nose in at the moment only managed to act as further proof of her nerdiness.
Not that Kaylee and Seth cared one bit. They loved all their kids with every last cell in their bodies, no matter what their passions in life turned out to be.
As she turned onto a quiet county highway, Kaylee smiled to herself. When she met Seth nearly twenty years ago, she’d had a feeling he’d become an important part of her life. But she never would have imagined just how amazing, if not ridiculously chaotic, her life would become.
They’d been through countless highs and lows together, managed two demanding careers, and were raising four beautiful children together, not to mention the small zoo of pets they’d collected over the years.
There would always be a place in her heart for her hometown in Iowa. But for her, moving to LA where she was able to pursue her dreams – and happend to meet and fall in love with the dorky love of her life- had been the best decision she’d ever made.
“Oh my God! Baby cows! They’re so cute I could just eat them up! Well…not literally… Did you guys see them?!” A giddy voice proclaimed, bursting Kaylee’s bubble of inner-reflection.
Her eyes still peeled on the road ahead, Kaylee raised her eyebrows as high as they could go.
“I thought you were sleeping,” she directed towards her clearly awake husband.
“I was until about a minute ago. And then…baby cows!” He replied.
“You’ve seen calves before, Seth.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t revel in their cuteness every time I spot them.”
“Awww, I love baby cows! Where are they?! Can we pet them!?”
“As far as ruminants go, they are pretty cute. But I prefer baby sheep. They’re just so fluffy! “
“Momma I missed them! Go back! I wanna see the baby cows! Momma momma momma, turn around!!”
“UGH! Can you keep it to a dull roar, PLEASE!? I can’t hear myself think!”
The car exploded into a jumble of noise and activity as Seth and the kids launched into overlapping discussions and arguments.
Yup, this is the life, Kaylee thought as the usual pandemonium raged around her, who needs sanity anyway?
-The End
