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Birmingham, 1919
Charlie loved his niece, he really did, he saw her as his daughter. And he was very happy she was back home, he truly was. But god, he really wished she would leave him alone.
She had been talking his ear off from the moment he stepped into the yard. She had apparently left Nicholas' home long before even the sun was up, 'to make sure he and Curly had not killed Hatter and replaced him'. Those were the first words she had spoken to him, before she remembered to greet him, which she sweetly did. And she then went onto a full, in depth, summary of her travels.
She was still talking about Scotland, which were only the first months of her travels, and she had been constantly talking, for the whole fucking day, the sun had set, and she wasn't even halfway through her year.
"- flowers we decided on were these purple ones that looked bloody amazing, I've never seen anything like those ever before. And then we used some yellow flowers, that we climbed multiple trees to pick, and Nic fell from the trees so many times it was so hilarious. He just kept falling, and he made these noises every time he fell. You should definitely have been there Curly, and you too uncle."
Charlie rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time and sighed when he saw how invested Curly was in everything Isabella was saying.
Isabella drummed her fingers on her legs as she watched her uncle, she knew what she was doing to him, and she loved it. She knew he couldn't care less about flowers and every small detail Isabella had shared. She knew he wished she would finally leave, just so he could get a moment of silence.
But she also knew that he loved her too much to ask her to leave. And she found great amusement and enjoyment out of every eye roll, every sigh, and every time he would drag his hand over his face and shaking his head in exasperation. She just loved annoying people, and she hadn't been able to annoy her uncle for a year, she did after all have some time to make up for.
"But anyhow, back to the flowers. We made so many flower crowns with all the yellow and purple flowers we had picked and some blue ribbon we bought. And then we gave them to all the kids at the orphanage, they were so happy, very happy. But the crowns just kept falling apart because the yellow flowers made the crowns too heavy, so we had to pick many more purple flowers and make new crowns with only those, and the ribbons..."
Isabella kept talking as she sat on some crates, dangling her legs while she looked at her uncle and Curly carrying heavy looking crates onto a boat. She had offered to help, hours earlier. But after she dropped one of the crates she and Curly were carrying and spilled all its contents – which turned out to be several guns – she was picked up by Curly and placed on the crate she had been sitting on ever since.
