"Come on, Sharmie! Let's go!" A girl tugged younger boy's hand as they ran off their parents down the beach, as the younger child giggled after her.
Despite the fact they were extremely close... they were not biological siblings and only met few weeks prior the beach trip. The girl, Mabel, was currently being fostered by Sharman's family, but she already loved and enjoyed being with them.
The fact how little time Mabel needed to adapt to new surroundings surprised everyone, that included Pauline, the girl's social worker, but she was still that was the best decision that she could've made regarding the young girl.
Mabel quickly settled into the family routine. She would often help Filbrick with costumers in his shop, play along with Caryn's clients and turned out to be a great older sister for Sharman. Not to mention that her constant cheerful and upbeat attitude really felt like something that the family seemed to miss before the girl's sudden arrival.
This day was marking a month since the day of Mabel's appeared in the town and two weeks since the Pines started to foster her. Caryn and Filbrick decided to make a small celebration of this "anniversary" by taking kids on the beach for some family fun.
Right now, Mabel pulled Sharman into the edge of the sea, splashing the salty water into his face, as he tried to cover up. Both laughed from the rough housing with each other. They were only children still and they wanted to enjoy their summer, even if it had such a rough start.
It was when Mabel lifted her younger brother from the water into her arms, sending Sharmie into swinging his feet and hands, trying to get out of her hold.
"Aha! The sea monster got you!" Mabel exclaimed with a smirk on her face, much to Sharman's joyful laughter of their play-pretend horror.
"Hey, hey. Look at this!" A voice suddenly called from side, making the two kids look up.
Upon seeing the person, Sharman smiled and waved to them. "Hello, Mr. Trevor!" He said, while Mabel looked him over.
Mr. Trevor was an old man, probably closing his 80's, gray hair peeking from under his hat. His clothing was simple, consistent of gray pants, yellow rubber boots and black jacket with white shirt slightly noticeable from the unzipped bit. He stood on the edge of the sea, an old and aged sail boat next to him.
Sharmie wriggled out of Mabel's arms, before running to the man, who laughed fondly, gently ruffling the boys hair.
"Would ya look at this" The man said through his chuckle. "Little Sharman Pines... Looks like I've been away longer than I thought. Who's that young lady, kiddo?"
Sharman looked back and forth, as he called Mabel to him with his hand. Thorugh hesitant at first, the young girl walked over, watching the exchange between the man and her brother.
"Grunkle Ross, this is Mabel, she's my new sister!" Sharmie exclaimed, clinging onto the said girl's hand, who chuckled, waving to Ross.
"Hello, Sir." She said, though more shyly than her usual cheery self.
"Ah, I see." Ross smiled, nodding. "Well, if you're Sharmie's sister now, call me just Grunkle Ross. Put it there, Pumpkin."
Mabel looked between the man's face and his hand, before giggling and shaking his hand.
"Alright!" She said, before something came into her mind. "Grunkle?"
"Short for 'Great Uncle', kid. Saves time, and time is money." Ross shrugged, winking to the kids, who laughed at him, with a long 'Ooooooh' from Mabel.
"Grunkle Ross! Can we sail with you on your boat for a bit?" Sharmie asked
"We can?" Mabel's eyes widened at her little brother, surprised by the sudden question from him.
"Oh, why not?" Ross chuckled, before leaning towards the kids. "But you do know the rules, Sharman. You need to ask your parents first and if they say you can, than off we go!"
"I'll ask Ma!"
Sharmie then jumped off the boat's side, running off to where their parents were. Mabel was left alone with Ross. She was still nervous, but she couldn't feel one mean-spirited thing from him, Sharmie seemed to be close with him. Not to mention that, if Caryn and (maybe) Filbrick let him be with Sharmie alone, then they must trust him enough. She decided to try to go with their judgment, as she again looked over the sailboat.
"It's a nice boat you have..." She said with a light smile.
"Oh, thanks, Mabel." Ross smiled back. "Ol' Kaylee's been my loyal companion for last fifteen years..." He patted the boat's edge, letting out a sigh. "Too bad our paths will have to part soon..."
Mabel picked up on it, raising an eyebrow, tilting her head. "Why?"
"I'm old, Mabel..." Ross said simply. "I doubt I have much more time, before I'll go... and I have no one to take care of Kaylee, so I'm thinking of giving her to local fishing business..."
The man sighed, letting the situation sink with Mabel. Even if she knew this man for only few minutes now, she could see how much this boat meant to him from the way he spoke about it. And it's not mentioning Sharmie yet, who probably had so many cherished memories about sailing on that boat with this man. This would probably be hard to accept for both of them.
Unless...
An idea came into the girl's head, as she leaned closer to the man, starting to whisper something in his ear. As he listened to the girl's words, his eyes widened before it changed to a light smile. He moved from Mabel, smiling brightly and nodded, causing the child to squeal.
"I'M BACK!" A voice called from side, getting attention of two, when they saw Sharmie closing them. "Ma said we can-..." The boy looked between Mabel and Ross, confused by weirdly sentimental look on the old man's face and overly excited of his sister's. "What's going on?"
"Well, Sharmie..." Ross sighed, putting his hand on boy's shoulder. "You might have noticed by now... I'm getting old for sailing now."
Sharmie looked at him, nodding. "Yeah... I can see that..." He then giggled. "You're ancient!" And then something came in his head. "Wait... but what about your boat? What's gonna happen to it?"
"Kaylee... oh, this is a hard decision what to happen to her... she'll probably join the rest of boats on the fisher dock..." Ross sighed, taking off his hat. "Unless..." He looked up at the boy. "I can find a replacement for myself, one who will take great care of my old girl just as good as me, if not better..."
Ross smiled, handing the hat to confused Sharmie, who took it, starting to examine it. Mabel put her hand around her brother with same smile as Ross.
And then it came.
"What do you say, Sharman Pines?" The man started. "Do you want to take my place as the captain of the ship?"
Sharmie gasped, looking up. "M... me?" He asked, not believing what he was hearing. "Me?! Taking care of Kaylee!? To be her captain!?"
"Mabel suggested it, while you were off to your mom. So I thought of it... you know how to sail, have connection to her and I know you'll take great care of it." Ross smiled gently. "And, if I'm to leave Kaylee to anyone... I'd love this person to be you..."
Sharmie felt his eyes well with tears, before he wiped them away and put the hat on with a determined face.
"I'll do whatever it takes to keep your legacy." He said with a smile. "But..."
He then took Mabel's hand.
"I want Mabel to be a captain with me!"
Mabel looked at him surprised, but then laughed with a nod. To Sharmie, she always had a nice laugh. He loved hearing it.
"I'd be honored to be a captain by your side, Sir. Sharman" Mabel said, doing a bow, causing both kids to laugh.
It wasn't too long before the boat was back on the water with old man and two kids, who were hitting the air, chanting "Pines! Pines! Pines! Pines!".
And since that day, the boat bore a new carving, saying "M+S".
YOU ARE READING
Our Mother : Mabel Pines
Fanfiction(Heavily inspired by Mamá Mira/Papá Bruno reverse) She appeared out of blue. She didn't remember, where she came form. She didn't remember who she was, other than her name. All, she knew that she wanted to find her brother and go back home. But it l...
