Generations: The Long Game

The Meeting

The taxi came to a stop on the drive; the blonde opened the door with no notice to the fact that she was laughing far too loud for that hour of the day. Trying to swing both legs out at once, her foot caught as she tumbled to the ground. As the redhead came around the back of the taxi, she doubled over with renewed laughter. Her face turning red as she pulled and tugged at Siobhan trying to steady herself and bring the blonde back to her feet. Mia's strength failed her in this state as the blonde scrambled to her feet on her own. "Shhh! Viv is gonna kill us if we wake the baby." They continued to laugh as each stumbled across the pavements occasionally finding themselves ensnared in the bushes that lined the walkway. As they stumbled toward the door, the blonde rummaged through her bag searching fruitlessly for her keys.

"Oh, gimme the fucking thing. I will find them." The blonde glared at her as she snatched the bag from her arm. "You're as drunk as I am, you moron!" Mia feigned shock while pulling an imaginary dagger from her chest. The action caused the blonde to burst into laughter again as the redhead attempted to get the key into the keyhole. As they fell to the ground, Mia crossed her legs laughing. "If we keep laughing, I am going to pee my pants." As if she sobered on the spot, the blonde pushed the key and turned it. "Don't you fucking dare!"

Their laughter continued as they fell through the doorway as Mia scrambled toward the downstairs bathroom. Siobhan's laughter came out with increasing volume as she watched the redhead's hips movement become more exaggerated as she got closer to the door. As Mia disappeared behind the door the blonde's face sobered as if in deep thought. She turned and swung the door back opened. The keys still hanging from the knob, she attempted to pull them free when a movement caught her eye. Tucked just inside the closest bush was a piece of plastic tied up like a bow. She stood there for a moment, trying to understand what the specks of pink could be. As she turned, she came face to face with the redhead nearly bumping their foreheads together and causing both to fall back into laughter.

When they looked toward the door, there the raven-haired woman stood, arms crossed. Siobhan tried to straighten her face and shush Mia all at the same time which only served to cause the pair to bend over in laughter again. "Get in the house and be quiet you two! You've already woken CJ. I swear if you weren't in this state, I would make you lot rock her back to sleep. As it stands, I have a shot at maybe getting another hours sleep before I need to head to the hospital. Can't the two of you ever act your age?" The blonde hung her head and walked into the house obediently until the redhead spoke. "Uh oh! Shibby you aren't going to be able to come out to play anymore." As the two began to laugh again the dark-haired woman rolled her eyes. "Oh, for fuck's sake!" Leaving them to their own devices, Vivian padded back upstairs with a fresh bottle hoping to get the little blonde back down quickly.

Mia and Siobhan leaned agains opposite arms of the sofa as they became more sedate. "Did you see that plastic bow?" The redhead raised her head gazing blearily back at her friend. "What are you on about?" Rolling her eyes, she hoisted herself noisily from the sofa and disappeared back into the foyer. When she returned, she was met with the soft snores of the redhead. Placing the bow on the coffee table, she flipped the switch and stumbled up the stairs just in time to climb into Viv's arms as she settled back into the bed.

The following morning...

Mia continued to rub at her eyes trying to relieve them of the blurriness caused by the drinking and sleep. As she raised her head, she noticed someone had left water and paracetamol on the coffee table for her. "Viv you are a fucking goddess." The dark-haired woman had left for work hours ago but never failed to make sure the pair had water and pain relievers for the inevitable hangover when they stumbled in every few weeks. Her mouth was dry, and the water seemed to stick in her throat as she sipped it before attempting the tablets. She continued to try to blink the fuzziness away when she noticed the plastic.

Wrinkling her nose, she picked up the bow thinking odd that Viv or Shibby would do something like that. As she looked at it, she could see small bits of something inside each side of the bow. Her eyes went wide when the memory of the mysterious bags came back to her in the haze of her hangover. Pulling the cushions from the sofa, she searched for her cellphone. Finally finding it just under the sofa, she heard CJ begin to cry out as she tapped the message in the phone.

R and A: Would you both be able to meet me at Shibby's place in thirty minutes?

She splashed water on her face as she listened to the blonde clamber down the hallway for the little girl. She could tell by her footsteps that the blonde was feeling as rough as she was. The two met in the kitchen. As Siobhan busied herself preparing a bottle, Mia watched the little girl chewing on her fist as drool dripped from her chin. "Teething, huh?" The blonde nodded. "Yeah, she's had that fist in her mouth for a few weeks." Mia looked down at the little girl and tousled her hair. "That is okay, CJ. Your uncle Reecy has spent most of his life with his foot in his. Speaking of Reecy, he and Autie will be here any minute. Sorry to intrude, but I've asked them to meet us here."

Siobhan rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted when the doorbell sounded. She pulled the baby from the highchair and placed her on her hip as she made her way toward the foyer. The little blonde pulled her fist from her mouth and grabbed at the bottle with a small coo as they left the kitchen. She swung the door open and motioned for them to come in. "We were just in the kitchen if you want to come through."

As they entered the kitchen Mia's eyes went directly to the box in Reece's hands. "What's in the box Reecy?" His gaze turned to the redhead as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Well before my day with Marj and the children was rudely interrupted..." She kissed her teeth and raised an eyebrow before placing her hands on her hips and glaring at him. "I was making homemade glazed doughnuts, so I thought I would bring some along. Maybe help the two of you soak up some of that gin from last night." This time the blonde looked at him with annoyance. "I do not drink Gin." He shrugged and opened the box waving his hand in its direction to indicate they were welcome to eat them.

"Well, if you three are quite finished, I have three children of my own I would quite like to get back to. Can we get down to why we were summoned here?" Mia grabbed a doughnut and took a bite before returning to the island for the plastic. "I found this on their coffee table this morning." Reece and Autumn looked from the plastic to each other and then back to the redhead. "On the coffee table? Are we thinking this person was in the house?" Mia shrugged her shoulders before looking to Siobhan. "Shibs have you ever seen this before?"

The blonde stared at the bow a moment with her brow furrowed. She was trying to fish a vague memory from the night before out of her mind. "Oh now I remember. When I opened the door to retrieve the keys, I found it nestled in one of the bushes on the path." Autumn looked from Reece to Mia. "Siobhan are you sure that is where it came from? You hadn't seen it before then?" The blonde shook her head and shrugged. "No, I haven't seen it before. Do Viv and I really strike you as the arts and crafts type?" The brunette chuckled and shook her head. "But is it possible it is something Viv might have made with Jamie?"

Mia stepped closer and pointed at either side of the bow. "When the siblings looked down, they saw the little bits of pink dust before looking at each other. "So, our friend has been here now too." Autumn rolled her eyes. "Big brother I highly doubt leaving these bags around our properties is intended to be friendly." He rolled his eyes at her before looking toward Siobhan. "Until we figure this out, you and Viv should keep the doors locked even when you are up and about during the day. We don't know if this person or persons will attempt to enter one of our homes. We don't really know anything about them or why they keep leaving these plastic bags around our houses."

Autumn looked from Reece to Siobhan and then landed on Mia before she spoke. "Well, I think we might know a bit more now about why. I think given that we now have all found at least one bag on our property, it is fair to say that they are targeting us for one reason." The three looked at her before all four spoke simultaneously.

"Roger!"