Marliza Soulmate AU

Chapter 8

Eliza was happy. It had come as a very sudden shock when she had realized trust she was truly content with Maria. Just being around her sent fireworks through her veins. She was truly amazing. They'd been dating for about seven months or so, and Maria still didnt know how to tell her that they were soulmates. She thought it would be kind of weird to bring up at this point in their relationship.

"'Liza, aren't we babysitting your niece later?" Maria asked, leaning against the table, holding her coffee precariously in her hand. The steam blew off into the air, and the rich aroma could was present for miles around, it seemed.

"Yeah," Eliza said, sliding her keys between her fingers pensively.

"We should probably go pretty soon then." She finished the rest of the cup, smacking it down with an audible bang. She walked over to the door, Eliza at her heels. Eliza locked the door, and they walked down the stairs. After realizing that they could afford a much bigger apartment together, the duo had purchased a small, though not unreasonably tiny, apartment on the second floor of an old brownstone in the outskirts of Brooklyn.

The first signs of Spring were present as the pair walked to the subway. Birds had just started to arrive back, and the first flowers of the year had started to bloom. The subway was nearly deserted, and the train arrived quickly enough. It was only about fifteen minutes to the Prevost-Schuyler household.

Maria rang the doorbell, and Eliza could hear someone slowly walking to the door. Angie arrived, holding Theo Jr. in her arms.

"Come in! I'm so glad you're here. Me and Theodosia haven't had nearly enough time away from this little rascal," they fluffed Theo's short curls, "in far too long."

"No worries, Angie, me and 'Liza will take care of Theo. You and Theodosia can stay out as late as you want," Maria said to a visibly relieved Angie. Eliza knew that her sister loved Theo, but she often said how much she needed a break sometimes. Really, Eliza couldn't blame her. She loved her niece, but man, that girl never seemed to stop moving.

"Thank you guys for watching Theo on such short notice. We were going to have Peggy watch her, but than she bailed."

"It's no problem," Eliza said with a smile.

"Ready to leave, honey?" Theodosia asked, stepping out of the bathroom. She held out her arm to Angie, who gladly took it. "Eliza, Maria, I left a list of stuff you need to know on the counter, it's nothing big. You have me and Angie's phone numbers, of course. Text or call us if anything' as wrong. We'll probably be back at about 11 or earlier."

"Yeah, 11 sounds about right. Bye!" Angie called as she and Theodosia left the apartment. Maria sat down next to Theo, and they started chatting about a picture Theo had recently drawn.

Eliza found the piece of paper on the counter. It was fairl easy, just that Theo had already eaten, that she was only allowed 30 minutes of screen time a day, and that she needed to be asleep by 9:00, since it was a weekend. All in all, Eliza thought that it might actually be a fun night.

It was a fun night. Theo convinced Maria and Eliza to let her have a cookie, the price being, of course, her silence and a cookie for all of them. They played Twister, which Maria was spectacularly bad at. She got her revenge though, when Eliza managed to spill an entire container of paint on herself. Well, it wasn't really revenge, but it certainly felt like it.

But now Eliza was completely worn out. She'd basically been chasing her niece for the past hour and a half straight. It was exhausting. Maria had agreed to let Eliza take a quick nap, if she agreed to be the one to put Theo to sleep later, which seemed fair.

Eliza had collapsed on the couch, not even caring enough to find a pillow. Maria was letting Theo have her half hour of screen time while she raided the fridge.

Eventually Theo must have gotten bored, so the pair devised a plan. They were going to draw all over Eliza while she slept. Eliza was sure it was completely Theo's plan, but that Maria had found it hilarious enough to set in motion.

They'd rummaged through the house until they had a collection of pens to rival any. There was every color of the rainbow, from red to purple to black, even to sparkly gold. There was really no plan to what would be drawn, or how it would be drawn, but one thing that was decided was that Eliza's cardigan was acting as a serious hindrance to any drawing attempts.

After carefully filling in Eliza's eyebrows with shimmering silver, as well as drawing a bright blue handlebar mustache, Theo slowly began to slip off Eliza's sweater. Slowly she eased off the first sleeve and than the other.

And that's when Maria saw the soulmark.