Closer 2

54.

"I'm gonna miss you so much," Eddy whined, hugging his sister at the airport. "And Elise will too. Please come home soon."

Brett stood a bit in the back with their suitcases, holding their daughter. It seemed at least that their anniversary trip had gone okay, with Eddy getting to see his sister like he wanted. And they'd have another kid because of it too, which he tried to make himself feel some happy feelings about. The only thing about it that made him feel good about it was the memory of Eddy's smile the moment he had said okay to having another kid.

"I'll come home soon, okay? Promise," Belle said, still holding Eddy in a tight hug. "Please promise me to video call with Elise so she won't forget me."

"I promise," Eddy mumbled, slowly detangling himself from the hug and turning to Brett and Elise. "You wanna say bye-bye to Auntie, babygirl?"

Brett lifted Elise off his arm, hakding her over to Belle who hugged her and rocked her slightly.
"Oh babygirl, auntie loves you so so much okay? I'll see you soon," she said sadly, not loosening the hug before she heard sniffles next to her ear. When she pulled back so Elise was sitting on her arm, she saw the big sad koala eyes and the stream of tears.

Brett's heart broke a bit upon seeing his daughter so sad, and he moved over to Eddy for comfort. Thankfully, Eddy placed an arm tightly around his waist.

"Oh baby, don't cry," Belle said, getting all teary eyed herself. "I'll see you ok? On video call. And Auntie will come home for the holidays too."

Elise just looked at her with the saddest eyes the world had ever seen for a bit before hugging Belle again.

Eddy was unfortunately the one who had to break the two girls apart.
"We... We really gotta go check in and stuff now," he said quietly, licking his lips. Belle looked up at him and nodded slightly, moving to hand Elise back over to Brett.

The shriek that came from Elise the moment Belle stepped back made Brett honestly consider if they should just move in with Belle permanently. Nothing was worth making Elise this sad.

"Bye-bye, babygirl. I'll see you, okay?" Belle said, giving a wave and a smile to her despite really wanting to cry like she did. She loved her little niece so much.

Elise wasn't having any of it, though, kicking and screaming right next to Brett's ear the whole way through the security queue, all the way to the gate. She didn't stop until they sat down at the gate to wait the last thirty minutes before boarding. At that point she had finally exhausted herself and fallen asleep.

Brett hugged his sleeping daughter tightly to his chest, rocking her back and forth gently. His poor little baby.

"She okay?" Eddy asked quietly, reaching out to carefully brush her bangs sway from her face. "I didn't think she'd react this badly to going home. I honestly didn't think she'd understand much of what was happening."

"I don't know," Brett mumbled quietly, still holding her tightly. "She understands more than we think. I just hate seeing her this upset."

"She's our baby, of course you don't like it," Eddy said, pressing a kiss to Brett's forehead. "We'll call Belle in Dubai so she knows Auntie isn't completely gone, yeah?"

"Yeah," Brett agreed, resting his head on Eddy's shoulder. Elise hsd exhausted him too.