Between covert missions and extra training – and, of course, being a mom to a very active two year-old – Rose felt like she hadn’t been spending enough time with her adult children. Alex and Taisia had their own lives, their own training and working schedule here, and that could sometimes make finding time a challenge, but Rose still likes to catch up with her girls whenever she could. Sure, she’d just been able to spend some time with Tai on a mission, but it wasn’t the same as just hanging out and catching up on life and truthfully, she wanted to get together with both of them.
Lissa and Neal had finally narrowed down the date, so shopping for the wedding was the perfect excuse. Rose had no idea what she was going to get the couple for their big day, but she knew it had to be awesome. Of course, there was no way they could shop on an empty stomach.
Making her way into Snoozle, Rose grabbed a nice booth in the corner and ordered a round of mimosas and some bacon candy to start as she waited for her daughters to show up.
Walking in Taisia caught sight of her Mom almost right away and slid into the booth just as the bacon candy arrived.
“Oh! Bacon Candy!” She grinned popping one into her mouth before even greeting her mom. She was still chewing when she gave her a hug and slid into her seat.
“Alex isn’t here yet?” She asked, well, sort of asked and stated through a full mouth of bacon candy.
Rose laughed as Tai’s question seemed to summon her other daughter.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Alex said as she practically ran to the booth where her sister and mother were. She had taken a little extra time to get ready for the day of shopping and maybe she lost track of time.
“Don’t eat all the bacon,” she told Tai as she slid into the booth and grabbed a piece of bacon. Taisia just shrugged in response.
“No promises,” Rose chimed in as she grabbed some bacon for herself. She was sure Alex had grown up very used to the appetites of the three dhampirs in her family. Four here, thanks to Ivan, but as far as Rose knew, they didn't have him at home.
“Order whatever you want, it's on me,” she said, gesturing at the menus with her mouth full of bacon.
“Awww, Breakfast on Mom,” Taisia grinned and looked over at Alex. “Think we should get one of everything?” She teased.
“You two are the worst,” she chuckled, rolling her eyes a little.
Alex grinned and nodded. “I think we should,” she teased. “You two would probably eat everything.”
“Wow, hey, we would never,” Rose argued, laughing because they all knew Alex’s comment was probably accurate.
“Never,” Taisia agreed nodding her head before shaking it no. “But, really, I’m thinking waffles.”
Alex raised an eyebrow as if not believing her mother’s nor her sister’s words and laughed. “Waffles sound delicious. With bacon and lots of syrup.”
“Obviously,” Rose teased. “Who the hell orders waffles without bacon and tons of syrup?”
“Crazy people,” Taisia said as if it were just a world known fact. “Or I guess veggie only eaters.”
Alex rolled her eyes at her sister and mother. “Because being a vegetarian is so bad,” she teased. Not that she was one. Even though she didn’t eat nearly as much as them, she liked meat too much to give it up.
“So what have you been up to?”
Rose ordered the waffles and shrugged as she took a sip of her mimosa. “Training, Ivan, occasionally kicking some ass,” she answered. It was pretty much normal life in Atlantis. “What about you two. Any new guys I should know about?” she asked pointedly.
“I think you need to get out more,” she teased her Mom. Taisia just shrugged at the guys question. She wasn’t one to talk about it much, especially seeing as she wasn’t completely sure what was going on on that front. At least she wasn’t really sure. Instead, she looked over at Alex. “Alex was flirting with some guy with a man bun.”
“I agree with Tai. You definitely need to get out more. Go on dates with Dad, we’ll take care of Ivan,” she offered. “He was a very hot guy with a man bun,” she pointed out. “Man buns are sexy... Well, as long as the guy is hot. If not, it’s just creepy.”
“Hey, we do go on dates!” Rose protested, shaking her head. “Your dad definitely has a sexy man bun.” Well, usually more of a ponytail, but semantics. Besides, she was pretty sure they didn’t want to hear about how sexy their dad was. Payback for implying she didn’t have a life.
“He doesn’t do the hipster man bun and hipster beard Mom,” she rolled her eyes. “This guy that Alex was flirting with was full hipster.” Not that Taisia really cared either way, it was just fun to tease her sister. She let the sexy comment slide without mentioning it, merely just scrunching up her nose in response to it.
Alex raised an eyebrow at her Mom. “Training together does not count as a date, Mom,” she teased her. She took a sip of her drink and nodded. “And yeah, Dad’s no hipster. He’s got his own thing going on, but definitely no hipster.”
“It does the way we do it,” Rose argued, smirking again. It wasn’t like she and Dimitri didn’t actually go out sometimes, too. They did have lives, but sometimes a quiet night at home could be fun, too. Rose definitely had no complaints about her life here.
“Yeah, too much information,” Taisia shrugged, but in reality, she kind of agreed that training could be a really fun date. Not that she was going to say it right now.
Alex just shook her head and chuckled. “You guys are weird.” She grabbed some bacon and chewed on it. “So, where are we going after breakfast?”
“Probably the mall or the beach shops,” Rose said, shrugging. She wasn’t a big planner and hadn’t really thought that far ahead, but shopping was definitely on the agenda.
Taisia raised her hands, she wasn’t the shopper of the family. “I don’t know, what about that place that is blue something or other?”
“Blue City Threads?” Alex said. “It’s a really cute boutique. We can find some unique things there.” She obviously was the big shopper of the family. She could spend hours and hours shopping. When she first arrived, she’d made sure she hit all the shops even before Med School. Priorities first.
Rose nodded while she swallowed a mouthful of food. “Sure, we can go there first,” she agreed easily. All the shops in Atlantis were pretty good, so she was game for going to any of them.
“Alright, food, the threads place, food, and if we need to go somewhere else, somewhere else?” Seemed like a good plan to her.
“I think you forgot to add more food to that list,” Alex teased lightly. “But yeah, that seems like a good plan,” she said with a nod, grabbing her drink and taking a sip.