Joy giggled happily as she finished her ice cream. This was the best weekend ever! Not only were all her uncles here, she also spent time with them, they ate dinner together and now they ate ice cream together, this was the perfect Friday night.
"Mhmm, I love this ice cream so much." Lulu said licking the bowl.
"Of course you do, now who's the glutton?" Charlie scoffed at her while she ignored him.
Joy rushed into the kitchen to drop her bowl then she rushed back into the living room and continued to watch her tv.
"There's nothing better than lovely vanilla ice cream with some caramel." Michael smiled, he mixed it all together turning the white colour into one of pale brown.
"You know, that colour reminds me of something." Charlie said as he peeked into Michael bowl.
"Yeah? What?" Michael asked.
"Beef stroganoff." Charlie said as they all began to laugh.
"You know what, now that you say it, it's true, it does look like beef stroganoff." Michael chuckled.
"Natasha, do you remember that time when grandfather, aunt and uncle went out for a business meeting and they asked your dad to look after us for a weekend and he did but he happened to be so busy that weekend that he didn't stock the fridge, he didn't buy any groceries, we ran out of food and toilet paper and we had to make do with what we had." Charlie said.
"I told you, I told you, once Charlie heard beef stroganoff, he would remember that story, I just knew that he would." Dom laughed.
"Honestly, that had to be one of my most important memories from my home." Natasha laughed.
"I loved your house so much, it was always fun when we came over, you always had the newest toys, the coolest games." Michael laughed.
"That's because I was an only child and I had no one to share with." Natasha said.
"Which is a good thing, I can't imagine it if I was the only child." Charlie fantasized.
"It sounds cool in reality, but it's really lonely to be honest, that's why I always loved it when you guys were around, you always played with me, invited me to your games." Natasha smiled.
"I loved that we grew up together." She had to admit.
"Awww, that's so sweet Natasha, we are glad that we grew up with you as well, or at least I am." Michael smiled and Natasha smiled at him.
"Michael's right, I'm glad we did grow up together, you're like my sister." Charlie smiled.
"Thank you Charlie." Natasha smiled at him.
"You were always cool to be around, you are always cool to be around." Nine said and she smiled at him.
"I have to agree, you were always ready to play, always adventurous and most importantly you didn't cry unnecessarily when you got hurt, you fell down and got right back up." Dom said as Natasha turned to look at him.
"Aha! I knew it, that's the real reason you guys never treated me like Natasha, you guys never let me hang out with you the way she did." Lulu pouted.
"Yeah, of course, apart from the fact that you were way younger than us, you were also the dainty little princess that must never get hurt no matter what." Dom said.
"Hey, that isn't true." Lulu frowned.
"Yes it is, so true, I remember that one time when you went out with us to the park, you fell and grazed your knee, you started to cry and bawl, aunt came rushing out asking what was wrong and we all got scolded for not watching you well enough." Charlie laughed.
"You make it sound like I was a burden." Lulu frowned.
"Yes, but you were a cute burden." Dom chuckled as Natasha hit him and frowned at him.
"Ouch." He said surprised she did that.
"Don't mind him Lulu, you were never a burden, you were always fun to be around, when you were little you used to follow me everywhere and you used to copy me and you wanted your hair to be like my hair, you were like the little sister I never had, you still are." Natasha smiled.
"Aww, now that's what I want to hear, thank you Natty." Lulu said giving her a hug.
"You're welcome, don't mind the guys, they are just being annoying as usual." She shook her head at them.
"Hey, you can't blame us, it's not our fault we love differently, we will admit she was a burden, but who else would we want to be burdened by if not our own delicate princess?" Charlie asked as Lulu stuck her tongue out at him.
By nine pm, Joy was knocked out cold on the carpet, no one knew when exactly she fell asleep, but clearly she was deep asleep considering she did not even wake up with all their loud laughs and jokes.
"Looks like someone finally run out of energy." Dom chuckled as he carried her.
"She's such an angel when she's asleep." Charlie said as Natasha smiled and got up as she gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"Oh please, don't be fooled, right now she looks so peaceful, but during the day she's so filled with energy that I wonder where she gets all of it from." Lulu groaned as Charlie and Michael chuckled.
"That's the truth, she can be so energetic that I wonder if we feed her too much." Nine said as Natasha laughed.
"You all just leave my baby, she's allowed to be as energetic as she wants, you're only young once." Natasha replied.
"I'm going to go put her to bed so we can move the table and start playing." Dom said as he walked out of the room.
"Finally, g-night is about to officially begin." Charlie said.
"It's not going to catch on." Dom shouted from the stairs while Michael laughed his head off and Natasha, Lulu and Nine shook their heads.
"It will, it will catch on, just you wait!" Charlie replied.
"You just don't give up do you?" Michael turned to him and asked.
"No I do not and that is a good thing." Charlie replied.
"I'm not so sure it is." Michael responded.
"Nine, please come and help me move the table." Natasha said.
"Sure." Nine responded as he held the other side of the table and they carried it closer to the couch he, Charlie and Michael had been sitting on.
"I'm going to get the board games, which one should we play first? Don't worry, we'll just decide when I bring them all out." Lulu said as she rushed to her room.
"Well she seems to be really excited for game night." Michael said.
"I know right, she was really happy when her brother agreed to a game night." Natasha smiled as she removed all the decorations on the table and kept them on the shelf.
Nine, Charlie and Michael looked at each other and then at her.
"How long are you going to continue to not call Dom by his name?" Charlie had to ask. That was the question on all their minds.
"What do you mean?" Natasha feigned ignorance.
"Oh come on Natasha, you know what we mean." Charlie replied.
"What Charlie is trying to say is you and Dom are no longer fighting, so we just thought that you would go back to using his name to refer to him." Michael took over before Charlie said something with his big mouth.
"Yes, it's true that we are no longer fighting, but there are just some things that cannot go back to how they used to be." Natasha said, she wasn't offended by their question, they were friends and she had forgiven them all, so she owed it to them to at least explain why she did not feel the need to call Dom by his name.
"Are you really sure that they can't?" Charlie asked.
"I'm sure, or maybe I'm not just in that place yet, but he doesn't complain." Natasha said.
"I know, but isn't it like hard sometimes to avoid using his name?" Michael asked, he sounded worried more than anything.
"It's not hard for me, maybe because I'm used to doing it for so long." Natasha laughed.
"We're just worried that maybe it's not healthy for you to be doing that, maybe you need some more time to deal and talk about your feelings, we just don't want you to still feel bad." Nine chipped in, he sounded sincerely concerned.
"Yes, Nine is right, we worry about you." Michael said as Charlie nodded.
"And I'm glad that you do, it means a lot to me, it really does, but I'm fine, really I am." Natasha smiled.
"Well alright, if you say so, we don't want to sound like broken records." Charlie said.
"You guys are not broken records, thanks for worrying about me." Natasha smiled. "It means a lot to me." She said sincerely, it felt good to finally have her friends back.