Chapter VI - Severn Family

Chelsea came back to her home, parking her car, and carried the only food items she bought in the supermarket and not letting her gifts get seen by the two people inside her house.

She walked towards her doorstep and pushed the door for her to enter. She heard shouting from the living room. 'They must be watching a movie again' she said smiling at the thought.

"Noooo! Don't go there, Katie!" Rebecca exclaimed to the television in front of her. Chelsea went to the living room after she dropped the grocery down on the counter in the kitchen and decided to went to the living room to witnessed Tom and Rebecca's doings. She watched Rebecca and Tom getting into the movie.

"Bishhhhh, you try to kill yourself?" Tom said getting irritated with the main character. He rolled his eyes and spot her standing in the doorway.

"Chelll!" He shouted getting Rebecca's attention away from the movie and focused on her mother.

"Mommy!" her daughter exclaimed and got out from the couch and hugged her mother. "Where did you go?" Rebecca asked looking up to Chelsea, still hugging her. "When I woke up, Uncle Tom was the one who greeted me," she continued now backing away from her mother and looked towards Tom's direction with a frown displaying on her face.

"Are you implying that you didn't want your Uncle Tom?" Tom said facing Rebecca, pouting his lips and getting teary eyes.

"No!" Rebecca instantly exclaimed. "I'm sad that mommy wasn't here earlier," she admitted lowering her head.

"I left for grocery, hon," she softly said to her daughter. "Come here," Chelsea said opening her arms and Rebecca hugged her mother which Chelsea returned her favor. "I'm not going to leave you, alright?" she said raising her right hand to pulled back Rebecca's hair and looked at her daughter's eyes for her to see that she's telling the truth.

"I believe you, mommy," Rebecca replied which earned a kiss to her left cheek from her mother. While Rebecca and Chelsea began to talk, Tom left for them to have privacy. He walked to the kitchen and saw magical items on the counter.

"You bought new FOODS?!" he shouted not being able to control himself. In his outburst, Chelsea and Rebecca flinched.

"Let's get your Uncle before he faints," Chelsea said to Rebecca who agreed to her mother by nodding her head.

They walked out and saw Tom mesmerized by the grocery she had bought. Rebecca laughed at her Uncle's action while Chelsea was keeping her laugh inside. "I hope that you didn't get my fridge empty?" she said to Tom, acting stern to him.

"Umm, nope," he said, facing her with a hesitant smile.

"You sure?" Chelsea asked him raising her right eyebrow. Rebecca decided to leave for the adults and continued the movie she was watching earlier. Chelsea noticed this but she left her daughter to enjoy herself.

"Maybe... I ate half of it?" Tom said and shrugged both of his shoulders to tell her that he wasn't sure about his answer or he forgot about it.

Chelsea sighed and started to put her grocery in their respective place while Tom silently watched her. "Can you help me cook lunch?" she asked feeling Tom's eyes on her and faced him.

"Sure," he said in a simple manner and nodded his head.

While they were gathering ingredients, Chelsea started a conversation. "You know when I was at the mall, I happened to meet Michael," she began talking.

"Oh, your new friend," Tom commented on it, feeling hesitant to Michael being her new friend.

"Yes, and they invited you to their home for this Christmas, of course with me and Rebecca," she said ignoring her friend's doubt. "So, you wanted to come with us?" Chelsea asked him.

"Of course," he said smiled and thinking that he must guide and protect these two people from others.

"Well, that was quick," she commented on Tom's response because Chelsea thought that he might not agree with her and arguments will happen.

They continued their cooking silently until they had finished it and began serving it on the table. Chelsea called Rebecca for her to start eating. They enjoyed savoring the food and the day goes on.

Christmas Day

Chelsea knocked for the first time on the foreign door and on her back were Tom and Rebecca who was well dressed. When Michael chatted about their address she immediately informed Tom about it for him to know the information of the location to where they are going.

A well-dressed woman widely opened the door to see her visitors. "Hello, you might be Chelsea?" the woman asked.

"Yes, that's me," Chelsea said shyly to the woman

"Please come in, mom was excited to see you," the woman said stepping back for them to enter.

"I'm Nicole, by the way," she said to the guests.

"Nice to meet you, Nicole" Chelsea smiled politely to Nicole. "This is Rebecca, my daughter, and Tom, my friend," she said introducing them to Nicole.

"Are you Chelsea!?" a young man interrupted them, forgetting the proper manner in introducing ones' self.

"Yes, I am," Chelsea said still smiling even though she was getting tired of it. 'I seemed to be a celebrity in here,' she thought.

"Michael and mom always talk about you," the young man said to Chelsea with beaming eyes.

"Oh," she uttered getting overwhelmed by the attention and got a little bit red from realizing that they always talked about her.

"Doran, calm yourself," Nicole sternly said to her younger brother.

"Yes, Doran, you're making our guest nervous," another man said emerged from another room.

"But... I'm just excited about their visit," Doran reasoned to his older siblings.

"It's good to be excited but we must be always proper to our guests," the man said educating his younger brother. Doran nodded to them, understanding them, and left for them to talk and for him to patiently have his turn later.

"Sorry, about that," the man said while Nicole started to leave for her brother to have them entertained. "I'm Nelson," he said informing them of his name.

"Are you the one who accompanied Michael four days ago in the mall," Chelsea asked Nelson curiously. Tom decided to follow the young man named Doran with Rebecca to have someone to talk to leaving Nelson and Chelsea to converse alone.

"Yes," Nelson said shortly and started to walk towards their living room to have a more comfortable setting and sat than stand.

"Oh, Michael told me about that and I admire your kindness," Chelsea said smiling faintly at him.

"Mother thought us to treat each other with kindness and be considerate with them," he said looking thoughtful about it.

"May I ask, where Michael and Pamela are?" Chelsea asked changing the topic. She really was not great at small talk, she doesn't like it because it left her shy and awkward to the person she's talking to.

"They were cooking for today's lunch, if you want, you can go there," Nelson said informing their whereabouts and suggesting for her to join them. She nodded at him and left without a word. She noticed at the distance that Tom and Rebecca were having fun with the youngest brother of Michael and smiled at them.

She forgot to question Nelson about the location of their kitchen and decided to go back but then, she saw Nicole nearby and Chelsea decided to asked her instead of Nelson.

"Umm, Nicole, could I asked where the kitchen is located?" Chelsea asked politely which was gladly answered by Nicole and pointed in the direction of the place. "Thank you," she said and continued on her exploration of the Severn house.

Chelsea finally saw the familiar medium length curly hair of Michael and the familiar height of Pamela. "Lemon guy!" she shouted towards Michael and immediately hide behind a wall from his spying eyes.

"What did I told you, Sea?" Michael said smirking knowing that Chelsea hated that nickname.

"Don't call me that!" Chelsea said coming out from her hiding and showed her pointed gaze at Michael. She huffed and Michael laughed.

"Well, you started it," Michael pointed out while Chelsea just whined about it.

"Now, now, if you don't mind Chelsea?" Pamela asked holding a bowl that has different ingredients on it. "Can you mixed this while I prepare for making our dessert for the evening?" she continued asking a favor to Chelsea.

"I don't mind," Chelsea replied and went to Pamela to get the bowl for her to mix. They silently worked together and finished it as the time for lunch came. They gathered around the large table and presented the food they cooked. They sat all together and started to get to know more about the guest.

"So, you met Tom in your first book?" Nicole asked fascinated about their friendship and Chelsea nodded confirming Nicole's question. "That's wonderful," she continued complementing their strong friendship.

"Yes, I met this walking diva in his own office," with this all of them chuckled at her statement and exaggerating the word 'this' with her hands pointed at Tom. "And a very dramatic man, too," she continued earning another laugh from them while Tom was looking rather proud at it. "That's why I want Michael and Tom to get to know each other," she whispered shout at them, still able to hear her, and they laugh loudly than their previous.

"Did you hear that, Chael?" Nicole said teasing her young brother, elbowing him and having a twinkle in her eyes.

"One professionally and one naturally actors," Nelson commented a smile plastered on his face, clearly amused by Chelsea's conclusion of them getting the two mentioned people to get to know each other.

"That's what I also thought!" Chelsea exclaimed and the two of them high-fived each other at their same idea.

Michael and Tom were the only ones that were not laughing because first of all, they didn't like the idea of them getting close, and secondly, they don't like each other. They both have a dramatic frown and furrowed eyebrows looking at them.

"Cheer up you two, soon, you will be the bestest of friends," Nicole said to them, smiling widely and laughed when she saw the two faced each other and have a horrified face on them.

Rebecca was giggling while she watched how their communication played out and she was entertained by it. They continued to laugh, smile, entertain, and understand each other while they were eating until it was finished. They cleared and cleaned the table, putting their dishes in the sink where Nicole was going to wash. They stayed in the living room to find themselves something to entertain. They played cards and boards until they got bored and decided to just watch a movie. "What do you want to watch?" Nelson asked them.

"I suggest 'The Wizard of Oz'" Pamela said earning a nod from everyone in the room.

Nelson search for the title and played it to start. They watched it together and finished it. Rebecca and Doran were mostly amazed by it but the adults are just fine with it. Pamela decided to go to the kitchen to cook for dinner and for Christmas eve, noticing that evening will be coming.

Rebecca fall asleep after a while because of adrenaline and Chelsea asked someone for a bed for her daughter to sleep in. Michael helped her, showing their bedroom for the night for her and Rebecca. They came back after putting down her daughter on the bed. Since Doran also came back to his own room being bored with them, the adults were left chatting with each other.

"I heard that you're going to have a next project that will be published next year," Nicole suddenly said facing Chelsea. Nelson looked curiously at her.

"Ummm, yes, I already sent it to Tom and it was under editing," Chelsea said informing them with a smile.

"So, You're C. Hale?" Nelson asked her regarding her nickname.

"Yup," she said cheerfully.

"Michael had a full collection of your published books," he continued now smirking towards Michael who had a bit shade of pink on his cheeks.

"He said that he's a fan of mine but... wow," Chelsea said fascinated by the information she learned and looked at Michael with a smile but he was not directly looking at her.

"Chael, don't blush," Nicole commented making the others laugh and leaving Michael to blushed more.

"Stopppp," Michael whined to her older sister.

"Don't whine also, it doesn't suit you," she said laughing at her brother.

Pamela called them for dinner and all of them left the living room to eat the dinner for today. They let the children sleep, for them to get ready for the Christmas gift to be opened later. Chelsea's gift was in her car and later she will get it when the time's right.

'Pamela's cooking was just heavenly,' Chelsea said in her head. 'I'm sure that's the reason for Tom to behave nicely today,' she added. She felt a nudging to her right making her get back to reality and faced Michael with a furrowed eyebrows.

"What?" Chelsea whispered towards Michael.

"You're daydreaming," Michael answered her with a smirk on his lips.

"So what about it?" she asked getting irritated by him.

"Are we going to say the phrase 'what were you two whispering about?' even though we can hear them loud and clear?" Tom asked his left which was occupied by Nelson.

"No, let them be and we will just listen to them," Nelson said with a smirk. "Another entertainment for today," he added commenting on the situation.

"You might drool," he said sarcastically smiling at her which earned a glare from her. "Just warning you in advance," he continued.

Then Chelsea changed her expression to a smirk. "You want another experienced of lemon juice with my special ingredient," she said looking mischievous to him.

Michael looked horrified at her. He saw that she was slowly reaching for her drink which coincidentally contained lemon juice but he immediately reacted and grabbed her hand in front of the dinner.

"Michael, did I thought you to act like that?" Pamela said acting, joining their game, and obviously, siding with Chelsea.

"No, mom," Michael said pulling back his right hand and getting back to his previous position. "But, mom, she threatened m-" he said but he was cut off by another.

"Oh come on, Chael. I think she was just joking," Nicole said also riding the game.

They continued talking and joking with each other, having a great time together while they wait for Christmas Eve to come. Chelsea decided to get her gifts from her car and carried them, then placed them under their rather large Christmas tree. She also decided for her daughter to get ready for the near event that will happen later. She went to her and her daughter's bedroom went to Rebecca's right side and started to shook Rebecca.