Work Text:
May 11th, 2007
While the sun was shining, and people were heading out to the beach to escape the spring heat, the Rainier household was staying indoors with the A.C. cranked up to the max.
While Tucker was eating some ice cream during his TV show marathon, Specs was lying on his stomach. Bored out of his mind.
As much as Specs didn't particularly enjoy the outdoors, he couldn't help but notice how great it looked outside. It had been raining outside for the past couple of days and they had to stay inside - due to Elise's constant worrying that they would get struck by lightening.
When Specs and Tucker had first met Elise the previous year, and she had offered them to live with her, it had been during the summer months and Specs had begged Elise to get them a swimming pool. Of course, Elise had told him no. Mainly because she had no room to put it anywhere.
As Elise walked out of the kitchen with their prepared lunch, she couldn't help but smile when she saw how bored Specs was.
Tucker seemed to be enjoying himself though. When Specs heard Elise begin to place down the plates on the dining room table, he went over and sat down in his seat - expecting to get her attention.
When she continued to place down the plates, he cleared his throat. Still no reaction. He tried again. Nothing. When Specs finally gave up, he heard Elise chuckling at his antics.
"Do you need a cough drop, Steven?" Elise teased.
"No, but I need something to do!" Specs said in defeat, as she began to serve their lunch.
"Go outside and play," Elise said simply.
"Yeah right, what am I going to do out there? Play with a stick?"
Elise rolled her eyes, and clicked her tongue at his response. "When I was younger, I would always look at the clouds and try to find shapes and animals in them."
"I'd much rather draw animals and shapes then try to find them in clouds," Specs said, with a mouthful of his sandwich.
By now, Tucker had already sat down and began to eat his lunch as well. "What is Specs whining about now?" He said, as Specs glared daggers at him.
"Specs has nothing to do for the day?" Elise asked questioning Specs for confirmation.
"Yeah. But I'm sure your having a grand time sitting on your ass all day and watching TV," Specs said bitterly.
"Actually I am having a grand time thank you very much."
"Boys, please," Elise said ending their argument immediately.
Specs and Tucker both looked at her apologetically, and continued to eat their lunch. It was then, when Elise came up with an idea.
"How about I take you boys to a place that I used to go to whenever I was bored," Elise suggested.
Both of them looked at her curiously, when Tucker said, "Are we going to the bookstore?" Tucker groaned.
"No, we are not going to the bookstore. Although, that is also one of my favorite places," Elise laughed, while Specs rolled his eyes.
"I will not tell you where we are going. But all I will say is, make sure you bring your swimsuit with you," Elise winked, as she walked into the kitchen.
Hearing this, both of them got excited, and rushed upstairs to fetch for their swimsuits.
.......
Once they were all prepared, the trio headed out the door and into Elise's 2005 Mazda.
As Elise began driving, Specs started to ask questions about their destination.
"Steven, I told you I couldn't give any information away," Elise teased.
"Why not?"
"It's supposed to be a surprise."
"Just a hint," Specs pleaded.
"Nope," Elise chuckled, as she looked in the mirror at a defeated Specs.
......
Half an hour later, and Elise had begun to approach the entry way to her safe haven.
"Were getting close, Steven," She smiled as she saw how excited he was. Tucker had already fell asleep in the passenger seat the moment they had left the house.
"TUCKER, WAKE UP!" Specs yelled, as Tucker jolted awake from his yelling.
"YOU'RE A DICK! Tucker said, pissed off that he was disturbed from his bear nap.
Specs laughed for a second, pleased with himself, only to be shut up as he was elbowed in the ribs.
"Boys, stop it," Elise glared at them.
It was then, that she approached the entry way into what appeared to be a field with a trail leading to somewhere.
"Were here," Elise smiled looking at her boys.
"This is it?" Specs said unsure that she didn't drive to the wrong destination.
"No, silly. This is only the beginning to where we are headed."
"What does that mean?" Tucker said curiously.
"It means we have to walk the rest of the way," Elise laughed as they both groaned at her response. "It'll be worth it, I promise."
They then all got out of the car, and Elise went to the trunk.
Seeing this, Tucker became frightened. "You don't have a shovel back there, do you?"
Elise laughed at his accusation, and pulled out a picnic basket and a blanket. "I don't think I can kill you with a picnic basket," She chuckled and shook her head.
Specs rolled his eyes, and they began to go down the trail, with Elise leading them.
As they walked, Specs didn't see anything to out of the ordinary. Just some tall grass, trees, and extremely annoying mosquitoes. But that soon all changed as they seem to have crossed some threshold of flowers. This wasn't any ordinary field with wild flowers, here and there. It was a complete surface covered in pink tulips!
"Woah!" Specs and Tucker said at the same time, as they both awed at the beautiful land before them.
Elise smiled at hearing there reaction. She looked at the gorgeous scenery, grazing the pink tulips with her fingertips. Memories played out before her of when she used to come here with Jack. 'Good times,' Elise reminisced.
A few minutes later they reached their final destination. "Wow," Specs mouthed, as he saw a humongous oak tree, hanging lazily over a glistening lake in the distance. It was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen in his life!
Specs was taken out of his trance as he saw Elise and Tucker walking toward the oak tree without him. He soon ran to catch up with them.
Once he had caught up, Elise had already began to place the blanket out onto the green grass, and soon sat upon it. She turned her head toward Specs as she saw him looking at what what was being played out before him.
"It's gorgeous isn't it?"
"It's amazing!" Specs exclaimed, as he turned to her, "We need to come here more often!"
"If you want, I will gladly take you here during the summer months."
Elise watched him, as he went a little towards the lake. "Well, what are you waiting for? Hop in!" She smiled.
Specs and Tucker grabbed their swimsuits and eagerly went to go put them on.
.....
Once they had came back, Specs saw that Elise's hand was grazing over a marking in the oak wood.
He approached her further, and saw that the carving had read, 'Jack & Elise 1961' with a heart surrounding it. He saw her eyes fill with tears, and her mouth turn into a bittersweet smile.
"Hey, Elise." Elise jumped at his voice, and quickly wiped her eyes. "Yes, Steven?"
"Are you ok?" Specs said quietly.
"I'm fine. Just reminiscing, is all," She said softly, following up with a smile. He then, hugged her and went up to a swing that had been hung onto a long oak branch.
"Jack made that for me, and he would always push me," She smiled. "Although, he would only use it as a way for him to jump into the lake faster."
Specs smiled, and decided to try it out. He sat down, and saw that Tucker had already began to swim in the lake. Before Specs started to swing, Elise took his glasses from him, and clipped them to her blouse. After going up and down for a few minutes, he gathered up his courage, and jumped from the swing. Screaming, he landed straight into the lake, with a loud splash following behind him.
Elise laughed, and clapped her hands at his bravery. "Tucker, it's your turn," She said teasingly.
"Yeah, I bet you can't make a better splash than me!" Specs said, as he splashed water in his face.
"You ass!" He screamed. He then did a huge tornado, and splashed it in his face.
Before Specs could have the chance to say something, he quickly got out of the lake, and got onto the swing.
Specs made sure he was out of the way before he would jump. 'That's all I need, a concussion,' His thoughts interrupted, as he heard Tucker scream, "OH, SHIT!" And soon land into the water, with a huge splash coming afterwards.
"HA! HOW ABOUT THAT SPECS!" Tucker yelled, as he came up from underwater.
Specs splashed him as his response, and they quickly began to enter a splashing war. With Tucker beginning to win of course. "Elise! Come in here, and help me!" Specs begged. Hearing this, Elise began to cheer Specs on.
"C'mon, Steven! You've got this! C'mon!" Elise chanted.
Hearing her chanting, Specs gathered all his strength, and did a tidal wave towards Tucker.
Elise clapped her hands and cheered at him, at the same time. "Yay! You did it, Steven!" She laughed, when Tucker threw his hands up in defeat.
.......
After they had both became tired of swimming, they came out of the water and sat beside Elise.
"I made us some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches," She said, as she opened up the picnic basket.
The boys took the sandwiches eagerly. As they ate their sandwiches, Elise told them about when she came here for the first time, and how Jack had even proposed to her here. It was a bittersweet moment for all of them.
"You boys think that this place is beautiful now, just wait until it becomes dark outside."
Hearing this, Specs became really excited! He had always loved space, and was very fascinated when he would see all of the stars come out at night. Tucker took this as an advantage to take a nap, so he was thrilled.
As they were waiting for the sun to set, Elise said that she had wanted the boys to follow her into the tulips field. Out of curiosity, Specs and Tucker followed her and sat down beside her, in a bed of pink tulips.
"What are we doing?" Specs asked, eyeing all the flowers surrounding them.
"I am going to be making flower crowns for us," Elise said, as she was beginning to pick tulips for the crowns.
As Elise made their crowns, Specs had tried to follow her steps on how to make one himself, while Tucker just lied there enjoying himself.
As Elise had finally finished her crown, she placed hers on top on her head, and smiled at Specs' attempt at making his own.
"Here, let me help you."
After a lot of mistakes, Specs had finally made his own crown, and placed it atop his head. He looked to his right, and saw Tucker looking at the sky with his flower crown on as well.
Elise smiled at her boys, seeing how cute they were with their flower crowns on, and reminding herself to take a picture of them before the day was over.
As the sun began to set, they all lied down onto the soft blanket, and watched as the sky slowly turned black. Specs could hear crickets chirping in the background, along with seeing the occasional firefly, glowing in the darkness.
"Wow," Specs said quietly, as he watched all of the stars begin to show. He had never seen so many stars at once!
"It's so beautiful," Elise whispered, as she looked into the dark, yet glowing sky.
They stayed in silence for a little while. Both too focused on all of the different types of stars.
"Look!" Specs pointed at a shooting star. He had never seen one before.
"Oh my," Elise mouthed as she saw the star.
"It's so amazing!"
A few seconds later, Specs said, "Elise?"
"Yes, Steven?"
"Thank you, for taking me here, and turning a day from being boring, to being a day that I will remember for forever."
"You're very welcome, Steven," Elise smiled when she heard Tucker snore. "You're welcome too, Tucker," She chuckled, as she softly patted his back.
Specs turned to look at the carving in the oak tree, and asked, "Do you mind if I?" Specs was cut off by Elise nodding her head. She handed him a knife that was in the picnic basket to cut some fruit.
He took it, and went over to the tree. "Steven?"
"Yeah?"
"I think you'll need this." Elise smiled, as she handed him a flashlight.
"Thanks." He took the flashlight, and Elise went back to her original spot, as he began to carve into the tree.
A little while later, Specs was finally complete. He read the carving, 'Elise, Specs & Tucker 2007.' He smiled, and headed back to the soft blanket.
On that day, they all realized that this safe haven was now not only Elise's, but it was now Specs and Tucker's as well.