Mohan learning how to deal with siblings, specifically brothers and how much they eat, while spending time with Walsh. Literally never in all her years has she seen the amount of food they can put away while taking over a kitchen after rough housing or playing ball.
Emery fighting for her own while her mom tries to explain it all the best she can to samira
mowalsh my eternal loves (I’m assuming this is based off my Walsh Fam post)
samira could confidently say, without much need for definitive proof, that she hadn’t spent this much time with this many men since med school.
emery’s brothers aren’t rough per say, at least not with her, emery makes sure of that, but they’re boisterous enough that she’s amazed how none of them have put each other in the hospital yet.
“they have once or twice,” emery’s mother, ingrid, says as they dish lunch out into three separate bowls across a long bench table in the backyard. “I think the worst one was when danny nearly shattered emery’s knee in a football tackle. god, i remember she nearly fainted.”
samira knows the injury well, had seen how it sometimes gave emery grief in the OR when she’d been standing for too long or how it twinged when they were out on a hike. she smiled gently, watching the five of them out in the field. it certainly wasn’t bothering her right now.
they’d split their game into two teams; danny and warren on one side, jamie, emery and sonny on the other. they were all already suitably dirty, something else that made ingrid smile.
“I cannot tell you how difficult it used to be to keep five rowdy teenagers in line at the dinner table when they’d spent an entire afternoon out there, getting dirt all over each other. hence, my system with the table,” she gestured to the food, which had been arranged in a buffet sort of style rather than a sit down meal. “so much easier to deal with and so much easier to clear up after. I wish I could tell you they’ve gotten better as adults, samira, really but…well, that’s one wish that hasn’t come true yet.”
samira laughed gently. she herself was used to strictly sit down meals, where she had to remember her manners and make polite conversation about whichever research she’d been studying or if she’d found a boyfriend yet or what her thoughts on the current state of affairs were. it had been mind-numbingly boring.
with the walsh family, she didn’t have to do any of that.
with them, she could simply help herself to a bowl of macaroni cheese and watch the world go by if she wanted to.
mostly, anyway.
despite emery’s firm presence at her side, the walsh brothers were still determined to win samira over and after being forcibly sat on the other side of the table by emery, they fired a million questions at her all at once.
“are you a lesbian?”
“when did you meet emery?”
“what do you see in emery?”
“have you ever had your eyes tested?”
“on a scale of one to ten, how much of a lesbian are you?”
“you know, I earn way more money than emery.”
samira had held up a hand to stop them talking, but mainly to stop herself from laughing. she looked at them. they were all picking at their food, looking back at her with amused, easy expressions, like kids in a candy store, not an ounce of judgment or prejudice on their faces.
despite how overwhelming they were, samira found them unbelievably sweet.
she began to answer their questions, one at a time.
“firstly no, I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual. secondly, I met emery at work about three years ago and what I see in her, ooh, tough one. everything good, I guess. and everything bad. yes, I get my eyes tested every year and in terms of scale, I have no idea, I just know I have a strong preference for your sister, if that’s anything to go by. and money doesn’t matter to me, your sister’s happiness does.”
the brothers stared at her. then sonny, the youngest, snorted into his beer.
“that is the gayest thing I have ever heard. no wonder emery likes you.”
the others laughed, even as samira blushed slightly. emery, however, squeezed her hand and pressed a kiss to her partner’s cheek.
“good answer, babe.”
her thumb pressed into samira’s knuckles, as if it were an extra reminder to say i’m here I love you.
fighting down her reddened cheeks, samira squeezed right back.
