[Talia/Claire/Dalton] Don't Be A Hero

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan ran his hand over his hair as he watched the TV screen. He’d waited to watch Two and a Half Men until he was back in the states and with Natalia so it had been on his DVR which they had just finished watching. “ That bathing suit went any lower and they would have needed to charge people to watch this” he said slightly annoyed. It wasn’t her fault. She was a pretty gal, of course they were making her a sex object. Seeing as how it wasn’t worth getting into a fight over, and not that he would expand his feelings on it any further anyways, he cleared his throat and threw the remote down, angrily staring at the TV as a teaser for Anabelle’s new video ‘Blown Away’ came on the screen. “ I get you and Claire work with her, but I don’t have to like her” he said matter of factly before he changed the channel to something else – anything else. Just like that he heard the doorbell to his place and looked at Natalia, wondering if it was Claire or Dalton first before he made his way over to the door to answer it. He sighed out of relief to see that it was Claire first. “ You brought my little guy” he said as he smiled instantly and reached forward to take Brayden out of her arms. “ Yeah I thought it would be nice for him to get a chance to see his aunt and un-“ she was saying but Ethan gasped and loudly interrupted her. “ What in the HELL are you wearing?!” he questioned her in frustration.

Ethan lifted his eyebrow at Claire as she stared at him blankly, blinking with confusion to what he seemed to be asking. ‘…..Clothes’ she said as though she wasn’t sure if that was the right answer or not. “ What the hell is on your shirt” he said while keeping his eyes locked on her. “ It’s Lynyrd Skynyrd Ethan… It’s a rock band..” she said, looking at him like he had lost his mind. “ Not just any rock band. It’s a southern rock band. Nothing southern related. I’m not kidding. Get your ass upstairs, I’m sure Talia has a shirt here you can borrow.” he said, tilting his head up to the stairs. “ Are you kid-“ she started off again, “ Clarissa Jayne Fox, upstairs!” he said before he moved one arm away from Brayden and pointed upstairs. Ethan watched her waiting for Claire to go upstairs before he looked down and realized that he was holding Brayden without the mother around. What if he needed something. Ethan looked over at Natalia, looking her over for a minute before he smiled and held Brayden straight out towards her. “ Wants to see his future aunt” he said, holding him out with his hands under his armpits.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

Claire looked at Ethan with her mouth slightly open like he had lost his damn mind. But instead of fighting him on it – cause he was half fucking insane- she put her hands up and looked at Talia. “ Good to see you honey” she said before giving her a hug and then turned to the stairs and made her way up to Ethan’s room. She dug through the drawers as quickly as she could until she found what looked like a fitted Henley shirt that belonged to Natalia and took her own shirt off, throwing it on the ground before she changed. After standing there for a moment she reached up, putting her hair up into her trademark loose ballet bun before she came back downstairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she rolled her eyes, listening to Ethan as he sulked “ You look so much like her, you’re lucky I let you through the door. Guarantee that Dalton would rather see me than you” he said before pointing at his eyes and then Claire. “ Talia.. Two and a half men was SO funny last night. I mean your episodes are probably the only ones I’ll ever watch, but that was some really really funny stuff. I see your fiancé wimped out and handed over his nephew,” she said before rolling her eyes at him. “ Besides we all know that Dalton loves me more than he loves you” she said, glaring at him. “ Does not,” Ethan said just as shocked. “ Does to!” she yelled out before they both stopped to look at the door when there was a knock.

Claire looked from the door to Ethan who was just standing there staring at it. “ Get it…” she said, reaching over to nudge her hand against the side of Ethan’s leg. “ You get it…. He might be in a bad mood” Ethan said, staring blankly at the door. Suddenly they both turned and looked at Natalia. “ You answer it, you’re holding the baby. That’ll soothe him either way” Claire said while nodding. Besides, she was already lying to all of them about being married to Shane. And when she felt guilty about things she just started confessing everything. That was sort of the last thing she needed to blurt out. ‘ Hey guys I’m mar-‘ she started thinking in her head sarcastically and then stopped dead still. Claire lowered her hands behind her back, taking her wedding ring off of her finger before she slid it onto her middle finger instead. Claire looked back up at Talia, offering a small smile before she pushed her hand against her back to nudge her towards the door. She turned her head to glare at Ethan, whispering beneath her breath. “ I do not look like her. Everyone says that. She looks like me”. Ethan turned to look at Claire. “ You LIKE her” he said with an accusing tone in his voice. “ I don’t dislike her.” she said before yelling at Ethan because he punched her in the arm. “ You asshole!” she yelled, turning and punching him in the collar bone. “ Ow!” Ethan said before pinching his thumb over her collar bone and bending his knuckle out to pop it against the side of her arm.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

It was a little weird watching herself on TV. Natalia never got use to that. Even when she was on Hannah Montana, just seeing yourself on TV was a bit strange to her. Being on Two and A Half Men was a lot of fun and it was actually funny for her to watch. She hadn't seen the entire episode yet and she was watching it for the first time with Ethan. Natalia played with the bun ontop of her head as she remembered what they had to do to her hair just to get it all under that wig. It took hours of work. Natalia smiled and then kissed Ethan on the cheek when he commented on her bathing suit. Yeah that was a sexy scene, she gave him that. She was a little hesitant to do it at first, but it was what the producers wanted so it got done. It could have been much worse in her opinion. "She really is a sweet girl, but I get why you don't like her..That is a great song though, you gotta give her that." Anabelle meant well with everything she did, things just didn't work out. Everything happens for a reason. The doorbell rang and Natalia smiled and shrugged when Ethan looked at her. She was hoping it was Claire, she'd much rather see her face first instead of Dalton's.

When Claire walked in, Natalia smiled and stood up to hug her."Good to see you too." she smiled and sat back down, kicking off her slippers and pulling her legs up to sit indian style. "Nothing southern huh? What about me? I'm southern, do I have to go too?"Natalia joked. She laughed when Ethan passed Brayden off to her. "Auntie will gladly take you." she said as she kissed the little guy. Natalia leaned back on the couch cushion and just looked down at Brayden in her arms, he was so precious and perfect. Natalia looked to Claire as she heard Ethan saying something to her. "Thanks girl. I had a lot of fun filming it. They told me I had to talk a lot and y'all know that when I get going I don't shut up so it was easy for me. You get to see me on one more episode this season. I'm looking forward to it." Natalia stood up and stepped into her slippers as they told her to get the door, "Jeeze. I'm sure everything will be fine." She walked over to the door and opened it while holding Brayden. "Hay Dalton." she said with a smile. "Hey..they got you answering doors now?" Natalia closed the door behind him and just smiled, "Yes sir."

outfit

[Dalton James Fox]

Dalton smiled and just headed into the living room, pulling his jacket off. It had been a rough week, but everything was starting to look up. He stopped in tracks and looked down at Talia when they walked in on Claire and Ethan fighting. Talia just shrugged and he shrugged back. “Enough you two.” He said as he headed towards them. “I don’t want to have to separate you and put you in separate corners.” He hugged Claire and gave her a kiss on the head, “I’ve missed you. You never come visit me anymore.” He gave her a small shove and then wrapped her arm around Ethan tightly and gave him a noogie. “Ethan..” he said as he let go, “Got a nice tan going on mate. How you liking Hawaii?” Before Ethan could get him back, he took Brayden from Natalia, “Got the baby, no rough housing.” He sat down at the table and put Brayden in front of him. “This kid’s smile can brighten anyone’s day.” He said as he ran his hand gently across Brayden’s cheek, just smiling down at him. “He looks so little in your arms.” Natalia said with a small laugh. “He does, doesn’t he?” After a few minutes of holding him, he gave him back to Natalia.

“So what do you guys think about the hair? You loving it, hating it?” He asked as he took his hair out of the small ponytail it as in. It was weird for him to have long hair. All his life his hair had been short, now after months of growing it out, it was almost shoulder length. Why couldn’t they just give him a wig? “Speaking of hair, Talia…whoa. I was a little worried last night when I saw your hair. I almost called up Ethan asking what the hell was going on. But now I see it was just a wig.” Natalia smiled, “What, you didn’t like it? I was thinking of cutting it that way…” Dalton shook his head, “Do what you want…Ethan, what do you think?”

outfit

[Ethan John Fox]

“ Yeah but you’re a member of the family. Your southern doesn’t stick out.” Ethan said while making a face. “ Bros before hoes” he said matter of factly, punching Claire roughly in the arm again. “ I swear to God I will make you infertile” Claire said through clenched teeth. Ethan looked up as Dalton told them to knock it off, and pushed Claire one more time as he took a step away from her to let Dalton hug her and give her a kiss on the head. “ Yeah Hawaii is great. Filming should be done in a couple weeks I’m hoping… at least, my part is. Dan and Meredith have to stay longer than I do. I’m not a big shot,” he said with a slight smirk before he leaned over and gave Ethan a loose hug, patting him on the back. He ran his hand over his hair, annoyed with the noogie and went to punch him in the arm before he saw Brayden in his arms. “ Gotta put him down sometime, mate” he said before faux glaring at him. Ethan smirked as Natalia noted how small Brayden looked in his arms and watched Dalton with him. Honestly he hadn’t seen Dalton like this with kids ever, but considering it was his nephew it probably made him a little more sentimental. “ Claire show you the Thor shirt she got him?” Ethan asked as he picked up his can of Red Bull and sat down on the edge of the couch.

Ethan looked over at Dalton as he took his hair out of the ponytail and gave a slight shake of his head. Where was that straight laced guy. “ You look like a hippie,” he said lazily before he reached forward and set his drink down. He looked down at Natalia as Dalton started talking about her hair from the show. He leaned back so he was behind Natalia as Dalton questioned him and scrunched his nose up while shaking his head before he leaned down to kiss Natalia on the top of the head. “ She’d look beautiful no matter what she did,” he said before leaning down to wrap his arm around her shoulder. “ But your hair won’t look like that when you’re my best man…right. I mean you can cut it. Why couldn’t you wear a wig?” he questioned before he leaned down, subconsciously twirling Natalia’s ring around her finger.

[Claire Jayne Madden]

“ Guys Talia would never cut her hair past what I did to her a while back” she said as she watched Brayden being passed back and forth. After Natalia got to hold him for a little bit longer she made her way over and reached her hands out for him. “ Just for a little bit, then you can have him back” she said, holding Brayden back against her chest. Of course he was all smiles, he was getting attention and hugs and kisses from everyone holding him. “ Hi baby,” she said quietly before sitting down on the end of the couch. She laid back, resting her head on the armrest before she laid Brayden against her chest and crossed her leg over her other, resting her feet by Natalia. She looked back and forth as they were all talking and then smiled at Natalia. “ Have you looked at wedding dresses at all? You’re going to be so pretty no matter what anyways,” she said as she reached her hands down to Brayden’s hair, forming it into a small faux hawk the same way she did when she wanted him and Shane’s hair to match. She ran her fingers through it gently before looking back up at Natalia and Ethan. “ I don’t think she’s doing too much planning on the wedding right now. The tabloids tell me it’s going to be pretty far out” Ethan said with what sounded like a slight bit of annoyance in his town – not for the fact that it might be a while out, but more for the fact that tabloids seem to know about it.

‘ What about you Claire? I mean as much as Anthony is my boy.. I’d hate to see Brayden not have a legit father figure in his life. Yeah Shane’s his dad and I know you two live together. But you need to get married, .. I mean someday at least. Does he even plan on proposing? Have you two talked about it? Are you planning on anything at all or are you two just flying by the seat of your pants like you have for all of your relationship?” Ethan questioned before he turned and hit Dalton on the arm. “ Get her, Dalton. Tell her. I know you don’t like this.” he said before picking his red bull back up and looking down at Natalia. “You guys have been planning your weddings since you were kids. You can finally have a chance to share that experience with each other..” he said before he slid down onto the couch so he could wrap his arms around Natalia and hold her to his side. “ Lot of input,” Claire said, giving a small nod as she tapped her fingers gently against the side of Brayden’s cute little body. “Are you going to get married in New York, Natalia?” she asked, looking up at her. They all knew that Ethan didn’t care and would let Natalia do whatever she wanted.

[Natalia Anne Richmond]

Natalia nodded in agreement with Claire, "Claire's right. I had trouble letting her cut it that short last time, I would never cut my hair any shorter than that. I love my hair too much. " Natalia pouted when Claire came to get Brayden, but then smiled when she said that she could have him back in a bit. Natalia just loved babies, as long as they weren't her own. She was not ready to have kids yet, hell she was still a kid herself. Yeah she was going to be 20, but she was only going to be getting married, kids didn't need to come for a few more years. Natalia smiled when Ethan asked Dalton about his hair being like that when he'd be his best man. It tickled her insides to hear Ethan talk about their wedding. He made her the happiest girl in the world. "Dalton I like it. I think it's different for you, it's edgy. I don't think you look like a hippie." Natalia smiled up at Ethan as he played with her ring. She looked down at him twirling it around her finger and then over to Claire when she asked about wedding dresses.

"Thank you, but no I haven't. I don't even have an idea of what I want. I always thought I knew what I wanted, but now that it's actually going to happen, I just don't, ya know?" Ethan had a right to be annoyed with everyone talking about their wedding. The only thing that had been said about it was that they were going to focus on the projects they had going on right now and then talk about a wedding. The two of them hadn't even really talked about it yet amongst themselves. The tabloids were blowing everything way out of proportion, like always. Natalia gave a slight nod when Ethan said that Brayden needed a father figure in his life, "Yeah, have you guys talked about getting married?" She just wanted her best friends to be happy with whatever she chose to do in her life, if she didn't want to get married, then no one should push her to. Natalia rested against Ethan, "Yeah but planning when you're a kid isn't the same as actually having to do it. Those are dreams and fantasies, ones that we may not be able to have come true. It needs to be a realistic dream." Natalia looked down at her ring one more, t really was perfect. "I don't know. Probably not. I was thinking maybe Tennessee or even somewhere in Australia. Just so we could be with our family. I'm sure my family would have no problem going to Australia for the wedding."

[Dalton James Fox]

Dalton ran his fingers through his hair as Ethan said it made him look like a hippie. "Your fiance likes it." he smiled, "Besides, I'm going to cut it, I don't think they'll be a Thor 2 or anything like that. I asked about a wig, but they wanted natural, so I had to grow it out. I kinda like it, but it's definitely going after this movie. " Dalton shook his head, "I can't believe I just said that..." He still wasn't use to the fact that he was actually going to be in a movie. All his life he wanted to be an FBI agent, he had that. He was the best in his department. He made more than enough money to retire early. That was his dream job. The only bad thing about it was it took him away from his family. He had to hide things from them and it killed him. At least with this job, he didn't have to hide anything from them. Dalton walked over to the chair and sat down, looking over at Claire. "Yeah, what is going on. You have a child together and he still hasn't popped the question? I mean Anthony is out of the question, he's still with that girl, whatever her name is. If he was going to come back, he would've squeezed his way in there somehow. I think I need to have a talk with Shane.." Dalton smiled to Claire.

Dalton let Natalia finish and then looked at Ethan, "Mum and Dad wouldn't mind flying to the states for a wedding either. " Dalton shook his head, "This is all wrong. I'm the oldest. I should be the one with a child and married or at least engaged. Here I am twenty-five years old and single. I thought I had someone to settle down with, but things just didn't work out. Mum asked me the other day why it wasn't me getting married, you know that mate? I didn't have answer for her.I still don't. All I need to say to you three is cherish is while you have it and keep it. You don't want to lose what you have.'