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Amanda is sitting on the Bit City couch dressed as Abigail Blunt as she waits for the big surprise of the episode.
It's the woman's episode, and Angela is interviewing her, Courtney, Arasha, and their guest Jiavani while they're all dressed as famous women in history.
But while Amanda rolls fake blunts, she's struggling to not look behind her because in the next few moments Angela’s brother should be entering the set to surprise his sister.
When Angela prank called him for the true crime episode, he'd had to sign a waiver and when doing so had mentioned he'd be up to appearing and surprising his sister.
At least, that's what Erin told her when they were in the planning stages for this episode. The director wanted to make sure Angela would be ok with it, that it would be a fun surprise and not an uncomfortable one like before.
Amanda was easily able to confirm that her girlfriend wouldn’t mind, even if she'd definitely play it up for camera, so her brother was called and booked for the episode.
She'd noticed that some of the cast seemed a bit off about his appearance, but she pinned it on them worrying about Angela’s reaction to being surprised.
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Angela can tell her girlfriend is excited, that she's anticipating something that she's not aware of, but with the cameras rolling she can't let it distract her.
She catches the movement behind the couch immediately, but it takes a minute for her to recognize who the figure is.
Her brother.
It takes a moment for her brain to decide how she feels, the contrast of the excited joy of seeing him and the slight discomfort of him being at her work unannounced.
She quickly settles on being incredulous and slightly upset for the camera, reacting dramatically as the other women bring him into the concept of the video. He adapts quickly, taking the fake drink and diving into the game of ‘fuck, marry, kill, share’.
After letting it go on for a bit longer, she’s prompted to throw the audience to the next scene. She films a few takes and cut is called, ending the filming for the main stage scenes of the video and signalling the start of lunchtime.
The four costumed women leave to quickly change for lunch, but her brother stays back, pulling her into a hug.
“Surprise!” he teases, lifting his hand to ruffle her hair before stopping himself, “Can’t mess up the actress's hair.”
She shoves him playfully, lifting herself onto her toes to mess up his hair, “Gotcha.”
He rolls his eyes, slinging his arm around her shoulder after she removes her blazer. “I've been excited to meet your family,” he tells her as they leave the stage and head towards the cafeteria.
Angela smiles, “I'm excited for you to officially meet Chanse,” she says brightly, “Does Amanda know you’re here?”
“Everyone did, but I didn't get to see her because she was with you,” he explains, “I’ve only spoken to Courtney and Arasha.”
She stops walking, looking up at him and carefully studying his face, “What's up?” she asks quietly, “I can hear it in your voice and we don't keep things from each other anymore.”
He stops next to her, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly, “Nothing is wrong,” he assures her, “Nothing happened, it just felt a bit weird with your friends,” he explains hesitantly, “I could be wrong, but it felt off.”
Angela hums thoughtfully, searching through her mind for an explanation before it clicks
“They think you're bad like our parents,” she whispers more to herself than to him.
“Courtney especially, put together that my little issues stem from our family, they must assume you were a part of that,” she guesses, “I'm sorry.”
“I don't know why you're apologizing, I was a part of-” he starts, but she cuts him off.
“We both were being mistreated,” she says firmly, “Even if it was different.”
She looks over towards the cafeteria and back to him with a glint in her eye and he sighs.
“I know that look,” he says slowly, wrapping his arms around her unquestioningly when she buries her face in his chest, “What are you up to?”
Angela doesn't answer and when he goes to pull out of the hug, she clutches onto his shirt, anchoring herself to him. The two stand in the deserted walkway in silence for a while before she looks up again, a proud smile on her face.
“Bubba!” she chirps happily, “We lunch!”
He stares down at her in shock, moving his arms away, “Since when can you do that?” he asks incredulously, “Why did you do that?”
She giggles, grabbing his hand and attempting to tug him towards the cafeteria, “Bubba no bad if baby like,” she explains choppily pulling on his arm until he starts walking again.
“You're ridiculous, sorellina,” he says fondly, pulling her into his side again as they walk, “Let's go find your mama and get some food in your tummy.”
Angie grins, leading him over to her usual table where Chanse and Tommy are already sitting with their food.
“Chansey!” she chirps excitedly, “Unca dada!”
The two men look up in surprise, recognition flashing in Chanse's eyes when he sees her brother, “Nice to officially meet,” he says as he holds out his hand, “Angie adores you.”
Her brother happily shakes his hand, “I could say the same to you,” he responds easily, “Amanda says she treats us similarly.”
Chanse laughs, “She's a little shit for you too?” he jokes fondly, rolling his eyes when Tommy admonishes him for his language.
“Something like that,” her brother agrees, gesturing for her to sit at the table before crouching down beside her, “Bubba's gonna go find your mama and get us lunches, ok? Stay with your friends.”
“Ok bubba!” she responds easily, hugging him again before he can stand, waving as he heads towards the lunch line in search of her caregiver.
.-- . / .- .-. . / ..-. .- -- .. .-.. -.--
Amanda continues to feel weird vibes from her friends as they change into normal clothes for lunch, but she continues to ignore it.
She's assuming something she's unaware of must have happened and decides she'll ask about it after Angela's brother leaves, wanting to spend as much time with him as she can.
They all head over to the food line as a group and Amanda scans for Angela but doesn't see her or her brother so she follows Courtney to join the line with Shayne.
“How was the shoot?” he asks curiously, his eyes flicking quickly to Amanda before returning to his wife.
“It was alright,” they confirm, stiffening slightly when a new presence joins them.
“Guess who's here?” Angela’s brother says casually, causing Amanda and Shayne to turn around.
Amanda smiles at him, “She couldn't resist time with her bubba, could she?”
He laughs, “Something like that,” he answers vaguely as they make it to the front of the line, “I told her I'd bring her you and lunch.”
“She dropped?” Courtney asks curiously, as Amanda glances over the food, making a small plate for Angela while she makes her own.
The man nods as she hands him the little's plate, his own lunch in his other hand, “Lets get the baby what she's been promised,” Amanda says playfully and the two head back to Angela, Shayne and Courtney trailing behind them.
Angela grins as the group walks up, Amanda and her brother sitting on either side of her while Shayne and Courtney sit on Amanda's other side.
“Here you go sorellina,” he coos as he places the food in front of her, “Lunch and mama as promised.”
“Thanks you bubba,” she chirps back, kissing both of their cheeks before taking a bite of her food.
“They’re both bubba?” Shayne asks curiously, “I’d always assumed you only called Chanse that.”
She shrugs, “Both brother, love both, bubba.”
“I'm the cooler one,” Chanse teases, “I let her swear and give her candy.”
Her brother laughs, “I've given her so much candy, she's just too cute not to,” he jokes back, punctuating his joke with a light tap to her nose.
Angela crosses her eyes in an attempt to look at her nose, earning her coos from the rest of the table as her brother flicks his eyes between the two couples curiously, “So I know you're a little,” he starts, gesturing to Chanse, “And you're his caregiver?”
Tommy nods and he continues, “Which is why you're uncle dada, because you're Chanse's dada and Angie's uncle,” the man nods again and he turns to Courtney and Shayne, a thoughtful expression on his face, “Are you two together?”
Angela giggles, “Shay Court papa,” she explains, ”They marry. And Chansey unca dada boyfriend.”
“All in the family,” he jokes, reaching over to carefully wipe sauce off of the little’s face, chuckling when he's realized what he's done.
“Habit from the center,” he tells her, “There's a boy I watch a lot who hates having food on his face.”
Courtney looks at him in surprise, “You're a caregiver?” they ask incredulously.
He shakes his head, “Neutral, but I volunteer at a little facility. I wanna be there for them like I couldn't for Angie,” he adds with a small grimace, “No little deserves to be alone.”
They stare at him, before slowly dropping their eyes to their plate, “I'm so sorry-” they start to whisper but he cuts them off.
“I get it,” he assures them immediately, “I still beat myself up for how little I could protect her, but she refuses to let me blame myself. I would be wary of me too, especially as a little.”
“I should've known with Amanda approving the prank and Angie's behavior towards you, but with-” they pause to try to find the end of their sentence, but Angela cuts in.
“Parent assholes,” she supplies, giggling at the combination of laughter and playful exasperation.
Courtney nods, “Exactly cutie, they're assholes but your bubba is cool.”
Angela nods, “Try give food when mom no give,” she tells them, not realizing how depressing that is, or how close to home it hits for Courtney.
They let out a quiet choked sound, glancing at Shayne gratefully when he takes their hand and squeezes it, “My siblings did the same thing,” they admit quietly, “But I also had my dad helping me.”
“My brother’s also cool,” Chanse adds in an attempt to lighten the mood, “He used to sneak into my room to play with me after my bedtime,” he recalls fondly.
Shayne chuckles, “I was the fun brother for my older brother that's a little. I was only a bit older than his little age when he lived at home, so he thought I was really cool.”
“He still thinks you're cool,” Courtney reminds him, grasping the opportunity to lighten the mood, “You buy him the toys his mama and wife won't, and you brought him me, his cool twin.”
“You bubba Shay’s bubba?” Angie asks curiously, head tilted in confusion.
They nod, “He's my brother-in-law and we have the same little range, so sometimes we call each other twin or something else similar,” they explain, “We just don't see each other a lot, and we usually don't drop when we do. He tends to focus on his kids and stuff, but sometimes he can't resist Shayne time.”
“And then you drop cuz you're jealous,” Shayne teases, laughing when they shove him, “You know I'm right.”
Courtney rolls their eyes “Not jealous, excited,” they push back, the two falling into their own joking argument while Angela turns to look up at Amanda.
“You fun sissy?” she asks her mama curiously, “Sister little.”
Amanda hums thoughtfully, “We definitely have fun together, but with so many caregivers in one family, it was hard to be the cool one.”
From there the conversation shifts to something less heavy and it flows from there as lunch winds down and only Angela, her brother, and Amanda remain at the table.
“It's time for bubba to go and you to age up, bug.” Amanda tells her gently, sighing when tears well in the little's eyes as she pouts.
“Baby,” her brother murmurs, pulling her from her chair to his lap, “Bubba will see you soon,” He assures her, “It's time to go host your show.”
She whines, burying her face in his neck, “Soon?” she whispers as he wraps his arms around her tightly.
“So soon,” he promises, “I'll text you tonight.”
Angela huffs, lifting her head up to gently kiss his cheek, “Love you bubba.”
He coos at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “I love you Angie, so very much.”
The little turns to Amanda and reaches to be picked up, resting her head on her mama's shoulder when she is.
The two walk him to the front door and wave as he leaves, leaving the duo alone. “Alright,” Amanda murmurs as she heads towards the kitchen, quickly picking up an energy drink and a protein bar before heading towards hair and make-up, “Time for the baby to grow up.”
“I gotta?” she grumbles, reaching for the energy drink.
“If you want that you do,” she reminds the little with a chuckle, “And you've got a show to host.”
Angela huffs and closes her eyes as Amanda sits to get her makeup done for her costume, taking a few minutes to center herself before opening her eyes.
“Caffeine,” she grumbles, swiping the can from the table, cracking it open, and taking a sip.
“Do you want down now?” Amanda asks with a fond expression, but Angela shakes her head.
“You make a good chair,” she teases, lifting her head to kiss her girlfriend before begrudgingly climbing out of her lap and out of the make-up artist's way.
“Sorry for dropping out of nowhere,” she adds quickly, looking in the mirror to touch up her own makeup.
But before she can respond, Courtney speaks up from where they're applying makeup to Shayne, “I'm sorry for making you feel like you had to,” they cut in, “I should've-”
Angela cuts her off, “I promise, I get it,” she says gently, walking over to pull them into a hug, “You were worried.”
“I care about you,” they murmur, “ And I let it blind me.”
She shrugs and takes a sip of her drink, “That's what families do sometimes, I think. Let your love and concern overpower logic.”
Courtney nods, turning back to focus on Shayne, “He seems cool, your brother, with the volunteering and everything. It's obvious how much he adores you, once I let myself see it.”
Angela grins, bumping their shoulder before turning back to fix her makeup next to Amanda.
Her girlfriend grabs her hand and squeezes it lightly, “I'm proud of you.” Amanda murmurs.
She turns to look at her in confusion, “I didn't do anything.” Angela argues, and Amanda rolls her eyes.
“You don't have to do anything special for me to be proud of you.”