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s3ep16
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INTERVIEW
effy

effy: "so much happened during my stay at charlie's family! first dad nearly died! i would've come home immediately but no one cared to tell me until everything was over and it turned out that he was fine the whole time... mom had a debate for the town council seat and uncle mitch and uncle came had to leave their house because it had to be fumigated! today is my first day back and i'm so happy to see my family!"

———

effy dragged her suitcase through the checkout line at the airport.

"sweetie!" a voice called and made her look up. claire and phil were waiting behind the barrier.

"mom! dad!" effy called back, hurrying up and finally hugging her parents

"there you are" phil smiled "we missed you"

"i missed you too" effy almost wouldn't let go of her parents

"come on" claire took the suitcase. "let's go home"

the three of them entered the dunphy house, where the rest of the family was already waiting.

"hey guys!" effy beamed and hugged them all.

"¡hola! effy!" gloria smiled "did you give charlie the cookies i made?"

"of course" effy nodded "he loved them. and he told me to tell you all that he missed you and couldn't wait to come visit in a few months"

before anyone could answer, there was a loud thump in the kitchen.

"what was that?" mitchell asked, quickly walking around the corner, the rest of the family hot on his heels.

cam was laying on the ground. it was covered in milk and he was groaning in pain.

"what happened?" gloria asked, worriedly watching his position. "are you okay?"

"that milk fell" cam pointed to the fallen-over bottle on the counter. "and i must have slipped in it"

"Did i leave that out again?" phil questioned himself "i'm so sorry!"

"oh my back! oh my back1" phil and mitchell helped cam to get up.

"can i give you a swedish massage, accent optional?" phil suggested, still feeling bad about the whole incident.

"oh, no, no. i just need to lie down"

"come on, let's get you over to the sofa"

"oh!" cam groaned, holding onto the counter. "do you think it would be offensive if i ask our daughter to walk on my back?"

"i'd say so. i just offered to give you a massage" phil exclaimed a bit hurt, as he helped cam to the couch.

"oh no" lily said, sitting down on the ground next to the puddle and inspecting her doll. "you broke beatrice! now she can't feed the dolphins"

"what is she talking about?" gloria turned to mitchell.

"oh, it's a my sweet companion doll" mitchell explained. "they all have these elaborate backstories. beatrice works with blind dolphins and models."

gloria gasped. "there are blind models? that's so sad. they cannot see how pretty they are."

effy watched after the two of them as they walked into the living room. then she turned around, arms crossed, watching as luke and manny scrambled to get rid of their mess.

"i knew that it was the two of you!" effy accused.

luke and manny turned around to her in susprise, not having expected someone to stay back to watch them.

"what were you even trying to do, dumb and dumber?" she asked, quirking a brow, her eyes gliding along the weird looking construction they had sat up around the kitchen counter.

"n-nothing" manny quickly said.

effy didn't believe one second of it and turned to her brother.

"fine" luke sighed. "but keep your mouth shut about it"

"sure" effy shrugged, not even caring to tell on them, but rather to know whatwas going through their heads, surely it hadn't been to hurt cam, right?

"we were setting up a trap for lily"

"a trap for lily?" effy repeated confused and in a whisper, when both of them send her a look. "why that?"

"well, she's the youngest and the cutest, now that we're too old for that" luke explained.

"yes, she was supposed to grab one of the cookies and make a mess with the milk, resulting in her getting into trouble because of it" manny added.

"well, that worked out fine" effy said with a roll of her eyes, leaving the two idiots to get rid of their mess, as she walked up the stairs to get ready for the mall.

---

haley was sitting in the front seat, while her sisters and lily were sitting in the back of the car.

alex was inspecting lilys doll, which the little girl held close to her chest. "i never really got dolls. does that make me weird?"

"it's on the list" haley joked.

"you're not weird" phil corrected. "you just kind of skipped the 'little girl' stage"

"and jumped to the 'i dare you to ring her doorbell' stage" haley quickly added.

effy rolled her eyes at her sisters banter. of course she was used to fighting with them or luke, like any siblings did, but she was often times excluded from alex's and haley's dynamic.

"the only stage you're ever going to jump on has a pole on it"

"hey, at least i have the body.."

"okay! okay!" phil interrupted, before the fighting could go any further. "we're gonna have to settle this dispute in court.. the food court. the honorable judge cinnabon presiding"

"the food court?" haley repeated. "that place smells like the inside of luke's bicycle helmet"

"eww" effy muttered, at the same time as alex expressed her liking for the food court.

"me too" lily nodded.

"don't worry, girls. we're not gonna deprive ourselves just 'cause haley's aversion.."

alex broke into loud laughter, interrupting phil in the process. both haley and effy looked at her alarmed.

"oh, oh" alex realized "haley's aversion.. i thought you said.. never mind" haley shook her head, effectively shutting alex up, while effy felt uncomfortable all together.

haley had told both of their sisters about her secret, but effy was much better at keeping it apperently.

"well my dolls name was linda" effy quickly jumped in trying to keep the tension from getting awkward.

———

"what were you thinking, saying that in front of him?" haley confronted alex as soon as they had walked into the doll hospital. phil had gone off to bring the doll to the doctor, leaving the four girls alone.

"i'm sorry, it slipped out" alex excused "besides, i figured he knew. mom knows"

"only because she dragged it out of dylan. and she promised to not tell dad until i left for college, which means he might have never found out." she tapped the side of her head.

"also you know how dad can get" effy added "remember how weird he's been about charlie and me, ever since we passed the age of ten?"

"well, that's different" alex shook her head.

"how is that any different?" haley asked confused.

"well, effy is dad's baby" alex said, matter of factly. "and charlie's been there since the minute she could walk, practically only waiting for her hand in marriage"

"charlie and i are not like that" effy protested losely, while alex rolled her eyes.

"whatever, the point is i don't think dad will take this as harshly as he would if it had happened to effy"

"well, great" effy crossed her arms.

"also, you can stop panicking, we don't know for sure he heard what i said"

before any of them could say anything else, phil was back. "okay. beatrice is with the nurse. they'll call us, shouldn't be too long, we can just wait until she's married.. until she's ready. which, apparently, everyone is these days. funny, i used to think it'd be years until everyone was ready, but i guess i was wrong, wrong and naive" he walked away.

"he's broken" effy said in shock "you broke him, alex"

"well, technically, haley broke him"

"how is this my fault?" haley gasped "you were the one who couldn't keep her mouth shut"

"i said i was sorry"

"it doesn't matter now, anyway" effy said as she watched their dad, his eyes gliding over the dolls sadly. "he's sad"

———

"so, i've completed the examination" the doctor said, as haley, phil and effy were waiting for beatrice's results. "she did really well"

"what's the prognosis?"

"we can fix most of her arms, but she'll never regain full mobility in her shoulder joint, because they don't make that part anymore"

"well, that's pretty good, right?" haley asked "i mean, she'll look exactly the same. no one will know"

effy cringed at the wording, that was basically ready for phil to take over and interpret it with haley.

"i'll know" he said, just as effy had predicted.

"uh" the doctor was at a loss for words.

"i'm just saying i liked her the way she was" phil added "she was such a sweet little doll. i'm sorry, doc, i'm having trouble adjusting to all this"

haley and effy exchanged looks. "uh, dad, she's still a sweet little doll."

"no, she's broken"

"no, she's just changed a little. it happens, dolls grow up"

"well, actually—" the doctor interfered.

"uh, could you?" haley asked and the man nodded.

"yeah, sure, i actually have to go give a little girl some pretty bad news" he left.

"so, haley" phil began "the thing is.. we should.. we should probably get beatrice, like, a cast or something, we can all sign it, yeah?"

"uh, yeah, sure" haley nodded, while effy gently took her hand, sensing that her sister was disappointed at their fathers reaction.

"the repair's probably gonna take a little while. why don't you two run up to the food court and grab us a table? i'll grab alex and lily"

"okay" haley nodded, pulling effy after her by the shoulder, before she stopped and turned around again. "do you want the counter or a booth?"

"whatever seems right to you. i trust you" phil said, before he finally hugged haley. effy watched the both of them without saying a word. this was their dads way of showing his approval and trust in haley's decisions.

A/N: so, finally the new chapter is here! i'll be honest: i was kinda not feeling to continue the story, because i feel like the writing can get awkward and choppy very fast, because the episodes are so fast paced and always show a few snippets of each situation making it sometimes hard to connect then properly!

but i do love writing for modern family and will try my best to continue this story, as long as there is someone willing to read it lmao!!

while you wait for the next chapter, feel free to check out other stories of mine: dress (charlie dalton//dps), treacherous (peter parker//marvel) and coming soon: gorgeous (ocxoc// enola holmes)

ps: not proof-read!!

see you soon!!

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