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"No. Absolutely not, Hilda." Zelda knew that much; she was NOT going to be wasting a dreadfully sunny Saturday afternoon at the beach when she could be spending it in the basement doing the monthly inventory for the mortuary. Satan knew it had been put off for far too long already, no thanks to her scatterbrained sister.
Hilda narrowed her eyes at the back of Zelda's newspaper and the tendrils of smoke curling around the edge. "Zelda," she began firmly, "it's Sabrina's second-"
"My berfday!" Little feet slapped against the linoleum floor, and a blonde mop of curls came careening into the kitchen before Sabrina launched face-first into Hilda's leg and wrapped her arms around her aunt. The corner of Zelda's newspaper folded down at the commotion, one eyebrow almost undetectably quirked in what Hilda would interpret as bordering on mild amusement. The little girl pulled her face away from Hilda's leg and beamed up at her before turning her toothy grin to her other aunt.
"Beach berfday, auntie said!"
At this, Zelda lowered the newspaper fully and glared at her younger sister, who wore a remorse-stricken expression. How dare Hilda set her up like that?
Sabrina's large brown eyes widened, and her small chin wobbled. Oh, for Satan's sake.
"Pwease?"
That did it. Zelda took a final drag of her cigarette, set the vintage holder in the ashtray, and folded her hands on top of the now-discarded newspaper. Hilda's eyes slanted in warning, her hand gently cupping the back of the toddler's head, and Zelda directed her gaze toward Sabrina.
"Since it would appear that your Aunt Hilda made this decision on her own without having the common decency to ask me, I suppose my hands are tied."
Sabrina's tiny nose scrunched as she tried to determine what her aunt was saying. Zelda sighed loudly in exaggerated exasperation, slid her chair back from behind the table and got to her feet. A small smile played at one edge of the witch's mouth for a moment.
"It means we're all going to the beach," Zelda explained. "Happy birthday, darling."
The little blonde gasped and ran across the floor, flinging herself at her aunt in a tiny ball of chaotic excitement and tightly squeezing Zelda's legs. Zelda gasped softly and bent down, wrapping an arm around her niece and gently patting her back. Physical affection didn’t come naturally to her, but she would never deny that from Sabrina's childhood. She was hardly able to deny the girl anything ever, actually.
"Tank you!!" Sabrina placed her chubby hands on each side of Zelda's face and kissed her aunt's cheek before turning and racing across the kitchen.
Zelda blushed; Sabrina had taken to giving kisses lately, and she was not accustomed to the innocent, overt affection of children. She stood, clearing her throat and smoothing her hands down the front of her dress as she did so, then called after the quickly retreating pair. "I will not be wearing some Satan-awful swimming costume, mind you!"
~~
Two hours later, the trio was making its way across the sandy state park beach; Sabrina was in the lead, dragging Hilda behind her, and Zelda brought up the rear with an umbrella and not one but TWO beach bags over her shoulders. Curse Hilda, she thought as her heels sunk into the deep sand, her shoes filling with the obnoxious material. When a slight breeze lifted up the edge of her sun hat, she clapped a hand down on top of it. The heat of the late morning sun was blazing down already, her navy dress no match for the direct rays, and she recalled the way Hilda had tilted her head in a silent question when she saw what her sister had chosen to wear before ultimately deciding it wasn’t a battle worth picking. After all, she - no, Sabrina - had already gotten Zelda to shirk her duties and leave the dark manor against all odds. When they finally came to a stop, Zelda dropped both bags in the sand with a light huff and blew a loose wisp of hair out of her eyes.
Hilda shot her a guilty look and quickly took the umbrella before handing her a big beach blanket. "Here, Zelds. I’ll set up the umbrella, you sit and cool down. Sabrina, sweetie, come here so Auntie can put some suntan lotion on you - otherwise you'll burn yourself right up."
Hilda planted the umbrella pole deep into the soft sand, wiggling it to make sure it was firmly rooted, and Zelda arranged the blanket under the newly provided shade before removing her shoes and gingerly sitting down, avoiding the sand as much as possible. She tipped one shoe upside down, watched the sand pour out, and shot an accusing glare at her younger sister. Hilda shrugged a shoulder and plopped down next to her, reaching over to pull the suntan lotion out of the bag.
Sabrina wiggled around in her one-piece bathing suit as the cold lotion was spread over her skin, and Hilda touched the girl’s nose with a finger when she was done, giving the small blonde the all-clear to go and play. Grabby hands took the pail and plastic shovel that Zelda had pulled out of the bag, and Sabrina bolted toward the wet sand. Zelda pressed a hand lightly to her fully clothed chest as she watched her niece barreling toward the foaming sea, but before she could call out in warning, Sabrina plopped her bum down and began shoveling sand into her bucket. Hilda glanced at her sister out of the corner of her eye and sighed knowingly as she watched Zelda casually rest her hand back on the blanket-covered sand as if nothing happened.
"Zelds, she's okay," Hilda said soothingly, her heart touched at her sister's fiercely protective instinct.
"I know that," Zelda snapped, pulling her sunglasses onto her face, re-adjusting her hat and crossing one ankle primly over the other to sit incongruously stiffly in such a laid-back setting. Hilda chuckled under her breath and began to undo the buttons of the cover-up sundress she was wearing. If her sister wanted to roast to death like a pig over a spit, so be it, but she was going to enjoy the warm weather. Pulling her sundress off, she heard a loud gasp from Zelda as the neon coral bathing suit underneath was revealed.
"What in Satan’s name is that abomination, Hilda? Put this back on!" Zelda threw the sundress at her younger sister and tried to pull it over Hilda's shoulders in an attempt to cover up the glaringly bright suit. Oh, Satan help her, there were RUFFLES.
"Zelda! When I took Sabrina to get new clothes, I picked up a new suit for myself! I haven't had a new one in ages - it was due time," Hilda huffed, trying to untangle herself from the dress Zelda had managed to halfway drape around her.
"It's due time to take it back; that monstrosity could blind the sun," Zelda scoffed as she brushed tiny, invisible grains of sand off her lap, but her facial expression softened a degree as she saw the hurt briefly flicker across Hilda's face.
"Well, I like it, and I’m keeping it." When Hilda put her foot down, there was little point in arguing with her, but Zelda always did have a hard time going down without a fight. "Besides," Hilda continued, "I blend in quite a bit more than you do in your full dress and stockings."
"I for one, dear sister, prefer my skin to be youthfully preserved rather than shown off to the whole world and tanned like an animal hide." Zelda's eyes dropped to her sister's full bosom in emphasis as the words left her mouth, and her breath caught in her throat. Oh, but that plunging neckline. Maybe the cursed suit had one redeeming quality, after all...
"Aunties, castle!" Sabrina's plaintive call broke up the women's squabbling, and Zelda pulled her gaze up and out of her sister's cleavage to find Hilda sitting with a satisfied smirk on her face.
"See something you like, dear sister?" Hilda asked coyly in a low voice she reserved just for Zelda because she knew it made the elder witch go weak in the knees. Zelda felt the blood rushing in her ears at the sound.
"AUNTIES!" Sabrina demanded, slapping her plastic shovel down onto the damp sand for emphasis.
"Yes, okay, dear, we're coming." Hilda stood, then awkwardly helped Zelda to her own feet. "If you wouldn't have worn this damn dress.." she muttered under her breath before heading toward her niece, leaving Zelda sputtering for a response. "Sabrina, it's lovely, darling. Zelda, come have a look at what Sabrina's built!"
Zelda walked over, mumbling under her breath about ruined stockings, then dropped to her knees, tattered hosiery forgotten. There, in all its sand-sculpted glory, was an impressive replica of the Church of Night. "Oh, Sabrina," she breathed, "it's perfect."
Sabrina beamed. There was nothing the toddler liked more than earning her Auntie Zee's praise. Aunt Hilda was the more nurturing and motherly figure of the two, but there was something about Zelda that the girl gravitated to, as if pulled by an invisible string. Maybe it was the fact that her elder aunt was a tough nut to crack. Children sense those things, Hilda mused, watching her niece point to show Zelda how she formed the steeple. Hilda wasn't jealous; on the contrary, she was grateful. Her sister and her niece needed each other - they were good for each other. She loved both of them so strongly; she had never loved anyone as hard as she did Zelda until the two witches had taken their niece in, and she knew that underneath the abrasive front Zelda put on, Sabrina had her by the heartstrings.
"I hungwy, Aunties," Sabrina whined softly, earning her a stern look from Zelda.
There it was, Hilda thought to herself. She took Sabrina's little hand in her own larger one, then watched as the girl's other hand reached for Zelda's. Although Zelda was initially too busy fussing over her dress, brushing furiously at the sticky, wet sand clinging to the hem, she eventually felt the small, insistent hand knuckling against her thigh and glanced down. A sandy palm thrust up toward her, and Zelda wrinkled her nose. Sighing, she took Sabrina's grubby hand delicately, cringing as the sand crunched against her skin. Hilda glanced between them, contrasting the wide grin on her niece's face against the gentle repugnance on her older sister's, and a smile rivaling Sabrina's split her face as the three picked their way up the beach.
~~
After an hour and three ham sandwiches later - plus an ice cream treat for Sabrina - the two blondes raced around in the shallows, the frothy waves lapping at their ankles, and Zelda pulled a baby wipe out of the canister that she'd thankfully had the foresight to pack. Sabrina had thrust her empty ice cream sandwich wrapper into Zelda's hand before tearing off after her other aunt, little feet churning up the sand, and Zelda sniffed with disdain as she regarded the sticky wrapper between her manicured black fingernails before depositing it in the side pocket of the bag to be dealt with later - preferably by Hilda, who had suggested this ridiculous outing to begin with. Scrubbing with fervor as she tried in vain to rid her hands of the tacky feeling that refused to disappear, she gazed over the top of her dark sunglasses in the direction of the peals of melodious laughter that bubbled up from her niece and sister and floated over to her ears.
Up to her thighs in the surf, Hilda held Sabrina on one generously curved hip, the waves breaking around them and lapping at where Sabrina's feet dangled. One of Hilda's arms was wrapped under her niece's bum and the other was on Sabrina's stomach, tickling her lightly. Sabrina threw her head back, her blonde curls blowing wildly in the saltwater breeze, her mouth wide open in laughter. Joy streaked across every feature of Hilda's face, and Zelda physically felt her insides melt with the purest love she had ever felt. This was how it should be. This is what she wanted for the rest of her days. Her girls. Zelda's vision blurred as tears welled up in her green eyes, only to be blinked away hurriedly as her niece dashed up the beach, narrowly missing the beautiful sand sculpture before collapsing on the beach blanket next to her. Sabrina rolled toward Zelda, her tiny toe reaching out to touch Zelda's stocking-clad leg.
"Auntie, shell!" The blonde insistently pressed a seashell into Zelda’s palm. "You keep. Sleepy." The two-year-old yawned mightily, her sandy foot lodging itself against Zelda's firmly crossed legs, and curled herself into her aunt.
Zelda swallowed around the lump that had formed in her throat as Sabrina closed her eyes, her tousled blonde head resting against her aunt's hip, and a tear slipped softly down Zelda's cheek. Placing a hand gently around the back of the girl's head, her fingers playing lightly into salt-kissed curls, Zelda eased herself down onto the blanket to lie beside her niece. Sabrina shifted slightly and tucked her head into the crook of Zelda's underarm, nuzzling softly against her aunt's breast. Zelda hesitated, finding herself savoring the moment, her heart touched in a way she hadn't felt before, then finally gave into the silk ribbons of contented darkness pulling her under. Closing her eyes, she brought her arm down protectively - maybe even possessively - around her niece, her hand coming to rest on Sabrina's back.
And that's how Hilda found them when she emerged from the water, limbs intertwined and softly snoring. Lying down on the other side of Sabrina, Hilda tucked in close to her niece, brushed her fingers against Zelda's, and let herself doze off with a signature Hilda Spellman smile on her face. Oh, yes, absolutely yes.