First Time Parents And Halloween

"I'm ready Mommy!" Charlotte came running in her parents room, beaming with pride, because she had put her costume on all by herself.

"Oh, you look great sweetie! Let me take a picture." Victoria took her phone out and took a quick picture.

"Well, I'm ready too. Daddy's in the living room, let's go." The two went out to Louis, who was sitting on the couch.

"Daddy, look at me!" Louis spun his daughter around.

"Oh you look great, darling."

"What about Mommy? See? We all match!"

Charlotte wanted them all to dress up as a royal family so that she could be a princess, her mom could be a queen and her dad could be a king.

"Mom looks lovely too." he said, looking lovingly at his wife. She did look beautiful.

"What do you think? Did I do the costume right?" he asked, doing a little spin.

"You look perfect Daddy! Can we go get candy now?"

The two parents laughed. "Alright, alright. Get your bucket." Vic said.

Charlie grabbed her pumpkin-shaped, pink glittery bucket and took her parents' hands.

"Come on! Come on!" And out the door they went.

This was Charlotte's first Halloween trick-or-treating and she was beyond excited. Which made it Victoria's and Louis's first time taking their child trick-or-treating. Vic was excited to see the reaction her daughter would have to it all. Lou was a little nervous about going out in public in a costume, as well as his family's safety. They would be together the whole time of course, but still.

A couple years ago, one family in the neighborhood got hit by a drunk driver.

They went door to door. Charlie staring in amazement at the costumes and decorations. Each house, she sweetly said "Trick-or-treat!" with a big smile. Candy and little toys would be put in her bucket. "Thank you!" she giggled and ran back to her parents, then on to the next house.

They were walking by a bunch of bushes, when someone jumped out, yelling BOO! in Charlotte's face.

They had on a very realistic zombie costume.

Charlie screamed and started crying.

"Oi! Take your freakiness somewhere else, why don't ya!" Louis pushed the guy into the bush while Victoria picked up her daughter.

"It's okay baby, it's okay. It's just a mask."

"Are you sure, Momma? I don't wanna get eaten by a zombie!" "Yes, I'm sure hun. Zombies aren't real anyway."

They kept walking down the street until they reached the park. Charlie had calmed down enough, as soon as she saw the playground she asked, "Momma, Dad, can I go play?"

"Sure darlin'. We'll be right here." Lou said.

Vic set her down and took her bucket. Charlotte ran off to go play with a few other kids on the playground. Louis and Victoria sat on a bench and watched their daughter.

"See? It's not so bad." Vic said.

Lou put an arm around her and kissed her head. "Yea, yea."

They watched Charlie as she ran around, going down slides and across zip-lines in her little princess dress.

They let her play for almost an hour.

"Charlotte! It's time to go to Grandma's!" Louis called.

Charlie went down a slide and ran to them.

"Can't we keep going until my bucket's full?" the Charlotte asked. "Mmm.." Louis was a little eager to get her off the streets before it got too cold.

"We could probably stop at a couple on the way to the house." Victoria said, looking at her husband.

He gave in, unable to resist the look on his daughters face.

"Alright, alright. But once your bucket's full, we gotta go."

"Yay!!" she cheered and grabbed her bucket.

They went down the opposite side of the street they had come up.

Their house was in sight, when they heard screeching tires. Louis looked behind them and saw a car come hurtling around the corner.

"Get over a little." he said, gently nudging his little family over. The car swerved all over the road as it came closer. People honked and yelled at the driver to slow down. Louis looked back again, just in time to see it come up on the sidewalk and straight for them. "MOVE!!" He grabbed Vic and Charlotte as he jumped out of the way, all of them rolling across the lawn and into the neighbors Halloween decorations.

The car stopped on the sidewalk a few feet away. People ran over to help. Louis got up and shook his head. He was furious. He got up and pulled the driver out of his car.

"Are you stupid!? You nearly killed us!!"

"S-Sorry man!" the guy slurred and stuttered, obviously drunk. Louis gave him one punch and sent him to the ground.

"L-Louis?" he looked over.

Vic was trying to sit up, her head bleeding. Charlie was fine. She crawled into her moms lap.

"Mommy! Daddy!" she cried.

Victoria was so dazed, she couldn't see straight. She wrapped an arm around her child and held her tight, but winced at the pain that shot through her side.

"Vic! Charlotte!" Lou ran over to them and knelt down.

"There's an ambulance on the way." someone said.

"Victoria, look at me." Louis tried to get her to focus.

"Is..Is Charlie alright?" she asked. Louis picked his daughter up and checked her over.

"Are you hurt babe?" he asked.

Charlotte wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

"What happened Daddy?" she cried.

"Everything's okay, sweetheart."

******

At the hospital, Louis sat in the waiting room.

The EMT's had checked him and Charlotte over and determined they were fine. But Victoria wasn't so lucky.

Her vision wouldn't clear and she had an awful pain in her side. They took her to the hospital, while Louis took Charlotte to his parents, then came back to wait for Vic.

It had already been an hour. What could possibly be wrong? He didn't think the car had hit any of them.

Finally, a doctor came over to him.

"Is she alright? What's going on?"

"She has a concussion and a couple fractured ribs, but she'll be fine."

"How did that happen? Did the car hit her?"

The doctor nodded, "It must have clipped her in the side just as you all jumped out of the way. But we're pretty sure the concussion is just from hitting the ground. If it was the car, her skull would be fractured. You saved your family's life. Don't worry, you're all going to be fine."

Louis breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"She's right in there. I am going to ask that she stay overnight. Concussions can be tricky so we just want to keep an eye on her. But you should be able to leave first thing tomorrow."

Louis nodded and thanked him again, then went in to see her. "Hey." Vic said tiredly as he came in.

Louis sat next to her and took her hand.

"How you feelin', love?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Are you? Is Charlotte okay?"

"We're all fine, babe. We're all fine. She's at my parents house." "Thank goodness." Vic sighed, laying her head back.

"Can we go home now?" she asked.

Louis smiled and kissed the top of her hand.

"They want to keep you overnight, love. But we can in the morning."

" 'Kay."

"Do you want anything?" Louis asked.

She shook her head. They just looked at each other for a moment.

"So I guess you get to say 'I told you so.' " Victoria smirked.

Louis chuckled, "I would, but, I don't think that's what you want to hear right now."

"You are right." They both quietly laughed.

Some first Halloween.