Jackie Liu was many things.

Nature explorer, animal lover, surfing enthusiast; even weirdo extraordinaire.

She’ll admit the last one with pride.

But above all, at the moment she was aunt Jackie to the little munchkins of one mei-mei, Amber Liu. Well one of them at least, for the moment.

Little Sky was silently working on perfecting his skateboarding trick out by the patio, occasionally mildly huffing when he could not land his trick or grumble in annoyance at how he was not “one with the board.”

The more Jackie watched her nephew as she sat at her dining room table facilitating through the glass panel and sipping on her glass of Merlot, the more Sky remaindered her of Amber when she was younger. Just the demeanor of the kid and his passion for anything sports related eerily mirrored Amber’s obsession with constant movement and getting down and dirty when it came to sports. Like Amber, Sky had also taken after her in his enthrallment of hats. At such a tender young age of 8, Sky had already amassed a small collection of hats including one from Amber’s favorite clothing line, KRSP. Since she knew the owners of her favorite brand, Amber had commissioned a custom hat for Sky that would fit him and presented it to him for his 7th birthday. Jackie hadn’t since seen the kid go anywhere without it.

Oh, the irony. Sky was basically a mini duplicate copy of Amber.

Jackie could only wonder if Sky would turn out exactly like Amber once he’d hit maturity. That would be hilarious if he did. Poor Amber – actually, poor Krystal. She would have another wild monkey on her hands besides the one she married.

Thinking about the possibility left Jackie in a fit of giggles.

She dabbled with the evil idea to mold Sky into a mini Amber even more as a jab back at her little sister for the headaches she endured with her as they grew up and occasionally still did. Having Sky turn out like Amber in all her wackiness, being thrown right back at her would be glorious retribution by the universe. Oh, sweet revenge.

Her musing came to a halt though when Sky slide back in the house, closing the glass door as he came in with one hand grasping his skateboard protectively.

“Hey, aunt Jackie, isn’t Appa supposed to have picked me up by now?” He wondered.

Glancing at the clock on the microwave, Jackie hummed in agreement. “Yeah, she was. About 20 minutes ago.”

Sky blinked for a few seconds standing rooted to where he was before his features morphed to something else entirely. No, he did not show an expression of sadness – quite the contrary. Nope, instead he was sporting a wickedly devious look, one very similar to Krystal Jung’s plotting expression.

Jackie almost shivered in sympathy for whoever was going to be on the receiving end of said plot. More than likely not, that unfortunate soul was going to be her little sister and Sky’s Appa, Amber.

“Hey, do you still have my stash of nerf guns and ammo?” Sky inquired turning to Jackie.

Ah, Jackie could see Sky’s scheming plot now. Yup, poor Amber. Shaking her head in mirth Jackie replied, “Yeah upstairs hallway closet.”

With that, Sky dashed out the kitchen and up the stairs.

Moving to lounging on the couch, Jackie whipped out her phone to scroll through the mass of photos in her album clearly marked “Munchkins.” She smiled while thumbing through the album with photos full of her nephew and niece.

Reminiscing back to the time when Amber had rudely burglarized her house on a Saturday morning shouting at the top of her lungs so loud and incoherent that Jackie didn’t even know what to make of it except for being dazedly confused at first, then morphing to annoyance and anger. That stupid little sister of hers had roused her from her beauty sleep for god knows what. With that being said, Amber was not greeted by the beautiful yet disgruntled face of her sister when she barged into her room, oh-no, far from it. But a rather large pillow bulls-eyeing her smack dab in her face followed by anything else Jackie could get her hands on to throw at her.

When Jackie finally ran out of things to throw at her little sister and Amber was cowering at the end of the bed with the throw pillow acting as her shield. With things finally calming down, Jackie grudgingly demanded why she was so rudely awaken on a Saturday morning, only to have Amber switch comically from cowering to beaming like the world was ending, yet she didn’t give a damn about it.

“I have great news, Jackie!” Amber announced proudly pausing for emphasis.

Jackie tapped her finger to her temple impatiently. “And that would be?”

“I’m gonna be a parent!” She beamed.

Jackie blinked once to get the sleep out of her eyes. Twice to clear her head. Third time to process the information. A shake of the head and a light slap to her cheeks to make sure she wasn’t still dreaming.

“Are you serious?!” she exclaimed flabbergasted.

Amber nodded excitingly.

Jackie paused for a second. “Wait, you don’t mean like a parent, like you were a mock parent to Dani, Shannon and Tia, right? You mean actual parent.”

Amber scoffed lightly. “Of course I mean real parent!”

Jackie’s eyes bugged out, “Oh my god!! Congrats!! Did you tell mom and dad yet?”

Amber looked to be close to tears in happiness. “Yeah I called them first thing this morning when I found out. They are ecstatic!”

“As they should be!! Congrats again!” Just the news squashed the annoyance Jackie had towards Amber for disturbing her sleep. She honestly was thrilled for her little sister and could not wait to see her niece/nephew. They might have just found out the good news, but they could hardly wait to see the kid.

The day Sky was brought into the world, Jackie had never seen Amber so vulnerable. She had seen her sister vulnerable many times in their life, but never vulnerable like this. It was a good type of vulnerable. Amber held baby Sky like he was the most precious thing in the world; which he most certainly was, and cooed adoringly with tears streaming down her face. The look she had in her orbitals spoke of uncertainly and mild fear with how to handle it all as her life shifed from being a protectorate of one (Princess Krystal) to now a protectorate of a family (her very own family) and handling all the responsibilities bestowed onto her as a new parent, as most first-time parents are. But they also expressed joy and possibilities. Endless possibilities.

In fact, Jackie could swear that she saw glimpses of the future for that kid in the gleam of Amber’s eyes. Amber splashing with her son in the tub, Amber holding an upset Sky and comforting him, Amber proudly standing next to Sky holding a trophy. The flashes went on and on.

Jackie was pretty sure she must have been hallucinating cause come on, seeing all that in just the gleam and tears in Amber’s eyes? She was crazy, but not insane.

She summed it up to the moment and possibly the happy tears in her own eyes, perhaps even the damn endorphins floating in her brain.

Sky turned out to be almost a carbon copy of Amber, if you could believe it, but with a few exceptions. He took after her in many ways such as in his physical features much like the famous llama nose and mouth, except for his eyes; he took after Krystal in that department. Slanted like a cat’s and intimidatingly analytical. His personality mirrored Amber’s as well, the rambunctiousness and carefree nature. However, unlike Amber he was quiet at times and preferred to be left to his own device. He didn’t care much for large crowds and liked to stay with people or things he was familiar with. At times, Jackie would vouch that when Sky got mad, he had the similar look that Krystal would always give. It’s the silent type of mad, the worse and most dangerous kind. The kind where there would be hell to pay later.

Jackie was knocked from her musing when she heard the front door click and shoved open with a panting Amber.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” She huffed. “I almost forgot about picking up Sky. I mean, Ari wanted to see Krystal and I was swamped with a new production that I nearly forgot……”

She never finished her rambling explanation because right at that moment Sky popped down the stair with his loaded nerf gun, glared at his Appa and shouted, “Locked and loaded! Fire!!!!” Proceeding to rain nerf bullet after nerf bullet in rapid succession at the unsuspecting Amber who yelped in stupefaction.

Jackie howled with laughter at Amber’s expense, who was desperately trying to dodge the bullets to no avail. She ducked behind the ottoman and then rolled to Jackie’s feet with her arms over her head. She glared up at her when Jackie made no move to help her, only smirking down with glee.

“A little help would be nice.” Amber grumbled as Sky was still shooting nerf bullets at her in hopes they would land on target even if she was behind the table.

Jackie glanced briefly up at Sky and then back at Amber near her feet.

“Nah. I’m good.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Thanks.” She said sarcastically.

Pushing up from her crouched position, Amber made her counter attack, picking up spare nerf bullets on the floor and flung them at her son in a desperate attempt. Now without a nerf gun, the bullets hardly made a difference, but it was still something, if not a good distraction. A good enough one for Amber to run up to Sky and tackle him, lifting him up in the air like she used to do when he was a toddler, playing airplane.

“Gotcha!” She whooped successfully.

Sky yelped in laughter. “Hey, put me down, Appa! No fair!”

“Nope, all’s fair little man!”

Jackie watched as Amber continued to spin Sky around; the nerf gun now abandoned on the floor where Sky dropped it. The pair of them were giggling uncontrollably in their own little world until they were interrupted by Krystal standing at the open doorway with little Ari in tow and a hand on her hip.

Krystal sported a frown and disapproving look on her face at Amber, but it was harmless as her expression did not match her bemused eyes.

“Seriously Amber, put Sky down.” She chastised.

Jackie watched as Amber looked at Krystal with a poor kicked puppy’s expression, jutting her bottom lip for emphasis. “But…But…But…Krystal, Sky was being mean to me. He barraged me with nerf bullets.”

Krystal rolled her eyes at her. Next to her Ari giggled into her hands and Sky who was still in Amber’s arms, clasped his hands over his mouth after letting out a snort.

Even Jackie could not keep the ridiculous snort from procuring from her lips and then an overdrawn laughing fit.

“Honestly sometimes, I wonder if you really are the parent and not the kid, Amber.” Jackie supplied.

In mock hurt, Amber whipped her head towards Jackie and gawked at her. “I am the parent.”

“Right….” Everyone chorused dubiously.

The day ended with kryber family staying a little later, with Amber and Sky in the backyard as Sky attempted to demonstrate the trick he was working on with his skateboard and Amber giving feedback. Ari was with them too as she watched her brother and Appa intently with fascination.

Jackie and Krystal ended up by the kitchen table chatting about the latest new indie band over a brief glass of wine. The day wore on until the sun began to set and the horizon was dusted with one part night and the other still holding on to the light of day. Kryber family were ready to head home; little Ari already passed out napping on Amber’s shoulder, clinging to her shirt like a baby koala. Even Sky was beginning to rub his tired eyes.

Jackie gave the family hugs good-bye and kissed the little ones sweetly before they departed.

“Thanks for looking after Sky, Jackie.” Amber said quietly as to not wake Ari.

Jackie huffed a light laugh. “No problem. Anytime and anything for my favorite little munchkins.”

“Really, we appreciate it. And I promise next time Amber won’t be late.” Krystal said pointedly mostly at Amber.

Amber only smiled sheepishly in return.  

“You two really nailed the family goals, didn’t you?” Jackie commented.

Krystal gave an affectionate glance at Amber before replying, “I guess we did.”

Beaming, Amber nodded in agreement.

Jackie watched with a knowing smile, that same smile she gave Amber so many years ago when she visited back home with Krystal in tow and claiming that Krystal and her were “just good friends”. Of course, Jackie called bull on that considering how red the both of them were and how intimate they were for not being a couple. Now look at them, married and with kids, yet they still acted like the love-struck people they were when they were still obliviously shy and smitten with one another.

Yup, totally love-struck.

Jackie took one last glance at the family before heading into the house – Amber’s left arm wrapped protectively around Krystal’s waist as her right arm carried a sleeping Ari. Krystal’s right arm wrapped securely around Amber and her left holding on to Sky as they group laughed good heartedly, probably at something stupid Amber said. They bundled together so closely they looked like a single mass.

Yup, Jackie thought.

A lovely family indeed.