Warm

Slowly waking up, that thought is the first to go through my mind, followed by how soft my bed was. Like the smoothest of silk combined with hundreds of pillows wrapped around my body. A veritable cloud.

I'm not poor at reading a situation. I can immediately tell this is either Vanessa finally letting me sleep in her wings, or it's that insane little girl, I think they called her Alexa, who tried to mutilate me earlier.

Looking back on the last things I did while awake, I think it's safe to assume the worst.

Very carefully as not to wake the ticking time bomb that's holding me hostage, I crack my eyelids open a tiny sliver. Just enough to make out details through my eyelashes yet not enough that you can tell they are open.

As they crack open I nearly scream out when I see how close the girl's face is. That was definitely not what I expected.

Taking a few seconds to steady my breathing, I rotate my head to assess my situation.

Surrounded by the enemy while essentially tied up by an alarm system. My future is bleak. Now lying on our sides, she has her arms and wings wrapped around me.

Oh, where are you my Emily, my sweet, sweet Emily. If only you would get jealous right now and whisk me away from my imminent demise I would never ignore your advances upon me again.

Jokes aside I'm not an idiot. A situation like this always plays out the same way. The man wakes up and freaks which then causes the girl to wake up and see how you two slept together. The man then jumps through a shutter out a two-story window yet again as a sacrifice to appease the dragon.

I may be projecting a bit, but I know the result is the same and I was not going to let that happen.

So what do you do when this situation strikes? It is simple.

YOU DO. NOT. MOVE. YOU SLEEP. Sleep with everything you have! Sleep until the month ends if it requires! You stay asleep until she wakes up and leaves and you do not, under any circumstances, open your eyes or wake up in any obvious way! Hopefully, when she awakes she'll be too embarrassed to cause any pain and will leave you relatively unharmed. If you're unlucky, she'll beat you. Either way, do not move. Admit nothing. Being awake is an admission of guilt. You are not guilty.

And for god's sake do NOT try to sneak away. The risk is not worth the gain, not at all. Sneaking away from a woman's bed and getting caught? Death sentence.

Taking my own hastily crafted and poorly thought out advice, I shut my eyes tight and resolve myself to enjoy this bed as long as I can before I lose my life. I revel in the soft touch of her feathers wrapped around me. The warmth and comfort provided by the elasticity of her wing. I lay there and etch the moment of bliss into my mind, praying she doesn't wake up anytime soon and wait.

And wait.

An hour passes. A second hour passes.

... I have to pee.

I hear muffled talking outside the door and every so often I hear it open and close slightly without latching, but no one enters the room and no one wakes the girl.

Please, if there is a god, let her wake up soon. I regret ever having prayed she not wake. I regret thinking I'd need longer than five minutes to etch the moment into my mind. I have it logged away. I'll remember this softness forever. So please, release me from this hell!

Alexa shifts slightly and hope parades throughout my body.

Finally. Come, wake up! Do your worst I don't care anymore, throat punch me if it means I can go to the bathroom sooner! I don't care that I'll be seen as the bad guy, just let me be free!

I crack my eyelids slightly and peek into her face waiting to see what she'll do. The moment her eyes open, a jolt runs through her body as she sees me. I think it's finally time, but then instead of hitting me or jumping away, she merely lifts her head to glance around the room. Once she's done with that, she rests her head back on her wing next to my face and presses her forehead against mine while wrapping her wings around me tighter.

...What kind of sick joke is this? Who reacts like that?! I don't even know what to... Should I squirm away? If I do, would that set her off?

No, wait. First, think. Why did she not get upset? I'm definitely a guy, right? And she is definitely a girl. Celestials typically hate contact with Humans though I seem to be an exception, but only with Vanessa. This one tried to fry me like a bug on a zapper when I pet her. Even if she doesn't hate me anymore, I'm still a guy right? Wha-

I'M FREAKING two!

God, I'm an Idiot! How could I be so stupid? How did I not remember that? I'm two. No one cares what I do. No one sees me as a guy, I'm a toddler. I'm two for crying out loud. Dammit, this whole situation, all this time!

The moment I reaffirm my conviction that I am indeed two and can get up without repercussion, I hear the scraping of nails on wood directly overhead. The scraping sound rushes down the steps and turns in the kitchen, shoots into the shop area, then bursts through the slightly open door to the reception room. Half a second later I am painfully reminded that my ribs never fully finished healing as a fox saves me from the predicament I'd found myself in.

Vanessa sighed as she rested her head in her hands, her elbows settling on her knees. It had been about an hour since the boy had gone into the room and there was no telling when they'd come back out.

Emily had initially wanted to burst in after the boy, but she had been easy enough to talk down. She'd seen the look on his face as well as Vanessa had. He wasn't a two-year-old that needed comforting in that moment. He'd been an individual with something he needed to sort through. If he wanted to do that away from his family, that was his business.

She definitely wasn't just sour because he'd gone to her niece for comfort instead of her. Who he sought comfort from was his own business.

'The little minx.'

A sound to the left broke her thoughts and Vanessa lifted her head, glancing over. Garrett was still cleaning up and reorganizing his shop after the incident. He'd been at it since he came back inside from calming the folks down that had been pooling up around the front of their home.

"Still, what a ride, huh? Who would have thought your niece and him would have such an explosive first meeting. If it were going to be like that, we would have been better off putting them both in a cage before letting them say hi," he mumbled out while working.

Vanessa let a small grin creep onto her face before wiping it away just as fast. The man was doing his best to lighten a situation that everyone in the room knew couldn't be lightened.

Everyone was worried, everyone was tired, and everyone was confused.

Vanessa had thought she was getting better at predicting how the child would act but she was constantly having to reevaluate and come up with new countermeasures for his antics. It was starting to become a recurring theme, him surprising her. And it hadn't been one surprise this time either but multiple all at once.

First, he managed to blow himself through a wall into the house from outside with air, something that even the best of mages had trouble accomplishing.

Second, and probably the most interesting, he'd spoken. Granted, he was two. Humans learn to say a word or two by then easily, but he'd never said anything. They'd started to worry that he just would never be able to, but then he spoke out as if he could all along.

Third, he shocked his mom with the lightning element. That made her smile slightly looking back on it.

Fourth, he stopped her from healing him any further and walked with fractured ribs.

Fifth, he shut the door to the room in his mom's face and her's.

Sixth, he'd gone straight to the girl who'd been the cause of all his pain and crawled into her lap.

And seventh, he'd cried. He'd really cried. Not the fake whine he'd use to get his way, but one with pain behind it. Deep emotional pain. The kind a two-year-old should never be experiencing. That had ultimately been what lead to her deciding to leave him be, watching his eyes drop tears while he hid his emotions behind a mask and shuffled to the room had driven home how much the child was hurting. About what, she'd find out in time, but until he was ready to talk she wasn't going to interrupt him.

She just wished it wasn't taking him so damn long.

"Ahhh! I can't take it anymore Vanessa, I'm going in!"

Emily hopped up from the chair she'd been sulking in and started walking towards the door.

"Emily, don't. We said we'd leave him be for now."

"They stopped crying thirty minutes ago though, can't we at least peek in?"

Vanessa sighed, then stood.

"Fine, I'm also curious what they could be doing. It's been an hour after all. But we just peek, no sounds, deal?"

"Yes yes."

Emily shifted from one foot to the next as she waited by the door for Vanessa.

Once both adults had made it to the door, they cracked it slightly ajar and peered in. Sitting on the couch was Alexa with the boy in her lap sleeping as she ran her fingers through his hair. A smile was spread across her face. A smile that was in direct contrast to the puffy eyes and red cheeks reminiscent of someone who'd been crying recently.

She glanced up and met the eyes of the adults upon which she lost her smile and her face scrunched up like she'd just bit into a lemon. When they noticed her lip beginning to quiver, both Vanessa and Emily expeditiously retreated from the room.

"He... is sleeping?" Emily asked to no one in particular.

"I almost feel dumb for being worried about him. To think we've been waiting here for an hour..." Vanessa trailed off.

Garrett looked up from where he was tidying for a moment then went back to work, determined to keep busy so he wouldn't be sitting and growing impatient like they were.

"Do you two feel satisfied now that you've made the girl cry again?"

They gave him no response in the way of words, choosing instead to glare at him.

A second hour passed, the two women periodically checking in to see if... something happened. Garrett had finally run out of things to do and was sitting in the corner with his head in his hands.

As the third hour passed Garrett was up pacing about the room while Emily and Vanessa sat on a bench leaning against one another.

Emily sighed, stood up, and then walked over to take a peek through the door again.

"Both still sleeping," she announced, turning and walking back to Vanessa.

"Why aren't we waking them up at this point? It's all very touching that Alexa is being nice to him, but isn't this getting excessive?" Vanessa asked the room.

Garrett stood up and walked out of the room.

"Oh, now you want to interrupt their little bonding session? We could have done hours ago you know," Emily retorted as she sat back down and grabbed ahold of Vanessa's arm.

Both were reaching the ends of their patience, yet neither wanted to be the one to break. They continued to lean on each other, keeping the other in check.

The staring contest was broken by the sound of nails scampering on wood as a small black and white fox burst into the room and shot through the open door to the room beyond. They heard a surprised shout and a grunt of pain from the inhabitants of said room, then the yipping of excitement from the fox.

Garrett walked back into the room a few moments later.

"Wait, no, Jasper don't go in there. We are waiting for nothing to happen and it would be a shame to stop now," he said in a monotone voice.

Vistiel opened his eyes, staring at the floor beneath him. He glanced up and watched the door to the reception area come into view. Light colored wood, it always seemed inviting in nature before but wasn't at this particular moment.

Letting out a sigh he stepped towards the door. He knew they would bombard him with questions, it only made sense. It's what he would do in their place. He just wasn't sure they'd like the answers.

'In the worst case, they shouldn't kill me and I've got plenty of know-how on surviving alone... No use putting it off anymore then,' he thought and with one more deep breath, he pushed open the door to the room.

Vistiel walked over to the couch very mechanically then pulled himself up onto it, turning to face the inquisition on the other couch. Sitting to his left was Alexa who looked terrified. Definitely not a good ally to have at this point in time, she seemed to barely be keeping it together. The girl probably thought they were going to punish her but that was hardly why they were all here and the ones on the other side of the table knew it.

"Now, to figure out how we are going to punish you two for destroying half my shop and scorching the staircase."

Or maybe he was completely wrong.

'What was that about punishment?'

Silencing his thoughts, he once again examined the adults in front of him. All looked serious, but mostly they just seemed relieved. Perhaps they hadn't heard him speak, then.

"I-it was my fault! I shouldn't have attacked him like that, please don't punish him too!" Alexa confessed, looking like a nervous wreck.

Jasper, who'd been resting next to her, jumped up from the noise and ran across her legs and out the door.

This time, it was Vanessa who spoke up, "We'll figure out who to blame once we hear the story of what even happened. And you," she said, pointing to Vistiel, "use your words. No more acting, we all heard you talk."

'So much for that hopeful thought.'

Wondering if he should just plead ignorance and stay quiet, Vistiel finally decided to be honest with them. If he was thrown out that's just what had to be done.

"Alright. Wher duyou walmeshtrarot?" A soft voice responded to Vanessa.

Vistiel sat for a moment, not sure what had just happened and from the confused looks on everyone else's faces it appeared they didn't understand either.

He cleared his throat and tried again, "So, where dooyuw anmetertsh fm?"

'No, that didn't sound right either,' he thought.

Then it dawned on him. It didn't matter if he knew the language back to front, if he didn't practice using it his mouth wouldn't be used to the pronunciation and the way the words strung together. It was like trying to test drive a car that you'd personally built through rush hour traffic and expecting to get through flawlessly.

Regardless of him knowing how to speak his mouth would keep fumbling over the words.

Everyone stared at the boy confused until Garrett failed to stifle a chuckle, then everyone looked at him accusingly.

"What? He looked so confident and this is what we get? It's a little funny."

"Not... funny... fords... hard," was the serious response Vistiel replied with.

Emily was staring at her son slack-jawed, Vanessa was looking at him slightly disappointed, and Garrett was laughing.

'Not too bad a start,' he thought to himself.

Still, it was disappointing he'd have to actually practice speaking aloud to use this language.

"Alexa... youtell."

All eyes turned to the girl as she visibly sunk back into her seat. "Why me?!"

"Can't... speak." Was the response she got, taking him a full ten seconds to say both words correctly.

It was a miracle he'd called for help correctly. If he did. It sounded right to him...

"... Fine. Okay. Well. We, uh, we-went up to the uh, stairs, or no I uh chased h-him up th-"

"Take... breath... stutter... bad."

It was like watching a car wreck happening in front of his face in slow motion and it was annoying. He had to say something.

Vistiel used his arms to push him across the couch and closer to the girl. Maybe she'd feel less worried if he were closer.

Alexa seemed to listen to his advice and took a breath before gathering her thoughts to start again.

"I uhm, chased him upstairs, then we uh, ran down the hallway through a door. I may have thrown a uh, fireball or two at him. I only wanted to scare him a little, I promise! I missed on purpose!" she called out, looking guiltily at Emily and Garrett. "Then he... well he jumped on the desk and... jumped through the window."

She'd said the last part in a whisper but everyone still heard it. They all turned to the boy who nodded as if that was the most logical thing to do in that situation.

"You jumped... through the window?" Emily asked.

He nodded again. Garrett and Vanessa both audibly stifled an exasperated laugh.

"It's not funny!" Emily yelled as she threw her arms up in the air, "He could have seriously hurt himself!"

"Sweetheart, he did seriously hurt himself," Garrett pointed out. "Damien, why did you decide to jump out the window?" Garrett asked.

Pointing to Alexa, Vistiel replied, "Scary... fire... pain."

It was throwing her under the bus, sure, but he wasn't about to lie. It totally was the girl's fault. And it might help his case to take the blame towards her a little more in the long run anyway.

Sighing, Vanessa rubbed the bridge of her nose and then looked at her niece. "Well? Is that all that happened then?"

"Uhm... I think so? He jumped, broke the shutters, then blew himself up. That's all I remember." She replied.

Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, Vanessa spoke again, "You realize this is your fault at least. You could have gotten him killed if he wasn't practicing already."

"I know, I-"

"What would you have done then? Apologized?

"I didn't mea-" Alexa tried again, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks.

"It doesn't matter what you meant! You need to control your temper better and respect those around you. You got extremely lucky this time but what about next time? Go upstairs into the office. We'll figure out what to do with... you? What are you doing?"

Vistiel stood up and walked onto Alexa's lap, then sat down while glaring at Vanessa. He'd noticed it was an opportunity to generate goodwill with the girl, but mostly, it was cruel to pretend this was all her fault. She was what, six? Seven? How was she supposed to know any of this would happen?

Breaking himself out of his thoughts, he responded, "Not her... fault.. only. Be naish."

Vanessa, not used to being talked back to, looked at the boy with surprise and slight annoyance. "Oh? Then who's fault would it be, genius boy?"

"All fault... Yours... too." Looking around frustrated, the boy pointed to a piece of charcoal and a block of wood lying nearby the fireplace, then looked at his only ally, "get... please?"

Alexa hesitated, then hopped off the couch to retrieve the makeshift pen and paper and returned, whereupon Vist sat down in her lap and began writing on the wood. When he was done he presented it to her. "Read... please."

Taking the piece of wood, Alexa read what was written down, before turning to him and whispering, "I'm not reading this she'll kill me! Have one of them read it ins-"

"Read it, Alexa," Vanessa said, sounding less than amused.

Jolting slightly, the girl looked up at her Aunt, then down to the smiling boy, before finally looking at the wood.

"It says, 'It's all our faults, yours included. Emily and Garrett taught me to manipulate air and mana but didn't set boundaries. I blew myself up, not her. You were the reason she was so jumpy. She was sad cause you laughed with me and loved me but didn't hug her too, so she got upset. If I was a normal two-year-old, I wouldn't have upset her in the first place. She is six or seven, not an adult. It's her fault the most though.'"

Once she'd finished what was written, Alexa didn't look up.

Vistiel stared at Vanessa in a matter of fact way and she stared back for a few moments before Garrett broke the silence.

"The boy is right Vanessa, we already knew it was our fault for not teaching him properly."

"I know he is right," she snapped back. "But Alexa needs to understand just how serious the situation is."

"Lesson... learned.... Hurt... enough. Cried... enough. I... forgive. Not.. goonough?"

Vanessa stared the boy down and sighed again. He was using his puppy dog eyes for the sake of her niece, who was using tears and sniffling as her defense, though unintentionally. At some point throughout the discussion, she'd wrapped her arms around the boy and was crying into his hair.

Glancing to her right, Vanessa was met with a smile and shrug from Garrett while Emily was looking downward with Garrett's arm wrapped around her. At that moment, Jasper came waltzing back in the room and hopped up on Emily's lap before curling into a ball, making the serious mood feel completely silly in but a moment as Emily's hand slowly lifted up and rested on the fox's stomach.

Repressing yet another sigh, she responded, "I suppose... no. If you forgave her, I guess that is enough then, isn't it? As her guardian, I'm still going to punish her, forgiven or not, but I'm not really feeling all that up to it right now."

Damien nodded his head and smiled slightly towards her in a very mature manner, not a smile she is used to seeing. He looked like he was happy she'd made the right decision as if he knew what that was.

"Arguing with you does not quite feel fair, you know?" Vanessa added.

Smile changing back to his usual goofy one, Damien responded to her, "Course... not. I'm... adorable."

Standing up, he turned around and started petting the girl on her head and wings, "There... there... ok now... she... not eat... you."

That elicited some laughter from Garrett while Emily zoned out. Alexa glanced up and chuckled while wiping away her tears. Vanessa glared at him.

"Oh come on. I'm not that bad, am I?" she said.

"You are that bad Vanessa. I thought you were going to hit him." Garrett said.

Nodding, Emily entered back into the conversation, speaking up quietly, "It's true. You get really scary when you get mad, Nessa."

A glare and more laughter went around the room, finally easing the palpable tension that had been in the air before.

"Fix... chest?" Damien asked, raising his hand to get Vanessa's attention, then pointing to his chest.

She felt her chest crush inward slightly from the realization that they'd been making him do all of this with fractured ribs. Not that they could tell since he never complained once before now.

"I could, but I don't really feel like it anymore. Why don't you get your new girlfriend to do it for you instead?" Vanessa responded, already moving towards him.

"Your... feathers... always... favorite," he responded with a glint in his eye.

"What is that? Is that jealousy I heard there Vanessa? Afraid your little future husband is going to get swept away?" Garrett taunted while waggling his eyebrows at Vanessa.

Vanessa could almost swear she'd seen annoyance in the boy's expression for a moment at Garrett's words, as if he wanted to keep Garrett from taunting her. The look disappeared as quickly as it had come though and was replaced by one of acceptance.

"Hush Garrett. But really, Alexa, you should try to heal Damien, or better yet, teach him to heal himself since he seems able to manipulate mana without needing a spell matrix," Vanessa responded.

"That's right! I'd forgotten about that detail. Do you really think he can move mana well enough not to need a matrix?" Garrett asked.

"He blew a hole through your house with his body and destroyed your garden at the age of two, I'd say he'll be just fine without it," She responded. "In fact I think I've come up with the perfect punishment for all four of you."

"I think I've come up with the perfect punishment for all four of you."

Her Aunt spoke in a serious tone, shocking Alexa out of her trance when she heard the word 'punishment'.

"The four of us?" The older man replied, making Alexa realize she also wanted to know why Vanessa had said the four of them.

"Yes, the four of you," Her Aunt replied.

"Pray tell, councilman, what is the punishment?" He replied again.

"I'm glad you asked. Alexa will be staying here starting tomorrow to teach the boy finer control of his mana. She's been practicing since she was around his age, early for a Celestial even. She's already quite good and could offer him a lot, more than you two could beings that you both use a matrix when you manipulate mana. I'm planning on it myself but I can't always be around and since this convenient situation has appeared, why not leave her here to teach him during those times? It would also help teach her how to be more respectful around those who don't owe her anything."

Silence.

'Stay here? With the Humans? Alexa thought. Wasn't I supposed to be stay with Aunt Ness? But now I'll be teaching him? I want to spend more time with Vanessa, not teaching some Human brat to... no, that...'

Halting her thoughts there, Alexa looked down at the boy who'd stopped petting her and was once again sitting in her lap. He wasn't a brat. Honestly... Maybe she wouldn't mind being around here more often. It had been insane and dangerous, but it had been fun in a way and for some reason, the boy seemed to still like her. Her Aunt had even said she always visited them as well so...

The only problem was whether or not his parents would allow that. She attacked their child, perhaps they were angrier with her than they let on.

"Vanessa, I hardly think that is acceptable. If her mother found out-"

'I knew it,' Alexa thought.

There is no reason he'd want her around after all that happened today.

"She won't," Vanessa claimed, interrupting the man. "And even if she did I'd take care of it."

"Well ok but what about food? Clothing? Where would she stay?"

"I'll provide her food and she brought plenty of clothing. She would stay in one of the free rooms you have upstairs of course."

"Those are storage rooms though!" Garrett rebuked.

Her aunt rolled her eyes.

"I hardly think you need BOTH of those rooms for storage. It would do her good to be around your family. She needs to learn tolerance and that boy is the perfect one to teach it to her. It's only been little more than a year and I myself am nicer to you, am I not?" Vanessa countered.

Alexa looked down, ashamed of her previous actions. She was always so good at her family parties and events at being cordial to their guests yet when she was a guest here it had taken her no time to ruin everything.

"I need... well that's true but.... Emily help me out here. Emily?" He turned to his wife who'd been silent and pleaded.

"What? Sorry. Alexa staying here? I don't mind. She seems like a sweet girl, I'd love to have her around more often. It would mean Vanessa had to visit more too."

Emily smiled lightly at the group after declaring such, shocking Alexa as she looked up partway through her words.

"Em! What... well there is the girl too, I doubt she'd w-"

"I'll do it."

The room once again went quiet as they turned to look at her. Even Vanessa seemed confused at how easily she agreed.

"W-what? You said it was a punishment and I want to do something to help him after the trouble I caused." Alexa stammered out, confused at the expressions she'd received. "I'm really, really sorry and if I can repay your kindness with teaching him, I'd be glad to," Alexa stated, finishing her words by wrapping her arms around the little boy on her lap.

"Well, there you have it, Garrett. I'll bring her stuff by tomorrow, we will go up and start clearing the space for her right now," Vanessa declared, picking up the fox that had been sleeping on Emily before standing up from the couch and looking down at him.

"I... fine, I guess. But I'll go with you. Some of that is fragile," he said while starting to stand up.

"Not necessary. Plus, you have another talk to be had with our little Damien here," Vanessa said, causing Garrett to halt mid lift and freezing light attitude in the room. "Come, Alexa. Stop pestering the boy and let us go decorate your new room. They need some time to speak, just the three of them."

Rolling with the momentum she'd caused, her Aunt stood up, gently grabbed her hand, and pulled her up off the couch right as the boy scrambled off her lap. Alexa looked back into the room one last time before looking at where her Aunt was taking her, wondering if what she'd agreed to was a good idea or not.

I follow the two girls out of the room with my eyes and mentally implore them to come back. Scant few people ever enjoy 'serious talks' with their family and the fact that this one is about whether or not I'm even their family only makes this all the more arduous.

When the door latches behind the two, I rotate my body to the left until I'm back facing my caretakers. Garrett is looking straight at me while Emily is looking down and away.

I sigh.

"So, you can talk." Garrett starts off stopping my thoughts.

"...Yes," I reply.

"For how long?"

"Not... tried... till... today."

He looks at me disbelievingly. The distrust in his eyes hurts.

"You're telling me you can speak this well and it's only the first day you've tried?"

"Know... words. Not... pronunce... pronounce... right."

After a moment, he nods. I watch as he turns to look at Emily before opening his mouth to speak anew.

"Why did you keep secret how intelligent you were?"

I open my mouth to respond immediately then pause. My mouth closes as I contemplate my answer.

Why did I keep it a secret? At first, it was obvious. If they knew, they'd ask questions I didn't want to answer and I'd be cast out or killed. As an infant, I had no illusions that I'd be able to survive. Once I'd learned the language though and even more so once I'd learned how to manipulate mana, it would have been easy to leave. I'd be fine on my own now. I could just leave without a problem.

I let out a sigh.

What, I can be honest with them but not myself?

"Scared."

"Scared of what?" He asked incredulously.

"Abandoned."

Garrett didn't seem to like that answer. "Scared we'd kick you out? Why? You seem fine on your own."

I shake my head as I fight back the negative emotions clashing about inside my body.

"Scared... to be... abandoned by... my family," I took extra time to articulate and clarify this answer.

Emily finally looks up at me at that. Garrett's expression goes from upset back to neutral.

"Your family, huh? You didn't seem to see it that way in the note you wrote on the wood. 'Garrett and Emily'. You hurt her, you know? Not to mention you shocked her."

I look at Emily then look away as she does, neither of us speaking.

"Well? What's to stop us from kicking you out now?"

"Garrett!"

"No, Em. If he wants to lie and keep secrets then maybe he shouldn't be here. So you think we are your family when it suits you then?"

My chest clenches and writhes. That hurts. Glistening droplets of water start dropping from my eyes. I hop off the couch and start advancing towards the door as they argue. As I'm about to jump up for the handle and open the door, it gets coated in ice.

"[Freeze]. Where do you think you're going, boy? We aren't nearly done here," Garrett asks, standing up from the couch.

"You... mad. I'll... leave. Not... wanted. It's... fine," I turn back and respond, tears streaming down my face.

Don't wipe your eyes. Don't try to elicit sympathy.

"Yeah, I'm mad! For a lot of reasons! But mainly because you're MY SON," He yelled, the feeling in my chest worsening. "I don't CARE that you're smart. I KNOW you changed after you suffocated, and a part of me knows you aren't the same boy that you were and that hurts. But we were given a second chance in the form of you, whatever the hell that might be. You're MY SON and it pisses me off that you'd pretend not to be! If we are your family like you claim then put a little more faith in us! You think I'd throw you out just because you act a little different? Am I a monster in your eyes!? I've done everything I can to make you feel welcome for over a year now. Emily has done more! You think we didn't notice you were uncomfortable? Different? Do you take us for idiots?!"

He paused to take a breath while my shaky legs made it harder to stand, eventually causing me to rest my back against the door and slide down to the ground.

"I, WE don't care what you know, who you are, what the story is behind how you came into our lives. You've brought us the joy that is having a child and that is all we EVER expected from you! It doesn't matter to us who you were. Your name is Damien, and if you try to walk out that door again, I'll throw your ass in your room myself and seal it off with ice until you sort yourself out!"

A few tense seconds went by with the only sound in the room being Garrett inhaling and exhaling loudly. Looking up at him, I meet his eyes and see just how red his face is.

He stomps over to me and my scenery changes quickly as he jolts me up by my arm and gives me a rough hug, causing my chest to send a stinging pain across my body. The view changes rapidly again as he tosses me across the room at Emily who picks me out of the air hastily.

"Garrett! His ribs are still damaged!" she yells in my defense.

"Oh hush! He survived being thrown through our walls, he can be tossed around without a problem. And you," he points at me, "If you EVER call me Garrett again, I'll... I'll think of something, but you damn well best expect you won't like it! I'll be in the backyard!"

With a huff, he grabs the door handle and the ice disperses, my face twitching involuntarily as the loud slam of the door echos for a moment through the room.

After all that, he's gone, leaving a chaotic whirlpool of emotions and thoughts swirling around in my head.

Turning me around to face her, I notice Emily has tears in her eyes too.

I'm not sure what to say and I'm too startled by everything that just happened to begin speaking.

"I feel the same way as him. We definitely have a weird family, but I love you. He might be angry now but he loves you too, so, please don't call me Emily ever again. It hurts," she says, choking back a couple of sniffles and wiping the tears from her eyes while setting me on her lap.

The rush of emotions comes swirling back in as I nod and hug her, my tears coming back in another wave. A weight I didn't know I'd been carrying lifts from my stomach at that instant as I sobbed into my mom's arms.

Damien, huh? Not too bad a name, I guess.