"Mom!" Michael exclaimed excitedly as he spotted Violet in the kitchen window. He raced in from the yard and into the house, hugging her knees "I got my Halloween costume!"

"That's great!" Violet replied with equal enthusiasm, crouching down to his level.

"Why don't you go and find daddy?" Constance suggested as she closed the kitchen door behind her "Mommy and I have to talk about some things"

He scampered off promptly to search for his father, leaving his mother and grandmother in the kitchen.

"Now, I assume you want him on Halloween" The mortal said as she sat herself on a bar stool.

"We haven't discussed it too much" She shuffled. Although she and Constance didn't dislike each other or anything like that, there was a somewhat strange feeling between them

"You have to!" Constance insisted "He should have a nice day out with his parents"

"Really?" Violet asked, trying to hold back a smile.

"Of course" The blond exclaimed "I see him everyday. It's your turn!"

"Thank you" She said, appreciatively hugging the mother of her boyfriend.

"What's going on in here?" Tate asked as he came through into the kitchen, holding his son's hand.

"Just making some plans, my dear" Constance explained, standing up from the stool "I'll be back at five"

-

Snooping was one of the parenting techniques that Ben strongly disagreed with but was one he used under some circumstances. Fortunately for him and for Violet, it was not something he did on a regular basis.

But Violet was being weirder than usual, especially around him, and it needed to be sorted out. He thought perhaps that her room might provide some answers to her strange behavior.

The first thing he noticed was that the room smelt faintly of sweat that was trying to be concealed by Violet's perfume. Ben chose not to think about it as he knew the cause and instead continued surveying the room.

He found nothing on her desk nor in any of her usual hiding spaces.Thinking that she was perhaps just acting up out of boredom, he leave the room before eyeing a book slightly sticking out on the bookshelf.

There was probably nothing there, he thought, but nonetheless removed the book and shook it, hoping for something to fall out. The folded slip of paper that Violet was working so hard on fluttered to the floor. He chuckled as he opened it up and saw what she had written:

Hayden,

Charles,

Moira?

Dad (Leader)

"Oh Violet" He said to himself amusedly as he re-folded the paper and put it back where he had found it, shoving the book carelessly in it's place "There is so much you don't know"

"What are you doing?" Someone questioned behind him. Vivien stood a few feet away, arms folded angrily over her chest.

"I was just-"

"You know what? I don't care" Vivien growled, confusing Ben over her strangely aggressively behaviour.

"Viv, what's the matter?" Ben asked, concernedly. Did she now he was in the group?

"What's that matter?" She retorted, almost sarcastically "The matter is Chad told me about everything!"

"What?" Ben replied, still not sure what she was angry about.

"About Boston!" She exploded "Hayden wasn't the only girl - Was she, Ben?"

Suddenly, it came back to him. A distant memory he had tried so hard to suppress. One that Chad somehow knew and had confronted him about in the crawlspace when he was looking for Violet. Chad had threatened to tell and it looked like he had followed through.

"Viv, you weren't supposed to find out" Ben tried to justify

"I thought we were honest with each other" She cried "I thought that we were the type of people who told each other this kind of stuff but clearly I was wrong"

"We are!" He cried back

"Tell me exactly what happened then" She bawled "Tell me exactly what you did!"

"No" He wept "You already know"

"I want to hear it from your mouth" She choked

"I-I can't say it" She stepped forward and slapped him hard around the face, leaving a stinging red mark.

With that, she vanished. Leaving her husband in her daughter's room to wallow in his own pity and guilt. He was not the man she married.

He wasn't even human.

-

"I want to apologise" Chad managed as he approached Nora.

"I'm listening" She replied defensively, standing up from her position.

"We both said somethings we didn't mean" He said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"I guess that much is correct" She agreed, calmer than before.

"The thing is" He began "I don't think you're a you-know-what - I actually think you're quite a decent person"

Nora looked down bashfully, looking up at him through her lashes.

"I guess that's why I haven't been able to get you out of my head ever since" He smiled unsurely.

"But aren't you...?"

"Gay? Yes, I am" He confirmed "At least, I thought I was"

"I beg your pardon, I'm afraid I don't follow"

"Look, Nora" He shuffled a bit closer to her "I like you and I know that you're married and me and Chad are...something but I just thought you should know"

He turned on his heel to leave but Nora caught his arm, and then his eyes.

"I'm not sure what it is like to 'like' someone nowadays" Nora confessed "But if I understand what you're saying completely then I think I like you too"

"What?" Chad responded in shock. This is not how he thought things would play out.

"You heard me" She replied before placing a soft kiss on his cheek, leaving Chad in awe even after she disappeared to somewhere else in the house.

-