Lizzie Stutler

By: moonlightbear

Summary: Eight months after Morgana's defeat is summer vacation, and every year Dave's baby sister comes to stay. This might be a little more interesting than the usual summer of telsa coils and lighting!

Author's notes: I don't own anything! I just like to write fun stories! yay! I hope you like!

Chapter One: I Didn't Forget! I uh…

"Dave? DAVE!" Balthazar called of the noise in the lab. "I didn't realize my letting you go early was for you to continue tinkering with your experiments!"

The noise lowered quite a bit as Dave noticed the sorcerer on the cat walk above. "Early?" He asked. He was pretty beat when they finished.

"Last week you said you couldn't stay the whole time, you had something very important to…"

Dave's mind was still making calculations, so he wasn't really paying attention to everything Balthazar was saying and began to talk over him, "And it's not tinkering, it's… Oh, no!" Dave finished as he caught the last part his master mention. "What time is it? Oh, No, oh, no! She is so going to kill me!" Dave was tripping and falling all over the lab to grab his keys, wallet, and (strangely, Balthazar thought) a stuffed white tiger out of one of the back rooms.

"I wouldn't worry Dave, Becky is used to-"

"It's not Becky, and this'll be-"

"The third time in a row!" Finished a little girl, who just closed the door behind her and crossed her arms in a mock angry position.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Dave said sprinting up the stair two at a time. Balthazar looked amused as his apprentice brushed past him. "I didn't forget, I-"

The little girl shook her head, "You're still a really bad liar, Davy!" She laughed as he picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Don't call me that…" He mumbled into her ear. A moment later he set her down and he checked her over, "How did you get here? Are you okay? Why didn't you go to the apartment?"

She gave him a goofy smile, "I'm totally fine. I took the bus to Sixth and twenty-fourth; it wasn't a long walk from there, and lastly, you're not at the apartment. I learned my lesson from last year! I'm not sitting out there until two in the morning!"

"Why didn't you call me?"

"Check your phone, mister!" She said smugly.

Dave pulled the phone out of his pocket (one of the few things he grabbed in his haste to leave just before she arrived), flipped it open and sighed. It was off. "I'm sorry…" He mumbled as he pressed the power button.

"I'm kind of used to it, Dave. It's okay…" She replied quietly and hugged him again.

He smiled at her and pulled the stuffed tiger out of the bag on his back. "I got this for you a couple of weeks ago, its name is Devona…"

"Ahh," She cooed. "My protector!"

Dave laughed, with a slight blush. "Shut up! You know you need it!"

"You only think I need one. I can take care of myself, thank you very much!" She said confidently, something Dave always lacked.

"How are grandma and grandpa?" He asked her.

"They're old and annoying as always… They tried to convince me not to come again…" She said looking at her feet sadly. "When are you going to-"

Obviously, whatever she was going to say was cut off as Dave spared a quick glance at Balthazar and said, "Later, we'll talk about that later."

The little girl seemed to notice this and looked at the strange man behind Dave. "Who is that?" She whispered.

Dave bit his lip slightly and said, "Uh… Um, Liz this is Balthazar Blake, he's my uh…" Dave knew 'Master' would sound rather odd to Liz, but thankfully Balthazar took over.

"Dave is my apprentice-"

"He's your boss?" She asked Dave.

"Uh, yeah, you could say that." He replied. She looked at him curiously, but he ignored it and finished the introductions. "Balthazar, this is my little sister, Elizabeth. She stays with me during the summer."

"A pleasure to meet you," Balthazar said, holding a hand out and giving Dave a curious look that asked why she was never mentioned before.

Liz took it and asked, "Do you pay him?"

"Liz!" Dave said sharply.

"What?" She snapped. She hadn't let go of the older man's hand either; she knew from past tales that people often took advantage of her brother.

"It doesn't work like that!" Dave replied, as he made her let go of Balthazar's hand. "I'm really sorry about her…" Dave told him as he picked her up and grabbed her bag. "We'll be back in a moment."

"Hey! Let me down, Dave!"

"Nope! We're going to have a talk!"

"But I don't want to!" She whined. "We're supposed to go to dinner! You're so unfair!"

"Oh, please!" Dave laughed. "We're still going to dinner and life is never fair!"

Liz huffed, crossed her arms, and glared at his back, since he had her in a fireman's hold. "You're so annoying!"

"Tell me something I don't know." He continued to laugh.

She sighed and looked down, they were now crossing the main floor of the lab, and she noticed something. "What's that?"

"What?" Dave asked pausing his step.

"There on the ground, those symbols." She answered and when he didn't respond right away she asked, "Does it have to do with a new experiment you've been working on?"

"Uh, um, yeah, you could say that…" And he started to walk again. She couldn't see his expression on his face, but it sounded just like when she asked if Balthazar was his boss. Something odd was going on. She looked up at the old man briefly, who was now at the door letting someone in, before he was out of view as her brother took her down a side alley way.

There were several doors down the corridor that used to be used for many different things, but were cleared out before or after the turnabout was abandon. Liz used one last year as a bedroom since they spent so many nights there. Her brother pushed the door to the room she used last year open, tossed her bag inside, and lifted her up to sit on the entrance to the room. There was a small ladder built into the wall since the door was at level with where the subway car doors used to open.

Her brother gestured for her to turn around and get inside, but before she did she noticed something and stopped. "Who stays there?" She asked pointing across the way. Another door to a small room was open, the light was on and you could see a side table and the edge of a bed.

Dave suppressed a groan and replied, "It's a long story, now get in!"

"Am I gonna hear this story anytime s—Woah!" She gasped as she turns over on to her knees and got a good look at the room. Last year, after the first time Dave found her cuddled up in here, he bought an air mattress and a bunch of tap lights. Since then, he wired it with electricity; put a proper twin size bed in the corner with pink and purple sheets, a poster of a white tiger on one wall, a cork board and a white board on another wall, and a lamp and fan to finish the décor of the room. There was also a lab chair that seemed out of place in the room. "Dave, this is soooo awesome! Thank you, thank you!" she cried and ran to hug him, and nearly sent them both tumbling into the alleyway.

Luckily, Dave stumbled and his back found the door jam to steady himself. "I'm glad you like it!" He smiled. "Come on, sit." She did as she was told and sat upon the bed; he pulled the chair up and sat across from her, and she looked at him expectantly. "A lot has happened since last year."

"Yeah, I can tell." She replied quietly. He seemed slightly more confidant, and something else seemed to be going on. Liz wasn't blind.

"Hmm… umm" He mumbled, as he struggled with the words to start this little talk of theirs. She saw that look, the same look he only reserved for two reasons. One being the dreaded nervous breakdown that she heard of so much, but wasn't present at the time of it happening (she was born five and half months later). Whatever confidence he had before, slipped away. He bit his lower lip and avoided his sister eyes.

She remembered the last time he had been like this. It was almost a year ago to the day. They were at Aunt Linda's going through a couple of boxes of Dave's keepsakes. Things he wanted to keep and take to his apartment he shared with Bennett, other things he wanted to leave at Linda's place, and others he wanted to throw out. They were searching through the boxes and Lizzie asked what this or that was, and he always responded with simple quick answer except one item. She had stuck her hand into one of the varies boxes that littered the room and jumped when she felt something move, and when she withdrew her hand a dragon shaped ring had found its way on to her finger. It took a moment for her to get it off before she showed her brother the ring. "What is this from?" She asked innocently and he told her the whole tale, from the note from the cutest girl in class, to the Arcana Cabana, to the two old guys fighting with magic, to the vase, and finally to the humiliation. "It's not real… It was never real." He told her sadly. The details he had about that day told her it was real, but the pain it cause for believing it hurt too much. She didn't mention it again, but she did notice her brother slip the ring into the box that was heading towards his apartment.

To comfort him a little she held his hand and he smiled down and placed his other hand on top, that's when she noticed it. "You're wearing it!"