Well, we've seen the reaction from Bolt and Mittens when it comes to their daughter's discovery of the TV show, but there's one more item of business that still needs to be taken care of… Nova's superpowers. What more could be revealed in this chapter? Read and find out.
A/N: I do not own Bolt or any of its characters. All characters are the property of Disney and its subsidiaries.
Watch for the Signs
(The Next Morning)
Rhino was just waking up, and almost immediately forgot that he never mentioned Nova's mega jump the other night to Bolt and Mittens. As he looked at the clock on the wall, which read 7:31, he debated going upstairs and waking them up, but figured that there was a chance that they would already be up and moving. The small hamster hopped from step to step, and eventually made it to the top of the second floor, panting and already exhausted.
"I… need to get off the couch more…Nah!" Rhino said between pants, and realizing what he had just said. Walking past the spare bedroom, he noticed that the door was wide open. What the… Rhino began thinking before he saw who was inside. Sleeping on the rug in front the bed were Nova and Seth; Nova leaned up against the front bed board with her arm extended over Seth, who was near her head, and both of them sleeping soundly. Rhino put on the 'This is so cute. Where is Penny's camera when I need it' face. After about 20 more seconds of staring, and nearly crying because it was so cute, he proceeded to Penny's door and nudged it open.
"She never DOES close the door completely. Oh well, it means I don't have to climb to the doorknob." Rhino said to himself as he took his first few steps inside. As he looked around, he noticed Bolt climbing out from underneath Penny's bed, and instantly knew why.
"Did you have an eventful night?" Rhino asked sarcastically, which made Bolt jump some; having not seen Rhino watching him.
"I'm not complaining!" Bolt said with a smirk.
"Too much information, Bolt! Too much information!"
"What time is it?"
"It's about 7:30. I was just wondering if you were awake, because I need to talk to you."
"Do you need me to wake Mittens up?"
"No, it's okay! We'll just tell her later."
"What is it?"
"Well… the night that Nova found out about your TV show, I tried running for the stairs, and she jumped in front of me."
"So?"
"Bolt, I'm not just talking about a little pounce, I'm talking about at least a 10-foot bound from the couch cushion to the bottom step… without a running start." Rhino said explaining it in more detail. Bolt still needed a few more seconds to process the information, but as soon as he did, a look of complete shock and dread covered his face.
"Get it?"
"Oh no!" Bolt said practically groaning with frustration.
"Yeah, and I spent most of that night wondering what other powers she has. She's the product of a geneticist's dream come true."
"Did she realize it?"
"I… I don't think so. She was more intent on stopping me from running than anything else." Rhino explained. Even if she didn't notice her abilities, it didn't make Bolt feel any better; if anything, it just made him feel more uneasy.
"What should we do?" Rhino asked
"I was afraid you were gonna ask me that… uh, I'm not sure. If she starts asking questions, we may have to tell her that she was adopted."
"She's gonna want to know who her real parents are. Should we tell her?"
"Well, if she asks us if we know them, then we should. I'm tired of keeping secrets about her past."
"Bolt, Beverly and Eli wanted a normal life for her, just like you do. She may be their daughter, but she's also yours. You have your reasons." Rhino said trying to assure the shepherd that he had Nova's best interests in mind.
"…maybe they aren't enough."
"Well, when and if the time comes, there's no shame in telling her the whole truth. I'm amazed that she hasn't already figured out that she isn't really your daughter, just because of how much digging she's already done." Rhino said laughing, which Bolt laughed at as well.
"Her and Seth both!"
"Speaking of those two, you are gonna want to come see this." Rhino said trying to get Bolt to follow him.
"See what?"
"Just come on." Rhino said as he led Bolt out of Penny's room and to the doorway of the spare bedroom. When Bolt looked inside, his mouth dropped a little as he stared at his kids sleeping peacefully. They were in the same position that they were in when Rhino had walked by the first time.
"Oh God!" Bolt whispered.
"Isn't this just cute? I walked up here and saw the door wide open, and when I looked inside… well, you know." Rhino said, not really needing to say much else.
"I was thinking more along the lines of 'be-awesome'." Bolt said walking out the door, and down the stairs. Rhino just sat there with a look of pride, as he began to tear up.
"That's my boy… (sniffle) The 1/16 wolf with a little wolverine words will live on." Rhino said in a dramatic text, which he made sure Bolt could hear from the first floor. Within another 20 minutes, Mittens was up and walking down the stairs to join her mate on the front porch as they watched Penny head for the bus stop.
"Hey Bolt!"
"Hey baby!" Bolt said as the two of them kissed.
"How did you sleep?" Bolt asked
"After last night, I slept like a rock!" Mittens said as she stared into Bolt's amber eyes.
"Did you see Nova and Seth in the spare bedroom?"
"Yes. I'm almost a little worried… just because those two are usually never that close. I mean they're close, but I've never seen THAT before." Mittens said. Bolt laughed a little at the comment.
"Hey, let's just be happy they're getting along." Bolt counteracted, which Mittens couldn't help but agree with.
"I wasn't the only one who thought it was adorable." Bolt continued
"Rhino thinks anything that has to do with those two is adorable." Mittens said thinking she already knew who he was talking about.
"Who said it was Rhino?" Bolt asked his mate. Mittens turned to face Bolt, still confused by what he meant.
"Follow me." Bolt said leading Mittens back into the house to show her what he was talking about.
(The Spare Bedroom)
Nova began to stir as she woke up; dragging her front paw over Seth's back, causing him to jump. The grey striped cat got up and stretched before realizing where he was.
"I can't believe we fell asleep. It wasn't even that late." Seth said
"Yeah, no kidding! I don't remember much of anything past 10:30."
"Well, we came back inside at about 10:00, and came in here to talk some more. I think we fell asleep after I started bobbing my head up and down trying to stay awake." Seth said laughing, which Nova also laughed at.
"Yeah, you looked pretty out of it."
Seth looked at his sister; a little annoyed by the remark. Even though she got on his nerves, he was happy to have someone to talk to other than his parents and Rhino. Nova was also grateful to have a brother that would, if anything, just listen. As they continued to think, Seth looked over at the door, and noticed that it was open wide.
"What?" Nova asked
"What do you think went through Mom and Dad's minds when they saw us asleep in here? I could just picture them saying 'Ah, how cute' and 'they're getting along? No way!'" Seth said imitating his parents, while Nova just laughed at his comedic impersonations. The more Nova laughed, the easier it was for Seth to laugh along with her.
"Alright! Let's get outta here!" Nova said as she tried to stop laughing.
"Yeah. I'm starving." Seth followed up; following her out of the room. As they made it to the living room, they saw their parents sitting on the couch, but staring down at the coffee table and smiling. The siblings stared at each other with confusion plastered all over their faces.
"Uh guys." Nova said breaking the silence. Bolt and Mittens looked up and saw their kids standing at the base of the stairs.
"Hey you two!" Bolt said in a cute tone.
"What's… goin' on?" Seth asked, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer. Bolt waved his paw towards himself, telling the two of them to join him and Mittens on the couch. As they jumped to their parents' level, they glanced down at the coffee table to see what all of the fuss was about. Lying before them was a snapshot of Nova and Seth sleeping on the floor in the spare bedroom, and within a split second, the husky and tabby's eyes went completely blank. Bolt and Mittens knew that they would be embarrassed by the photograph, and couldn't hold in the cheesy smiles they were trying so desperately to hide.
"Uh… we uh…" Nova began before being cut off by Bolt and Mittens bursting out into insane laughter and rolling around on the couch cushion. Nova and Seth looked at their parents, and then looked back at each other; Bolt and Mittens still laughing like crazy. Seth couldn't help but start laughing himself, knowing that it was pretty funny, and eventually Nova joined the mass laugh session. After at least another minute of uncontrollable howling, the family finally wiped away the tears of laugher, and settled down enough to talk normally.
"So, what was THIS all about anyway?" Bolt asked pointing at the picture.
"Oh, Seth and I were talking on the back porch last night, and we moved inside to avoid freezing." Nova said starting to explain.
"We went to the spare room, and fell asleep after about another half an hour." Seth said jumping in.
"You just stayed in there?" Mittens asked
"Neither of us wanted to move. We were so tired; Seth started bobbing his head up and down, trying to stay awake. So, we just called it a night."
"Gotcha… So what were you guys talking about?" Bolt asked
"Just about everything that happened this week. She told me about the trip you guys took back to LA." Seth said jumping back in, which Nova was very thankful for. She was never good at coming up with lies on the spot, so it was nice to know that her brother had her back. His lies were so much more believable, and Seth knew that. She wasn't ready to bring up the topic of 'adoption' just yet, but she would eventually say something sooner or later.
"Is that what all that laughing was about last night?" Bolt asked his kids.
"Yeah, pretty much!" Seth said.
"It's nice to see you two getting along so well." Bolt said
"Whoa, Déjà vu!" Seth whispered to Nova, who let out a small snort at the remark.
"What's so funny?" Bolt asked
"Nothing!" Nova and Seth said simultaneously before running for the doggy door, with Bolt hot on their tails.
"You guys are gonna get it!" Bolt said as he and Mittens chased the brother and sister out the door and all around the backyard. Eventually, Bolt and Mittens caught up with them, and were filled in on their little joke that they were talking about when they first woke up that morning. For the rest of the morning, the four of them played their hearts out, and were all out of energy by lunchtime. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, and that meant Bolt and Mittens could nap all they wanted, just because they weren't busy chasing their kids. After Penny got home from school, she took them for a walk to the park, and got back home at around 5. The night came even quicker, and with so much energy burned during the day, sleep would not be an issue for any of them. However, something seemed to be off, and no one seemed to notice until Nova asked herself.
"I haven't seen Rhino at all today! I wonder where he is." Nova began a search, while the rest of the family stayed in the kitchen and waited for dinner. The husky started up the stairs and looked in every room she could find; even trying the closets. After every attempt, she came up empty-pawed, and began to worry.
"I better go tell Dad!" Nova told herself, and began walking down the hallway before the pull-down door to the attic came down right in front of her. Nearly hitting her in the face, she stepped back a few feet in fear, and hid in Catherine's room. As she peered around the corner of the door, she saw Rhino bounding down the attic steps with a huge smile on his face. The hamster continued to walk to the stairway as the attic door closed itself. Nova stepped out of the room cautiously before looking up at the ceiling, and wondering what Rhino was doing up there.
"What could a hamster do in a dark attic for more than 8 hours straight?" Nova asked herself in a whispered tone. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty important for Rhino to keep it from everyone. The adventurous side of her kicked in, and she walked down stairs to join the family for dinner, as casual as possible.
"There you are!" Mittens said
"Yeah, sorry about that. I went upstairs to rest and my stomach started growling. I looked at the clock and realized what time it was." Nova said lying through her canine teeth.
"Yeah, the day DID go by pretty fast!" Mittens said believing the lie her daughter had just fed her. Soon after, all of the bowls were filled and the group began eating. While the munching started, Nova was busy concocting a plan to get into the attic, where she would enlist the help of the only person in the house she could fully trust… Seth.
**End of Chapter**
Would you believe me if I told you that I wrote this entire chapter in less than 3 hours? Well, believe it! I am happy to be placing the next chapter to the story up for reads in record time. And I have big plans in store for Chapter 5, which means that this story could very well consist of 16-20 chapters by the time it's completed. Keep on reviewing, guys! My biggest thanks go out to Mike101 and jacruz666, who have been chapter to chapter reviewers throughout BOTH of my stories. It's nice to see I have some loyal followers.
Adios!
