Chapter Six

Playing Pretend

Unfortunately, the children seemed to believe the same thing, unwilling to let their sitters enjoy even a moment of peace, still too riled up at nine thirty at night. With Finding Nemo forgotten, and another revolt temporarily broken up, the kids had to find something else to occupy their attention to. Erika sat on the floor, watching the other children with wide eyes, her knees drawn up against her chest, looking more miserable then either Sam or Laura felt. But not by much.

It was around that time that Stevie decided that he wasn't entertained enough and decided to make his own entertainment. He pulled the twins into a makeshift huddle, beckoning them close to him as he started whispering whatever mischievous plan that had entered his mind. Laura watched the boys with a growing sense of dread. "This can't be good." She mumbled to Sam as the boys disbanded, scattered around the living room to begin gathering whatever items they could come across.

Before either of them could blink, a bent video cover came hurtling through the air, narrowing missing Laura's forehead. Another followed in its wake, smacking Sam in the face before falling to the hardwood floor. Blinking, Sam forced himself to recover. "Absolutely no throwing." He commanded, stepping toward the children. This action only got him another item in the face, this tape a VHS tape.

Backing up, Sam snatched one of the plush pillows off the couch and held it in front of himself like a shield. Another projectile, a pewter candlestick, smacked against the fabric before clattering to the ground. Sam cautiously peeked out from behind the pillow, only to duck behind it again seconds later to avoid another video.

"Stop!" Laura shouted, attempting to gain control over the situation but not really in the mood to get hit in the face with whatever the kids happened to throw. "Right now!"

Of course, none of the boys listened to her and Frankie decided that he wanted to join in on this game. Erika watched with interested eyes, her gaze going from the throwers to the targets and back again, as though she wanted to see what they would do next. Mia had decided that now was an excellent time to have herself a tea party and so she was sitting on the floor with an imaginary tea set before her, talking to her Disney princess guests.

"I mean it," Laura continued, though she knew she was only wasting her breath, "stop throwing things!"

Sam pulled her out of the line of a flying candlestick and they huddled behind the oversized pillow. "This is out of control." Laura said, looking fearfully at Sam. "We're never going to be able to get these kids under control."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "There's got to be something we can do." He mumbled. "Some kind of-"

His thoughts were cut off by a well-aimed fire-poker, which clattered to the ground at his feet, just narrowly missing his legs. Sam jumped away from the flying metal poker, tumbling back onto the couch and bringing Laura down with him. They both pulled their feet onto the couch and cowered behind the cushion. Sam took a minute to appreciate how close Laura was to him, her shoulders pressed against his; she was even halfway in his lap in her attempt to hide behind the only shield they could find. Not that he was about to argue.

As the boys continued to shriek and throw whatever items they could at their hiding sitters, Erika decided that she was tired of watching the fun. She crawled over to where Mia was seated and tugged the girl's arm. "C'mon," she said, causing Mia to look up at her, "let's play with Laura."

Mia looked at her quizzically. "How are we supposed to play with her?" She asked. "She's hiding."

Erika got to her feet and pulled Mia up as well. "We'll just pull her off the couch and let the boys play with the boy." She suggested, tugging the younger girl toward the couch.

Mia's eyes lit up. "Can we play school?" She questioned before an even better idea entered her mind. "Or how 'bout baby?" It had always been her favorite game to play mother to her countless baby dolls and now she was going to have an actual person to react to her motherly treatments.

"Sure." Erika agreed, for the idea didn't sound to bad to her.

While the boys had paused in their assault, searching around for more things to hurl at Sam and Laura, Erika snatched the pillow out of the teenagers' hands and grabbed Laura by the wrist. "Play with us Laura." She commanded, catching the brunette off guard and yanking her off the couch and onto the floor. "You can be the baby."

Before Laura was aware of what was going on, Erika and Mia had managed to drag her into the kitchen and were covering her with a blanket. Laura attempted to sit up, but Erika grabbed her shoulders and forced her back against the hardwood floor. "Bad baby," she scolded, putting her hands on her hips. "You're supposed to stay in bed."

Mia knelt beside her, holding a plastic baby bottle that she had no doubt dug up from the old crate of toys Michelle kept in the living room. "Drink this baby." She said, attempting to force the bottle into Laura's mouth.

Not too keen on the idea, Laura kept her mouth shut firmly, attempting to wrench away from Erika, who was still pinning her to the ground. Mia glared at her. "You're not a very good baby." She pouted. "You've got to eat."

Laura shook her head, still keeping her mouth shut, her eyes gazing past her tormenters and back into the living room. Sam was still on the couch, though he had abandoned the pillow in an attempt to leave the living room and rescue the brunette from the new form of torture. The boys, however, didn't seem to think that was a very good idea.

Mia looked at Erika. "She's not playing right." She cried. "Babies are supposed to drink from a bottle."

Erika looked at Laura for a moment, before taking her hands off her shoulders. In one fluid motion, she clapped her hands firmly over Laura's nose and eyes, allowing very little oxygen to slip through her fingers. Laura, taken by surprise by the child's actions, opened her mouth, partly to shout at the kids and partly to breath. She should have known that was exactly what Erika had been hoping for.

"Now," Erika told Mia, "give her the bottle now." Mia did just that, roughly shoving the plastic bottle into Laura's mouth.

Laura coughed and yanked the bottle from her mouth before Mia could decide that she was going to force-feed her reluctant 'baby.' "You can't do that!" Erika cried almost instantly, taking her hands off Laura's face and snatching the bottle from her hands. "Bad baby." She promptly hit Laura in the forehead with the bottle.

Already planning all the punishments she was going to give the children, Laura sat up but before she could do anything more, Erika was on her again, this time with a hair-tie she had pulled from her pocket. Erika slipped the hair-tie around Laura's wrists, binding them tightly together and shoved her back onto the floor. "Let's try this again." She suggested and sat on Laura's stomach. "Drink this." She forced the bottle into Laura's lips again.

This was getting too much. Laura turned her head and spat the bottle onto the floor. "Sam!" She shouted, attempting to wrestle her way out from beneath Erika. "Help me." Any further pleas were cut off again by the bottle, which Erika now held in place.

Sam managed to wrestle away from the boys that were clinging to his waist and whacking him with the candlesticks and hurried into the kitchen. He found Laura on the floor with her hands tied, a baby bottle in her mouth, and two children pinning her to the floor. Mia had her hands covering Laura's eyes, shouting something about nap-tap, and Erika was still forcing the bottle into the brunette's mouth.

"Okay, that's enough." Sam said, yanking Erika off Laura's stomach and setting her aside. "It's time to calm down and watch some television before bed." He pulled Mia away from Laura, who looked up at him gratefully.

Sam, however, had said the wrong thing because the mention of a certain three-letter word sent the children into another frenzy. "Bed!" Frankie shouted, throwing his candlestick aside. "I don't want to go to bed!"

The other children shouted their agreement and the twins hurried off into the living room to retrieve some other item for their fiendish plans. Sam knelt down beside Laura, who smiled slightly at him through her disheveled curls, and was about to help her into a sitting position with Frankie tackled him from behind. "Agent Cody Banks!" The child yelled triumphantly as he and Sam crashed to the ground.

Laura let out a sharp cry of pain as Sam fell on top of her, his elbow digging into her stomach before he hit the hard wood floor. Sam felt like he could have died right that moment, knowing that he had hurt Laura; whether it was his fault or not didn't matter, he still hated himself. He tried to untangle himself from the shouting Frankie in order to see if she was all right but the child wouldn't let him, sitting on his back and forcing him to remain pressed against the kitchen floor. Sam could see Laura out of the corner of his eye, curled into a loose ball with her brow knitted in an expression of the pain she had suffered from receiving Sam's full weight on her stomach. Once again, he wished he could die just so he didn't have to see her like that.

Within seconds, Jack and Jake had rushed into the kitchen again and shoved Frankie off Sam's back, rolling the teenager onto his stomach. Before Sam could react, they had managed to tie his hands with a jump rope, using secure knots that he remembered learned in Boy Scouts. "All right!" Jake cried victoriously, giving his brother a high-five. "Time to play doctor."

"Doctor!" Erika agreed happily. "I'm going to be one of the doctors." She grabbed Laura by the ankles and pulled her out of the fetal position, kneeling beside the girl. "What seems to be the problem?" She questioned in a doctorly voice.

"She needs an operation!" Jack shouted, picking up one of the candlesticks and holding it like a scalpel as he got down beside Erika. "Or she'll die." He promptly whacked Laura in the hip with the butt of the candleholder.

Frankie, who had recovered from his tumble, joined Jake by Sam, studying the 'patient', who was too busy watching Laura, who was lying on the floor, momentarily out of the energy to fight back. He pressed his face against Sam's chest and nodded thoughtfully. "He's having a heart attack."

Jake looked appropriately worried and turned toward Stevie. "Doctor Stevie," he began, "this man needs medicine. Stat!" It was one of the words he had picked up from pretending not to watch those medical shows with his father in the living room.

Stevie gave a mock-salute and hurried off toward the refrigerator. He returned seconds later with a bushel of grapes in his hands, which he promptly handed to Jake. "Here's the medicine doctor." He said, picking off a few grapes for himself.

"Good." Jake nodded and grabbed a handful of grapes, which he forced past Sam's lips and into his mouth. Sam figured it was better then having a plastic bottle shoved into your mouth but not by much.

Once the grapes had run out, the 'doctors' lost interest, allowing Sam to turn his head and look at Laura, who was being operating on by a candlestick. She was looking up at the ceiling quite mournfully and Sam wished that there was something, anything, he could do to help her.

Erika suddenly bolted up right, looking at the children around her. "I'm bored." She declared and the other children nodded their agreement.

"Let's play tag!" Stevie suggested and whacked Mia across the shoulder. "You're it!" He declared before he took off running down the hallway, toward the bedrooms.

"Not fair!" Mia shouted before she took off running after him. The other children followed her, shrieking as they ran down the hallway.

Though he was certain no good could come from the children on the loose in the apartment, Sam was grateful that there was finally a moment of peace. He looked over at Laura, who was still staring at the ceiling, seeming to be basking in the silence. Sam managed to inch his way across the floor in her direction, sitting up.

"Are you all right?" Sam questioned, concerned, his brow knitting. He wanted to ask if he had hurt her but, while he knew Laura would act as though she was fine, he would know the truth and it was all ready bad enough.

Laura looked over at him, her doe-eyes wide. "What just happened?" She questioned, looking quite dazed. "Where did those demons go?"

Sam sighed. "Toward the bedrooms." He told her, managing to untie his hands enough to help Laura into a sitting position. "We'd better go after them."

Laura sighed wearily and leaned against Sam's shoulder, closing her eyes and allowing her tangled curls to fall across her face. "Can't we just let them destroy the apartment and we just wait here?" She mumbled, her shoulders sagging.

Sam tossed aside the rest of the jump rope and untied Laura's wrists as well. He lifted her face and brushed her hair away from her cheeks, smiling slightly at her. "Whatever you want." He whispered and moved in to kiss her.

Before their lips could meet, however, Tessa came running into the kitchen and nearly slipped on the slick surface, but managed to catch herself before she bowled into Sam and Laura. "Laura!" She cried, causing her sister and Sam to pull away. "Those kids are tearing up Mom's room!" She gestured wildly behind her. "You'd better stop them or you're going to be in so much trouble." She looked nervous, so much so that Sam wondered if Laura wouldn't be the only one in trouble.

Laura looked at Sam with absolute misery in her eyes. "Duty calls." She mumbled, getting slowly to her feet. Sam stood as well and took her hand, kissing her knuckles before dropping her hand again. Laura wished that these stupid kids weren't around, wished that she was alone with Sam so that she could really tell him how she felt about him, how she had always felt about him.

But until the demon children went back with their respective parents, it seemed that they weren't going to get a moment of peace. And so, slowly, Sam and Laura followed Tessa down the hallway toward whatever disaster awaited them.