"I'll have to send your uncle a thank-you note one of these days," Adrian told Kai as he strode through the door of Kai's other dimensional house. "He finally gave me the push I needed to get that annoying person known as Helene out of my life. I'm done with her now. For good!"

"Really?" Kai asked interestedly. "What did she do?"

"Well, apparently, she's taken a liking to your uncle," Adrian told him. "She wants to divorce me for some reason, and I bet it has to do with him." He stretched out on the sofa, looking smug. "The world works in wonderful ways. Now I can just do whatever I want without her hounding me every two seconds."

"Not to be selfish or anything because I'm scared as hell about having to call Helene 'Aunt', but are you sure there's no chance you'd take her back?" Kai wanted to know.

"No," Adrian said. "Absolutely not. She's your uncle's problem now."

"You're not gonna try and fight for her?" Kai asked. He had to admit that he was surprised by this. "But I thought you liked her. And I'm sure she's not as bad as you say."

"Well she wouldn't be to a person who lets his own wife stomp all over him," Adrian said darkly. "How many kids are you planning on having with Victoria? As many as she makes you have?"

"Oh, I don't think of it that way," Kai told him. "I love my children. Much more than my mother loved me. And why are you so down on kids all of a sudden? You get along well enough with Molly and Finn."

"Not with Molly," Adrian protested darkly. "Every time you put her anywhere near me, she bites me. Or throws food up on me, or some other horrible thing."

"Well that's why I said you get along with them well enough and not well," Kai told him. Just to mess with his friend a little, (and to test how true his complaints were) he then went to get Molly and as Adrian groaned, sat her right down in his lap.

"You bastard," Adrian said irritably.

"Now, now," Kai told him, an obvious smirk on his face. "No swearing in front of the children. Victoria would be very upset with me if she knew I was letting you say bad words, especially around Molly."

Adrian heard this and chuckled. "You're completely whipped, you know. It's totally easy to see who wears the pants in this house."

They heard a loud, shrill cry echo through the house, something that Adrian thought would disrupt the twins, but neither Molly, nor Finn, who was in his room sleeping, let out a peep.

"What the fuck was that?" Adrian asked, looking dumb-founded as Molly began to chew on his fingers. He let out a cry because she was far enough along in teething that it actually hurt when she bit down.

"No," he said firmly and pulled his hand away. "My fingers are not chew toys. Go find something else to play with, all right? I'm done."

Looking very perturbed as he set her on the floor, Molly crawled away, then locked eyes with him and sent a line of fire from her eyes in his direction. Adrian wasn't burned horribly because her aim was off, but he was smoky and singed.

Kai smiled. "I think someone is unhappy with you," he said. He grabbed Molly and cuddled her. "Are you mad at Uncle Adrian? Is that why you tried to set him on fire? Good for you."

"Hey!" Adrian cried. "Aren't you gonna like…discipline her or something?"

"She's a baby," Kai told him. "Her powers are unstable. I think you need to grow up." He groaned as another shriek rang out and then a few minutes later, Victoria appeared in the living room, wearing slinky, rose-colored lingerie. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair was messy, and Brad, also in a robe with a whip in hand, walked several steps behind her.

"Kai, I hope we weren't bothering you with all our noise," she said.

"Like it would make you change your behavior if I told you that you were, Vicky," Kai said. "If you're gonna be with him, could you take it somewhere else? This is supposed to be my place of peace and solitude and you being in a room in my house fucking your lover as you scream as loud as you possibly can does not lead to peace and quiet."

"Well, I would be more than happy to oblige you," Victoria told him. "But then I'd have to take the children with me. And I wouldn't want to deprive you of your children, Malachai. So take your pick. It's really up to you."

Kai heard Adrian clear his throat and do a cough that sounded like he was saying "whipped." This made Kai rise to his feet, stride over to Victoria, and said, "All right, you want me to make a choice? I will. I want you to get you and take your boyfriend with you. And I'm keeping the kids. Cause you and I both know you wouldn't be able to handle Molly. She'd kill you."

"Fine," Victoria nodded. "You take Molly and I'll take Finny. That seems fair."

"Good!" Kai shouted. "You do that."

"All right," Victoria replied. "I will." She strode away, and when she returned, she had Finn in hand. "We're gonna go now," she said.

"Remember that you actually have to take care of him now that you won't have me around to do it," Kai told her. "I know it cuts into your sex time, but when we have children, we all have to make sacrifices, don't we?"

Victoria growled at him and soon, she, Finn, and Brad were gone, leaving Kai, Adrian, and Molly in the house alone.

They sat in silence for a little while, and then, to Kai's surprise, Adrian asked, "You want me to stay for the night? Or do you want me to go home?"

Kai closed his eyes and didn't say a word, and just as Adrian was about to get up to leave, he said, "Stop!"

"What?" Adrian asked.

"I want you to stay," Kai told him. "There's a pizza place down the street called Pizza King. Go there, order the biggest meat-covered pizza you can get, bring it back here, and give it to me." He handed him a couple of twenties. "There's money. No time to waste."

"I'll get to eat some, won't I?" Adrian asked, taking the bills and sticking them in his pocket. "Or are you gonna stress eat and hog it all? I figure I should at least get one piece, since I'm getting you your damn pizza."

"Okay, okay," Kai told him. "I promise to save you a couple of pieces. Just go, please."

Adrian left and when he came back, he had a large pizza and another bag.

"Where's the change?" Kai asked.

"There isn't any," Adrian told him and hefted the bag onto the table. "I spent it on beer. I hope you don't mind."

"Nope," Kai told him. "I'm good with that." He went to put Molly to bed and then he and Adrian ate pizza and drank beer, Adrian having enough that it made him pass out on the sofa. Then Kai checked on Molly again and since she was soundly asleep, he went to bed, sleeping much better than he had in a long time, at least until he was awoken by crying in the middle of the night. Still half-asleep, he got up to go to Molly's room and check up on her again.

He went into her room, and in the dim light from the hallway, he could just vaguely make out the image of Molly floating above her crib and crying her eyes out. Kai quickly turned on the light and ran over to her, trying to take hold of her so he could calm her down. But it wasn't as easy as he thought. Whatever held her suspended had a tight hold and there was some gentle but intense tug-of-war that went on for a few minutes before Kai's daughter was finally surrendered to him.

"Now Malachai," said the cold voice he hoped he'd never hear again. "That wasn't very nice. I was just trying to bond with my granddaughter. Unfortunately, she has the same bad attitude that you do. We'll fix that soon, however."

"Mother?" Kai asked. "What in the world? I thought you'd been exorcised. How are you here?"

"I was exorcised from your wife," Edele told him. "And I suppose that little trick that was done to me made me less of a danger. But I still have some things up my sleeve that I feel your daughter could benefit from."

"No," Kai told her firmly as he clutched his daughter, who began crying again. "You're not coming near me or my kids ever again!"

"Good luck trying to stop me," Said his mother's disembodied voice. "You'll need it." Her laughter then echoed off the walls and Molly was crying so hard that Kai was sure he'd never get her to stop. But then the laughter ended as suddenly as it started and Kai was able to sit his daughter down, put his daughter in his lap, rub her stomach, and calm her down.

"You can sleep with me tonight," he told her. "I don't think you should be alone. She won't hurt you, and if somehow she manages it, I'll find a way to make it all better. I promise." He then kissed her hair and took her past Adrian's room where, miraculously, he was still snoring soundly as if he'd never heard anything. When they reached his bed, Kai climbed in and set Molly down next to him with his arm around her until she fell asleep. He tried to himself several times, but because his mother's laughter was still ringing in his ears, he couldn't.

"I have to thank you," Malachai told Helene as she led him into the apartment she'd found for him. "I wouldn't have known how to start getting myself a place like this."

"Oh, it's no problem," Helene said. "It's probably nice to have a place of your own after living with Kai and Victoria all the time you did. Oh, and I had an extra key made for myself. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," Malachai told her. "Who else would I invite over?"

"And one more thing," Helene added. "My husband and I have decided to divorce."

"Really?" Malachai asked, eyebrow up. "Is it really true?"

"Uh-huh," Helene nodded.

Malachai gave her a long, hot look then. "You better not be lying to me," he said.

"I'm not," Helene said earnestly. "I swear."

He pulled her body against his and kissed her, first on the lips, then slowly down her neck. She let out a moan as her whole body became covered in tingles and rose in temperature. As she stepped it up a little and reached down to unzip his pants, the lights flickered and he pushed her away, panting heavily.

"No," he told her. "We can't go any further than this. Kissing is…kissing is it for now."

Helen pouted. "You're a terrible tease, you know. I'm having all this trouble at the Council. I could use a break!"

"What's going on at the Council?" Malachai asked, his eyes full of concern as he put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Mom's gone," Helene said. "Sent back in time by a rogue spell. And apparently the other Council members don't think I'm competent enough to take over for her, so they've given me a week to get her back before they stage a coup and elect someone else. Malachai, I don't think I can do that!"

"Well, I think they're all a bunch of idiots," Malachai told her. "And if worse comes to worse, you can always help me."

"I can?" Helene asked. "With what?" She paused. "You mean your court stuff, don't you?" She scoffed. "You must think I'm so selfish. Here I am complaining to you and you have enough of your own problems."

"Well, I think I've found a way to fix them," he told her. "And I could use your help."

"Is that so?" Helene asked, intrigued. "What would I have to do?"

"I can't tell you that now," Malachai told her. "Just be patient. All I can say is that I will need you to move in here and watch something very precious for me when I give you a call. Would you be willing to do that?"

"Of course," Helene nodded. "Especially if they oust me at the Council and I've got nothing better to do."

"Thank you," Malachai smiled and gave her another hug and kiss. "That really eases my mind. You have no idea how much you've helped me out."

"Well, I live to help," Helene told him, her dark eyes bright. "You know that."