NOTE: I edited this chapter because I realized halfway through it I referred to Mavis and Johnny as "girlfriend/boyfriend" when, for that section, they're engaged. Apart from that, enjoy!

H - Home

The hotel was literally Mavis' home - it was where she had grown up, where some of her favourite people were and she had fond memories attached to it. Sure, would have other homes in the future, but the hotel would always be one of her homes. Speaking metaphorically, Mavis felt at home in her boyfriend's arms. It was a natural feeling - lying together as they talked or rested, his arms wrapped tightly around the vampiress and making her feel safe even if there was no danger.

Over the years, Johnny's arms became another permanent home to her; if she had a bad day or had a fight with someone, he would hug her close to him. If she felt cold in the winter then he would wrap her up and snuggle her into his chest. If she felt unbelievably happy, perhaps after receiving good news, and she wanted to express it, then they'd laugh and squeeze each other.

For Johnny, the hotel sort of became his home too; not just because it was Mavis' home, but because some of the most awesome people he'd met and become friends with were there, especially Dracula. But that didn't stop him from thinking about his first home - where his family were. Yes, he loved Mavis and would willingly do whatever it took to be with her forever, but he still missed his family.

Sometimes he'd call them - usually his parents, since he wasn't sure which of his brothers still lived at home and which ones had their own lives now - and they'd talk for a little bit. His mother would always ask when he was coming home, and Johnny would find himself with a small lump in his throat as he lied and said, "Soon". He'd also spoken to his youngest brother, Jake, who had just started High School when Johnny met Mavis; it made him miss his brothers like crazy.

"So, where are you now then?" Jake asked, and Johnny heard him start to eat something crunchy.

"Romania," Johnny replied, deciding to leave out a few details. "It's really cool over here..."

Jake snorted slightly at his brother's choice of vocabulary. "Of course it is. It must be late over there...it's, like, noon over here..."

"It's only ten," Johnny said, checking the clock in his room. He'd only just gotten up, thanks to his new sleeping routine, but he wasn't about to admit that to one of his little brothers. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Spring Break." There was a long silence from the other end of the phone. "Hold on a minute..."

Ah crap. I forgot he was the smart one.

Jake coughed awkwardly, clearly unsure about how to phrase his query. "You were in Romania last September - I remember you telling me and sending a picture of that forest before you started hiking..."

"I came back," The red-head muttered quickly.

There was another silence, and then... "You've met someone, haven't you?"

Oh well. What's the point in lying? "Yes," Johnny admitted slowly, being careful to choose his words; after all, he didn't want to blab about all the monsters he'd met and put them in danger.

There was a bout of laughter from Jake's end of the phone. "For real? You're not lying or anything?"

"No," Johnny said sharply. "She's completely real - and we're dating!"

He's lucky I'm not immature enough to stick my tongue out at him...wait, he wouldn't be able to see it.

Jake stopped laughing, and his voice was now serious. "Really? What's her name?"

"Mavis," He felt her name roll of his tongue instinctively, and he tried to remember not to go all lovesick while having a conversation with his brother - if one brother knew, the others would find out soon enough. "She's...nearly nineteen."

There was the sound of air being expelled in surprise. "Wow, man...is she hot? Can you send a picture?"

"She's beautiful," Johnny agreed, ignoring the question about the picture. "And we've been travelling together since we met...we've been to Hawaii, Budapest, Paris, London...she's never been away from home before, so I thought I'd show her all the great places."

His younger brother sighed slightly. "That sounds so cool, bro. What does she look like? Or are you gonna send me a picture?...Oh, don't tell me, you broke your phone or something-"

"If I'd broken it, I wouldn't be talking to you," Johnny pointed out, rolling his eyes slightly. Maybe Jake wasn't the smart one after all. "No, I just...never thought to take photos because...because she's always in front of me, you know?"

"Well, Mom's going to want to see a picture, and probably Dad too. So, what does she look like? Tell me?"

Johnny, chuckling slightly at the teenager's eagerness, shut his eyes and visualised Mavis in his mind - not that he really needed to, but he enjoyed thinking about her anyway. "Let's see...she's got pretty pale skin, which isn't too surprising since-...uh, since she has an...an allergy to the Sun."

"Wait Wait Wait! Hold up! An allergy to the Sun?" Jake snorted slightly. "Does that seriously even exist?"

Johnny nodded before remembering that he couldn't be seen. "Yeah! Like in that Nicole Kidman film, with the kids who can't be in sunlight...she's got that. Anyway," He cleared his throat. "She's got this black hair, and it's really silky and...and it's styled in bangs..." He chuckled slightly. "For her birthday, I wrote this song, and I called her 'Cute with the Bangy-Bangs'. It was so awesome!"

"Well I'll be damned," Jake muttered in disbelief from over the phone. "You've changed - you're a lovesick idiot now."

Wait until he feels what it's like...then he won't be so quick to judge. "Yeah, well, wait until you meet her - then you'll see what I mean."

The moment it slipped out, he wished it hadn't; he had no plans whatsoever to return home yet, and he didn't want to get his family's hopes up. Unfortunately, just as he opened his mouth to take it back, Jake had taken over the conversation. "You're bringing her home? You're coming home? When?" Jake asked; it was obvious he'd brightened up considerably, and there was excitement evident in his voice. "Is it soon? Have you told Mom and Dad?"

"I...I..." Johnny had no idea what to say; as much as he wanted to show Mavis off to his family, for them all to see how amazing she was, they still had more places to visit. Oh, and the fact that the two were now so used to sleeping during the day didn't help matters either. "I don't know when I'm coming home...I didn't mean it like that. I was just saying about when I do come home...but that could be a while away."

"Oh." Johnny tried not to wince at how his brother's tone of voice had gone dull in the last five seconds, at how disappointed he was. "So...you're not even going to visit?"

"Well-"

"You missed last Christmas, Johnny!" Jake snapped, suddenly angry. Johnny clutched the phone to his ear tightly, eyes wide at his brother's outburst. "You missed my last birthday too! And now you're going to miss this birthday - I'm turning sixteen! I haven't even seen you since I was fourteen - do you not know how awful that is?!"

The older brother cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Jake, honestly - I got caught up. Like, literally, one minute it was snowing and cold in January, and then the next I was climbing up a mountain in the Summer. I just lost track of time." He started to play with the hem of his t-shirt, hoping his brother wasn't too pissed off at him. "Look, I'll try and be home soon, alright? I might not make it for your birthday, but I'll bring you a present to make up for it."

Jake was silent for a moment, as if considering this. "Fine," He relented, voice quieter and calmer now. "Will you bring your girlfriend home? You know...just so we know what kind of girl settles for a guy like you."

Johnny chuckled slightly at the jibe. "Alright. I'll see if she wants to come - I'm sure she'd love to meet you guys."

"Even if she can't go out in the sun."

"Yeah. Even then."


Mavis had, of course, been nervous about meeting Johnny's family. It wasn't that she thought they'd be nasty or unpleasant in any way - she was just worried about how they'd react to her being a vampire.

That was the agreement - Johnny wanted to be changed soon before he aged and it was too late. However, Mavis had been worried about his family would be effected; after all, they'd barely be able to see him, unless they came to Transylvania, in case of the sunlight. After their first major argument, the two had agreed on a compromise: if Mavis changed Johnny then he had to tell his family beforehand of his plans. That way Johnny's family would be aware of why he wouldn't age, and why he wouldn't be able to visit as often.

Johnny's family lived in California, near to Los Angeles. Mavis had listened eagerly on the plane journey there to stories that her fiancée recounted animatedly; she found herself giggling uncontrollably when he told her the story of what happened with Bella a few years ago. "She kind of deserved it," Mavis laughed.

Johnny shrugged, although he was grinning. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh about it, but I was terrified! I totally thought she was going to grow claws and kill me or something!"

"Well, you shouldn't have talked with your mouth open," Mavis jibed jokily, elbowing him gently in the ribs. "That's enough to put any girl off, let alone when you spill stuff down them."

"But it was an accident!"

Mavis just shook her head in amusement. "I know. I would have accepted your apology, but that's because you're my zing, so I have no choice."

Johnny rolled his eyes good-naturedly and put an arm around her. "You should have seen the look on Matt and James' faces when I told them - they went completely crazy. They teased me all week over the phone, up until I started travelling." He sighed fondly at the memories. "My Mom cracked up when I told her; you should have seen it! I came home, and she'd been waiting up for me...and she just looked at me and knew something was up. When I told her, she had to sit down she was laughing so hard!"

"I would have," The vampire agreed. "I'm just imagining the look on your face when you walked in...it must have been priceless."

"Not as priceless as my school photos," Johnny muttered, and his fiancée perked up in interest. "Uhh..."

She raised an eyebrow as she leaned closer, intending to get some answers. "What's so 'priceless' about your school pictures? I would have thought you looked cute as a kid."

"Oh, I did," Johnny boasted quickly, and Mavis smiled in amusement. "I was very cute. But...let's just say that glasses and braces were not exactly a cute look on me, alright?"

"You wore glasses?" Mavis asked in surprise. "But...you wear contacts...and what are 'braces'?"

"Well, I couldn't put contacts in when I was eleven," Johnny admitted, shuffling in his seat slightly. "So I had to stick with glasses. And braces...the dentist puts them on your teeth to straighten them out."

Mavis blinked. "The what?"

"Dentist...a doctor for teeth," The human explained patiently. "And, trust me, that is one experience you don't want me to show or explain to you."

The rest of the flight went just as smoothly; the two talked for a little while longer before Mavis decided to get some sleep (the Sun was up, after all) and Johnny put his earphones in to listen to music. It wasn't until five minutes before the airplane touched down that Johnny realized the sky had gone dark and that he could open the blinds on their window. "Hey, May...You've got to see the view from up here."

Mavis stirred slightly in her sleep, mumbling - a second later, he'd jabbed her softly in the ribs, waking her up completely. She yawned, giving him a small side-eye glare and asked, "What? Are we landing?"

"No," He said excitedly. "Well...soon...but you've got to see the view up here!"

He moved back in his seat slightly so that he could peer out the window at the sight; there was a little town full of little houses, some of them having various rooms lit up. In the distance she could see a large bright sign, lit up and displaying the words 'Hollywood' in bold letters. "Is that where they make movies?"

Johnny nodded and grinned. "Yup. My brother Daniel is an actor - well, the last time I saw him he'd been trying to get an agent, so..."

Mavis didn't really understand what he meant by the agent comment, but she decided to go with it and look back out of the window. "It's really pretty...is this where you grew up?"

"Yeah...actually, one of those houses down there is probably mine."

Mavis stared at the houses with wide eyes; she imagined her fiancée's family in one of the houses, perhaps preparing hurriedly for the couple's arrival. She tried to imagine what kind of atmosphere the house would have; judging by how excited and happy Johnny looked to be back, she decided it was probably a very homely atmosphere.

Mavis was exactly right; after they'd hailed a cab to take them to the house, the couple saw a rather plump and short woman standing by the front door waiting; she smiled when she saw her son and moved forwards to greet him with a hug.

"Oh, Jonathan!" She crooned, and Mavis giggled in amusement when her fiancée found himself engulfed in a large hug the second he stepped out of the car. "I've missed you so much, sweetheart!"

"Geez, Mom...I missed you too," He admitted, putting his arms around her. He was taller than her, so it wasn't too difficult for him to send a small, embarrassed smile at his fiancée; Mavis just sent him a mischievous smirk back. There was no way she was letting him forget this. "Uhh...I kinda need to pay the taxi guy..."

She reluctantly let go of her son, only to turn and finally see the young vampire; Mavis sent the older (well...actually she was younger, but she looked older) woman a nervous smile. "Hi!" She greeted cheerfully. "I'm Mavis!"

Johnny, picking up on the conversation, nodded and grinned. "Yeah..." He cleared his throat and put an arm around his girlfriend proudly. "Mom, this is my fiancée Mavis."

Jean smiled at Mavis kindly. "So you're the girl who's been traveling with my Johnny. He never stops talking about you..."

"It's nice to meet you," Mavis said, leaning forwards to shake hands. "And, yeah, Johnny loves to talk about you guys too - I could tell he really missed you."

This was obviously the right thing to say since his mother flushed slightly. "Oh. Well, why don't you two come in? You must be exhausted after the flight."

The couple both nodded, neglecting to mention that they were used to staying up at night and in the early hours of the morning, and picked up their suitcases to follow Jean inside.

"So," Jean started in a friendly manner. "Your brothers just went upstairs to bed - that doesn't mean they're awake, though..." She turned to Mavis as she shut the door. "His three younger brothers are home for the week; Jake's nearly finished high school, and the twins are visiting from college."

"What about the others?" Johnny asked, looking kind of put out that not everyone was there.

Jean gave him an assuring smile. "Don't worry - Matt and James will be here before tomorrow evening, and Daniel should visit at some point this week." She gave a secretive little smile as she surveyed the couple. "I think Matt is bringing his girlfriend home too."

Johnny let out a low whistle; he obviously knew who his mother was talking about. "So...he hasn't asked her to marry him yet? They've been dating for, like, seven years."

"That's what I thought."

As Jean bustled off to the kitchen, probably to make them something to eat and drink after their long journey, Johnny leaned closer to the vampire. "I'll just take these up to our room - Daniel's not back yet, so you can have his bed."

Mavis tucked a bang behind her ear and just smiled as he took her bags and headed upstairs. Even though she'd only been in the house for a minute, she immediately felt the warm atmosphere in the air, and just how close Johnny's family were to each other.

She felt at home.


Although the hotel was one of her homes, Mavis found herself excited to find her own one - just for her and Johnny with their family.

Since Mavis had found out she was expecting, the two had looked around for houses in the area close to the hotel but not too close to humans - while some humans were very accepting and wouldn't mind, they couldn't risk the danger. Besides that, Dracula had requested that he got to see his grandchild grow up, so if they didn't remain in the hotel then they had to be close by.

By the time they'd found a place, Mavis had been eight months along. A vampire pregnancy wasn't all that different from that of a human pregnancy, although it was common for a vampire pregnancy to end a month or so earlier. Because of this, the vampire was far too big to start helping move furniture and paint rooms, so she'd had to settle with watching her husband and supplying ideas about what should go where and what colors were to be used. It had been quite dull, but Johnny hadn't rested until she'd agreed to it.

"I'm just saying," He'd pointed out worriedly. "Imagine if you picked up a really heavy couch or something - you'd stress yourself out, which would stress the baby out-"

"I'm a vampire," Mavis bit out dryly. "I'm much stronger than a normal human woman, in case you didn't notice."

After their baby had been born that October - a daughter named Lucy - the two had stayed at the hotel for a couple of days, just while Mavis recovered. It also gave all of their monster friends a chance to see the newest addition to their family; Griffin, in particular, had choked up pretty badly while holding her (much to Johnny's hushed worries - he couldn't see what the guy was doing with her!), his glasses misting over slightly. Dracula was also a frequent visitor; he was always the first and last one to hold his granddaughter during the night, gazing down at her face with large adoring blue eyes.

"She looks like you, Mavey," Dracula muttered often, stroking back the few tufts of hair that had already grown.

Mavis laughed slightly. "Except for the hair - you can blame Johnny for that."

"Yes...blame Johnny..." He sent a joking glare while smirking at his son-in-law. "Anyway, when will you two be leaving?"

"Sick of us already, Drac?" Johnny asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"No...I was just...she's only just been born..."

Mavis held a hand up, a signal for him to stop babbling. "We don't know. It'll probably be in a few days...But we'll come back regularly, Dad." She added, seeing the disappointed look on her father's face. She could already tell that her father loved the baby, and she wouldn't dare keep him apart from her for too long.

True to their word, they were all packed within the next few days - there was a couple of extra bags, full of various items for their daughter and including some cuddly toys given to her by Mavis' various uncles and aunts. Her favorite one had been the one that her father had given, though; a little stuffed bat for Lucy to cuddle with during sleep.

"You want any help with that?" Frank had asked, eying the couple as they looked at their bags.

Johnny gave a small nod. "Uhh...sure. It's a bit more difficult than before, what with the baby and all..."

Frank had chuckled and picked up a handful of bags. "Don't worry - I get it."

They followed him as he carried their bags to the hearse they were traveling in - after all, they couldn't really fly with a newborn baby just yet - and continued to talk for a little bit longer. After the couple said their final goodbyes to everyone (making promises to be back as soon as they could) they'd set off for their new home.

It wasn't too far away, only a ten minute drive from the hotel, but far away enough that it felt like the couple had some independence in raising their family (as much as they loved Dracula, they wanted to experience raising a family by themselves). It was just a small little cottage-type building, concealed in the forest from humans, but large enough for their small family at a moment. It consisted of one large bedroom for Johnny and Mavis, a slightly smaller room for their baby, and another room for a guest bedroom (or a second child, but they weren't thinking too much about that yet); there was also a small little living room with a dining table, so that they could eat there, and a medium-sized kitchen.

When they'd gotten to their new house, Johnny had taken their daughter from his wife so that she could get out, and started cooing over her rather loudly as she stirred awake. "Hey, now...no need to be scared...it was just the hearse stopping, no big deal." He held her against his shoulder and patted her back soothingly. "Quieten down now, little Lu, Daddy's here-"

"You've turned into my dad," Mavis giggled as she took in the sight in front of her. "I never thought I'd hear you using baby talk." In all honesty, she found it adorable that he not only talked to their daughter so sweetly, but also had a nickname for her already.

Johnny grinned and passed Lucy back to her mother. "So...here we are."

Mavis smiled at him as she held the bundled up baby girl to her chest. "Here we are. Our new home."