Despite what she'd told Edward, Laura only went to Roxie's bar and not on a murder spree. But, since he still believed that she'd gone out to murder, he regarded her with caution and it did Laura good to know that she at least had power over one man. Even so, her anger was strong, so she was at Roxie's basically every night.
"You know, men suck!" Laura told her sister. "And whoever said that the only man a girl can depend on is her daddy is a big fat liar!"
"Oh! Did Uncle Elijah do something wrong?" Roxie asked. "Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"They had another baby and Daddy likes her more than me," Laura replied. "And I don't get it. Dad's been attached to like, Margaret and Gregory and stuff, but I never had the urge to kill either of them like I do with this new daughter." She paused. "Roxie, did you ever have the urge to kill Lucy?"
"Yeah, when she was real little and Daddy was giving her all my stuff, you better believe I did," Roxie replied.
"So what should I do?" Laura asked. "Should I accept that Dad pays attention to Amanda now and try to make friends, or…?"
"No!" Roxie shook her head. "Don't let a stupid baby have more power than you! You're higher up in the hierarchy! Uncle Elijah should love you first!" She hit the bar with her fist. "You have to go claim your territory, otherwise you'll be left out and no one will think of you ever!"
For the first time, Laura had doubts. What Roxie was saying seemed like a bit much. Then she remembered her father hanging up on her over and over, got up, thanked Roxie, and headed to her parents' house.
Elijah was very pleased when he opened the door and saw Laura on the other side. But when she saw that Amanda was wrapped snugly in a sort of sling against his chest, she turned to go. "Wait, wait, wait!" He cried. "Why don't you come in?"
"Cause I can see you're busy," Laura replied. "If you want me to come in and talk to you, get rid of the baby."
"Oh, but I can't!" Elijah replied. "Your mother is napping, so I have to watch her."
"Tell me something, Daddy," Laura replied, coming in anyway. "How is that every single time I call or come over, you can't take five minutes to put the baby down and talk to me? How is it that every time I want to talk to you, you can't let the baby go? I understand she's little, but you can't just use that as an excuse when you have other people like me who need your attention too. I mean, do you even feel bad for all you've put me through? Any twinge of regret at all?"
"Laura dear, I love you, but don't you think you're being just a tad over dramatic? You're a grown woman with a husband and a family of your own," Elijah told her. "You have no reason to be jealous or feel the need to cling to me like a child. If you want to schedule time for us to spend together, I'll be more than happy to make space on my calendar, but if you've just come to throw a tantrum, I have no time for that, so you can go on your way."
Laura huffed. "Well, fine," she said. "I guess the only way a person can get attention around here is if they're a small child, never mind the needs of anyone else." She then stomped off and Elijah sighed. "She used to be the good one," he said to himself. "I wonder what in the world came over her."
"I really don't know if letting you buy me clothes was such a good idea," Eli told Rebecca as she led him into the mall. "How about you shop and I go wait for you in the car?" He started to go and she grabbed his arm.
"Oh, come on!" She replied. "This is a mall, not some place dangerous! I really think you need new clothes. Aren't you tired of khaki and those really lame polo shirts and sweater vests? I think you need something with a bit more color! Or possibly something in leather!" She grinned wickedly.
"No!" Eli cried. "No leather!"
"Why not?" Rebecca asked. "I think you'd look sexy!"
"I don't wear stuff like that," Eli shook his head. "You should know that by now!"
"Would you wear it just for me?" Rebecca asked, massaging his scalp and running her fingers through his hair as he felt himself start to get aroused right there in the mall. "Please?"
"Oh, all right, fine!" he said. "I'll let you buy me a few things. But that's all! And I'll buy myself stuff I'll actually wear."
Rebecca smirked. "Don't be silly. You'll wear what I buy you. Maybe not all the time, but it won't go unworn. Not if I have anything to say about it! Now wait in the dressing room while I go pick you out some things."
"But you don't know what my sizes are!" Eli cried.
"Yes, I do," Rebecca assured him. "I looked at all the tags in your clothes before we left to come here."
She disappeared from the dressing room and Eli sighed. Sometimes, he just didn't know what to do about Rebecca. She was a beautiful woman, and the sex was great, of course, but she was so…mean. Everything had to be about her, all the time. He knew he deserved better, and was probably an idiot to hope that he could change her, but she'd been a good woman once, and it was probably in her somewhere still. He just had to hold his head up high, stand up to her every once in awhile, and then hopefully, he'd find whatever it was that was making her bad and be able to undo it so she could be good again.
When she finally returned and put the clothes she'd found on the hooks in the dressing room for him to try on, he was dismayed (but not surprised) to find out that each article of clothing that she picked was made of different colors of leather. "Okay," she said. "What do you want to try on first?"
"None of it," Eli shook his head. "I told you I don't do leather!"
"Well, no worries," Rebecca replied and zapped off his clothes so he was just in his boxers and he tried to cover up his chest with his arms. "You don't have to cause I can do it for you!" She then zapped him into leather pants a leather jacket, and even a pair of leather briefs before she finally put his own clothes back on him. He'd actually liked the jacket, but he'd never admit that to her.
"There," he said. "You've seen me in leather, you've had your fun, now I'm gonna go buy what I want!"
Rebecca sighed. "Fine, you don't have to wear the leather pants, but won't you at least keep the jacket? You only have to wear it behind bedroom doors, I swear."
"And what sort of compensation do I get for doing you this big favor?" He asked, arms crossed. "What sexy thing will you wear for my enjoyment?"
Rebecca giggled and then whispered against his earlobe. "Does nothing count as something?"
"No, that's taking the easy way out!" Eli replied and then after agreeing to get the coat (as a way to achieve his own ends), he brought her to the women's department and picked out a conservative black turtleneck and a red plaid skirt that went down to Rebecca's knees. "Now you wear this," he said.
"But why?" Rebecca cried. "It's not even sexy!"
"Just put it on," Eli replied. "Please?"
Rebecca rolled her eyes and went to put on the outfit while Eli watched. The shirt turned out to be tighter than she'd thought, and so between the good view he was getting of her breasts, and the other that he was getting of her legs, Eli was enjoying himself immensely.
"How about you jump up and down a little now?" He asked with a smirk.
Rebecca's eyes narrowed, but she couldn't help grinning a little. "You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you, kid?" She asked.
"Oh, yes," Eli nodded, standing up, striding over to her, taking her in his arms, and kissing her deeply. "I really am."
"You think you're so smart," Rebecca replied. "But I've got your number. I know how your mind works."
"Oh, yeah?" Eli raised an eyebrow. "What am I thinking now?"
"You're thinking that you wanna go home and get naked, and after that, we'll spend the rest of the day in bed," Rebecca replied as his hand went up the back of her thigh and slipped under her skirt in spite of his not wanting to give into her as she unzipped him and stroked his very obvious erection. "After all, we left the house like you wanted. But now I've had enough."
"Oh, all right," Eli sighed, although when he'd proposed leaving the house, he'd hoped to do something a bit more intellectual before coming back and rolling around on the bed like an animal. "Let's go."
"Is there anything you and I need to talk about?" Selina asked Laura when she'd come to visit only after making sure the chat with her mother wouldn't be entirely taken up by baby Amanda. "Anything you want to say about your sister? And I've been where you are. With Roxie and even with you a little bit. So I understand."
"No, I don't think you do," Laura replied. "When Dad wouldn't answer my calls, I felt like garbage, okay? Like I wasn't worth anything to him cause someone cuter and more dependent came along. It's not my fault that I can't visit as often as I used to because I've got a husband and a business, and a couple of kids. Why is he punishing me?" She paused. "You know, I take it back. You might be able to understand after all."
"Oh, I do," Selina replied and kissed Laura's hair. "You know your father. He's a sucker for girls he can be a knight in shining armor to. That's what brought him and me together, and the tradition continued with you, and Margaret, and now Amanda."
So what do I do?" Laura asked. Then, she got an idea. "Never mind," she said. "I've solved it."
"Good for you," Selina replied as her daughter ran out of the house and straight to Savannah's, where she begged her morally flexible sister to make her up a potion, which she then consumed before asking Savannah to take her home.
It was Elijah who answered the door to Savannah's knock, and when he saw his niece holding the hand of the little girl with the brown hair and big blue eyes, he said, "Who is this? Did you and Jonathan adopt another one, Savannah?"
"No, this is Laura," Savannah replied, then offered him the little girl's hand. "Bye!" She disappeared, leaving Elijah staring at the little girl who was supposedly his full grown daughter.
"Laura?" He said finally. "Is that you? What happened?"
"I had Savannah make me small," Laura replied. "Can I come in, please?"
"Of course," Elijah replied. "I think you and I need to have a discussion anyway."
"Good," Laura replied. "I knew that if I was small, you'd pay attention to me. Cause that's how it works in this house!"
Elijah sighed. He wanted to scold her so badly, but since she'd done what she'd done cause of his lack of attention, it seemed a bit hypocritical. He took a deep breath, tried to stay calm, and talked to her instead.
"So, what's the problem?" He asked her.
"I just want some attention," Laura replied and climbed in his lap. "That won't be so hard for you, will it?"
"You know, it was your sister doing naughty things like this for attention that got her sent to boarding school," Elijah replied as he held on to her. "If you want to talk to me, you need to act as grown up as possible."
"Well, it's hard to do the grown up thing when you won't answer my calls," Laura pointed out. "And you can't send me to boarding school. My husband Edward wouldn't like it!"
"Speaking of your husband Edward, how do you think he'll feel when he finds out you shrunk yourself like this?" Elijah asked. "Not good, I'm sure."
"I'm not gonna be like this forever!" Laura replied. "Just until we finish talking." She took a small vial out of one of her pockets. "See? This will make me big again. I can take it whenever I want."
"Well, you better do it soon," Elijah told her. "I promised you that I'd make more time for you and I intend to keep that promise without you needing to do any ridiculous stunts like this to get my attention."
"Are you sure?" Laura asked.
"Yes," Elijah nodded. "Now turn back."
"Not yet," Laura replied. "I'm very unhappy about Amanda. I don't know why, but for some reason, she makes me madder than all the other kids."
"Well, I'm sorry," Elijah replied. "I know it can't be pleasant to feel like you've been replaced. I never liked it myself. But I can't drop everything with Amanda for long periods of time just because you're too used to being the one that I pay attention to the most."
"What about an hour a week?" Laura asked. "You think you can do that? And you have to come to my house or go out with me for that hour. No staying here cause you'll get distracted and let the baby horn in on my daddy time!"
"All right," Elijah replied. "I'll give you an hour a week, I promise."
"Write it down and sign it," Laura requested. "And I'm gonna go tell Mom about it too, so she can remind you if you forget."
"All right," Elijah replied and followed her to Amanda's nursery. "But I don't really think this is necessary. You're really overreacting."
"No, I'm not," Laura replied. "You're just clueless."
They reached the nursery and Laura put the paper in her pocket just as Selina was shutting the door behind her. She took one look at little Laura, grabbed her hand, and took her to a place far away enough from Amanda's room that she wouldn't wake her before speaking. "Laura, what have you done to yourself? And it can be reversed, can't it?"
"Yes," Laura nodded. "I only did this cause Daddy just pays attention to you if you're little. I have a way to reverse the potion in my pocket. But before I turn back, I have to say that Daddy and I have made a deal that he'll spend time with me for an hour a week and there'll be no baby interruptions. You have to remind him if he forgets, please. Otherwise I will keep doing this until he remembers."
"Well, that's just not a good idea," Selina replied. "Don't worry, I'll remind him if he forgets."
"All right," Laura replied. "That's all I needed to hear." Then she drank the potion that made her exactly as she'd been (clothes and all) before she'd taken it and strode from Selina and Elijah's house like nothing had ever happened.
