cathy and Esha Napoleon: Thank you! jadeMK11: Oh yeah. This kind of thing with him usually is. Ilse'sPurpleSummer Yeah it would be nice, considering she's become a part of the family. Though frankly he don't really view her as such. She's pretty much a nanny to him really.

...

Cooper maneuvered his way through the club, holding his drink high above his head and doing his best not to spill any of it as he went. The place was absolutely packed and the sound of Lady Gaga blaring at the top volume setting was assaulting his ears. He wasn't drunk yet though it wouldn't be too long before he got there. He had yet to hook up with anyone tonight and he wasn't sure if he was going to change that or not. That wasn't what this night was about. What it was about was in his pocket at the moment.

After nearly running into a group of girls that couldn't watch where they were going, Cooper made it into the restroom. There were a couple of people in there but he ignored them and went into the nearest empty stall. He made sure it locked properly before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the baggie of cocaine he had purchased. It had been a total impulse buy and one that he really shouldn't have made. He had just gotten off this stuff not THAT long ago. And every time he started he got on a horribly slippery slope that he needed someone to save him from. Taylor and Mindy had been the people last time though now the former could hardly stand the sight of him and the latter had James constantly on her. Nobody really cared about him anymore. So what was the point in giving a shit? Sobriety was overrated anyway. It just made shit even harder to deal with.

He did hesitate though. After setting up his lines he did hesitate for a moment, reconsidering what he was about to do. It was about as dumb as he could get quite frankly. After that hesitation though he snorted the lines in quick succession, rubbing some on his gums and then leaning back against the wall and letting the drug work its magic.

…

James shivered and turned his head to the side as he slept, a worried expression crossing his face. Mindy, Aiden and Vanessa were all asleep on the bed with him, unaware of the change in his demeanor as of now. He hadn't started thrashing around or talking in his sleep yet though it was probably only a matter of time. For whatever reason, his nightmares were increasing in regularity.

"Baby Doll?" He opened the front door and stepped into the house, frowning because it was too quiet. There were seven kids, five pets and Connor…things were never this quiet unless they were gone or asleep. "Baby Doll are you here?" He shut the door behind him and ventured further into the house, chills running up his spine at the stillness. "Baby D-"

"If she didn't answer you the first time what makes you think you're going to get an answer the next fifty times?"

He froze at that voice. "Oh no oh no oh no…" He turned around slowly, hoping that he wasn't going to see the owner of that voice. No such luck though. Caroline was standing there, giving him a little smug look. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Me?" She shrugged her shoulders "innocently". "I'm always here. Always have been."

"You're dead." Completely obvious statement there. "And you were fucking exorcised out of me you should be-"

"In hell?" She chuckled lightly. "Maybe. But that don't change that I'm here." She slapped him upside the head with one hand and slapped his chest with the other one. "I'm always in here. Always have been, always will be."

…

A cold draft that went through her blankets made Elizabeth wake up from her sleep. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, sitting up in her big girl bed and looking around. She was in the room next to James and Mindy's tonight, though sometimes she did still sleep with Mommy and Daddy. She liked that better though having three kids in the room tended to put a damper on their sex life, so sometimes separation was necessary. Of course, she didn't understand that though. She just knew that she had her nightlight, her Lammy and she had managed to steal Fievel from Chelsea so she had him as well.

The cold draft hit her again and she looked around, her blue eyes as wide as they could be. "Dad-dy?"

…

"Where's Baby Doll?" James asked yet again. "Where are my kids?" He had this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as he stared into the cold, expressionless eyes of his mother. "I swear to god if you hurt them-"

'You'll do what?" Caroline sneered coldly. She poked her finger at his chest. "Huh? What are YOU going to do you pathetic piece of shit?" She poked him again despite his attempts to push her away. "Huh? Tell me boy."

"You fucking stay away from my family," he growled, sounding braver than he felt. "You fucking have no place-"

SLAP! "Don't you fucking tell me what to do," she growled. "Don't you EVER tell me what to do, you understand me?"

…

"Dad-dy?" Elizabeth said again. She hugged Lammy tightly and tried to keep Fievel close to her as well. Fievel however, slipped from her grasp and stood at the edge of the bed, hissing at the air. Fievel, the oldest, most easy going cat in the universe never hissed at anything. Elizabeth whimpered and looked around, trembling in fright.

SCRAAAAAAATCH! Something sharp scratched against her window and now she was full on crying. "DA DA DA DA!"

…

James and Mindy both woke up to the sound of Elizabeth's yelling, both freaked to say the least. "Lizzie!" James slipped on a pair of boxers and placed Vanessa in her bassinet before tearing out of the room. Mindy wasn't too far behind carrying Aiden with her. "Lizzie!" James burst into Elizabeth's room and flipped on the light to find her crying in her bed. "Lizzie!" He went right to her, lifting her up out of bed and hugging her tightly. "What is it Lizzie?"

"Da da da!" She hugged his neck tightly and pointed to her window. Frowning, James went over to the window and peered out it. He couldn't see anything outside…but he did see a sing faint scratch mark on the glass. He ran his fingertip over it and could tell it was made from the inside…how that could possibly be though he wasn't sure. Elizabeth surely hadn't done that. Fievel couldn't have done it. He pondered it for a moment and then realized that maybe it hadn't even happened just now. Connor or one of the kids could have fucked with the glass and he just hadn't known about it.

"Jamie?" Mindy came up behind him and kissed Elizabeth's cheek as she rested her head against James's shoulder. "What is it?"

James stared at the window a moment before shaking his head. "Nothing. I think she had a nightmare or saw something out the window that scared her." He rubbed Elizabeth's back gently and kissed the side of her head. His biggest worry was that she had had a nightmare about the whole kidnapping ordeal. Everyone had told him over and over again that she was too young to ever remember it but it still worried him. "She'll be just fine with us though, won't you Lizzie?" No way was she staying in here alone. This little scare would bring her back to Mommy and Daddy's bed for at least a week because James got more freaked than anybody.

"Lammy!" She shoved Lammy in his face until he gave the thing a kiss and then she pointed to Fievel. "KITTY!"

"Kitty too?"

"YES!' Elizabeth yelled despite Mindy's attempts to shush her.

James chuckled lightly and bent down so he could scoop Fievel into his arms. "Anything else Lizzie Bear?"

Elizabeth shook her head and James bounced her lightly before kissing Mindy and letting her lead them back to their bedroom.

…

Cooper woke up the next morning in a bed that wasn't his. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, trying to piece together the events that took place after he snorted the cocaine. It was all a blur. He had been a drunken coked up mess he couldn't recall a damn thing. He didn't even know who it was that was laying in the bed next to him. It was a guy; he could see THAT clearly for himself. He couldn't see the guy's face because he had it turned to the other side though that didn't really matter to him. Being as quiet and careful as he could, he rolled out of the bed and searched for his clothes, which were laying out all over the floor. He slipped them on as fast as he could, glancing over at the sleeping twink on the bed to make sure he didn't wake up. He didn't feel up for dealing with any morning after shit and thankfully wasn't forced to do that. The guy didn't even stir as he got dressed and he was able to leave without incident. He had no idea where he was but at least his car was parked outside of the house. At least he wasn't going to have to go hunt it down. They keys were in his pocket thankfully and he got in and drove off, cursing the sun for shining in his eyes as he did so. He felt like such shit. He really really fucked up but that was nothing new to him. He fucked up just like the wind blew and the sun rose and set…it was the natural order of things.

He wiped his nose gingerly, wondering if he should say something about what he did. Part of him wanted to. Just come clean right away and get it done with because he knew how he was. He wasn't going to be able to hide it for forever. But the closer he got to the house, the more he knew that he wouldn't say a damn word. He didn't truly want to yet. As much as he knew that he had fucked up, he wasn't ready to be pulled back on to the tracks yet. He never ever was until it was almost way too late.

…

James poked his head into Taylor's room, where she, Mindy, Natalya, Aiden and all the girls except Chelsea (because he was holding her) were gathered. Apparently all hands were needed to help Taylor get ready for her big date. Natalya was straightening the teenager's hair while Amber was painting her fingernails. Mindy, Thorn and Scarlett were going through Taylor's closet, trying to decide which outfit would be appropriate. "Doesn't the girl going on the date usually get to do that?" he couldn't help but ask.

"WE'RE fashionistas!" Scarlett declared. "Taylor TRUSTS our judgment!"

"Ah right." He came into the room with Chelsea, who was hugging poor Stickers by his neck. Vanessa was laying in her bassinet while Aiden and Elizabeth sat on the floor, playing with some toys. "I sincerely apologize for asking such an obvious question."

"You are forgiven cretin," Mindy replied, whipping her hair back and only missing Thorn's face because she wasn't crazy tall like Amber was.

James smirked a bit. "Do you even know what that word MEANS Baby Doll?"

"It means kiss my ass son of a bitch."

He laughed loudly at that and walked over to her, kissing her on the lips instead. "Let's save that for when we don't have as much company." He kissed her again before rubbing his nose against hers. "Chelsea needs popcorn so I'm gonna run to the store with her real quick."

"Popcorn is GONE!" Chelsea stated, her chubby little face in full pout mode. This was a crisis given how much of a fanatic she was about it. Out of all the things she ate that was the one she treasured the most. "Daddy get MORE!"

"Yes, Daddy will get you more popcorn," he assured her. He kissed her cheek and nodded as she nodded at him. "I'll make you some popcorn balls when we get home. With the marshmallows and all the different colors."

"Us too Daddy!" Thorn piped in.

"Yeah," Amber agreed.

"I'll make some for everyone," he promised. He kissed Mindy again and tried to go when she stopped him. "Baby Doll?"

"Don't you have something to say to Taylor?"

He glanced at Taylor who was giving Mindy a confused look before frowning at her. "About what?"

'About her DATE." She smacked his chest lightly and pushed him to the younger girl and he sighed, now remembering what she wanted him to do. "Ah right." He gave her an exaggerated stern look which caused the girls to giggle and Mindy and Natalya to roll her eyes. "No drinking, no smoking, no ritual sacrifices of ANY kind. You hear me?"

Taylor stared at him incredulously. "Why would I do a ritual sacrifice?"

"I don't know. But if you do, don't come home."

"Jamie!" Mindy said in exasperation.

"Kidding-but seriously, don't sacrifice anything." He gave Mindy another kiss before leaving with Chelsea, who had the arm that wasn't holding Stickers around his neck. "Ready to go to the store Princess?"

"Yes." Nodding curtly she was way too cute and he had to nom on her cheek before getting her in the car and taking off. When they got to the store he sat her and Stickers up in the cart, not caring that animals weren't supposed to be in the store. "Sit STILL Stickers," Chelsea ordered, squeezing the red panda and forcing him to sit with her. Stickers whined and made some other sounds before sitting and Chelsea nodded in approval. "Stickers SIT!" she informed James.

"I see that." He pushed the cart down the snack aisle, grabbing enough popcorn to keep her happy for quite awhile and then stocking up on chips and cookies. He didn't know if they were out of those yet but it was always better to be safe than sorry. He also grabbed a pregnancy test from over by the pharmacy and he tapped the box lightly and held it up to Chelsea. "You know what this is for Princess?" She didn't so he filled her in. "This is to see if Mommy and I are gonna have another baby."

"A BABY?" Chelsea said loudly, catching a group of women's attention and they all melted as they watched him with her.

"Mhmmmm." He tickled her belly to make her laugh. "Mommy and Daddy are going to name her Georgia."

Chelsea clapped her hands before pointing to herself with her thumb. "I'm PRINCESS."

"Yes you are." He nommed on her itty bitty finger to make her laugh. "My Princess." He took her through the checkout lane and then carried her, Stickers and their bags of groceries out to the car. He set the groceries in the back and was just getting Chelsea and Stickers buckled up in their seats when she pointed to something behind him.

"Doggy!"

James glanced behind him and indeed saw a dog approaching them. It was a golden Labrador puppy, who was filthy dirty but friendly looking all the less. "Heeey." He let the puppy come to him before scooping the thing up into his arms and letting it lick him. The thing smelled because it had been like rolling in the trash or something but it was friendly as hell and completely underfed to boot. "Where did you come from? Huh?" He checked the dog's neck and there was no collar. It was a stray. That instantly made him feel really really bad for it. He was a sucker for animals, dogs in particular. His last dog Spencer had been a stray he had found and hadn't been able to bear leaving behind. "Who left you here all alone? Huh? Who left you?"

The puppy kept licking his face and Chelsea watched with a pout, doing her best to reach at the dog herself. "PUPPY!"

"He's a cute one isn't he?" He moved the puppy closer to her so she could pet it. She tried to grab it and squeeze it by the neck like she did with just about every other animal but he shook his head. "Let's wait until we give him a bath and trim his nails up a bit," he told her. "You don't want him getting your dress dirty and scratching you, do you?"

"I want…" she pointed to the puppy and nodded her head curtly "DOGGY!"

"We're taking the doggy home," he promised. "He'll be all ours." He looked at the puppy with a smile. "Isn't that right Spartacus?"

The puppy licked his face and Chelsea shoved Stickers at him. "Stickers meet PUPPY!"

Stickers and Spartacus stared at each, Stickers hissing and Spartacus staring at him with an almost baffled expression. "Stickers meet puppy," Chelsea said with a nod.

"Yes he did," James said with an amused grin. "And now everyone else will too."