Reviews :

Snake557 : Oh, well that entire premise was played out in Defying Code. Sugar Rush was downgraded, and when Tessa and Zed went to Tron, Lickity ran off with Orion and he got her pregnant in the time being. When Tessa came back to Sugar Rush, Lickity was outside of the forcefield, waiting for her/waiting to be let back inside. Orion was different because he wasn't Lickity's species; they just ran off for a good time. The difference here is it's Lickity's breed's mating season, so everything is heightened/detrimental.

Burgie : Just takes onnnne special someone to knock on his door ;)

Song Listened To :

Meridian, Shining by Jonis de Man

A Wondrous Place by Mark Mancina

A/N : Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is late. Coming off of the holidays has been brutal for me, because of how much I've been working. I'me xhausted and am currently trying to find my feet in a few new years resolutions I've set for myself, so I appreciate the patience!

Also, my best friend will be visiting and staying with Cory and I for a week, coming up, so I will be very slow to update until about the middle of January. Thanks for all the love and support guys! Much appreciated :D

*Chapter 10*

Int he sweep of a breath, Tessa felt her consciousness come back to her body. In a small tense of her muscles, she shifted in bed and allowed her eyes to flutter open. Amidst the cool breeze, Dead Zed's humid jungle air flit into their cozy little abode, and with the warm realization that she was strictly on vacation, no duties or responsibilities, no crying baby to tend to, she exhaled a long, hot sigh through her nose, sagged deeper into the bed and felt Zeds body shift next to hers. In a tangled mess of skin and fluffy sheets and blankets, the room practically sung in it's frozen stillness, a deep embrace of morning love, the sun just barely flickered through the hanging jungle trees over head, and with such, casted shadows of the leaves onto their bodies adorned with nothing but their glistening wedding rings.

With the sting of now suddenly missing her baby, she allowed her eyes to flutter open and peer lazily across the span of the small bedroom and bed her and Zed were cuddled on. She shifted a little, and with such, Zed inhaled a deep, sleepy breath through his nose, scoot a little deeper into her body and rested his head on her bare collar. His chaotic, electric blue hair was in sprout all atop his head, which tickled Tessa's nose a little. She wrinkled her nose, got readjusted and warmly kissed Zed's forehead, though with such, she finally allowed further alertness to come to her gaze as the gorgeous white curtains, of their windows, fluttered in soft licks of drapery with the morning breeze.

"I miss Berri," Tessa admitted meekly into the top of Zed's hair, he grunted a silent rasp of a laugh and sleepily found his arms about her bare waist.

"I thought for sure you'd miss Lickity more so," Zed's deep, grumbling voice made her rib cage reverberate with his power, though gentle voice.

Tessa furrowed her eyebrow in a sharp pang of remembrance, she held her breath and felt her skin grow cold. She felt a weird bit of conflicting thoughts hit her. She missed Berri badly, due to the fact that she is her newborn, though she knew there was a stark difference. She was well aware just when she'd see Berri again; seeing Lickity again was a time frame that was simply up for grabs by the universe. She closed her eyes in a further sag of sorrow and hugged her arms about Zed's head in a needy, suddenly melancholy fashion.

"... Sorry to remind you," Zed mumbled in a deep, apologetic tone as he just barely begun to lift his head. He grunted as him and Tessa' readjusted themselves, and as Tessa laid back to the bed in a slump, Zed remained tight next to her with his head propped on his hand, in which his elbow was now sharply propped into his pillow. He shook his head in sleepy dismay and eyed his bride, "I will make you a bet."

"A bet?" Tessa started in a tone of already annoyed defeat.

"I'll bet you an entire, Kingless Sugar Rush day that come this afternoon at the latest, Lickity will be back," Zed cheesed her a sleepy, smug smile; Tessa cocked an eyebrow.

"But, this bet works in my favor, if you're right, then I win out," Tessa rushed in meek confusion, she scrunched her shoulders and rolled over with a soft, alluring smile. She gingerly rested her larger fingers to Zed's chest and lulled her eyes closed, "I don't want to rule Sugar Rush without you... What happens if you're prophecy doesn't pan out?"

"Nothing changes," Zed shrugged, "I'm trying my hardest to make it so I'm right AND you get your way. You'll feel guilty for being so worried about this, and you'll get an entire Sugar Rush day without a Mr. Zedian Kalivar hovering nearby."

"Hmmm," Tessa fingered her lip and eyed Zed in gentle suspicion, "You're just saying that as an excuse to have a day off and sleep in, aren't you."

"Your majesty," Zed huffed in an exaggerated whisper as he gently clutched his bare chest, "I wouldn't DREAM of it."

"Oh, shut up, you're doing anything to hit snooze in the morning," Tessa blurt a hard chuckle, swat at his playful, masculine hands and began to slowly roll over, so to get out of bed.

"Caught me," Zed muttered in great cheek; he eyed his bride's bare body for a moment before he, too, rolled out of bed and both beings began to lazily scrounge for clothes to put on amidst the strewn mess of torn off clothes from the night prior, "Y'gunna bet on it, or not?"

Tessa gently yanked her head through the hole of her lazy tank top, she inhaled a deep, annoyed breath through her nose and whilst she lazily adjusted her bra under her shirt, she cocked an eyebrow and volleyed a look of dull, annoyed cheek to her husband. She exhaled a long, hot sigh through her nose and bobbed a lazy nod of nonchalant disdain, as if agreeing was moot. Zed's eyebrows perked in a high show of smug desire as he sauntered over to her, after wrestling his lazy sweat pants over his legs. He outstretched his masculine hand to hers, was successful in getting a handshake out of her and bobbed on the balls of his feet in pre-celebratory success.

"What should we do for breakfast?" Zed wondered softly, to which Tessa began to messily throw her crazy waves of auburn hair into a high ponytail atop her head.

"Is the fridge stocked with stuff? I'd assume you and Finn got that covered... Dunno of any grocery stores this far out into the wild," Tessa muttered softly as she opened their bedroom door, strolled down short, narrow hallway and came into the main room, which cozily consisted of the kitchen and living room.

"Yes, ma'am," Zed politely called from the bedroom, he stayed behind to search for a shirt he could wear.

Tessa smiled at the sixth up, how easily Zed could go from full on teasing to the kindest, truest form of politeness she ever knew. She heaved a satisfied sigh and was delighted with the refresh Zed had given her coding, the night prior. Although their love life had very swiftly taken a back seat, due to Berri being born, she was glad the two hadn't lost touch. As she swung into the kitchen, she could swear the smile on her face was bound to become a mile wide; she knew her's and Zed's fiascos were nothing new to her, though somehow he always still managed to leave her beaming the next day. In a gentle droop of feeling entirely satisfied and ready to simply laze about for the rest of the day, she switched on the kitchen's dim lighting and volleyed her gaze across the still space.

Although it was mid morning, the calm, misty, dense jungle foliage did absolutely everything it could to keep the atmosphere shroud in a humid fog. With the lovely splay of breezy fog that eased throughout the jungle and kissed the multitudinous bay windows with a lovely morning dew, sprinkled with sunlight that so desperately tried to eke it's way through the thick, jungle air. Tessa tucked her loose hair behind her ears, stepped into the wooden floors of the kitchen and was prepared to open the fridge in her search for something to cook up, for the two newly weds, for breakfast, though just in the break of her turn, an inhale that got cut short, she held her breath and double took on something that caught her eye just on the landing deck outside.

A massive, winged creature could be seen through the thicket of the fog, one that had seemingly silently landed and was now frozen solid in its stance. Tessa raised her eyebrows in prickled surprise and felt entirely delighted at the fact that Lickity had come back so fast, though with her rushing thoughts, she immediately came to a raw conclusion; this creature was much larger and much darker than Lickity, and with said realization, she began to feel fear plague her skin. She froze in her tracks and now silently cursed the jungle for fogging their windows, the only thing that could even remotely be seen was the darkened, mysterious silhouette of a creature, sat hunched and nervously poised out on the flight deck; in a jolting pang of dire curiosity, mixed with a healthy dose of impending fear, Tessa held her breath and began to slowly push towards the massive sliding glass door in preparation to fully investigate her discovery.

With footsteps as lithe and as silent as could possibly be, Tessa practically hovered to the glass, unhooked the latch and, without any sudden movements, she began to slowly slide the glass open. As the foggy glass finally eased out of her tight vision and peripheral, what was stood perched, poised and alert in a show of hesitance, was an unbelievably gorgeous bat dragon. A being of Lickity's breed, except a lot larger and bigger built, its fur and scales was a dark charcoal brown, and in the gentle swing of volleyed gazes, Tessa felt her breath catch the second their eyes locked. A hypnotizing pierce of massive blue eyes, amidst slits of pupils held sharp to its intended prey, Tessa only opened the door far enough for her to fit through it, though as both beings froze in an impending roll of further uncertainty, Tessa continued to hold that everlasting breath and dare to wonder if stepping outside was wise.

In a gentle push of her bare feet to the cool, massive, wooden landing platform the two shared, Tessa did everything and anything to keep her now becoming nervous gaze tight to this incredible beast far out before her, and as she began to worm her way outside, said dragon sprawled its wings in a slow fashion of further hesitance, as if it so badly wanted to let Tessa approach, though somehow instinct begged it to fly off and be safe. Vivid, cerulean blue eyes held terrifyingly tight to Tessa's, as if to nervously question if Tessa's presence was a threat or not. Before Tessa could allow her overjoyed excitement get the better of her and rush this incredible creature, she slowed her roll, softened her posture and so quietly began to make cute tsking and kissy noises, to hopefully goad the attention of her new potential friend. As slowly as she could, she outstretched her arm, opened her palm face up and hoped to convey peace.

"Hey baby," Tessa eased in much lighter, higher pitch. With such, the creature's posture began to soften with trust, and much to Tessa's entire delight, the dragon's incredible bat ears, which were previously held high and tight to the top of its head, very slowly began to sag in a show of a release of needing dominance in this situation. Tessa just barely began to press further, in hopes of being able to ease into this creature's bubble, "I'm not gunna hurt you."

As Tessa approached, she began to feel dwarfed. Lickity's breed was typically a lithe, smaller figured being, one of agility and flexibility, though as Tessa finally came within half a dozen feet of this incredible beast, she peered up into its eyes and quickly began to feel as if she was in Royal's presence, a being who is much larger than Lickity. Much different than Lickity's cream and chocolate colored markings, this new dragon was entirely coat in a gorgeous splay of charcoal brown, a matte finish its perfect scales and fur were thoroughly complete with, though all down its throat, chest, belly and the majority of its ventral was the most vivid pop of hot blue Tessa had ever seen; a color to easily rival Zed's hair color. Tessa peered up to this creature in total awe, her heart skipped a beat as she noticed its ears sag entirely into succumbed neutrality, its bat snout began to wrinkle in a few soft inhales of sniffles to Tessa's hand, which was now only a foot or two from its snout.

"That's it," Tessa cooed warmly, and gentle roll of success, Tessa gently eased her fingers onto the snout of this strange being. Tessa bit her lip in excitement and felt it strange to be in the presence of another being of Lickity's breed, she eagerly felt the softness of this dragon's fur and relished in the potential idea of befriending yet another one of these awesome creatures. Tessa giggled a little, narrowed her gaze in sweet curiosity and gingerly shrugged, "You, uh... Wouldn't happen to know Lickity, would you?"

With Tessa's question, she was well prepared to not receive any form of understanding, though her facial expression sloped to numb surprise as this creature's eyes gently hooked tight to Tessa's, and with what Tessa could swear was a smile, it began to show it's fangs in non-intimidating delight. Tessa furrowed her brows in bewilderment, and just as she was about to open her mouth and potentially inquire more rushing questions, she flinched and felt a brisk gust of a breeze suddenly sweep through her hair. As she broadened her gaze down the plank of the massive landing platform they stood on, Lickity gently sagged down to the wood on silent wings, a swoop of an incredible skill of being almost entirely unheard, though as she finally eased to a small trot, she peered cheekily into Tessa's eyes, a knowing look of cute, dallying sass everyone knew well.

"I-I, uh..." Lickity staggered, though Tessa finally gaped a wide gape and put all the pieces together. In a gentle swoop of knowing, she cupped the larger dragon's jaw, peered into its eyes for a moment before shooting Lickity a knowing look of floored, girly surprise, "Sorry I sort of, uh... Vanished there. Dunno what came over me."

"I'll tell yah what came over yah!" Tessa barked with a hard laugh, and although the puzzle was now all coming together, she still felt entire surprise with the fact that a deep, tender and masculine chuckle emit from the new dragon's much larger rib cage.

"I-I hope you don't mind the addition," Lickity eased bashfully as she came into their bubble of riled knowing, "This is my mate."

"Chosen well, how do you do?" Tessa wondered in kind excitement as she peered her attention to the male before her, she furrowed her brows in a gentle jolt of confusion and peered to Lickity in kind question, "Can, uh... Can he talk at all?"

"Yeah, he can," Lickity blurt with a gentle laugh as she suddenly nudged her mate with the backside of her folded wing; he grunted a noise of playful dismay, flattened his ears and gave Lickity a teasing look of stern bewilderment, "Not too good at it, yet... Maybe a little shy?"

"Well, well, WELL," Zed suddenly barked from the opened screen door, and with such, Tessa felt a jolt of fear shoot through her the second Lickity's mate suddenly tensed and began to look afraid, as if being in the presence of humans was something entirely off of his normal day-to-day routines. He flinched, taut his ears tight and honed his nervous gaze tight to Zed's across the way, though Zed teasingly carried on, "I'm SUPER glad I made that bet with you. Guess who gets to sleep in when we get back to Sugar Rush! This guy."

"Guess whose on baby-duty at the same time, then?" Tessa volleyed in solid annoyance, she was thrilled to feel the snout of Lickity's mate gingerly find it's way back to her still extended hand for reassurance; she gladly began to rub his snout and give him all the affirmation he needed.

"You guys made a bet?" Lickity staggered in playful annoyance as she flattened her ears and eyed Zed in entire dismay, he slowly sauntered out onto the deck and even further slowed his roll due to the sheer amount of nervousness this new dragon was radiating.

"You bet," Zed choked, Lickity flattened her ears further and gaze Zed an even more annoyed look of teasing disdain, "Tessa was worried you wouldn't come back, so... I bet that if you came back before noon, she gets to run the game for a day without me."

"...That's a lazy excuse for you just getting to sleep in," Lickity rushed with an annoyed smile, Tessa beamed in entire delight as another deep, cute chuckle emanated from Lickity's mate's chest, "I reinforce this baby-duty notion, dude. Y'got played."

"Whatever, I love hanging out with Berri," Zed sneered in Lickity's direction, though Tessa finally eased the conversation back around to the newest addition to their family.

"Well... My name's Tessa, Lickity is my companion. This is my husband, Zed," Tessa motioned to Zed, who finally eased into everyone's bubble, "He's the head of this game. Dead Zed's final boss."

"What's your name?" Zed cued in warmth as he put his hands on his hips and assessed the incredible blue markings and colorations along this new dragon's chest and ventral.

"...B-Boss?" His raspy, deep and tender voice cued in boyish uncertainty, and with such, Tessa could feel her heart just absolutely melt to goo as she encouraged him.

"Your name is Boss?" Tessa pressed with a lilt of a giggle, though Lickity shot him a look and beamed a fang-filled smile.

"You don't have a name, do you," Lickity wondered, though her tone was light and eked excitement, she furrowed her brow and peered to Tessa, "Come to think of it, I didn't have a name until I found Tessa."

"Well Orph named you Lucky," Zed reminded, Lickity rolled her eyes.

"Lucky," Boss eased in entire delight as he turned to peer to his new mate, his velvety voice was like honey, the softest, wisest amount of warmth and desire.

"Yeah, guess it's fine," Lickity shrugged and playfully looked off in a show of disdain, as if she now had to pretend that she still sort of hated Orph, even though everyone knew it was now openly quite the opposite.

"Y'certaintly GOT lucky," Tessa sniped in a stifle, not being able to resist; everyone tried their hardest to hold back laughter, excluding Lickity, who looked off in further annoyance.

"Well, looks like y'sort of named yourself," Zed choked a small laugh to Lickity's mate, "Boss it is."

"I love it!" Tessa pressed, Boss perked his ears in a rise of slowly becoming comfortable.

"Th-thanks you," Boss staggered on his words a little, though Lickity looked up and blurt a chuckle.

"Guess the first thing on the to-do list is English lessons," Lickity snorted a laugh.

"I remember the good ol' days of you stumbling on your words, too, missy," Tessa teasingly reminded as she waggled her pointer finger.

"Long behind me, I am an eloquent being of eternal wisdom and success," Lickity pushed in a cheesy manner of pompous knowing, though Boss wrinkled his nose in a wild, huge smile of disbelief and caught eyes with Lickity in a roll of a budding, teasing relationship that only just began to blossom into the realms of the showy unknown of discovery. Lickity sagged her wings and swat the backside of her wing into Boss's side, once more, which shook a cute chuckle out of him, "Oh, shut up, you believed it last night!"

"Welcome to the family," Zed choked as Boss volleyed his smiling, dizzy gaze of cute uncertainty to Zed's, "We're all crazy."