I'VE JUST FINISHED THE LONG AND AGONIZING ESSAY FOR MY WOMEN'S HISTORY CLASS. I JUST HAD TO PICK LAURA INGALLS WILDER FOR THE PAPER IN ORDER TO RELATE HER BACK TO MY CLASS. WHY DID I DO THAT TO MYSELF? SHE WASN'T EXACTLY THE EASIEST WOMAN TO WRITE ABOUT ONLY BECAUSE SHE JUST WROTE CHILDREN BOOKS AND IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WOMEN SUFFRAGE OR CHOICES AND WHAT NOT. SO, THAT JUST MADE MY ESSAY THAT MUCH HARDER TO WRITE.

AND NO, I COULDN'T WRITE ABOUT SUSAN B. ANTHONY OR CADY STANDON, AND SHE HAD TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING AFTER 1880 AND MAKE IT RELATE TO MY CLASS OVERALL. BUT I DID IT, I DID IT! AND NOW I FEEL MUCH BETTER, LIKE WEIGHT HAS BEEN LIFTED OFF MY SHOULDERS. AND SPRING IS IN A WEEK.

ANYWAY…

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND GOING TO YOUTUBE AND LISTEN TO THE CERTAIN TYPE OF MUSIC WHILE READING, WHEN I MENTION IT. IT'S EASIER TO PICTURE OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING WITH THE MUSIC PLAYING WHILE YOU READ.

The kidnapping attempt was indeed for the purpose of trying to break up the Titans from the city. There were certain gangs in the city trying to set drug cartels, but the Titans would keep arresting their customers, because the customers were common criminals breaking laws and what not. The kidnapping scheme was an extreme attempt to get rid of the Titans, and if they were caught, which they were, they all faced serious charges. Since this was the first attempt to physically attack a child of the Titans, the judge wanted to make an example out of them. If anybody was thinking about trying to kidnap Lydia, or any other future Titan's children, they stopped thinking as soon as the punishment was handed out.


"Daddy, what this?" Lydia asked pointing to a picture inside the book placed in front of her as she was sitting in Garfield's lap. It was a giant children's book full of animals across the world, with a particular page turned to the African safari.

It had been around seven months, with Lydia turning two. Despite her quiet state when she was a baby, she was becoming more talkative. By now she loved to talk, wanting constantly to learn new words. She began asking way too many questions, sometimes questions neither Garfield nor Raven were ready to answer. With being the stay home dad he was, and retiring from fighting crime for a while, he focused on teaching Lydia his African roots. Well, not particularly him having African ancestors, but his home country, where he grew up.

"That's a ze-bra." He said, trying to enunciate his words.

He was wearing a purple T-shirt and black sweat pants. He had dressed her in one of her colorful African dresses that he had gotten for her. Sometimes he dressed Lydia, and sometimes Raven did. She tended to dressed Lydia in dark, dull colors, whereas Garfield dressed Lydia in bright, striking colors. Today, she was wearing her short-sleeve, loose, pink dress, with orange, red, yellow, and light brown circles patterns around the hem and the top. Sometimes she stare at them, just watching the patterns form all around her. She had a pink bow on her head, with a pony tail.

"Za-bra?" She tried to say, looking up to him. "Horse?"

"No, a horse doesn't have strips on." He said. "A horse can be any other color, black or white, but not striped."

"Black's a color?" She asked.

"Um….." For Garfield didn't know how to answer that because it was such a strange question.

Of course black is a color, it's part of the color wheel…is it? He thought. Why did she have to have Rae's mind? I mean black is the absences of color, so it's not? I don't know, but how can I explain that to her?

"No, but people pretend it's a color." That's the best answer he could come up with.

"Why?" She asked. Oh, no, she started asking questions.

"Because the world is stupid and likes to make up silly rules." He said, trying to find the right words to a two-year old. "Except your Mama; she's smart."

"Mama?" She asked.

"Yes. Mama." He said.

"Where is Mama?" She asked, sucking one of her thumb.

"I told you, she's fighting bad guys. She's making the world a safer place. Stop sucking your thumb." He said, brushing her hand away from her mouth. "I'll put hot sauce on that thumb if I have to, one day." He said jokily. She forgot that she was sucking her thumb, and quickly put it down. It was a habit that she was having a trouble time overcoming.

"When will Mama go home?" She asked.

"When will Mama come home?" He corrected her. "I don't know, I can always call her."

"No, don't." She said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" He asked, she looked up at him, she thought it was okay to tell him.

"I don't want Mama home." She confessed. Garfield was astonished.

"Why? She's your Mama." He said. "She loves you, don't you love her?"

"Yes, sometimes." She said, not sure what to say to her father. "I like you better, Daddy."

"Well, that's nice, but why don't you like Mama as much as me?" He asked.

"Sometimes she mean. You're funny." She said, looking back at her book. "Daddy, can you be a za-bra?" She said changing the subject or probably just having a short attention span.

"A ze-bra?" He said in an over exaggerated manner, looking at the book with her. She laughed as he started to tickled her, but then he stopped and became serious. "Sometimes your Mama is mean, but it's not because she doesn't like you, it's because she is protecting you."

"Pro-tecting?" She asked, looking up at him.

"She doesn't mean to be mean, but sometimes she forgets to be nice. If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to her." He said.

"No, don't tell! She won't like me!" She cried out in protest.

"She won't. Trust me, once I tell her, she'll love you even more." He said in a soothing voice.

"She will?" She asked, she wasn't altogether sure if her father was telling her the truth, but she believed him nonetheless. She trusted him.

"Yes." He said. She smiled, and went back to the book and pointed to the big zebra running in the African safari.

"Za-bra." She said. "Za-bra, Za-bra, Za-bra!"

"Okay, okay." He said, as he got up and morphed into a zebra. Lydia clapped her hands and squealed with joy. He walked over to her and licked her face with her falling down from the force. She giggled, as she lightly petted his front leg. He lowered his head to her and she wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, Daddy." She said. It was a bittersweet moment for him, as he felt guilty that she had picked favorites so early, and one of them wasn't Raven.


"It's okay; I'm used to people getting the wrong impression from my behavior." Raven said, as she sipped her tea in that evening.

Everyone else on the team wanted to get pizza after battling several villains that day. Raven, however, wanted to go home, and preferred her tea over pizza any day. Garfield had already put Lydia to bed, with Raven quickly kissing her good night, before she went to the kitchen. Now, Garfield had come to talk about the possibility that Raven's cold manners were affecting Lydia's opinion about her own mother, and at an early age.

"Rae, I don't think it's okay for your own child to not like you." He said, taking a seat across from her in the kitchen. "Now, I stay home because well, I wanted to. And that made her comfortable with me, especially since I teach her things. However, she is sometimes terrified of you—"

"—I know. I sometimes sense her fear." She said. She took another sip, trying to calm her nerves. "I know what you are trying to say. But may I remind you, that it took a while for the team to get used to me. It took a while for you to get used to me—"

"—I was more accepting than the others, especially since I went in your mind—"

"—it will take a while for her to get used to me. And the same is true for me; it will take a while for me to open up. She has emotions and powers; I know that sometimes I can be a little strict, but it's for her own good."

She walked over to the window in the living room, staring at the dark blue sky, trying to find the stars in the early night. He followed her.

"She only meditates while with me because that way nothing bad will happen while I am gone fighting crime. I want to keep her stable with you. She is still only a child, and so has only small powers, but they will grow over time." She said.

"But it seems like nothing happens unless she feels extreme emotions, such as rage, depression, panic, and excitement." He said, trying to look on the bright side. They had come to notice that if Lydia expressed her emotions in a small manner, nothing seemed to happen, but if she expressed her emotions in a extreme manner, her powers would start to show itself.

"Yes, but I don't know if that's because she is still young, or her human side is overpowering her Demonic side. She is after all the first ever born quarter Demon." She said. He frowned; she could see his reflection in the window with her sighing. "I'll try." She said. He put his arm around her shoulder, although he was still frowning.

"That's all I can ask for." He said, staring out into the window.

"Then why are you still sad?" She asked, turning towards him and looking into his eyes.

"It's not because of you, it's just that….nothing seems like it can be simple." He said, looking at her. "It took forever for you to show affection to me, took a while for you to open up, and even took a while for you to accept the idea of having a baby, even when you wanted it. It's not because of you, but it's because of your Demonic origin. It just sometimes seems unfair when the other's can have powers without sacrificing anything."

"Garfield, I'm not special. Everyone, including you, has sacrificed something just because they have their powers." She said, in her monotone. She was trying to stay calm, trying to remind him of everyone's struggles.

"Well, yeah. But it's usually something that's happened in the past. You, on the other hand, have to constantly—"

"—I don't have to constantly—" She tried to say.

"—Yeah, you do, Rae. You have to constantly keep your emotions in check and—"

"—Garfield, I know!" She shouted, making her cup explode. "I'm sorry." She said as she looked over the scene which consisted of split tea on the carpet and broken ceramic pieces.

"Rae, what's wrong—" He asked confused as to what just happened.

"I just don't want to be reminded of what I am." She said, trying to calm down. She picked up the pieces with her powers. "I know it seems unfair, but I can't think about the others and how I can never be like them. If I do, I would constantly be in a state of depression, and I can't even do that!"

"Okay, Rae, I'm sorry." He said as she quickly reframed to her neutral state of mind, putting the broken mug pieces in the trash. "I forgot that you don't like to talk about that."

"But you don't understand why I am so upset." She said in her monotone, dropping her head. "It's because you reminded me that Lydia would be just like me."

"We don't know that. Like you said it yourself, it could be that she is young or that her human side is overpowering her Demonic side." He said. She looked out at the window, trying to find something interesting to look at to get out of this conversation.

"I know what I am. I have accepted this since I was four; I just don't like to be reminded of it, I don't even like to remind myself, which is what I did a lot, when I started going out with you." She said, turning around to face him. "What I have been doing since I have been going out with you. I somehow thought it would be different if we were married."

"I know. I just forgot for a sec." He said, but this did not seem to cheer her up. "I'm sorry."

He didn't know what to do, then walk away and leave her alone. However, when he turned around, he eyed the stereo across the room. He walked over to it, set it to a music score, and pressed play. He started to slowly waltz his way back to her as she turned around, her mood beginning to soften as she watched him coming closer.

When he reached her, he gracefully put his hand on her hip with the other holding her hand out. She reluctantly allowed him to do so as she grabbed his hand and put her other on his shoulder, with a small smile on her face, before she looked down to watch her steps.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was playing, the song that was playing the first time she ever danced with him; the first time she was able to express her feelings to him. Kissing and hugging were both milestones in themselves, but those took her time to express. Dancing was the first trick Raven ever tried and succeeded at expressing. It was technically not hugging or kissing, but at the same time it was, in a weird way.

"Dun, dun, dun….dun, dun, dun…..dun!...Dun, dun!" Garfield sung along to, as there weren't any words to it. He just tried to mimic the tempo of the song. "Dun, dun, dun…dun, dun, dun….."

They both started to waltz around the room, eyes meeting each other, moving faster or slower depending on the beat. Occasionally he would stop singing, and just hum with the music, until he liked a certain tempo to start singing along with again. Back and forth, forth and back.

One, two, three, one, two, three, Raven counted to herself as she was trying her best not to step on his toes. He didn't care how she danced, either way, it was beautiful to him, but she didn't want to be the one to constantly miss a beat as her large feet didn't make her look as graceful as she would like to be.

Near the middle of song, when it was taken an octave higher, they slowed down, and waltz in just one area of the room. He looked at the top of her head, as she kept looking down to watch her feet. At one point, he stopped, and made her look up to him. When her eyes were glued to his, he continued on, hoping that she would stop looking down and just enjoy the moment.

The song started to become angelic, with her using her black energy to lift them up in the air slightly, as if they were both flying while dancing. Garfield still felt like he was touching something solid under his feet, and he wasn't sure if Raven did that on purpose, or her powers were unleashing themselves through dance. Eventually they both touched the floor again.

They picked up the speed when the tempo started to get darker, spinning each other faster and faster, as the music speed up until the music slowed down to a sad pace. He twirled her around, and the original tempo started to pick up again, going back to their original waltz.

He twirled her around when it became the climax of the song. When she came back to his arms, she was then dipped, her head almost touching the floor, with her one leg in the air gracefully hovering above his head, as his head was just as low as hers. Even though the tempo changed again, they didn't move from that position, and just gazed into each other's eyes.

After a minute or so, with them just listening to the piano, he brought her back up, as the music was coming to a close. It went back to the original tempo. They just slowly waltz to the rest, in one spot, with her head rested on his shoulders, swaying back and forth. The music came to an end, and he sang out the last beats to her.

"Dun…..dun…." He sung the last beats in her ear. She looked up to him.

"Why don't we dance more often?" She asked, playfully twirling his hair, she had forgotten what they had just talked about, making him successful in his mission.

"You know, I set the stereo to our playlist." He whispered. She sighed.

"So," She said, with a small smile, looking up at him. "Does that mean your song—"

"Yes." He said, breaking their embrace. She blushed.

"I spent all day on my feet, and now I have to swing?" She asked.

"Hey, you got your little waltz. And you haven't been on your feet all day. I know you've been flying. Also, you said it yourself; you would like to dance more often." He said.

"Now I remember why, it's because you would always make me dance to this." She said, trying to prepare herself for the moves that Garfield would want her to do.

"Come on, Rae. You know how much swing means to me. Bae-tu-ven cheered you up; now I want to be cheered up too." He said. She sighed.

"How is it that you still can't say 'Beethoven' right?" She asked.

"What? I said it, Bae-hoven. Right?" He jested. Now, she knew he was just playing along.

He was right, she had her slow moving waltz without any lyrics to sing to, and in a way she enjoyed the swing herself, but boy did she feel stupid sometimes when she was moving violently around the room. He placed his hand on her hip with the other grabbing her hand. The beginning familiar guitar notes began to fill the room.

"Oh, yeah I'll, tell you somethin'

I think you'll understand

When I, say that somethin'

I want to hold your hand!…." The Beatles voices sung in the room.

They began to violently skip to each beat, swinging their arms as they did so. He now was able to twirl her around multiply times, sometimes with her twirling into his arms before going back to her original position. It didn't look as pretty as the waltz, but it was lot more fun for Garfield to get into then the waltz. Sometimes, instead of just swing, they would incorporate some salsa dancing or jazz, to spice up their movements.

Not really the most graceful Titan out of the bunch, he decided early in his teens that a way to a girl's heart was by learning how to dance. Not merely just to be all sentimental with them, but a chance to get close to them. Of course, that took some talking into with Raven, as she was probably the only girl he was able to practice his moves with, besides his stuff animals. And then of course there were a couple of times with Terra, before.

Raven knew early on what his motivation was for dancing. She called him out on it, and he couldn't lie about it. However, she soon found herself swept up under her feet when she did dance with him. But she only liked to waltz; he was the one who liked them all, especially swing.

She humored him by doing the moves. He grabbed her by her hips, picked her up, and swung her legs on each side. When the music got slower, they proceeded to do a small waltz, before picking it up again during the fast part.

"And when I touch you, I feel happy, inside…." He sang along, as they waltz to the slow part, with her giving him a small smile.

He didn't exactly have the voice of Paul McCartney, but she wasn't the type to be into singers in the first place.

"Yeah, you, got that something…..I think you'll understand…" He sang.

Again, they violently skipped and hop to the rest of the fast tempos with Garfield twirling her around at any possible moment he had. At the end, he twirled her into his arms. The music ended, with their heavy breathing being the only sound heard in the room. Garfield pushed the remote to turned off the stereo, while Raven tried her best to catch her breath without making chaos with her powers.

"Daddy?" A small voice came from the hallway door.

The dark green eyes girl was standing by the doorframe, with her one hand sucking her thumb, and the other holding her African blanket. She was wearing yellow footed pajamas, with her messy hair hanging out reaching to her mid-back without her usual ponytail.

"Scared." She simply said, with her voice trembling a bit.

"Lydia, I put you to bed." Raven said, quickly breaking her smitten state of mind. She went over to Lydia, kneeling down to talk at her level. "You should be in bed." She said in her monotone. Lydia avoided eye contact with her and tried to get Garfield's attention.

"Scared." Lydia said, ignoring Raven altogether. "It's dark."

"Lydia, don't suck your thumb." She said, grabbing her hand that was sucking her thumb. Touching her hand, she could sense the weak energy that Lydia was slowly creating in her body. Lydia was scared, and Raven didn't want her to feel scared. "Garfield, take her to bed." She told him, ignoring her pervious complaint about her sucking her thumb. "Daddy will take you to bed." She said softly to Lydia, trying to gain her attention.

Lydia stared at her, not knowing what to say. Garfield walked over to Lydia and picked her up, with her putting her arms up to him.

"Oy, you're getting heavy." He said, while Lydia gripped his shoulder. He looked into her eyes. "Why were you scared?"

"Dark." She said, already feeling better.

"Did you watch Mama and Daddy dance?" He asked her, bobbing her up and down.

"Mmhmm." She said giggling as Garfield was giving her a mini ride. "I want dance."

"You wanted to dance, well excuse me." He said theatrically. "Can Daddy have this dance?"

"No." She said jokingly, trying to make a game.

"Oh, I see, playing hard to get. Mama was the same way, but I got her to dance." He said, eyeing Raven. He turned back to Lydia. "Please, can I have this dance?" He said, exaggerating his plea.

"Ok." She said, letting him win. He grabbed her one hand that was free, and started to bob up and down, with him doing a few dance steps.

"Oh, please, say to me, you'll let me be your man….." Garfield sang to Lydia as he began to make his way to their room, with Raven slowly following.

"No." Lydia said giggling, playing along with the game.

"Well then…oh ,please, say to me, you'll let me hold your hand, you'll let me hold your hand! I want to hold your hand…" He sang.

"Ok." She said as she was being dipped to the floor a couple of times.

The two dancing Titans entered their room, followed by the walking Titan who was turning off all the lights as well as opening and closing their door with her energy. A couple of times Lydia looked over to her mother who was displaying such power, but then looked back to her father who was entertaining her. She wanted to be like her mother, but Raven wouldn't let her do anything with her other then meditate, and while sometimes imaging things in her head was fun, it sure did get boring after a while.

Garfield tucked her in the middle of their oval bed as Raven was getting undressed and preparing to put on her pajamas. Lydia watched her mother intently as she used her black energy to do, well, everything. All her mother had to do was to know when to move as she placed each arm or each leg into the correct hole of her clothes.

"Daddy?" Lydia asked, while Garfield himself was taking off his shirt to prepare for bed. "How does Mama do that?" Raven could hear them, they weren't exactly on the other side of the room, but she pretended she didn't.

"Do what?" He asked, not sure what she meant, for he was used to such magic done every day.

"The black?" She asked. Again, he wasn't sure what she meant for a second, but when he saw Raven putting on her blue long-sleeve shirt with her energy, he got the idea. He finished getting dressed himself, and then sat on the bed next to Lydia.

"Mama has magic powers." He said, trying to make it as simple as possible. "You do too."

"I do?" She asked curiously, for if she knew she could make objects move, she would certainly do that.

"Don't you remember?" He asked, as she had made her blanket move a couple more times since the home invasion. He figured she understood that, but maybe she either blocked out the memory or couldn't remember it. "You know when Mama makes you sit still, and think about happy thoughts?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"Well, that is part of you learning how to control your powers." He said.

"But when do I get it?" She asked, not entirely sure what he meant by the controlling part. She thought 'powers' was a physical object that one might get as a present. "I want powers!" She shouted with glee.

Raven closed the closet door hard with her energy, making both Garfield and Lydia turn their heads. However, it wasn't because she wanted to disrupt Lydia's joy, but because she lost control for a second when Lydia said she would like to have those same powers. Those same powers that cause her so many disturbance in her life.

"Lydia," Raven said, trying not to sound too negative as she faced Lydia. "I understand you want to be like me. But, you need to learn how to control those powers before you can use them. So, when you are a good girl, and do your 'quiet time' right, will you be able to do anything with your powers." She said not knowing how to explain it.

"And then I'll get it?" Lydia asked with excitement.

"Yes, just calm down now." Raven said in her monotone, not wanting to cause Lydia's powers to go off if she got too excited.

Raven didn't want to be the 'bad guy' in situations, but she had to be, otherwise Lydia wouldn't have discipline. But she also knew that she shouldn't be too tough at the same time, or Lydia would start to hate her. How could one be a parent and a discipline teacher of Demonic powers at the same time? For now, she figured that Garfield was all the support that she needed.

If at the end the only thing that was lost was Lydia's love for her mother, but was able to maintain her powers, then Raven would take it. She figured her mother made the same choice, but at the same time, she didn't want to be her mother.

I won't be like my mother, she thought to herself as Lydia was getting comfortable with Garfield while he climbed into bed. Everything was fine, Lydia had calm down and was proceeded to sleep next to her father. Raven carefully made her way to the bed, slowly getting her book out to read.

Garfield tried to listen to some music on his electronic device while she was reading. Occasionally Lydia would look over to either side of her parents, to see what they were doing.

"Book." She said, pointing to Raven's book.

"This one doesn't have any pictures." She calmingly said as Lydia tried to look at it.

"Unfortunately." Garfield said jokingly to Raven as he could still hear what they were saying through his headphones. "Lydia, do you want to listen to some music?" He asked her giving her one of his headphones.

"Story." She told him.

"I already told you a story." He said.

"But I got up again. Story!" She said again with more force.

"You got any good stories in that book, Mama?" He asked Raven.

"Not for children." She said in her monotone. "And Lydia wouldn't like it either." She added for her amusement.

"Story!" Lydia said again, but this time to Raven.

"Ask your Daddy. He always tells stories."

"I want new story. Daddy tells me the same one." She said, knowing her father all too well not to come up with too many plot developments.

"I don't know." Raven said, looking over to Garfield.

"Tell her one, Rae, you can come up with a better one then me." He said, trying to get her to play the 'good guy' for a change. "Mama has told me some of the best stories." He told Lydia.

"Story?" Lydia asked in a timid voice. She was afraid of asking Raven too many times. "Please?"

"Well, since you said the magic word," She said, trying to get her to learn her manners. "I'll tell one tonight, but then you have to go to bed when I am done. Okay?" She said looking at Lydia.

"Okay." Lydia said, lying down in order to get in the mood.

"Oh, I want to hear this." Garfield said, taking out his ear phones.

"Once upon a time," She said trying to come up with something. She looked over to one corner of their room, staring at the bookcase, and lost her train of thought.

"Rae?" Garfield asked.

"Once upon a time," She began, this time more confident. "There was a girl, who liked to play with other kids, but sometimes she just wanted to be by herself instead of playing with others. This led the other kids to think that something was wrong with her, and they made fun of her when she wasn't in the room."

"And?" Lydia asked, giving Raven her full attention.

"Well, one day a mysterious boy began to play with her and talk to her. And she thought he was cool, much cooler than the other kids. She trusted him. He taught her how to play a new game, and she loved it so much she tried to play it with the others."

"And lived happily ever after?" Lydia said, excited about the plot.

"Not exactly. It turned out that the mysterious boy was bad, and the game he taught her was not a nice game to play. She thought it was a good game at first, but when she realized it was bad, she told him to go away, and pushed him. He cried, ran away, and never came back." She said.

"No happily ever after?" Lydia asked, disappointed. It wasn't a good story unless there was a happy ending, Lydia knew her mother wasn't a very happy person, but how could she not incorporate a happy ending? It was just a crime to Lydia.

"Well, actually there is. One of the other kids, a boy who she thought was dumb, came forward to comfort her when he saw that she was sad by the mysterious boy's trick." She said, trying to bring her voice down in order to get her to sleep. She tucked Lydia under the covers. Lydia was trying to listen intently at the plot twist, but her eyes were becoming drowsy. "She found out that the boy wasn't that stupid, and he found out that the girl wasn't that different than him. And pretty soon, when she would have alone time with herself, she would ask the boy to keep her company."

"And lived happily ever after." Lydia said, a little more confident that it was indeed the ending of the story. "And?" She asked as she yawned.

"You just ended the story, what more do you want?" Raven asked a little confused.

"She always asks for more, even when it's over." Garfield said to ease her mind. "I don't think she knows that the phrase 'happily ever after' means 'the end'." Lydia's eyes were becoming very heavy, and as soon as Raven and Garfield went back to do their original activities, she had fallen asleep.

"Is she asleep?" Garfield asked, as he was staring at the ceiling while listening to his music.

"Yes." Raven said putting down her book, as she was prepared for what Garfield was going to say.

"Rae, why did you—?" He asked.

"You wanted a story, and I just stared at the bookcase," She said, trying to explain herself. "And, I just remembered."

It was one of those things where it was best not to remember it, despite the impact it had. They both had made a promise; not to talk about their past relationships, for obvious reasons. Of course, unless there was a good reason to bring it up, but a story to a toddler wasn't an excuse for Garfield.

"I told you a long time ago, I got over it." She said.

"Yes, but at the time, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience to go through. And I don't like going through it again." He said.

"It happened to me, and I got over it. So, shouldn't it be okay?" She asked.

"How would you feel if I tell Lydia the story about Terra?" He said, trying to drive his point across.

"But that's differen—"

"It's not, because how you would feel about Terra, is how I feel about Malchior." He said, staring intently in her eyes. She put her book away, and turned off the lights, allowing the darkness to consume them in silence.

"There is a difference. The difference is, is that Malchior didn't win your trust. But I did trust him. And Terra." She said after a few moments in silence. Even though it was dark, they could still make out each other's facial expression, as the moon was slowly creeping out. "I had gotten over it, but why do you—?"

"Because he broke your heart." He said interrupting her. They became silent for a while. "And even though," He finally said. "You say you have gotten over it, you were just so devastated by the whole situation, it took you longer for you to get over him, than it did for me with Terra."

"I was just trying to tell a story." She said, defending herself.

"I know, but just like that, you remembered. You do that sometimes, Rae, when you don't mean to. You would start talking about Malchior, and it makes you sad, or less involved with us when you bring it up." He said. "I try not to do that with Terra, and sometimes you catch me talking about her, getting moody, and I would snap out of it."

"The first one always hurts." She said, lying down, with her hands carefully placed next to her sides.

"I know, it does." Garfield said, gripping one of her hands. "It does. But at least we found each other."

"So, I have to train Lydia, while trying to show affection to her at the same time, and also not to bring up Malchior. Just so I know." She said, looking at him, as if he was giving her orders, and she was listing them. "Is there anything else that I need to promise, oh great one?" She said, adding sarcasm in her tone.

"Tell you what," He said, lying down, and playing with her hand with his own, while staring into her eyes. "How about I promise something in return, that way we both have something to work on together?"

"What will you promise? Putting the toilet seat down?" She said sarcastically.

"I'll read another one of your fancy books. One of the old ones." He said.

"And a discussion about it?" She asked.

"And a discussion about it at the end." He said.

"A serious one? And not 'this chick was messed up'?" She asked, knowing him all too well. She intertwined her fingers with his.

"A serious one." He said. She smiled, and looked up to her clock to see that it was barely nine o'clock.

"The other's will probably come in soon, make a lot of noise, and complained that we went to bed too early tomorrow." She said.

"So?" He said smiling. "Who cares what they think?"

"I don't." She said. He started to hum 'I Want to Hold Your Hand', as they both drifted to sleep. Lydia by now was already drooling when they finally went to sleep. Their hands were still next to each other, even as the morning sun came up.

I'LL BE GOING TO DISNEYLAND NEXT WEEK, A TRIP I HAVE BEEN SAVING UP FOR QUITE SOMETIME. IT'S A SPRING BREAK TRIP WITH JUST A FRIEND OF MINE AND I, WE ARE BOTH NOSTALGIC FOR THE OLD DAYS AND OUR CHILDHOOD.

SO, I'LL EITHER GET A LOT OF WRITING DONE, OR NONE AT ALL, DEPENDING WHAT TIME WE GET TO OUR HOTEL ROOM AT LATE AT NIGHT. IT'S ONLY FOUR DAYS, NOTHING SERIOUS.