Chapter Twelve

Hilary sat down on her bed and ran a brush through her hair. It had been two weeks since she, Emily, Dawn, and Mariah helped rescue Tika and Tallie, and Boris still hadn't tried to find her. A soft sigh escaped her lips. Not that it surprised her. Boris loved playing cat and mouse. He loved lulling people into a false sense of security and then pouncing on them when they least expect it.

The brunette lifted her chin a bit. "Well, I'm not going to fall for it. I just got away from that crazy man, and I never intend on going back."
"Going back where?"

She jumped when she heard a male voice from behind her. Her ruby colored eyes narrowed. "Tyson, haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

He smirked. "Yeah, I have. But that doesn't mean I'm going to do it."

She rolled her eyes. "What if I had been changing?"

The bluenette grinned. "Then I'd have to say that I came in at just the right time."

The brunette blushed and turned away. "What do you want?"

"Tika and Tallie want you downstairs to help them with breakfast. You're supposed to be teaching them how to cook, remember?"

She stretched and stood up, grabbing a robe on her way to the door. "By the way," she said as she stopped beside him, "you are such a pervert."

The only response she was given was a slight chuckle.

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"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Tika squealed as the stove caught fire.

Tallie began jumping up and down in panic. "I don't know how! You turn it off!"

Tika looked around and picked up a towel and began hitting the stove with it. She threw it to the floor when it too caught fire. "What do I do? What do I do?"

Her companion shrugged. "I think you're supposed to stump on it."
"Stump on it? Stomp on it? Stomp on a towel covered in flames? As if!"

They both jumped when they heard a familiar voice cry out, "What are you two trying to do, burn the house down? I told you not to step foot in this kitchen without supervision!"

They both watched silently as Hilary walked over to the stove and turned it off, causing the fire to die down. She then walked over to the entrance to the kitchen and picked up the fire extinguisher that was hanging on the wall and put out the flaming towel.

She turned to her two friends and sighed. "What happened."

Tika sighed. "I was trying to cook sausages, and I was doing pretty good until the grease started splashing out of the pan and onto the stove. Then a lot of it rolled onto or under the eye and the next thing I know, the stove is on fire."
Hilary began to massage her temples. "You two have a lot to learn. Why don't you just watch me cook, and then I'll teach you the basics. Okay?"

They both nodded. "Okay."

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Tyson walked into the kitchen and froze when he saw the floor and the stove. "Hilary!"

The brunette came into the kitchen with Eliza balanced on her lap. "What?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What happened in here?"

She shrugged. "Nothing major, Tika and Tallie just nearly burned the place down," she sat Eliza on the floor and pulled out a few pots, pans, and wooden spoons for the baby to play with.

Tyson arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean no big deal? I thought you were teaching them how to cook."

She rolled her eyes. "I put the fire out didn't I? And it's not my fault! I told you people not to let those two into the kitchen without supervision. So, if you want to blame somebody, go talk to one of the others that weren't in their rooms this morning. Okay?"

The bluenette sighed. Hilary did have a point. She had to them not to let Tika and Tallie not into the kitchen with out supervision, she had even said that it was vital for their survival. He watched as she sat down on the floor in front of Eliza and began playing with the pots and pans as well. "You know, you'll make a great mother."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You think so?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "You've always been great with kids. Even when you were still a kid yourself. When you'd get sick and have to go to the hospital, the first thing you did when you were well enough to move around was go to the nursery or the pediatric center. You played with the little kids and brought them toys. You helped the nurses keep the babies under control. You helped the first time mothers and the ones with small children. Sometimes you'd even go down to the orphanage and play with the kids down there. Occasionally you'd take a kid from the orphanage and bring them over to my house to watch us practice. It seemed like just about every little kid you met automatically fell in love with you."

A soft smile touched her face. "I was that good with them?"

Tyson smiled back at her. "It seems like you're still the good," he said, motioning towards Eliza, who had just climbed into Hilary's lap and was starting to fall asleep. "See, you're a natural at it."

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Thirteen-year-old Hilary Tatibana walked into the dojo holding the hand of a two-year-old girl. "Hey guys, we're back!"

Ray looked up from messing with his blade and raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

Hilary smiled and looked down at the little girl. "Oh, this is Maddie. She lives in the orphanage down the street. She's new to town, so I thought I'd show her around. Which I already did so I decided to bring her here since we didn't have anything better to do. I thought she might like to watch you guys blade. She said her father use to blade."

The Chinese blade smiled at the little girl. "Hi, Maddie. I'm Ray."

The little girl blushed and hid behind Hilary's leg. "Hi."

The brunette smiled. "Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that she's a bit shy."

Ray laughed. "I noticed."

"Where are the others?"

"Out back, practicing."

Hilary nodded. She was curious as to why he wasn't practicing with them, but she didn't ask. "Can you take Maddie out back and introduce her? I'm going to go fix a quick snack for her."

Ray nodded. "Sure," he held out his hand to the little girl.

Maddie looked at Hilary for a second. "Go?"

Hilary smiled. "Yeah. Go with Ray. I'll be out in a second. I promise," she looked at Ray as Maddie took his hand, "Tell Kai I said he better not scare her, or else he'll have to deal with me."

Ray grinned. "Will do."

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Hilary came outside ten minutes later with a few cookies and a small glass of milk sitting on a small tray, only to see Maddie ooing and awing as Kai and Tyson called Dranzer and Dragoon out of their blades while they were battling.

The brunette walked up to Ray and smiled. "It looks like she's having a good time."

Ray smiled back in return. "Yeah. She was a little shy at first but when she saw the blades, she just about ordered us to battle."

The battle ended in a draw, and Hilary walked over to Maddie. "Having fun?"

The two-year-old, who was laughing and clapping happily, looked at her. "Fun," she repeated.

Hilary smiled and showed the tray to the little girl. "I fixed you a snack. You hungry?"

Maddie nodded and followed her over to the porch and sat down to eat the snack and watch as the boys practiced.

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Sorry for taking so long to update.

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Until Next Time DaddysGirl81 Out!