So… updating…. I decided to do it again. Hope you like the chapter! ^_^

Thanks for the reviews!

"Tala," Mariah purred, inclining her head towards her beloved boyfriend whom was shielding himself with an arm and a raised leg. "For the last time… I… am not… PREGNANT!" her face flushed from committing herself so fully to convince him of that fact. Also, the redhead wanted to cling to the thought that doing crunches would make the baby go away.

"That's it Mariah." The words were meek and cautious. "Just keep telling it that it doesn't exist." Tala instructed, daring himself to make a backward motion. He didn't know all the details like the "all-knowing Kai" did, but Tala was confident if he did what his best friend told him to do before he vanished into the hallway, everything would be all right.

"No, Tala! THERE IS NO BABY!"

"Oh, you want me to play along, too?" he asked, oblivious to the reality that there actually was no child forming in his girlfriend's belly. "Ok, the baby in your stomach does not exist." He agreed falsely, sounding like a machine.

"Taaaaaalllllaaaa!" A screeching sound like that of a teakettle emitted from Mariah's throat. Surely she would yank out a patch of pink from her scalp before this conversation was done. Why did Tala have to be so convicted to believe everything he was told? By the way things were going she'd have better luck just agreeing with him. The high-pitch screech continued to whistle through the bedroom as Mariah thought.

No, she wouldn't even pretend to get an "abortion". No matter how fake it was, it just didn't feel right. She was always a vegetable eating, tree-hugging, fake leather wearing kinda girl. Abortion was yet another thing she considered unthinkable, but since the boy really didn't have a clear understanding of it –as matter of fact he had none at all-, she wouldn't kill him for suggesting it.

They both turned their head at the sound of the door clicking open. Rala appeared with a dejected Kai behind her clutching on to her waist like a little kid grabs a floaty in the pool.

"Tala," she said solemnly, sobering the previously bickering two. "Mother and Flare are in the front room. It's time to leave." She calmly removed Kai's encircling arms from her waist, but not without the bluenette struggling a bit. Availing, she trudged to the front room with Kai close behind. Tala and Mariah followed after, not knowing what to say.

With his previous activities, he had forgotten all about the proposition his mother had set before him. He hadn't even contemplated leaving Russia since that day his mother inquired about it. Great… now he had to make a rush decision.

The stairs leading into the front room seemed shorter than usual, he was facing his mother way too soon.

There she was, looking so small against the massive front room he had learned to love, and sometimes, not be afraid to destroy. Her hands were innocently clasped in front of her, and her smile seemed to brighten her surroundings. She wore a yellow button down top and a tan shirt, contributing to her "little church girl" aura. Why did his mom have to look so cute?!

"Are you guys ready to go?" she asked with a smile to sway one thousand hearts.

So this is how she makes her money… Kai thought, thinking the same as Tala and probably Mariah, a bit annoyed that he couldn't even hate her that much for trying to take away his Tala. Key words: that much.

Her big blue eyes were fixed on her long lost son whom she adored since the moment he was born. Kai turned his attention back to Rala, whom had already taken her position beside her brother, Flare.

"Rala…" he whined. "Last night you said you didn't know if you wanted to go yet." The female redhead walked up and put her palm to her unofficial boyfriend's cheek.

"Sorry, Big Boy." She made a circular calming motion with her thumb. "Last night was a test… one you didn't pass."

The phoenix's eyes widened with shock and confusion. "W-what do you mean I failed? What did I do worng?!"

Rala inhaled deeply before stating her reasons. "Well… Kai, I'm a stripper-"

"I know that." He cut her off.

"And," she continued as if he had said nothing. "strippers have this special need that you," she lifted her other hand to cup his bare cheek so they were staring into each other's eyes fully "can't possible meet. I don't even think you know how to meet them."

"What are you saying, Rala? I don't understand." he asked feeling her warm soft hands slide from his person.

"Kai," she held her breath putting on a stern and determined face expression. "I'm a sex addict."

Mariah and Tala mirrored Kai's surprised look. This was something none of them were expecting to hear. The baffled bluenette mentally kicked himself. Of course she is! Why was she always trying to jump him when they were alone? After stamping the word stupid into his cerebral a couple more times, Kai took her hand.

"Well, I could go to Paris with you. We could get to know each other more and Tala can…" he trailed of at the sight of Rala shaking her head staring at her feet. "Why not?"

"Obviously you don't love me enough-"

"Love you enough?" Tala had had enough of this pathetic guilt-trip scene. Why should Kai have to feel bad about not giving his purity to a girl he's only known for a couple days? "Rala, what you're trying to do is wrong! Kai should not feel bad about not having sex with a stripper. And apparently you're the one who doesn't love him enough. If you really cared about him you'd be willing to wait until he was ready and not try to attack him every chance you got." No one, not even his family, was going to walk all over his best friend, not if he could help it.

Rala was taken aback by her brother's harsh accusations and back away from Kai. Her mind was blank for a second before the words fully set in and her mouth twisted to a frown. "What do you know about me? You have no clue how I feel. No idea what I've been through!"

"I know that you have no problem taking an innocent boy's-," now what didn't Mariah say that word was again? "Oh yeah! Virginity! And to me, that displays bad character."

"Shut up, you know nothing about me! I do love Kai!" Sincerity was written all over her face and in her tone, which confused Tala but all the same made him feel bad. "Because," she turned away from Tala and back to her almost-lover. "He reminds me of all the things I was robbed of in my childhood. Fun, excitement, joy, free-will, innocence… he's so innocent." The last part was barely a whisper, closer to a thought.

Tala let it all sink into his conscience. It was apparent that out of all his siblings he came out the best. No matter how much complaining he may do concerning Kai's adventures, he wouldn't trade his position for anything in the world. Guilt settled over him. He never once thought about his family's past, about what they had been through in order to become strippers. But still…

"So… you thought you'd take his innocence away from him?" he questioned softly.

Rala looked away. She wasn't saying what she did was not wrong. She just hoped both Tala and Kai could forgive her one day.

"It's ok, Rala." Finally, the subject of the conversation spoke. "There's no way my grandfather would let me go to Paris anyway." He sighed longingly, missing the idea of them together already. He stepped up and kissed her one last time on the cheek before they both took a step back.

"Aw… I really hate to tear relationships apart." They all looked to see a near tearful Jou. Tala's family was so weird. "Nevertheless," she continued, all traces of her about to cry disappearing. "Tala, do you want to join us?"

This was it, the final curtain call. What if his family left and he'd never see them again? What if the plane crashed on the way? Or if one night while they're working a guy kidnaps and kills one of them? He'll never know what it's like to be a family. All his life he had dreamed of them, wondering what they would be like. He even went as far as facing the most fearful thing a little child could dare, to attain more knowledge of them.

Flashback

A small Tala stood alone in a stretching hallway clutching his blanket for dear life. He had told his charge, Kai Hiwatari, that he was just taking a short break to go to the bathroom. The bluenette was engrossed in a LifeTime movie that wouldn't end for another 2 hours. He knew he wouldn't notice his absent presence as he had Dimes drive him across town to this cursed dreary place… Biovolt. The last place he had seen his parents.

It was a year and six months ago and Tala still remembered the scene vividly. The rain. His father's anger. The creepy gate. The old Cadillac. His mother… her tears…

Thus, he clung to the hope that maybe she missed him as much as he missed her. Kai seemed to become more abnormal by the day and he wanted to go home now. He was done playing. He missed his Mommy.

So there he stood, in front of the cold metal lab door about to confront the most repulsive thing he'd ever come into contact with. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. The mass combined with the freezing surface made his tiny knuckles throb in pain. The knock wasn't even that loud, he wondered if the purple haired nightmare would even hear it.

The heavy door swinging back was his answer. "Tala," the man looked down at the young boy. "What brings you back here?" The snaky tone he used always made the redhead shiver, but that wouldn't stop him from inquiring about his mother. "Please, come in." he welcomed before Tala could stutter a syllable.

Both sides of the room mirrored the other. Cylindrical glasses filled with bubbling water were set in a line leading to a lab table. They were big enough to put a big dog in… or… a small human.

Tala swallowed hard at the thought and stopped in his tracks. He wanted to know about his parents, but maybe he was going about this all wrong. The heavy thud signaling the closed metal door signified that it was too late. Tala's little heartbeat sped up increasingly.

"U-um…" his hands wrenching at the blanket. "M-mr. Boris, S-sir. I-I was wo-wo-wondering if you c-could," he gulped. "Tell me a-about m-my parents." Finally! Tala thought that sentence would draw on forever.

Boris turned to look at him from his position down the walkway. "Of course, Talaver."

The redhead eyes grew big and a huge smile showed across his face. "Really?"

"Sure." Maybe Boris wasn't so bad after all.

"Are they in Russia? Do they want me back? Do they have money to take care of me now? Are they still married?" he bombarded the man with questions that ran together.

"No." Boris answered simply. Tala heart was immediately crushed, but he still waited for the next part of the sentence that never came.

"No?" he furrowed his eyebrows as the man continued to walk to the lab table. "No, what?" He waited while Boris made his way to the lab table.

"After they left they went Australia and had another baby that go killed in a terrible fire along with the rest of their possessions, then were charged with child neglect so you're father went to jail and got the electric chair because he was supposed to watching the baby and your mom was so depressed she hanged herself." He said all in one breath. "Now, if I could just get you to lay down on this table for me-"

Just then the door opened revealing an angry Kai. "Can you believe this, Tala? Susan actually went back to that creep John! I can't believe this! Come with me to write angry reviews with mean words that we're not supposed to use to the writer! This is an outrage!"

Tala didn't know how Kai had found him or why the movie ended so quickly, but he was sure glad for it. He let the bluenette lead him out of the creepy room still ranting. If it weren't for Kai, he was sure that conversation would have ended badly for him. He knew everything Boris had said was a lie, but hey, it was worth a try…

… kinda…

…No it wasn't…

End Flashback

Tala would never risk his life like that AGAIN! But back to the matter at hand.

"Um… why does he look like that." Her heard his mom ask.

"Just give him a second or two, he has to do this before making any important decision. Voltaire sent him to a psychologist for it once, it didn't work." He heard Kai explain.

"Why?" Mariah asked.

"Because every time the doctor would ask him a question about his thoughts or the past, he'd just space out again." Kai answered.

Tala then came back to reality.

"He's back." Kai and Mariah chorused.

"Have you reached a decision?" Jou asked hopefully.

"Decision? Oh… Um… Give me a second. I have to think about this."

"Are you kidding me? You just thought about it for like five minutes!" Rala exclaimed.

Whoa, did his flashbacks really take that long. He hoped he'd never do it while driving. Mariah was just glad he didn't do it that night, mutely smiling to herself.

"I- I don't know." He answered becoming suddenly interested in his feet. "Can I have one more day?"

"I wish." Jou answered. "But we made a mistake with the time. We're actually leaving today." Everyone's head snapped in her direction. "Sorry. She apologized. Strippers are bad with time." She said sheepishly.

"Oh wait! I can't go today!" Tala perked up holding one finger in the air. "I have to be with Mariah while she gets an abortion!" he smiled.

"ABORTION!" the other Ivanov's exclaimed simultaneously.

Mariah's nose scrunched in sudden fury and Tala went to take Kai as a shield. "Tala, I'm not pregnant!"

"Whoa Tala, Mariah really good that this abortion thing! I almost believe it." Kai said to the redhead over his shoulder.

That was long. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Please review. ^_^