Living

Chapter 21

From the outside, Luther seemed to be a wreck. But from my inside point of view, he was actually pretty structured. He moped around the office from eight AM till noon, then he took out his Ipod and played Armor for Sleep's Somebody Else's Arms three times, The Script's Breakeven once, and finally Anberlin's Amsterdam five times. By the way, all music and bands that weren't his normal cup of tea. After that, he went to my house, bothered Tabitha and James, before going to his house and planning parties that never happened. It was sad, really, but I'm not so sure I don't like it. He did try to get my husband to leave me, after all.

Right now, he was bother Tabitha.

"Come on, Tabs."

"No," she said, not looking up from the journal she was writing in. Today was Sunday and she was finishing her homework.

"I'll take you to get ice cream," he attempted to persuade.

"No," she repeated. "I have to finish this."

"Why can't you later?"

"Because," she began, "I'm going to call Adeem after that."

"What?" Luther seemed to be arguing with himself in his head. "Why?"

"Because he's my friend," she explained like he was the child and she was the adult.

"Isn't she too young to be talking on the phone?" Luther looked at me.

I shrugged. "I told her as long as she stopped getting sent to the principal's office, she could."

"What about me?" Tyler asked. He and Alex were playing with his toys on the floor.

"What about you?"

"How come I can't talk on the phone?"

"Right now, you're lucky you're not grounded from everything," I said. That reminded me of something. "Where's Lucas?"

"With Dad," Tabitha said. She was seated next to me on the couch, Luther in front of her. He had been bothering her for awhile now and it was kind of sorry.

"Doing what?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"I'm going to find out," I said, getting up. My show was over anyways. "Where are they?"

"Out back," Tabitha said. I went to the kitchen before out the back door. When I got outside, the first thing I noticed was James and Cody. They were playing with their Tonka trucks.

"Where's Daddy and Lucas?" I asked Cody, not about to believe that he left them out here all alone.

"Sky," Cody said, pointing up.

I looked up, skeptical. Then I saw my freaking baby up inn the sky with my dumbass husband.

"Fang!"

Lucas was flying all on his own, a few feet away from Fang. When he hear my voice, Lucas looked down.

"Mommy!" He stopped flying, pulling in his wings. Fang tried to catch him a missed. I jumped into the air, no running start, which hurts like hell by the way, and flew as hard as I could to get to him. I caught him.

"Mommy!" He was crying now, scared. "I tried, Mommy."

"Shhh," I soothed, rubbing his back as I slowly went down, landing on my feet.

"Max, I didn't think that he would-"

"Stop," I cut Fang off. "Don't even start."

Lucas sniffled, cuddling against me. Reaching out, Fang tried to take him from me. I turned away from him. "I said to stop, Fang."

"Max, he's too big for you to carry," he said. "You're pregnant."

"Yeah, thanks to you."

Fang frowned. "Well, I'd like to think that's obvious."

I huffed before going back into the house, my baby still in my arms. "Are you okay, Luke?"

He looked at me. "I'd be better with a cookie."

"Of course," I said, setting him down on the counter. He was kind of heavy.

"Am I good at flying?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I said as Fang came in, carrying the other two boys. "The best flier I know."

Adeem was waiting for her Monday in the office. Tabitha sighed, sitting down next to him.

"Hi," he said, reaching into his backpack.

"What'd you do this time?" She asked.

"Me? Nothing," he said. "Just pants Jamie for you."

Tabitha smiled. "Thanks."

He shrugged, still digging around. "Here, I made you something."

"What?" She asked. Tommy never made her things. He only bought her stuff. But Adeem wasn't Tommy. He wasn't her boyfriend. They were just friends, if even that.

"A picture," he said, pulling out a piece of paper. "'Cause, you know, you like drawing and coloring and stuff."

She looked at it, not completely sure what it was. "You can't draw. Or color. You're so stupid."

He was still all smiles. "What'd you do yesterday?"

"I told you on the phone. I did homework and watched TV."

He leaned back in his chair. "That's cool."

"Yeah," she said. "What are you going to be for Halloween?"

"I don't celebrate Halloween," he said, shrugging. Tabitha felt embarrassed. Now he thought that she was a big baby.

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's so stupid."

He frowned. "What?"

"Yeah," she went on. "For babies."

He shook his head. "I just don't do it because I can't."

"Because you're always grounded," she decided.

"No," he said, frowning at her. "Muslims don't celebrate Halloween."

"Why not?"

"Something about it bein' a Pagan holiday or something," he said. "I've never been able to go."

"That sucks."

"No," he said. "Not really."

"Yes, it does," Tabitha told him. "Don't you want candy?"

"My mom takes me over to my aunt's and we play games."

Tabitha wasn't impressed. "Being a Muslim sucks."

"No," Adeem said, suddenly very protective over his religion. "That's the only way you get to heaven, Tabitha."

She frowned. That didn't sound right. "No, it's not. You gotta be Christian." Or was it Catholic? She wasn't sure. Weren't they the same thing? Or were they different?

"No," he said, regarding her with suspicion. Was she joking? Did she really think that? "That's how you get sent to hell."

Tabitha was offended. "No. You're going to hell."

"No, you are!"

"Take that back."

"No!"

Tabitha glared at him. "Take it back or else."

"Else what?"

"I won't be your friend anymore."

"Fine," he said. "I take it back…sort of."

It was good enough for her. "Good."

He gave her a smile. "I'll sit with you at lunch today."

"Alright."

Ms. Benoit came out and called Tabitha's name. She rolled her eyes at Adeem before going into her office.

"My stomach is killing me," I told Fang, laying down on the couch.

"Do you want me to rub it?"

"No," I said, closing my eyes. "I want to just lay here for awhile."

Fang sighed. "Alright. Tell me if you need anything."

"Where are you going?" I asked as he started up the stairs.

"To the attic."

"Fang, stay."

He groaned. "Fine."

Today, Cody and James were with Mom and Gasman had taken Neo somewhere. It was just me, Fang, and my pregnant stomach.

"Come here," he said, picking me up, an amazing feat. "Let's go to our bedroom."

"Alright," I said, cuddling against him. Fang went into our room and laid me down on the bed. "Fang?"

"What?" He asked, getting into bed with me.

"Do you love me?"

He pulled me to him, giving me a gently kiss on the head. "Of course."

I buried my head in his chest. "Fang?"

"What, baby?"

"Did you think that you could love her?"

"Our baby? Of course."

"No," I said. "That woman."

His breath stilled for a moment. "Max-"

"Why, Fang? Huh?"

"Why what?"

"Why her?"

"I told you. She was into everything that I thought-"

"No," I said, looking up at him. "Why did you really want to have sex with her?"

"Max-"

"No. Did you love her?"

"No, Max."

"Did you think that you did?"

"No, never."

"Then why?"

He looked at the wall behind me. "I thought that I…Max, is this really necessary?"

"Yes."

He sighed. "I wanted to see if I really like having sex with you."

"What?"

Nodding, he explained. "Yeah. I mean, think about it, Max. You've gotten to have sex with a bunch of other guys. You've gotten to figure out what you like. I haven't."

"So you were trying to leave me?"

"What? No, Max," he said. "I needed to see if-"

"Fang, shut up."

"No," he said. "You brought it up and now I have to defend myself."

"Nothing you ever say will make it okay, Fang."

"I know," he said, sighing. "I just want explain, alright? Max, I just need you to know that I wanted to know what I liked. I've only really slept with you, you know. I mean, sure, Lydia, but I was so drunk that I don't remember that at all. I wanted to know what it felt like to be with someone other than you."

My throat hurt. "Why didn't you sleep with her then?"

"Because, Max, I couldn't sleep with her. I love you."

I sniffled. "You could have told me that you wanted to try something with someone."

"What? Max, no way you would have let me do that."

"Still could have told me."

He ran a hand down my back. "I love you, Max."

Sadly, that didn't fix a thing.

"Hey," Damien said, walking into the house.

Samantha, who was crawling over to the couch, stopped. She never had to move when her Daddy was home, only with Mommy. Cameron rolled her eyes as Damien went and picked the baby up.

"Hi, Sam. Did you miss Daddy while he as at work? Huh?"

She giggled as he began to give her kisses. She loved her Daddy. She wanted to ask him why he didn't take her to work with him, but she didn't know how to.

"I love you, Samantha," Damien said, sitting down on the couch. "I love you so much. You're my baby. Did you know that? Huh?"

Cameron, who was sitting in the chair, asked "Could you take that somewhere else, Damien?"

"What?" He sat Sam in his lap. "I'm just loving my baby. You're lucky. You got to spend that whole day with her."

"Yeah, that's what I call it. Luck."

Damien smiled as Samantha ran a hand down his face. "Cameron?"

"What, Damien?"

"I love you."

"Shut up," she said, staring intently at her book.

Samantha started bouncing up and down in Damien's lap. He laughed again, kissing her head. "Sam missed me, Cameron."

"So what?"

"Did you miss me?"

"You were only gone for a few hours."

He sighed. "Cameron, I'm just trying to talk to you."

"And? I'm reading. We can talk later."

"Whatever," Damien said, standing up, taking Samantha with him. "Come on, Sammy. You want to go watch TV with me? Huh?"

Cameron sighed as he went upstairs, presumably to their bedroom. She really did want him in there with her. She just didn't want him to know that.

Peter jumped into Cameron's lap, cuddling against her. Cameron smiled, kissing his head. At least she always knew he'd be there, even if Damien wouldn't be.

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

"Lucas, just shut up," I begged. He had bee singing it since he got home from school. "Please."

He giggled. "But I like that song, Mommy."

"I know," I said. "But I don't feel too good today."

"What's wrong?" He asked, looking up at me worriedly. We were on the couch, watching the news. Well, I was watching. Lucas was singing.

"Nothing," I told him. "My stomach is just upset."

He patted my slightly bigger stomach. "Is it the baby?"

"Yeah."

Lucas made a noise. "I don't like the new baby."

"Why not?"

"He made you sick," Lucas told me.

"He?"

Lucas nodded. "It'll be a boy."

I smiled at him. "How do you know?"

"'Cause girls are nasty."

"Really?"

He nodded. "They chase me at recess!"

"Maybe it's because you're just so cute."

He frowned. "No, I'm not cute."

"Yes, you are."

"No," he said, pushing my hand away when I tried to ruffle his hair.

"Lucas, why are you being such a brat?"

He jumped off the couch. "Dad! Mommy's being mean to me!"

Not soon after Lucas took off in search of Fang, Cody and James came into the room, their new stuffed animals Mom bought them at the zoo in their hands.

"Hey, guys," I said as they got onto the couch with me.

James giggled. "Hi."

Cody laid his head against me. "Hi."

James giggled at their similar responses. "Max?"

"What?" I asked him.

"Hungy."

"You're hungry?" I got up. "Well, come on then."

They followed me into the kitchen. Tabitha was there, doing her homework at the kitchen table.

"Why are you doing that in here?" I asked as the boys began to cheer when they saw me reach for the thing of Oreos. "Why not in your room?"

"Dad's moving my stuff into Gasman's right now," she said, not looking up from her math.

"What?" I handed the boys their cookies before going to the bottom of the stairs. "Fang!"

"What?" He yelled back from somewhere.

"What are you doing?"

He came down the hallway, out of Tabby's room. "Moving Tabs stuff. Why?"

"Fang, your back-"

"Is fine," he finished for me. "Look, Max, we've been promising her to do this for awhile now. Might as well get it over with."

"Fang, I can help you," I offered, though I'm sure my voice and face gave away that I truly didn't want to.

"No," he said, starting back for her bedroom. "You're too pregnant to be moving stuff."

"I am not."

"Gazzy, Tyler, and Alex are helping me. I'm fine," he reassured me. "Just watch the other kids for me, will ya?"

"Where's Lucas?" I asked.

"He's up here too," Fang called back. "Just rest, Max. No stress, remember?"

I groaned, going to sit back down on the couch. Sitting on the couch when you're not supposed to is a lot better than sitting on it when you're being forced to.

"Do you ever feel like dying?"

Luther glanced at his friend. "The thought of marriage, huh? Don't worry, it'll pass."

Bone shook his head. "No, Luther. I mean like you're going to be killed soon."

Thinking on it for a second, Luther finally shook his head. "No, I haven't. Does that make me narcissistic?"

If Bone was a normal person, he would have rolled his eyes. Ever since the whole raciest discovery, Luther had deemed himself everything from depressed to ADD. Bone wasn't about to even get into all that. "I just feel like something bad's going to happen."

Luther shrugged, pulling out his Ipod. Time for Armor for Sleep. "I don't know, man. I mean, I'm not really the best person to be going to advice for right now."

Bone would love to hear the time that Luther was ever the person to go to advice for. Again, if only he were normal.

"I feel like something bad's going to happen, that's all," Bone said. All this talking was making him tired.

"That sucks," Luther said.

"Yeah, I know," Bone agreed. "It's not like I want something bad to happen."

"No, of course not."

"It's just that I think that it is. Maybe I'm paranoid."

"Maybe."

Bone knew that Luther wasn't listening to him at that point, but he just kept talking. "Promise me that if I die, you'll look after Victoria and Max."

"Promise."

"And the kids too," Bone added after a moments though. "Oh, and Fang and Damien too. Cameron's a given. Max's mom too. And all those kids that Max grew up with."

"Roger that," Luther said as the chorus began in his ears.

"And, and, and…I love you."

That made Luther look up and take the earphone out of his ears. "What?"

"Yeah," Bone said. "Not in a gay way. I'm not gay. At least I hope I'm not."

Luther shook his head. "Are you on something?"

"No," Bone said. "I just feel bad."

"I'm telling you, dude, it's this marriage stuff," Luther insisted. "Rest assured, nothing bad will ever happen to us."

"Really?" Bone asked. He felt like Fang or Damien, believing in Luther like he was God.

"Really," Luther said, putting his headphones back in.

Bone let out a breath, not feeling all that better, but some pressure was off.

"Oh, and Bone?"

"Yeah?"

Luther gave him a weak smile. "I love you too."

"What are you doing?"

Cameron looked up from the laptop. "What?"

"What are you doing?" Damien repeated. "'Cause clearly you're not eating the dinner I made you."

She looked at the plate she had sat next to her nearly an hour ago. "Yeah…it's cold now."

Damien went into the bathroom. "Sam's in bed."

"That's great, Damien," she said, going back to the laptop.

"Yeah," he agreed, pulling off his shirt. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Have fun with that," she said absent mindedly, typing away at the computer.

"Baby, are you okay?"

"Perfect," she said, engrossed in what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" He asked again, serious this time.

"Nothing," Cameron said.

"Cammie."

"I'm looking at dog breeds, that's all."

Damien swore that Peter's tail began to twitch. "Why would you be doing that?"

She finally looked up. "I'm getting us a dog."

For a second, Damien just looked at Cameron, attempting to see things from her point of view. Then, he abandoned that stupid idea. "What? Cameron, I don't know if you noticed but we kind of have a cat. Not to mention a baby."

"And who's fault is that, Damien?"

"Not mine, Cameron," he said. "I had Peter way before I ever met you."

She looked at him critically. "So you'd chose a cat over me?'

"I didn't say that." Or had he? He loved Peter. They had gone through so much together. So had he and Cameron, but that was different.

"Didn't you?"

Damien narrowed his eyes at Cameron. "Fine. Tell Peter that you don't love him anymore."

She groaned. "I'm not seriously getting rid of the cat, stupid. The dog will be an outside dog."

"And? Peter likes it out there!"

"Damien, stop," she said, holding up a hand. She was treating him like a child, like she could just silence him with her words and motions. The sad thing? She could do exactly that. And, most importantly, she knew that. "We're getting a dog."

"Fine!" He yelled, slamming the bathroom door closed. So what if he really was a child on the inside? He loved his cat and she wasn't going to change that!

I was sleeping, as most people are at three in the morning, when something woke me up.

"Huh?"

"I need your help."

The words said to me only a few weeks ago by the same boy sounded so different. "Gasman, I'm sleeping."

"Max, I need your help," he repeated.

"With what?" I asked, feeling behind me. That's when I realized that Fang had early shift and had already left.

"I-I'm not sure."

I sat up. "Can this wait until morning?"

"Yes…no. I don't know."

Slowly, I stood up. "Well, come on then."

He followed me to the kitchen.

"You drink coffee?" I asked, going to make a pot regardless.

"With milk."

I rolled my eyes, sitting down at the table. "We're out. Grab a soda."

He did so before sitting across from me. For a minute or two, we just stared at each other, the only sound being that of the coffee maker.

"Well?" I asked when I felt that we had done enough staring for the time being.

"Huh?"

"You're the one that woke me up," I pointed out.

He looked down at the table. "I know. It's just…you normally know what's wrong…"

"Yeah, well, forgive me for not being as helpful at three in the morning."

He started to get up. "You're right. Sorry I woke you. I'll just-"

"No, no," I said, grabbing his hand. We hadn't turned on any lights and it was kind of weird. It made things more dramatic though. I hate to admit it, but over the years, I had become addicted to drama. Almost as much as Luther is to self-pity. "Stay, Gasman. Tell me what's wrong."

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head. "I just…Fang makes everything look so easy."

I cocked my head to the side. "Makes what look so easy?"

"This. All of this," he said, gesturing to with his hands to the darkness around us. "You. The kids. His job."

"Gasman, what do you mean?"

He stared me straight in the eyes. "Don't get me wrong, Max, but you kind of took him back easily, wouldn't you say?"

"That's none of your business."

He sighed. "That's just another thing that he made seem so simple. He can just say something and it's law. You all follow it. I want to be him so badly."

"Why?" I asked. Did Fang's life really seem that glamorous? I'd love to be looking through those eyes of Gasman and see what I look like. "Fang's not all that great, trust me."

"But isn't he? He has you, he has his kids, he has a job, a house, a dog, two cats, friends, a life-"

"Are you just trying to tell me that I need to find you some kids to hangout with?" I asked, slightly relieved. "I can sign you up for something down at the rec. center if you want."

"What? No," he said, shaking his head. "It's just…I figured that taking care of Neo would be easy."

I rolled my eyes, getting up. The coffee was done. I went ahead and grabbed him a few cookies while I was up. "You know, Gasman, Fang didn't just get this way."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think that raising to kids alone was easy? Or landing a job at a place like Anime Any Day? Come on, you've met Luther and Bone. And how about how he's had to change? He doesn't fight people anymore, so he has to control his anger. Me leaving when we were fifteen. Oh, and he has to deal with the fact that the School or whoever the hell it is that is tracking us these days, can just come back at anytime and ruin everything he's worked for."

"Yeah, but-"

"Gazzy, you're just seeing things from an outside perspective," I told him. "Fang deals with a lot. So do I. I'm sure that you do too."

"And? He still has an awesome life."

"Really?" I sat back down. "An awesome life?'

"Yes!"

"What about when Tyler was sick? Or when he thought that I was going to divorce him? You can't forget the shit I put Tommy's death has put him through," I said. "He's not as put together as he might appear to you. Fang's just tough skinned."

Gasman shook his head. "No, you're not getting it. You just can't."

"Get what?"

He looked away. "Iggy was, like, my best friend when we were kids. Fang though, he was who I always wanted to be. And now, I feel like I kind of can't anymore."

"Well, that's stupid."

That sure caught his attention.

"Huh?"

"Yeah," I said as his eyes found mine again. "Gasman, you should never want to be someone else. That shouldn't be your dream or your hope."

"Why not?"

"Because you're never going to be," I told him, taking a sip of my coffee. "You don't think that there are a million people that I just wish I was for one day. That doesn't mean I actually ever would be them."

"Why not?"

"Because," I said, getting up. "Then I'm not me anymore. When you're not you anymore, who is?"

He looked confused. "I guess that makes sense."

"Of course it makes sense," I said as he too stood up. "I said it after all."

He finished his soda before throwing it away. "Thanks, Max."

"No problem," I said, still sipping my coffee. "Besides, if you weren't you, I would be so lonely. You're my favorite, after all."

He laughed. "Night, Max. Or morning. Whatever."

"Yeah, sleep well," I said. "And Gasman? If you have to ever be someone else, don't choose Fang. The world has enough of him and so do I."

He gave me a smile before going off to his bedroom, or Tabitha's. Whatever.

October 31st

Halloween fell on a Thursday this year, but there was no school tomorrow. Teacher work day thing, where only the teachers went in. Whatever. The kids were glad, but I was kind of mad about it. Now I have to deal with them.

"So you're just not going trick or treating?"

Tabitha nodded. "I'm not a baby, Max."

God, sometimes she sounded so much like Angel, even though I knew that she didn't get it from her. Tabitha would be hard press to even pick Angel out of a crowd, much less has she picked up any of her traits by association. Maybe they just both had gotten it from me. I don't know.

"That's a relief," I said.

"Why?"

"I need someone to pass out candy," I told her.

"No," Tabitha whined.

"Yes," I said.

"I can't go trick or treat, though."

"Why not?" Fang asked. He was next to me on the couch, letting me rest against him.

"Because I'm Muslim."

At first, I was trying to figure out what that would have to do with anything. I thought that they went trick or treating? I don't see why they wouldn't. Getting free stuff is great. Then I finally comprehended what she had said.

"No," Fang said, his tone changing, "you're not."

"I could be!" Tabitha crossed her arms. "It's not like I ever go to church, so I'm not exactly something else."

Fang looked like he was about to argue but I cut him off.

"Tell Dr. Martinez that you're Muslim and see what she has to say about it," I said. Mom was very good at scare tactics and threatening. She'd turn Tabitha back Christen in no time.

"I can be whatever I want!" She yelled before running off up the stairs.

"I told you letting her around that boy was a bad idea," Fang said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"Oh, shut up," I said. "It's none of our business if she wants to be Muslim."

"I'll take your opinion as soon as you can tell me one thing about Muslims."

I just frowned. However, Fang and I didn't have long to worry about Tabitha's religion. Lucas came running into the room, crying.

"Mommy!"

"What?" I asked, worried. The kids had just gotten home from school and hour ago. What could he possibly have done in that short time? "Are you hurt?"

He forced his way into Fang's lap. "Tyler said that he's gonna take half of my candy!"

"What? Tyler!"

He and Alex came down the stairs. Tyler nodded his head. "Yeah, I said it."

"Why?" Fang asked, trying to comfort Lucas. I just rolled my eyes. Lucas was such a baby.

"Because, he's been staying in my room."

I sighed. I ended up taking Tabitha's suggestion about the rooms. Gasman had his own room, James and Cody shared, Neo had his own room, and Lucas was with Tyler. It wasn't permanent. Just a quick fix to things.

"So what?" I asked, looking hard at him. "That doesn't mean that Lucas owes you anything."

"Yes, it does," Tyler said. "I want half of his candy."

"If you don't tell him sorry for saying that, you're not going to get your candy," Fang came back with his own threat.

"That's not fair!"

"Now, Tyler."

He looked at me. "Max-"

"Just go play in your room," I dismissed him. Tyler and Alex ran off, him pouting the whole way.

Lucas stopped crying. "So I don't have to give it to him?"

"No," Fang said. "Now go away. Me and Mommy are busy."

Lucas jumped down. "Where's Cody and James?"

"With Gasman in his room. Neo's in there too."

After making a shocked face, he ran off to go join them. After he was up the stairs and in Gazzy's room, Fang let out a sigh.

"Kids are annoying."

"That's what I've been saying forever," I said, closing my eyes. "Hey, Fang?"

"What?"

"Have you noticed how weird Bone's been acting recently?"

He shrugged. "He's getting married, Max."

I shook my head. "You weren't weird when we were getting married."

"For what? The two hours before?" He laughed. "You know Bone. He hates change and adjusting. Just give him some time."

"I guess," I said, cuddling into him. "My stomach feels good."

"That's great," Fang said. "You're taking Tyler and Alex. I've got the other boys, and Gasman will be home with Tabitha."

I groaned. "Why do I get Tyler?"

"He's your baby, remember?"

Laughing a little, I said, "Yeah, but he was yours first."

"Max, I ended up with three and you've got two. Be happy."

"I'm trying to be," I said. "I just feel bad about Tabitha thinking that she's too old."

"No, she thinks she's Muslim."

I would have rolled my eyes if they hadn't been closed. "That was just an excuse. She really thinks that she's too old."

"Maybe she is," Fang mused. "I mean, we've always know that she's more mature. Maybe it just seems stupid to her."

"I guess," I sighed. I was starting to get tired. "Wake me when it's time to take them?"

He kissed my head. "Of course."

"Where were you?" Victoria asked, closing her apartment door as Bone walked in.

"At Max's."

"Why? And don't tell me it's because she's your sister or something stupid like that."

He made a face at her. "I had to take pictures."

"Of what?"

"The kids in their costumes," Bone said, going to sit down on her couch. "Vickie?"

"What?" She asked as she went into the kitchen to get a drink.

"Who's place are we going to stay at?"

"Yours," she said. "Until we buy a house."

He frowned. "Right. A house."

"Uh-huh," she said, coming back with a soda for him. Coke, of course. She had learned that the hard way. Carrie and Max were the only ones that were allowed to like Pepsi. Artemis was weird, but he had his reasons. "With lots of space for the dogs to run around, so that they don't have to stay in the house, a-"

"Whoa, wait a minute," Bone said, his words, tone, and voice shocking the both of them. "My dogs are not meant to live outside. Especially not Bubba."

"Oh, come on, Artemis."

"No," he repeated.

"Well, they can't stay in the house whenever we start having kids."

Kids? God, she was planning kind of far. "Why not?"

She looked at him like he was the stupid one. "Art, Nina is a pitbull. She'd kill a kid!"

Bone got up. "I have to go."

"What? Where? You just got here."

He just stared at her for a second. "My dogs are my life. Just like Max and her kids. If you learned to except the second one, learn to except the first. My dogs are staying wherever I'm staying. Granted, I might make them sleep in the guest room when we get the knew house, but they will be right next door to me."

She sighed. "Sit back down, Art. Please?"

After a second's hesitation, he did so, tentatively. Victoria leaned against him, giving him a small hug.

"See? It's fine, Artemis. We love each other."

He smiled a little. "Yeah."

"Besides," she went on. "We'll work all that out later."

"No, Victoria," he said, sighing. "You don't get it. There is no later. Max, her kids, and my dogs are the only things that you have to understand, okay? They all stay. Whether you do or not is up to you."

She sighed, closing her eyes. He didn't get it. She had to give up so much to be with him. She had to change while he just stayed the same. It wasn't fair. The saying says that all's fair in love and war, but it was so wrong. Nothing was fair about either of them.

"Fine, Artemis. Whatever." She got up and turned off the TV.

"No. If you're mad at me, just say it."

"I'm not," she said. "You were leaving, right? Then go."

He went over to her and gave her a kiss. "As long as you're not mad, okay. I need to go take my dogs out anyways."

She just shook her head as he left.

"Nice Halloween costume," Luther said. "I'm not surprised though. You're a whore all year round."

"Ha ha, very funny," Tammie said, walking over to the counter. "Where's James?"

"Hell if I know. Last time I checked though, he was staying with Max again."

'What?" Tammie was boiling mad. "I thought that I gave him to my mother?"

"She gave him to Max and Fang, I guess." Luther shrugged. "We don't get much say in things with him. I mean, he's only our son, after all."

Tammie rolled her eyes. "So what's been going on with you, Luther?"

"I found out that I'm a racist and possibly depressed. You?"

She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you on drugs again?"

"No," Luther said truthfully. "I wish, but no. Yourself?"

Shaking her head, she said, "I've been thinking."

"No," he said. "I am not getting back together with you. I will not do that to myself again. If you want to be a lesbian, fine. Be one. It no longer affects me-"

"Not about that, you idiot," she said. "I've been thinking about moving."

Luther perked up. "To where?"

"I don't know," Tammie said. "I just…I kind can't."

"Why not?"

"You know, James and everything."

Luther shrugged. "I've left him before. He doesn't care that much. As long as he has Max."

Tammie trembled with hatred. "God, Max just thinks that she's so fucking perfect."

"I know!" Luther stared at his soul mate, or so he once thought. "She just drips with fakeness."

"I know, right? Like some old dude that can't even write scripted out her life."

"Yeah," Luther agreed. "What type of sick freak is God if he came up with her?"

Tammie laughed. "I have to get going."

Luther went back to depressed mode. "Yeah, okay."

"So you're cool if I take off for awhile?"

"Yeah, of course," he said, nodding his head. "I'll tell James bye for you."

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him. "See you later, Luther."

He just gave her a nod before digging his Ipod out of his jeans. Looks like it'd be a double dose of Anberlin tonight.