Eternity

Chapter 26

October

I yawned, walking into the living room. "What are you doing here, Adeem?"

"Hi," Lana greeted, though she didn't look up from her father.

"Tours over," he told me as Lana continued to hand him different stuffed animals. She was clearly excited. "I dropped Tyler off and had to see Lana. It's been two weeks, you know."

Lana finished giving him toys and held up her hands. Adeem interlaced their fingers, smiling broadly at her.

"Yes," she told him, still smiling. Then she let go of his hands and picked up her sippy cup. Frowning, she told him, "Juice gone!"

"You want more, eh?" He stood up and took the cup from her. "Come on."

I followed them into the kitchen, mainly because I was hungry. "Is Tabitha at work?"

"Yeah. Where are all the boys?"

"School. And Fang took Lawson to work with him."

"What about Parker?"

"She's still asleep," I said as he handed Lana her cup. "You didn't put the lid on, Adeem."

"I know. Aaron says that his son used a regular cup when he was two. And Lana's way smarter than his son." Aaron was the lead singer of Adeem's band and he had seemed to take to looking up to him. The guy was five years older than him, had two kids, and multiple girlfriends. The lives we wish we lived... "You're smart enough, Lana. You want a regular cup, huh?"

It's not like Lana hadn't used a cup before. She had. And that's why I don't let her anymore.

"No!" She just turned the cup upside down, wasting the juice all over the floor.

"Lana!" Adeem frowned. "Wh-"

"That's why Parker can use a cup and she can't," I said before walking away. "Clean that up, Adeem."

"Yeah, yeah."

When Tabitha got off of work, she was surprised to find Adeem at her house.

"I figured you'd go home."

"Without seeing you?" He stood up from where he was sitting on the floor with Lana and went to go give her a kiss. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"Hi, Mama," Lana greeted.

"Hi!" Parker yelled too, never one to be left out. She wasn't all that excited about Adeem coming back home. Only a little because that meant that she wasn't stuck with Mommy all day.

"Hi," Tabitha said, smiling at them. "Anyways, Adeem, you're probably tired."

"Not really," he said, going to sit back down on the floor. "I mean, yeah, I am, but I wanna play with Lana. And Parker, too, I guess."

"What do you mean, you guess?" Tabitha said down with them. "Parker's so much fun. Huh, Parker?"

"Yes," she said, moving to get into her sister's lap.

"Mabee?" Parker looked up at Tabitha. Trying to teach both of their daughters both to say mommy, Tabitha and Max had somewhat confused Lana and Parker with who to call mommy.

"No. Tabitha. Can you say that?"

Parker just smiled and leaned against Tabitha, not even attempting to say her name. Lana frowned when she saw her playmate all cuddled up with her mother. That's not fair!

"Mama," Lana whined. Adeem just waved Eddy in her face until she got distracted.

"Let's go out for dinner tonight," Tabitha said. Adeem shook his head.

"I was planning on sleeping all night. I don't want to go out."

"Oh, right, I forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"That you only go out with your band."

He hated the way she said band.

"Fine, Tabitha, I'll freaking go out with you, alright?"

"No, no. Go ahead. Go to sleep. It's not like you have any money on you anyways. You never do."

"Last time I checked, Tabitha, it was you who told me to try out for the stupid band."

"I didn't really expect you to fucking make it. I was just trying to boost your ego, dumbass."

He didn't know if he was more mad at her for saying he wasn't good at guitar or that she had cursed, but he was going to use the latter to yell at her.

"Don't you dare curse in front of my daughter."

"At least I didn't try to kill her."

Adeem got up and picked up Lana. "Fine. We're leaving."

"Oh, no you're not."

"Yeah, Tabitha, I am."

"Well, Lana's not going."

"Try and stop me," he said, going to get Lana's shoes.

"Adeem, I'm fucking serious-"

"Bye," he said, walking out of the door with their daughter. Tabitha looked down at the toddler in her lap.

"I wish he would just stay on tour."

"Mabee?"

Tabitha just sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't know about you, but I'm happy."

"Fang."

"What? It shouldn't come to a shock to any of us."

"It was just one fight, Fang."

"Still. One fight leads to another and another and another. I should have realized just how great this band idea was before. One step closer to no Adeem."

"Fang, you're forgetting Lana."

"What about her?"

"Even if Tabitha and Adeem break up, he loves her too much to ever leave and not see her. You're stuck with him until the end. Just accept it."

Parker, who was sleeping between us, woke and made a loud noise. Fang looked down at her. "Think we should get up?"

"What time is it?"

"Five something."

"Nah," I said, shaking my head. "I want to stay in bed for a little longer. Besides, all the kids are home now. Ew."

Fang leaned over Parker and gave me a kiss. "You play like you don't love them."

"I know. I'm pretty good at it too, huh?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling at me. "Hey, you know what?"

"What?"

"I love you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Enough that I'm going to let you do something tomorrow."

"What?"

"Go into work."

I frowned. "You suck."

"No, babe, that's more of your job."

"Ha ha, you're so funny."

"Thank you."

"Mom?"

Cameron didn't move. "What, Samantha?"

"Can I go out?"

It was about eight at night. "Yeah, sure, whatever."

'What?" Damien, who was on the laptop, looked up. "No. It's late, Samantha. It's dark out."

"And? I always go out at night. Besides, I'm just going over to Addison's house."

"I thought I told you that you're not allowed to see him anymore?"

Her frown turned into a scowl. "What do you care?"

"I'm not letting you go over to his house. Fang told me all about-"

"What does Fang know?"

"Hello, guys, I'm sleeping," Cameron said, still not opening her eyes.

"You're not going, Sam. End of story," Damien said, not backing down from this.

"Why not?"

"I'm not going to be like Fang and be a grandfather before I'm fifty."

"Who cares? Jessie already thinks your told old to fuck already, right?"

Damien jumped up out of the bed and slapped her in the mouth. Even Cameron had to open her eyes for that.

"You're not going to curse."

"I hate you!" She ran off again, back to her room. Cameron sat up.

"Did you just hit her?"

"She's not going to curse."

Cameron got out of bed. "Are you serious, Damien? You're just mad because she said that woman's name."

"No. She cursed."

Staring at him for a second, Cameron slowly laid back down in bed. "You know, Damien, she does have some valid points. I've given you some time to deal with them, but you haven't."

"What?"

"You basically ignored her while you were gone. Do you know what that does to a kid?"

"Oh, like you don't ignore her all the time."

"That's just it though, Damien. She knows that I hate her. You, she thought that you would always be here. Then you weren't. That hurt her."

"Why does everything fall on my shoulders, Cameron?"

"Because, if it was up to me, she would have been aborted or put up for adoption. You had to go and have a heart. Now we have her and she's your problem."

Damien shook his head at his wife before walking out of the room.

"I have to take you home soon."

"No."

Adeem sighed, staring at his daughter. "Lana, it's not my choice."

"Yes."

It was almost like she was really arguing with him.

"Well, you do have I point, Lan. I mean, I love you just as much as your mother, right?"

"Yes."

"Maybe even more."

"No."

"Well, a little bit more."

"No."

"Either way, I love you."

"No."

"This is when you're supposed to say yes."

"Yes."

"Good girl," he said, patting her head. "Anyways, I'm your father, right?"

"Yes."

"And I love you."

"Yes."

"So I shouldn't take you home."

"Yes."

"Then it's decided."

"Where's Lana?" I asked Tabitha after dinner. After putting Parker down, I went to check to see how Lana was coming along. She wasn't.

"I don't know. I keep calling, but all I'm getting is his voicemail."

"Maybe he forgot," I suggested, going to pick up some of her dirty clothes from the floor. I would make Fang do laundry later.

"No. He's going to try and make her stay over there," Tabitha told me, though she didn't get off her bed.

"Are you going to get her?"

She took a deep breath. "No, I don't think so. If he's risking my wrath on him, then he must really want this. Besides, it'll give me something to fight about him with tomorrow."

"Hmmm, I don't know, Tabitha. He might think he's won if you let him keep her for the night," I said.

"Yeah, but that'll just make forcing him to realize he didn't so much more fun."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," she told me, just as cocky as I was. Poor, poor Tabitha. I was like that too, before Lucas was born. Her time will come. And when it does, I pray for Adeem that Fang doesn't kill him.

After bidding her goodnight, I went to put the clothes in the garage before going back to my bedroom. Fang wasn't there yet, so I went ahead and got dressed for bed.

"You need to do clothes."

Fang snorted as he came into the bedroom. "Yeah, sure."

"Where were you?"

"Bedtime stories," he said, pulling off his shirt and taking off his jeans. Then he cooed at Parker before getting into bed with me. "My balls hurt."

I frowned, staring at him. "Why?"

"I don't know, Max. If I knew, I'd fix it."

"Maybe you have blue balls."

"Wanna help me with that?"

"No," I said, staring at him. "You probably just…I don't know."

"If I started jacking right now, would you feel bad and-"

"No."

"Fine," he sighed, closing his eyes. "Maybe they'll feel better in the morning."

"Maybe." I put my back to him. "Adeem has Lana for the night."

"Good for him."

I frowned. "Really? I mean, I thought you hated him?"

"That's still his daughter, Max. I wouldn't like someone having my baby either."

"Yeah, but it just makes more sense for her to be over here."

"Sense doesn't matter. If you think like that, it would have made more sense to give Tabitha and Tyler up when I was young because I couldn't really take care of them. But I didn't. I loved them. He loves Lana, he wants her. Simple."

I just shook my head. "Guys put too much feeling into things."

"Oh? Guys? Okay, Ms. Cry Over A Movie."

"I was pregnant!"

'Sure."

It was silent for a moment before Fang rolled onto his side to face my back. He kissed the back of my head.

"Night, Max."

"Yeah. Remember, laundry."

I felt his breath tickle my shoulder as he chuckled softly. "I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask for."

When Adeem woke up, the first thing he realized was that Lana wasn't next to him. The second was that Tabitha was in the room.

"Creepier, watching me sleep."

"Adeem."

He sat up. "Where's Lana?"

"With Dr. Martinez. She's feeding her," Tabitha said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Now why wouldn't you answer you cell?"

"When?" He asked, stalling.

"You know when."

"No."

"Last night, stupid," she said, clearly agitated. And who wouldn't be? "Why didn't you, Adeem?"

"Well, you know, got busy-"

"Adeem."

"I just wanted Lana, okay? Geez."

"Still," Tabitha said. "You should have answered."

"And have you bitch at me over the phone? No thanks."

"See? You just cursed."

"Lana isn't around."

She ignored that. "Besides, I don't 'bitch', I explain."

"Yeah, sure."

"I do!"

Adeem sighed, staring at his girlfriend. "Tabitha, seriously? I just wanted my daughter for one night. One night."

"Still."

"I just want to have my baby sometimes, alright? I love her and want to be around her. I hadn't been with her in two weeks, Tabs."

"You hadn't been with me either."

He groaned. "What? Are you jealous of Lana?"

"No. It's just that you like to spend more time with her than you do me."

He reached out. "Need a hug?"

Frowning, she said, "Screw you."

"Tabs, come on," he said, standing up. Getting out of bed, he wrapped his arms around her. He let her break his hold. "That's my daughter. I love her."

"Yeah, I know."

He searched her face for signs of joking. "Tabs, I love you too. I couldn't have Lana without you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Plus, you're my girlfriend."

"So?"

"I plan to marry you one day and-"

"Wait, are you asking me to marry you?"

Adeem's breath caught. What? How did she-

"Are you?" Tabitha looked him in the eyes. "Huh? Are you?"

"Uh-"

"Oh, you are!" She started jumping up and down, hugging him. This time Adeem frowned, wrapping his arms around her too.

"Tabitha…I wasn't-"

"I'm going to tell everyone," she yelled, letting him go and running out of the room. Great. Just great.

"You!"

Adeem almost ran back out the door, but I held Fang back.

"You are not marrying my daughter!"

Tabitha had come home an hour ago, announcing to everyone that she was engaged. From the look on Adeem's face, I could say he was less than thrilled.

"Fang, stop," I said, holding onto him tightly. "Come in, Adeem."

He looked around, as if searching for someone. I decided that it was Tabitha. When he didn't find her, he said, "I didn't try to marry her! She freaking forced me to."

Fang was still tense, but he wasn't fighting me. "How is she forcing you?"

As I slowly interlaced Fang's and my fingers, taking Adeem's story time as a moment to have a little PDA. What?

"I just said that one day, maybe, we could get married. Then, she was, like, bouncing around and stuff Saying that I had proposed! I never did that."

For a second, Fang and I were speechless. Then the laughter started. Adeem got upset.

"What? How is this funny? I don't want to marry her!"

Fang glanced down at our hands, shaking his head. "Good."

"Adeem, just tell her," I told him, rolling my eyes. "Before she is up on the alter, please."

"Now?"

I shook my head. "She's not home. Go find her."

As soon as he was gone, I brought Fang and my joint hands up to my mouth and kissed them. Smiling at me, Fang leaned over and kissed my head.

"Tyler's home," he said, dragging me towards the door. "He has the younger kids up in the attic."

"And?"

He looked back down at our hands. "They'll be fine. Let's go for a walk."

I let him lead me out of the house, not complaining in the slightest.

It was just something about his own bed that made Damien happy. Maybe it was the way the sheets felt against his skin or knowing that it was Cameron's breath on his neck, but for some reason, it was just comfortable. Nice. Great. Right. Plain and simple, it was right.

"Dad?"

Damien didn't move. He was napping.

"Dad?"

"What, Nessa?"

"Can I get in bed with you?"

"Yeah."

She got up there and sat next to him. After a second, she said, "You like Superman?"

"Yeah, Vanessa."

"A lot?"

"Yeah."

"Does Mom?"

"Not that I know of," he mumbled against the pillow. At the apartment he bought, he could never get to sleep. Here, it came to him so easy. It always had.

"You sure?"

Damien sat up slowly, pulling his only biological daughter into his lap. She was starting to get too old for that and he was sorry about that. Pretty soon, she'd hate him just like Samantha.

"Why, Ness?"

"She was yell about him a lot last night."

Damien frowned, staring down at his daughter. "Huh?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Superman! That's what she yelled. I was gonna tell you this morning, but you were asleep. Now I thought I should. You know, so that you can get her something Superman for Christmas!"

Damien and Cameron had been having a lot of sex. A lot. Last night included.

Smiling a little, Damien leaned down and kissed his little girl's head. "I guess she loves Superman."

"Yeah. I think so too," Vanessa agreed. "Dad?"

"What?"

"Wanna go trick-or-treating with me on Halloween?"

He was going to go to a HeroClix party.

"I'd be honored."

"If you could be a magician or an artist, which would you be?"

"That's a hard one…I'd be an artist."

"Really?" Lance frowned. "Why?"

"I dunno. It just sounds more fun. Don't you think?" Chris asked, staring up at the bunk above him. "I do. Artists get to paint."

"Yeah, but magicians get to play with doves. And have wands," Lance said, nodding his mixed little head. His brown hair was starting to get too long. It would always get into his eyes and he didn't like it. Max kept saying that she would go get him a haircut, but she had yet to fulfill her promise. What else was knew?

"So? Even fairies have wands. You a fairy, Lance? A fairy princess, maybe?" Chris sniggered under his breath. Lance was far from amused.

"No!" He basically yelled. A fairy? A fairy? That was more up James and Cody's ally, if you asked him. Well, if you asked Fang, but most of the boys got their opinions from him. Fang was their role model after all. Only the best role model in the world on top of that.

"Lance," Fang called from somewhere, ending the conversation…for now. "Come here for a second, buddy."

Lance ran off to go see what Fang wanted. "Yeah?"

"Bud, I left my cigs out in the car. Can you go get them? I would, but I have Max all over me."

After their walk, Max and Fang made it to the living room, where she promptly fell asleep on the couch, her head in his lap. Fang made no complaints. Though he would never fess up to it, most of the time, at night, when they fell asleep not touching, but woke up in each other's arms, it was his doing.

"Yeah," Lance sighed, going to get them. When he got back, Fang was watching football. "Here."

"Thanks, bud," he said, reaching out to ruffle the boy's hair. "Max still ain't got you a haircut?"

"No."

"I'll tell her again," Fang said, smiling at him. "You know, sometimes women just need to be told a few times for it to get through their head. All that hair dye does that."

"Just hit 'em. It works with dogs."

"Fang, you had better correct him. Now," Max said, though she didn't open her eyes. Instead, she rolled so that she was facing his body. "And never say what you said again either. Little boys don't understand jokes."

Fang ran a hand down Max's side. "You can't hit women, Lance."

"No. You can't hit girls."

"Women either."

He frowned. "I thought that you can't hit a woman, but you can slap a bitch?"

Max must have fallen asleep, because she didn't comment on that like Fang expected. Not wanting to wake her, he controlled himself.

"I don't want to ever hear you say that word again, Lance. You hear me? I'll slap you. And, if you use that word, you had better not, ever, call a woman that. Alright?"

Lance just nodded, not wanting to get in trouble or hit. Fang let him run off after that, sighing a little. Slowly, he leaned down and kissed Max's head. Bitch…who calls a woman a bitch besides complete assholes?

He must have said that aloud, because Max said, "I wouldn't mind being called it."

Fang didn't feel like listening to her. "Just go to sleep."

When Adeem finally did find Tabitha, she was in the last place he would have ever thought of. In fact, he didn't even mean to go there, really. He was just driving around, looking for her, when he passed the cemetery. Then he saw Tabitha's truck.

"Hey."

She didn't look up. Not once. "Hey."

Adeem stood over her, watching Tabitha pull the weeds away from Luther's grave. "We need to talk."

"What about?" She asked, clearly over the excitement that had consumed her before.

Waiting to avoid the subject, he looked around. "Kind of getting dark, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

After taking a deep breath, he said, "I don't…We need to talk about this proposal thing."

"It's great, Adeem. Knowing that we're going to get married."

"See, about that-"

"Luther would have hated it," she sighed, staring longingly at the grave. "Don't you think?"

"No."

Tabitha snorted. "You're crazy, then."

"He wouldn't have hated it because it's not real. Tabitha, I wasn't proposing."

For a second, she didn't understand his words. Once she was able to comprehend, she went ballistic.

"What the heck is wrong with you?"

Suddenly, she wasn't kneeling by the grave of her fallen surrogate uncle. Instead, she was attacking her ten seconds prior supposed fiancé.

"Tabitha, you're the one-"

Jumping up, she pushed him, hard. He stumbled a little, having not expected this.

"You need to chill-"

"Chill, Adeem? Chill? I couldn't chill if I wanted to! I've told everyone that-"

"Whose fault is that?"

She took a deep breath and hit him in the stomach. When she moved to hit him again, Adeem grabbed her hand and pushed her down, making her fall.

"Hit me again and I will not be as nice."

Tabitha stared up at him. "If you didn't want to marry me, you shouldn't have-"

"I didn't!"

"Well, you should have cleared up my confusion the second I said that you did."

"Sorry that I didn't feel like crushing your dreams."

"What do you call this?"

"I'm sorry, okay? It's not my fault that you-"

Tabitha reached out and pulled his leg our from under him. The moment his head hit the hard ground, Adeem was done.

"Fuck you, Tabitha," he said after a second. She crawled over to him, watching with wide eyes.

"Are you o-"

"Go to screw yourself," he said, standing up. "You are so lucky that I don't feel like getting into a fight with your father, because if it wasn't for him, I would beat the shit out of you right now."

"Adeem-"

"One day. I said one day, I would marry you. Now never."

She rolled her eyes. "You're over reacting."

"Me? You hit me, push me, make me fall. But I'm over reacting, right? Okay, sorry."

"Are you serious right now?"

"More than ever," he said before walking off.

"Thanks, Luther," she mumbled after Adeem drove away. Because, honestly, nothing felt more natural than to blame the man, dead or not.

While Tabitha was hating her dead hero, Tyler was praising his.

"You know, Bone would have thought that my band was great too."

"Yeah," Alex sighed, staring at the table.

Tyler had come over to eat dinner with her family. Well, her mom and dad. All her brothers had moved out, of course. Save Marcus though. No, not Marcus. He was in his room though, sleeping off a hangover.

"Such a good boy, you always were," Alex's mother said. About a year after Alex and Tyler stopped hanging out, she broke down and began to learn English, realizing that with all her children leaving, if her husband wasn't around, there was no one to translate. "Huh, Alex?"

"Mom!"

"What?"

"Rosa." Her husband shook his head.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Anyways, Tyler, about your band."

"That was it."

"Well, talk about something," Alex seemed to beg. The last thing she wanted was for her mother to keep talking.

"Um…" He looked around, suddenly wishing that he was at home. Conversations were too hard.

Always putting yourself out there. Look where it gets you.

"Well, I'm finished," Alex said, standing. "Come on, Tyler. You're driving me home."

"I am?"

"Come on."

After telling her parents goodbye, Tyler followed her out of the house.

"Why did we have to leave?"

"I need to get home. I have classes tomorrow."

"Afternoon cl-"

"Get in the car."

Frowning, he got into the driver's seat. "You're really mean sometimes."

Sighing, she ran a hand down his thigh, making Tyler feel more than just comforted. "I just really didn't want to go see my parents."

"But I did."

"I know."

Her hand lingered for a little bit longer and Tyler needed a shower real bad. An ice cold one.

By the time Halloween rolled around, which was about two weeks, Adeem and Tabitha still weren't on speaking terms. The only time they did talk was when they were fighting. Besides that, he'd decided they had broken up.

"You are passing out candy."

Adeem shook his head at Dr. Martinez. "I'm taking Lana out to trick-or-treat."

"No. I heard that Tabitha is."

"Tabitha's crazy."

"Either way, afterwards, come back here. It's part of your rent that you don't pay."

Sighing, he watched as the old woman sat a bowl on the coffee table. "What time would you guess I should take Lana?"

"Before dark, I would suppose," she said before walking off. It was four. Adeem got up and grabbed his keys before heading for the Shadow's house.

Now, I'm not one for drama, ha ha, but when Adeem showed up, I was alright with muting my Kardashians to watch the showdown.

"What are you doing here?" Fang asked. He was on his knees on the floor, helping the younger boys get into their costumes. Jason and Neo both claimed maturity and weren't trick-or-treating. Lance and Chris knew no such thing. Of course Nicky, Drew, and Lawson, who were very into their own outfits, were going too.

"I'm taking Lana trick-or-treating."

"Muslims don't trick-or-treat," he said, going back to helping Chris. He was going as a business man and needed his tie tied.

"I'm not Muslim."

"Sure look it."

"I'll ignore the racism."

Fang just shook his head.

"Hi," Lana said, going to walk over to him. She was going as a princess. Parker was supposed to too, but she kept crying every time Fang tried to dress her in that, so we were just going to put a baseball cap on her and call her Feliz.

"Hey, Lana," He picked her up and gave her a kiss.

"Tabitha's not going to like this," Fang mumbled as Adeem walked through the door.

"What does she like?" I asked, letting Parker climb into my lap. "I mean, she ignores the glorious wonder that is reality TV so-"

"What are you doing here?"

I shut up as the Queen of Evil came down the stairs. Oh, wait, Cameron isn't here… Huh.

"I'm taking Lana and Parker trick-or-treating."

"No, you're not. Max is."

"No, no," I said, shaking my head at Tabitha. "Perfectly fine with this. Kim's wedding will be on at six, so I-"

"You've seen that fifty times," Fang said. "Plus, they're not together."

"WWE is fake and you allow Damien to enjoy it."

"I'm not married to Damien."

"Move to New Jersey."

"You mean New York?"

"Fine, I'll take her," Tabitha said.

"What sense would that make? Besides, she wants to go with me," Adeem said as Lana patted his chest.

"No, she doesn't."

"How do you know?"

"Lana, do you want to go with me? Huh? Wanna go with Mommy?"

"Yes," Lana said, giggling.

"See?"

"What does that prove?"

"A lot."

"She says yes to anything," Adeem argued. "Lana, wanna blow up a building?"

"Yes!"

"Of course you would say that," Tabitha said, taking a swipe at his race.

"Sorry, I forgot that you have Luther in you."

I have to give the boy props. He has no fear.

"At least Luther loved me. Where's your dad, Adeem?"

"Where's Lydia?"

"Enough," Fang said, standing. "I won't let you two freaking fight in front of-"

"Oh, like we don't all the time," I said. "Fang, please? You're right, I've seen all these episodes before. Tabitha and Adeem are witty and unscripted. Please?"

"Max-"

"She can't even say your name," Tabitha continued, talking over her father. "Shows how much she loves you."

Adeem frowned. "It doesn't matter, Tabitha. I'm taking her. End of story."

"Why do you care so much? Why can't you just go and really kill yourself?"

"Only if I can take you down too, dear."

"Already tried and you feel, sweetie. Guess you're a failure in more than one way."

"Guess so, but my biggest failure was ever even getting with you or having a kid with you. Now I'm stuck."

"Please, stuck with me? It's the other way around."

"Whatever, Tabitha. You're just a stupid, self-centered, bitch. You know that? If it wasn't for the fact that your parents saved my ass, I wouldn't even be with you! You're hateful. Full of hate and anger." He shook his head, as if in disgusted. "And at what? Because your mommy doesn't love you? Because everyone around you is killing themselves? Ever think it's not them? Maybe it's you. Probably is. I need rehab, fuck that. You're the sick one. Take some of Tyler's medication. Bet it'll help."

"Alright, out," Fang said, after a second. Tabitha didn't say anything to him. She just stood there and watched as Adeem stood up. He left, taking Lana with him. I wasn't have fun anymore.

"Tabitha-"

She ignored me, just started back up the stairs. She didn't come back down. Adeem never brought Lana back.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh," James hissed. "Be quiet, Cody."

He continued down the stairs. "Those are the boys' bags."

"Max didn't let them take them upstairs," James explained. "Wrappers in rooms, bugs. You know. She made them keep them in here."

"So? What are you doing to them?"

"What does it look like?" James kept going through them. "Now, be-"

"Go to bed."

Fang's voice was enough to startle both teens. They ran back off to their bedroom, never looking back. It actually wasn't Fang's, but rather Tyler's. When did he get such a deep voice?

Sighing a little, Tyler looked at his watch. Dr. Martinez had gotten it for him for his birthday, even making sure that it was digital. He liked it. It even glowed red when he pressed a button, his favorite color. She remembered. Always.

It was two in the morning. He was staying downstairs, waiting for Lucas. His brother was grounded, but with all the activity in the house that night, they hadn't noticed that he left. Tyler was waiting to make sure that if he was drunk, he was quiet about it.

He's not going to show.

"Probably not," Tyler mumbled, yawning a little. "I have practice tomorrow."

Go to bed. He's not your problem.

"Then whose is he?"

Not yours and that's all that matters.

That was the same thing that got so many people killed, but Tyler just accepted that and went off to bed. That night, Lucas didn't die; just fell asleep high at a friend's house. But for how long can someone really go on without being anyone's problem?

"I think I should move out."

Dr. Martinez looked up from her coffee. That was the last think she expected him to say. "What? Why?"

"Me and Tabitha are pretty must done and-"

"It was one fight."

"It's not just that," Adeem said, setting Lana down as he started to make her breakfast. "It's everything. And if we're not together, you have no obligation to keep me, right?"

She had no obligation to begin with. She really didn't. The truth of the matter was that the old woman liked Adeem. She really did. Sure, it started out with pure hatred, but in what was soon to be a year of having him stay with her, that hate had turned to what could be described as care. She cared for Adeem. She wanted him to be something. She wanted him to go all the way with this music thing. She wanted him to be happy. She wanted him to stay here with her.

"You should probably look in the newspaper."

"That's what I was thinking."

"Hi," Lana said, walking over to the vet.

"Hi."

"I plan to be out of here at the end of the month," Adeem went on.

"I'm sure."

Dr. Martinez didn't just care for Adeem like she would a friend. She cared for him because he was there. If he didn't live with her, who would check on her everyday? Though she didn't like to think about it, retirement was coming up and then what? Her family sure didn't check up on her. She actually hadn't spoken to Fang or Max in about two weeks. If she died in this house, it would take days for someone to notice. Maybe weeks. Months were a possibility.

"Not that I don't like living here. You've been great," he said. "When I make it big, I'll be sure to mention you in my interviews."

"You won't," she told him simply before standing. "I have work."

"Bye-bye," Lana called after the woman before going over to her father. "Hungy."

"That's why I'm making food, silly," he said, smiling down at her. "I have practice today, so I'll be taking you back to Grandma's house. You wanna go back?"

"Yes!"

"Good," he said, liking the feeling of her wrapping her arms around his leg. "Hey, Lana? You like me, huh?"

Love would be more appropriate.

"Yes!"

"And you could call me something if you wanted, right? You just don't want to."

"Hungy."

Sighing, he said, "You only want me for cereal, eh? Fine."

"Damien?"

"Hmmm?"

"Did you take the girls to school?"

"Yep."

Cameron stared at him. "And you don't have work?"

"Nope."

"Do-"

"You want something, Cam?" He still didn't open his eyes.

"No. Just to talk."

"Mmm."

"I go in at noon. Can you pick them up?"

"Always do."

She moved a little closer to him. "Damien?"

"What, Cameron?" He was starting to get annoyed.

"Are you going to stay in bed all day?"

"Yeah, I was planning on it."

"Oh."

"Cameron, what?" He finally opened his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then." He closed his eyes again. "If I don't wake up before you leave, I'll see you tonight. I'm making dinner, okay?"

"I probably won't be hungry."

"You don't know what you'll be," he mumbled. "Anyways, if you want something, just tell me, alright?"

"I don't want anything, Damien."

"Alright," he surrendered. "See you-"

"Do you think that I'm fat?"

He glanced at her. "No."

"Damien."

"What?"

She put her back to him. "You're such a fucking lair."

Sighing, Damien pulled her back to him. "Cameron, don't curse."

"What? You're suddenly above it?"

"Stop, alright?"

"You still are lying to me."

Damien laid his head on top of her's. "I've gained a few, Cameron. So has Fang, And, yeah, you too, but come on. Everyone does."

"Not Max."

"Max doesn't eat."

'And? She's still skinny."

"Unhealthy."

"But skinny."

"Cam, I would never want you to be-"

"But she was."

"Who?"

"You know who."

He closed his eyes. "But I'm not with Jessie. I'm with Cameron."

"You sure were going to leave Cameron for Jessie."

He kissed the back of her head. "But I didn't."

"Only because she wouldn't take you."

"It wouldn't have lasted, me and her. I didn't love her."

"So? You would just use her for a few years and then move on to some other woman. Just like a man."

"But I didn't, Cameron."

"Just because she wouldn't have you."

"Why does the reason matter, Cameron? You're all about the ends justifying the means, right? Well, look what happened. We're in love again. Finally. Why can't you just be happy with that?"

"Because, Damien, I never fell out of love with you. And what happens when you fall out of love with me again?"

"I don't know, alright?" He was losing his patience. "Why can't you just take things for what they are?"

"I could, a year ago. I could, ten years ago. Now, though, you've tried to leave me. Now, I'm pissed."

"About what? We're still together."

"You really don't get it, do you?" Cameron closed her eyes. "I thought that you were different, Damien."

"And why aren't I? Everyone has a lapse of judgment."

"You've mess Samantha up. Vanessa forgave you, quickly, but you've screwed Samantha."

"And you haven't?"

"Just admit it, Damien. You never saw her because you didn't care. Vanessa is yours, but, when it comes down to it, Samantha isn't."

His stomach hurt. He wanted Cameron to rub it for him, but he knew she wouldn't. "She was never here, Cameron. You told me she was at friends' houses. What was I supposed to do?"

"Nothing, because she's not your daughter."

Is this what they were now? Broken?

"She's more of my daughter than she'll ever be yours."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"Note, Damien, that I have never left her."

"That once-"

"You took her away from me, not the other way around. I've never left her, ever. And I never will."

"Might as well, as bad as you are to her."

"So what? She's not yours."

"Why do you care so much? You hate her, remember?"

"Still. It just proves that you're no different-"

"From who, Cameron? Who are you comparing me to?"

She tried to push his arms off, but he wouldn't move. "Them, Damien."

"Who?"

"You know who."

"If I did, I think that-"

"Jack and Patrick."

"What?'

She nodded. "Just like them. Always leaving. Never staying."

"I am nothing like your fathers."

"You would be blessed to be even half as good as them."

Damien just laid there for a second, contemplating his desire to live. Saying something bad about her father and stepfather would be sure death. "Everyone makes mistakes, Cameron."

"Yeah, I know."

They laid there for a long time. Neither slept. Neither spoke. Then, around eleven, Cameron got up and went to take a shower. Damien just rolled over and closed his eyes. Maybe they weren't as fixed as he thought.