Her back was starting to hurt her again. It was always the worst in the mornings when she had to get up, her tall form barely able to lay easily on the bed. The pain didn't necessarily go away during the day, she would ignore it, and sometimes it would flare up or sting worse than usual. If anything it was annoying at worst. Especially with everything she had to do during the day. Although having her wife around did make things easier on her, if she was able to stay home that day which she wasn't. She was going to have to take care of everything on her own. Not only that, she had planned for them to go to the zoo later that week, but she didn't know if she would be able to do that if her back kept hurting her. She still had to wake up her son and she already was done with the day.

Shadow Weaver braced herself on Angella as she moved her legs off the bed. Waking her wife up in the process so she could get ready for work, and so Shadow Weaver had company. Shadow Weaver sat up slowly, doing her best not to hurt herself. She had stopped laying on her side years ago, laying flat being the least painful position these days. She knew people had back problems in their old age, but when you lived two hundred years on a planet you weren't built for it just made things worse. She tried not to think about her age too much, it never helped her feel better.

Shadow Weaver tried to remember if she had anything planned for the day besides her normal routine. She sighed with relief when she realized she didn't have to do anything more that day. Angella groaned behind her as she woke up. A sigh of Angella's own following after she opened her eyes. The dark walls making it easy for her to wake up without straining herself as she sat up. Shadow Weaver watched as Angella's wings fluttered behind her, as if stretching for her whole body.

Angella didn't quite like Shadow Weaver's place, it was small and unwelcoming, and in some areas needing repair. She had her own house, much larger than Shadow Weaver's that Angella insisted that they go to live in. But it had been an agreement they had before they got married, Shadow Weaver wasn't going to move, the house meant too much to her. Angella understood the significance, after Shadow Weaver explained why. It was similar to when she changed her name years after she arrived. Shadow would be ready to leave the house behind once it was unlivable, or she couldn't raise Adam in it anymore. Angella could wait for that, she had an eternity to, she just wondered if her wife did.

Shadow weaver reached for her mask on the small table beside the bed. She wouldn't have worn it if it hadn't been for Adam. She was ashamed of her face, and when it came to kids it seemed she was right to be. She had tried a few times when Adam was younger to go without the mask, each time without fail he would be frightened. She was ashamed of her scars as easily as he was afraid, it wasn't an issue for her to wear the mask, if anything, she preferred it. When she was alone with Angella it was different, Angella knew her before the scars, Angella preferred the mask to be off. In almost all the cases when Shadow Weaver had shown Adam her face it was because of Angella thinking he might be brave enough to see it. She hadn't done that before with her last kids. There were a lot of things she was doing differently.

Shadow Weaver was forcing herself up off the bed when a small knocking came from their bedroom door. "Adam? You're up early." Shadow Weaver said, glad that she no longer had to wake him up and force him out of bed. "Are you dressed?" She asked, receiving a small 'no' from the other side of the door, followed quickly by her own order for him to get dressed. Shadow Weaver listened as Adam's footsteps led to his room beside their own and the sound of his wooden dresser sliding open.

Shadow Weaver and Angella got dressed quickly, exchanging their morning greetings as they did so. Shadow Weaver with her normal question of if Angella slept well, and being asked the same soon after. She muttered something along the lines of, not so well, as she finished getting dressed. Her outfits had remained the same ever since she had arrived on Etheria, only little changes here and there. The form of her clothes hadn't changed much but the colour scheme had. When she had raised her first two kids she had gone with a large robe look, she kept that, but now something that hugged her arms. Her long skinny arms looked odd when compared to the rest of the outfit that trailed down normally. Angella's outfit was a simple suit, she had a meeting today with someone important. If Shadow Weaver was remembering right it was some legal team about her daughter owning a store. Some sort of scandal was something she remembered it as.

Adam had had trouble putting on the shirt he had picked out, a red button up. He had misplaced one of the buttons and Shadow Weaver had helped him fix it. It was something that she didn't used to do. In the past with her last daughters she had

(I'm getting better, I'm not going to make the same mistakes as last time.)

yelled at them to figure it out themselves. It hadn't been easy the first time, and it wasn't easy then, but raising Adam was much Easier.

They ate breakfast together at a table that covered a fourth of their small kitchen. Adam had gotten his favourite brand of cereal just the other day from the store, picked it out himself, and has had it every morning since. Shadow Weaver made herself the same bowl as Adam and Angella had a sandwich she made, bologna. Breakfast went smoothly and soon after Angella had to leave. Adam was still getting used to calling Angella mom, even if he did call her that or some variation. He had only known her two years, which was half his life, but she still seemed like she had been missing for a long time to him.

After Angella left Shadow Weaver, like clockwork, walked into the living room to a small table cupboard hybrid she had bought a long time ago. She had forgotten the name of the thing that held Adam's work but it didn't matter much. She pulled out a stack of books, paper, and other tools in a box three inches tall. Shadow Weaver worked faster with Adam than she had before. She would have done the same thing she was doing now back then if she had gotten the chance.

She started out with something Adam liked to do, use markers. She had gotten markers and a dry erase board for Adam to work with. Adam was to work with it because on the board was his name, shadowed out with broken lines. He was to write over and connect the lines to help him learn to write his name. Shadow Weaver was thankful she had gotten it too, because he often like to continue using the board to draw, something he wasn't supposed to do while writing his name.

Within the box were more things Shadow Weaver had gotten specifically to help Adam learn. Children's books, toddler activities, developmental advice, everything Shadow Weaver wished she had decades ago. Under where she had pulled the box from were memento's of her own, some good some bad. There were more bad memories that came with the items than good, but they were important to Shadow Weaver nonetheless. Whether they be small drawings or little notes written to her, or papers from a school, each thing brought back something special to her.

Adam had finished writing his name fifty times faster and faster each day, slowly realizing what the lines actually read as he got smarter. Adam could already read well for his age, Shadow Weaver wanted that trend to continue. She wanted him to be the best reader in his class when he finally went to school. She wanted him to be

(He isn't her, you're doing better.)

the strongest and the smartest, something worthy to brag about when approached. She realized that those dreams were too selfish years ago. Something that actively ruined her, and finally hurt her terribly. There was no doubt that Adam was going to be the smartest and the strongest, it was literally in his blood to be those things. But Shadow Weaver's expectations ruined that in the past.

Through the day Adam had done the things Shadow Weaver had him do daily, write his name, do a puzzle, count to twenty and higher if he could, and read with her. Shadow Weaver had four books she read with Adam throughout the day. One about a fish with shining scales, meant to teach him about sharing. One about a mom singing and rocking her son, another about a boy with a flute that made a giant disappear, and finally one about a mouse in a barn. Shadow Weaver wasn't fond of the books, but did find them amusing and helpful. Her amusement mostly stemming from hearing Adam slowly say every word, but getting faster and faster ever day. She wasn't sure if he was really getting better at reading or if he was just memorizing the words in the books.

She had made sure to have more books just for if he wanted to read them. Mainly game books where the fun came from sitting alone with them and doing things it said. Often times she was called by him to help find something in a book. She had gotten him plenty of books where you had to search for things on the page, and almost always Adam needed help finding the last thing.

By the time they ate lunch Adam would already be done with just about everything, even having enough time to watch TV for an hour or two. Shadow Weaver didn't like having him watch TV, but it gave her a break.

After lunch was when they cleaned. Shadow Weaver set a timer and helped Adam clean his room, even if it was already cleaned. He often talked back to her during this time, not wanting to make his bed. Not wanting to fold his clothes. He had trouble with following

(You will do as I say!)

orders, it had never been an issue however, she just had to ask him again and he'd do it, albeit with a frown. She really was getting better, she thought, she no longer had to raise her voice, and it even seemed that Adam enjoyed learning. Although, getting him to clean wasn't something she figured out on her own after her first time around. That had been advice given to her by Angella, before she had started yelling. Whether her being better was because of Angella or from her experience she didn't care.

Hours had passed and the sun fell lower in the sky and Angella came back home from work, later than usual. She had stopped by her own place for some papers that she would need tomorrow, feeling it easier to get them on the way home than by leaving earlier in the morning. When Angella came home it meant Shadow could get some rest, sure Adam was easier to raise but it was tiring, and loud. Her pain in her back sometimes flaring throughout the day because she needed to relax teasing her until she could lay down again.

She didn't use her magic as much as before either. At one point she had been the most magically talented person from out of this world as the headlines put it, decades upon decades ago. Now all she had were mirages, the same thing the best humans could do, just to a larger scale. When she had raised her last daughters she had used it all the time as intimidation a way to show she was in charge. Sometimes covering whole rooms in darkness. Now she could barely get an entire wall shrouded in shadows. Her first kid and Adam were gifted with her skills, although the way she was before the change. Now it was something that Adam found entertaining, sometimes asking her to turn a rock black or even make something hover off the ground.

Something she did differently was let Adam play outside less. She was afraid, now, of him going out and something happening far more than she had been before. He would play in the front yard with some friends of his, but only allowed a house away. She had him play in the backyard more often than the front, being careful so something doesn't happen. She didn't even know what would happen. She was just used to everything being different with Adam that she had changed the way she felt out him going outside for no real reason.

Eventually dinner came and went. Dinners were fun, Shadow Weaver could admit that much. Adam loved making stories and writing them down as best he could. Although his spelling and handwriting was terrible, she was glad he was trying. At dinner he would regale her and Angella with that days or weeks tale. Sometimes about a lion from space, sometimes about a guy with a magic sword, it was always cute the ideas he would come up with. He had found out about his sisters because of one of his stories. He had been telling the married couple about a dream he had where he had a brother and he was upset that he was an only child, Shadow Weaver made the mistake of telling him he had sisters. Not only did it bring back memories that she had to internally step over, but now he begged to meet his sister. On days like today he completely forgot that he had any. Some days, occasionally, it would be the only thing he talked about.

Eventually the evening rolled around and Adam had been entertaining himself with a box of magnets Angella had gotten him. Angella was big on giving Adam toys to play with, although she had an odd aversion to stuffed animals. Adam had gotten tinker toys and Lincoln logs and more from Angella just because she thought he would like them.

Shadow Weaver had tuned into the news for a while after Angella got her turn watching an episode of a home renovation show. There had been nothing going on in the news, the largest story she had heard was that some store set a record for bankruptcy or something. Shadow Weaver didn't particularly like the news, but she thought it was nice to know what was happening in the world, that and she thought that if Adam heard it he might learn something. From the top of the TV stand the phone started

(Probably the school asking about Adam, do they call half a year before? When was I supposed to register him? That probably isn't for a while.)

ringing, prompting Angella to get off the couch and reach for the phone. She had to block Shadow Weaver's view of the TV to reach it which didn't bother Shadow Weaver any, it did bother Adam as she stepped over the magnets.

"Unknown caller, should I answer?" Angella asked, holding the phone in front of her with both hands.

"If it says it's a collect call hang up." Was all Shadow Weaver said. It had been the first words that she had said in a while and it came across dry and tired. Mainly because she was in pain and tired, but she didn't like trying to speak over the TV while Angella was watching it meaning she hadn't spoken anything but little answers to Adam's childish questions for the better part of an hour.

Angella pressed the large green plastic button with a beep and walked past Adam to the back of the room. She asked the normal question about who called and shocked Shadow Weaver when she kept listening. Shadow Weaver turned around to see Angella with a forced smile she would normally give when talking to someone in person. An odd chuckle came across as she answered questions from the other line.

"I don't know." Angella answered. "Where? Couldn't have gotten a job somewhere else?" Now Shadow Weaver was engaged, the mystery caller was someone that could just start having a normal conversation instead of trying to sell stuff was intriguing. "Oh, what? Are you sure? That's not up to me. You'd have to ask her yourself." Shadow Weavers first solid guess was the dad of her kids. It seemed reasonable to assume. He sometimes visited, wanting to catch up with her, she had been careful to keep him away from her kids however. Her thoughts were interrupted as Angella started walking back over to Shadow Weaver, holding out the phone. "It's for you."

Shadow Weaver hesitated, and skeptically grabbed the phone and held it to her head. She had expected to hear the gruff voice of the father on the other end of the line. Or perhaps someone she worked with at some point. She held it there for a while, expecting the caller to say the first word. Seconds had past and the only indication that someone was there was the static sound of someone clearing their throat. "Who Is this?" Shadow Weaver asked, making the first move.

The voice on the coughed and started awkwardly, "Hey, its uh, it's me."

"You're an unknown caller, do I know you?" Shadow Weaver asked, Angella sitting beside her.

"It's, Catra."

Bet you guys didn't expect a Shadow Weaver chapter did you? Well you have one. Please review, tell me what you thought. Literally, reviews are the motivation. And to that one commenter from Mexico, I'm not sick, I am perfectly healthy, and even if I was sick I wouldn't know.