"Do you ever feel like we need new friends?" Jonathan asked Savannah. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Susanna and Marcel, but...Christmas just made me realize that I miss talking with people!"
"You want more fancy warlock friends that you can relate to," Savannah nodded. "Am I right?"
"Yes," Jonathan nodded.
"Well, I'm not much for friends," Savannah replied. "But if you want them, I suppose we could try looking. Although I'm not sure how many would stay once they knew that I'm half-vampire."
"You're forgetting what that wonderful law of Astrid's has done for the magical population," Jonathan told her. "For all you know, we could find a couple just like us!"
"All right," Savannah replied. "You pick them. I really don't care."
"Not even the tiniest bit?" Jonathan asked her. "Don't you ever get the urge to socialize with people who aren't, you know, me or related to you, or married to someone who's related to you?"
"No, not really," Savannah replied. "And even some that are related to me, I wish would stay away!"
Jonathan sighed. "And here I thought you bonding with our kitten was a sign of you softening up a bit."
"Minnie is an animal, and I think animals are easier to deal with than people," Savannah replied. "For one thing, they can't talk back to you."
Jonathan then zapped the kitten so she began speaking. "I love you, Savannah," she said in a squeaky little voice. "You're my favorite person in the whole world!"
"Really?" Savannah hugged the kitten. "How sweet."
"Damn," Jonathan replied. "I was really hoping she'd say she hated you."
"Why?" Minnie asked.
Rolling his eyes, Jonathan zapped the cat into silence again. "Stupid cat," he said. "Can't depend on it for anything. I just want to see people! How hard is that?"
"Frankly," Savannah replied, "I think we should focus less on getting new friends and work more on your fear of children."
"Oh, no. Not that again!" Jonathan ran his fingers through his hair. "We don't need to worry about this yet."
"I'm not saying I want to have kids now," Savannah reassured him. "Heck, I probably want to wait longer than you do. But you know Susanna? Well, of course you do, but...her dad/my brother Adrian and his wife Helene had this big fight about them having kids cause he was scared about having hybrid children too, and since they didn't talk about it, when her Aunt Felicity popped up, Adrian left Helene and didn't talk to her for twenty years. Do you want that to happen to us?"
"Well, of course not!" Jonathan replied. "But how do you propose to ease my fears?"
"It's almost the weekend," Savannah said. "I could talk to my mom about having Vivi come to stay. I mean, I know she's not a baby or anything, but she's still a kid. Is that close enough?"
"Of course," Jonathan replied. "I suppose I could give it a try."
"Good," Savannah nodded. "I'll see what Mom says. Not gonna ask Daddy, of course, cause we already know what he'll say."
"Yes, we do," Jonathan nodded. "Yes, we do."
"What would you say to visiting your sister and Jonathan this weekend?" Amy asked Vivi on Thursday night. "Would you like that?"
"I would be gone for the whole weekend?" Vivi asked.
"Yes," Amy nodded. "Now, if you don't want to, you don't have to, of course."
"No, I want to!" Vivi cried. "Ever since King and I kissed at Christmas, he's obsessed with me! He needs me to hang out with him all the time, and if I stay with Jonathan and Savannah, he won't even be able to call!"
"Do I need to talk to Gwen about this?" Amy asked, her voice full of concern.
"Thank you, but I think I can handle it," Vivi replied. "You don't have to be involved."
"All right," Amy replied. "If you're sure. I'll go call Jonathan and Savannah and tell them you're coming."
"And I'll go tell Daddy," Vivi said, getting up off the sofa. "Hopefully, if I tell him, he won't be mad."
"Oh, he will," Amy nodded. "But if you tell him, he'll be less mad, I think."
"Okay," Vivi said, dashing off to Amy and Klaus' room. "I'll be back in a minute!"
Vivi reached her parents' door and knocked on it as loudly as her tiny fists would allow. "Daddy, are you in there?" She asked. "Can I come in?"
"Sure, darling," Klaus called back. "Do you need help with the door?"
"Yes, please," Vivi replied. "It's too big!" Klaus then got out of bed to come and open the door for her, then picked her up and sat her on his and Amy's bed.
"What can I do for you, darling?" He asked her. "Did you just come in to chat?"
Vivi gave him a hug and said, "Don't be mad, Daddy, but I'm gonna go stay at Savannah and Jonathan's house this weekend, okay?" She kissed him on the cheek and then waited for the yelling.
"Did your mother give you permission to go to that place?" Klaus asked, his voice tight and quiet.
"Yeah," Vivi nodded. "She thinks I'll have fun!"
"Well, just because she thinks you'll have fun doesn't mean you have to go," Klaus replied. "Do you really want to go, or not?"
"I wanna see the kitten again," Vivi replied. "I'm sorry, Daddy. Don't be mad at me."
"Oh, who cares?" Klaus huffed. "You do what you want as long as it's not dangerous. It's not like I can stop you."
"Thank you for not throwing a fit about this," Vivi told him. "I 'preciate it." Then she went to tell Amy his decision, which later had a condition put on it that Vivi could go, but Klaus would be the one to drive her to Savannah and Jonathan's. Though Amy was dismayed, she nevertheless agreed to it to keep Klaus' fighting and fussing at a minimum.
Vivi didn't tell King before she and Klaus left for Jonathan's, and tried not to think about how he would react to that when he saw her at school on Monday. When Klaus dropped Vivi off in front of Jonathan and Savannah's house, she said, "Okay, you can go now. I can get to the door by myself."
"Oh, don't be silly," Klaus replied. "I'll come in with you. I want to see your sister."
"Mommy told me not to let you come with me to the door," Vivi replied firmly. "So you have to stay here. When I get inside, I'll tell Savannah to come out."
Klaus rolled his eyes as she left him standing in the driveway and went up to knock on the door. Jonathan and Savannah hustled her inside and then Savannah went out.
"Vivi said you wanted to talk to me?" She asked.
"Yes, and apparently I'm not allowed to go inside," Klaus said. "So how are you?"
"Good," Savannah replied. "Fine. We had a lovely Christmas with Jonathan's family. Sorry I couldn't make it to Aunt Selina's party."
"You didn't miss much," Klaus said. "Except seeing King and Vivi kiss."
"They did?" Savannah asked. 'Well, that's unexpected."
"I want you to watch your sister like a hawk tonight," Klaus requested. "Make sure that Putnam doesn't pay too much attention to her."
"All right, I will," Savannah assured him. "Everything will be fine here. I think you need to go home to Mom, and I need to go inside so Jonathan doesn't die from fright after being stuck with Vivi so long."
"All right," Klaus replied as he opened the car door. "But tell your sister that if she wants to come home for any reason to just give us a call. She knows the number!"
Savannah ignored this last bit of information and went inside to see that her husband and sister were getting on surprisingly well.
"You know, I thought I was going to have to come rescue you," Savannah told her husband. "But you seem all right."
"We've been playing with the kitty," Vivi told her sister. "And then Jonathan is going to show me where the cookies are."
"Good," Savannah replied. "Just don't take a lot of the ginger snaps. They're mine."
"Which you are perfectly willing to share with your adorable sister," Jonathan told her firmly.
"Fine," Savannah replied. "Whatever."
After they'd played with the cat and ate cookies, Jonathan put on the music from the Nutcracker and taught Vivi how to dance to it.
"You're a very good dancer," Vivi complimented her brother-in-law.
"Thank you," Jonathan said. "I've had lots of practice over the years." Then, he looked at Savannah, who stood at the entrance to the living room. "Would you like to cut in?" He asked her. "And show your sister how to do it properly?"
"Well, of course!" Savannah replied. "But remember, she has to be in bed by eight-thirty."
"Oh, come on!" Vivi groaned. "It's the weekend! Can't I stay up?"
"I promised Mom I would send you to bed on time," Savannah replied. "So a few dances and probably a cartoon or two, and then you put on your pajamas, brush your teeth, and go to bed."
This news put a damper on Vivi's good time and as the time for her to go to bed got closer, she sneakily moved it back a few hours.
"Okay," Savannah said, knowing the proper time. "Let's get you upstairs to bed, Vivi."
"No," Vivi shook her head. "It's only seven o'clock. I still have an hour and a half!"
"No," Savannah shook her head and showed her watch. "It's eight-thirty and I know you changed the time on the clock. Now go up and get in your pajamas while I change it back."
"You're no fun!" Vivi cried and stomped off to bed, her plan thwarted.
"You handled that well," Jonathan replied. "I wouldn't have known what to do."
"Well, surprising as it may be, I do have a bit of my mother in me," Savannah replied. "And it showed up at a good time."
"Do you think she's gonna give us more trouble?" Jonathan asked. Then, the house went dark.
"Oh, shit!" Jonathan cried. "What's happened?"
"If I have to go to bed now, so does everyone!" Vivi called before bursting into giggles. "Goodnight!"
"She does know that magic can't turn lights back on, right?" Jonathan asked as they carefully made their way to their room. "Or should we tell her?"
"We'll tell her in the morning," Savannah replied, swearing as she stubbed her toe. "After we magic in an electrician. And we'll try and do more to distract her tomorrow."
"Where were you?" King shouted at Vivi when she got into school Monday morning. "I didn't talk to you all weekend! It was so boring!"
"I was at my sister's all weekend," Vivi told him. "Daddy took me."
"Well, you should tell your daddy that he can't take you anywhere without telling me first," King replied, taking her arm possessively.
"Were you scared that I was dead or something?" Vivi asked, detaching his hand from her arm.
"Well, no, cause we can't die!" King said quietly. "But even though you're a girl and all, I'd rather be with you than my mom and daddy."
"That's very nice," Vivi replied. But despite the fact that she didn't seem mad, King sensed that something was wrong. When it was time for everyone to sit on the story rug, Vivi didn't sit next to him, but next to another boy. And then she and that same boy played together at recess, and he even picked her some flowers.
"Who is that?" King asked Vivi as they headed inside after.
"What does that matter?" Vivi asked. "He's a friend."
"No, he's not!" King shot back. "Do you like him cause he gave you flowers? I can give you flowers." He zapped up some daisies and handed them to her. "See? Those are better."
"You can't even go a weekend without me!" Vivi said. "It's crazy! I think we need to make some new friends, okay? Don't be mad."
"Why would I be mad?" King asked. "It's not like my feelings are hurt or anything."
"Good," Vivi replied, ignoring his sarcasm. "I mean, I know we did mistletoe at Christmas, but that's it."
"Well, that's fine," King replied. "I like that you're playing hard to get."
"I'm not playing hard to get," Vivi replied. "I just need some space!"
"Oh, sure you do!" King shot back. "That's why you like the guy who gives you stupid flowers!"
Vivi rolled her eyes and got out her pencil and paper for handwriting practice.
"Okay," their teacher said. "Now that we've practiced all the letters of the alphabet, I want you to write me something on the paper. It doesn't have to be long or perfect, just get some words down."
Vivi decided to write "I love cats" on her paper, and then sneaked a look over at King's paper, since he'd seated himself next to her. She read what he wrote, and, grunting in anger, stomped on his foot, causing him to cry out.
"King, please be quiet," his teacher said. "Your classmates need to concentrate!"
"Vivi stomped on my foot!" King cried.
"That's cause he wrote 'Vivi is stupid' on his paper!" Vivi cried. "That's not nice!"
Their teacher sighed. "And I thought the two of you were getting along so well," she said.
"We were," King nodded. "But Vivi ruined it. Does she have to come with me to the principal?"
"Can I trust you two not to hurt one another anymore?" The teacher asked.
"I'll keep my hands to myself," Vivi replied. "But I don't know about him."
"King, go sit on the other side of the room," their teacher ordered.
"Fine," King replied and got up. "I didn't want to sit here anyway."
"Then why did you?" Vivi asked.
"None of your business!" King replied. He took a seat on the opposite side of the room, and, true to her word, Vivi behaved herself, so when her relationship with her new 'boyfriend' made King mad, it was him alone that got sent to the principal's office while Vivi got to stay in class.
