"Calm her down!" Angel screamed. There was wind blowing like crazy in the room, things flying everywhere.
I gently picked Mandy up and started bouncing her up and down lightly. I started to sing a lullaby. "Golden slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, Do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby. Cares you know not, Therefore sleep, While over you a watch I'll keep. Sleep, pretty darling, Do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby." At this point, the lullabies would not help. I sighed and looked at Fang.
"What should I do?!" I cried over the whooshing of wind. Things around all of us started to melt away; she was going to take us out of the universe.
He licked his lips. "sing a song." He shook his head. "Not a lullaby, a song you will write."
{You And Me by Lifehouse} "What day is it? And in what month?This clock never seemed so aliveI can't keep up and I can't back downI've been losing so much time'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to doNothing to loseAnd it's you and me and all other peopleAnd I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of youOne of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out rightI'm tripping on wordsYou've got my head spinningI don't know where to go from here'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to doNothing to proveAnd it's you and me and all other peopleAnd I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of youThere's something about you nowI can't quite figure outEverything she does is beautifulEverything she does is right'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to doNothing to loseAnd it's you and me and all other peopleAnd I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of youand me and all other people with nothing to doNothing to proveAnd it's you and me and all other peopleAnd I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of youWhat day is it?And in what month?This clock never seemed so alive." She had calmed down by the third verse and we all sighed in relief when everything went back to normal.
I bit my lip and looked at Jeb. I paused for a moment. "Diminish her power. It'll be too much to handle." He nodded. "But don't get rid of it forever. Just until she has enough control."
He nodded once again, pulling something out of his pocket. "Just feed her this." It was a vial of purple slush. Didn't look a that bad. I took it gently and looked at Fang.
"Max…" Fang started.
"Fang, I don't want to live in anymore danger- especially if Mandy is going to cause it. She'll keep the powers, they'll just be hidden."
"how can you trust him? He took your powers away, we could have escaped sooner with them."
"Fang, I almost killed you with that power. I remember; he took it away when we were four. And he's my father- he's been good to us for years now, how could you ask such a thing?"
"I'm worried about Mandy's well-fare." he argued.
Mandy was watching us fight and, apparently, she didn't like it. She squealed and grabbed a fistful of my hair and Fang's sleeve, pulling us together- that is one strong baby. We bumped into each other, lips brushing against one another. Instead of pulling away like I would have all those years ago, I pressed my lips against his, relishing in the moment. Fang kissed me back too before pulling away to look at our laughing daughter.
I smiled and brushed my finger against her cheek. She took it in her little hand and yawned, looking lazily at us. I laughed.
"What?" Mom asked, peeking over my shoulder.
"She has Fang's smirk." I adored my little angel…well, devil-angel.
Angel giggled. "She's thinking really funny, intelligent things, Max, Fang. She thought 'I knew I could get them to stop fighting' and…" she hesitated, looking at Fang. "She thinks it's the right thing to drink the vial. She knows the consequence of her power and she'd rather not have it. She's really smart- smarter than Johnny."
"Hey!" He complained, offended.
I chuckled and handed Mandy the vial. "You're incredibly wise, Mandeline."
Fang looked at me.
"Her full name." I explained.
I looked at everyone, Fang the same. "We've got something to say."
They gazed back, listening.
"Well, Mom, you know how you can't really support everyone with your pay and the bill for the house and stuff?" Mom nodded. "Well, Fang and I were thinking that you- and everyone else- could move into our house. It's big enough for all of us."
"Max," Kyle stood,. Wow, kinda forgot he was here. "You moved out to get away from us, why have us move in with you?"
"Um, well, see, it's too quiet at our place. And it's cheaper than where you guys live now. Plus, we have enough stuff for everyone, space and everything. We all hang out at one house or the other, why not move back together?"
"Everyone can have their own room or they can share, whichever they like. Iggy and Ella, Nudge and Kyle, Dr. M and Jeb, Johnny and Gazzy, Angel by herself or whatever." Fang added. "What do ya say?"
~!!~
Angel hugged me, careful of Mandy. We were all at Fang's and my house- well, everyone's new house as well.
"Just a reminder, Mom, Jeb, this isn't YOUR house. It's mine and Fang's so…you can't control our lives." I smirked at them. "You can only control Johnny and Ella."
"Hey!" Ella protested. Johnny was asleep in Mom's arms. "Why not you?"
"Because this is my house and I'm married."
"Yeah, but I'll be married soon enough; when I'm older." she added at the look on Mom's face.
We all headed in. Fang had popped home to put plaques on each room, labeling which is whose room. They all ran upstairs, going to their rooms. I still got to keep my office. Yes!
Fang wrapped his arms around my waist and teleported us to our room, a crib in the corner for Mandy. "Let's put her in." He took Mandy from me and set her in the crib, sitting on the bed afterward.
"How's school?" I asked, sitting next to him. Fang had gone from being an assistant teacher to full time teacher.
"Exhausting." He laid back. "You're lucky I could get a sub yesterday."
"What do you mean?" I laid back as well, Fang putting his arm around me.
"We can't have last minute substitutions unless it's an emergency. They almost wouldn't let me go. I had to tell them that you'd kill me for not being there. And the kids are just weird."
I laughed. "Oh, and we're not?"
"You know what I mean." He bumped my shoulder with his. "All the girls have a crush on me. They stare at me constantly and ask for help when they understand it. They flirt and everything."
"Well, it's not like they can help it." I kissed his pulse point. "You're adorable." I kissed up his jaw line all the way to the bottom of his ear.
He turned his head and kissed me gently, sweetly. "Easy, we have a kid in the room."
"How old are these girls anyway?"
"Senior year. One actually came up to me and said that after graduation, she was going to marry me. It's all because I'm young."
"Not only that, you're irresistible. It's your new power: you're a lust magnet." I chuckled.
"Will you come into class Monday?" he asked suddenly.
"What? Why?" I was suspicious.
"Because 1) the girls need to see I'm taken, they don't believe me and 2) the sub told them the reason I wasn't there and they all want to see Mandy."
"Wait, how can they not believe you? Don't you wear your wedding ring?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but they think I just put it on."
I stared at him. "What else? What other catch?"
"I need you to talk to them about careers and college. These kids need inspiration. Why not from Lapis Lazuli?"
"Okay, but I get to call you Obsidian in front of them."
"Deal." He kissed the tip of my nose. "When are you going to get back together with the band to finish up? You haven't seen them the four months."
"We all had to lay low because the 4-month pregnancy would get suspicious. So, when we come out, they'll see that I had a baby. We have to wait another month or two to leave Mandy because the first couple months, they need all the attention they can get. Knock first!" I yelled to the door at the end.
There was a knock.
"Come in." Fang called.
Angel came in, staring at us. "Why don't I get a roommate?"
"Well, sweetie, everyone is paired with their 'other' and you don't have one. When Mandy is old enough, she'll bunk with you, okay?" I answered. "Plus, you get more space for your stuff."
Angel seemed to perk up at that and ran out of the room, closing the door. I curled up next to Fang, falling asleep.
My life is making a U-turn. It went from horrible to amazing to bad to indescribable. It made me ecstatic.