. . .

. . .

. . . you're still here?

Oh, you're expecting another update? It's been what . . . a little over a year? Man, time sure does fly when you've been stuck in the absolute shitstorm that passes for higher education in my country for the past five years. Funny how that lines up quite nicely with the nosedive that the world has taken somewhat recently. Makes you wonder what future generations will know this time as - the "period where no one was allowed to be happy and severely punished anyone that no much as had an actually intelligent thought"? How about "the time when we should've had world leaders that were under the age of thirty in positions of power instead of living fossils that have too much money for their own good"?

Alright, alright, I'll stop. This isn't the place to be pushing my political opinions onto others (read: nowhere is a good place to push your political opinions onto others), nor do I imagine that is the reason you decided to drop by. Trust me, that's not my reason either.

No, my reason is that I am here to make an announcement: I AM FINALLY DONE WITH MY COLLABORATIONS AND WILL CONTINUE PRODUCTION ON THIS STORY AS OF YESTERDAY!

Yes, I can assure you that you aren't dreaming. I now finally have the time and energy to get back into updating my own stories after the unexpected and unannounced hiatus I took due to my inability to correctly judge my capabilities as an author (pretty sure there's a German word or term to specifically describe this phenomenon; there always seems to be one).

Now, you're probably wondering what this means for you. Well, sadly, the next chapter popping up within the next week isn't going to happen. Or the next month. No, as you've probably guessed, I've never been good with sticking to deadlines, especially as I'm now attending university (more homework with a side of mental anguish and the benefit of student debt . . . our education system, everyone); if I'm going to set a goal for myself, I'm going to give myself a lot of elbow room, so expect the next actual chapter to be sometime before the end of the year. That's the best I can promise.

Now, for the good news. As it turns out, I've been making (admittedly shaky) progress on the next chapter, as I showed you in the last update. Combine that with my new policy of writing smaller chapters to meet demand, maintain my sanity, and finally add the sense of passing time I've been erroneously trying to accomplish by writing stupidly long chapters, and I'm about halfway through. So, glass half full, there's a pretty good chance you won't have to wait until New Years for me to finally help you climb back up from the cliffhanger you were left on.

Additionally, there's something else that I want to try that I think will make things more fun and easier to work with. Obviously, there are a lot of ideas surrounding this story, both conceptualized by me and all of you (which I appreciate tremendously). However, not all ideas are good ones - that is not to say they are simply bad, but that they merely don't fit the tone and structure of the story I'm trying to tell. I mean, imagine how different Romeo and Juliet would turn out if the titular couple had to fight off a horde of cyborg tyrannosaurs from the future while simultaneously proclaiming their love for one another during the famous balcony scene. Certainly paints a different story than what Shakespeare was originally for, doesn't it (although let's be honest, that would have made high school English so much more interesting)?

What I'm trying to say - as well as what follows - is that I want to start implementing omakes into my chapters.

Now, for those of you that don't understand Japanese anime terms, an omake is essentially a short that caps off the end of an episode or series for a variety of reasons. They may simply try to appeal to fans or refer to certain memes and headcanons among the fanbase. Sometimes they may want to show how certain scenes might have turned out had they been done differently. What's important is that they are usually comedic and non-canon, so they hardly ever affect the main plot of the series - you'll often see characters that have been horribly injured or killed on screen miraculously reappear, completely fine. Sometimes, however, the canonicity of these can be called into question, whether it's because they do their damned hardest to try and convince you that it's canon or that it simply doesn't affect the main plot in any way, yet remains wholly plausible.

What I want to do is start making these to showcase the moments in between chapters, the moments where you all don't "tune in". After all, doesn't it seem strange that, despite attending and living at a school, almost none of the characters are seen in class? Or doing homework? Or anything of the more mundane variety that gets overshadowed by the crazy alien-related action that takes up the forefront of the story? That's what I want to do - to use these omakes to showcase such moments in a comedic light so that I don't have to try and find a way to derail the story to justify the moment, only to then have to find a way to get it back on track. Some will obviously be non-canon, but others will certainly be plausible and simply be left up to your interpretation.

Now, where do you all come into this? Easy: I want you to submit omake ideas! Think of it as getting back into the rhythm of things and having the potential to look forward to something a little more personal the next time I actually update (and perhaps say "sorry for leaving you in the dark for so long" . . .). These can be anything from comedy skits to tender moments and even scene rewrites - how would things have gone differently if Briar hadn't fallen asleep at the winter party? What would have happened if someone realized Cerise's 'costume' wasn't actually a costume? What if Snow White had a genuine, romantic interest in her daughter's boyfriend? All of these and so much more could be done, but you have to submit it in the reviews to find out!

I now leave you with an optimistic outlook on the future of this story and an example of what to expect from the omakes. Fun fact: this was supposed to be part of the next actual chapter, but I thought it would be more fun and rewarding to have something submitted by one of you make the cut rather than just my content.

Hasta luego!


Omake – Telephone Tomfoolery


Headmaster Grimm could only barely contain his fury as he glared daggers as the two miscreants sat before him. The silence was practically palatable, so thick that he was pretty sure that if he were to pull out one of his graying hairs and let it flutter to the floor it would be heard through the heavy, oaken doors to his office.

"Alright, fess up," he growled, planting his hands on his desk. "I know you two are behind this. You always are."

Without even sparring him a glance, Ben dug a finger in his ear and took a moment to inspect the flecks of dried earwax that had collected beneath his nail. "You're gonna have to be more specific, Grimm."

His partner in crime sat beside him in the pair of chairs that unruly students typically found themselves uncomfortably squirming in as they were bombarded with punishment and disciplinary words. "The bass doesn't know whether it needs to play or swim."

Milton narrowed his gaze at her as if he were trying to make the teacup that she so calmly sipped from explode in her hands. He had always hated dealing with Wonderlandians, though perhaps 'hate' was a strong word. Their lack of conventional order and their habit of completely disregarding rules had always frustrated him to no end, but he knew better than to voice these opinions to them.

On one hand, he would just be met with some nonsensical riddle that he was pretty sure somehow involved mocking him, leaving him even more infuriated than before. On the other hand, however, he might find himself being dragged off to be beheaded by royal decree. Or worse, have an entire realm of madness declare war on him, bringing further misery to his already quite exhaustive life.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Mr. Tennyson, Ms. Hatter, I'm sure you are well aware that the school's public address system-"

"You mean the PA system?" Ben gave him a dry look.

"Yes . . . as I was saying, I'm sure that you-"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

The headmaster paused at the interruption and sighed when he saw that the phone on his desk was ringing.

"You gonna answer that?"

He gave the brunette a dirty look and reluctantly reached for the phone. "Ever After High Headmaster's office-" he tried to keep his voice pleasant as he brought the old-fashioned receiver to his ear. No sooner had the words left his mouth than did a powerful jet of water suddenly come shooting out of the phone and cleanly clock him upside the head.

Sputtering, he jerked the phone away from his head and stood there in shock. The water that had been squirted into his ear quietly trickled down his neck and into his fine, blue suit. A good amount had fallen to the floor when he had pulled the receiver away, already staining the carpet.

"Who was it?" Ben asked, a mask of indifference on his face.

Maddie took a sip of her tea before cheerfully tapping her chin in thought. "Mmm, I'd have to say the water department. They probably thought he was all washed up!"

The headmaster calmly placed the dripping phone back down and shakily tugged a lemon-tinted hankie out of his pocket. "Mr. Tennyson, Ms. Hatter, I have and never will appreciate your hijinks and I certainly don't think now is an appropriate time to pull them," he growled as he worked on getting the remaining water out of his ear. "Especially when you are already in enough trouble as it is."

"Dude, we're right here in front of you. It wasn't us."

He gave them a hard look while he tucked his hankie back into his breast pocket. Loathe as he was to admit it, they were probably right. Though they were capable of doing many things, the two of them hadn't so much as moved in their seats while he had been staring right at them. Only Maddie had moved every now and again, and that had been merely to drink the tea that she always carried around with her.

"That may be," he hesitantly relented. "But that doesn't mean you are in any less trouble."

"Potatoes know why they have eyes as much as corn knows why they have ears."

Headmaster Grimm gave the Hatter a frustrated look. He knew he should have paid more attention in his Riddlish studies.

"As I was saying, you two are here because you had the audacity to-"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

All eyes turned to look at the phone once more. He stared at it in disbelief, as if he were unsure whether or not his aging ears were playing tricks on him.

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

Apparently not. Stealing a glance back at the two troublemakers to see they were looking at him with anticipation, he tentatively picked up the phone. After holding it at arm's length and not being doused with another round of water, he brought the receiver to his ear. "Ever After High Headmaster's-"

The headmaster suddenly found himself violently coughing as noxious, black smoke began to billow out from the phone's receiver, enveloping his head in a cloud of ash. His throat began to burn between his coughing fit and his eyes started to water as they were stung. Holding the phone as far away from him as he could, he angrily waved his head in front of his face.

Even as he struggled to regain control of his breathing, he was at least thankful that the school's fire alarms hadn't been set off. That being said, he could feel his anger begin to boil in the pit of his stomach when he put down the phone with a little more force than necessary and turned to shoot daggers at the two students calmly sitting in front of his desk.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Well? Who was it?"

"Probably the fire department. They know how hotheaded he can be." Maddie guessed.

"You know, I'm pretty sure this is what they call a running gag."

The Hatter curiously cocked her head. "Running? From what?"

"Hex if I know."

Milton narrowed his eyes as he took to recomposing himself. "Mr. Tennyson. Ms. Hatter. These pranks have gone on for long enough!"

"Dude, we are literally right here," the brunette tapped the table with each word for emphasis while he brought his wrist up to display the Omnitrix – the very device that had turned his life into a living nightmare. "And in case you've forgotten, I can't really do anything without using this thing, least of all trying to roast you like an oversized s'more."

"Ooh, s'mores!"

"Later, Maddie."

"Aww . . ."

He gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow. They were right, as much as he hated to admit it. Once again, they had been sitting directly in front of him and he hadn't seen them do anything. Their hands – both of them – had been in clear sight and hadn't so much as moved from their lap or saucer, much less strike a match or flick open a lighter.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid you two won't be making s'mores anytime soon, not after what you've done," he growled at them, planting his hands on his desk. He angrily curled his fingers as if he were trying to control his rage.

"Which is . . . what, exactly?" Ben nonchalantly glanced at his fingernails, barely giving him the decency of his attention.

"Don't play coy with me," he spat. "You two are here because you had the gall to tamper with the school's public address-"

"You mean the PA system?"

The headmaster was fairly certain he was going to either pop a blood vessel or do something he was going to later regret. "Yes, the PA system, which you two modified to-"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

By now, he was fairly certain his grip on reality was beginning to falter. Incredulously, he turned to glare at the phone once more, as if he were trying to will it to suddenly self-combust. When it, in fact, did not inexplicably burst into flames before his very eyes, he bitterly reached for the phone and brought it to his face.

"Ever After High Headmaster's office-"

That was when golden coins and dollar bills came shooting out of the receiver and began to pelt him upside the head. Having learned from his mistakes, he quickly turned the phone down towards the floor and watched with a volatile mixture of amazement and acrimony as a sizable pile of money began to form on the floor. It wasn't until after the last few coins and a rather large ruby came trickling out that he slammed the phone back down, regarding the small dragon's horde at his feet with disdain.

"Well?"

He snapped his head back up at the sound of Ben's voice, meeting the laid-back mask on his face with one of intense hostility.

"Las Vegas." Maddie simply shrugged.

Ben cocked an eyebrow. "You guys have Las Vegas here?"

"Nope!"

Headmaster Grimm was fairly certain he was going to explode if he didn't get answers soon. Or at least be able to finish his accusation without being interrupted; at this point, either one would work. He knew they had to be responsible, there was so simply no other explanation for it. While Ever After High was certainly a place that taught magic to students with such talents, those students typically had to be in the same vicinity of the magical phenomena for it to actually happen. By that logic, they were absolutely guilty.

What was frustrating, however, was that he had no proof. As his father had always told him, "correlation does not equal causation". The simple fact that they were in the same room as he was bombarded by water and flames and money didn't necessarily mean that they were responsible, especially if they made no indication that they were. He couldn't pin anything on them until he had proof.

"Mr. Tennyson, Ms. Hatter, I don't know whether or not you are responsible for all this nonsense, but I will see to it that you are properly punished for what brought you here in the first place," he attempted to keep his voice even.

"Which is . . ?" Ben pressed with an impatient look.

"You're here because you modified the school's PA system to play-"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

"Wow, Headmaster Grimm! You sure are popular today!" Maddie cheerily remarked.

"I'll say," her boyfriend added with the ghost of a smile on his face. "Since when has he ever been popular?"

At this point, he was quite certain he had reached the end of his rope. With all the rage of a lion that just couldn't reach the obnoxious, irritating flea that was biting it, the headmaster slammed his hand down on the phone and picked it up with tightly clenched fingers, almost as if he were trying to strangle it.

"What!? What is it!? WHO IS THIS!" he bellowed into the phone at the top of his lungs.

As if somehow offended by his hostile response, a fiery blast of bright, pink sparks and purple light belched forth from the phone's receiver, fully catching him in the face with a thunderous roar, like that of a rocket booster at launch. By the time the cacophony died down, his portly features were caked in a thin layer of soot and ash and his mustache had been reduced to a blackened, crispy, shadow of its former glory. Even his receding hairline had been reduced to nothing more than a few, wispy strands that croaked with curls of soft smoke.

He hadn't been expecting that, not in the slightest. And if the way the two mischief makers were leaning back in their seats as far away from him as possible was any indication, they hadn't been expecting it either.

"So . . . uh . . ."

"The Magical Energy Commission." Maddie replied, pouring herself another cup of tea as she eased back into her chair.

Milton shakily set the phone back down as gently as possible, as if to avoid angering it any further. He produced his hankie once more and spent the next few moments in silence while he went about cleaning the soot off his face. Not a word was spoken between the three of them as he carefully ran the handkerchief over the remains of his hair, as if they might disintegrate into dust if he put too much pressure on them. Once he was satisfied that he had done all he could, he tossed the hankie into the wastebasket beneath his desk – at this point, it was beyond saving.

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson . . . Madeline Xylophone Hatter . . . I do not know what is going on and right now, I do not personally care," his voice was tired and weary. The surging inferno within him had been all but extinguished, reduced to nothing more than a pathetic candle that one might find at a children's birthday party. "But understand that I will not let you get away with what you have done."

"What-"

The headmaster cut Maddie off. By now, he was more than ready for it. "As for what you have done, you are here in my office because you tampered with the school's PA system, which now plays Jason Fairulo's "Savage Love" whenever a faculty member so much as tries to use it."

A grin split across Ben's face as he fell back in his chair, chuckling with his hands behind his head. "Heh, yeah. That was clawesome . . . drove Baba Yaga absolutely nuts, too . . . yeah, we didn't do that."

At this, he regarded them with a dubious look. He figured there must've still been some water in his ear that he hadn't quite gotten out because he was pretty sure he had just them proclaim innocence. The two biggest troublemakers in the school, the ones who were usually responsible or at the center of virtually every maelstrom of chaos, were telling him that he had pretty much pulled them into his office for no apparent reason.

"I'm sorry . . . what did you say?" he leaned closer.

"You heard me," the brunette gestured between him and Maddie. "We didn't have anything to do with this. Not the PA system, not your phone, nothing. At least, not this time."

He turned to look at the Hatter, as if hoping to catch her off guard. Instead, he was only met with that same, lively smile that she always seemed to have plastered on her face.

"You cannot be serious. You expect me to believe that you two, the ones who started a food fight in the Castleteria, the ones that unleashed a swarm of I-Can't-Believe-They-Aren't butterflies in the Charmitorium, and the ones that glued Professor Rumpelstiltskin to the ceiling of his classroom for nine hours, aren't responsible for all of this?" he shot back at them, the volume of his voice increasing with every example.

"Yeppers!" Maddie happily nodded her head.

"Believe it or not, Grimmy, we aren't responsible for everything that goes wrong in this place," Ben glared accusingly at him, folding his arms over his chest. "Just some of it."

"I refuse to-"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

At the sound of the phone's ominous ring, the headmaster put his hands over his ears and brought his head down onto the desk. Maybe if he pretended that it wasn't there, it would eventually stop ringing. Or maybe it would go away altogether. His brother had always been telling him that he needed to get with the times. At least now, he would have an excuse to get a new phone.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

He tiredly rolled his head up to meet the brunette's expectant gaze. "No, I most certainly won't."

"Aww, but why not?" Maddie whined. "Wonderlandiful and funny things happen whenever you do!"

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

"I'm more than aware of that, Ms. Hatter," he sighed as he sat back up and collapsed into his chair with a tired hand over his face. "Is there no end to . . . what did you call it? A running gag?"

Ben nodded. "Yep. That thing's gonna keep going off until you answer it. And then it'll ring again and again until whoever or whatever's doing this doesn't think it's funny anymore."

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

"I already don't think it's funny. Isn't that enough?"

"In my experience, no."

The headmaster wearily sighed. "Splendid."

BRRRRIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIINNGG!

"You know," Ben raised his voice as the phone continued to ring. "I might have a solution . . ."

"At this point, I will take anything. Anything!"

"Well . . . if you say so . . ." the brunette warned him as he stood up and brought the wrist with the Omnitrix snugly wrapped around it up. Before Milton could even think to stop him, he had already made a selection and slammed his hand down on the activation button, enveloping him in a blast of green light.

He could feel the bones in his hands crack and crunch loudly as his fingers knit together to form a pair of sharp claws and thumb. Glistening chitin the color of tar traveled up his arms and across his shoulders, oozing down over his chest and back. Ben swore he could hear his organs squelch and pulse deep within his tissue while they took on different forms; his stomach swelled to nearly twenty times its original size while his gall bladder and kidneys vanished entirely. His skeleton seemed to push itself past layers of muscle and fat, seamlessly sliding through them as if they were nothing but gel. He could now feel his inky, black skin begin to fuse with his bones, morphing into a durable exoskeleton the color of smog and smoke. Two horns, even one easily bigger than what his human arm had once been, suddenly erupted from where his temporomandibular joints had once been. The back of his shirt ripped open as a pair of obsidian elytra burst from his back and shoulders, only to fuse into a protective shell. What remained of Ben's skull seemed to go absolutely nuts when his mandible began to dramatically swell and bulge until it had formed a tremendous underbite that no dentist with enough time in the world could have possibly fixed. His teeth start to sink into his jaw, merging with his exoskeleton to form fang-like serrations; hundreds upon thousands of rings of internal cuspids and ivories traveled down the length of his gullet. A skintight, green suit rolled down the front of his chest as a gigantic, forked horn suddenly burst forth from his head like a giant beanstalk and the Omnitrix fused to the sternum.

The headmaster immediately regretted his words and sat bolt upright in his seat, desperately trying to reach over and snatch away the phone before anything happened. He took it back. He would take it all back right then and there and take whatever the phone decided to throw at him. If it meant that Eatle would get out of his sight, he would take it all back.

It seemed no matter what the circumstances were, any time that blasted device was activated, disaster was sure to follow. For all he knew, the Oryctini would manage to take out his beloved desk in his effort to dispatch his phone. Hex, he'd probably find a way to somehow break a hole in his floor and then several more floors beneath just for good measure. And while he was at it, he'd probably blast a few new windows into his walls, too.

"Mr. Tennyson, for the love of the ancestors, don't-"

That was as far as he got before Eatle promptly picked up the phone in his claws and gave it a sharp tug. The cord was yanked clean out of the wall, taking the socket and a handful of wires with it as he tossed his head back, opened his massive mouth, and tossed the phone inside.

Headmaster Grimm could only sink back into his chair in utter despair when the sound of crunching plastic and grinding metal filled the air. He would have been annoyed at the sight of the phone's cord being slurped up like a giant, strand of spaghetti, but at this point, he had nothing left in him. The last, fleeting spark had finally been extinguished, leaving nothing more than a smoldering wisp in its wake.

"Mmm, crunchy," Eatle noted, licking his lips. "Guess that puts an end to this running gag, huh?

"Yeah, and to all incoming calls, too!" Maddie cheerily added.

"Get out."

The sounds of chewing came to a stop as he cocked his exoskeletal brow. "What?"

The headmaster heaved a sigh and tiredly pinched his brow, pointing towards the door without looking at them. "Both of you. Get out of my office. I don't care if you were responsible for the PA system or not, just get out of my office, please."

"Are you sure?"

"Mads, I don't think this is a good time ta be looking a gift horse in the mouth." the Oryctini told his girlfriend after he had swallowed his latest meal.

"He's not a horse, you scoodle brain!"

The headmaster heaved another, defeated sigh, his arm falling limp against his side. "Please, the two of you, just get out of my office. And please, be careful with the doors. I think I feel a headache coming on . . ."

"Uh . . . okay?" Eatle brought his hand up and slapped the Omnitrix fused to his chest, forcing a timeout and briefly bathing him in a flash of green light that returned him to his original form. "Do you . . . um, want us to tell your secretary to, er . . . hold your calls or something on the way out?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble . . . please inform Miss Trollsworth that Giles will be taking over my headmaster duties for the rest of the day while I . . . see to other matters in my private quarters . . . in those exact words, if you wouldn't mind . . ."

"Gotcha."

As the brunette turned to go, he caught Maddie taking off her hat and reaching down inside up to her forearm before she pulled out a coffee mug, a coaster, and a two-spouted teapot. With great care, she set the coaster down on the headmaster's desk with the mug then gently placed the mug on top of it. She then poured out a generous amount of steaming hot tea and quietly set the teapot down next to it, taking care to avoid any stray papers.

"Chamomile tea. That should make all the rain clouds in your head go away." she gave him a small smile and patted his shoulder.

"Thank you, Ms. Hatter . . ."

Ben smiled as he held the door open for his girlfriend. As a final thought, he flicked the office's lights off on his way out. He wasn't always the brightest person, but something told him that the headmaster wasn't going anywhere any time soon.


"You got lucky."

"That's putting it mildly."

Ben glowered as he leaned against the wall of lockers, his hands folded tightly over his chest. Beside him was Raven, looking more disappointed than annoyed, of which she had his respect. For someone that was near constantly pulled into resolving the consequences of others' shenanigans, she had taken to being inexplicably kidnapped and pressed into helping them surprisingly well. She had much more patience than he did and he normally never got upset with his girlfriends – most of them were nice and decent enough, always conscious of how their actions might affect others. If one were to allow him, he would admit that he was rather proud of himself for picking such wonderful girlfriends.

But that didn't mean they were always the fair maidens everyone believed them to be. He honestly wouldn't have it any other way. It certainly made things interesting and things were rarely dull whenever they were together. Even so, there was always that one individual, that one outlier that stood out from the rest.

Kitty Cheshire was such an individual.

"This cat doesn't need luck when she's got skill." she purred, lounging from her spot in the window seat. She regarded him with what most would describe as a seductive look, but the brunette knew better. Seductive though she was at times, if there was one thing that Kitty always was, it was trouble. With a capital T and a few exclamation points, to boot.

"Uh-huh. Then explain to me why Ben and Maddie had to bite the bullet and cover for you?" Raven narrowed her eyes just the slightest, gesturing toward her boyfriend and best friend, respectively.

Seeing as how their mutual friend had seen fit to take up the majority of the cushioned window seat to enjoy as much of the sun's warmth as possible, the Hatter in question had seated herself on an unoccupied corner and pulled out a small table with a complete tea set that she was currently indulging herself in.

"Um, because you three are the best friends a cat could ask for?"

"Try again." Ben shook his head.

"Hmm . . ." the Cheshire mused as she rolled onto her stomach, her legs absentmindedly kicking back and forth in time with her tail. "Is it because you love me?"

Maddie laughed as she poured out two cups of tea. "Ooh, close, but no crumpet!"

Kitty gave a low sigh and resigned herself to sit back up. "Alright . . . I'm sorry that I messed with the PA system, got you two in trouble, and dragged Raven into the whole thing. If I'm gonna keep pulling all these pranks – which are toweriffic, I might add – then I should at least make sure that the people I care about most don't end up taking the fall . . ."

The brunette shared a look with Raven and nodded, allowing himself a small smile. "Apology accepted."

"Thanks. And you have to admit, it was pretty funny. I don't think I've ever seen Professor Rumpelstiltskin that upset since the time we replaced his desk chair with a high chair and a dozen encyclopedias from the LiFairy."

"You mean the time you replaced his desk chair with a high chair and a dozen encyclopedias from the LiFairy . . . but yeah, it was a little funny." the witchling admitted.

"And she did come to our rescue back in Headmaster Grimm's office with all those hatastic prank calls!" Maddie added with a giggle.

Ben shook his head, still smiling as he sat himself between them and draped his arms around them, pulling them in close to him. "Yeah, that was pretty great. Next time though, try to come up with a solution that doesn't involve getting someone else to help you clean up your mess."

"Please." Raven sighed tiredly, leaning into his shoulder. "You have no idea how lucky we are that none of those spells backfired . . ."

"Noted," the Cheshire smirked before she gave their boyfriend a soft kiss on the cheek. A light blush bloomed across his face as she slid out of his embrace and laid herself across his lap, taking a few moments to get herself into just the right position before she finally settled down. "So what should we do next?"

"How about we take it easy for a bit? Give Grimm a chance to calm down a little, you know? " he suggested. "Besides, I think one more phone call might have given him an aneurysm or something."

Maddie eagerly nodded and pushed a teacup across the table into Raven's waiting hands. "Sounds good to me. And so does tea!"

Kitty hummed in his lap as if she were thinking it over. "Hmm . . . do the thing, and I'll think about it."

"The thing?"

"The thing."

The brunette sighed and resigned himself to scratching his girlfriend behind the ears and stroking her down the length of her back, silently praying that no one would come along and catch them. "I swear, this is the only reason you love me . . ."

"A little to the left."

"My point exactly."

"Aw, cheer up, Ben!" Maddie smiled, raising a cup of tea as if she were making a toast. "At least you're having a better time than Headmaster Grimm!"

"Here, here." Raven added before she took a deep, calming sip from her own cup.

Ben took a moment to analyze his situation. For once in the general insanity that was his life, he and his girls had a quiet moment to themselves. No one to fight, no looming terror to vanquish, no headmaster breathing down his neck over the latest accident. And to top it all off, he would probably have a nice cup of tea ready and waiting for him if he so much as asked for it. All things considered, he was doing pretty well.

"You make a good point, Mads. You make a good point."


Ah, feels good.

Don't forget, leave your ideas for omakes down in the reviews!