Crouched behind the kitchen counter, Rayne waited long enough to allay any suspicion, and to confirm that he was indeed hearing the sounds of muffled munching and giggling from within the pantry.

He tiptoed up, whipped the pantry door open, lifted his phone and snapped a picture.

Caught in the camera flash, his mother and his little sister froze like deers in the headlights; their cheeks bulging and hands caught in an open bag of assorted Halloween candy. Eyes adjusting to the dark, Rayne peered a little closer, and yep, Mom was indeed picking out the red licorice candies specifically.

It reminded him so vividly of how she and he used to 'sneak' licorice from barely-hidden stashes around the house when he was a kid. And now Mom was doing it with Tara, too - she was still such a dork. And he was so glad for it.

Tara retracted her hand from the bag of candy and glared at her older brother, as if he was in the wrong for finding her secreting sweets just before her bedtime.

"I won't tell Dad," Rayne broke the silence. The corner of his mouth twitched up a little. "I'll go and get another bag of candy so that he doesn't notice. He couldn't help his voice turning a bit smug. "On one condition."

Verosika half-glowered, though with a mouthful of candy the effect was lost. She swallowed. "Blackmail, Rayne, really?"

"Yep."

He could swear he heard his mother mutter "Oh, your father's taught you well…" as she discreetly placed the bag of candy back on a shelf. Tara's hand darted out and snatched another piece of chocolate when her mother turned her back to face Rayne again.

"Alright, name your terms," Verosika sighed.

All of a sudden Rayne's bravado abandoned him, and he was young and guilty again - a kid owning up to breaking one of his dad's inventions, a teen admitting that he had been coerced into trying beer at a party.

"I get to go on a date with Nimi on Halloween Eve. Hang out at their place, and… there's a late showing of Rocky Horror I think they'd like to see as well…"

"Buy me and Momma a bag of red liquorice and it's a deal!" Tara blurted out, her mouth still full.

"Lovebug, shush." Verosika gently walked forward and gently cupped her son's cheek. "Rayne, honey, a date's not something you need to extort me for. You know that, right? Of course you can go on a date."

Rayne nodded, but struggled to find the right words. "Sorry, Mom…" he offered meekly.

His mother suddenly looked like she understood something, and her expression turned a bit sad. "Were you afraid that I would say no?"

He shuffled from foot to foot, blushing a bit. "...yeah… maybe, cause we'd be out late, and…y'know…"

"I trust you, baby. And I trust Nimi too. You're both very nearly adults, I can't -" She looked emotional all of a sudden, and Rayne was suddenly acutely aware of how close he was to college, to moving out, to growing up . "I can't control what you both choose to do, and I know you both know how to keep safe. I know I've taught you that, at least."

"...thanks, Mom." Rayne offered a small smile, and willingly stepped into his mother's embrace. He could tell she needed it, and honestly? Maybe he wanted it a little bit too.

"Just let me or your father know when you're gonna be home, if you're gonna spend the night, or if you need a lift back." Verosika hummed into his ear. "Nothing either of you are uncomfortable with, okay?"

"Sure thing, Mom," Rayne whispered back, returning the hug.

"What does that mean?" Tara piped up, curiously.

"Get yourself one last bit of candy, lovebug," Verosika dodged that question smoothly, letting Rayne go. "Then it's straight upstairs for storytime."

That seemed enough to satisfy Tara. She nabbed one final piece - a strawberry-infused pink chocolate - and finally let the bag of candy be. "Can I have a Shrimp the Wimpy Imp tonight, Momma?"

"What's the magic word, Tara?"

"Please?"

"Okay, sure thing baby," Verosika chuckled, shooing both her children out of the pantry and out of the kitchen. She planted a smooch on Rayne's cheek on the way past, which made him squirm away only half-heartedly.

As his mom and sister made a big show of sneaking past his dad's office on their way upstairs - which really wasn't necessary, it was obvious now that Wally knew and played along with his family's snack-sneaking quirks - Rayne lingered in the dining room, looking at the photo he'd taken of them caught in the act of raiding the pantry.

He decided he'd keep it. Not for blackmail purposes, but because it was pretty funny to look at - it made him smile. A memento from home to put up in the college dorm he'd move into next year.


"Shit, I say, shit," Wally hissed as he dashed across the kitchen to save his pumpkin pie from the horrible, horrible threat of the oven.

"Wally, it's fine," Verosika soothed, trying to smother her snickering. "I don't smell burning."

"Verosika, darlin', I say I love ya to pieces, but you are not as well-versed in the art of piemakin' as I am!" Her goofy husband flung open the oven door, took a single second to yank out the steaming hot pie, and slammed the oven shut just as quick. "A few seconds is the difference between a perfect pie and a mediocre one. An', I say I say, we do not have mediocre pumpkin pies in this family!"

Verosika rolled her eyes and returned to rolling out cookie dough with Tara, while her husband laid out the pie on a baking tray beside an elder sibling and bustled away to tend to the next lot of pie filling.

Tara aggressively squashed her section of cookie dough, with enough force that the chocolate chips were actually cracking and breaking apart. She was sure going to enjoy cutting skulls and demon head shapes out of the dough.

That is if it didn't fall apart first.

Verosika scrutinized the dough she was kneading out with her hands and winced as it started to crumble. She wasn't sure if she'd added enough milk, enough eggs, or enough spice, and suspected that these cookies might end up a little funny looking.

But they were made with love, and she knew they would taste wonderful no matter what.

Wally busily poured pumpkin filling into another pie shell, and delivered it promptly to the blazing maw of the oven. He whipped off his oven gloves and blew on his singed fingers. "'Fraid the oven's gonna be occupied for a lil' while longer, I say," he said, only apologetically.

"No worries here, Wal'," Verosika reassured him. "These need to be chilled before we bake them. Hopefully it'll stop them from falling apart." She winced as a small chunk came off Tara's beaten-up pancake of dough, then again when Tara snuck that bit of dough into her mouth. "I saw that, little madam. You need to wash your hands before you start cutting out cookies."

Tara pouted, but did as she was asked.

"Are you sure the supercharged oven was a good idea, Dad?" Rayne asked pointedly, "I mean, the recipe says a pumpkin pie is supposed to bake for an hour - not 20 minutes at three times the temperature."

"Time, I say, time is money, son," Wally insisted, not even reacting as the tinkered-with, 'improved' oven let out a mildly concerning groan.

"Uh-huh, and how much money would you be willing to bet that the kitchen doesn't catch fire?"

There was a visible flash of flame from inside the oven.

"None whatsoever, because, I say, it won't ."

"Why do we need so many pies cooked so fast anyway?" Verosika asked, taking up a cookie cutter and stamping out shapes in her dough. "If you're planning on baking more tomorrow, that'll be more than enough for Halloween dessert."

Another bit of dough crumbled off, and she sneaked it into her own mouth before Tara could see and call her a hypocrite. Oh, yes, who cared if the consistency of this cookie dough was a bit sub-par, it tasted just divine.

"Cause some demons, I say, have made a habit of unexpected housecalls just before Halloween," Wally proclaimed grandly. "An' a guest in the Wackford-Mayday's home must never go unimpressed!"

"Yay, Uncle Ozzie!" Tara cheered, slapping down her cookie cutter with great enthusiasm. "I'm gonna make blue icing for his cookie!"

Wally pulled a disgruntled face at that declaration, and Verosika could hear him grumbling under his breath; something about Ozzie stealing his darling daughter's affections.

She rolled her eyes, and got to work placing the cut-out cookie dough on baking paper to go in the fridge.


As it turned out, Uncles Ozzie and Fizz did make a surprise housecall that afternoon, and there were fresh, steaming pumpkin pies ready and waiting for them.

Ozzie declared his pie "simply delectable," but fussed far more over the misshapen blue cookie his "favourite little princess in Hell" presented him with - and boy did that sting a little bit. Not to mention that Tara happily perched on Asmodeus's shoulders for most of his visit.

Wally let Verosika cover most of the chatting and Fizzarolli give the worst possible date advice to Rayne (not that Rayne was going to take any of it on board. He was a gentleman, not a clown), while he stewed in fatherly discontent.

Much later on that evening before Halloween, Wally was still in a bit of a sour mood as he polished off a leftover piece of pie.

Verosika was preoccupied checking her phone every few minutes, waiting for Rayne to send another update on his evening date. Her distraction allowed Tara to sneak up to her father with a pilfered plate of her own pie, brandishing the whipped cream can.

"You make the best pies, Daddy," she said sweetly, and nestled into his side, spraying far too much cream on top of her slice and tucking in with vigor.

Wally felt his heart swell and his mood lift at once.

Heh. Take that, I say, take that 'Uncle Ozzie'.


A/N:

For those of you wondering who Nimi is, they're a succubus love interest for Cyan's OC Rayne, and I may be writing a more substantial work focusing on them at some point in the future... ;-)