Mediator Mom

By: ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot/Jenny Carroll, including Jesse (no fair), Suze, Paul, Father D, CeeCee, Adam, etc.

Claimer: I fully own Shaun, Charisma, Carmen "Carmenita" De Silva, Rosalinda "Rosie" De Silva and her pets, Tobias "Toby" De Silva, Jacob "Jaco" De Silva and his dog Hiei, and Dominique "Unique" De Silva. I also own the plot. I may not own the fact that Jesse has five sisters (ages 6-16 when he died), but I do own who the five girls are – i.e. their personalities and names. In short, I also own Juanita "Nita" De Silva, Estefana De Silva, Felicidad "Felly" De Silva, Dolores "Dolly" De Silva, and most of all Carmen De Silva.

To Clavel: Yep, Paul's son. He'll play a key part in all this. As will Paul…and his wife. Hehe. Thanks for reviewing!

To UnangelicHalo: Mini Paulie? (laughs) I wasn't so sure people were going to like Carmenita really. She's tough, but a bit preppy at times. She kicks serious butt in this chapter though.

I think I like Unique the best myself because she's so, well, unique. Pardon the pun. I like Rosie too though because she's a lot like me. (laughs again) Thanks for the review!

To PoeticKiss: Super interesting, huh? Thank you.

To muzacgurl: I like the kids too. Each is very different from each other, but still likeable in most instances. Thanks a bunch for the review!

To SweetestReject, truly-haunted, & Luna Gypsy: Thank you all for reviewing!

To Esodes08: Too many characters are giving ME the headache. (laughs) When I was writing chapter 1, I kept forgetting a kid…which is why Toby is in the kitchen the whole time Unique does her first mediation.

You like Toby the best? Interesting. As I told UnangelicHalo, Unique is my fave for some reason. (laughs again) Rosie is kind of like Doc. So is Unique for that matter, except she's more secretive about her "knowledge-gathering." Jaco isn't really that much like Jake, but I see what you mean. Maybe he will be eventually.

You'll find out who the shifters are soon enough… Thanks a bunch for reviewing!

Chapter 2: Unwelcome

You'd think with seven mediators living in the same house that one of them would be willing or capable to get rid of a four hundred pound ghost haunting one of their bathrooms.

But of course not. Carmenita's excuse is she's on the phone. Rosie's is she's doing her homework. Toby's defense is his arm hurts and he'll just get "pissed off" at the ghost. Jaco says he wouldn't stand a chance against a mammoth beast quadruple his girth…while Unique says she's already tried.

As for Jesse, well, let's just say he tried too. I saw him stalking out of the bathroom last week, grumbling Spanish curses.

So, that leaves me. Lucky me.

Rolling up the sleeves of my black see-through sweater – I wore it over a white camisole – I hammered on the bathroom door. It was thrown inward by a huge tower of six feet of…ghostly substance – not flesh because our bathroom is not haunted by the living of course.

Glaring down at me from beady gray eyes and a head topped with blonde, was Warren, or – as he was dubbed by Unique – the Bathroom Ghost. Warren was wearing a black T-shirt that just barely stretched over his beer belly – a fact that slightly grossed me out.

Apparently, he had decided to haunt the bathroom of a bunch of mediators because he was angry over dying in a public restroom of a heart attack. Since we could see him, he could annoy us. Nice guy, huh? Not.

"Hey, Warren," I said, giving him a fake smile. "How's it going?"

"Do I look like I'm having a fun time?" snarled Warren. "Your brats keep bothering me."

"Well," I reasoned, "that comes of haunting their bathroom."

"Especially that Toby boy," continued Warren as if I hadn't spoken.

Jerk. Toby always has to go to the bathroom at night – don't ask me why. Maybe it's a guy thing. Anyway, the haunted bathroom is right next to his room, so one night he went in there with his eyes plastered close from being half-asleep, and the next thing I knew, he was swearing because Warren wouldn't let him use that bathroom. Toby tried a few more times to no avail, so now he uses my bathroom. It's attached to my bedroom, so to say I'm pleased by being awakened in the middle of the night to the peaceful sound of the TOILET FLUSHING would be an understatement.

But soon that will change. "Warren," I said, "you need to stop haunting this bathroom and move on to heaven or a new life or hell or purgatory or whatever."

"You're gonna make me?" threatened Warren, leering down at me.

"Yeah," I replied. And that's when I punched him in the chest. What? That was as high as I could reach. I'm no shorty, but this guy was enormous!

It's a bad thing when you find yourself being pinned to the floor by a four hundred pound ghost. Even worse when your own daughter just walked by you with headphones on completely oblivious to your plight!

"CARMENITA!" I screamed.

She turned her head to me and gasped. Pulling her headphones off, she shrieked, "Get off my mom, you bathroom freak!" It was then that Carmenita hauled off and punched the ghost bent over me. She got him right in the jaw, causing him to stumble off of me. Thank God too! I was getting crushed!

Meanwhile, Carmenita was giving Warren a piece of her mind. "You asshole, don't you dare make this seem like it's our fault! You choose our bathroom to haunt over moving on!"

Wahoo! Go Carmenita!

As Warren reached down to grab Carmenita's wrists, she dodged his hands and punched him in the gut. That's my girl. She took karate from when she was six to nine. I think it turned out for the best…

Warren went backwards and held up his hands in surrender. He vanished then, finally moving on.

"Nice punches," commented an amused voice from the foyer below. I scrambled to the railing and looked down at someone I hadn't seen in several years.

"Paul Slater," I groaned.

"We let ourselves in. The door was unlocked," Paul explained. Beside him was a very tall, blonde teenager, Shaun, and behind them was a pretty flaxen-haired woman with very bright blue eyes, Paul's wife/girlfriend/lover/or whatever. She was wearing a sleeveless green tee with white capris. Shaun was the one who had spoken about "Nice punches."

"It's been awhile, Suze," continued Paul, grinning. "I can tell that's your daughter."

Carmenita colored when she went to stand next to me and spotted Shaun. We all turned to the kitchen doorway as Rosie appeared. "Mamá? Where's – Oh, hi." She stared at the three Slaters before coming back to her senses and turning to Carmenita and I standing above on the landing. Rosie gave me a questioning look before saying to the three people, "The Slaters."

"Ah, another daughter. Any other children, Suze?," said Paul. "What? No 'hello?' No 'how are you?' No, of course not." He shrugged and grinned up at me.

"It doesn't matter to you, but I have five children, Paul," I replied impassively.

"Five?" gasped Paul, grinning. "I am impressed. Let me introduce my own, Shaun. And this is Delilah, my wife."

"It's a pleasure," I said dryly.

"He's not as bad as he was twenty years ago," claimed Delilah.

"We'll see," I replied.

It was then that Jesse came home. I could hear him coming up the front steps with Toby and Jaco. Where was Unique then?

The front door was opened by Toby, whose eyes went very wide as he saw the Slaters. "Pop," he called behind him. Jaco appeared then with Jesse.

I could see Jesse freeze, saw him look at me with confused eyes, before turning his gaze angrily on Paul. "Slater, why are you here?" he demanded, steering Jaco and Toby over to Rosie.

"Just stopping by, De Silva," replied Paul with a smirk. "My son goes to the Mission just like your five. Where is the fifth one anyway?"

"Leave, Slater," snapped Jesse. "You were not invited."

"Can't a guy get a second chance?" asked Paul laughingly.

"You had yours, Paul," I grumbled. "And a third and fourth and…"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Paul said. "We'll leave then. Be seeing you all."

As soon as they were gone, Unique appeared, seemingly out of nowhere for she snuck up behind Carmenita and I. We both jumped and swung around to see a faintly grinning eight-year-old.

"Where have you been?" I asked, smiling.

"Laying down," answered Unique. "My head hurts."

Before I could reply, Jaco called out dramatically, "Who's up for a little ice cream to soothe our nerves?"

"Jaco," teased Carmenita, "if you keep suggesting ice cream, we're all going to get fat because of you."

"Hasn't stopped me yet," Jaco replied, grinning.


"Jesse," I said, lying next to him in bed. He was reading some science book that would undoubtedly bore me to tears if I tried to read it.

He looked up, slipping the bookmark Unique had made him for Father's Day inside the hardback. The bookmark had one picture of each of the children and I in order of birth with silver sharpie squiggles twirling around each face. Unique had snuck into the main office at the Mission to laminate it all.

"Sister Ernestine almost got me," claimed Unique grandly on Father's Day, "but I slipped between the big file cabinet and the wall, and she walked right past me!"

Jesse peered at me, curiously. "Querida?" he asked.

"What do you think of Paul's son?"

"What is there to think?" Jesse inquired. "He said very little."

"Yeah, but do you think he'll be like Paul?" I asked.

"It's possible."

"Uh huh," I mumbled.

"I'm more concerned about Unique right now," Jesse commented after awhile.

"What?" I said. "Why?"

"She's been having more headaches lately than you think," was all Jesse would say.

"And?"

"And I don't want to worry you, Susannah," Jesse said, setting his book down on the nightstand.

"Jesse…"

"Susannah, you have told me the effect traveling to the Shadowland has, don't you see?" Jesse explained.

"She can't be…" I muttered. "It could just be she's prone to headaches," I suggested. Jesse gave me a long look so I added, sighing, "But probably not. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"Good," said Jesse, nodding. He leaned over and kissed me then.

Will I ever get tired of his kisses?

Never.


A/N: Well, that chapter was written quickly. (That's because I stayed awake until 2 AM writing the beginning of it.) Don't forget to review now! Bye.