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 (please?), 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 Gatorchick007: So you knew Suze was pregnant before I said so? That's good. Thanks for the review.

To UnangelicHalo: You have a lot of theories and I know I never say if they're correct, but I like that you ponder possible future events. I mean, it helps me decide how I want my story to go. So, keep the theories coming! Thanks again!

To Gen. Kenobi: Nope, I don't really like Jessica Simpson. I just thought that song kind of fit. (laughs) So, I make it hard to love Paul? Well, I am a JF you know. Hehe. Thanks for reviewing again, fellow Emily!

To Enelya Tinuviel: (laughs) It was a weird review, but I liked it. Anything that makes me laugh is good. Yeah, five kids are already too much…and now I'm adding another one. Hehe. You're welcome to have Paul kidnap you. Thanks for reviewing!

To Clavel: Calm down. Everything will turn out right eventually. (laughs) Shaun is another complicated issue. As is where Suze has been taken… Thanks for the review!

To Allimba: Yeah, Suze is pregnant…AGAIN. (laughs) Thanks for reviewing!

To Holly: (laughs) Will do. Thanks for reviewing!

A/N: Yeah! Over 50 reviews! Wahoo! Thanks, guys!

A/N 2: All right, folks, here's another poll:

Should the new baby be…

1) A boy?

2) A girl?

3) Or you don't care.

Let me know in a review please! I can go either way…though I'd prefer another boy.

Once we figure out if the baby is a boy or a girl, I'll take name suggestions. Think of this as a somewhat interactive story, if you will. (laughs)

Chapter 7: Son's Loyalty

All right, remind me again why these things always happen to me? Oh yeah, I'm a mediator. Never mind then.

Seriously though, where the heck am I? I can't see anything but inky darkness. Atleast I'm not afraid of the dark. Rosie was always a bit on edge as a little kid when she was in pitch-dark, but I never was.

I had been just standing there for ten minutes and still nothing! It was cold too. I was still in my blue pajama bottoms with yellow crescent moons scattered across it and my pajama shirt – a blue tank top. Folding my arms against my chest, I tried to step forward…only to pause as footsteps approached.

I couldn't make out any features or even the size or shape of what was walking towards me, but I backpedaled slowly. Can't be too careful after all.

"Ah, there you are, Suze," said a familiar voice. I couldn't quite place it for a second.

"Della Slater," I snapped.

"Yes," came Della's light voice.

Suddenly, we were out of darkness and in a room with a high ceiling and a marble floor. It was strangely ballroom-like with tall windows on the far wall. It hit me then. We were in the room of my nightmare, minus the long tables and children.

Della was wearing a little black party dress that fit the room. Her blonde hair was flowing over her tanned shoulders. Pivoting on her high heels to face me sideways, she said, "Welcome to our home, Suze."

A knock at the door cut off my biting retort. "It's done, Paul!" called out Della, smiling. I'll wipe that grin right off your face you – !

One of the wide wooden doors leading into the room creaked out open and Paul Slater appeared. "Welcome, Suze!" he said.

"Are they taken care of?" Della asked suspiciously.

"Oh," said Paul. "You mean the children and the cowboy?"

"Paul…" hissed Della.

"Just have your shadow go after them," said Paul casually.

"How could they have gotten away?" shrieked Della. Whoa, there. What's going on?

"Shaun," Paul replied simply. His blue eyes had gone frosty.

Letting out a frustrating shriek, Della turned back to me.

"So your kid helped my family escape?" I asked, smirking.

I thought Paul and Della wanted me though. What were they doing trying to get Jesse and the children?

"The escape into time I bet," grumbled Della. "Right, Paul?"

"Correct," drawled Paul.

"We need her more than ever then," said Della, jerking her thumb backwards at me. Hello! I'm right here! Stop talking about me!

"What do you, psychos, need me for exactly?" I inquired.

Della snapped her fingers and hand-shaped shadows came from behind me and bound my wrists.

"It's very simple, Suze," explained Paul. "We need you as bait for your little children." What the…?

"My children?" I echoed, struggling against the shadows' iron grip.

"You'll see soon enough," Paul said. "We figured it would be easier to capture you then to try to get your kids."

Easier to capture me than children? Sure, the plan worked, but I was still insulted.

"We almost had little Dominique," purred Della. That's the only way to describe her tone and her satisfied smirk.

She was like the cat that got the canary. I don't want to be the canary though. Besides, yellow looks horrible on me anyway.

"With Shaun leading them," Paul voiced out loud to Della, "they'll be able to hop from different times."

Wait. That didn't go with what he'd told me years ago.

"This is a sort of Egyptian shifter time portal. According to Dr. Slaski's research, a shifter can use it only once in their entire lifetime to prevent someone's death. But only once."

That's what Paul had said himself, so how could Shaun be able to hop through different times?

"How can he move from time to time? You said shifters can only go back in time once," I hissed.

"Simple, Suze," Paul explained. "I can tell atleast one of your children, little Dominique, is a very different kind of shifter than you and me. Dominique and Shaun and whoever else are a new breed made of a shifter and a mediator – you and De Silva – Della and I. They can go back at anytime for as much as they want. They're abilities only make it harder for Della's shadow ghosts to find them. But soon, when we catch all of them, we'll be able to do that too. The problem is, we have to catch them all to find out who exactly are the shifters out of them."

Whoa. Was this true? Was that why Unique was always vanishing and why she returned this time with strange clothes and jewelry on?

Where had Shaun hidden my family? I'd rather be stuck in a strange time with Paul's son than with Paul and Della and the blasted shadow ghosts.


Della and Paul left to plan. I was left stuck to the floor of the ballroom via shadow ghosts. Great. As if my life wasn't screwed up enough.

In a little flash of light that made the shadows wither, Shaun Slater appeared beside me.

"Where are – ?" I began.

"Shhh!" hissed Shaun, covering my mouth with his hand. He removed his hand and whispered, "They'll return any moment. Word travels fast through shadow. Rosie made me come looking for you."

"Where are they?" I asked.

"Colonial Boston, Massachusetts," Shaun admitted with a slight grin. "They're all okay though."

"Won't the shadows have heard?" I asked.

"No," Shaun said, shaking his head. "They're too stupid to understand human speech. They just know who I am. That's how they'll notify my mother. She communicates with them through brain waves.

"What about Jesse?"

"He's with the others," Shaun said.

"Good. Now go back to them!" I insisted. "They need you to help them stay safe."

"All right, but Mr. De Silva says to be careful and don't let my dad near you," Shaun said.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

Footsteps were approaching, so Shaun replied hurriedly, "Because I care about Rosie and I'm a new shifter too. They'd kill me for my power if I wasn't their son."

"Kill? What do you mean?" I gasped. But it was too late. Paul and Della burst in just as Shaun rapidly invoked an incantation to bring him back to my family.

He vanished in another burst of light. Some of Della's shadows went to try to follow Shaun.

What had he meant by: "They'd kill me for my power if I wasn't their son"?

Did that mean Della and Paul would cause what happened in my nightmare…to come true?

My head hurts from all this. I know how I said the puking was pretty much over with, but… Well, I guess it's not. Damn.

Bleh!


A/N: Another quick update. I'm on a roll. Next chapter: Suze realizes she can actually find out what's happening to her kids, but her family is scattered into different times, trying to escape when the shadow ghosts find them…

Itty Bitty Teaser:

"Don't you see, Suze? I have your family on the run," said Paul.

A/N: Don't forget to review and let me know your vote for the poll towards the beginning of the chapter.