Make Me Feel

Disclaimer: I do not own any licensed character(s) belonging to Marvel Comics or DC Comics. I do not own any possibly mentioned or referred to actors, singers, bands, movies, television shows, book characters or items, organizations, songs, or name brand products. I do own Zachary Wayne (Granite), Emily Wayne, Teresa Wayne, and random plug-in OC's. These characters are not to be used in other pieces of fanfiction by other authors unless my consent is given. If an author wishes to use a character of mine, they may seek me out and it will be discussed.

Notes: I'm not really going to sit back and wait for reviews to pile up. I don't think I'll get that many right now anyway due to the break and I'm sure that many of my usual readers are most likely on vacation away from their computers. I do thank talkstoangels for taking the time to read and review my chapter and I thank anyone who has read it but decided to not review.

Chapter 34

"Are you alright, gypsy boy?"

Otto watched as his boy smiled and nodded in response. He still marveled at the teenager's strength and wondered what on earth he would do if he were without the young man. He didn't want to think of such a thing. He had thought after he had lost his darling Rosie that he would spend the rest of his life alone with no one to keep him company other than his children. But then he had found a new love and he couldn't understand how he had ever managed without him.

"Are you ready to see your sister and mother as a healthy and safe individual, or do you want to stay down here? I'm sure we could find something to do."

He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. The young man standing before him immediately burst into a fit of laughter that lasted for a comically long amount of time. The tentacles almost mistook it for a choking fit and that alone was enough to make the scientist grin.

Zachary's face was a bright shade or red and he was gasping for breath but he was glowing and grinning all the same. Otto couldn't help but to feel quite proud of himself after that reaction. It truly did amaze him what power a few words possessed.

"I can't believe that you did that. I'm going to be remembering that when I'm thirty and in need of an upper."

Otto smiled proudly but his mind immediately presented him a thought he had considered but had forced himself not to dwell on. He knew that they had a very large age gap between them, he was totally aware of that. But what would their relationship be someday when Zachary was thirty? Or forty for that matter? The boy was just barely eighteen but he himself was forty-seven. Eventually someday the boy would be a man and he would be a relic. A time would come where Zachary would lose interest in him, no longer find him to be attractive. Would their love dwindle as he grew into an old man and would his much younger companion leave him to find someone younger and more appealing? The thought was so painful to think about, but now that the threat of death was out of the way, the never leaving threat of time was still present.

Otto blinked away the water building up in his eyes and forced those horrid thoughts away. He would think of that another time, he could bring it up in a conversation and they would figure it all out together. No need to get depressed after succeeding in such an amazing scientific breakthrough and glorious occasion.

"Let's go upstairs. I want to find Emily and my mom. They are going to be so happy now that everything is alright."

Zachary was speaking quickly and energetically. He was excited and happy and he had every right in the world to be. It's like a cancer patient being told they are cured for life. Now that Otto though about in that light, he realized that was a more appropriate term to use than 'stone rash'. What it had really been was a stone cancer. And he had discovered and administered a cure for it. Maybe he could try to patent his notes. He brushed the thought away; he'd consult Zachary on that later. As the subject he would need the boy's permission and approval.

"Alright, let's go then."

Zachary smiled at him and took Otto's larger, warmer hand in his slimmer, cooler one and they walked towards the carved stone stairs hand in hand. As they climbed them Zachary could feel a growing excitement in his chest and he started to grin while looking up ahead at nothing in particular. Otto could sense the younger man's excitement and let a grin of his own slip into place on his face. Even the assistants picked up on the mood and spoke words of praise and affection in their father's mind.

On the trek back to the small plush living room Zachary was walking quickly and Otto kept a firm grip on the boy's hand and attempted to get the youth to slow down and relax. Zachary eventually complied and walked side by side with his older partner and tried to focus on the hand joined with his, the pounding of his heart beat, and the now very subtle tingling of his skin.

When they finally reached the desired room Zachary's heart had migrated up from his chest and into the approximate area of throat and somehow his ears. He couldn't understand why he was so wound up but he felt like he could start to bounce off the walls and ricochet off the ceiling at this point.

He also had to pause and remember that Emily could possibly not even be in the room. After all, Otto had sent her off to be with their mother before going down to the Batcave. She might have not returned yet or could have possibly assumed that they would meet her at Teresa's study.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Otto's large warm hand gave his a reassuring squeeze and he took a deep breath smiling. He was just so tense with excitement and couldn't wait to see the look on Emily's face when she saw him standing there and telling her the amazing news.

Emily was in the room when they walked in. She was sitting on the couch sideways with her legs drawn up to her chest. Otto recognized the position as one Zachary had often used when he was still nervous of being touched by him. The girl's position was not from fear of close contact obviously but from the worry for her older brother. The television was not showing the usual music videos full of unrealistically handsome men and barely clothed women dancing but was showing a cartoon instead. The program was not one Otto was able to place very quickly but knew he had seen once before. He realized it was a program Rosie's little niece had watched on a night the girl had stayed with them as her mother and father went out of town. He had almost completely forgotten about the girl, he vaguely remembered her name as Kimberly. Rosie had had to run to the store and he had ended up sitting on the couch with the six year old on his lap as she happily watched her program that starred brightly colored talking horses. My Little Pinto or something to that nature.

Emily looked up at them as they came in and started to speak as she rushed to stand up from her spot on the couch. Zachary released his partner's hand and ran up to his younger sibling before she could take three steps towards them.

"It worked. Otto did it and it worked." The teenager took the girls face into his hands as he said this while trying to not lose his cool in his excitement. Her mouth opened and closed several times before a shriek escaped her and she threw her arms around the older teen's neck in a crushing hug.

Otto stood back away from them smiled. The tentacles spoke to him and made comments about what they were witnessing and he explained in his mind that it was supposed to be normal for siblings to act in such away after something horribly wrong has been fixed.

"We are siblings but we have never entwined with each other after stressful situations."

"This is correct. Are we supposed to father?"

"I must follow Two's question. Are we four supposed to 'hug'?"

"I feel pretty…oh so pretty…I feel charming and-"

"Cease your foolish chanter Four!!"

Otto couldn't help but to smother a snicker at the annoyed chorus from the first three tentacles. He wondered how on earth his fourth child had turned out as such a ditz at moments, but he had to admit it was at some points refreshing. They really were like children.

He turned his attention back to the two siblings who were still locked in a tight embrace and finally went forward.

"Is your mother around Emily? I really think we should go tell the poor woman the good news."

The fourteen-year-old pulled away from her brother and absently twirled a strand of her black hair around her finger. She suddenly looked some what begrudged and this concerned Otto.

"I went to her study like you said I should do, but when I knocked on the door and asked to go in she said to go back to the sitting room. I told her that it was about the cure thing and she didn't say anything for awhile. When I knocked and asked if she was alright she said she was fine and to go wait in the sitting room. She said she would come down in a little while."

Otto frowned and Zachary looked confused. The nagging feeling that he had felt before started to scream at him and he thought back to the woman's speech about how she could handle them being a couple. He remembered the too perfect words, the frozen face, and the hysterical look to her. His feeling of worry only started to grow even more.

"How long ago was this?"

She looked around a bit agitatedly and finally her gaze landed on his eyes. He could see that she was worried but confused as well.

"Right after you guys went down."

Otto's jaws tightened and he noticed with out much interest that he was beginning to sweat. He knew that something was wrong, he just knew it. But he couldn't for the life of him figure out what on earth the woman could be up to. She surely wouldn't do anything that would hurt her son. But he had a very sure feeling she had no problem what so ever with doing something to himself. But what could a normal human woman do to a Super-Villain, Super-Genius, and rather large man like himself?

Otto was shaken from his thoughts when a worried looking Emily turned back to Zachary. Her hands had abandoned her hair and were hanging by her sides.

"Zack, do you remember when mom left for a while when we were little?"

Otto watched his young love's face turn pale and grim from the confused look he had been wearing only mere seconds before.

"Yeah, how could I forget? It's happened again hasn't it? I should've known the stress she was under would make it happen again."

Otto's eyebrows narrowed and he knew instantly that some very relevant information had not been passed to him.

"What are you two talking about?"

The two teenagers looked at each other grimly and he felt a not fold in the low pit of his stomach. The looks on both of their faces showed a combination of fear, anger, worry, shame, and stress. What on earth hadn't they told him?

"I didn't tell you because I didn't think you would need to know. I thought that they had cured her. You see, our mother suffers from a mental illness. When we were little kids she had to leave home and stay in a mental hospital for a while. When she came back she was wonderful, and she's been really good for years. The thing that had driven her over the edge all those years ago was that Emily had been kidnapped. Our father saved her obviously, but that stress had caused her to go kinda nuts even after Em came home. I think the stress from us being together has driven her over the edge again."

Otto just stared at the teens who were both trying to not look him in the face. They're expressions held shame and he could understand that the information that many people needed to be aware of, but he did think that they could have warned him before hand that he was entering the home of a madwoman.

"And, you thought this wasn't necessary information for me to know. Zachary, you could have at least given me a clue so I could have planned ahead. Now we have no idea what she may be planning against me!"

His voice rose to a shout at the end and he knew that his face showed his anger. He had thought that Zachary was an intelligent individual, looks like that assumption was being proved wrong.

But as quickly as his anger had come, it disappeared just as quickly. The startled and hurt look on his loves face was enough to calm him down. He felt ashamed and it was even worse when he noticed what looked like an actual spark of fear in the teenager's frosty eyes. Emily looked worried and slightly fearful herself, and he remembered that he was a super-villain and that he was supposed to be unpredictable. Even if they cared about him they still had a reason to be uneasy when he appeared to grow angry.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to shout at you Zachary. But I think that it is very important that we go and find your mother. We need to check up on her to be sure."

The two Wayne children nodded and tried to cover up their grim expressions. Emily nervously began fiddling with the hem of her shirt that was starting to ride up and Zachary absently tried to brush his bangs from his face.

"Well, I guess we should go find her."

Zachary said this while looking at the wall and Otto and Emily began to nod in agreement, but they both stopped mid way and turned to the doorway just behind them with looks of nervous surprise.

"That won't be necessary Zachary honey. Mommy is here and I'm going to make everything all better."

And there stood Teresa Cassada-Wayne with a devious grin and raw red eyes. The warmth in the sea foam colored orbs was gone and they seemed as dead as green marbles.

Otto felt as though he was looking into the face of evil insanity personified.

End of Chapter

Wow, I think this is my longest chapter ever. I'm surprised how Teresa changed from what I had originally planning, but she was a perfect candidate for my villain. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'm starting another one right away. Thank you for reading and Please Review!

Stray-