Disclaimer: Mine! All almost mine! Ah haha! Ah haha haha haha!

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for all the angst in these last few chapters. I guess what I write is a reflection of what we feel, and right now...we're not feeling so hot. I hope we feel like cracking jokes soon. :-)

Chapter Thirteen

Breaking the Habit

WITH JAKE

It was a good thing there were addresses to the different CFJ, Inc. stores in town. Jake hit every one and searched top and bottom for Legolas. He finally found him in the downtown store. Legolas had a "personal shopping assistant" and the poor kid was covered in clothes.

"Legolas! What are you doing?" Jake demanded, storming over to him.

"Hey, sweetie! So glad you're here." He held up a pair of sparkly blue jeans. "What do you think of these?"

Jake checked the price tag. "$500 for some glittery jeans? I think they're a waste!" He glared at the kid under all the jeans. "Aren't you supposed to stop people from breaking the bank?"

"Hey, it's a summer job, okay? Leave me alone."

Jake growled a little and said, "You are to go through these purchases and discard everything that is more than $50."

Legolas whined. "But that leaves sunglasses and hair accessories."

"You bought hair accessories?" Legolas nodded. "What in the hell do you need hair accessories for?"

"To match the jeans."

Jake dragged Legolas out of the store and away from the entrancing storefront windows. "You are going to learn how to bargain hunt and still look good," he said. "And you're going to learn now."

With that, Jake dragged Legolas into a thrift store.

WITH FAYTHE

She wasn't drinking. She was in the hotel room, watching TV and drinking chocolate milk, eating donuts. Her alcoholism wasn't a problem to her anymore; she'd grown comfortable being a little buzzed and still mostly sober. Her booze was her friend, not her enemy. She didn't want to quit.

Just as SpongeBob came on (thank Eru for satellite), Aragorn rushed into the room. "Put the bottle d-…oh. You're not drinking."

Faythe smiled. "Nope."

Liela started to cry and Faythe got up to see if she was okay. When she approached the crib, Liela calmed down and burped…fire. Fire!

"Oh my Valar! My baby's on fire!" Faythe screamed. Then she realized why she was burping fire. "Oh my Valar! My baby's a demon!"

"What?" Aragorn asked warily. He stole to Faythe's side and looked down at the baby. She was cooing and looked happy. Her blanket was scorched. "Why is she a fire demon? I thought your side was all water."

Faythe shrugged. "So did I." She thought about it. "It was probably Great-uncle Max. He always was a little hot-tempered." (ba-dup ching!) (TGB: that's terrible)