I do not own the Power Puff Girls or the Rowdy Ruff Boys.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Back in The Real World

Mojo and the professor had gone to each of the boys and managed to get the boys' bloodstream infused with holy water. Getting them to drink it worked too slowly, so the professor fashioned a nasal spray that to help it move faster. The flushing of the black soot came with a lot of sneezing and black tinged snot and mucous. When the boys were purged from the physical contaminant, all that was left was for them to work through the remaining hallucinogen. Their ravings and terrors eased and soon they were in a deep sleep. When Blossom came to check on them with Coal in her arms, Mojo scowled at her.

"Get him out of here." He snapped, drawing the professor's up checking the boys' vitals.

"Mojo." His voice was stern, before looking toward Blossom cradling his and Mojo's grandson. "Blossom, I don't think it's a good idea to have him in here. The room isn't sterile, and we still have contaminants in the room. It won't affect Mojo or myself, but it might affect you. Coal most definitely."

Blossom stayed in the doorway with Coal, looking toward Brick. His head was turned away from her, so she couldn't even see his face. She wanted so badly to check up on him now, but if the professor said she was at risk, then she'd listen. It wouldn't be good for Coal if both of his parents were incapacitated. "Okay. We'll see daddy later, okay?"

Coal tried to turn Brick's way, but Blossom held him tight to her chest and left the lab. In the living room, she saw her sisters lounging on the couch at opposite ends. Bubbles had her arms wrapped around her legs while Buttercup had her feet propped up on the coffee table, knee bouncing agitatedly. They both turned her way when Coal gurgled against her chest.

"How are they?" Bubbles asked. Since she and Buttercup were asked to leave the lab, they were denied access while Mojo helped. She was resigned to the notion while Buttercup tried to protest and was now angrily sulking.

"They seem to be doing better. They're sleeping quietly now. No hallucinations." She walked with Coal around the room, bouncing him in her arms.

"That's good." She sighed, as her body relaxed with relief. When she looked over to her green-tinted sister, she noticed she hadn't yet relaxed yet. "Buttercup?"

Glancing at her sister from the corner of her eye, she let loose her own sigh and ran a hand over her face. "I'm fine. I'll just be better when they wake up is all. Remember when things were normal?"

That question wrung a humorless laugh out of Bubbles as she reclined her head against the back of the couch. "Define normal, because I can't ever remember when things weren't not normal for us."

Blossom sat at the kitchen island on one of the barstools. "Battling monsters."

"Stopping bank robberies."

"Redirecting natural disasters."

"Even puberty wasn't normal for us." Blossom mused. "Suddenly having fingers and toes."

Her sisters laughed with her as they remembered waking up one morning and realizing that they looked just as human as their friends. In fact, their new looks drew more attention than their normal large-eyed appearances. Good attention at least until Princess and her small group of friends began to feel threatened by the girls' sudden popularity with the boys. Blossom quickly put her in her place while Buttercup made an example of one senior their freshman year that tried to get a little handsy with them. He tried to ask Buttercup out after that only to go out on one date and find that the professor was scarier than she was.

"The only normal thing about anything in our lives was the professor." Bubbles huffed out a laugh. "If you don't count the house shaking with experiments gone awry."

On that note, the girls could agree. The professor was a caring, embarrassing, loving dad. He was what kept them from forgetting to take it easy. The professor and Robin, a friend they really needed to spend more time with. It was like when they were busy with superhero business and hardly had time for each other. Now it was just plain life getting in the way.

"Let's not forget the super suit." Buttercup threw in. "He loves to break that thing out."

Lost in their musings, the girls almost missed the professor coming out of the lab. They turned in his direction. His bag was over his shoulder and he looked pack to leave. Bubbles glanced at her sisters before turning on her knees to look over the back of the couch. "Everything okay? Blossom said they were sleeping."

"They are. Whatever effect remains, they should sleep it off. The boys will be physically okay. I can't say for their mental health." The professor told them. "The violent nature of their hallucinations has me concerned about what they experienced. Real or imagined." His gaze fell on Blossom, who shot him an icy glare. "I'm not accusing him of anything."

"It wasn't his fault if he did do what you think he's done, which he didn't, so stop it." She snapped, voice raising enough for Coal to startle and warm against her skin. She blew a cool breath over him and rocked him softly. Buttercup's brow furrowed as she listened to what was said and turned to Blossom. Before she could say anything Blossom's glacial glare landed on her. "Don't you start either." She warned her combative sister.

Buttercup's other brow rose to meet the other as shock coursed through her at the bite in Blossom's voice cut through her. While she shouldn't have been surprised, as she was known to pick a fight with Brick, she didn't think Blossom would jump so readily to Brick's defense in a case where he hurt her. As far as the green and blue Puffs understood, Blossom became pregnant through the circumstances of Brick and herself being controlled by H.I.M. Buttercup very much wanted to say something, but the cold glare that she could feel practically growing ice on her neck made her reconsider. Taking a deep breath, she turned away from Blossom and sunk lower into the couch. "Fine. Whatever so what do we do now."

"Go home." The professor said looking pointedly at Buttercup and Bubbles. "They're fine. Mojo can manage them now. Buttercup, go home. Bubbles, get to whatever classes you have left today."

Blossom stood up and started to make her way to the stairs. "I think I'll take Coal home. He needs a proper nap. He hasn't slept for more than twenty minutes today."

Bubbles reluctantly got up from the couch and gathered her bag from the coffee table. "Okay. I'll be off then."

The professor watched as his youngest and eldest made to leave. When he turned to Buttercup, he sighed and drug a hand tiredly over his face. "Buttercup."

"Don't bother. I'm not going until Butch wakes up." She declared with her arms folded.

"Buttercup, this isn't up for debate." He said with his voice rising just a bit at her. She glanced over her shoulder briefly before turned back around to face the blank television screen. "You would only get in Mojo's way of—."

"I'd get in the way?" Not she turned fully to face him and stood up. "What the hell are you talking about? How in the fuck would I get in the way?"

"Watch your tone young lady. Married or not, you will mind yourself Buttercup." The professor parented.

She balled her hands at her sides and exhaled sharply through her teeth. "I don't believe this. Those guys are always going off half-cocked doing whatever the fucking hell they want. WE try to stop them or help them, and all you want to do is keep us on the goddamn bench."

"This isn't a game, Buttercup!" The professor was now yelling. Bubbles quickly left while Blossom slipped out the door with Coal in hand. When he spoke again, his voice was lower so as to not travel to the lab. "Therefore, there is no bench for you to be sat at. I'm asking you to leave so that Mojo may have some time with his sons without any voyeurs."

Buttercup considered this and found herself rolling her eyes. "You act as if that knuckle-dragging imp of an ape really cares about them! He didn't even know that H.I.M abused those boys!"

"I was their physician, Buttercup; and I didn't know either." The professor told her, not above placing himself to blame for their boys' current trauma. "They have to work the hurt amongst themselves. You can be there later, but not now so, go home."

Buttercup ground her teeth before shrugging her shoulders in defeat. "Fine. Fine." She turned to make her way to the couch and grab her back.

The professor went to the door and waited for his middle daughter to make her way to the front door. When she was within reach, he wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "Everything's going to be okay."

At that, the spice Puff scoffed and leaned into her dad. "Yeah." She thought back to the conversation she and her sisters had just moments before the professor emerged from the lab. His being normal—or rather as close to normal as he could be—was a comfort she didn't realize she needed at that moment.

Late in the afternoon, Mojo noticed the boys begin to stir from their slumber. Butch tried to bring his hand up to his face but was prevented by the restraints still tied around his chest, wrists, and ankles. "What the fu—Hey!"

Mojo came over to stand by his awakened son and sighed. "I'm only going to let you up if you can answer one question."

"No, I'm not going to divorce Buttercup. Nice try asking me when I'm just getting my mind back." He answered him smartly.

"Not what I was going to ask, but I see there's no need for it. You're back to being a smart ass." Mojo grumbled while running his fingers over Butch's head in a fatherly manner. He then went about undoing the restraints that were holding him down. When Butch was free, he slowly sat up and stretched, his body stiff and a bit achy from being still for so long. "Aside from the obvious, how do you feel?"

Groaning, as his joints popped and released their tension, he shook himself loose and stood up looking to his still sleeping. "Fine."

"Butch, don't lie to me," Mojo told him with a sharpness softened only by the concern brimming in his eyes. "Please."

"H.I.M's psycho mumbo jumbo bullshit doesn't work on me. I'm fine." He answered a tad too quickly for Mojo's liking.

"What happened wasn't all supernatural. You were drugged, Butch. You all were, and you were hallucinating." Mojo fussed, looking over his son for anything out of the ordinary. "What did you see?"

Butch shrugged. "Don't remember." That same swiftness when it comes to answering being used.

It was clear that he was lying, but Mojo wasn't sure about how to go about forcing the truth from him. He could yell and scream all he wanted, but when his sons buttoned up on their secrets, they were very hard to break out from them. Glancing at Boomer, he hoped to gain more success when his youngest awoke, but he wouldn't hold his breath. Boomer hasn't been his normal self for a while. Less jovial and prone to prodding. Instead of dwelling on his constant failed attempts at getting answers from his sons, he went to the lab table where he mixed a drink of holy water. He concurred with the professor that the boys should ingest holy water to completely flush out the remaining effects of H.I.M's noxious spores. Bringing a cup over to Butch, he held it out to him. "Drink."

Raising a black brow, he took the cup and saw what he believed to be water. Looking up at Mojo, gave him a look that indicated he wasn't going to take it. "Not thirsty."

"It's necessary. At least for the time being." Mojo said, waiting for Butch to take a sip before.

"What's necessary?" Boomer asked as he came to. Butch and Mojo turned to look at Boomer, who yawned drowsily and shifted his hips against the medical table. "I have to take a piss."

Mojo went to release Boomer, who sat up shakily and wobbled unbalanced out of the lab. As he left, Brick blinked awake and groaned miserably. When he was released from his bonds, the elder Rowdy Ruff Boy rolled to his side and covered his face with his hands. "Brick?"

"There's no way I did that to her. I couldn't have." He murmured to himself, trying to banish the images of the violent rape of Blossom. It would be his absolute worst nightmare to discover that he truly raped Blossom in such a violent manner. That and seeing H.I.M alive and torturing his son as he did him. He could only pray that the illusion he saw in his mind was just that. An illusion. When he felt a hand touch his shoulder, he reacted aggressively. He flung himself off the table and crashed unsteadily into the counter of beakers. Glass containers crashed to the floor and shattered around Brick as he tried to gather his bearings. When his eyes managed to focus on the now, he saw Mojo and Butch staring at him wide eyes. Staring back at them, Brick ran a hand over his hair wincing at the pulling of his hair over his healing skin. He pulled himself up, knocking more breakable lab equipment about. Once his weight was braced, he tried to regulate his heart rate and breathing to a slower pace.

Behind him, Mojo prepared a holy water drink for him to take, and cautiously walked to his side. "Brick," he called out announcing himself before touching his son. "Here, take this."

Turning his head, Brick saw the offered cup of holy water and readily took it and drank it down. The empty cup was practically dropped onto the counter and would've broken if not for Mojo's faster reflexes. "I need to lie down."

"Brick?" Butch watched as his brother stumbled out of the lab and into the living room. Following him, he watched as Brick collapsed face-first onto the couch.

Boomer lumbered down the stairs, stopping only when he noticed Brick adjusting himself to fit on the couch. Mojo was the last to come into the room with another cup in his hand. The simian father made his way over to his youngest and handed him the cup. When the blond Ruff grimaced, Mojo practically shoved the cup into his hand.

"Drink it." After he saw Boomer take a tentative sip before throwing back the whole cup, he nodded and walked to Brick's side. Sitting on what available space was taken by Brick's body, he laid a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it soothingly.

Butch watched the motion with a raised brow and scoffed at the fatherly action. "Careful, we might start to think you care about us."

It was a well-deserved barb. Mojo knew it, but he couldn't prevent the scowl and glare that marred his face as he turned to his son that couldn't resist the chance to be a smart ass. "Despite what you think, I do care for you three ingrates." He turned his attention back to Brick and began a cursory inspection. Before the professor left, he had assured Mojo that the boys' vitals were stable.

"You have a hell of a way of showing it." Butch retorted scratching at his flaky skin on his face. While the professor had given them a dose of Chemical X to speed up their healing, the Antidote X had still done its fair share of damage. Butch noticed the bandages and was already itching—no pun intended—to tear them off and scratch to his heart's content.

"Don't scratch." Mojo chided. "You'll scar."

"Cool. I'd love to have a scar or two." Butch chuckled to himself, before remembering the tattoo that was inked into the inside of his left arm. "Shit! My tattoo?"

"Tattoo?" Mojo exclaimed before turning his full attention to Butch. "When and where did you get a tattoo?"

He was ignored as Butch raised his arm and inspected the black and green writing on the inside of his arm. "Oh, fuck me." He cursed as he saw the edge of his tattoo peeking from under the bandage. The black lettering of "snips" was caught under a burn and was already showing signs of not healing correctly. "I hope the rest isn't shit now."

Just as he was about to pull the bandages off, Mojo called his name and shook his head. "Leave the bandages alone. The professor recommends keeping them on until morning. He'll be back by then with an ointment to soothe the itching and aid the healing."

"Morning?" Boomer glanced out the window, finally how the sunlight was coming in westward. "How long has it been since we left?"

"It's been a night and more than half a day," Mojo answered.

"Really?" Boomer blew out a breath. "Damn. The girls must be going crazy. We need to call them."

It went unseen by the boys' when Mojo ground his teeth. "They were already here. While the professor and I worked, they sat around the house."

"Blossom was here?" Brick turned to look up at Mojo with wide eyes. "Who was watching Coal?"

"I was. Until the professor needed my help." Mojo told him, watching as Brick's eyes widened in shock. He then was forced to move as Brick sat up and began to move toward the door. "Where are you going?"

"Home." Brick answered before stumbling into Boomer, who caught him and nearly fell over himself. None of the boys were really in peak condition at the moment. "I need to see my son. Make sure he's all right."

"I assure you, the infant is fine. He kept himself entertained, remained quiet, and only defecated himself in the presence of his mother for her to change." Mojo told him, only to see Brick shake his head. "What?"

Brick tried to brace himself against Boomer only for the two of them to tumble over and fall into the wall lining the underside of the stairs. Butch and Mojo moved to the two fallen boys and helped them disentangle themselves from each other. Brick brought his hands up and pressed the heels of his hands into his palms. His breathing becoming unsteady until he was practically hyperventilating. "He was going to hurt my son. Coal is just a baby." He brought his hands down and looked at Mojo. "He's just a baby."

"Brick," butch started as he crouched down beside his elder brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We all know that H.I.M is gone. Coal is safe."

"I know." He huffed. "I know, but you didn't see what I saw. You couldn't understand it."

Mojo watched as his eldest son fell into despair about an imagined scenario. Crouching in front of Brick, he forced him to look at him by placing his hands on either side of his face and holding him still. "Brick. Your son is safe. He's with his mother. Despite what I think of her and her sisters, I cannot deny that she would never allow harm to him."

Surprising everyone, Brick let out a mirthless laugh and thumped his head against the wall. "Of course, she wouldn't. Not when I—." He shuddered with a heavy breath as his voice clogged with tears he wanted to shed. "I hurt Blossom."

His brothers were quick to tell him otherwise, but Brick shook his head free from Mojo's hands and let the tears fall silently down his face. Mojo could only watch what unfolded before him in silence. Never in his life had he seen any of his sons so distraught. Least of all Brick. His fiery eldest always managed to hold himself together, if only for the sake of his brothers. In the moments he watched Brick crumble, his chest tightened and he worried for a moment it was a heart attack. He realized a second later as Boomer and Butch moved to try to reassure their brother, that what he was experiencing was more psychological. Empathy and paternal heartache. A parent never wanted to see their child suffering, and Mojo was no exception. Until now, he would've said that he did everything in his power to not make it so they were. He thought back to when he first discovered the betrayal his sons committed by fraternizing with his once hated enemy. Brick had been trying to tell him then of the horrors they'd been made to endure, but he wouldn't listen. He couldn't. Now he was forced to confront it as the scars from such torment at a young age ran deeper than he knew.

"I don't remember that night when it happened. Neither does Blossom. Who's to say that I didn't hurt her. Force her?" Brick asked no one, his words a rambling byproduct of stress. "No one knows what really happened, except H.I.M. He knows that I hurt her. I love her, and he knew that if I were to hurt her that it would kill me, and I did. I hurt her so bad."

Boomer looked over Brick at Butch, unsure of what to do to console their brother. Like Mojo, neither of them had ever seen him like this. Their words—apologies from Boomer for his jumping to conclusions when they first discussed the possibility and blunt logic from Butch—were cut off when they saw two hairy arms reach between them and wrap around Brick. Brick's forehead was moved to Mojo's shoulder where he continued to cry, while one of Mojo's hands wrapped around his shoulders and the other cradled his head. The gesture was filled with unspoken care and love that the boys never really knew to have a such a tender physical manifestation. Brick's own hands came up to wrap around one of Mojo's arms, clinging to his father.

No one spoke while Brick released emotions no one—not even himself—knew were coiled tightly inside. When the tears ceased to flow and he pulled himself from Mojo, he sat back and scrubbed away the moisture of his leftover tears. Butch and Boomer remained quiet at their brother's side.

Across from them was Mojo a somber expression on his face void of the usual harshness that came with bitter resentment. "You three sound rest more. Butch, Boomer help Brick to his room and then go lie down yourselves. I'll fix you three something to eat."

With that, he stood and started to make his way to the kitchen. Unsure of anything other than Brick needing a bed, they carefully stood up, bringing their brother along with them.

As they disappeared up the stairs and toward their rooms, Mojo swallowed the ball of emotion in his own throat as he went about pulling things from the fridge and pantry to make a meal for his boys. After they had rested and regained more of their strength and senses, maybe they would sit down and talk. He needed to know the full story of what happened to his boys while in the clutches of H.I.M. Maybe once he knew, he could begin to make amends and work on restoring their relationship. The former villain didn't dare to believe that everything would right themselves instantaneously, but it would at least be a start.

Going into the evening after having a lite meal, the small family found themselves in the living room watching television. Their phones having been destroyed when they fell into the volcano, Butch and Boomer each called their respective girl to let them know they were awake and all right. Brick called the professor and asked that he tell Blossom he was awake. He couldn't for sure say that he was feeling better and didn't want her to hear the sadness and hatred for himself that he had no doubt would be noticeable in his tone. At the moment he was sitting between Mojo and Boomer with Butch on the floor in front of them. After he calmed down, his head cleared and he was able to understand what H.I.M's little spores did.

It was a nasty fucking trick, and last-ditch effort to screw their lives up. It played on their worst fears and insecurities and made them experience the worst-case scenario of those situations. The worst of it was that he couldn't see himself going home to Blossom any time soon, but he wanted to see Coal. Make sure he was safe. Despite reassurances and a clear mind, until he held his son in his arms, he would not be convinced otherwise. Still, he wanted to be sure that his head was right before he saw Blossom. She'd see right through him and know that he was more affected than he'd want to let on.

While his brothers laughed at the slapstick antics of the comedy before them, he couldn't find it in himself to find any humor in it. He felt the weight of Mojo looking at him, and did his best to ignore him. He was feeling more…vulnerable than he liked and wasn't sure how to deal with that. When Mojo placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, he inhaled deeply and let it go slowly. The tendrils of smoke that came from his nose curled in slow lazy swirls around him. He didn't say it, but he was grateful for Mojo being here. He missed the stubborn green-skinned chimp that raised him. He missed not feeling tense and braced for a fight every time he saw him. He missed his dad. Reaching up, Brick took hold of Mojo's hand and squeezed it back before letting it go and folded his arms across his chest again.

"This ointment should help with the burns, making them practically nonexistent in the next three days." The professor said as he handed a tube to each of the boys, slapping Butch's hand when he started to scratch. "It'll take longer if you scratch."

"Does the ointment make me itch less?" He asked while the professor readjusted his bandages.

The professor gave him an exhausted look and sighed heavily. "Take an oatmeal bath if you find your need to scratch impossible to resist. It'll soothe your skin. Just make sure you apply your ointment afterward."

"Fine, as long as you stop saying ointment," Butch said looking up at him from his seated position on the couch.

"Butch, grow up." Brick said from his position by the window. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and everything about his posture seemed guarded. "It's an ointment, not lube."

The professor's brow furrowed as he turned to look at Brick. Behind him, Boomer whacked Butch upside the head, only for him to retaliate by socking him with a couch cushion. All these antics went unnoticed as the professor went to stand beside Brick. The first thing he noticed was the dark circles under his eyes and the receding redness that had nothing to do with his natural eye color. A quick flick of those red eyes in his direction had Brick turning away from the professor. "Brick."

"Whatever you're about to ask don't." The former Rowdy Ruff leader whispered.

Brick's response was answer enough. He remembered what he hallucinated about, but one question remained. "Is there a chance that what you saw held some truth to it?"

This time Brick faced him fully. His bloodshot red eyes making him look almost wraithlike when paired with his pallid complexion. "What are you going to do if it does? Huh? It's not as if I hadn't thought about it before. This shit isn't new to me." He looked away, retreating into himself. "I just want to go home and hold my son."

"What about Blossom?" The professor asked, watching Brick tense at her name. "Are you going to talk to her about this?"

"Why? You saw how she was when we went through this the first time. What would bringing this up again do for anyone?" Brick asked venomously.

The professor stepped closer to Brick and waited for the superpowered teen to look at him before answering. "While I do have compassion for your being a conduit in that particular incident, my daughter was hurt in a way a father never wishes to happen ever. I'm better off not knowing what happened, because one there's nothing I can do, and two I don't think I could restrain myself from taking my anger unfairly out on you."

Brick's brow furrowed and he turned his face away, riddled with shame. If he were the professor, he would blame him too for what happened. H.I.M was trying to reign the boys in and the best way to do it was by getting Brick to fall in line. That monster knew Brick wasn't going to let anything he did to him shake his resolve. If H.I.M did something to his brothers, he was sure they could handle themselves or he would've been there to support them through whatever happened. For that reason, he went for the jugular by getting Brick to hurt Blossom. They were the leaders of the Rowdy Ruff Boys and Power Puff Girls, it made sense to attack them rather than their other siblings.

"Brick, my laying all the blame on your shoulders would be the same as when Mojo laid all the blame on my girls. They've done nothing, and you've done nothing other than being associated involuntarily with a demon." He placed a hand on Brick's shoulder and urged the young man to look at him. "I can and have forgiven you for that association and things that happened because of it."

Brick scoffed and shifted in place to face the professor fully. "Right. You say that after you implied you'd kick my ass."

"I would have kicked your ass, only to patch you up and forgive you after." The professor said with a slight smile that fell as quickly as it came across his face. "Blossom will forgive you too."

Red hair was roughly brushed back as Brick shook his head in the negative. "You can't know that."

"Do you know that she won't?" The professor asked.

"How could she not?" Brick asked, turning away so that the professor couldn't see him blink back tears he was tired of shedding.

The next question the professor asked was, "Do you forgive yourself?"

It was met with a look and silence that made the professor realize that Brick's emotional recovery would come much later than his physical.

"What do you mean you can't fix it?!" Mitch yelled at Butch when he got to the garage a few days after the boys returned to their normal routines. For Brick that meant getting back to class. For Butch and Boomer that meant getting back to work.

However, in Butch's case, he felt like he should've just stayed home and allowed for Buttercup to give him another oatmeal bath. He'd been working on nothing but Mitch's dingy, and after putting all his mechanical skills to the test and trying every technique he deemed it a lost cause. That's how he found himself sitting on the hood of the dingy and telling its owner there was nothing he could do. "It's not my fault. You got jipped when you bought this." Standing up, Butch wiped his hands on a rag as he passed his non-rival.

"I bet you didn't even try to fix it." Mitch griped as he followed Butch out of his workstation and to the small reception area.

"Oh, I tried," Butch said as he turned to his wife's former best friend. "It's just your car is shit."

"Butch." There was a warning in his manager's voice, but he could hear the amusement in his voice.

Rolling his eyes, the apprentice mechanic sighed and started ticking off on his fingers the many problems that he found with the car. "First, there was the rusted muffler. Then the engine older than existence. The belt that you're lucky didn't snap was literally hanging on by a thread. The bald tires, the broken horn. The list goes on and on. That thing was up to code by any means. I'm kind of surprised you didn't get pulled over driving this abomination to automobiles down the road." He reached for his water jug and took a sip of the holy water concoction. "On the bright side, we're only going to charge you for the inspection rather than all the world we did. It's the least we can do for you."

"Don't sound like you're really doing me any favors," Mitch grumbled at his nemesis. "How much do I owe this dump?"

"You owe this dump two-fifty." Butch's manager Earl said from behind the desk. "You're lucky we took it in at all and didn't have Muscles over here just haul it to the landfill."

Indignant and reluctantly Mitch paid his bill and left. Butch turned to his manager and shot him a dirty look. "I thought inspections were one fifty."

"They are for our customers who aren't smart asses." His manager smirked, as he went about the closing duties for the garage. When he saw Butch quirk a brow up at him, he shrugged. "I didn't really charge him two-fifty. I just told him that for kicks. Go clean up your station and head home."

Shaking his head, he headed back into his workstation to begin the process of putting his tools back in their rightful place. It was while he was working that he heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. He turned his head in the direction of the sound, he was met with a wall. Squinting his eyes, he activated his X-ray vision and saw that it was none other than Mitch dragging his keys—house keys—across the army green paint job on Butch's Jeep. Butch maybe stood in shock for a good five seconds before he found his body moving without his conscious thought guiding him. Within moments, he had Mitch by the collar of his shirt and was glaring at him from behind a glowing green glare that threatened laser beams.

All the while the feelings of anger welled in him, he felt a burning sensation radiate from his chest that had him gasping and releasing Mitch. Gripping his shirt above his heart, he braced himself against his truck and panted heavily. "Goddammit." He hissed through clenched teeth.

"Butch?" he called out worried about what he was witnessing. Granted he was no stranger to the strange and unusual that typically came when having a girl like Buttercup as a friend, he at least knew she wouldn't or rather didn't have any reason to cause him much harm. Butch on the other hand he didn't doubt for a second that he would cause him bodily harm. He also belatedly realized he should've taken the chance to run rather than drawing the feral animal's attention to himself.

"Get…get out…of here..be…before…I change…my mind…or get the strength to cave your…your skull in," Butch grunted out while his body returned slowly to a more balanced state. Wisely, Mitch ran leave Butch to slump to the ground and pant through the pain of the internal stinging. When the pain subsided Butch took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "Fuck!"

"Hey, kid." One of his coworkers had come out of the garage to see what had stirred the superhuman up, only to see him on the ground rather than the froggy voiced punk. "You okay?"

Butch looked up and nodded. "Yeah, I just…just need by water jug." When it was brought to him, Butch took a lengthy drink and gave himself a few minutes to settle.

This was the worst part of their recovery regime. While the hallucinogenic qualities of the spores from the dimensional whiplash had long since lost their effect, in the past two days a new symptom appeared. Whenever they gave in to their more aggressive emotions, they felt their bodies sting. Brick was the one to tell them it was their bodies reacting to the holy water, as it felt similar to when he cut his palm with Jack's dagger before H.I.M was killed. When they asked the professor how long this would last, he said if he looking at like a normal drug, then six weeks. Hopefully, with their superhuman natures, it would flush itself out a lot sooner. Butch personally hoped it was sooner rather than later.

"Don't get too relaxed. You're going to fall asleep again in the tub again." Buttercup said as she ran a towel over Butch's shoulders. He hummed contentedly as he just let himself feel the soothing sensation of Buttercup running a sudsy sponge over his body. "I hope you're not getting too used to this. The minute you're better you can go back to washing your own ass."

Butch cracked his eyes open and turned to Buttercup with a saucy smile on his face. "Don't act like you don't like taking care of me like this, Cupcake."

In response to that, Buttercup smacked him in the face with the sponge. "Don't call me Cupcake." She pushed herself from the side of the tub and moved to sit on the closed toilet, across from him. "Not yet."

Wiping the suds from his face he turned to look at Buttercup, dripping suds over the side of the tub. "But soon?" When she shrugged, he sighed and turned away from Buttercup, He soaked the sponge and squeezed the excess water over his back. "I saw Brick leaving the house when I drove up. You didn't give him a hard time while he was here, did you?"

"I barely saw him." She answered honestly. When she got home and saw his car parked outside, she made it a task to avoid him and went up to her room. "Have you talked to him?"

"Not much since we got back. Why?" Butch turned to his wife to see her brow furrowed.

"Blossom called both me and Bubbles to ask how you and Boomer were doing. Aside from having your evil attack, or whatever the hell it is when that holy water reacts to you being bad bad, I told her you were fine. Bubbles pretty much said the same thing, but Brick…Blossom's worried." She informed him.

There wasn't much for Butch to say, because in all honestly, he expected as much. Brick was really hurting about what he did the night Coal was conceived. The tears followed by the self-loathing at himself and anger at their late mother said more than Brick would ever admit out loud. He would eventually mention it to Blossom, but only when he was ready to really deal with it with her. His being here at the Utonium residence meant he wasn't ready to face her—in more ways than one, but Butch hoped he was at least talking about it with the professor. It was honestly more than he could say for himself. He'd sort of made peace with his failed Vegas adventure with Buttercup. She and he were working through it in their own way, but he knew the truth of what happened that night. His older brother and sister in law had nothing—nothing but Coal, but his nephew was blameless. He didn't ask to be conceived the way he was, no one did. Hell, his father and uncles were "conceived" in a state prison toilet. Also, it was clear that Brick loved the little stinker. He'd never do anything to hurt the little guy.

He didn't realize how hard he was thinking until Buttercup called his name drawing his attention. "You know something I don't?"

"Always." He played off pulling the stopper from the drain and standing up to bare all his naked glory to her. He was about to shake himself when Buttercup made a shout to stop and wrapped him in a towel. When he took replaced her hands with his own to hold it up, he caught her staring at him with a pensive glare. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? What's up with Brick—besides the obvious?" she asked him only to be thwarted when he left the bathroom and made his way to her—their room. "Butch." She snatched the towel from around his waist, leaving him naked again and turning to face her with an annoyed set to his brow.

Quickly he stepped toward her to take the towel back, lest her father catches him strolling naked in his house. "If I could then I would, but I can't so I won't." He secured the towel, holding it to him in case Buttercup tried to take it from him again. Once in her room, he dropped the towel and went about finding a pair of boxers. Once his not so modest modesty was covered he reached for his ointment for his burns. They were almost gone, but they itched right after bathing when his skin was drying. The only relief he got from the itching was the ointment.

"Let me do that," Buttercup said as she entered the room and sat beside him on the bed. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Because I'm trying to respect my brother's privacy. Shocking as that may sound." Butch said while he held out his arm to be lathered in the relieving balm.

Buttercup wasn't sure if she believed that but wasn't going to press it for more. At least for now.

Hi, my Lovelies,

For how long I made you all wait, I wanted this chapter to be longer, but I felt like I got to the point where this chapter would've been twice as long and it just would've been better to post this half first and the second half later. But as I mentioned before this chapter got me a little choked up. I wasn't necessarily expecting it to happen, but it did and I had to take a second to gather myself. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you enjoyed it.

PS: Be sure to go to my profile for the links to my FictionPress, Watt Pad, and Instagram so see upcoming content about my original RockStar, debuting January 2021.

Until Next Time