Chapter 37

"Honey, come here a sec." Steve crooked his finger at her, guiding her into the kitchen area while the kids were on the couch, watching television. "We can't leave yet."

"Why not?"

"Mark called. Brooklynn had another dream and it was about Claira." Steve spoke very quietly, almost a whisper. "He told us to wait here cause Claira has to ride with them. He even said Seth can go with them, but the dream told Brooklynn Claira is in trouble."

This had to be serious if Mark was willing to go back on his word about Seth traveling with them. "Why is this happening after 17 years of peace? I don't get it, Steve. It's scaring me." She felt his arms wrap around her to pull her closer, closing her eyes. "How far away are they?"

"They'll be here tonight sometime, so I'm gonna go pay for another night and get us all somethin' to eat. Hold the fort down while I'm gone. Ya haven't had any visions, right?" He wasn't surprised when Trish shook her head. "I'll be back soon, honey." Steve kissed her softly, stroking the side of her face. "We're gonna stick close to Mark and the family until we get to Melina's. Then maybe we can make sense of this shit."

"Everything okay, Aunt Trish?"

Trish nodded, not wanting to alarm her adopted niece and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Never better, but we're gonna stay one more night and wait for your Mom and Dad to get here. Steve just went to get us some lunch."

"Oh…okay."

Brooklynn doesn't think when she's panicked. Didn't she just raise the alarms on Claira a few weeks ago? How'd that pan out? We cast a spell to stop the dreaming and then come to find out, it wasn't necessary. Why are we listening to her again? Mark wasn't entirely sure what the hell was happening anymore as he glanced over at Brooklynn, frowning.

She definitely needed the rest and he wasn't about to travel in a vehicle with her having meltdowns. She overreacted. He got that there was an issue, but so far, only her and Randy had had these things happening to them. It was like a replay of sorts from 17 years ago when Brooklynn had been drawn in by a spirit that was being controlled and Randy had… well, that was sort of on him.

"Hmmm."

Caffeine crashes sucked. Brooklynn woke up 12 hours later, in an unfamiliar bed and took several minutes to realize it was a hotel room.

"No! I don't want them back! Get away from me, Dad!" It was Claira's turn to have a meltdown, refusing to listen to what her father had to say. Seth was with Trish and Steve while Mark spoke with her about what was going on.

Her head was killing her, and that yelling didn't help matters any. Claira barged into the room just as she sat up, seeing the tears in her daughter's eyes. "What's going on?" She rasped out, her throat dry from sleeping so long and saw Mark storming in after her. Or was it Taker? She couldn't tell the difference while waking up and listened to Claira shout about not wanting anything to do with her powers.

"I don't want them! I want to be normal! I don't want to see spirits or have anything to do with magic! EVER!"

"Okay…okay, calm down, Claira…" Brooklynn gestured her to sit down on the bed and rubbed her temples, expecting this type of reaction. "Did Dad tell you what's going on?"

"Yeah, something about a darkness coming for us and you know what? I don't give a damn about it! I don't want powers, Mom! I hate the fact I inherited these curses from both of you! Seth is going to think I'm a freak and I'm gonna lose him because of this!" How was she supposed to keep this secret from her boyfriend during the entire week?! "Dad wants to give them back and I DON'T WANT THEM."

"Claira…you're in trouble and we're trying to protect you…"

"By forcing me to have powers I don't even want? Do I have to remind you what I did to our kitchen, mother? I SET IT ON FIRE because I don't know how to control my powers!"

"But you could learn and be trained properly…"

"NO!"

That was all Mark, who didn't think it was a good idea, but apparently wasn't about to cross his wife. Taker knew giving back her powers was a stupid idea because she was untrained. "All right Claira, you don't have to have them Unbound right now, sweetheart." He said quietly, blocks firmly in place, in case Steve got nosy. "I shouldn't have tried, I'm sorry." Training took time and, unless she was 100% on board with it, giving her back her magic was most likely going to result in her accidentally killing someone. Just what they didn't need right now.

Claira cried, burying her face in her hands and felt her mother pull her into her arms, trembling from head to toe. "I-I'm sorry…I'm sorry Dad…" He squatted down in front of her and Claira pulled away from her mother to hug him tightly around the neck, letting her tears beat down on his neck. "It scares me. Magic scares me and I don't wanna hurt anyone with it." The kitchen incident had scared her and when her father Bound her, it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her magic had gotten out of control because of her temper and she could've seriously injured or even killed her mother.

"It's alright, sweetheart. You don't have to deal with it anymore and you can stay Bound as long as you want." Brooklynn soothed, rubbing her back while Mark continued consoling their daughter, his ACID eyes locking with hers. It was Taker. He was awake again and had taken over Mark's body in order to calm Claira down. 'Thank you.' She mouthed, watching him nod and slid out of bed, walking out of the room to give them a moment alone. Water was calling her name.

If Brooklynn hadn't lost her mind AGAIN and just learned to calm down, this wouldn't have happened. Where the hell had his calm, cool and rational Lynn gone? This had to be the parental thing, or 17 years of not really dealing with supernatural situations, outside of PTA's and bake sales. Hell, if Taker had at least been allowed OUT, or a glimpse of what was happening throughout the years, he could have helped train Claira early on and she wouldn't have been so goddamn afraid now. Panicking and pushing her into this, when magic required TIME and patience, was… he pinched the bridge of his nose, inwardly sighing.

Claira went back to Trish and Steve's room to be with Seth, needing his comfort after what went down with her father. Not that Brooklynn blamed her, she was tempted to go with her. It wasn't Mark she'd be dealing with, it was Taker and he didn't take 'mistakes' very well. Or people freaking out very well either. Mark was better in these types of situations, but Taker was out and she had to hear his lecture about how she was believing a dream that could be false and she freaked out for no reason.

"I don't need to hear a lecture, Taker." She dropped the cup in the sink and scrubbed a hand down her face in frustration, having already splashed cold water on her face to wake her up more. "You probably don't believe it's really Julia in my dreams, but I do and I'm taking these warnings she's giving me seriously. Claira is the key to all of this, it was never about you, like YOU thought, or rather Mark thought. So I'm sorry for freaking out, but that's what a mother does when her child is in danger. She panics, overreacts, goes stir crazy and tries to find SOME way to protect her child."

"And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you're not stupid about it, which you were. You panicked and, in turn, Mark panicked." Taker lectured, folding his arms in front of his chest tightly, his voice stern. "Then between the pair of you, you panicked Trish, Steve, AND Claira. What was the purpose of it? You already knew there was trouble, you could have sat on this for another day or so and addressed it with everyone, instead you lost your head. That WILL be your downfall, Lynn. Panic leads to mistakes, and Claira will be the one who pays for it if you don't tread carefully."

"And that's not who I am! I don't just sit on stuff when I KNOW there's trouble afoot! When I KNOW my daughter is in danger! I'M. NOT. YOU." Brooklynn poked him in the chest none too gently with each word that came out of her mouth, anger boiling in her eyes along with tears. "I was hopped up on caffeine because I couldn't sleep after that warning from Julia! I couldn't do it! So, I started drinking coffee and I had way too much without any food in my system. It's called a caffeine crash, by the way, just in case you didn't know the term. And if panicking is my downfall, if it makes me stupid, SO BE IT! As long as my child is safe, that's ALL I care about right now! It's called being a mother!" Storming past him, Brooklynn needed space and felt as though she would uncoil at any minute if he didn't leave her alone and stop lecturing her.

Taker didn't panic because it led to people doing irrational, stupid things out of fear, out of anger, out of worry for their children. Twice now, Claira had been scared to death and tears because nobody stopped to just breathe and calm down. Not that what HE thought counted because, while Brooklynn said she had loved him first, that hadn't been enough for her to demand he be given anything these last 17 years. No knowledge he had a child, no first memories; he got to live all of that 17 years after the fact through a lens of Mark's memories.

Family vacations. Lovemaking under the stars. Claira's first day of school and first broken heart. Brooklynn's laughter through the years. He had missed all of it, all their normal, typical behavior and the only reason she even wanted him here now was out of boredom and sexual frustration. Disgust flooded him at how much had changed and yet so little. Taker went dormant. Let THEM deal with this. He was sure he would find out what happened in another 20 years.

Arriving in D.C. the following day, Brooklynn hadn't said much and kept her thoughts to herself, deciding from here on out, she wouldn't be telling anyone about her dreams. Nobody believed her anyway and thought she panicked. There was a very good reason for panicking though, especially when Claira was in danger. Mark hadn't said much to her either, keeping to himself and the radio played softly, but other than that, nobody spoke. She had a feeling Seth was afraid to say something and Claira looked distressed about everything, which broke her heart further. There would be no happy reunion, they had a world to save, again, and it reminded Brooklynn so much of all the other times they had met up. The car pulled into the driveway as Brooklynn took a deep breath and got out, walking around to grab her bag.

"I got it." She murmured quietly when Mark went to take it, swinging it over her shoulder and walked away from him toward the front door.

Claira frowned at her mother's cold demeanor toward her father and wondered what could've happened after her meltdown last night. Was it because of her they weren't speaking?

Mark had no idea either and sighed, shrugging his massive shoulders when Claira shot him a puzzled look. Brooklynn was obviously pissed at him or something, he was fairly certain he had done what she wanted, against his own thoughts, when he had tried talking Claira into lifting the binding. Bad idea and he knew it, but Brooklynn, even after 17 years to chill out, hadn't.

"She'll be fine." He said quietly.

"Brook!" Melina crowed as soon as she opened the door, hugging her friend tightly and pulled back, seeing the sadness in the woman's eyes. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. Just a very long drive." She cracked a smile at Melina and walked into the house, looking around. "Is everyone else here?"

"Yeah, they're all on the back patio waiting for you…" Melina saw the weariness on Mark's face, along with the sadness in Claira, feeling it coming off her in waves. What the hell was going on?

"Claira, this is Melina Bautista. She's a dear old friend of your father and me. Melina, this is our daughter, Claira and her boyfriend, Seth Rollins."

"It's so nice to meet you." Seth extended his hand with a handsome smile, shaking the woman's and wrapped his arm around Claira's shoulders.

Melina smiled at the boy before landing eyes on Mark, both shaking hands. "It's great you guys are finally here. Come on, I'll show you to your rooms and then we can get this party started! Providing I don't blow chunks all over. Damn pregnancy."

"Wait, you're pregnant?!"

"Yes dear, just because I'm in my early 40's doesn't mean I still can't get the job done. And this is my wild sex baby."

"Melina! They're TEENAGERS!"

"Oops!"

"Wait until you meet David, he's worse than me," Melina laughed wholeheartedly. "And he's such a normie!" She gestured them to all follow her, shaking her head as she bounced down the hallway.

"Mom… please tell me they aren't all crazy."

"Wait until you meet the rest." Mark muttered, shaking his head as he stepped through the door, instantly feeling Mickie's protective barrier around the house. It made his stomach roll for a brief moment. He felt the magic prodding at him, considering him, and finally, he had apparently not deemed a threat because he passed through and nausea quit.

Despite what had happened, Brooklynn laughed at Melina's enthusiasm and calling her husband a 'normie'. Poor Claira had NO idea what she was in store for, her and Seth both. Hell, the boy may very well find out magic DID exist before all was said and done. Was that really such a bad thing? Claira was afraid of losing him because of her magic hereditary, so Brooklynn would try her best to keep him in the dark. They had a job to do while here though, so it would be easier said than done.

"Mel, a minute?" Mark was busy with Seth and Claira, talking to them about sleeping arrangements and whatnot. "Seth is a normie too. He doesn't know anything about us and…Claira really wants to keep it that way. Think you can pass on the message discreetly to the others?"

"No worries, Randy already told us about him and everybody knows." Melina frowned, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

"No, it's not, but I want to tell everyone together."