Chapter 45

"So, we're leaving tonight or tomorrow?" As far as Mark knew, they had just had some raunchy but quiet sex here in the shower and were now both calming and cooling down afterward, smiling as he lathered Brooklynn's hair.

That was all Taker's doing. Had to explain those bite marks and handprints on her backside somehow. He had, however, left her with an 'I love you' of his own, and a new mark on her shoulder blade that would probably be tender tomorrow.

Brooklynn's eyeballs nearly shot out of her skull at the tone change and she instantly knew Taker had let Mark reclaim his body. "It's up to you. If we leave tonight, we can get a head start in front of everyone and get home to try to figure out where everyone is going to sleep." They only had 3 bedrooms. "Is there any way you can do a spell where more rooms can be added, but it still looks the same on the outside? Then let's leave tonight since we're all packed and so is Claira. Everyone can follow tomorrow morning." It would give Taker ample time to go to the library to find what he would need to cast the spell for her and Randy's outing to Jennifer's.

"That's fine darlin', I'll drive first." Mark nodded down at her. Night time had once been his favorite time, still was. It was hard being nocturnal, however, when he had a kid and a regular job. "Claira will probably sleep through the night." If Brooklynn could, they'd just switch out in the morning. He smirked at the mark on her neck. "Woman, you are marked by more than that ring." He chuckled wickedly.

She flushed, touching the spot on her shoulder where Taker marked her and nodded, feeling his arm snake around her waist. "And there's nobody else I'd rather be marked by than you." And Taker, she added in thought, turning so he could rinse the soap out of her hair. "I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. You didn't answer my question about expanding the inside of the house to make more room for everyone. Is it possible or should they all make plans to get hotel rooms?"

Eventually, they would get the concept. Mark shook his head with a patient smile. "Magic requires personal energy, darlin', remember? To do that would… drain me." And he didn't need to be drained in that way; he'd probably wind up staying in the bedroom just resting and focusing on keeping the house large enough. "If they need a place to stay, I have no problem paying for hotel rooms." If he were honest, he didn't want to house them all under his roof.

On that, They were agreed.

With Taker back in their lives, Brooklynn was in agreement with him and decided hotel rooms were the best way to do things. They'd spend their days at the house and at night go back to their hotels to sleep. Melina especially needed a bed because of her pregnant frame. Only one person or couple could stay with them since they did have an extra room, but that was it. There were only two couches in the living room and the basement hadn't been done yet.

"Sounds good to me."

They finished up their shower, stepped out with Mark putting some salve on her shoulder where the bite mark was and then dressed before heading downstairs to tell everyone about their plan to leave tonight.

Claira would be happy because it was one step closer to getting back to Seth.

"But I was going to make you breakfast before you left." David sounded exasperated as he shared a look with his wife.

It had been her idea, one last 'meal' before they went off to save the world and Claira. He really didn't like how casual about all this dangerous stuff his woman was. His 'normie' nerves had a hard time with it.

"Yo man, you can cook?"

"It's called being a fully functioning adult, Cena."

"Well, why don't we stay for dinner instead? That could be our last meal since we haven't eaten yet." Her appetite was heightened due to the sexual activity she'd done with Taker.

"Good, we can do that."

"Considering it's only 2 in the afternoon, damn right we can whip up a feast." Providing her morning sickness stayed at bay with Mickie's magic.

"After dinner, we'll jet out and meet you all in Dallas in a few days."

"Sounds good, want one of us to ride with you and Claira?"

"I would, but they would be stopping far too much for me to pee." Melina smiled apologetically and rubbed her still flat stomach. "Damn bladder has gotten smaller with every kid."

Talking about kids and babies had Trish's biological clock going, but she knew Steve was against having kids. He already had two daughters that lived in England and he made it clear he didn't want anymore. Trish was fine with it, but once in a while, she thought about what it would be like to have a baby with him.

Steve saw that look and cocked an eyebrow at her. Even if he wanted to have more children this late in life, which he did not, he had taken the precautions early on to ensure there would be no more little Austin's. He had been clipped, something he had never bothered to tell anyone, including Trish. When they had discussed kids, multiple times, she had been on the same page as him.

Whatever those looks were… Mark didn't want to know, wrapping an arm around his wife and pulled her against him. "All right, one last meal..."

"David, let's fire up the kitchen!"

"Oh boy..." Laughing, he let his wife lead him away.

"Home sweet home."

"Thank god!" Claira declared, never happier to be home than at that moment.

They had driven straight through with Mark and Brooklynn swapping halfway through the trip. Each was rested enough to where they weren't dead on their feet. It was around 9 PM at night, but they had made it without a stop at a hotel. Brooklynn had called the hotel to reserve 6 rooms since Beth was staying at the house with them. It was Brooklynn's idea since she already knew about Undertaker being back and Adam had gone back home since he had no powers. All he would be is a liability, same as David. Brooklynn watched Claira rush up to her room, probably to tell Seth they were back and looked at her husband, who was already locking up the house.

"Aren't you going to your library tonight?"

That had been the plan and reason they hadn't stopped at a hotel. Taker had awakened long enough to order her to keep driving because they had no time to waste. She knew he was awake and listening, not surprised when those emerald eyes turned acidic.

"Eventually," Taking Brooklynn by the hand, Taker guided her into the kitchen. He rifled around, frowning. "I need a small container, very small, a vial would be…" He cocked a brow when she held out what looked like a small vial that had probably housed an essential oil or something. "Is it clean?" At her nod, he did too, selecting a sharp knife from the block on the counter, eyeballing it. "I need your blood, Lynn. Got a preference where I take it from?" She looked concerned and that made his upper lip curve into a slight smirk. "I promise to heal it afterward."

Swallowing hard, Brooklynn trusted him, but that still didn't make her any less worried about giving her blood to him. Blood use of any kind was very dark magic, which is what Taker/Mark specialized in. Letting him take her hand, Brooklynn watched the sharp blade slowly descend toward her skin and took another deep, shaky breath.

"Mom, I'm…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, DAD?!" Claira immediately rushed over and knocked the knife out of his hand, emerald eyes wide. "WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO HURT MOM?!"

"Claira, calm down he's not-"

"THE HELL HE ISN'T! HE WAS GOING TO CUT YOU WITH THAT KNIFE!"

This was not Mark she was dealing with, it was Taker and he did NOT look very happy. She hoped he kept himself composed and didn't knock their child into next week, scrubbing a hand down her face while remaining at the sink.

"No."

He waved a hand, leaving Claira remaining there frozen while they were able to move. Sighing, he grabbed the knife and this time, there was nothing slow about it. He heard Brooklynn's gasp of pain and ignored it, tossing the knife aside and grabbed the vial, moving it to catch the blood that spilled freely forth. When he was done, he left her standing there, white-faced, and stoppered it before turning to stare down at her. Nostrils flaring, he bent down and very slowly, very deliberately ran his tongue up the wound, healing it as he went.

"Now, lie to her, tell her she's tired. I'm leaving." He ordered, kissing her forehead before disappearing out the door, Claira unfreezing the minute he was out of the house.

The panic ceased as soon as Claira was unfrozen, staring at her mother, who was leaning over the sink, cleaning a knife. The same knife her father…wait… "Where's Dad? He was just here a second ago, wasn't he?"

Brooklynn frowned at her, shaking her head. "No sweetheart, I didn't even see you behind me." Lying was getting easier for her to do, surprisingly. "You're pale, are you alright?"

"I…" Claira had no idea what was going on, looking around her and saw her mother's hand was cut free. "I swear I just saw Dad leaning over you with the knife you're cleaning, and he was going to hurt you…" Had she hallucinated that happening?

"Claira, I think you're imagining things or maybe you're just tired." Shutting the water off, Brooklynn dried the knife off and put it back on the rack. "Are you hungry? I can make you something and then you can go up to bed and get some rest."

"Y-Yeah…sure…"

It HAD been a long drive and, even if she had slept through a lot of it, just being in a car, driving, was tiring. Especially over such long distances, and this HAD been a messed up Spring Break so far. Yeah, definitely, she was just tired.

Taker had to wonder what Lynn would tell their daughter. Wondering stopped as he began reveling in the feel of the air on his face, the nighttime sky above him… he inhaled deeply, regretting that soon enough because he'd be letting Mark back out. But first… he felt that vial of Lynn's blood in his breast pocket, smirking.

The following day, Randy and Glenn were the first ones to show up at the house at the crack of dawn. Mark was cursing up a storm since he stayed out late at the library and Brooklynn had to hurry up to make coffee for everyone. She had tossed a robe on, only wearing undergarments because Taker had come back and woke her up for a romp before allowing Mark to take over his body again. Randy and Glenn looked none too worse for wear, nothing coffee couldn't fix anyway.

Along with coffee, Brooklynn began making breakfast and knew she'd have to go shopping at some point to grab enough food to feed at least 15 people, possibly more. Even though there was only 11, there were some big men that would be eating with them for the next several days or however long this took. Biscuits and gravy with bacon and scrambled eggs were on the menu, along with some sausage links at Mark's request.

"So, I think we should go see Jennifer today, get it out of the way." Randy suggested while eating, everyone seated at the table except Claira, who was still sleeping.

"Okay, but we have to make sure Seth isn't there when we go."

"Have Claira call and invite him to a movie or something. Get him out of the house, so Jennifer is alone."

"I'll go wake Claira up after we're done eating to get her rolling for the day. She'll be hungry." There was a plate of food in the microwave waiting for her to devour.

Before slipping back into the 'box', he had given Brooklynn not only another session of mind-blowing sex but a pair of earrings, just simple ruby studs. Made with her own blood. As long as she wore them, Randy would catch glimpses of her life minus him. He had considered blocking Randy completely, but that would look suspicious. So, instead, he just made it so there would be nothing of himself in those memories or thoughts. Even if Brooklynn was actively thinking of him, Randy would only get Mark.

"Coffee…" Mark felt like a zombie this morning; that drive had taken it out of him, along with everything else.

The ruby earrings were beautiful and Taker had explained to her what they were for while sliding them into her ears. Mark was a zombie because of the magic it took to make the ruby studs and how late he'd been up, well his body anyway. Brooklynn smiled at him and handed over a mug of black coffee with a lot of sugar in it, just the way he liked it.

"Morning." She brushed her lips against his since he'd bent down to retrieve it and gestured to the table. "Time to eat, I have your food ready." He mumbled a 'thank you darlin'' before sitting down at the table, a plate of delicious food set in front of him seconds later. "I'm gonna go get Claira up."

A second later, Mark was passing Randy the cup of coffee, frowning. Randy was the one who liked copious amounts of sugar in his coffee. "That's gross." He muttered, getting up to get a fresh mug, straight black. Nerves must've been wracking that woman's mind, not that he blamed her.

"Delicious," Randy laughed, sipping it. "Glad my wife knows how I take it."

"Provoke him before he's finished that mug, and you'll probably be takin' it up the ass with his boot" Glenn warned with a grin.

Sometimes, Mark enjoyed having sugar in his coffee and then she realized, HE didn't – Taker did. "Sorry." She mumbled on her way out of the kitchen, completely missing what Randy said and headed upstairs to wake her daughter up.

Her nerves were on edge because of the plan they had in mind. There wasn't a doubt in her mind Seth wouldn't want to see Claira today, so that wouldn't be the issue. Trying to get Jennifer to TALK and find out the truth was, though one simple touch from Randy would tell them what they needed to know.

"So how are you going to touch her?"

That had to be the dumbest question Randy had ever been asked and he had heard some really good ones over the years. He fixed his ice blue eyes on Glenn, wondering if married life had made the man stupid. "Last I knew, a handshake was considered a social nicety when performing introductions." He retorted slowly, just in case Glenn was also hard of hearing.

Mark couldn't help but snort at that one. Randy had a point.

Claira came trudging downstairs with her mother a few minutes later, yawning and sat down while the food was set in front of her, just like her father. "So you want me to ask Seth to a movie?" She wanted to make sure she heard her mother correctly, rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah, we'll pay for it too. I'll give you $50, that should cover the tickets and the snacks you want at the concession." Anything to get this girl to do what they wanted, Brooklynn would bend for now. "So eat up, go shower, get gussied up and then call your boyfriend and invite him out for a movie or whatever you guys wanna do."

"Besides sex."

"MOTHER FUCKER!" Randy had snorted his still hot coffee and groaned, taking the towel Brooklynn handed him.

Now Glenn was the one grinning.

Claira either was an airhead like her mother first thing in the morning or she was kind of stupid. He hoped the first one, he didn't want a thickheaded child. No parent in their right mind would fork out that kind of money and insist the kid went on a date. Especially after the blowup over that tonsil hockey situation back in D.C.

Apparently, she was airheaded this morning, and probably not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He had learned that teenagers, especially girls, were insane. Mark was going to assume it was the age. "Bet that hurt."

Randy, eyes watering, managed to flip Mark off.