Chapter Seventy Three

...

"Happy birthday, Adam!"

"Can my birthday present be that you don't kiss while I'm in the room?" Adam groaned, covering his eyes when he saw Jewel tugging Craig close.

"Too late. Sorry, man," Grant said with a grin. "We'll leave you alone after presents, how about that?"

Adam frowned. "We already got our presents at the barbecue."

"We've got another present for you," Layla said, smiling brightly.

"Come on, leave them in here," Warren added, shaking his head at the trio.

Without moving away from Jewel's lips, Craig flipped him the bird.

"Wait, what happened to all of our chairs?" Ethan asked, seeing that the room across from the library was empty.

Heidi's seat in the library still remained, though it had been adorned with several bright pillows to dull the effect of the burnt wood. Zach walked into the library, sitting on Heidi's chair and hugging a pillow to his chest, patiently waiting for an explanation.

"I moved them to the lower Hive. The front room is going to be the sales area. I've got AAA Contractors building some tables and shelves from the scrap pieces of wood to display the flower arrangements, Warren's honey, local artwork, that sort of thing," Layla said.

"Speaking of, did you get the flyer I sent you?" Wendy asked.

"I did; I thought I replied?" Layla said with a frown, opening her email on her phone. "Oh, it's still stuck in drafts. The flyer's great, I really like what you did with the pictures of the chairs. If you want to go ahead and print them, that would be brilliant."

"And the font size was okay?"

"Yeah, large enough to be readable, not so large people feel like you're shouting at them," Layla said with a smile.

"That's a relief, thanks. I'll send it through to Honey; apparently she owns a print shop in Westville," Wendy said, opening her emails to find the flyer.

"I've almost finished designing the website too. Are you sure you don't want a shopping cart on it?" Adam asked.

"I'm sure. I don't want to have to worry about specialty orders or someone wanting a thousand flowers in the next hour. They can buy what's in the store," Layla said with a firm nod.

"Mention something about them being exclusive items and you'll have people lining up for hours to buy one," Jewel suggested, grinning. Considering she'd come into the library alone, everyone assumed that Craig and Grant were making out now.

"That's a good idea. Thanks, Jewel."

"No problem. So, can I get one of these exclusive items for myself?"

"Sure, have a look at Adam's website; he has all of the photos on there of what's available," Layla said.

"I'll send you the website preview. Let me know what you think of it, but don't spoil it for Layla and Warren," Adam said, flicking through his phone and sending a link to Jewel.

"Awesome, thanks."

"So when do you actually open the shop? I want to get some flowers for Anita as a good luck thing for her chess match. She's totally freaking out about it. Like, even more than I freaked out about finals," Zach added with a frown.

"You're welcome to pick flowers from Eden; I've received the brown paper and string I ordered a few weeks ago, so I can wrap it up for you too," Layla offered, smiling.

"Awesome, thanks. Eth, come help me pick out flowers," Zach said, taking his boyfriend's hand to lead him past the others in the hallway, through the kitchen-diner and out to Eden.

"Can we get back to Adam's present? We'll be here all day if everyone keeps talking shop," Donny said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, all right. This way," Warren said, heading out of the library and down the hallway.

"Am I getting flowers? Not that they wouldn't be a nice gift, but the headphones were pretty great already," Adam said, the headphones slung around his neck.

Warren grinned and shook his head as he came to a stop. Waiting to make sure Adam and the others were ready, Warren opened the hallway door.

"The dressing room... oh," Adam stopped short, blinking at the transformed room.

What had been the dressing room only last week was now covered in soundproofing walls. The microphone receiver and speakers were set up beside a large L-shaped desk with a chair that looked even more comfortable than Adam's gaming chair at home. While it had been an enclosed space before, a medium-sized porthole window now provided a view of the trees and plants outside, as well as bringing in extra light.

"Curtis ordered extra soundproofing material; Warren spent all of last night putting it up and cutting out the holes for the power outlets, too," Layla said proudly. "AAA installed the window, so it's water-tight, and it's triple-glazed so it blocks out just as much sound as the walls."

"If you want to test it, shut the door and I'll start screaming," Wendy offered, grinning.

"I don't think screaming's necessary, but thanks," Adam said, laughing. "This is great, guys; I love it!"

"Well, it's yours. No one else is allowed inside without your permission; I made sure of it," Layla added, her eyes flashing green.

"Awesome! Thank you," he said sincerely.

"Oh, and a present for everyone: we finally got the bathroom piping hooked up to the mains, so the toilets and the showers finally work," Warren said. "There's hot water in the kitchen too."

"How many people can fit in the showers?" Craig called out.

"Your room has its own shower, Craig; find out for yourself," Layla called back.

Jewel laughed and followed her boyfriends to the lower Hive, just as eager and curious to find out the answer as Craig was.

"Do you need more water in the rainwater tank? I don't think I managed to get much in there last time," Wendy added.

"Yes, please, if you wouldn't mind? Some of the trees in the forest would benefit from some rain as well," Layla said.

"Sure. There's a summer storm coming tonight, so I'll get some rain going then," Wendy said.

"Thanks, Wendy."

"We got some flowers, Lay. What d'you think?" Zach asked, offering her the bunch of carefully picked flowers.

"Very nice, and the meanings match up well. Was that your doing, Ethan?" Layla asked, taking the flowers and moving a few to frame others, heading into the kitchen where the brown paper was sitting on the dining table.

"Yes. Bells of Ireland for luck; rosemary and sword lilies for remembrance; sage for wisdom; sugarbush for courage," Ethan recited. "Not that she'll need any of it, but it's a nice touch."

"They look good together, so I'm sure Anita will like that, too," Layla said, folding some paper and wrapping the flowers carefully so they wouldn't be crushed.

"How much do I owe you?" Zach asked.

"A floral arrangement is usually around fifty dollars, but since you're my friend - and it's the first sale - you only have to pay five," she replied with a warm smile, tying off the flowers in a neat bow.

"You're not going to make a profit that way, Layla," Ethan pointed out.

"Eth, shh," Zach hissed, waving at him. "Thank you, Lay. You're a goddess among supers," he said brightly, handing her a five dollar note and taking the offered bunch of flowers.

Layla laughed and handed the note to Ethan.

"I refuse to deposit five dollars in the Hive's bank account," Ethan said, shaking his head.

"Oh, I know. But I won't have a cash register until next week, I still haven't bought a box for petty cash, and I'd rather not be in the lower Hive while Craig, Grant, and Jewel are testing their shower."

Ethan conceded with a nod.

"Why not put it in the wall? It's wood and money's paper, right?" Zach added.

"I hadn't thought of it. I suppose I'd better get the pantry back, too," Layla mused.

With a thought and burst of power, the pantry doors revealed themselves again. In the wall opposite the dining table, Layla carefully rearranged a small space to fit a flat note. She couldn't go too far into the wall, as it would go straight through to the new sales area, which kind of defeated the point. Ethan handed her the note back and Layla set it into the wall, closing the timber fibres around it.

"Since money's paper, can you make it?" Zach asked curiously, sniffing the flowers.

"You'd need a printing plate for that," Ethan said.

"Where can we get one of those?"

"Bureau of Engraving and Printing. They have super guards to stop things like this," Ethan added.

Zach laughed. "Yeah, but Eth, they're in a building full of paper. They'd focus all their energy on threats from the outside, not the threat inside the building."

Ethan adjusted his glasses and frowned. "I can actually see the logic in that."

"We're not robbing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, calm down," Warren said, rolling his eyes.

"But that's a good idea. We should have a list of things we can do in the future. You can hide it in the lower Hive, Lay," Zach suggested.

"All right. But you have to get Craig, Grant, and Jewel out of there first."

"Ah, shit. Hey, get out of there, we've got important things to do!" Zach called down the Hive's staircase.

Ethan grinned. "I don't think they heard you."

"How long's it take to see if people fit in a shower, anyway?" Zach muttered, heaving a sigh. "Hold my flowers, Eth?"

Ethan took the flowers and sat on the seat as Zach headed down into the lower Hive.

A minute later, there was a high pitched scream.

"Was that Zach?" Layla asked.

"I think it was Craig."

Adam's door opened and he came into the library, looking down the stairs. "Someone screamed through the speakers, but I didn't hear it through the walls or door! Uh, no one's dead, right?"

"Not that we know of," Warren said, shrugging.

An eerie green glow filled the room as Zach walked back up the stairs, looking paler than normal. "Never again. Never," he said emphatically.

"Oh, guys. Seriously?!" Donny called out, wincing.

"Erase my memory?" Zach asked with a whimper.

"What on earth were you doing down there?" Layla asked as the trio ascended the stairs.

"Testing Grant's control," Jewel said with a wicked grin. "Though my ears are going to be ringing for days. You didn't have to go so high with the scream, babe," she said, kissing Craig's cheek.

"I was trying to get a sonic blast working, but Zach scared the shit out of me!"

Donny winced and dulled Zach's memory, the tension leaking out of his shoulders instantly.

"Thanks, Don."

"Don't call me that. Oh, Honey's here."

"Huh?"

"Honey, the person driving us home?" Donny prompted.

"Oh, right. I knew that," Zach said sheepishly.

"We're not all going to fit in Honey's car," Ethan pointed out, frowning.

"We're staying and catching the bus back. I'm going to get the bees' honey," Warren explained.

"Yeah, have fun with that, dude," Craig said, wincing.

"What's wrong with bees?" Layla asked.

"Death, mostly."

"You're allergic?" Grant asked curiously.

"Well, no. But if they sting people, they die. It seems like a shitty thing for the bees."

"I use a non-lethal smoke to put them to sleep, Craig. They won't sting me - or anyone else - and they won't die," Warren said.

"Come on, I want to get home and finish unpacking my books," Ethan said, taking Zach's hand and leading him out of the Hive.

"See you guys later!" Craig called as he left with Adam, Grant and Jewel.

Wendy hugged Layla as Donny headed to the door. "I'll let you know about tonight's rainfall tomorrow, okay?"

"Great, thanks, Wendy. Don't overdo it, all right? There'll be more summer storms," Layla said with a smile.

"I'll try to remember that. Hope you get lots of honey," she called as she left with Donny.

In the parking area, Honey took a moment to admire the shiny quality of the gravel AAA had put down. Most of it had been purchased specially, but some of it - as Zach had said - was handmade and those pieces were crushed and scattered amongst the rest of the lot.

Warren stepped in close to Layla, kissing her firmly. "The trees don't need water, hippie."

"Hmm?"

"You asked Wendy to water the trees out the back. They're fine."

Layla smiled. "I forgot to tell you since you were busy with Adam's room. There's a rainwater tank near the oasis now. Once it's full, the oasis will be completely self-sufficient for a year. Depending on how much water we use, of course."

"How is it going to fill up without a roof and gutter system attached? Won't it be really obvious that there's a rainwater tank out there?" Warren asked, frowning.

"I've shaped all of the trees' leaves into a piping system to collect and add water to the tank. The tank's hidden, like the oasis," Layla promised.

"All of trees?" Warren echoed, heading to the back of the Hive to look for himself.

Layla collected their beekeeping suits and followed after him.

"That's amazing, hippie," Warren said, seeing how the leaves were curved into a hollow tube, while others were still flat to allow for the water to collect and flow through the tubed leaves, flowing presumably to the rainwater tank near the oasis.

"Thank you. Tonight, I'll be able to bend the trees towards the tank without worrying about the water affecting the leaves."

"I'll help," Warren offered, kissing her lightly.

Layla smiled and offered Warren his suit.

"Thanks, hippie. Let's go get some honey."

"Oh, remind me to keep one of the sample jars for the bus driver," Layla said.

"All right. Zach's right: we do need a list or something. Both up here and in the lower Hive," Warren admitted, zipping up his suit.

Layla nodded in agreement and zipped her suit up, pulling on her hat and then gloves before following Warren outside to the bee hives.

...

Curtis rang the doorbell and Richard answered it within a second, smiling brightly.

"Hey. How's things?" Richard asked, leading Ida, Curtis and Adam inside.

"Good. Work's been challenging; the Rivera's keep changing their mind every ten minutes about what they want," Curtis said.

"Ida's here, dear," Richard called out to Anita, continuing through to the kitchen.

"Be right down!"

"Oh, that's a lot of cookies," Ida said, blinking in surprise.

Zach waved with sticky dough fingers, and Ethan grinned as he made his way over to welcome Adam and his parents.

"Hey, Eth. I swear my Da's more excited about this than I am," Adam said, grinning.

Ethan perked up. "You're excited about visiting?"

"'Course I am. Why's Zach stress-cooking?" he asked.

"I don't know why he's stressed, it's Mum that's in the chess competition," Ethan said, grinning.

"It's sympathy stress. If you can talk, you can clean. I need the cookie tray for the next batch," Zach called out.

"Don't spend all day cooking, okay? And don't eat everything in sight; you know how you get with too much sugar," Anita said, looking into the kitchen and trying not to smile too broadly at the sight of the counter already full of cooling cookies.

"I'll stop him after this batch," Ethan said with a nod, adjusting his glasses.

"Thank you. Are you sure you don't want to come to the spa day?" Anita asked.

"I'm sure, Anita," Zach called. He stopped when he saw Heidi reaching for a cookie. "Hey, they're for later."

Heidi frowned and looked at her watch. "It's three seconds later," she said, grabbing three cookies and laughing as she ran over to Anita.

"Don't run inside, sweetie," Anita said, accepting the offered cookie.

"Thank you, dear," Ida said, taking an offered cookie.

"'Is good, Zach," Heidi said through her mouthful, grinning with chocolate-stained teeth.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, that means we can have one too, right?" Adam asked with a grin.

Zach groaned. "Fine, take one. Heids, take this for the others," he added, opening a door and pulling out a container to fill with enough cookies for the others and then some. "Don't eat them all, promise?" Zach asked, waiting until she'd signed promise before handing the container to her.

Heidi kissed his cheek and left with Anita and Ida for their spa day out.

"Have fun!" Ethan called.

While he was distracted, Adam grabbed four cookies, handing two to Ethan.

"I said one, dude. The rest are being sold at the Hive so stop stealing them. The ones on the silver rack should be cool now, you can help pack them up. Six cookies, baking paper first and then the cellophane and ribbon," Zach said, nodding to the tray as he scooped out another ball of cookie dough.

Adam held his hands up. "All right, I'm not taking any more. But, like Heids said: they're good."

Zach smiled brightly. "Thanks, dude. If there's some leftover, you can take them."

"Cool," Adam said, sitting at the bench and grabbing a square of cellophane, setting the baking paper on top and balancing six cookies in the middle carefully. Bringing the sides up, Adam twisted a twist tie around the point where they met, and then tied a length of ribbon around it. "How's that look?"

"Oh, nice. That's neater than my bow," Zach said, grinning.

"I get too caught up in making them perfect, so I'm on dish duty instead. It took me an hour to make those," Ethan admitted, nodding to the three bundles beside Adam.

"Expect nothing less, Eth," Adam said with a snicker.

The doorbell rang again and Ethan flicked the tea towel at Adam before going to answer it. Donny was at the front door, with Victor and the twins coming up the path.

"I'll carry one, Eth can carry the other, and you can work out the stroller," Donny offered to Victor, who sighed in relief.

"Thanks. I swear the thing was built by people who like getting their fingers caught in hinges," Victor muttered.

"Probably. I'll set up the playpen first. It's a pop-out, right?" Ethan asked, taking the offered set from Victor.

"It says it is, but it's designed by the same company as the stroller, so be careful," Victor said.

As Victor and Donny waited, another car arrived. Jewel got out of the passenger seat, thanking her mother for the lift. Ruby smiled and waved to the others before driving off to work.

"Hey, guys. Everything all right?" Jewel asked, confused as to why they were standing outside.

"Yeah, we're just waiting for Ethan to set up the playpen for Elijah and Elliot," Donny said.

"Oh, okay. I can carry the twins inside, if that's okay, Mr. Harland?"

"Call me Victor, please. Uh, maybe one at a time? Not that I don't trust you, but I think Elijah and Elliot have been watching too many animal nature shows; they keep trying to jump out of people's arms."

Jewel grinned. "Thanks for the warning. C'mon, cutie," she cooed, picking Elijah up carefully and holding him close.

"Hey, Jewel. You're not going to the spa day?" Ethan asked, wincing when the playpen snapped together and caught on his finger.

"I'm not good with the idea of strangers touching me. Besides, there's not much they'd be able to do with my skin," Jewel said, shrugging. "Hey, look at your playpen. Your papa's got some toys for you to play with," she said, jiggling Elijah in her arms when he squirmed.

"Okay, done!" Ethan called out.

Donny brought Elliot in and the twins were soon in their play area, filled with as many soft plush and noise making toys as Victor could carry with him. Donny grabbed the plush elephant, making trumpeting noises to entertain the twins.

"Are you okay, Victor? You look exhausted," Jewel said with a slight frown.

Victor yawned and sat on the lounge. "I am exhausted. Craig spent last night at Grant's, so Elijah and Elliot missed him and spent half the night crying rather than sleeping."

"Oh. You could have called Craig; I'm sure he would've flown home in a second," Jewel said.

"I know, but he deserves a night off. He's a teenager, not a parent."

"Craig loves Elijah and Elliot like they were his own kids, Victor. He's looked after them just as much as Cara ever did, and probably loved them more than her too. Craig would hate it if you stopped letting him take care of them," Jewel said, picking up a giraffe to wave for Elliot, smiling when he grabbed at it and babbled excitedly.

"All right, I'll call next time," Victor promised. "I just... I'm just going to close my eyes for a minute," he murmured, his eyes closing and chin dropping to his chest.

Jewel shook her head. "Your silly papa," she murmured.

"He'll be fine with some sleep. I'll get the door before Jared or Warren ring the bell," Donny said, climbing over the fallen throw pillows to get to the front door. "Hey, guys. Come on in; Victor's just fallen to sleep, so keep it quiet," he added in a soft tone.

"Sure thing," Warren replied, Jared still looking stunned at Donny's sudden appearance.

"Do I smell cookies?" Jared asked as they came inside.

Donny grinned. "Zach's stress cooking. Sympathy for Anita; she's worried about the chess championships next week."

"I could smell them up at Frieda's," Warren said, shaking his head.

"Hey, guys. You can help Adam pack cookies!" Zach called as they arrived in the kitchen.

"Victor's asleep, keep your voice down," Donny said, heading back to the lounge room where the twins' playpen was set up.

"Hey, Mr. Bowie," Ethan said, cleaning the last of the dishes.

"Hi, Ethan. How's your language learning going?"

"Could be better. I've tried to keep the same pace, but it's difficult to get motivation when there's other things to do over summer."

"I'm one of those things," Zach snickered.

Ethan shook his head. "You've had too much sugar, Z."

Zach grinned and kissed him. "Now I have."

"I'm gonna hurl on your cookies," Adam said with a groan.

"How about we organise a weekly session to continue the language lesson?" Jared offered. "The Council building has a free room now that the ASL class has finished for the year."

"That would be good. Does Saturday morning work for you, Mr. Bowie?"

"It should be fine. I'll check my schedule and let you know. Now, Adam, you seem to be the expert in this, so how does this cookie wrapping work?" Jared asked, sitting on a stool beside him.

"Cellophane on the bottom, baking paper on top of that, six cookies, then bring up the sides, tie it with a twist, and cover that with the ribbon. Match the ribbon colour to the cellophane or else Ethan gets upset."

"I don't get upset, it just doesn't look right," Ethan muttered.

"How's this?" Warren asked, holding up his own package.

"Great! Eth, help me move the last of the cookies to the cooling racks?" Zach asked.

"All right," Ethan said, taking a tea towel to move the tray.

"Can I use the microwave? The twins are getting hungry," Donny said, bringing in a bag with their milk, formula, and bottles.

"Go ahead," Zach said, nodding to the microwave.

"Thanks. Curtis and Richard are coming up to help soon. They're planning how to steal cookies without you noticing," Donny added as he made up the bottles.

"Yeah? Let's see 'em try," Zach said, cackling.

Victor woke up briefly when he heard the microwave beeping and Zach cackling. Blinking over to the playpen where his sons were, Victor was relieved to see Jewel playing with them. Elijah and Elliot were both babbling up at her happily, and Victor's eyes closed as he fell back to sleep, reassured that his sons were safe.

Curtis and Richard were lured upstairs by the smell of food, and found everyone surrounded by wrapped packs of cookies.

"Can we eat these?" Curtis asked.

Zach shook his head. "The ones on the plates are free to eat; the ones wrapped up are being sold at the Hive."

"Sold at what?" Curtis asked, taking a cookie.

"Lay's business; her mother left it to her in her will," Adam said.

Curtis blinked, chewing on the cookie. "Okay. This cookie's really good, Zach."

"Thanks, Mr. Spattle."

"Curtis. Mr. Spattle's my father," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"All right. Thanks, Curtis."

"Not a problem."

"How are you all at painting?" Richard asked curiously.

"Painting what?" Warren asked, not willing or dressed to paint the walls.

"I've got a box of miniature train model people that are still blank. Would you like to have a go at painting them?" Richard offered, looking around.

"I'll give it a go," Jared said, shrugging.

"Yeah, all right."

"It's a shame Dustin, Morgan, and Sonny all had to work. We could've painted an army," Richard said with a laugh as he and Curtis headed to the basement to get the paints and tiny model people.

Ethan grinned. "Dad's set up the train set with skyscrapers and everything. I think he could fit a replica of Maxville."

"Really? I might go have a look, that sounds interesting," Jared said, calling out to the two men as he hurried after them.

"An exact replica, Eth?" Adam asked curiously.

"I think so. I'll have to do some measurements. He's got enough buildings and roads; he's just missing the people, really."

"I'd like to see that one day, too," Warren said, thinking of Layla's plans.

In the lounge room, Donny laughed suddenly, Jewel glaring at him for making a loud noise and almost waking both the twins and Victor. Thankfully, all three were too exhausted to do more than stir, and kept sleeping.

"Come on, let's leave them to sleep," Jewel said, heading to the kitchen with Donny following after her.

"I'll listen out in case they wake up," Donny promised.

"Thanks. Hey, guys. What's going on?" Jewel asked, seeing them sitting around cookies.

"We're going to paint people for Richard's train model set."

Jewel considered Zach's response as she ate a cookie. "Well, I don't have anything better to do, so why the hell not."

Donny shrugged. "I guess I'm bored enough to watch paint dry."

Richard, Curtis, and Jared returned with boxes of paints, miniature wooden people, and a multitude of paint brushes. Warren helped Zach and Ethan move the packaged cookies out of the way, Adam moving the plate of cookies closer to his own seat.

"Ready to get painting?" Richard asked, smiling as he set everything down.

"Show us the way, oh wise Master," Zach said with a grin as Richard laughed.

"Pass me another cookie and we'll get started."

"That's your third cookie, Dad," Ethan said pointedly.

"What your mother doesn't know won't hurt her."

"What you eat will hurt you," Ethan replied, arms folded over his chest.

Richard sighed heavily at his son's expression. "Fine. But you're getting the bad brush for this betrayal."

Ethan snorted. "Fine by me, Dad."

"Love you too, kid," Richard said, handing the 'bad' brush to him before turning to the others. "All right, less is more, keep that in mind before we even start, okay?"

With his audience's rapt attention, Richard demonstrated how to paint a miniature person without completely painting his own fingers.

...

End of the seventy-third chapter.