A month later, after many renovations and visits to the house Blaine and Chase were preparing to move out of Blaine's apartment and into the house. The girls were excited about having their own space once again and Blaine and Chase were sure White Fang would enjoy having a yard again. Chase and the girls were at Fillmore-Graves as it was a school day, but Blaine had taken a day to work from home to pack boxes of things that they didn't need immediately over the next week. Leaving Don-E in charge. It was getting later in the afternoon and Chase and the girls would be home soon, so he began preparing dinner, when the doorbell rang. Rolling his eyes and assuming Chase had misplaced his key Blaine set out to answer the door.

Seeing who it was he almost closed the door in the face of his father, who quickly put his foot in the way. "What do you want?" Blaine asked, not really in the mood to put up with his father.

"Son, I just want to apologise and invite you, and the girl, to a service this week. All I'm asking is that you come once and see what we're about. I'm sure, once you see it, you'll realise that you and I are not all that different after all." Blaine rolled his eyes, he and his father were nothing alike, he didn't need to sit through one of his services to know that. This was the third time in a week his father had approached him though and he was starting to think that if he just went to one, he may drop it.

"One service. But dad, I swear, I won't bring her anywhere near it unless you promise me no killing."

"You have my word." Angus told him, a little too quickly.

"Sunday. We'll be there."

"Thank you, son." Angus left, feeling pleased with himself and Blaine had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, that wasn't just a hunger for brains.

Blaine told Chase about his father's visit that evening, after the girls were in bed. "I figure that if I just take her once, say it wasn't to our tastes, he might drop it." They were changing themselves.

"You really think he's just gonna drop it?"

"Not really but this isn't the first time he's come to the door Chase. It's only a matter of time before they, or you for that matter is home. I made him promise me no killing. And I'm not going alone, I asked Don-E and he suggested we take Karl, for added muscle. Karl agreed to tag along."

"If you're sure you don't want extra-"

"Chase he'd have your soldiers killed on sight. We'll be fine," Blaine promised, going over to Chase and kissing him deeply. Chase returned the kiss, Blaine's hands were quick to the front of his work pants, opening the fly and pushing them down. Chase kicked them off and laid back on the bed, Blaine above him. Blaine moved his hand to Chase's boxers to cup his hardening member when they were interrupted by the familiar sound of scared screaming. Blaine released Chase's cock and Chase let his head fall back against the bed and sighed. They stood and quickly threw on sweatpants to go and comfort the girls. "Would it be wrong of me to bundle them up and drop them off with Don-E at the Post so we can have a night to ourselves?"

"Not wrong, just frowned upon," Chase told him.

"I think I can live with that, maybe another day though." They opened the door and flicked on the light. "OK, what happened?"

"We were telling each other stories and the closet door open and… and there was a loud crashing." They looked at the closet door, Chase opened it and rolled his eyes as White Fang walked out. Inside all the boxes which were normally piled up neatly were upturned and scattered about the floor.

"Found the culprit," he said lifting the dog and taking him over to show the girls. "We told you to close the closet door if he's in here."

"But if we leave it closed the monsters can power it from their side." Kenzie told him.

"Sweetie remember our chat about make believe," he said, remembering when he caught her trying to jump from the top bunk to fly like in Peter Pan. "Monsters Inc. falls into that category. Not real." He clarified, though Marlee and Kenzie didn't seem to believe him. Between them they settled the girls back to sleep and retreated to their own beds, too tired to even pick up where they had left off.

Sunday, Chase and Kenzie went off together on a bonding activity while Blaine prepared Marlee to meet his father. "Sweetheart, I have to warn you, my father, the man you're going to meet, is, is a bit weird. And if you want to leave, at any point, you ask me, Don-E or Karl, right away. Alright?" Marlee nodded. She was wearing a pair of jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt and a hooded shirt. He'd braided her hair and already given her half a brain tube, so she wouldn't get hungry.

Karl and Don-E met them in the parking garage, Blaine drove them, Karl was in the back with Marlee. He was surprisingly good with kids and was entertaining her with slight-of-hand magic tricks. Blaine smiled in the rear-view mirror. He sighed as they pulled up to the church. He took her hand and lead her inside. One of his father's followers asked him and Marlee to follow him, making it clear his friends weren't welcome. Blaine nodded to them they'd be fine. Blaine lifted Marlee into his arms and followed the kid, barely older than a teenager.

They followed to a door. The kid knocked and Blaine and Marlee were ushered in. His father was dressed somewhat normally, Blaine was relieved. "There's my son, and who's this young lady?" He asked, stretching out a hand. Blaine swallowed and set Marlee on her feet. She faced Angus and backed into Blaine.

"This is Marlee. Marlee, this is my father." Marlee nodded, her voice failing her, she shook his hand. He invited them to sit and offered them brain, offering Marlee a chunk of brain on a stick. She shook her head.

"Go on sweetie, it's food."

"Dad, she's six. She can't have whole brain until she's 16."

Angus rolled his eyes and ate the brain himself. "So, you're living by their rules I see. The children in my congregation all eat whole brain. None of that brain mush, they embrace what they are."

"I already ate," Marlee said, hoping to diffuse the tension. "I'm not hungry, thank you." She said and leaned into Blaine.

"Very well," Angus said, eying his son. "Do go and make yourselves comfortable, the service will begin shortly." He said turning away from them to begin getting ready. Blaine quickly removed them from the office and lifted Marlee.

"Are you OK?" He asked. She nodded. "I'm so proud of you, alright?"

"I don't want whole brain. Some of the kids tried it when we lived with Miss Maddison, they had bad dreams all week. And bad dreams when they were awake." She said, describing the visions.

"Remember what I said this morning, about if you want to leave," he reminded her as they took their seats with Karl and Don-E. The church had filled up, the other zombies regarded them, Blaine held Marlee closer. She seemed thankful and certainly not to mind it, they were freaking her out a little. The zombies here all seemed malnourished compared to the general population of zombies as they refused to take the free brain tubes from the distribution centres.

The lights dimmed and the service began. Brother Love announced that his son had joined them at last and gave a sermon about how he had failed his son. It was almost touching, until Blaine recognised his old nanny being wheeled in. "Isn't that the old bat who made you lick the floors clean?" Don-E whispered.

"That's her alright." Blaine said carefully. He tuned back into what his father was babbling about, the turning point being when he began slathering her with hot-sauce. Blaine covered Marlee's ears, instructed her to close her eyes and lead her out as the hoard of zombies began approaching the old witch. Karl and Don-E followed hastily, neither wishing to find out the rest of the service. Don-E took deep breaths against the wall, that had been too much, even for him.

"That was gross. I may hurl," he said, sliding down the wall.

"No time to waste, let's get outta here, you guys need dropping anywhere?" They asked to be dropped off by the Post. Marlee had been silent since they had left the church, he was sure she hadn't seen what had happened and he tried his best to stop her from hearing the screams. "You OK?" He asked, turning in the driver's seat. She nodded.

"That lady died, didn't she?" She asked.

"I think she did. Yeah. If you wanna talk about it, any of it, I'm right here, alright?" Marlee nodded.

"Was she a nice lady?" He looked her in the eye as he replied.

"No, she wasn't. She looked after me as a child but she wasn't very nice at all."

"How?"

"She hurt me, made me lick the floors clean. Other bad stuff. Stuff I would never let happen to you in a million years." Marlee nodded. He figured she was processing what she had seen, and inferred from the situation. "What would you like to do for the rest of the day?"

"Please could we go see the penguins at the zoo?"

"We certainly can go see the penguins at the zoo." Blaine smiled.

Blaine bought them ice creams at the zoo and they watched the talks about how to care for penguins and the feeding displays. Marlee would have happily spent all day talking to them through the glass but Blaine insisted they would come back and say goodbye after they had seen all the animals. In the store he bought her a penguin toy and they bought Kenzie a giraffe, her current favourite animal.

He carried a sleeping Marlee up to his apartment. Chase was already home; Kenzie and he were watching a movie. Blaine put Marlee to bed and Chase followed him into the kitchen where Blaine described in detail all that had happened at the church.

"So, they ate her?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I got her out of there and Don-E and Karl followed our retreat. She certainly isn't alive anymore. In his own twisted way, I think this was him trying to apologize. Obviously, I don't accept and he's not coming within 100 feet of her ever again. But I pacified him, for now." Blaine rubbed his temples. "I'm gonna go take a shower, could you listen out for her?"

"Sure," Chase replied softly. Blaine smiled weakly and kissed Chase before going to the shower, ruffling Kenzie's hair over the back of the couch as he went. Chase settled back beside Kenzie. They had been to Fillmore-Graves as she'd been asking about what they do. So he'd put together a sort of training experience for her. She'd gotten to wear a uniform, run the training assault course, carry one of the practise riffles in a parade formation with some troops and he'd let her shoot at targets on the riffle range. Kenzie had enjoyed her day and he did feel closer to her. She seemed to have a genuine interest in what he did. She'd wanted to go up in a helicopter but that required special permissions, and Chase was still weary of them after his sister-in-law's incident. But she was able to sit in the cock-pit of one, which made her happy.

Hearing the creak of a door he turned his head to see Marlee, carrying a bag and a fluffy penguin with her. She joined them, handing the bag over to Kenzie, "we got you this today," she smiled. Kenzie awed over the toy giraffe in the bag and thanked her friend. She called him Henry. Marlee said hers was called Monty. She curled up on Chase's other side, leaning against him, soon, she was asleep again, but he left her where she was. Blaine joined them shortly after his shower and Kenzie thanked him for her toy, falling asleep shortly after.

Friday, the day before they were due to move, Blaine had taken the day off to pack up all of the non-overnight essentials. Even though the girls had wanted to 'help' they were at school and Blaine had gotten lots done. He'd finished the kitchen, lounge, both bathrooms and the girls' room. He just had his and Chase's things to go. The plan was that in the morning, the movers could just grab and take the boxes, which were all labelled by room and transport them. As he closed up the last box he heard knocking at the door. Figuring it was Chase he unlocked it without checking. Once again, his father stood before him. "No, not today dad."

"Son-"

"Yeah, you don't get to call me that anymore. I asked one thing of you, no killing in front of Marlee and then you go and pull that stunt? No, just go, I'm busy." Blaine's father followed him through to the kitchen, pleading with him for a second chance. The door opened and Chase and the girls returned home. He heard Chase tell the girls not to touch or unpack anything before announcing he was hitting the shower. Blaine froze, his father was not privy to much in his life, least of all his love-life. He eyed the man for his reaction. The girls came into the kitchen with their school bags, to start their homework.

"Multiplying I see? Thought you needed a woman for that."

"Dad," Blaine warned.

"Son, I couldn't care less who you take to your bed," he told Blaine quietly, "Marlee, good to see you again," Marlee regarded him uncomfortably. "And who's this?"

"Dad, this is Kenzie, Kenzie, my father." Blaine said, the distaste evident in his tone. Kenzie waved shyly as she and Marlee got out their homework books. Brother Love tried tempting the girls into trying some whole brain, which for Blaine was the last straw. "Dad, you need to go. We're really busy and I don't want you here." Angus regarded his son and nodded.

"I see I've caught you at a bad time." He began to leave without protest, Blaine followed to be sure he left. It was at that moment that Chase exited their bedroom, hair dripping onto his t-shirt that Angus caught sight of who his son was sleeping with. "Of all the zombies, you're sleeping with this abomination to our kind? This traitor?" Blaine had had enough, he took Angus by the collar and pushed him out the door.

"You don't get a say who I live with, who I sleep with or who I love. You talk about abominations? Look in the freaking mirror, get out of here, I never want to see you again." Blaine told him, slamming the door in his face. Leaning against the closed-door Blaine sighed. Chase gathered him into his arms and kissed his hair.

"The sooner we move, the better." Blaine told him. Chase nodded and held Blaine, as long as he needed it.