Part Twelve: Is Silence Golden?

Rated: K+
Over the next two weeks Devlin remained absolutely positively dead silent and this scared his entire family out of their minds; normalcy was overrated to the joint Tennyson-Yamamoto-Levin clan, but even Kenny had cried as a newborn.

A silent child could be hiding a very dangerous problem.

But Cooper, and Verdona, had deemed him completely healthy; nervously the families began to joke that the two genetic loudmouths had canceled each other out in the boy.

Weeks turned to months and Devlin speed grew. At two months, he was developmentally at six months, he began crawling. He again didn't make a sound and the only reason they knew he escaped the blanket they had set him on, outside to get fresh air, was Ajit having to carry him back to the blanket by his footies several times. Thankfully the yard was separated from Bem's yard and from the horses' pastures by tall cement walls.

It was on Gwen's birthday (Devlin was developmentally at nine months) that he made a sound. Not just a sound, but a word, 'Mama'; it had happened as she bent down to pick him up from his playpen he squeaked, "MmmmMama!" She dropped him in shock; the cats cleverly caught him and she grabbed him up again, asking him to repeat what he said which he happily did and it was from this point onwards that they could not shut him up. His vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds, expanding by at least five words a day.

"Hi!" he said to his mother's students from his car seat.

"He talks!" a human girl, Sasha, yelped, jumping back in fear. Babies weren't supposed to talk.

"Yeah, he does," Gwen chuckled, unbuckling Devlin and setting him to crawl on the floor, "babies with alien blood grow a lot faster than human babies."

"Oh."

The kids all crouched down to better meet their visitor.

"Miss Tennyson," a centaur like alien boy named Adrian started out uncertainly, "why did you bring him here?"

"Kevin had to go into work today," she told them, "There was a problem our partners needed help with so I brought Dev today. He'll stay quiet enough for every to go normally, right Dev?"

"Yeah Mama," the boy nodded, looking up to his mother, "I have blocks?"

"Yep. I brought your blocks." She shrugged off the backpack, quickly setting up a foldable playpen, putting him in it and handing him his toys before turning to her students, "Like I said everything'll be normal today except for the fact that the doors need to stay shut."

"Why?" a Tinkerbell sized pixie girl squeaked as she bobbed midair.

"Because Dev's an escape artist…"

"Oh. Okay."

And everything did go normally until the lunch bell for the third and fourth grades had rung. Gwen shot a quick glance over to the playpen, she had been doing so every five minutes, and "Not again!"

She whistled loudly, causing her students to freeze as was procedure, asking, "Does anyone have Dev with them?"

They shook their heads before automatically beginning to search. Gwen checked under her desk, in the cubbyholes' area and back in the supply closet before somebody brought it to her attention, "Um Miss Tennyson? The door to the playground is open…"

Her head snapped up, her face paling, and her pupils going to pinpoints.

Lily, Tina's younger sister, climbed onto a desk, whistled for everyone's attention (poor Gwen was frozen in sheer horror and thus unable to give any directions) and beginning to sprout orders, "Okay people we got a very mobile alien baby on the loose. Lily go find Tina and the old gang. Get them to search the playground, the fields, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade hallways."

"On it!" and she zipped out.

"Remember guys, if you have powers that can help, use them! If anyone finds him start singing 'Row, row, row your boat' really loudly, everyone else who hears it start copying and tell the humans too! Desk group A, preschool and kindergarten—"

"Right." Five kids ran from the room.

"Group B, first and second hallways."

"Yes Ma'am!" they left, five in all.

"Group C, cafeteria and office hallways. Tell the office people and the lunch-ladies too."

"Yes ma'am!" another five left.

"Group D, bathrooms and the library—"

"Yes Ma'am," the last four left.

"Miss Tennyson, don't worry we'll find him!" and she dashed out.

Gwen woke from her comatose state and ran out as well, beginning to search on her own while keeping an ear sharp for the signal.

She was such a screw-up; what good mother loses track of her only son?

After two hours, a change of lunches, and no rowing of boats a familiar voice called, "Miss Tennyson! Are you looking for something?!"

She spun around to see Clare walking up to her, with Devlin on her hip; he was sucking on a lollipop and grinning devilishly. He apparently had far too much of his father in him. Clare herself was grinning.

"Dev!" she grabbed him from her young friend, holding him close, "Thank god; where did you find him? How did you know he was mine?"

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes, "Those green eyes of his?…he was in the fifth grade girls' bathroom. I gave him the lolly by the way…"

"Devlin Levin," Gwen turned on her boy; he gave her the puppy dog eyes but they wouldn't save him this time, "How many times have I told you not to crawl off?! We don't have the cats here to catch you so I trusted you! You are so grounded, in the energy pen! And just wait til your dad hears about this… don't you know what could've happened?" he began pouting, crossing his arms.

"Um, Miss Tennyson?" Clare broke into the rant timidly, "Do ya want me to signal the others?"

"Yes…thank you; really, thank you."

"No prob." She cleared her throat and began screeching the song. Forty kids soon converged on the spot, each shouting and cheering that the missing boy had been found before going into a mob, scolding him. He just sat there, glaring at them, with arms crossed and the sucker sticking out of his mouth.