A/N: I added something really different to this chapter. I was trying to be creative ;) and, there's baby talk too :D please review, and enjoy :) BTW, the restaurant Mel and Jim are at, Ive been at b4, since i live near carleton place and Ottawa :)

~Chapter Five~

It was later that day, and Melinda and Jim were at a fancy restaurant, called Moxie's, in Ottawa, at the Bayshore Mall (the city nearby).

Rick and Delia were back at the house, watching Maria-Annabelle, (well, Rick was anyhow).

-"So, how are the garlic fries?"

Jim asked Mel.

-"Oh, my god, they are so good… I never tasted anything like this before. The chicken is great, too. How is your steak?"

-"It's excellent."

-"I can't believe you suggested coming here, though. At this location, in a mall. We could have gone to the one on the other side of the city."

-"I know, but this one is closer to Carleton Place. Besides, we can go shopping later."

-"Jim, for what? It's the beginning of July."

Jim looked down at his food.

-"Well. I was thinking that maybe… we can go…. Um… baby shopping."

Mel let out a little laugh.

-"Jim, I'm not pregnant, and Maria-Annabelle is ten. I don't think we need to buy things for a baby."

-"But, what if we have another one someday?"

-"Jim, I think we're done in the baby department. Until, Maria-Annabelle has a baby, anyhow."

-"But Mel, this is the second time we're married."

-"I know, but it doesn't mean we need to have another kid."

-"But, I want another child."

-"We had Morgan, remember?"

-"I know, but Morgan is dead, Melinda."

-"Jim, listen to me. We aren't exactly young anymore."

-"I don't care about that! I want another baby!"

-"Jim, we are not having a baby. End of discussion!"

luckily, the restaurant wasn't quiet so no one heard their conversation.

After that, they paid the bill, they left right away.

Neither of them said a word on the ride home.

When they got in their home, Jim stormed upstairs right away.

Mel sighed and went into the living room.

Rick and Maria were near the fireplace, playing cards.

-"Hey, Mel! How was dinner?"

-"Awful. Just awful. The food was great, just not the company…"

Rick raised his eyebrows.

-"oh. Ok, fill me in later."

Maria-Annabelle looked confused.

-"Mommy, what is it?"

-"Nothing that is your concern. Now, it is getting late, I think you should go up to bed."

-"But mommy, its only nine!"

-"I know, but its been a long day. At least go up and play until ten or something."

-"Ok mommy. Night Uncle Rick, night mommy." she kissed them both on the cheek and went upstairs.

Then, Mel sat next to Rick on the floor.

-"So, tell me what happened."

-"Me and Jim got into a fight."

-"About what?"

-"Having a baby."

-"Oh, ouch. Tough subject. Who won?"

-"Me, and of course, I'm the one who refused to have one."

-"I figured that."

-"Yeah. So tell me, where is Delia?"

-"I left her at the hotel, I'm sure she's ok."

-"Good. I don't want her here again, after what she did."

-"I'll try. So, is Jim angry? About the fight?"

-"Very. He didn't say a word since the restaurant." she looked down.

-"Rick, am I selfish?" he looked astonished.

"Mel, listen to me. You are not selfish, just because you don't want to have another baby. You already lost one, and at our age, I don't think its necessary to have another one. It would be more difficult on you then when you were younger. Trust me, I know. I have a co-worker, she's 47 and just had twins, and its very stressful on her. She also has two teenagers, and a lazy husband who doesn't want to get a job, so she can't afford to take a break. She had a caesarean too, so she's in pain working. Also, since she had the twins late in life, they may have physical problems later on."

-"Oh my god, I can't do this for sure! God, I feel bad for the woman!"

-"I do too. Listen, I better go, its getting late."

-"Ok, thanks for watching Maria-Annabelle." he got up and headed to the door.

-"Bye, will you be here tomorrow, Rick?"

-"Yes, I will be. I'll be here all month."

-"What about Delia?"

-"She'll be gone by Friday, I promise."

it was Tuesday.

-"Great. You can stay here after she's gone."

she got up and walked to the door, and took his hand in hers.

-"Rick, I need you right now. It's about my dreams. I need your help figuring them out. Because, I feel like whatever it is it's going to happen soon."

-"I thought that you weren't going to talk about them. Ever."

-"Now I think its important, Rick. Really important."

-"Ok, I'll try my best to help you."

-"I'll tell you about them tomorrow."

then, a tear went down her cheek.

Rick hugged her.

-"Mel, its going to be fine. We'll figure whatever your dreams mean soon. Ok?" she nodded and they pulled apart.

Then, he left.

Mel sat in the stairs and broke down in tears.

She wasn't really afraid before, but now it was time to be.

Because she knew that it was close, whatever it was.

Mel and Jim both needed to work the next day, so Rick came to baby-sit Maria-Annabelle.

She was just getting up when he arrived around six.

-"Hey, Uncle Rick. Where are my parents?" she asked him as she was coming down the stairs.

-"Gone to work. Your mom will be back around two, and your father took a double shift so he'll be home around ten tonight."

-"Good. I need your help with something." then, she turned down the hall to the pantry door.

-"oh, no. No, no, no and no. I'm not going to help you bake cookies." she stopped.

-"Who said we were going to bake?"

-"Intuition."

-"We're not going to bake, don't worry."

-"Good, because Austin loved to bake cookies and cakes and such, and since his mother died when he was three, I was the one who needed to help him. I hated it."

-"You could have gotten him an easy bake oven."

-"He never asked for one."

-"Who cares, you could have gotten him one anyways. Where is Austin anyhow?"

-"He's still at Yale, doing a summer program. Why?"

-"I was just wondering, I miss Austin."

-"I do, too. Now, what do you want to do you annoying little girl?" she rolled her eyes.

She then opened the pantry door, and walked inside.

Rick followed.

She then begun taking the things off of the bottom shelf, and then took the shelf off.

Then Rick saw the trap door.

-"oh, my, god. Does your mother know about this?"

-"I told her, but she doesn't care. I want to see where it leads to."

-"It maybe isn't a safe idea, Maria-Annoying Clancy."

-"Oh, Uncle Rick! C'mon, please! I wont be able to sleep ever again not knowing what is down there!"

Rick folded his arms.

-"But what if something happened to you? Your father and maybe your mother too would kill me, since I'd be held responsible!"

-"I promise I'll be fine!"

Rick hesitated.

-"Ok. Fine. If it would make you shut up." then she got up and hugged him.

-"Oh, Uncle Rick! You're the best!"

-"I know, now go upstairs and get ready, while I get supplies." she nodded and left.

They didn't know what they were getting into.

-"Are you ready, Uncle Rick?"

-"Not really, but go ahead, open it." she then opened the trap door, and they looked in it.

There was only a ladder leading into darkness.

-"Ok, Maria-Annabelle, stay close."

-"You tied a rope to connect us to each other, I don't think I can go far."

-"Oh, right. Well, ladies first."

Maria rolled her eyes and begun to climb down.

Rick followed.

It took them awhile to reach the bottom.

Once they did, they turned their flashlights on.

It looked like a hallway, filled with guck like a drain pipe.

It was all mossy and damp, even a bit of water on the floor.

-"Ok, not safe, lets go back!" Rick exclaimed, turning back to the ladder.

Maria yanked him close with the rope

-"Not so fast! We just got here!"

-"Who cares, lets go!"

-"Rick I'm going. With, or without you." she raised her eyebrows.

-"I'm sure that my parents would kill you if they knew that you let me down here alone." then, at that moment, Rick could finally see the evil in his goddaughter.

A chill went down his spine.

-"Ok… I'll come." a smile spread across her innocent face.

-"Good. Now, come on."

they walked through the tunnel in silence.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel, and there was two ways to choose from.

-"Well, where shall we go? Left, or right?"

-"Is there a going backwards option?"

-"Uncle Rick, please, be serious!"

-"Ok, right. It sounds like the right way."

-"Thank you." then, they walked through the tunnel.

It wasn't a very long one, it lead to a set of stairs.

-"Can we go up, please, Uncle Rick?"

-"Yes." then they went up the long set of stairs.

Finally, it reached a door.

-"Here we go…." Maria-Annabelle muttered at she slowly opened the door.

It revealed an unfinished basement.

-"Oh, my god, I wonder where we are."

-"A basement. Somebody else's basement, Rick."

-"I know, but I wonder who it belongs to."

-"Well, lets find out." they went up the stairs and it led to a living room.

To their luck, nobody seamed to be home.

Then, they walked to the big window at the front.

Her house was across the street.

-"Oh, god, we're in the Ezlord house."

-"The new neighbours?"

-"Yes! Gosh, this house is so ugly. You can tell that no one fixed it up in awhile, no wonder it was on the market for a long time."

they walked around.

On the other side of the door, was a tiny kitchen.

Then, past the living room, was a hallway to the bedrooms and such.

They noticed that a lot of the things were still in boxes.

They looked in all the rooms, except Piper and Grant's room.

They were about to open it when the lock of the front door was turning.

-"Oh, god. They're home."

they ran down the hallway, and Rick dropped his flashlight, and into the basement.

He didn't notice what he left behind.

Luckily, the Ezlords were having a hard time with their key, so they had time.

Maria-Annabelle went through the door that led to the tunnels, and closed it behind them.

They both stopped to breathe, then they made their way back to the Clancy house.

They climbed up the long ladder, and into the pantry.

-"Whew, I'm never going down there again." Announced Rick.

-"I am! That was so awesome!"

-"For you, maybe, you devil. I nearly pissed in my pants."

-"Oh, well, I didn't really need to hear that. I'm going to go upstairs and play in my playroom." she untied herself and was about to leave the pantry, but Rick grabbed her arm.

-"Your parents are to never know about this. Do you understand?" she nodded and Rick let her go.

She went upstairs.

Rick then went into the kitchen and opened up a beer from the fridge.

-"Oh, god, what a day." he muttered as he sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Meanwhile, at the Ezlord house, Piper was walking down the hallway when she found a flashlight.

There was a label on it that said 'Melinda G.' on it, and then walked to the front living room window, at looked at the Clancy house.

She then knew that one of her neighbours was there, looking around.