Edgar grumbled and moaned and whined as he begrudgingly got out of the car. Todd was still giving him the look, so he tried his best to shut up. He went around to the other side of the car and lifted Nny out of the passenger seat. Up to the front door they went. Todd reached one short, nubbly arm up so his tiny hand could reach the doorbell. Edgar could hear Barbara calling to them that she'd be right there. He was surprised though when the door opened and instead of Barbara was her son Pepito.

"Hello Squee, Mr. Edgar…what's wrong with Nny?"

"He has a concussion, may we come in?"

Pepito eyed him suspiciously before allowing them over the threshold. Edgar and Todd politely took off their shoes in the entry way while Pepito went to get his mother. From some other part of the house there was a panicked shriek. A flustered looking Barbara came scurrying out of the kitchen and into the entry way. As soon as her eyes found Nny a graceful little hand settled itself over her mouth. Her other hand went to rest on her chest over her heart.

"Oh, my dears, just c'mon follow me, let's get him put to bed in the guest room." Barbara turned and made for the stairs, clearly expecting them to follow her.

Edgar had never been to the upper level of the Diablo home in all of the times he'd visited for dinners and so on over the course of the month he'd known them. There were only about three or four doors in the short hallway at the top of the staircase. Barbara opened the first door on the right revealing a neutrally decorated room with a twin bed in the center of it. She directed Edgar to set Nny down in the bed once she'd pulled back the blankets. Then she tucked him in, pressing a light kiss to his forehead. She smiled at them and then left the room saying she was going to go and get some water for him.

Edgar closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it come out as a sigh. Then he gently sat down on the edge of the bed. He felt Todd clamber up next to him. Together they both watched Johnny sleep. With all the blood washed off of him and the one bandage on the back of his head he looked much better. It was strange seeing him without any hair though. Edgar would have to find a way to get used to that.

"Mr. Edgar."

"Yes Todd?"

"What were you two arguing about?"

"…what?" Edgar faltered. Todd was staring up at him unblinkingly, waiting for an answer.

"You only ever make me go somewhere else when there's probably some dead person, or when you want to argue. I really don't think there was a dead person in your apartment."

Edgar turned his eyes onto the floor, "I…don't really know. I don't think we were arguing about anything. Except me leaving."

"Leaving? Do you mean like…not coming back type of leaving?" Todd's voice grew quieter the more he said. Edgar felt terrible.

"I think so…I don't know if I was really going to not go back. I was just scared."

"Of what? You've never been scared before."

"You know the blood wall?"

"The one you put the curtain over?"

"Yeah."

Todd nodded.

"I thought I saw the thing behind it…if it's really there. I don't know. It just…I thought I was going crazy, like Nny. That scared me."

"There's a monster behind the wall?" Todd squeaked.

Edgar snorted, "That's what Nny says."

"Why didn't he tell Pepito's daddy?"

Edgar felt his eyebrows knit together in confusion. He turned to eye Todd curiously. What was it with this child and believing everything Nny said? He was crazy! But…Pepito's dad really was Satan so who knew?

"Do you think I should?"

"Yes!"

Edgar chuckled, almost not believing what he was about to do, "Alright. Stay here with Nny and come get me if he wakes up, okay?"

"Okay."

Todd curled up on his side, on the edge of the bed. Edgar stood up and ventured out of the room. Just before he closed the door behind him he peered back in. Todd had closed his eyes, obviously trying to sleep. When they were close like that, they almost did look like father and son. Edgar smiled, finally shutting the door and heading down the stairs. He found Barbara in the kitchen she was wandering about looking various drawers and cupboards. She looked in one last drawer and then huffed, putting her hands on her hips. Edgar coughed politely alerting her to his presence.

"Hey sweetie, I was just trying to find one of those little cloth bags you put an ice pack in…I thought that might help, I felt his forehead and it seems like he's got a bit of a fever."

"Oh." Edgar faltered a bit at Barbara using endearments on him but strived to remember his original mission, "Do you know where Juan is?"

"I think he might be down in the basement. If you open the door there's a button to the right, you can push that to call for him."

After that Barbara went back to her search for something for her icepack. Realizing that was his dismissal, Edgar went in search of the door to the basement. He'd never actually been shown where it was before. After a couple minutes of looking he found it was a small door tucked away in the small corner next to the staircase. It was hiding behind a coat rack. Edgar opened the door and nearly shut it when a sudden wave of heat hit him. Squinting he put his head over the threshold and tried to find the 'button to the right' Barbara had mentioned.

There it was. A small black button on the doorframe, it might as well be the switch to open the garage door it was so inconspicuous. Edgar reached over and pushed it. Then he quickly withdrew his head back into the house to get away from the blazing warmth of the basement. Several minutes later Juan came strolling up a set of stairs that Edgar hadn't seen before, leading up to the basement door.

"Ah, Edgar. I didn't know you and Nny were planning on visiting today."

"We weren't. Nny has a concussion, Todd and I thought that Barbara might do a better job of taking care of him than we would by ourselves."

"I see." Juan paused as he stepped through the doorway and past Edgar.

Edgar gratefully shut the basement door and turned to face Senor Diablo.

"What exactly may I help you with? I'm very busy with work at the moment."

"I think we have a monster in one of the walls of the house."

Juan looked like he was about to scoff at him. Then he stopped and clarified, "Nny's house?"

"Yes." Edgar felt silly even mentioning it but he had to see if he was crazy, he couldn't stand not knowing. "The only way to keep it in the wall is to put blood on it."

"Hmm," Juan floated across the hall to the kitchen, "Barbara, I'm going to head over to Nny's house with Edgar for a moment. We'll be back in a little bit."

"Alright honey, don't forget to be back home in time for dinner, okay?"

"I know, dear!"

Edgar wasn't sure if he should be worried or excited, or frightened. After Juan had conversed with Barbara on another few things he returned to Edgar's side and chose his feelings for him. With a deft flick of his wrist he created hole in the floor beneath them. Edgar didn't have time to scream as he fell through the hole, and out of the ceiling of Nny's house. Not used to such methods of travel he landed rather gracelessly on the living room floor. Senor Diablo was still standing, just as poised as he always was.

Edgar took deep breaths to calm himself while the devil made himself at home, wandering about. An amused voice called, 'I'm guessing it's the wall with the curtain, huh?'

"Er, yes."

He scrambled to his feet and went to join the devil near the curtain. Juan pulled the curtain to the side and inspected the wall, running one skeletal hand over it. After a few minutes of his careful examination of the blood stained wood he laughed. Edgar prepared himself for the most scathing remark he could imagine. He could imagine quite a few of those; after all, he did live with Nny. But he was nicely surprised when no insult came.

Instead Juan chuckled, "How very mature, brother. Don't you have anything better to do than picking on the one being holding your precious universe together?"

Then, suddenly, he stuck his hand in the wall and pulled back. Edgar screamed, tripping over himself in his effort to scoot away. Senor Diablo had yanked out the monster in the wall. It was disgusting and yet the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen. It looked like a pterodactyl had a run in with an octopus and an alien, perhaps. The devil had his skeletal hand clenched around the things neck and he yet again created another hole in the floor before throwing the monster head first into it. It squawked and screeched as more and more of it poured out of the wall and into the hole in the floor.

His eyes never leaving the creature Juan said, "I'm sorry, Edgar but I think I'm going to have to ask you to walk back to the house. I need to make sure this monster finds its way to its proper home in hell."

"T-that's fine." Edgar mumbled.

"Oh good, I will see you later then."

With that, the devil smiled at him and followed the wall monster through the hole in the floor and disappeared. Edgar gaped at the wall, now devoid of blood. It took a while to pull himself together, but once he had he stood up and made his way towards the front door. He needed to get back to the Diablo home so he could be with Nny when he woke up.

Edgar knocked on the front door of the Diablo home, exhausted from having to make the five mile walk from Nny's house to Pepito's. Usually he drove there so he didn't have to worry about the tiring distance. But, since Satan had teleported him one direction and then left him to find his own way back…well, he'd be fine. He shouldn't be whining. Satan just did him a favor after all. He heard a set of footsteps approach the door and then he was face to face with Barbara.

"Oh good, dear, I was hoping you'd be back soon. I know it would mean the world to little Nny if you were here."

Edgar followed her towards the stairs, feeling quite confused, "You think so?"

"Well, of course. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy, sweetie. You're just what the little dear needs."

Barbara, in her own little way just made him feel just that much worse for thinking about leaving. They reached the door to the guest bedroom, but before they went in the cheerful woman turned to him and smiled in a way far different from her usual chipper expression.

"Now sweetie, I care about little Nny a great deal, so don't go and hurt him now, or I'll have Juan come after you, alright?" Her voice never drifted from the gentle drawl Edgar was accustomed to.

He nodded jerkily and her grin returned to her normal kindness. She sidestepped him and went down the stairs without another word. Edgar shivered slightly once she was out of sight. He shuffled over to the door and opened it. Todd was snuggled up next to Nny on the bed, fast asleep. The maniac had an small cloth bundle on his forehead that Edgar guessed was the icepack Barbara had been so desperately searching for. He chuckled nervously at the thought of that woman again. He closed the door behind him and went to sit on the edge of the bed.

There he set one hand on the other side of Nny, twisted around at the waist to look down at the two of them, Todd and Nny. He wondered briefly if he was dreaming, if Nny was. This was probably the first time he'd slept in a few months. Of course it wasn't willingly but it was a start. He doubted that he would be able to get him to sleep on a regular basis, but he could always hope. Edgar was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the object of his thoughts stirring.

Johnny shifted, his eyes slowly opening. He yawned and then looked around. His eyes first found Todd and then Edgar.

"I dreamed you were the captain of a spaceship that was exploring the universe with me and that Squee was our pet, and that you liked to sleep a lot, and that we got freezies all the time, and we killed Squee's parents with the ships laser cannons, and that we had dinner with the Pepito and Barbara and Juan on Mars." Nny paused, staring intently at Edgar before continuing, "I dreamed that you left the ship without telling me."

Edgar could do nothing but gaze into Nny's expressionless face. He knew there was something more that the mad man wanted to say, so he waited.

"But it was okay, I dreamed that you came back," Nny said, "you'd just gone out for freezies and forgot to tell me."

Edgar smiled, "That sounds about right."

"You said that dreams make us remember things."

"Yes, I did."

"Did all of that happen?" Nny questioned eagerly.

"I don't think we explored the universe, but Squee became our son, sort of. We do get freezies a lot; we walk down to the gas mart and get them. You killed Squee's parents because he told you it was okay. We've had several dinners with the Diablos at their house (where we are right now)." Edgar paused, "And I did leave you, but I didn't get very far because you found me…and then…we went for freezies."

Nny grinned, "I remembered something with a dream."

"Yes you did."

"Squee!" Nny shouted.

Todd jolted awake looked around wildly, "What?"

"I remembered something with a dream!"

Todd sighed, calming down, "That's nice, Nny."

Nny beamed at them both and then opened his mouth wide, "Let's go get a freezie."

Edgar nodded, "Okay."

And so they went, they got one cherry freezie to share.

END