Alright, I know, I know, I've been taking forever with updating everything, and I'm really sorry! I have an explanation though! First, I was sick the last few days, so I couldn't write. Second, I've been doing extra school so I won't have to do a bunch of it during the summer. And third, I've been caught up in reading a bunch of books I found on Wattpad. That's it.
So, again, I'm sorry, and I will try to update as soon as I can! Enjoy this chapter though!
Oh, also, if you guys could do me a hugemongo favor, could you look for a young (like, early-20s) picture of Rita Davies? She played Sarah Frobisher-Smythe. Now, it is kind of a weird request, but I'm working on a oneshot for her and I need a young picture of her. So...if you find one, please PM me! Thank you! :)
"Alright, I'm off." Jerome sighed, standing up and setting his cleared plate in the sink. "I will see you at lunch, my beautiful wife."
"Last night, you said I was gorgeous." Mara pointed out teasingly, a dark eyebrow arched as she stood in the middle of their kitchen, wrapped in his arms.
"You're breathtakingly gorgeous." He whispered burying his face in the crook of her neck.
"Mara," Joy's small voice rang as she entered the house.
"Ugh, I just want to be alone." Jerome groaned into Mara's neck.
"We were alone last night." She stated, rolling her brown eyes.
"Good thing, too, huh?" he chuckled smugly, which caused her to blush.
"You need to get to work."
"I can call in sick." He suggested, kissing her neck.
"Am I interrupting something?" Joy asked shyly.
"Yes—" Jerome started.
"No, Jerome was just leaving." Mara replied, pulling away from him. She pecked his lips and pushed him toward the door. "Have a good day." she sang.
"Fine," he huffed. He smiled and kissed her again. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Thanks, Killjoy." He snapped quietly as he stepped past her.
"So, Joy, what's going on?" Mara asked with a smile, but it faded into a worried frown when she took a good look at her friend, tear stains trekking down her tan cheeks. "Joy, what's wrong?"
"Mick and I kind of had a fight." She replied as Mara led her to the couch.
"About?"
"Wanting a baby," Joy answered, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"What do you mean?"
"Mick told me that we should wait longer before we try for a baby. But, Mara, we've been married for two years; I don't want to wait any longer. You and Jerome tried a few months into your marriage. I want what you guys have, and what the others have. I want a family, but Mick doesn't."
"Joy, you can't compare your relationship to ours. And maybe he's just scared? Jerome was scared and worried when I told him that I was pregnant the first time. Just give him some time."
"I did though; I don't want to wait."
"When Jerome and I decided to try, we had agreed on it because we both wanted family. We wanted a baby. We had decided on it together. We were both ready and willing."
"But—"
"Compromise with your husband, Joy," Mara instructed.
"Daddy, don't touch it!" Lacey scolded.
"Touch what?" Eddie asked innocently.
The four-year-old gave him a look he had seen so many times on his wife's face. Lacey's brown hair fell down past her shoulders in wavy curls. Her green eyes held specks of blue just like her mother's. She had inherited looks and personality from bother her parents, also having a half-British-half-American accent.
"Daddy, it's mine, don't touch It." she ordered.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Her father denied, pressing one of the ivory piano keys down again.
"You just did it!" she glared.
"What's going on in here?" Patricia demanded, strutting into the room.
"She keeps accusing me of touching the piano, when I am not." Eddie scoffed, stubbornly crossing his arms over his chest.
Patricia and Lacey both gave him identical are-you-kidding-me looks and his eyes went wide as they flitted between them quickly.
"Oh my, gosh, they're ganging up on me." he whimpered.
"You bet we are." Lacey let her father's smirk creep onto her pale face, which caused Eddie to smile and grab her, pulling her into his lap. He kissed the top of her head.
"We want to talk to you, baby."
"Okay," she nodded.
"Well, see, you are going to be a big sister soon." Patricia told her, speaking softly.
Lacey's eyes grew wide. "You mean, I'm gonna have a little sister?" she asked excitedly.
"Or brother," Eddie added.
"I want a sister."
"Well, I want a brother."
"You do have a brother; Uncle Ben?"
"No, I mean, a brother for you. I want a son. I'll need someone to carry the family name; I can't do it forever."
"You want the name 'Sweet' to be carried through history, starting with you?" Patricia asked with a smirk.
"No, 'Miller', Yacker; you know what I mean."
"When will the baby get here?" Lacey asked, cutting into her parents' playful bickering.
"We don't know for sure." Patricia replied, making a face at her husband after he did the same to her.
"Well, when did you order it?"
Eddie chuckled.
"About two weeks ago, I think?" Patricia mumbled thoughtfully.
"So, what is the normal shipping wait?" for a four-year-old, she was extremely smart. Her parents often jokingly wondered where her intellect came from.
"About nine months, give or take a few days."
Lacey's eyes widened once more this time, instead of excitement, it was shock. "Nine months? That's outrageous! That's practically a year! You should really consider paying extra for overnight shipping."
Eddie laughed and kissed her cheek. "Trust me, babe, if that was available, we would pounce on it—"
"Excuse me?" Patricia arched an eyebrow at him.
"What, just last night you said you didn't want to go through pregnancy again." the American defended himself.
"That's called hormones genius, I was in a crabby mood!"
"Like you are now." He said.
"Yes, like I am no—hey!"
"What?"
"Don't you dare start with me, Eddie Krueger!" she growled.
Lacey got up from her father's lap, stepping away from the couple as they bickered. She watched them in amusement. She knew that they'd end up kissing in a short while.
"What are you talking about? All I said was that you're crabby." He shrugged innocently.
"But, I'm not crabby!" she snapped, jumping him.
He fell backwards on the hardwood floor and let the angry red-head above him push his shoulders down. His hands gripped her sides as her legs straddled his waist, trying to convince him she wasn't crabby.
"But, I'm not crabby!" she protested with a hurt expression.
Eddie sighed. Her mood swings were probably the worst that any man, woman or beast would ever have to deal with, but he still loved her to death. And these mood swings also gave him a chance to do things she wouldn't normally let him do. "I'm sorry, baby; you want me to make you something to eat?"
"Can you make some pancakes?" she asked hesitantly, almost shyly.
"Sure, why don't you and Lace color some pictures while I do that?" he suggested, sitting up but keeping her in his lap as he rubbed her back in soothing circles.
"Okay," she murmured, looking at their now entwined hands.
"Alright," Eddie grinned happily and pecked her lips lightly.
"No, Tommy, stop eating bugs!" Alfie scolded, widening his brown eyes in warning.
"Sorry, dad," the six-year-old mumbled in shame, dropping the beetle, watching it wiggle on its back when it fell the short trip to the dirt. He easily tipped it back to its legs and it scurried away from him.
"Your mum really shouldn't have taken those cookies away…" Alfie noted.
"I agree!" Tommy piped, running a hand over his dark brown hair.
Tommy looked a lot like his father, with a few features here and there that resembled his mother. One of the things that Tommy had to deal with as the oldest boy amongst the children of the Anubis gang was not having any friends his age. Sure, there was Lacey, Sarah, and Louisa, but they were girls; and then there was Robert, but he was three and couldn't do a lot of the things he could do. He felt left out at times when the girls would play or when Robert would play with them without a care in the world. He wanted a friend, and he searched for one, but he never found one that could handle the weirdness he had inherited from his father.
Alfie looked up from his son after a moment when he saw a boy running toward him. He had tan skin and shaggy brown hair, falling into his green eyes. He looked to be about five or six years old, but he wasn't very tall for his age.
"Hey, I'm Josh, wanna play with me?" he asked bluntly, question directed at Tommy.
He looked up and an Alfie grin slipped onto his face. "Sure."
As the two boys ran off to the playground, Alfie scratched his head in confusion and amazement.
"Sorry, I hope that's okay. He looked like he needed someone to play with." A voice chuckled nervously.
Alfie turned to the woman with the dark skin and dark brown, curly hair. Her brown eyes were bright with care and happiness, and then recognition flashed across them.
"Alfie?" she gasped.
"KT…?" he asked hesitantly.
"Oh my, gosh!" she laughed.
They reached out and hugged each other in shock and glee.
"How are you?" Alfie grinned when they pulled away.
"Great! What about you? A father, husband—who's the lucky girl?"
"Amber,"
"What happened to Willow?" she asked with a chuckle, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, after a while, Willow and I realized that even though we're a good match, our relationship was the same way through the months we were together. It never really changed, or had any problems. And even though it was never boring, we wanted to see people that were a little different. So, about a year after our break up, I run into Amber, and the rest is history…" he took a deep breath after his long explanation and KT giggled.
"Well, congrats; what about the others?"
"Well, Jerome and Joy eventually broke up when they figured out that they were just using each other unconsciously to fill the void of not having anyone at all, and also because they sort of lost the friendship they had before they started dating. So, Jerome and Mara are married, Joy and Mick are married, Patricia and Eddie are married—"
"Obviously." She cut in with a teasing smirk.
"And Fabian and Nina are back together. Everyone lives on the same street, so we see each other all the time. What about you; how are things?" he asked, stuffing his hands into the front pockets of his blue jeans.
"Well, my husband, Derrek, and Josh, and I just moved into a house down the street for Derrek's job."
"Oh, what does he do?"
"He's the CEO of Anderson Electronics; he inherited the company when his father passed away."
"Oh, Jerome buys a lot of stuff from that company. Usually some type of camera."
"What does Jerome do?"
"He's a photographer. He started that after a few years of modeling."
"Wow, so everyone's been doing pretty well, huh?"
"Yeah, really well; what street did you move onto?"
"St. Johnson, a five minute walk from here—"
"Man, it doesn't matter if we're in Anubis or not, we're still brought together. That's the street we all live on. I know it may sound crazy, but everyone that ever lived in Anubis House will always be in touch, and somehow brought back together."
"I understand, even if it does sound crazy." KT giggled.
Alfie grinned and turned to his son. "Hey, no, Tommy, don't eat the bug! I warned you about that already. And don't try to rope Josh into eating any either."
"But, dad, I'm hungry!" Tommy protested, dropping another beetle.
Alfie took a deep breath and turned to KT again. "Sorry, we'll have to talk later. I need to get some food into the bottomless pit I call a son. Just, um, if you wanna talk to anyone from the House, I'm sure you'll figure out who lives where, or you can just walk up to each door and let them know you're new. The others will be so happy to see you."
"Alright, great, I'll see you later. Good luck with Tommy." She laughed, giving him a one-armed hug.
"Thanks," he mumbled with a roll of his eyes, and walked off with his son.
Yes, yes, I did just drag KT into the story. I don't know why, but I wanted to. So...yeah, review?
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. -John 15:13
-Rachel