Man, I'm on a super-inspired updating rampage.

This chapter picks up immediately where the first part left off. I advise you to read it to understand fully.

XXX

The warmth of Orland's and Aria's embrace turned cold when they heard voices downstairs.

"Have you seen my daughter, Egan?"

"Yes, I have. She went upstairs."

"To Orland's room?"

"I assume so."

"And you let her?"

"Well, I didn't really think about—"

"You let a teenage girl go…ALONE…into a teenage boy's room? You must have really, seriously not been thinking, Egan. Either that or it's been a long time since you've raised a teenage kid."

"Uh, Kyle, what's the hammer for?"

"Oh I was just pounding some rocks in the field earlier when I noticed Aria wasn't home. I sincerely hope I won't have any reason to use it to pound OTHER things."

They could hear heavy boot-steps on the stairs.

"Of course he would come. Of all times, of course he would choose now to come." Orland immediately broke the embrace and started fretting. He was seriously in fear of his life.

Aria glared. "I can't believe he doesn't trust me."

"It's not you who should worried," he said and then, Looking frantic, he opened the window beside his bed. Of course, that required that he actually get on the bed. "The moment he comes near tell me so I can jump out and save myself."

"But you could get hurt!"

"It's better than being murdered, mangled and then tossed out the window."

"It's a dumb idea. We'll just…explain to him what happened and why I'm here. He'll understand, right, right!?"

"Of course he won't! Because he's been looking for an excuse to kill me ever since you started talking to me! I'm too young to die."

"And too handsome!" She said and smiled, hopping on the bed and hugging his shoulders.

"Quit that! What if he hears you? Or sees you or—GET OFF ME! I don't want to die!"

"I'll hide!" she said.

"Try under the bed," he said.

With the heavy bootsteps, slow and threatening, still coming from the stairs, Aria tried but found the space was too small for her."

"Where's the closet?" She said, looking around.

"There isn't one."

"Where do you put your clothes?"

He pointed to a pile of clothing strewn on the floor.

She made a face but didn't say another word.

The bootsteps were no longer on the stairs but from outside the door.

"Quick! Under the covers! I'll hide you with pillows!" Orland said, not knowing what else to do.

"Don't suffocate me," she said as she crawled under the blankets. He piled pillows on top and made sure to make a little hole so she could breathe. She giggled and he kicked the pillows and told her to shut up. Then he dusted himself off and hoped to god Kyle couldn't read minds.

Kyle towered in the door. "Where is she?"

Orland shrugged, trying to look confident when on the inside his heart was beating all over the place. "How should I know?"

"Egan said she was here."

"Huh? What would Egan know? He's senile."

Kyle stalked around the room like a lion sniffing out its prey. He lifted things up, peered behind things and all around made Orland seriously consider jumping out the window while he was still alive.

Then Kyle came to the bed. "These pillows look AWFULLY suspicious."

"They're-they're not suspicious. They're just pillows. On my bed. With nothing under them. At all. Because they're on my bed. And they're not alive."

"They're breathing."

"Oh crap," Orland said. "All right. I give in. You might as well kill me now and get it over with. Yes, Aria is under them. She's in my room, on my bed. Now please just kill me so we can get this over with."

Aria popped up. "Um, hi, dad."

"What were you doing on his bed?"

"Hiding?"

"Okay, I'll ask again." Kyle was casually tapping his hammer and Orland didn't miss it. "What were you guys doing?"

Knowing that he was going to die anyway, Orland gave in. "I don't know. What stuff do you normally do on a bed?"

If convention says it was impossible to die from anger, then Kyle broke all the rules and nearly died on the spot. "What!?"

"We weren't doing anything," Aria said, sending Orland a glare. "And you're just egging him on!"

Orland shrug. "He's going to kill me anyway. It's pointless to fight it."

"Damn right I'm going to kill you. Aria, I am so disappointed right now."

"We didn't do anything," she said. "I just came into his room, we heard you downstairs and knowing you would OVEREACT I tried to find a place to hide."

"On his bed?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Orland said.

"Being on a boy's bed is NEVER a good idea. It leads to trouble. You kids have no idea. Unless—unless I interrupted something." Kyle's nostrils flared. "And something WAS going on that I don't know about."

"The only reason she was there is because there's nowhere else to hide," Orland said. "Anyway, you're probably not going to listen so if you'll excuse me as I jump out the window and spare you the trouble."

Kyle grumbled something under his breath. "Your mother's going to hear about this."

"She's not going to care," Aria said. "She'll probably do what you're not doing and, you know, believe me. Please, daddy. Believe me. Don't murder Orland with a hammer. I like him and we would never do anything like that ever until we're married. And then that would only be to have lots of little babies."

"Uh…no?" said Orland.

"Oh, but I already have name's for them! One's going to be named Clarissa. And I'll even name one after you, dad!"

"No, seriously, I don't want to have any babies. I hate babies. I despise babies. There is no word to describe how I feel about babies."

"You would hate our own babies!?" She said, but she had cracked into a smile and wasn't at all serious. "You monster! I'll go find someone else then. And he'll love babies."

"If you're talking about having Roy's children, then yes, he will simply adore every last idiot one because he'd finally find someone of his intellect."

"Leonel?"

"Are you sure he wouldn't be the one having them?"

"Now that's just mean!"

Kyle's eyebrow twitched. "There will be no baby-making on my watch."

"But, daddy," Aria said.

"No babies until you're married! Now, Aria, how about you go home now and see how your mother is doing. I need to talk to Orland for a moment."

Aria sighed. "It was nice knowing you."

"Yes, I rather enjoyed being alive myself."

Aria left, sulking. Kyle turned to Orland. "Are you positive nothing was going on?"

"Yes."

"If you're thinking about taking advantage of her, then you have another thing coming. Most likely a hammer, but I've been known to mix it up with a scythe."

"I'm aware," he said, dryly. "I-I hate saying this. I hate admitting it but—" he closed his eyes. "Ireallylikeher."

"What?"

He tried saying it slower this time. "I really like her. I really do. I hate it. I hate liking her because she distracts me but I can't help it." He pulled at his hair. "Trust me, I would have found a way to stop liking her if I could. I've even tried banging my head against the wall. But it doesn't work. Because—because she smiles and everything seems so much better and I just can't concentrate on my stupid studies because I keep thinking about her. So, yes, I do like your daughter. I do. And if you don't mind, please hit me already so maybe I can find some peace from this ridiculous feeling. Because that's just what it is, silly, ridiculous, unusual, idiotic—and yet I can't help it. I can't!"

Kyle looked at him cold and hard for a moment, then sighed. "It's not like I don't remember what that was like. It's actually just what I was afraid of, to be honest. That she finds somebody and moves away and I lose my little girl…she used to be so little. God, she's grown up, hasn't she? And there's no use fighting it, is there?"

"The window's open. That'd be a bloody way to end this."

"But then some other punk would take your place. No, that's not a solution."

Orland didn't know if he should be worried that Kyle almost seemed as if he had actually considered it as a viable solution at some point. It was one of those things that was probably best left forgotten lest it keep you up at night.

"You—you can see, Aria. As long as you remember your place," Kyle said, pointing a finger. "And remember that she always…always has me right there with farming implements of death."

"I'll try to avoid those."

After an awkward moment of silence, Aria burst into the room and nearly tackled Orland to the floor. "Daddy, thank you. Thank you so much," she said. "And I really like you too, Orland. I do."

"Did you just hear everything?" Orland said.

"Yeah. I did."

Kyle sighed heavily again, walked out the room and left them alone.
Aria blinked. "Did my father just…?"

"I think he did."

It was a little shocking for them both to find that she had her arms wrapped around him. She blushed.

Strangely, he found himself kissing her and not wanting to let go.

"God, Aria, you're such a distraction," he said, but he still hadn't let her go.

"I know! But the books aren't nearly as interesting!"

"No, not really. Not at all." He sort of stroked her cheek awkwardly. She had soft skin for a girl who was knocked on the head by monsters on a daily basis.

She only smiled that brilliant little smile of hers.

Times were destined to be interesting for the both of them.

Kyle came walking into Douglass's store, his head down. "Douglass, I turn in my father card. I'm not worthy any more."

"What happened?"

"I'm letting my daughter date."

Douglass raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes, Orland. She's dating Orland."

"You're a horrible father."

"I know."

"I revoke your right to make earthquakes."

"I'll miss them. They were almost like friends to me."

And then Kyle left the store.

At home, Kyle put the hammer of boy-smashing away, tore up his father card and found his wife in the kitchen.

"Oh, Kyle!" she said, smiling from the table.

"Hey, Ceci. Is it my turn to cook tonight?"

But she didn't answer and was looking distractedly into the distance.

"Ceci? Ceci!"

"Huh? Oh. I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

He set down at the rickety old table next to her. "How about you tell me all about it then?"

"It's just…Jake visited today. He seemed a bit…well, calm. It was so strange."

"Jake visited? Jake was here? And you didn't slam the door in his face why?"

"Kyle! Jake is my friend."

"Yeah, well, why would he be here anyway?"

"He just wanted to let me know that he—that everything was okay. He wanted to know if I was happy. I said yes, of course, and said that he was content to see me happy." She didn't tell him everything, however. Especially how just before Jake left, he had hugged her tight. It wasn't that she regretted marrying Kyle or was discontent with her current life. It was just the moment had made her realize how easily things could have been different. How she could have been happy with Jake. But then Kyle wouldn't have been happy…Either way, someone lost something. It made her sad just thinking about it.

"That's all?" Kyle said, leaning forward.

"Yes. That was it. He left afterwards."

"Ceci, you know I love." He said. "I really do. I don't say it enough sometimes because I sometimes take it for granted, but I really do love you."

Cecilia smiled gently. "It's all right, Kyle. I know. I've never really doubted it…"

"You've never doubted marrying me, have you?"

She looked at him, shocked. There was nothing to really say to that, so she simply jumped out of her chair and into his arms. "Nope. Never," she whispered into his ear.

"Ick," somebody said from the door. "Gushy stuff."

It was Aria coming in. She whistled a tune as she skipped upstairs, barely greeting her parents.

Cecilia kissed his forehead and stood up. "My, she's happy, isn't she?"

"She's dating."

"Oh? Who?"

"Orland."

For only a few moments she looked off-balance before she regained her composure. "And you are allowing this?"

"…yes. I guess I am."

"Kyle, I'm so proud of you. You're finally letting Aria grow up and become a woman!"
"Hey, what's with this woman stuff? She's fifteen, for crying out loud! And I don't like any of this but I'll tolerate it."

"How about I make a cake to celebrate?"

"I could never refuse that."

"I've always wanted a chubby husband," she continued, grinning. "You're too skinny."

"Okay, you just said the one thing in the world that might make me turn down cake."

She laughed and became busy cooking in the kitchen. A while later the cake was done, Aria had come downstairs and everyone began to enjoy the meal.

XXX

Well, that ends that. Kyle has accepted, Jake has accepted—there's nothing holding back Aria and Orland now. Oh, well, except a wedding. Actually, I just might right a wedding one-shot to please the raging fangirl in me. Of course, Orland and Aria would be older, Kyle would probably cry, Ceci would have to comfort him, Douglass would shake his head because Kyle fails at fatherhood and Jake would be in some dark corner doing whatever Jake does in dark corners. And then there would be babies, lots of little babies. The whole world will soon be filled with Orland and Aria's babies.

BTW, Review, please, and make any requests you want for the wedding one-shot. If you have any ideas for future one-shots, go ahead and run them by me.