Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. This is a work of fan fiction.

Season Three Episode Four "Status Quo" Chapter Three

Earth. Hay Lin went upstairs to check on her parents. She found them working in the Dragon's kitchen. "Hay Lin! Where have you been?" her father demanded. "You knew you were supposed to help with deliveries today!"

"I'm sorry dad, but-"

Yan Lin interrupted her granddaughter. "Calm yourself son. She has been helping me with some other matters."

"Oh. Well… Alright, but tell me in the future!"

"I will dad. So, any deliveries ready to go?"

"You know it," he said, hefting a huge package at her. "Address is on the tag."

"Wonderful."

Cornelia entered her family's kitchen. "What's for dinner?"

"I've ordered pizza." her mother answered. "It's all Lillian seems to want today, and I don't really feel like cooking anyway. How was your date with Caleb?"

"Good. I'll go wash up for dinner. Have you seen the cat?"

" I think he's with Lillian in her room."

Cornelia went down the hall to Lillian's room. Inside, the younger girl had dozed off. Napoleon stood guard over her. When he saw Cornelia, he quietly leapt off the bed and ran to her room. "So what's the four-one-one doll?" he asked.

"Big trouble. Some whacked out freak named Queen Neera. She's after our families, but she can't actually hurt them unless they know about us." Cornelia answered.

"Sounds like another reason to keep things under wraps." the cat said.

"Easier said than done. She got to Will's mom through dreams."

"Bad news." Napoleon agreed. "I'll stay on guard."

Elyon looked through the front door her mother had just opened. "Wow. Who would've thought so much dust could build up in just a few months?"

"Home sweet home." Aldarn said. "Let's get cleaning." Elyon smiled. A chance at some normal life. It seemed too good to be true.

Having temporarily zapped away her dad's memories of what really happened, Irma led a confused Tom out of the dump and walked him towards their home. The cover story was that she was walking on her way to visit Hay Lin when she stumbled across him.

As they approached their home, a couple of Tom's fellow street cops saw them and ran over, asking what had happened. "I don't know." Irma said. "I just found him like this." A look of suspicion passed between them, but they said nothing. Working together, they got him into the house, where Anna screamed in joy and grabbed Irma while the medics checked Tom over…

An hour later. Tom had recovered enough to talk to the investigators. He was polite, and tried to help them, but had no answers to give. An F.B.I. man insisted on hooking Tom to a polygraph, but found no sign of deceit. Eventually, everyone left, instructing the family to avoid the room the firefight had went down in until they gave the all clear.

Irma had slipped away to her room. As she sat trying to catch up on homework, Tom entered. "That was close Irma. The memories came back less than ten minutes after they finished that lie-detector test."

"Really? It should have lasted longer. Guess maybe I was afraid to zap you up too hard." Irma answered. They were both quiet for several seconds. Finally Irma said, "I guess we need to get it over with. How much trouble am I in?"

Tom sighed. "Irma, I should ground you for life. I really should. Before that talk with Yan Lin, I probably would have. But… You're doing good things Irma. Helping innocent people who can't help themselves. I… I'm proud of you. And I'm not going to punish you, or try to stop you."

"Thank you!" Irma exclaimed, as she jumped into her father's arms and hugged him tightly.

"Just keep me in the loop. And help me keep an eye on your mom and brother for whatever Neera tries next."

Taranee tried to sneak into her home, but her mother was waiting for her. "Where have you been young lady?" Theresa Cook asked. "I've called your cell phone eight times in the last hour and gotten nothing."

"That's weird." Taranee said. "I had it on. Never rang."

"Riiiight…. I'll buy that when elephants fly. Just admit you were with Nigel and didn't want to answer."

"Okay okay, you caught me. Listen, can I go start on my homework? I've got a paper due next week I need to finish up."

"Go ahead." Theresa said. As Taranee rushed up the stairs, she turned to Lionel. "The girl is hiding something again."

"You're imagining thing Theresa." Lionel said. "She's a teenager, of course she keeps to herself away from us."

"Maybe…"

Susan and Will sat in their living room on the couch. Dean had helped to fix the door, then left, begging the need for sleep. "I'll call you in the morning." he said, kissing Susan's cheek.

Will sat, looking at her mother, who was still and silent. After twenty minutes, she couldn't take it anymore. "Mom? Please say something."

Suddenly, Susan turned and grabbed Will in a tight embrace. She was crying. "Will, sweetie, I am so sorry!" she sobbed.

Confused, Will replied, "Sorry? Uh, mom, maybe you're still confused by everything that's happened. See, you're supposed to be angry, ground me for life, and demand that I stop being a Guardian…" She was cut off by Susan's sobs turning to laughter.

"Oh Will." she said pulling back. "I'm not doing either of those things. Yan Lin gave me a good reason to not try to stop you from what you do. It would backfire in the end and hurt you more. And as for punishing you for keeping this secret…"

Will looked at her mother in shock. "Yes?"

"Will, I meant it when I said I was sorry. Sorry for all those times in the last year when I've yelled at you, and berated you, and punished you, for being "immature" and "irresponsible", when it was really because you were carrying all this weight."

Will was in tears now too. "Mom-" she said, and grabbed her mother tightly. "I love you."

After a few minutes, Susan said, "So, are you getting hungry too?"

"Yeah. But can we order out? I don't feel like dealing with "Dave" right now.

"Dave?"

"The refrigerator."

"This is really going to take some getting used to."

"You have no idea."