Pearl sat in the recliner that was in the makeshift hospital room, reading a book. She hadn't sat down to read a book in a long time, but it felt good to do so. She had read a great deal as child, but as music became her passion, she had left her books to the side. Seeing as she spent so much time watching David, she had plenty of time to catch up on all the books on the list provided to her by Megan.

Pearl and Marina's mansion had several guest rooms, given how large it was. This room in particular was on the top floor and provided plenty of space for the big and complicated hospital bed residing within, plus several IV's and the electronic equipment required to monitor David's condition. There was also a big, flat-screen television for David to watch his favorite cartoons and movies.

The guest room next door to this one was where Megan, Joseph and Gemma slept. They had politely resisted, but Pearl had insisted that the family stay with them. She had been appalled at the tiny apartment in which the four of them lived and she had immediately arranged for them to live with her and Marina. Marina had not minded at all and Pearl hired a moving crew to transport all of their belongings to the mansion. After finally giving in, the couple had been beside themselves and constantly thanked her for her generosity.

It was around 7:00 in the morning. Pearl had taken to awaking much earlier than she usually did and chose to keep watch on her charge this morning, watching the sunrise through the window by the bed. Despite the bright light filtering through the glass, David remained asleep. This made Pearl somewhat depressed, as she knew it wasn't down to laziness, but his body being exhausted from fighting off the deadly disease. He had been sleeping a ton, around sixteen hours a day and always seemed to be extremely tired.

Thankfully, the cancer had stopped spreading. Pearl's financial contributions had meant the expensive equipment in the room, all of the required medicine and treatments and hiring the doctor who had treated her back in the day, Dr. Wagner. Pearl always called him "Lord of the Eyebrows," thanks to his incredibly bushy eyebrows that nearly covered his eyes. He was a really good man and an even better doctor, who had helped her through her own battle with cancer and whom she had gone back to recently, regarding her recent backpain. He visited regularly to check on David and confirmed he was making rapid progress.

Pearl looked down as her phone buzzed. Picking it up and tapping the screen, it revealed a text message from Shirley. Smiling to herself, she read the message, impressed at how someone so advanced in age could use a cellphone so incredibly well. Shirley was asking about David's condition and Pearl texted back that he was improving and reminded Shirley that she, Burt and Bianca were welcome to come over anytime that they liked. She replaced the phone on the table beside her chair, next to the picture of Alexander that had previously resided on her bedroom nightstand and returned to her book.

A soft creak touched her ears and she glanced up and to her right as the door to the room opened slowly. Gemma tiptoed in quietly and her purple face morphed into a massive smile upon seeing Pearl. Pearl grinned and invited the little girl to sit on her lap. Gemma gently climbed up and sat sideways across Pearl's legs, while Pearl held her and began to rock the chair back and forth.

"Good morning, Auntie Pearl," Gemma said.

"Good morning, Gem," replied Pearl softly. She noted how her own speech changed when speaking to children, forgoing most of the slang she used and her natural tone would soften, as did her normally loud voice.

"How is my brother?" Gemma asked.

"He's very tired," sighed Pearl, deciding to be honest with his sister. "And still very sick. But, he's improving. The sickness has stopped spreading." Gemma removed her little purple head from Pearl's shoulder and Pearl looked into the eyes as equally purple as her face, filled with anxiety.

"You think he'll be okay?"

Pearl pressed their foreheads together.

"I know so."

This seemed to satisfy Gemma, as her expression relaxed and she resumed her place on Pearl's shoulder. Shortly afterwards, the door opened again and Megan entered. Upon seeing the little Inkling girl cuddling with Pearl, her face broke into a sunny smile. Pearl held out her free hand and Megan grasped it.

"David is going to make it," Pearl said quietly, yet with certainty.

"I know," Megan said simply. "I never would have pegged you as being so good with kids, to be honest."

"Me neither," sighed Pearl as Megan dropped her hand and sat in the vacant chair next to her. "But, I'm not complaining."

Megan looked at her curiously. "Do you want to be a mother?"

Pearl stared out the window for a few moments, watching the sun rise up above the horizon. Her gaze dropped to the adorable little girl in her arms who had, amazingly, had fallen asleep right where she was, her expression one of supreme peace and contentment. She was comfortable with her "Auntie" and trusted her completely. Pearl felt another smile spread on her face and she looked back at Megan.

"Yes. Yes I do." Then she grimaced. "But, I need to actually find a decent guy first." Megan raised an eyebrow.

"You're Pearl Houzuki," she stated baldly, as if explaining that 2+2 did indeed equal four. Pearl snorted softly.

"I know that." she replied in mock sarcasm, causing Megan to giggle. "I've had that name since I was 0 years old."

"I mean," Megan reiterated, "that you are one of the most famous people in the entire country and even large parts of the rest of the world. Don't you have to fend off all the guys with a baseball bat?"

"Totally," admitted Pearl with a chuckle. "But most of them are just after the money and fame. They don't care about me for me. As I've learned after becoming so close to Marina, I do have a lot to offer. It's going to be pretty hard finding a guy who sees me for who I am, though."

"I suppose so," said Megan nodding in agreement as she leaned back in her chair. "Still, don't give up hope, you hear?" She fixed Pearl with a beady eye. "The right guy WILL come along. Because I said so." Pearl chuckled again.

"Your word is good enough for me."

Pearl stood up and handed Gemma to her mother, who took her gently into her arms.

"I need another cup of coffee," declared Pearl casually, grabbing her mug from the table. Megan just smiled and held her daughter while looking at her son. Pearl exited the room and made her way to the kitchen, where, predictably, Gina already was, preparing breakfast. She didn't look very surprised to see Pearl walk in, fully awake.

"Coffee?" she asked nonchalantly, smirking. Pearl smirked back.

"Well, duh." Gina laughed and poured her a mug, added some cream and slid it across the counter in her usual, well-performed sweep, right into Pearl's hand. As it impacted her palm, Pearl spun on the spot, pretending to almost drop the mug. Gina uttered a soft scream as Pearl came to a halt after performing a 360 spin, not spilling a single drop of liquid. She grinned at Gina, who was clutching her chest.

"Don't do that," she shuddered, catching her breath.

"My house," said Pearl, her grin getting wider.

"OUR house," came Marina's voice suddenly from behind her. Pearl yelped and jumped, spilling a few drops on the floor. Gina guffawed, pressing a hand to her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. Pearl pointed crossly at her.

"Watch your mouth, Eight," she warned. Gina continued to laugh behind her hand and Pearl relented, giggling a little to herself as Marina joined in.

"She got you," Gina hiccupped. Pearl raised her hands.

"She got me," she agreed, smiling in spite of herself, grabbing some paper towels to clean the coffee off of the floor.

The three girls gathered around the stove wearing aprons and began preparing breakfast for the whole house. The wonderful smells permeated the residence and the air was soon filled with the scent of applewood smoked trout bacon, fresh scrambled eel's eggs, pancakes, waffles, hashbrowns and grits.

Gina was in charge of operations, with Pearl and Marina acting as assistants. Pearl had a great deal of fun, turning on the rooms' stereo system and the three sang along to their favorite songs as they made breakfast. Gina always insisted she didn't have a great voice, but Pearl thought her voice was lovely, so much so that she had asked her multiple times to sing background vocals on her album, much to Gina's happy embarrassment. Marina set the table for everyone as Pearl poured more pancake batter into the skillet. At that moment, the little family of four entered the room, Gemma holding onto her mother's hand and David being carried by his father while dragging an IV along with him.

As the seven of them sat around the kitchen table, Joseph led them in grace for the meal. As he prayed, Pearl covertly opened her eyes and looked around at her family. Every head was bowed and every eye closed. Except, when Pearl's gaze reached David, seated in his father's lap, he opened his own eyes and they looked at each other for a few moments. Pearl winked at him and he smiled as they both closed their eyes once more.

Later that evening, David was back in bed again and Pearl was once more in her rocking chair, reading a book. Joseph was going to sit with him, but Pearl insisted. Thus, with so much free time, Joseph had been taking time to actually get some sleep that he never usually got and use the mansions gym. After mentioning that he had played guitar in high school, Pearl told him he could play any of hers whenever he liked. He had spent a bit of time in the studio, getting used to playing again and she thought he was quite good.

Pearl was busy reading through a rough draft of one of Megan's book's, titled The Secret of the Librarians. It was a fictional high fantasy novel and there was no other word for it other than excellent. Pearl had to stifle her laughter multiple times, attempting to not wake David. It was incredibly well written, full of action, adventure and romance, was very witty and filled with nuance and various twists and turns that kept her hooked in way she hadn't experienced in years. It really did make Pearl regret her harsh treatment of Megan's works back in high school.

A golden light out of the corner of her eye made her look up from the book. The light outside the window was absolutely stunning, featuring various gold, red and purple shades as the sun set unseen on the other side of the house. Pearl set down Megan's novel and simply watched the color slowly fade away into darkness as the stars in the night sky began to twinkle. Ever since childhood, she had always loved staring at and counting the stars, so much so that she had even considered studying astronomy after high school, before choosing to pursue music.

"Auntie Pearl?" asked a small voice suddenly.

Pearl started and her head jerked towards the bed. David was staring at her with those bright red eyes that so closely resembled his fathers. Pearl sighed and set her book aside on the table next to Alex's picture.

"Did I wake you, sweetie?"

"No," said David quickly, "I was watching the colors."

Pearl smiled and stood, walking over to the bed and looking up at the night sky with David as she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Did you know," asked Pearl quietly, "that the Humans have visited the stars?" David's eyes widened to the size of plates.

"They seen the stars? How?" Pearl looked fondly at the look of amazement on the little boys' face.

"They used these things called spaceships. They used them to get into space and roamed the galaxy. Some say that there are still humans who live out there, somewhere."

David wrinkled his brow in thought. ""Cause of the Ancient World Wars?"

Pearl stared at him, fascinated. She was impressed with how much knowledge was in that little head, being only five years old. The more she spoke to him, the more she realized just how smart he was, much smarter and mature beyond his years.

"Yes," she responded softly. "They built the Ark Polaris to try and leave. Scientists know that they built many more spaceships than that, seeing as the Ark is still here. They also built the domes that the Octarians still live in. If humans still do exist, we might not see them in our lifetimes."

David shrugged. "Maybe naw. But I can dream." His eyelids began to droop and he yawned widely. He was getting tired again. Pearl sighed heavily, unnecessarily smoothing his bedsheets, that feeling of sadness returning in force. She felt something touch her hand and looking down, David having taken her hand in his own. Looking into her eyes, he spoke in a tired voice.

"I'm tired, Auntie Pearl," he mumbled. Pearl felt a gushing of sorrow. "But don't worry. I have mommy and daddy and Gemma. And now," he paused, his voice quite steady, "I have you."

Pearl felt her eyes well and without conscious thought, climbed into the bed with David. Instinctively it seemed, David slowly turned in place and grasped her body tightly and within seconds, had once again fallen asleep. Pearl let a single tear slide down her cheek. Her emotions were mixed somewhere between happiness and sadness.

This little boy was likely going to have a tough life ahead of him, evidenced by her own pain, let alone the tough time he was having now, at just five years old. Yet, his own persistence and determination acted like a stimulant on her. If he said he could beat this sickness, she knew he could.

Pearl settled herself more comfortably and decided to stay the night with him. She couldn't bear to leave him now, not when he wanted to stay with his Auntie. Looking back up into the clear night sky, she gently squeezed David, providing him warmth and comfort.

"You have no need to worry, little one," she whispered into thin air. "You will win. I know you will and the Supreme God above does too." The stars above twinkled and she could almost see the ancient Humans there, agreeing with her. Slowly, very slowly, she too drifted off to sleep.

The door creaked open slowly as David's parents quietly entered the room. Wanting to check on their son, Megan gasped softly as she gazed upon Pearl laying in the hospital bed, clutching onto David as if he was her own. Joseph placed an arm around his wife's shoulders and the two of them just looked on at the pair in the bed with fondness.

Eventually, Megan removed her phone from her pocket and covertly took a picture of the sweet scene, setting it as her background. Despite her previously checkered history with the pale Inkling, Megan knew without a shadow of a doubt that Pearl Houzuki was now a part of her family and she would be eternally grateful. The young couple exited the room, confident that David would be safe in Pearl's capable arms.

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Well, that's all! Thank you all very much for sticking with me to the end of this story. I'm sorry if it might be shorter than you wanted it to be and to be fair, I wanted there to be more as well. However, the story came together quite naturally and trying to add more never seemed to work. Attempting to add was ultimately doing the story itself a disservice and I'm rather proud of how it turned out.

I currently don't have much other material written and won't be uploading any more stories for a while. I do enjoy writing a great deal, but as mentioned in my bio, I have a very busy job and might be taking on more activities such as school, so I may not be able to upload consistently. Still, I'll be trying to write some short one-offs, for practice's sake. Future stories may be far in the future.

I hope this story exceeded your expectations. If you have any critiques, please let me know in the comments. Once again, thank you very much for reading. May God bless you all!