Alice felt something was different this time when she and Clark went home for spring break. It was not simply Nancy's absence, even though that was a good portion of it. The twins seemed…sobered…by their younger sister leaving. She figured that only part of it was the fact that with herself and Clark gone most of the time, they had no target for their teasing. With their own inexperience with magic, she doubted that Nancy almost getting killed had been on their radar. She expected the shock would wear off sooner or later. At least she thought they had gained the respect for magic that Hieronymous tried so hard to instill in his students.

The first night at home, they had barely waited for their parents to go to bed before rushing into her room for the full story. They seemed suitably impressed by the seriousness of it, but she still suspected that they wished they could have seen the action first hand. It was apparent that they both missed Nancy already, though neither one said it outright. She thought that this might be because as younger sisters were often considered, they thought that Nancy got in the way of their 'fun' with her tattling as if Nancy liked getting them into trouble. Whether Nancy had actually enjoyed doing so or not, she had notified their parents several times when the twins were about to do something that could have gotten one or both of them hurt and both of the twins knew it. A piece of their family was missing, and it was a fact that they could not ignore.

Her birthday came and went, she was eighteen now. Her father had grilled steaks, her mother had made her favorite cake, and then they had spent the evening playing board games. They had done that for her birthdays before, but this time it felt different. Instead of getting toys this year, she had gotten lavender scented lotion and one of her father's handguns. That afternoon he had taken her out to the range to make sure she still knew how to shoot, and she had. It was not that different from aiming spells, and truth be known, the spells she was casting now could do more damage than the pistol could. Still, the pistol's grip felt familiar in her hands and brought back memories of her father teaching Clark and herself how to handle firearms, and the practice helped focus and clear her mind. Clark insisted that the practice had helped him with aiming spells, and she could see the merits of that conclusion. She did not miss what she was intending to hit when spellcasting, though many of her classmates did. Clearing her mind, aiming while focusing on the target, and then pulling the trigger between heartbeats was second nature to her, thanks to her father. She wondered if this was part of the reason she had been able to realize something was wrong and evade her father-in-law's trap the night of the opera. If she could not make herself focus, that immediately set off alarm bells in her head.

Finally being of age also meant the opening of possibilities that she and Hieronymous had put on the back burner early in the school year. Since the potion should no longer be in effect, it was a possibility…though it might be safer to have Potsdam check her to confirm that rather than to just assume the potion had been labeled correctly. She wanted him, and she knew that he was not uninterested. Perhaps it would be better to wait until the stress of exams was over so they did not have to focus on anything else. That was when they were planning to go on their honeymoon anyway. Perhaps they could have their belated wedding night the day of the May dance. It was an anniversary or sorts, after all. They had both declared, if not love, at least a permission to let it develop on that night.

There was also the fact that with Hieronymous leaving the school in two years, Potsdam was looking to hire another teacher for upperclassman Blue, Red, and Black for the present that would move into her husband's role when he left. This would give Hieronymous more time to spend with his new family and with the normal world business responsibilities his father had begun to surrender to him since Aloysius was not planning to 'be alive' in the normal world for very long after she graduated. A side benefit of this was that she would not have to take classes with her husband as her instructor. She thought that this new arrangement would provide much less awkwardness for everyone involved.

"You haven't turned a page for nearly half an hour," her mother said, startling her. She sat down in the recliner beside the couch Alice was spread out on, and offered her the second cup of tea that she held. Alice drew herself up and accepted the tea, putting down the book that she was not reading, and realized that she should have been watching the television instead. People stared blankly at televisions all the time, but if you did that to a book….

Of course, she could not tell her mother that she had been musing plans about moving in with her husband.

"I see that blush," her mother noted. "It's a boy, isn't it?" The way she said it, it did not sound much like a question.

Alice had to quell her reflexive panic. Well, her plan had to be to carefully let her parents know that she was seeking a relationship with Hieronymous after she had turned eighteen. With the twins and Clark off with their father somewhere, it was probably as good of a time as any. The trick was to be able to tell her mother about it without directly lying.

"Well," Alice started slowly, "there is someone that I'm interested in."

Her mother smiled. "You seem hesitant. You're eighteen now, so you are old enough to date if that's what you're worried about. Your father is only teasing when he says you have to wait until you're twenty-five. So, tell me about him."

Twenty-five. She had always known that he was joking when he said that but…. His reaction would not be pretty if he ever learned that she had married when she was only sixteen. Alice bit her bottom lip. General details first. "Clark was right when he said that I wouldn't take someone seriously unless they were as smart as or smarter than me. I'm pretty much at the top of my class." Or at least, if getting extra merits at the end of most of her exams counted as such, she was. "That narrows the field of choices a lot."

Her mother nodded. "Some guys can get intimidated by a girl with brains. That is no reason to dumb yourself down. You either find one that accepts you as you are, or find your intellectual equal."

"Well, he is smart…very smart."

"Anything else," her mother asked, "or is he just a brain with legs?"

"He's always looking out for other people," Alice found herself answering. "He's the sort that doesn't tell people what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. He's earned more respect than friends with this approach."

Her mother's eyebrows rose. "Not the typical young man, then. He sounds a little like Clark."

Alice blinked. Yet someone else was comparing her brother and her husband. Perhaps part of the reason she had been drawn to Hieronymous in the first place was that something about him seemed comfortably familiar.

"How long have you known him?" was her mother's next question.

"We've been friends since about this time last year. I got to know him mostly because he's involved with student government stuff." Unspoken—they had been married for more than a year. Not to mention that if she had not been Treasurer, they would not have married last year. Come to think of it, the decision to run for Treasurer had sealed her fate as much as refusing to take Damien's hand had.

It was a good thing that Virginia had tried to push her into it. Otherwise, she would not be with her husband now, and Nancy would have had no choice but to live with their Grandfather. She doubted that she could foster her sister were she not married to Hieronymous, but she had to wonder if Potsdam would have suggested the solution so she would be able to do so.

If given the choice, even if she had known him no better than she had when she had married, Alice knew that she would have agreed to be married to him at least until she was done with school. But would he have agreed to such an arrangement? He had not exactly had much of a choice when they had married originally. Not to mention that had they been living under the same roof, even if they kept separate quarters, the marriage would have been even harder to hide. It would have made more sense to not even try to.

Well, it was a path that they had not gone down. It was best to worry about the present now.

"So you are friends right now, but are not dating?" her mother asked.

"Correct," Alice said. They were friends, and they were married, not in the dating stage of a relationship. If you wanted to get technical about the subject, Hieronymous considered what they currently had a courtship. It struck her that the main differences between 'dating' and 'courting' was that a courtship occurred with marriage in mind, took things slowly, and had the consent of the head of her household while dating did not necessarily have a marriage in mind, there was no real definition of how fast or slow to take it, and parents were not necessarily notified let alone consenting to the relationship.

With that description in mind, they had never 'dated.'

"And he has not asked you out yet?"

"Well," Alice said, choosing her words with care. "There's a chance he wouldn't consider it proper." There was always a chance of anything, even the ludicrous.

"How old is he?"

"In his twenties," Alice replied. At least, she thought that he hadn't had his birthday yet.

Her mother blinked, put her tea down on the small table between their seats, and looked at her sharply. "He doesn't happen to have an English accent, does he?"

Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth, so Alice simply nodded. Apparently, she had been less circumspect than she had thought when he came to pick her and Clark up before Christmas, or her mother had guessed given that she had said that he was involved in student government.

"You're serious about this?" her mother asked.

"Very," she found herself answering. "I've given it a lot of thought."

"And he has not been taking advantage of you in any way?"

"He's…he's been a perfect gentleman," Alice confirmed. And he was. Hieronymous had never pushed for more than she had wanted to give him. If he had…. If he had, they would be divorced right now. One thing her father had made sure of was that she knew that she was more than worthy of respect from anyone that pursued her. It had been why she had reacted so strongly when Damien had almost hit her. Knowing what she did now, she was very grateful to her father for teaching her that.

Her mother sighed, obviously processing what she had just told her. Alice wished that her mother had magic so she could tell her the whole story, but then if she had, she might never have met her father and had her and her siblings.

"You're eighteen now, so legally there isn't much I could do if I wanted to. But you do know that I love you and anything I do, it's to protect you," her mother started.

Alice nodded, afraid of where this might be going.

"I would be more worried if he was not behaving himself," her mother said. "As it is…. I would have told you to wait until you were eighteen to even think about asking him out, but here we are. If you do want to pursue him, there are a few promises I want you to make."

"Like what?" Alice asked, caught between holding her breath and sighing in relief. There were some promises that she could not make.

"First off, are there any school rules you would be breaking by dating him? Your education is important, and I don't want to see you expelled because of this when you could just wait until you graduate."

"There aren't any rules about it," Alice said. "The headmistress has actually started encouraging me to pursue him. She's an irredeemable matchmaker." Of course, she omitted when Potsdam had started doing that.

Her mother merely raised an eyebrow at that before continuing. "Then I want you to promise me that you will take it slow, do your best to not let it interfere with your schoolwork, and try to maintain the friendships that you currently have."

"That sounds reasonable," Alice replied, agreeing that it made sense but not promising to do so. It was a lot to promise.

"The biggest things are I want you to promise me that you won't sleep with him until you are married…if you do decide to do so…and that you don't have the wedding until after you graduate…or at least, no longer take his classes."

Her mother did not want her sleeping with someone that had power over her, and Alice understood why. It looked like it would be necessary to have a fourth wedding after graduation after all. "I promise not to sleep with him until we are married, and I promise to invite you to the wedding we would have after graduation if we do decide to do so," Alice promised. Those were promises she could keep, even if worded slightly differently from the way her mother had asked. "Can I ask him out now?"

Her mother nodded satisfied, then leaned back in her chair. "I know it seems like I'm planning a little far ahead, but better safe than sorry…and it's always good to know what terms a relationship would be on before it official starts, especially one like this. And you would have to think about how this would affect how you are seen by your classmates."

Alice finally let out a sigh of relief. "I don't think it would change how he treats me in class, and I won't be in any of his classes next year anyway. And since he's pretty much the discipline king at school, I think most of the students would welcome him being distracted enough to leave me alone."

"And thanks for being honest with me, dear," her mother said, and Alice tried to keep the prickles of guilt from showing up on her face. She had managed to tell her mother at least some about Hieronymous without lying, but she could not pretend that she had been forthright.

"What should I tell Dad?" she asked. Maybe that would cover the glimmers of guilt that had made it out.

Her mother grinned. "Let's wait until after you ask him out. At the moment, this is all theoretical. You should keep in mind that he might not want to date a student. If you two do become serious, we would want to get to know him a bit more, and for longer than it takes to have a cup of coffee."

Somehow, Alice had the feeling that her mother thought that Hieronymous would not be interested. Well, kudos to his acting skill then. Her mother had a surprise in store. "And you'll let me know if Dad starts mixing up any C4, gets his sniper rifle out, or starts asking Grandpa if some of his old 'contacts' are interested in a little job?" Alice asked, and her mother laughed.

...

A few days later, Alice sat on top of an upturned five-gallon pail near a stream with her father, careful to keep her fishing line away from his. It was just the two of them fishing on a friend's property, and the sun was just starting to warm the air enough that she was considering taking off her jacket. The stream was bubbling, the birds were singing, and a slight breeze was blowing through the long grass. It was peaceful.

"It's been quiet," her father said out of nowhere.

Alice frowned, casting her line again. "I haven't had a bite yet either."

"Not that," he admitted. "I meant at home."

"Did the twins get laryngitis while Clark and I were at school or something?" she asked. "Even then, I'm sure they would have tried some zany new idea that would end with something going 'bang.'" She was hoping that her father was not remembering something of Nancy, and missing that. Since she could not explain what had really happened to her baby sister, it would be better if their father did not notice her missing. Apparently, Potsdam herself had been required to deal with her father's memories of Nancy. She could not help but be impressed by that.

Her father frowned as he looked at the stream. "That's just it. The twins have been acting a little strange for about the last week or two. I'm starting to wonder if they had a close call that really scared them, because they haven't been up to their usual mischief in that time."

Yes, their baby sister had nearly died and they were still spooked. "As they aren't in the hospital themselves, they probably just knew someone else who had a close call," she suggested instead. "Or maybe they just read about something online."

"It would take more than just reading for those two," her dad pondered. "They like pushing buttons and playing with things that might blow up in their faces."

"I wonder where they got that from?" Alice said wryly, and her father smiled at the obvious reference to himself.

"They do have a certain ingenuity which will serve them well later in life, assuming they are able to tame it," he admitted.

Alice held her fishing pole between her knees while taking off her jacket to tie it around her waist. "If they had gotten into anything important, I'm sure the twins would have told you or Mom about it. They've already learned the hard way that sweeping big problems under the rug doesn't work very well."

"Like the time when they were in trouble, went outside to hide from your mother, and got into a patch of poison ivy?" he asked with a grin.

"And now they remember what it looks like, and don't hide from Mom," Alice said, returning his grin.

"It's not just the twins though," her father said. "You and Clark seem quieter than when you were over for Christmas. Is there anything big on your plates that you would want to talk about?"

If he only knew…if only she could tell him. Fortunately, she had an alternative prepared. "Clark and my roommate Virginia started going out. He might be a little…twitterpated."

"I see," her father said with a smile. "And what do you think about this development?"

"I'm ok with it. I mean, Ellen is dating Virginia's brother so it won't make the room any more awkward. And I like Virginia, so it would be nice if things did work out," Alice said.

"But that leaves you out," her father said. "Does Ellen have a brother to add to the brother swap?"

"No," Alice said. "Ellen…doesn't have a family."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," her father said. "But keep looking, and I'm sure that somewhere, somehow you'll find a nice young man that I will not feel constrained to shoot if he shows up at my front door looking for you."

Alice tried to stop herself from laughing and scaring away the fish, but it came out as a very un-lady like snort instead. "So if I like the guy, I need to tell him to wear a bullet-proof vest?"

"At that range, a head shot would be easy, so it wouldn't do any good," her father said. His tone was serious, but she knew that he was joking.

And some people wondered where Clark had gotten his morbid sense of humor from. "Well, if you want to know what's on my plate, the Headmistress asked me if I wanted to stay the summer. It's an honors course they have."

Suddenly Alice felt a tug on her line, and a fish interrupted the conversation. As it was the first catch of the day, Alice turned her bucket over the right way and collected water in it while her father removed the hook from her trout's mouth. He dropped it into the bucket where it splashed while she got the bait out again.

"So, you would be going to school year-round then?" her father asked.

"Yes," she admitted, trying to place a worm that did not want to go on her hook.

"We would miss you," her father said.

Her head came up, her focus drawn from the struggling worm. "I can then? Thanks Dad!" she said, smiling. She would have hugged him, but figured doing so while holding a hook and a small grubby creature was inadvisable. She would have gone anyway, but like the conversation she had had with her mother, seeking their permission would ensure their relationships suffered the least strain possible.

"Try to come home on visits, so we can see you from time to time," he said with a smile. "It seems like you are growing up so fast, your mother and I can hardly keep track."

"I'm not sure what breaks there will be during the summer yet," she admitted. "I'll find out." Potsdam said that she and Hieronymous normally held fewer classes with a much smaller student size. Summer classes were normally used for those who had been failing their studies during the normal year, those who excelled and wanted to continue their classes, and Wildseeds that had left their parents and needed something to keep them busy. As unstructured as it sounded, she should be able to fit a 'break' in to visit the rest of her family.

"You'll make me proud," her father said. "You always do."