James was pacing. Again. Oliver sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. "Pacing isn't going to help win the argument."

"I can't believe you just let walk out!" James snapped, halting his pacing only to resume it a few moments later. "All that time and effort-"

"The time and effort it took you and your brother to kidnap and imprison three teenage girls?" Oliver clarified, his voice cold. "Yes, I'm so sorry that all ended up being for nothing. I'll make sure to let you keep them locked up longer next time."

"James! Your stupid bear is in my room again! Come get him out!" Allen yelled from the second story of the house.

"Why don't you stop being such a baby and get him out yourself!" James yelled back, his nails digging into his crossed arms. "Absolute pansy." He muttered, ignoring whatever else his brother might yell at him. "Why did you let them walk out anyway?"

Oliver rolled his eyes again. He'd been asked that question so many times in the last two weeks that he'd lost count. He shook his head. He wasn't going to try and explain his reasoning behind letting the girls leave again. As far as James seemed to be concerned, Oliver had committed some crime while the englishman couldn't disagree more if he tried. "Because James. It was the right thing to do. Kidnapping people is wrong and I still don't understand where you thought it would get you with the poppet."

"I had a plan." James hissed, trying and failing to keep his temper in check. "And it did not include letting them leave without a fight."

"Well, that's too bad. It's already been done. You'll just have to get over it and find something else to do with your time." Oliver's tone left no room for argument and eventually, James scowled, knowing he'd lost. He mumbled something under his breath and went upstairs.

"Mom, I want a shark."

Maddy sent her son a look that screamed 'why the hell is that?' "You... have a ferret." She said slowly. She didn't want to say no immediately, but when the idea of having was first brought up, he'd said that a ferret was fine.

Chris sighed dramatically. "I know, but I want a shark. Brittany and Selene have abnormal pets."

"Only because your uncle doesn't listen to a word I say." She wasn't sure why Chris was talking to her about getting a pet shark. He lived with Matthew. That was the adult he should have been asking.

"Consider it done kiddo!" Alfred yelled from across the room as if mentioning him had enhanced his hearing. Chris beamed at his uncle.

Maddy sighed and considered yelling at Alfred but settled with shooting him a vexed look. "Have you talked to your father about this?"

"Talked to me about what?"

Maddy jumped at the voice, then winced. Her hand went to her side and her breath went hissing between her teeth. Matthew watched her worriedly, then forced himself to adopt a poker face when she sat up and looked at him. "Chris wants a pet shark and Alfred," She gestured with her free hand towards said uncle, "has already generously offered to obtain one for him."

Matthew took a deep breath. "Alright."

Alfred watched the pair from across the room, happy that they were talking without fighting for once, but ready to run over and separate them if the need arose. "So this is the imposter." He turned to look at Brittany again as her joking tone reached him. He cringed as his niece glared at her namesake.

"Excuse me?" Her eyes narrowed and she decked the brunette.

"Brittany!" Maddy yelled.

"I didn't do anything!" The brunette of the two yelled back, rubbing her cheek. "That hurt."

"I wasn't yelling at you," Maddy muttered, coming over and dragging her daughter away. "That was an inappropriate reaction." She scolded non too gently.

"Did you hear what she said?"

"I was joking!" Brittany defended herself, staring bitterly after them.

Maddy suddenly shoved her squirming daughter towards Alfred. "You're the one who taught her how to fight, you deal with this."

Alfred clumsily caught his niece. "You're her mother!"

"She doesn't listen to me. The only one she listens to anymore is you!"

Brittany watched as Alfred dragged his niece out of the room, presumably to reprimand her. "Is she always like that?"

"Usually she's worse," Chris replied, briefly examining his aunt's cheek. "I think you'll be okay. Dad's better at the medical stuff than I am. I'm sorry she punched you. She's always had a bad temper."

Brittany shook her head. "It's not your fault. Why is Bell sitting by herself?"

Chris followed his aunt's gaze to his older sister and shrugged. "She's pretty much the loner out of all of us. Sev has always been really protective of her and Selene. He and Brittany have never really gotten along, but according to mom, he and Selene hit it off really early."

"And what about you?"

The blond suddenly refused to look at her. "I don't care much for people. To be honest, they kind of scare me. That's why I follow Brittany around. She's so outgoing and makes friends so easily. I figure, if I spend enough time with her, maybe some of that will rub off on me." He sat up and changed the topic. "Grandpere has told me a lot about you. Did you really have to break a window to get his attention when the 2p's came after you?"

Despite the abrupt topic change and the admittedly dangerous topic, Brittany smiled at her nephew. "Yeah. I think I was outside yelling for him for a good five minutes before throwing a rock at the window."

In spite of his best efforts to keep a poker face throughout the explanation, Chris smiled and laughed slightly. "Alright. Why the turquoise color for your room?"

This caught Brittany off guard. "My room is still there?" She meant the question more as he left the room alone?

Chris nodded. "Mom and Dad wouldn't talk about you. I tried going to Uncle Alfred about it, but he didn't want to talk either. Finally, I decided to see if Grandpere would tell me about you and I got a lot more than I thought I would. Why the turquoise though?"

"I wanted a pink since it's my favorite color, but I thought that would be cliche. Thus, the turquoise was chosen instead."

The sound of someone clearing their throat caused both of them to turn around and Brittany came face to face with Severus. Well, not exactly face to face because she was sitting down and he was standing, more like her face to his abdomen. His gaze was locked on his feet. "I wanted to apologize for snapping at you. It was wrong and I shouldn't have taken my feelings out on you."

Brittany stayed silent for a few minutes. She was glad he'd apologized, but it had taken him two weeks to do so. Still, she supposed that apologizing showed a level of maturity that most people didn't have. She took a deep breath. "Thank you for apologizing." He nodded curtly, shuffling as he was uncertain what to do now.

"Has mom always had a thing for italian guys?"

Brittany burst out laughing and nodded. Once her giggling fits subsided, she looked back to her nephew, "Yes and it all started with an italian pastry chef named Damiano." None of them noticed Maddy hurrying over. "I don't remember exactly what show she first saw him in, but she fell for him almost immediately. I'm pretty sure it was because of his accent and the fact that he was foreign. He returned a few times after that, losing one show she'd started watching. The last time I heard about him was for a halloween themed show. Apparently, he was dressed up as a firefighter. She claims he was wearing a shirt, but-"

Maddy clamped a hand over Brittany's mouth, her face bright red. "That's enough out of you." But the damage had already been done. Both boys were trying and failing to hold in their laughter at the sight of their mortified mother.

Suddenly Sev stopped, his eyes gleaming wickedly. "Does dad know?"

If it were possible, his mother's face went even redder. "No…" The phrase came out sounding more like a question and the brunette boy took this as his cue to turn and sprint towards his father. "Sev no!"

Brittany watched her sister chase after her son and turned back to Chris. "Did you want to know anything else?"

"Could the two of you be a family for three seconds please?" Maddy yelled as she tried in vain to separate her eldest child from his father.

"Well, we could if you and dad would get together." Abelia piped up, grinning at her mother's scandalized look of wrath.

"Not the time!" Maddy snapped, still trying to pry the two italians apart. "Alright enough!" She yelled finally. They both jumped and backed away from each other, watching her warily.

"And I thought they were bad before we got here," Brittany mumbled.

Chris nodded, wondering briefly if his aunt planned to step in at any time. "They can get pretty bad. Mom and Dad usually try to make sure they don't fight in front of us kids though."

She shook her head before muttering sarcastically, "Brilliant. A+ parenting." Suddenly, she sat up, a thought occurring to her. "Hey, Maddy, whatever happened to that ginger child you wanted?"

All arguments in the room stopped and it became silent, except for the ticking of a distant clock. "Ginger child?" Selene repeated. She'd been silently observing and absorbing all the information as everyone fought or talked.

Brittany nodded. "Maddy wanted a male ginger child when we were teens, but that wasn't going to happen based on her family's genetics so she was just going to adopt one."

Maddy walked over, grabbed her sister and dragged her out of the room.

"Stop. Maddy, let go!" Brittany whined, struggling against the blonde's grip. "I'll stop bringing up stupid things from when we were younger, just let go!"

The blonde released the brunette and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

Brittany smiled as innocently as she could. "You know you love me!"

Maddy shook her head. "A fact you know too well."

Maddy took a deep breath and sighed. She was glad to be home, now if only she could get to sleep. Alfred had dragged his niece inside to make her apologize for punching Brittany and Matthew had decreed that she could leave the house shortly after that. While Maddy adored her children, she knew they were far from perfect and most likely had extremely bad views on relationships. She wasn't why, but this seemed to be her main cause for concern as of late.

It had been keeping her awake at night the most anyway.

She got up and silently padded down to her children's rooms, quietly checking on Bell and Sev. They'd stubbornly refused to stay at Matthew's so she'd suggested they just come with her. Lovino had been at his limit with Matthew so the italian had immediately jumped at the chance to get away from him.

Both children were sound asleep, Bell clinging onto a small blanket she'd dragged everywhere when she was a kid, but had pretty much refused to admit to having the past few years. Maddy smiled and shook her head. She closed the door and went to check on Lovino. Sound asleep, just like the kids. Being a father had certainly cut down the number of siestas he took and he didn't sleep quite as heavily as he used to, but it was still enough. The blonde stepped into the room and grabbed the blanket the italian had kicked to the floor. She carefully covered him again and left. Making her way to the kitchen, she made herself a cup of tea and went out to the patio, breathing in the cool night air. The mug was warm in her hands and her fingertips were icy. She raised the mug to her lips and took a small sip of her tea, her gaze wandering towards the constellations. She'd always been more a night owl and her insomnia certainly didn't help. Finally, after about ten minutes of 'day'dreaming, she chugged her tea and went inside, setting the mug in the kitchen sink then going upstairs. She traded her pajamas for a pair of jeans, an old t-shirt and a hoodie, slipping her keys, phone and pocket knife into her pockets. She was back outside and halfway down the driveway before she realized she hadn't been as quiet as she'd originally thought. She stopped and sighed. "Severus, I know you're there."

It took a minute, but soon he shuffled up to her instead of trailing behind her. "How did you know it was me?"

"I'm your mother. I know everything." He pouted and she regarded him silently. "What are you doing awake?"

"I thought you knew everything."

She smiled, laughing softly. "Well, since you're awake and already out here, you might as well come with me." They both started walking and Maddy found her thoughts wandering to when Severus was a kid and taking walks were a daily habit of theirs. That had always been when she'd ask him how school had been or if he'd come up with any new stories. "Do you remember when you were nine and you lived with me for a year?"

"Of course I do! You threatened to destroy that kid who bullied me the first day of school." Sev trailed off, thinking back to that day. "He called me a sissy because my hair was long and I'd brought cookies in that day. You thought bringing in cookies would help me make friends."

Maddy scratched the back of her neck nervously. She'd never meant for her son to get bullied for bringing in cookies. She'd honestly thought that it was a good idea, but after that first day, she'd never tried or even suggested it again. "What was his name?"

"Jacob. He teased me the rest of the year because of my accent too." Sev turned to his mother. "You went and talked to his mother, remember? And she claimed that he was a 'perfect angel' and would never do such a thing and then you showed her the bruises he gave me."

His mother grinned wickedly. "Turned her around right away. Parents should never assume their children can do no wrong. Don't get me wrong, I love you and your siblings, but I've never been the type to think you wouldn't do naughty things or bully people, even if you don't mean to."

Severus stopped, staring at his mother. He tried to stifle a chuckle but failed miserably. "Naughty things, Mom?"

Maddy stopped, her expression one of confusion until her eyes widened. "That is not what I meant!" Her face flushed crimson. "Honestly, you are- Bad things! Does that make you feel better, Mr. I-Have-A-Dirty-Mind?"

His barely muffled chuckles turned into full blown laughter and he eventually had to hold his sides as they hurt. "I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I couldn't resist."

She shook her head, but a small smile still graced her features. "Let's go home." They set off in the direction they'd come from, falling into a comfortable silence. Once they got to the house, however, Maddy stiffened and stepped protectively in front of her son.

"Mom?" He looked to the house and noticed a car there that didn't look familiar, but his mother's eyes were locked on it and he had a bad feeling that she recognized it. "Who is it?"

Suddenly, the driver's side door opened and a man who looked a lot like Matthew sauntered over. Severus immediately didn't like him.

"What are you doing here?" Maddy snarled, still standing in front of Sev.

James sent her a hurt look. "What, you don't like seeing me anymore?"

Her hand drifted towards her pocket. "Answer the question."

"I heard loverboy let you come home today, so I figured I'd swing by and check up on you. Most people wouldn't survive taking a hit from Allen's bat."

She glared at him. "That's because most people meet it in a dark alley after they've pissed him off."

James shrugged. "I can't change that, but I'm not here to talk about them. I'm here to talk about you."

"You shouldn't be here at all." She hissed, her hand now wrapped around the knife in her pocket. If she could just catch him off guard somehow…

"You can't fool me, beauty."

She swore softly and pushed Severus back. If he would just run! "What do you want, James?"

"Don't play dumb. The only reason you got to walk away last time was because of Oliver's weird obsession with you and your precious family. It'd be a shame if something were to… happen."

Her throat went dry. It was impossible to miss the underlying threat and she knew that if she didn't cooperate, people were going to get hurt. Severus gripped his mother's arm tightly once the realization hit him. "Mom, you can't go with him."

"I have to." She replied quietly, refusing to look at him.

"Why?"

Finally, she turned to him, looking at him with a strange, tired sadness. "You'll understand if you have kids of your own. You need to go inside."

The brunette boy could feel tears welling up. "Mom, please don't go." He wrapped her in a tight hug, suddenly overwhelmed with the horrible feeling that if he let her go now, he wasn't going to see her again.

Maddy bit her lip and gently wiped her son's tears off his face. "Take care of your siblings, okay?" She returned his hug, desperately trying to keep her hands from shaking. "I love you. No matter what happens, remember that." She let go and moved towards James, still trying to look strong. "If I go with you, you can't hurt any of my family."

He smirked. "No worries, beauty. I've never really been interested in them anyway." Some small part of her snapped and she punched him, her eyes stormy. He chuckled. "Alright, I deserved that. Let's go."

Severus stood on the patio, watching as his mother was herded into the car and driven away. He stumbled into the house and sat down heavily on the couch before he could fall down. He tried to rationalize his mother's decision, but somehow, he couldn't get the image of her disappearing out of his head. He felt both empty and extremely angry all at once. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he go wake his father? Should he try to chase down the car? It couldn't have gotten that far away, could it have? It hadn't driven off that long ago. A scream bubbled up in his throat and he pressed his lips together to keep it in. He curled into a ball and dug his fingernails into his arms until dawn light started to filter through the curtains. Still, it was almost an hour and a half until his father or sister woke up.

Lovino came down the stairs first. His first clue that something was wrong was that there wasn't the smell of some sort of breakfast food or coffee drifting through the air. Maddy may have enjoyed sleep, but he knew that if she woke up early, coffee and food became her priority. He noticed his son sitting on the couch, his eyes locked on some spot on the wall only he could see. Lovino frowned and went over to him, gently patting his shoulder. "Where's your mother?"

Severus suddenly seemed to come out of a trance. He looked up at his father almost wearily, then his lower lip began to quiver. "Gone." Was the only word out of his mouth before the dam finally broke.

pinkittwice54: We're getting close to the end.