Chapter 9

"I'm serious, though, I have never in my life seen my aunt get that open with anyone, except for maybe you guys and Mom and Dad," Skye said, watching Jordan play a few shots of Egg Blaster and the Five Realms before it was her turn to play, again. Looking at the clock on the wall, the minute hand was at half past four, thirty minutes to the second that Chase had rushed off with her shopping list.

"Maybe she was just being nice," Jordan said, distracted, not really catching every word until he felt a small fist hammer into his arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Are you even listening to me?!" Skye said, slightly looking over her shoulder to where Amelia saw she was being spotted, turning herself back to the dishes. Waiting a couple of seconds, she then leaned forward a bit to whisper, "I think Aunt Chase liked Mr. Mallard! I've only seen him a couple of times sure, but there's just something about him."

"What? That he's the father of your newest best buddy? Where does that put me next to you two having fun?" Jordan asked, not seeing the mischievous expression cross Skye's face as she reached for the pillow behind her. Looking over his shoulder a little too late to say, "I'm just kidding, by the way …!" as he ducked, a shower of loose goose feathers falling down over his beak. "Hey!"

"I was serious!" Skye laughed, going for another try at tackling him with the pillow, this time Jordan catching it time, the push and pull of friction and resistance causing the both of them to fall to the carpet, wrestling, the video game completely forgotten as the game over score caught Amelia's curious ear. Wiping her hands on a cloth, she walked in to see the two of them covered in goose down feathers, no doubt from the small rip in one of her old pillows.

"What has gotten into you two?" She said, bending down to meet their gazes with a chuckle. Picking a couple of feathers off of each of their beaks, she then said, "I think it's great that both you and Chase made a new friend today. Your aunt's very proud of you, you know?"

"What if they become … more than friends?" Skye said, the thought possibly making her almost giggle out loud. Curious at the thought, Jordan only smirked a little himself as Amelia chuckled, too, a little.

"Well, if they did, I think that would be a …" Amelia said, starting to dust the rest of the down feathers off of Skye's top as the ringtone of her phone went off with a "When you want it the most … there's no easy way out." "Hold that thought," she said, rushing to pick up the phone as the last part played in her hand with a, "Don't give up your faith … Love comes to those who believe … And, that's the way it is!" "Hello? Oh hi, Chase? Anyone wrong?"

Hearing her aunt's name from the kitchen, it caused both the kids to look up as Amelia only looked at them as she said, No Chase, that's not a problem. I think Skye would love that." Turning her head to see the kids staring at her hard in curiosity, Amelia lowered her voice almost to a whisper to say, "Tell Mr. Mallard it's not a problem. I'm sure the kids will a lot of fun together. Ok, bye."

"What was that about, Mom?" Jordan asked, not catching the name, Mr. Mallard, in time as Skye let him have it with another whack on the head, giggling, the conversation almost forgotten in favoring of getting in a final hit instead. "Ow, quit it!"

Smiling, Amelia only shook her head at Skye's almost evil-sounding cackle. "Alright, you two, that's enough. That was Chase. She's on her way back," Amelia said, pulling the two of them back into the present, pointing at the mess at their toes and all around the carpet. "And, with your aunt and godmother coming home with an armful of groceries, don't you think Chase would like to come home to a clean living-room floor?"

"We'll clean it up, Mom," Jordan said, seeing the hint right away as she nodded.

Not saying a word about Chase meeting up with Mr. Mallard at the grocery store, Amelia kept her humor to herself as she went up to clean up the rest of the main of the kitchen. Before she was completely done, however, she heard the sounds of another video game ping up from in the living room speakers as she only smiled, taking that as a sign that the kids were done with their mess, looking over to see the broom and dust-pan piled up with the loose pile of feathers and not put away. Choosing to not push the half-done result, Amelia busied herself with looking over a pile of papers that she had brought home from work to fill out until Amelia looked up, hearing the door open twenty minutes later with Chase and her groceries for dinner.

Seeing the kids engrossed in their game, Chase only snickered a little too silently as she caught Amelia's ornery look from the table. Crossing into the kitchen and sitting her supplies, she asked, "What?!"

"You bumped into Drake, huh?" Amelia said, teasing her best friend a bit as Chase only shushed her with a laugh, not wanting to spoil the surprise for Skye tomorrow, just yet.

"Aye, I did," Chase said, with a chuckle. "So, it's really okay?"

"Of course, I think the kids will have a lot of fun," Amelia said, seeing Chase pulling out spaghetti cans, herbs, and doing a quick scan of the rest of the groceries in the bag, before Chase looked up and winked.

Getting the kids' attention from the kitchen, Chase called out, "Hey, Jordan!" Watching him looking up in confusion from the game, his face and Skye's lit up when they heard Chase's voice, realizing finally that she was home. "How would you like to help me cook dinner?"

Excited at the invitation, Jordan jumped up and ran into the kitchen with Skye on his heels. "Me too?" Skye asked, hugging her aunt's arm.

"You feel up to tackling the kitchen with us, lassie?" Chase asked, seeing that her niece was still a little bit down, hiding it well.

"Um, well. Mom used to let me a little bit, but that was a little bit ago," she said, wilting a bit, showing that she still missed her parents like Chase did, the sadness fresh with the reminder.

Taking a moment to lower herself down to Skye's level, Chase picked her niece only to sit her up on the small counter next to the bags, picking out a couple of tomatoes in the bag and holding them in her hands. "Then, just watch us experts, lassie," she said, suddenly juggling the two tomatoes in front with Skye, who smiled.

"Ally, bally, ally bally bee, Sitting on yer mammy's knee," Chase started to sing, signaling for Jordan to toss her another tomato as he started to pull some of the other groceries out of the bag. Catching one of the other smaller ones in her other hand, she threw it up into the air, successfully keeping all three going as she kept singing, "Greetin' for another bawbee, Tae buy some Nature's candy."

"Hey, I remember that song," Skye said, the familiar tune going through her head with a laugh, watching as her aunt then added two more tomatoes, then six as Skye started laughing and clapping in amazement. Even Jordan was impressed as he watched, pulling out a sauce pan and started to turn on the tap to add water to the pot. "Mom said you two changed the original song a bit."

"Yep, we made it our own, just a wee bit," Chase said, finally giving the tomatoes to Jordan as he started to rinse them off and add them into the water. "Poor wee Ally's gettin' awfa brave, A trickle o' bangs coverin' ower their grins," she said, Amelia even enjoying their scene.

"Ooh she be gettin' a wee double win, Wi' sookin Nature's Candy," Chase sang, turning on the heat under the heat and finally starting the noodles for the spaghetti. Humming under their giggles, Chase kept up the old ditty as she showed Skye how to stir the noodles and set the oven for the garlic bread as she and Jordan laid it out on a pan.

"Ally, bally, ally bally bee, Sittin' on yer mammy's knee, Greetin' for another bawbee, Tae buy some Nature's candy," all three of them started to sing as the meal was slowly coming together. With a couple more jokes between the three taking up the clock a bit, it took a bit of time before Chase's Spaghetti meal was all ready.

After a while, Amelia got up to pull down some plates and cutlery to get the table ready as she asked, "Need any more help?"

"I think we about got it, but thanks," Chase said, wiping her hands a bit with a moist napkin from the sauce. "Finally, it's all done!"

"Incoming, ready or not, nice and hot," Jordan joked, running to the table with the garlic bread and broccoli stem florets all laid out on one of his mother's fancy platters. Silently turning up his nose at the broccoli, Amelia shot him a look when Chase wasn't looking as he only sheepishly chuckled.

"Try it in the sauce, Jordan," Skye suggested, seeing him change his expression for Chase. "Herbs, Greens, and Garlic are so good. That's how Mom got me started," she said, giggling a bit.

"Ay, what's going on over here?" Chase said, suddenly looking between the two of their faces as Skye got to laughing as Jordan froze, fearing that Chase had seen his aversion for broccoli. "What's up?"

"Nothing's up, Chase," Jordan said, only smiling and genuinely turning to give his godmother a big hug. "I'm just glad you and Skye are both here."

"Oh, wee lad," she said, sniffling back a couple of tears herself, returning the hug with a sigh as Amelia smiled, too.

Sitting down to supper, everyone agreed that Chase's famous spaghetti was too good to not be finished.

"I don't think you're going to have any leftovers," Amelia said, surprised at Jordan's agreement, too.

"That's okay," Chase said, sighing a bit now, feeling tired still from before. Looking at Skye, though, she chose now to tell her the news, knowing that a day with Gosalyn would only make her day even more. "Hey, Skye?"

"Yeah?" Skye asked, looking up from her plate.

"I've got to go into work tomorrow, Skye," Chase said, a little reluctantly, watching how her niece's expression slowly changed with grief. "But, Amelia said she'll keep an eye on you tomorrow."

"What?!" Skye exclaimed, frowning. "But, you were supposed to be off tomorrow."

"My boss is making me come in to make up for the hours I missed today, and, no, that was not your fault," she said immediately, putting a hand on Skye's shoulder to reassure her, despite the trouble she was in previously that day. "Besides, you'll have Jordan to play with … along with someone else."

"Who?" Jordan said, swallowing and speaking around a mouthful of food.

"Gosalyn's father has something to do tomorrow and couldn't get anyone to watch her since his roommate, Launchpad, is out of town. So, I offered Amelia's babysitting services," she said, watching how Skye's and Jordan's expressions looked from Amelia and then to her, Skye getting excited. "Drake will be dropping Gosalyn off tomorrow before I have to leave for work."

Skye's grin got so big that she was too excited to finish the rest of her plate, thinking of all the fun they would have. Tomorrow would truly be a very special day.

Waiting a little longer to make sure Skye was asleep, Chase snuck out, donning her cape and hat as she silently shut the door to her and Skye's bedroom. Taking the apartment key out of her pocket to unlock the door, Chase found a package with some food wrapped in it and her mask freshly pressed, and all with a note attached. Reading it quickly, Chase only shook her head with a smile, donning her mask with a true and honored heroine's grin, seeing Amelia's shadow just underneath her door as her light went out the moment she heard Chase lock the apartment door, ready for another night of crime-fighting.

Featuring two songs in this chapter are a piece of the song, That's the Way It Is, by Celine Dion and another little Scottish ditty known as, Ally, Bally, Ally Bally Bee, which is a Scottish ditty that is from an advertisement about Coulter's Candy. I adjusted the second one just a bit on the bit Chase uses to cheer Skye up.

Thanks for reading! All credit goes to their respected sources, the only thing I own is my own telling of this story. Until next time!