A/N: So, what home will Balin choose? Earth or Hell?

As the family drove back to the safe house in Tathra, the three grown-ups talked and laughed while Balin was beginning to feel a little drowsy.

They parked the car in the garage, where on the wall in front, a digital clock read 5:50pm, which was around 10 minutes before their curfew according to the protection program.

Loona got out of the car last and soon picked up the scent of someone so familiar, and therefore so suspicious.

Then, she perked up her ears to hear it was only Balin, as he yawned sleepily like a little puppy.

"You getting tired?" she smirked.

"No, no!" Balin tried to protest before yawning again.

"Almost bedtime for you, isn't it, mate?" chuckled Elton.

"About that... is 7:30 his bedtime by any chance?" asked Loona. The parents nodded, making her sigh in relief. "Yeah. Typical kids and their metabolism."

She knew deep down that kids were heavy sleepers, if not fast ones too.

"Well, I guess we'll head in, put the dinner on, then tuck him in for tonight." Raven said, walking over to him.

"Do you... want me to stay?" Balin asked his mother, his eyes widened in a little worry again.

"Of course we do." Raven replied with a smile. "She may have adopted you, but you can still stay with us if you want."

"Yeah, we've stacked some boxes of your stuff into the spare room to make into your own." added Elton. "You can bring your new toys from Loona's place, and we could enrol you in a new school. We'll see if you can still keep in touch with your other school friends if you ever feel like a new kid sometimes, if you'd like all that."

"Yeah... you guys could be a family again." added Loona finally, with a little mix of support and deep care. "I'll still visit you a lot from time to time. So will my colleagues."

Balin loved hearing this from all three of them, but felt as torn as ever before at the decision.

"Unless... you want to stay with her. Don't you?" finished Raven with a little understanding.

As she saw him getting nervous again, Loona then put the kid down and rubbed his back. She knew this was gonna be hard for him, and she didn't even want to see him sad with what he chose away from her.

"I mean, I can see he's felt rather comfortable around her since she adopted him." said Elton. "Maybe he just... wanted to give us some space for a little bit."

"Then see how we were doing during this." added Raven to her husband. "This is pretty big for us."

As they spoke, the kid's eyes started watering a little and Elton noticed it right away. So he knelt down to the boy's level in a fatherly love.

"Bud? You okay?"

It was that moment though where Balin got a glimpse of what his Grandpa said while he was at his grandparents' house recently.

"Guess there are some hard times. But some times, the hard's worth seizing, but that's what's great."

With that statement kept in mind, he was brought back to how his beautiful yet fucked-up home in Hell had treated him with such kindness, after every hardship he'd been through. Most of the demons he met saw his heart whenever some didn't, and his pure heart made him okay with it at such a young age.

As his dad gently rubbed his shoulder, he stuttered with one tear on his cheek.

"Daddy... I love you. I do."

The boy then looked up from his father to Loona, like he was about to choose her.

"But I... I feel like Loona... I am safe with her." he explained. "She may have given me a new room, new toys, new video games, and a new life, but I feel like I've gotten to know who she was. Someone who's done everything for me. Before showing her our old home, she introduced me to her friends, played with the toys and games with me, and... she told me she loves me."

Loona then lowered her head at his affection, no longer with tears since she tried to hold her feelings together.

"And, I love her too." the boy continued, making her look up with a speechless expression. "For that, I would like to choose Loona. If that's okay."

The hellhound was so surprised with this decision, despite everything that was going on at home.

It did go to show that no matter how damned and evil Hell was, even with Stella teaming up with the DHORKS and the Cherubs, it still had its standards. Loona could just smile emotionally seeing that Balin knew how to find them, even in her.

As his parents smiled as well, they soon made a decision.

"Of course you can." said Raven.

"Really?" gasped Balin with a smile. "But are you sure?"

"Hey. She makes you safe, doesn't she?" chuckled Elton with his smile.

Loona then cleared her throat also smiling. "Looks like you did come all this way to pay them a visit."

"Yep." Balin then slowly wrapped his arms around his mother's waist. "I'll be happy to wait a little longer for us to be a family again."

The two parents with teary eyes then knelt down to give their son a hug in return. Soon, Loona walked up to the three and tried wrapping her arms around them, which awkwardly lasted a few seconds before she found the perfect position. And it did go perfectly.

...

Soon, it was now curfew, and as the rest of the street was cleared, the cab from before pulled up at the welcome sign of Tathra, letting the DHORK agents out of the car.

As it drove away, they immediately dropped their summer shirts and ripped them off, revealing them in their work uniforms, and began following the demon detector in their hands.

This miraculously-working invention looked a lot like hand-held metal detectors from an airport, that could only scan for demonic presences.

In this case, it went haywire since Loona was a hellhound, aka: a dog-like demon.

Soon, a long beep was heard, meaning they were very close, so Agent One quickly turned it off.

"Shhh! Keep it down! Wolf girl? Wolf girl... ears?" whispered Agent Two, poking at his chest. "C'mon, take the shots before she hears us for real."

So Agent One got close enough to the window to see the group of four having some t-bones and potatoes for dinner. He then began to take a couple of pictures for just in case, as discrete as he made it so the family couldn't see them and call them 'PEEPING TOMS!'.

...

"And remember, the name of his school is Holy Waters Primary School." Elton told Loona as they ate. "He'll need to be re-enrolled as we took him out of the system straight before we left. It should be just a week into the new term since Spring Break."

"Yep." Loona blankly replied, as she put the school's number into her phone.

"So, those colleagues." Elton continued with some small-talk. "We never really got to ask. What's your dad's business like?"

"Only on paper, my dad, actually." Loona corrected the boy's father. "But, if you must know, we're hit... bounty hunters."

"Huh. Bounty hunters, eh?" Raven said sheepishly.

Both the human parents felt rather unsure about this side of her, until their son told them it was like a superhero job.

"Well, if it's good enough for the environment." shrugged Raven in understanding. "Speaking of which honey, if you or Loona ever wanna catch up again, your details are now in the system. So you're welcome here anytime, especially with those very important papers."

"Cool." replied a smiling Balin. "Thanks guys."

Soon, Loona and Balin were finished with their dinner together, and Loona only let out a cute burp as she patted her tummy.

"Well, let's get you ready for bed, little guy." said Loona. "We'll head home in the morning."

As Loona picked the boy up and began walking him to the spare room in her arms, the two parents both awed at this moment.

"You know, Loona..." said Raven softly. "You'd really make a great mother." added Elton.

Loona chuckled hearing that corny lovey-dovey couple shit where they finish each other's sentence, but still blushed hearing that.

"Thanks." she then looked at Balin and winked. "You did a great job too."

Raven then walked up to her little boy and gave him a kiss on his forehead, as Loona leaned him down to her.

"Good night, sweetie." she whispered. "We'll see you again soon."

"I love you too, mommy..."

And with that, the boy waved slowly to his parents as Loona carried him upstairs to the spare room.

A few moments later...

Loona was now in the spare room, calling the I.M.P gang on her FaceTime to tell them the good news.

"Damn Loona, that's so epic to hear!" Blitzø said. "Guess he thinks of you as a mom too."

"Blitzø! Stop, making a big deal out of it." she groaned with annoyance. "I do care about him, but we're literally at his real family's house."

"I know, I know." sighed the adoptive demon dad. "Said that several times."

"B-B-But sir." Moxxie said through the apartment window where the boss was spying on him and Millie. "What about Stella's alliance? Someone may be following them right now."

"Well we best make sure we're ready for them." replied Blitzø. "Anyway, see ya's, Loonie!" he waved before she abruptly hung up.

Soon, Balin came into the spare room after putting on one of his home PJs for the night, making Loona smile as she reverted back to her hound form.

"Finally." she sighed in relief, after being in that disguise for song long.

"Ooh! Ahh!" Balin faked being scared. "My God-mommy is a hellhound!"

"Kiddo, what are you...?" Loona was a little skeptical about what he was doing, before she figured out what he was doing. "Oh... do you want to be eaten?" she chuckled evilly with a playful smirk.

Balin played along by nodding quickly before grasping at his head realising what he did.

"Alright..." she said quietly licking her lips. "Two can play at that game."

Loona started cornering the boy until he laid flat on the bed as she towered over him on all fours, as if she was pinning him down.

"My... my..." she growled softly, as she then gave him playful sniffs all over his face. "You smell delicious..."

Next thing he knew, Loona gave him one slow lick on his face, which made them both chuckle.

"Hmm... you really do taste good." she smirked. "Can I get a few more licks? Pretty please?"

Balin tried to laugh softly as Loona kept on licking his face like the hungry wolf she pretended to be. After about 6 seconds, she finished and growled once again like a purring cat.

"If I could just eat you up like the big bad wolf, I would." she purred, tracing her claws along his soft hair with balance. "I'd maul into you, piece by piece, and then shake you all around like a little chew toy. Or... a little... MEAL." she whispered that word in his ear, giving it one little peck.

"Hmm, Meal." pondered Balin. "Sounds like a funny nickname."

"You like that?" Loona then chuckled at the boy's innocence. "Okay. I hereby dub thee: Balin 'Meal' Johnson." she then booped his nose. "Now. Time to play with my food."

She started giving Balin little noms on his face like they were sloppy smooches, with little purrs here and there. While he found this fun, he was also finding it relaxing, like he was about to fall asleep.

Seeing this, Loona decided to add one more part to this funny activity.

"Hang on now. I can't devour my little human raw." she spoke playfully again. "No. You have to be cooked. Don't you?"

Saying that, she then laid down next to Balin and wrapped her fluffy tail around him like an aluminium foil over a dish.

"There we go." she teased. "Now you're a pig-in-a-blanket."

"Thank you, Loona." sighed Balin happily as he fell asleep. "Good night..."

"Awww." Loona cooed in her head.

She thought she was like a sleeping puppy right next to his mama dog. So she gave him a kiss on the head, and said three late words to him before falling asleep herself.

"...I love you too. Meal."

Soon, the two were fast asleep hugging each other with smiles on their faces.

...

Meanwhile, the DHORKS were still in front of the safe house watching the two from the windows.

While One was distracted by the cuteness, Two used one of the tall cameras and took multiple quiet pictures trying not to get caught.

"Oh, Stella's gonna thank us for this." she whispered evilly in her Jersey accent.

"Wait a minute." One interrupted her. "Aren't we gonna, you know... get them while we have the chance? With the kid in their clutches, ..."

"Nah, we'll just wait for a time where they can't sense us." replied Two. "Should give us more time to prepare for a second greeting."

"Dammit, you're right."

Two then picked up her walkie-talkie and said: "Stella! We're ready now!"

Just then, a portal back to the DHORKS headquarters opened in front of them, making One very upset.

"Are you fucking kidding me? We could've gone through that thing this whole time?!" he exclaimed. "You just love seeing me barf on planes, don't ya!"

As Two giggled, the two agents then jumped through the portal back home, just in time for it to close.

A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.