#owslathecreation

The hum of the road beneath the tires did little to calm him, Sonny's mind occupied with the useless speculation about the situation. What would happen when Owsla took her first bit? Sonny's eyes couldn't help but drift to the rear view mirror every ten seconds. It was a new thing to him, to have something in the backseat so precious to him... well, something alive that is. He had transported precious equipment in the backseat before but this was different. This was his daughter, a small precious creature he was responsible fore the well-being of. He thought seriously as he watched the daughter in question. Owsla was sitting in the backseat, marveling at every new sight beyond the window.

"Wow..." Owsla's jaw was open as it had been for most of the ride. Currently, she was gaping at an impressively large building. "Hey mom? What is that?"

"It's a building."

Owsla looked confused as she stared out the window. "Then..." She pointed at another building. "What's that?"

"It's another building." Sonny smiled at Owsla who was narrowing her eyes trying to make sense of what he was saying.

"But they don't look alike." she argued.

Sonny laughed. "No, they don't." he agreed. "There's many different types of building. Where we're crashing currently is called a house, which is a type of building. There's shops, office buildings, and restaurants like the one we're headed to now."

After declaring that they should go to On the Border for lunch, Sonny had gotten down from the lab table (as Natasha had requested) and proceeded to make plans. Natasha had attempted to invite Phish along, who had stayed behind, but she didn't pick up the phone (as usual) so they continued without her. Currently, the gang was on the road to the restaurant, split between the two cars. Sonny, Joel, and Owsla were in the Laurie Family van while Natasha and Jamie tailed them in her car. Sonny had offered to drive but had been flat out refused by the mau5, pointing out he  was injured and had a concussion so he was stuck in the passenger's seat for now. Though, the goblin was pretty sure Joel just wanted to hog the driver's seat to himself.

The ravenette sighed frustratedly. He still had yet to finish his conversation with Joel from earlier and it was putting him in a sour mood. He was no where near done chewing him out yet; he still had a lot of things he wanted to confront the mau5 about. Not saying anything with the mau5 right next to him was making him a bit fidgety. Should he bring it up again? No wait, Owsla was in the car.  He'd have to save the discussion for later when she wasn't around. Probably tonight when she was asleep. They really shouldn't be fighting in front of Owsla, his cringed just thinking of the scene in Theodore's lab. What kind of parent makes their child cry? However, that particular incident had been his own fault and-

"Mom!"

"Uh, yes sweetheart?" Sonny snapped out of his inner monologues.

"If buildings are different only by their purpose, how come I haven't seen two identical buildings yet?"

Sonny laughed at bit at his daughter's misunderstanding. "well, buildings that serve the same purpose tend to look alike but get this, on earth? We have people called architects."

"Architects?"

"Mmmhmm. And these people, they go around designing buildings so like, every buildings looks different... even if they have the same purpose."

"Woah..."

"Well, except for like, restaurant chains and other trademarked buildings and stuff." Sonny rectified his statement.

"What does that mean Mom?"

"Uh..." Sonny pursed his lips. After thinking about it for a while, he opened his mouth again. "Well, you see..."

The rest of the car ride there was filled with conversation as Sonny tried to answer all of the curious little alien's questions.

OH LOOK PAGE BREAK!

Joel got out of the van right as Natasha's car was pulling into the parking space next to them. He ad stayed quiet the entire ride here, unsure what to say to his best friend riding along beside him. Not that it had mattered anyway since Sonny had spent most of the trip conversing with Owsla. Ever since he gotten here it seemed like there had been a dynamic shift in their friendship. It had been bothering him for a while but it hadn't seemed dangerous until now. The small initial crack he had felt was now more of a full sized rift. And speaking of that rift, he noted with bleak certainty that their argument in the viewing room was not over... all because of...

"That's one of the things I love about you!"

The words. HIS words, played through his mind like a prophecy of doom. Damn, he was stupid. he really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut. Then again, inability to keep opinions to himself was part of the reason he had a reputation for being  a 'meanie' as Sonny so eloquently put it. How was he going to explain this one? I mean, how do you explain-

"Ow!" The mau5 yelped as something hit him.

"I told you to move like, twenty times." Natasha continued to push open the car door that had just hit him in the hip as he backed away. Standing up, she shut it, giving him a glance. "You okay?"

"Fine, why?"

Natasha promptly gave him a 'I'm-so-done-with-you' look. "I don't know, maybe the fact that you didn't hear me after I shouted at you repeatedly?"

"Natasha!"

Nat turned at the sound of her girlfriend's voice. "I'm coming!" Walking away from the passenger's seat, she came to stand across from her girlfriend on the other side of the car. Jamie had insisted on driving and reluctantly, Nat had let her. Instead, the brunette had chatted on excitedly about her latest video project while Jamie drove.

"What i it?" she asked the blonde who was staring at the backseat confused.

"Where did you put my hoodie?"

Opening the backseat door, Natasha realized a certain yellow hoodie appeared to be missing. Upon closer inspection however, she saw a piece of mustard yellow in all the mess. "It's fallen under my equipment..." Like most cars that usually carry one passenger only, Natasha's backseat had become a common storage space. As a student of the visual arts, her car was constantly in disarray including among the clutter, camera bag, tripods, audio equipment, lighting equipment, costumes, ect. Jamie's poor hoodie had slipped beneath it all. Natasha bent down to retrieve it for her, being closer to where it currently resided.

"Natasha, when's our anniversary?"

"May 5th... why?"

"When's my birthday?"

"March 20th?"

"Is that an answer or a question?"

Natasha stood up, the hoodie in her hands, giving it to her girlfriend with an odd look. "An answer... what's with the questions?"

Jamie shrugged non-nonchalantly. "Just seeing if you remember... my assassin needs to keep her skills sharp."

Natasha rolled her eyes but her smile refuted her annoyance. "My skills are plenty sharp."

"Oh really?" Jamie smiled mischievously. "Do you remember word for word the first valentines you sent me?"

By the blush on Natasha's face, Bucky knew she did. "Say it." She demanded. "Word for word."

Natasha's jaw dropped a bit. "Now?" Jamie nodded. "Out loud?" Jamie nodded. "Here?" Jamie nodded. "Why!"

"Because I want you to reaffirm your love fore me."

"What!" Natasha stepped back a bit, thrown off by her girlfriend's apparent seriousness. "No way! I'm not going to say that here of all places!"

"What? Do you not love me enough to say it?"

"N-no, that's not-"

"Then say it!" Jamie insisted, her eyes completely serious and unwavering.

Natasha glared at her girlfriend stubbornly for a long moment before conceding to her wishes, muttering the phrase quietly.

"Louder."

Cheeks burning ablaze, Natasha blurted it out louder. "Are you the Skrill to my Mau5? Because I'm in wub, wub, wub, with you!"

Bucky smiled at her girlfriend who looked like she wanted to die. Though, despite Natasha's fears, it didn't seem like either EDM artist had hear her, currently taking residence  on the other side of the van. Still, that deserved a kiss she supposed. So, coming around the car, she leaned over and kissed her partner to make up for her bullying.

"Oh no, you're gonna have to kiss me a lot more to make up for that, get back over here."

So Jamie did, pushing Natasha against the car this time to kiss her more firmly.

"You're so... mean... to me." The brunette complained in between kisses, wrapping her arms around the other.

"I know... but... I wub you too." Jamie smirked.

"Shut up!" Natasha glared as she leaned in again.

"Nattie? What does that mean?"

Jamie backed off Natasha who jumped, startled by the sudden intrusion from the blue teenager.

"What does what mean?"

"The thing you said earlier. Are you the Skri-" Owsla was quickly forced to shut up as Natasha covered her mouth to prevent the alien from saying anything more. She had already gotten lucky no one heard her the first time, she couldn't guarantee she'd be so lucky if it were repeated.

Joel, appearing from behind the van, looked at them curiously. "What did you say?"

"Nothing! I said nothing. Right Owsla?"

The little alien could only nod in confusion with a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Where did my brother go?" Jamie asked, looking beyond Joel but failing to see a certain brown-eyed goblin.

"Sonny? He was right- turning around, the mau5 quickly realized the goblin was NOT right behind him. Instead, he was almost to the restaurant door. "SONNY!" Joel screamed across the parking lot, a dangerous look on his face. "What did I say about wandering off alone?"

Sonny turned around at the shouting, seeing clearly a very irritated Mau5. Realizing his mistake, the goblin sprinted for the restaurant door to find sanctuary before Joel could catch up to him. And, in turn, that only spurred the Mau5 to run off after him.

Watching this new development, Natasha turned to her girlfriend. "Shouldn't we-?"

Jamie shook her head. "Just let them sort it out, getting between them is never a good idea."

Sonny knew Joel had told him to wait for him, but he hadn't taken him that seriously (and apparently he should have). He was a capable young man, he could handle putting them on the waiting list by himself. But, somehow, he had pissed off Joel and now he was running for his life. Entering lobby area, he used his size to his advantage, maneuvering between the other patrons with ease to the podium. Leaving no room for light conversation, he blurted out only the essential information. "Tim. Party of five."

The lady blinked a bit before writing it down, probably a little overwhelmed by the goblin's urgency. "Alright, here's your buzzer it will buzz when your table is ready, the current wait-"

Sonny stood there trying to be nice by listening to what the lady had to say, but as soon as he saw Joel open the door, beginning to push through the throng of customers, he knew it was time to go. "Thanks, bye!"

"Sonny, get back here!"

"EEK!" Scurrying away from the podium, Sonny ran off into the main part of the restaurant, making his way through the rows of tables. "'Scuse me, sorry, pardon me ma'm..." he muttered off apologies as he ran through the restaurant. Looking behind him, he had managed to put some distance between him and Joel but not  much. The mau5 was barreling towards him, narrowly avoiding a collision with a waitress as he flew past, not even saying sorry! That jerk face... he needed a lecture on manners apparently... but not now because for some reason the nature had gotten it backwards and the mau5 was chasing the cat this time.

"Sonny, stop running for fuck's sake!

"Stop running? Stop chasing me!" Like hell he was going to stop running. If Joel caught up to him, who knows what was going to happen!

By now, customers had begun to laugh at the two of them, chasing each other wildly, weaving through the tables, ducking from each other's grasps. Which was just great! He was supposed to be laying low. WHAT PART OF THIS WAS LAYING LOW? Not to mention to fact that now his face was red because he was being humiliated in front of an entire restaurant full of people! But Joel kept chasing, so Sonny kept running faster, so Joel ran faster, so they ran faster, and faster, and faster until-

"HEY! RUNNING!" A very menacing looking employee barked at them, un-amused at their antics.

Like scolded kids, they immediately froze on the spot. Sonny looked around uncertainty, .feeling like a cornered animal. Well, if he couldn't run... he continued his escape in an awkward fast walk. You know, that fast walk we all do when we get caught running in the halls but don't really want to stop running? So we walk with strained stick legs, trying to be as fast as possible without bending our legs so we aren't technically running? And in this manner, Sonny continued to walk-run through On the Border. As followed in a similar fashion, a pretty picture was painted before us. Two grown men, stick walking like children, through a crowded restaurant... safe to say there were some customers laughing their asses off. But back to the chase.

Sonny was quickly realizing his disadvantage: his short legs. Not being able to bend his legs meant he was no longer able to propel himself forward. Joel, being tall, covered more distance per step than he did, gaining on him quickly not that they're speed was about the same.

"SONNY!"

"I have so much to live for!" the ravenette protested.

Reaching the front lobby area once again, the goblin used his smaller stature, which seconds before had been a hindrance, to his advantage. Although the lobby area was crowded, he was easily able to slip through the small spaces between the people thanks to his small frame. Joel however, who had been a hair pull away from catching him, was now stuck, struggling to et past because he was bigger.

Sonny watched his best friend struggle out of the corner of his eye with a smirk as he escaped to the outside world.

When Joel finally managed to push past all the people in the lobby he huffed frustratedly. That damn idiot... storming across the parking lot, he glared at said idiot who was cowering behind his sister.

"Ah! Jamie, help me! Joely is scary!"

"He's your bestfriend!"

"Don't... you ever... do that again!" Joel shouted out between panted breaths, finally standing a few feet away.

"Huh?"

"Doesn't your arm hurt now! You've gone and re-injured it!"

Sonny flinched a bit when he realized Joel  was right. Tightening all the muscles in his arms in order to fast walk had revived some of  the pain.

"And don't run away from me!" Joel burst out.

Sonny took a step back, not from fear, but from surprise. He had expected a flurry of things, insults, screaming, gritted teeth, anything but... this.

"How am I every supposed to help you when you keep distancing yourself from me!"

The goblin was at a completely loss for words. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"You didn't realize I was your friend? Is that it?"

"N-no!"

"'Friend' isn't just some fucking label you know!"

Sonny opened his mouth to speak but seeing Owsla out of the corner of his eye, stopped, bitting back a harsh reply. He had a lot to say, but again he reminded himself 'Not now. Later.' In his hand, the buzzer began to vibrate, indicating that their table was ready. "Okay," Sonny conceded. "I'm sorry. Why don't we go eat now, okay?" he said calmly, forcing his face to smile for Owsla's sake, the little alien looking ready to cry, fearful eyes switching back and forth between the two of them.

There was a long pause before Joel agreed. "Yeah, okay."

"Okay!" Nat jumped, putting on an excited smile, attempting to break the awkward atmosphere that had settled upon them. "Let's go eat all the Mexican food we can!"

"Come on, please!"

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no!"

"But Nataaashaaaa!"  Sonny begged.

"I said no and that's final. I am NOT going to wear that costume!"

About a week ago, Sonny had made the declaration that everyone had to participate in trick or treating this year. While most were excited for the candy, they rolled their eyes when Sonny kept insisting they should have a group costume. They had already rejected many of his ideas- the rainbow, a band of pirates, social media, ...Disney princesses... and then he suggested everyone going as EDM artists. Jamie and Aurora (Phish) were already on board with the idea, deciding to go as their already determined EDM equivalents- Bucky as Skrillex and Phishie as Dillon Francis. Owsla had agreed to be Zedd and Sonny and Joel were going at Guy and Thomas from Daft Punk.  Now Sonny was begging Natasha to be her own EDM equivalent- Deadmau5.

"But it'll be fun!"

"There is absolutely no way in hell am I going as Deadmau5 for Halloween!" With that, Natasha grabbed her bowl of chips she had poured and plopped down on the couch in the living room.

But the goblin just followed her, completely determined to bother her until she gave in.

The gang was hanging out in the living room today. Joel was playing a game on the huge TV, lounging in the recliner with Meowingtons on his lap.  Aurora and Jamie were on their computers, editing files from their respective interests,  Jamie on a music track and Aurora on a video. Owsla likewise was sitting on the floor reading some old comic books. Natasha sat next to Jamie, watching her work in Ableton Live. It was a wonder Natasha would never tire of, watching her girlfriend create songs.

"I already had that old prototype Mau5 head shipped here. It'll be here any day so you might as well just go with it." Joel said,  gunning down a few more bad guys as he said it.

"How can you just go along with all of this?" Natasha asked, baffled by the level of 'chill' Joel seemed to have about this entire situation.

The Mau5 just shook his head in surrender. "Sometimes it's just easier to let him have his way rather than fight him."

"You sound like a husband talking about his wife...." Natasha mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing!" quickly moving on, Natasha continued her previous argument. "Why don't you two go as yourselves! Why do you have to get me to do it?"

"Because if we went as ourselves it wouldn't be a costume!" Sonny whined. "And it has to be you because Bucky said you're the mini-Joel!"

Natasha turned to her girlfriend beside her. "So this is your fault!"

"Don't drag me into this." Jamie shook her head, refusing to let herself get involved. Being siblings, Bucky had long ago figured out to pick her battles with her brother. The goblin's stubbornness was an overwhelming force not to be taken lightly. Sadly however, it seemed her girlfriend had yet to learn this lesson.

"Come on Natasha, Halloween is a holiday where you get to dress as someone you're not- someone you wish you could be."

"I don't WANT to be Joel!"

"I feel a little offended..." Joel commented, frowning as he shot a couple more bad guys. "I think..."

"Well don't. I mean if I became you I'd have to be a guy. I'm a girl and I'd rather stay a girl."

"Yeah, but as a lesbian, if you were me, you'd get a lot more girls." Joel pointed out.

"Well..." Natasha took a moment to think about his statement. "I guess that's true, but-"

"Hey!" Jamie shouted beside her. "So you don't love me anymore? I see how it is." pouting, Jamie got up to sit next to Phishie instead.

"But they'd only be interested in me for being famous and that's shallow!" Natasha finished her statement before following after her girlfriend. "Jamie!"

"No, go away, I  don't love you anymore." she teased.

"Fine. I'll just sit here until you do." And with that, Natasha sat at Jamie's feet, looking up at her daring her not to laugh as she continued to stare.

"Then you'll be there till the day you die." Jamie said unwavering.

Natasha only continued to stare in response. And stare. And stare. And stare....

Jamie tried to hold back her smirk, but it was useless. "Fine. I forgive you." She admitted her defeat.

Smiling, Natasha sat next to Jamie again. "You know, I was thinking..." Natasha started, looking back at Sonny to continue their previous discussion. "Jamie looks so much like you already, and I... well I'm about the same height as Joel. With a mau5 head.... we would look just like the two of you."

Sonny nodded eagerly. "That's what I've been trying to tell you all along!"

"And we're dating..." Natasha continued. "So the entire evening would be skrillmau5 cosplay..."

Jamie smiled mischievously. "We could make an entire album of photos."

Natasha grinned at her girlfriend. "Yeah, no one would see my face with that Mau5 head on, Jamie looks exactly like you. We could kiss and hug and make out and take photographic evidence of it... and everyone would think it was legit."

"You... you wouldn't dare." Sonny stared in horror at the red-head narrowing her eyes at him.

"Would I?"

Sonny was now forced to decide between his prideful sanity or Owsla's Halloween. "You're pure evil!"

"No, I"m just a manipulative bastard who doesn't like being told what to do."

"So... you ARE Joel?"

Natasha's face flushed. "Shut up!"

"Hey mommy?"

Sonny stopped arguing with the red head to look at his daughter, tugging on his pants sleeve. "What's up sweetie?"

The little alien looked up at him in earnest, wide eyes shinning brightly. Holding up a comic book she had been reading, she held it up for him to see. "I want to be Spider man for Halloween!"

Around the room confused eyes looked at the little alien. The gang was obsessed with the Avengers so Spider man wasn't exactly a name that came up often. Of course, Spider man was technically a part of the Avengers in the comics. However today we are all faced with the unfortunate reality that the greedy company Sony owns Spider man and therefore we will never see him in the movies.

"Owsla... why would you ever want to be Spider man for Halloween?" Sonny asked, purely confused as to what his daughter was thinking.

"W-well... because..." Owsla looked down at the ground before bursting out determinedly, "Because spiders have more than two arms, just like me!"

And at that moment, Sonny's heart just fucking melted.

"That's it. We're all going as the Avengers for Halloween."

"Wait, what?" Natasha looked at him shocked.

"We're going as the Avengers for Halloween." Sonny repeated.  "Pay attention Natasha."

"But... I already went as Black Widow once for Halloween..."

"Same, I've already cosplayed as Bucky before also." Jamie agreed.

"Don't care. Little child trumps all your Halloween desires." Sonny said, effectively cutting off further negative comments.

"I call Hawkeye!" Phishie declared, hand up like she was being called on in class.

"Yeah see? That's the spirit!" Sonny high-fived Phish.

Joel, who had seemingly not been paying attention, spoke up. "If you two have done it before, that just means you have the costumes already..."

"Actually no," Natasha admitted. "That time I borrowed it from Karmina, I don't own the costume."

"You don't even need a costume Rose," Jamie smirked. "You are Natasha, we could just drag you around anyways"

"Hey!"

"No!" Sonny pouted insistently. "Everyone has to go in costume!"

"If Jamie and I are going as Winterwidow (ship name for Bucky x Natasha), with Phishie as Hawkeye and Owsla as Spider man... who are you and Joel going to be?" Natasha asked, turning her head questioningly, trying to imagine Sonny and Joel as Avengers, even just in costume.

"I'm going to be Captain America, duh." Sonny said, as if it were completely obvious.

Natasha blinked for a moment, trying to decide if he was serious and finally burst out laughing along with her girlfriend beside her.

"What's so funny!" the goblin demanded.

"Sonny... you're half his size!" Natasha explained, giggling.

Jamie nodded in agreement, joining in on the merry sounds herself. "You could never pull off the C.Evan's dorito." (C.Evan's stands for Chris Evans and it's pronounced like Sevens for those who don't know)

"So!?!" Sonny protested. "It doesn't matter!"

Phishie looked over at the other man in question, currently killing people on the PS4. "What about you Joel? Which Avenger are you going to be?"

"He should be Iron man. I mean, he's already an asshole and that's half of the costume right there." Natasha half-joked.

"Ironman? My day job is Genius Billionaire playboy philanthropist." Joel said, somehow saying it with a straight face, pressing the X button on the controller a few times.

While the rest of the gang began to laugh, Sonny pounced on the statement excitedly. "Does that mean you'll be Iron man?"

"Yeah sure I'll go as Iron man, happy?"

Sonny smiled at his best friend exuberantly. "Extremely!"

DAYS UPON DAYS LATER...

It was a little over a week before Halloween. Natasha and Phishie sat in the inspiration room deep in their creative head space. The two of them loved making videos together and their latest project was the criminal tale of Iris Wolfe- underground doctor. Natasha loved to write scripts and act, while her best friend liked to stay behind the camera in the form of story boarding and editing. The two of them had been doing this for four years now, all throughout high school, and this fall Natasha would be attending UNT for their film program.

Jamie watched her girlfriend work, a small smile on her face. She herself was working on her latest music track, hoping to put out another album by the end of summer. It was hard work, a daunting task even if she had been around music all her life, but she loved it. Taking a moment to think she considered the upcoming Halloween. She herself had the money so she had indulged in a good costume. Bucky was her namesake after all, how could she do anything less? She was pretty sure Phish had already worked out hers and she knew Sonny and Joel would be responsible about getting theirs and Owsla's but... what about her girlfriend? Jamie sighed, she was almost 100% sure Natasha hadn't worked on hers at all. And she didn't have to wait long for her suspicions to be confirmed.

Suddenly, the door to the Inspiration room slammed open. "WHO'S STRONG AND BRAVE HERE TO SAVE THE AMERICAN WAY?!?" Sonny burst into song.

Clearly he was very excited about the red, white, and blue musceled costume he was wearing. His Captain America costume had finally come in the mail. Currently though, the helmet was hilariously lopsided, the hair stuck underneath it plastered to his face.

"The Star Spangled Man with a plan!" Jamie sang joyously in reply with no regrets. Captain America was ultimate bae, right up there with Bucky and real life Bucky, Sebastian Stan. Oh my god Seb Stan. Wait Jamie, focus!

"Your costume came in." Phishie observed.

"Costume? What are you talking about? I AM Captain America." Sonny declared in bravo.

"Ok, well, Captain America? Why don't you go 'have a plan' somewhere else?" Natasha said, a bit annoyed by the intrusion. Currently she was trying to focus on the laborious task of story boarding.

"The world isn't in peril right now," 'Captain America' explained. "A small child's Halloween is."

"I thought you had already determined everyone's costume for Halloween, Sonny." Phishie said non-nonchalantly, not even bothering to look up as she corrected another typo in the script she was editing. Nat was a great writer, but a speller she was not.

"I have!" Sonny agreed with gusto and obvious pride. "But some people haven't made progress on their costumes." He said, staring intently at Natasha.

When Nat finally noticed the intense gaze, she looked up like a deer-in-headlights. "Wait, what?"

"Luckily I have taken the liberty of getting your costume for you."

"YOU DID WHAT!" Natasha screamed, completely caught off-gaurd. "H-how! W-why!" She sputtered.

Sonny narrowed his eyes at her, "Because if I didn't do anything, you wouldn't have a costume!"

He was right. She had harbored no intention of buying a costume since the beginning. She tried not to be embarrassed at being caught in her devious non-intentions, but a blush made it's way to her cheeks anyway. "W-well.... I can't wait till it gets here and doesn't fit you jerk face!"

Sonny smirked. "I got your measurements from Jamie."

Natasha gaped at her traitorous girlfriend. "Jack! How could you!"

"I love you Rose, really, but he was going to kill me and I know you don't have the money to get the costume right now... besides, I see no reason for you not to go trick-or-treating with us." Jamie admitted.

"UUUUUUUGGHHH!"

Sonny heard Nat's screams of frustration as he walked off. He knew Natasha was going to be mad at him when he told her but it would be worth it. He really wanted Owsla's first Halloween to be special and he wasn't going to let Natasha's stubbornness ruin it. Hell, he had somehow managed to get Joel in on this and that was a feat in of itself. Taking off his costume and putting it away, the goblin went to go check on the Mau5 who was currently outside working on his own costume.

"Dad, be careful!"

"I got it Owsla."

Joel re-adjusted the annoying hair dryer cord that kept getting in his way. Today, he was outside to work on his costume. Originally he had planned on buying a costume... until her realized that even the really good Iron Man costumes were still crappy morph suites. And that was lame. And Joel wasn't going to be some lame ass, he was going to be a bad ass. So thanks to Jamie, he had found this special plastic cosplay shit that was easily mold-able when heated. After buying a bunch of it, he wasn't exactly sure how to proceed, but Natasha had helped him measure and design the pieces using her sowing pattern knowledge. It had taken a lot of trial and error but finally they had gotten it to a pattern that looked pretty authentic. So, after cutting all the pieces out, he was currently forming them to the desired shape by the use of heat- aka the hair dryer. The small device roared to life as he turned it on, heating the plate for his right shin. Slowly he curved it to the specification so it would bend comfortably over his leg.

"Woooow!" Owsla marveled at the 'magic' before her. "That's so cool, Dad!"

Joel (unsuccessfully) tried to hide a smirk at the praise. Owsla had come outside to watch her Dad work on the costume and had been amazed at the work he was doing the entire time. That's right. Bad ass.

"Isn't your Dad awesome?" Joel turned to watch Sonny pick up the kid to rest on his hip. "It's cool Joel!" the goblin beamed down at him.

This time Joel didn't bother hiding is smirk. "Thanks man..."

The plan was to spray paint the pieces red and gold respectively once they were all shaped. Then they would attach them to an Iron Man morph suit. They didn't have the time to create a fully-functioning plastic suit like some of the crazy cosplayers out there, but making the plates and attaching them to a base would be a good in-between. It was a basically a 3-D morph suit for the only part of the morph suit that would actually show were the joints, since they couldn't make working joints in time. Joel had of course already ordered an Iron Man helmet.

"Mommy!" Owsla's face brightened as she held on to her Mom. "Dad's costume is so cool! We'll be the Avengers! We'll avenge the night and everything!"

Sonny laughed. "And everything?"

Owsla nodded excitedly. "Uh huh! I'll shoot all the bad guys with my web shooters, just you watch!"

Sonny listened to Owsla's excited rambling as watched Joel work, positively ecstatic that Joel was working so hard for Owsla's Halloween. The Mau5 may not be ready to recognize Owsla as his own yet, but the goblin liked to think his actions spoke louder than his words. He knew of course that a lot of this was just Joel's excitement of getting into costume (thought they Mau5 would never admit it), but Sonny liked to believe that deep down a part of the Mau5 was doing it for Owsla's sake. Granted a very small part, but still, a part. Being Joel's best friend, he knew him better than anyone, and he knew that although Joel had a tough exterior (a very tough one at that), he was still a sentimental human being like the rest of us inside (though still probably an asshole at his core, just kidding... well, sorta). Speaking of the sentimental though...

Sonny put Owsla back on the ground who was still talking about all the world-saving she would be doing on Halloween. "Hey Owsla, you know who else is really excited to save the day? Nattie. I bet she'd really love to hear all about how you're going to defeat the bad guys!"

"Ok!" Owsla beamed at her mother and ran inside, practically bouncing in exuberance.

Sonny doubted Nat would manage to stay mad at him after talking to that cute face. He got some alone time with his BFF and Natasha's anger off his back at the same time, killing two birds with one stone. Owsla really was the cutest stone ever.

Sitting down in the grass next to Joel, the raven hair rested his weight on his hands, stretching out his legs. "Seriously though, the costume looks great."

"Thanks..."

An awkward silence settled in the air with only the sound of the hair dyer between them. Until Sonny made it even more awkward of course.

"Something smells nice out here."

Joel stopped in his tracks for a moment. "Dude don't say that man!"

Sonny looked at his best friend confused. "Why not?"

Joel looked a bit embarrassed. "Because that smell is me you idiot!"

"You wear cologne?" Sonny looked at him uncertainly. Joel wasn't one to wear smelly stuff and deodorant doesn't smell that strong.

"No!" Joel flat out denied. "I've just been out here working all morning... I stank so Natasha sprayed me with that smelly shit."

"What smelly shit?"

"I don't know!" Joel shouted dismissively, trying to get back to work. "I just went inside to get a drink and Nat just fucking hosed me down with something."

Sonny just looked at his best friend with a 'Whaaaaa?' expression on his face.

"Something about her brother always stinks so she carries men's body spray all the time..." Joel explained, effectively turning away from Sonny on purpose, hoping the smaller man would stop bothering him about it.

But apparently that didn't deter him because next thing Joel knew, he felt himself being grabbed from behind. Arms around his torso, Sonny hugged Joel close to him until he was practically laying on his chest. Snugged tightly within the goblin's grip, Joel watched as Sonny bent down to sniff at Joel's clothing. After inhaling deeply, the goblin sat up.

"Huh. So it is you."

"Of course it is you dumb ass! What did I just say?" Joel shouted embarrassed. The Mau5 sighed against his friend, waiting to be released so he could sit up again. A moment passed and he still wrapped in Sonny's grip.  "....Let go of me."

"Aw," Sonny whined. "But you're warm"

"W-what!"

"It's cold out but your body heat is warm." Sonny explained.

"Then you shouldn't have come outside without a fucking coat on!" Joel scolded.

"I didn't think about it..." Sonny trailed off, still not moving from his position around Joel. "You should wear this more often."

"Wear what?"

"The smelly shit. It smell nice."

Joel frantically pulled away before Sonny could watch the blush rise to his checks. What the hell was with this guy today! Why was he saying such embarrassing shit! "Not really my style..." he excused.

"Aw, well I'm going inside to make hot coco, don't stay outside too long or you'll freeze." Sonny said before leaving without further comment.

Joel meanwhile rubbed his face with his hand. He needed to take a walk to calm down from that. Or maybe a really cold shower.

Halloween Day...

"Pew! Pew Pew! Pew!" Owsla laughed joyiously as she preteneded to shoot things all around the house with her web shooters.

Currently, everyone else was getting ready for trick-or-treating, besides Owsla and Aurora who had been assigned the task of watching the alien while the rest of them got dressed because she was already in costume. Dressed as Hawkeye for Halloween, she was wearing the tight fitting red and black top with buckled black pants. Along with a pair of combat boots, the look was complete with the addition of her own archery equipment including her bracer, quiver (which she had painted black for the occasion), and bow. As Owsla ran around 'shooting' things, Phishie followed the little alien at a small distance to make sure she didn't hurt herself.  She probably should stop Owsla from running rampant around the house but the blue being was having so much fun...

"Owsla, don't run through the kitchen!" Aurora warned. She wasn't going to stop the bundle of blue from running around, but maybe running through a room with lots of knives just waiting to be knocked over was a bad idea.

"Phish, you there?"

At the sound of Natasha's voice, Phish stopped chasing after Owsla to turn around and immediately she watched Natasha's figure retreat behind the hallway wall. Aurora narrowed her eyes confused. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah, j-just don't look!" Natasha said with flustered stuttering.

Phishie narrowed her eyes. "Okay?"

"Could you just pass me a blanket please?"

"Sure..." Taking the blanket from the couch, Phish passed it to her best friend without looking. Only after wrapping the fabric around herself did Natasha dare to come out of the darkened shadows of the hallway and into the light of the living room. Immediately, the semi-red head made a beeline for the couch and sat down, curling into a ball by hugging her knees to further cover her embarrassment.

"Is the costume too revealing or something?"

"N-no... you know I don't get embarrassed by shit like that!" It was true. Natasha had a lot of self-confidence about her body. Wearing things that were close fitting to the body, such as a morph suit or a black widow costume, didn't usually bother her.

"I know," Phishie agreed. "That's why I'm confused."

"It's just... I feel really bad wearing this costume," Natasha explained. "Sonny had to buy it for me." she pouted.

Phish made a face while Natasha wasn't looking. So it was her pride talking. "If it bothers you that much why don't you just not wear it? You don't have to go." Phish was honestly more surprised her BFF wasn't cursing under her breath right now, usually anger was the way Natasha chose to cover up her prideful embarrassment. Yet, mysteriously Natasha had seemed to quit being mad days ago.

Natasha groaned. "Ah, I can't. He did it for Owsla and she's too adorable and cute for me to say no to her. Do you know how excited she is for this night? I can't just not wear it and ruin her night, no matter how much I might hate it." Nat buried her face in the blanket folds in shame.

"Then think of it as something you're doing for Owsla's sake, not because my brother forced you to." a voice interrupted them.

The pair turned to see Jamie, fully dressed in her winter solider cosplay, with the exception of the face mask she was holding in her hand. Jamie, as was her nature, had truly gone all out. Her metal arm was made of plastic but looked real thanks to the awesome paint job. Having been bought, it was completely functional and professional looking. The clothes looked genuine, the top made of real leather and close fitting to the body as were the cargo pants. The rest of the outfit was completed with a pair of finger-less gloves and combat boots, along with a plastic replica of the SIG- Sauer P220 the Winter Solider had in the movie in her holster. With her hair dyed brown and pulled back in a french braid Natasha had done for her earlier, she looked amazing. An amazing, real-life, gender bent, Winter Solider.

There was silence as Natasha took a moment to stare at her girlfriend. Finally, when words came out of her mouth again, only five words came out. "Damn, you look fucking hot."

Jamie flushed. "Rose!"

But Natasha wasn't about to apologize, in fact she didn't reply at all. She continued to appreciate that the girl standing before her was her girlfriend because damn she was a lucky girl. Before Jamie could smack her however, Natasha grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on her lap. Jamie sat, arms crossed and grumbling about her stupid girlfriend, but complying none the less.

"Nattie, Nattie, Nattie!" Owsla exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down as she ran back into the living room after running all around the house. "Look I'm Spider man!"

Natasha smiled, a little overwhelmed at the child's excitement. "Yes, yes I see! You look very cute."

Jamie stared at the blue alien, straightening on Nat's lap protectively, as if she could block all the alien's intent to interact with Natasha. Clearly, she still didn't trust the kid. But still, even Jamie's cold gaze could see that Owsla looked positively adorable in her costume. Owsla's Spider man costume was a little girl's dress version. The top part was fairly accurate with it's web designs and huge black spider, but the similarities stopped there. The bottom was a fluffy blue tutu and the black mask only covered her eyes like a masquerade mask. But it was obvious why Sonny had chosen it, because she really did look cute as she flounced around in her tutu, running all around the house in her little boots.

"Cute? I'm a hero! Heroes look cool, not cute!" Owsla whined, jumping up and down frustratingly with an adorable pout on her lips.

"You're right I'm sorry," Natasha apologized, trying to be serious for Owsla's sake but not managing to stop smiling. "You look very, very, cool."

Owsla smiled brightly at that and was about to run off again when suddenly the group heard loud thumps and a bang coming from the master bedroom, immediately followed by Joel barging out the door, looking flustered and disheveled. Locking eyes with Jamie he said clearly, "Someday, your brother is going to accidentally kill me." He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily and no one dared to ask what had just transpired in there. Unluckily, they didn't have to ask.

"Joely! You forgot your helmet!" Sonny appeared behind Joel and without warning, stood on his tippy toes to slip on Joel's Iron Man helmet.

"Sonny... I can't see."

It was then that Sonny realized he had slipped it on backwards. "Oh, sorry Joel," Turning the mau5 around, he righted the helmet on his head. "Did you get your costume on okay?" He asked when it was corrected. "I tried to help you put it on, but you sorta fell off the bed."

Going a little wide eyes, Phishie dragged Owsla towards her, covering her Mau5 ears. Meanwhile, Jamie and Natasha both looked away awkwardly. Realizing this, Sonny looked around at them embarrassed. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?" Jamie challenged.

"I meant I was helping him dress!" there was an awkward pause as Sonny realized that sounded even worse. "I mean, he fell over and then..."

"More like helping him undress." Natasha muttered, trying not to laugh.

Jamie elbowed her girlfriend before she got in trouble. "Just stop, I don't wanna know."

"Nothing happened!" Sonny insisted.

"Suuuuure." Jamie sarcastically agreed.

"Let's just go!" Joel grumbled, frustrated, walking away before his BFF could embarrass him further that night.

That evening... (PLEASE NOTE: This ending is inspired by a song, "Party 44" by RIOT please go check that out!)

"Let's go to that house next!" Owsla said, pointing excitedly at a one story brick house.

"Owsla, we've already been there," Sonny explained. "You can only go to each house  once."

"OoOOoh...." Owsla said. "Then where next?"

"Uuuuh... where we haven't before." Sonny replied. Thanks, Captain Obvious.

That was easier said than done, the rambunctious little alien had already dragged them all around the neighborhood. It was getting harder to find houses they hadn't been to, mostly because they were lost but no one wanted to admit it. The Lowe's Farm neighborhood was huge and hard enough to navigate in daylight, never mind the night time.

"Why don't we go this way?" Joel suggested, pointing at at a particularly dark street. It was obvious there weren't many houses to trick-or-treat on that street but it's not like they had anything better to do.

"Ok," Natasha took the plunge first, turning swiftly to walk towards the street in question. "After this we should go back."

The group nodded in agreement and followed after her. The night was getting long, and although they had been having barrels of fun, they were getting tired. It was definitely time to head home soon; it was getting late. With Owsla leading the way, they walked down the sidewalk. Sonny holding Owsla's trick-or-treat bag in one arm and Owsla's hand in the other. Joel walked behind them, deep in thought with Phish right on his heels. Natasha and Jamie brought up the rear, holding hands where they thought no one could see them. The street itself barely had any porch lights on. The houses who did had left candy bowls outside, long since emptied by greedy trick-or-treaters. In fact, it seemed like the whole block had been abandoned, void of any trick-or-treaters, until they ran into a very strange man. He staggered onto the side walk in a way that you couldn't be sure just where exactly he had come from. Joel was about to tell the group to cross the street in order to avoid him, but the man walked straight up to them before he could.

"Duuuuude..." the man said, stumbling not only over his own feet, but his words as well. "Are you... commin' to the... t-the paaarty?"

"What party?" Sonny asked excitedly. A party seemed like fun to him.

"Sonny!" Joel scolded. The man was obviously drunk out of his mind and maybe a little high too, he definitely smelled like weed. Truly, his best friend was crazy trying to talk to the guy because he had obviously already been through the ringer at this supposed party. He appeared to have some sort of costume but half of it was missing and he'd probably passed out once already this evening because there were cat whiskers and dicks drawn all over his face.

"It's a paaaarty man... in the, the fuckin'... basement."

"I would never go anywhere near your basement." Phishie declared.

"Oh please," Natasha rolled her eyes at her best friend with a smirk, "Your basement would be scarier." she giggled.

Looking at Nat with a non-amused expression Phish simply said "Shush." There was obviously an inside joke there the rest of them weren't getting.

"You guyzz don't... get it.. maaan. It's called Party 44.."

"Why is it numbered?" Sonny asked.

Noticing the the whiskers, Owsla smiled. "He looks like a kitty cat!" she reached out to hug the drunk.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Yeah except for the fucking dinosaur tail." Which was true, the drunk did seem to have a dinosaur tail, probably part of his missing costume.

"If you ever get stuck in a tree, kitty, I'll be sure to save you!" Owsla continued.

"Owsla, stay away from the strange man." Joel scolded, pulling her away gently so he could stand between them.

"It's a base party man"

"Oh I love base, we should go Joel!"

Somehow managing to keep a straight face, the Mau5 replied. "But you'll drop it." The rest of them burst out laughing, not able to help it. Sometimes lame jokes were the funniest.

The drunk man laughed hysterically along with them, "Get it? Cuz it's in a basement?"

"Oh," Sonny shoulders sank disappointingly. "That's not the kind of base I was thinking of..."

"It's party 44 maaan."

"I still don't get it, why is it numbered?"

"Sonny, I really don't think that's what's important right now. We should leave." Jamie said. She had tagged along to enough parties and seen enough drunk people to know where this could be headed. "He's drunk out of his mind." she pointed out, hoping her brother would see some reason.

"I know, but I'm curious. I mean like.... what's with the numbering system?"

"Who knows? He's drunk man, let's go." Joel urged.

"Oh!" Sonny exclaimed, the light bulb going off above his head. "Maybe you have to like, get Party Permits now? Is that what the numbers are?" the goblin looked at the drunk half-cat half-dinasaur guy who was barely managing to stand up at this point. "Hey dude, I'm talking to you."

"N-not party 45... that's down the street..."

"Party 45? Wait, what?"

"Oh my god, Sonny!" Joel groaned. "It's just a number!"

"But dude, what if you have to get party permits now? I don't want a lame number like 51."

"51 is the number of Area 51." Phish pointed out.

"OMG!" Sonny bounced excitedly. "Now we HAVE to have #51, we could throw an Area 51 party Joel! I should make a song titled Area 51..."

Joel rolled his eyes exasperated. "Yeah sure, why don't we just look it up on the internet later?" the Mau5 looked at certain kid who was finally getting tired, as she rested her head against the goblin's leg. "Hey man, we have Owsla with us, we really should be going."

Sonny looked down at the little alien. His best friend was right, now wasn't the time to be partying or talking to drunk people, he needed to get his daughter home. Drunk people could be dangerous. "All right, let's head home." with that, he picked up his tired child, resting Owsla on his hip.

The gang turned around to head back the way they came, to attempt to figure out the enigma of roads the neighborhood had become that night. Finding their way back home would be difficult, but hopefully not impossible. Since at least 1/3 of them had the experience of having to stumble home drunk before, surely they could do it sober.

"Hey wait!" The drunk called behind them but no one payed him any attention. "WAAIIIT UPP!"

Sonny yelped as he felt a pull on his shoulder. He was forcefully jerked around to come face to face with that drunk guy once again.  The goblin looked at the man shocked. Sonny had been to countless parties and he had dealt with a lot of drunks and usually he did just fine, but unknowingly he had provoked the drunk man so now he was dealing with an angry drunk. He had been to enough parties to recognize that look, the i'm-fucked-up-and-angry look.

"Hey!"

Sonny watched as Joel stepped him front of him, effectively blocking the man from view with his larger frame.

"Get the hell outta here!" Joel barked aggressively, trying his best to look intimidating so the guy would back off without a fight. And he was pretty good at it, he was asshole so he had to deal with angry people wanting to fight him a lot more than Sonny did.

The angry drunk wobbled on his feet before falling forward on Joel, arms grabbing onto his shoulders. "I... I forgot to tell you-"

*Bleeeeeeh*

Before Joel could shove the guy off of him, the drunk puked all over him and crumpled to the ground, passing out. The gang was speechless for a long moment as they tried to gauge Joel's reaction. When he turned around he was obviously pissed.

"You okay, Sonny?" he asked.

The goblin blinked at his BFF. "Yeah, I'm fine... but you reek like puke." he said, starring worriedly at Joel's chest plate, covered in vomit.

Joel looked down at his costume, seething in quiet anger. "Yeah. I know."

"Mom!" as soon as Sonny and Joel entered the lab, Owsla came running over to them, flinging all four arms around her mother. "...Dad." she said with a slight glare as she looked at Joel, standing right next to them.

"Owsla." he replied, just as cold. He wasn't going to be intimidated by a little kid.

Sonny not-so-secretly elbowed Joel for his tone, smiling brightly at Owsla as the Mau5 doubled over beside him. "Hi sweetheart!"

"Ah, the Skrill X and the dead mouse," a lanky dork in a lab coat spoke up from across the room where he sat at a lab table. "Nice to meet you."

"Er..." Joel was immediately off put by the way Theodore said his name. It sounded so... awkward... and just plain... wrong. When he had run into the young scientist earlier, he had assumed the guy recognized him because he simply told him 'You can all come see Owsla now.' and walked off. The short lived encounter hadn't left room for introductions. Now hearing his name coming from Theodore for the first time, it unnerved him. Was it just him or was Sonny unnerved too? He glanced at his best friend beside him.

"Sonny and Joel is fine," the raven hair said, giving Joel a look. So it wasn't just him. "We're trying to keep a low profile..." Sonny said, always the nice guy, trying to come up with some viable excuse. "Thank you... for doing this." he added while shifting awkwardly, he had never met Theodore before either.

Immediately, Theodore had stars in his eyes. "Oh you don't have to thank me, it was my pleasure!" he sighed dreamily. "I got to run lots of tests and I can't wait for the results and all that glorious scientific data~!"

Sonny looked at the young scientist suspiciously before holding Owsla at arms length to look at her very seriously. "Did he do anything weird to you? Make you feel uncomfortable at all?"

Owsla looked at her mom, mortified. "Of course not!" Owsla suddenly looked uncertain. "I mean... all of it was pretty weird... but- but nothing like THAT!" she flatly refused.

"AH!" both mother and child jumped as Joel screamed beside them. There was a cotton swab sticking out of his mouth which Theodore had just stuck down his throat without warning. Joel tried to shove him off but Theodore had already walked off. "What the hell man!"

"I needed a DNA sample and you were just starring off into space so..." Theodore shrugged, carefully placing the sample aide for analysis later.

"Why the hell would you need that, I thought you were supposed to be analyzing the kid!"

"I am. I wish to compare Owsla's DNA to a human."

"Don't you have samples 'n' shit in the lab already for that!"

"Well we have samples to run in the lab but if I used one, I'd have to keep record of it," Theodore's glasses glinted, almost threateningly, as he turned to face them. "Which is a huge no-no."

Joel glared at the young scientist for a few seconds before turning away with an irritated grunt, for lack of a better come back.

"Well there are many test results and scientific findings to go over so if you two will take a seat we can get started." Theodore gestured to the lab stools around him and the three hesitantly took their seats, already unnerved by the dude.

"Why do I have to be here for this?" Joel grumbled half-heartedly. He was only here for Sonny's sake. He felt uncomfortable being involved in Owsla's medical results, it wasn't his business, he wasn't involved, and he wanted it to stay that way.

"Because you're her father!"

"I told you, she's not-"

"Joel." Sonny gave him a glare in warning. It was clear he didn't want to argue about this- not in front of Owsla.

As Owsla looked between her parents in unease, Theodore just smiled, clearly not reading the room well. "The insecurity of inadequacy is only to be expected in new parents."

Sonny reached out a hand to stop Joel before he could even get started but the Mau5 stood up anyway, against the appendage in his way. "What did you-?"

"Ow!" Sonny cried out from the pressure of Joel's body weight against his arm... his injured arm. He had been stupid enough to try and stop Joel with his injured arm.

"Sonny, wha-?" Realizing the problem immediately, Joel cursed. "Fuck Sonny, what the hell do you think you're doing, dip shit?"

"Joel, what the fuck? Could you at least try not to cuss in front of your kid?"

"Shut up! I need to do some proper first aid on your arm!" Joel tugged insistently on Sonny's good arm, trying to get the goblin to follow him to an empty lab table.

Sonny narrowed his eyes at him. "We're in the middle of Owsla's test results, wait a fucking minute!"

Joel slammed a clenched fist on a lab table. "Stupid numbers are not more important than your immediate health!"

Sonny gritted his teeth. "Joel-" but stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down to see a blue hand gripping the fabric.

"Mom, you should listen to Dad. You need to take your health more seriously." Worry was evident in her tone, but Owsla's face said it all. She stared at her mother's injury in obvious fear.

"Ok..." Sonny conceded gently, calmly removing his child's grip on his tee so he could walk over to where Joel was standing. Joel gave him a scowl as he put down his vending machine snack and began taking out the contents of the CVS bag he had brought along. While Sonny had been passed out with his injuries in the car, Joel had stopped to get medical supplies. He pulled out a bottle of water, antiseptic, bandages... and a sowing kit.

Sonny's eyes went a little wide at the sight of it as he sat down, placing his arm on the table. "What's the sowing kit for?"

Joel didn't bat an eye as he began to unravel the goblin's arm. "For stitches, dumb ass."

Sonny tried to pull his arm away at the news but Joel wouldn't let him. The Mau5 held his wrist firmly as he placed the bloody rags of what used to be his t-shirt aside. "The wounds need them." and it was true. Now that he had a clearer head, Joel remembered exactly what to do (he really wished he could forget how helpless he had been earlier today when he was begging Road hog for help). There were three cuts in total, one on his upper arm close to the elbow and two on his fore arm. The bleeding had stopped but the cuts were still wide enough to need stitches, it wasn't going to heal well without them. Seeing the wounds for himself, Sonny didn't protest but his eyes didn't relax either. The first thing Joel did was pour water on them, knowing the sprite he had used earlier wasn't going to do the trick. Sonny seethed, drawing in a long breath between his teeth. The water stung quite a bit but he didn't want his daughter across the room to worry. Next, Joel opened a packet of disinfectant and began unfolding the small soaked cloth.

Seeing it, Sonny shifted in his seat uncomfortably, knowing it would hurt like hell. "Hey, you already washed it with water, that's redundant!"

"Shut up and let me see your arm."

"No way!" The sound of crying distracted him however, and he looked over to see Owsla in tears. "No no no, Owsla, don't cry. I'll let your Dad take care of me, I promise- GAH!" he let out a yelp of pained surprise as Joel began to disinfect the wounds without warning. After wiping the area clean, Joel grabbed the old bloody bandages, giving Sonny a break as he threw them away.

It was then that Natasha and Jamie entered the lab... and then froze as they tried to take in the scene before them. They had walked into what appeared to be complete chaos. Owsla was crying, so Sonny was crying and Joel was throwing away bloody fabric. Theodore was effectively ignoring them all as he poured over his notes.

"Sonny, what the crap happened to you?" Jamie asked.

And for the first time, the girls noticed Sonny had been wounded. Natasha had not seen them since they got back and although Jamie had, she had been too caught up in her fight with the emotional mess to notice.

Sonny wiped at his eyes with his good arm. "I kinda, well... I... I got injured." he answered lamely.

"Hmph." Joel snorted at the statement as he threw away the 'bandages' before returning to Sonny's side.

Bucky walked over to watch as Joel began measuring out threat to stitch up the injuries. "Don't forget to sterilize the needle." She commented.

"I was getting to that," Joel mumbled sourly. "Could you hand me the disinfectant?" Bucky easily handed him the cloth which he had left a ways down the table. Finishing the knot on the end of the string, the Mau5 wiped the needle in the folds of the disinfecting cloth before inserting it into Sonny's skin.

Sonny whined as it was pulled through. It hurt less than he thought it would but it freaked him out a bit. He cringed as he watched the thread slide through layers of skin. On the other side of the room, Owsla was cringing too. Pinching her nose, she was covering it with all four hands. Bucky tensed as she watched her girlfriend go over to check on her.

"Owsla? Are you alright?" Natasha asked, a hand on her shoulder as she helped the little blue being sit on a lab stool.

The alien shook her head. "It smells."

Nat looked at her confused. "What smells? The blood?"

Owsla nodded. "And the disinfectant."

Natasha narrowed her eyes. How could Owsla smell all that from across the room? As if hearing her unasked question, her brother spoke up.

"Owsla seems to have more heightened senses than we do, sense of smell, sense of hearing, yet-"

"GAH!" Sonny shrieked across the lab. "I thought you were going to warn me!" he barked at Joel, who had started stitching the second wound, apparently without warning the goblin.

"It hurts more if you're expecting it." the Mau5 explained.

Theodore looked up with a bemused expression. "I could've gotten you some anesthetic you know."

Sonny just glared at the young scientist. "Well thanks man, you're a great help." but the stern expression failed to have impact as he winced when Joel inserted the needle into his skin again.

Owsla, battling her super senses, held her nose as she ran over to him. "Mom?" she started crying again, this time, not from the smell. "Mom, are you going to be okay?"

Sonny smiled at her, wiping a tear off her face with his thumb. "Don't cry Owsla, or you're gonna make me cry."

Owsla sniffed, trying to make the tears disappear. "Okay."

"There." Joel cut the end of the thread. "Two out of three done." disinfecting the needle again, he began to re-thread it.

"You broke your glasses." Bucky realized, noticing cracks in the glass as she looked at her brother.

"Oh fuck, I did?" Sonny circled his eyes , trying to see the glass before them. Sure enough, there was a crack on the left lens but he had been so distracted by recent events he hadn't noticed. He sighed. "I might as well go to the eye doctor, I think I need a new prescription."

"Eyes getting old there, Sonny?" Natasha quipped, unable to resist the opportunity to tease.

"Shut up."

Turning around in his lab stool, Theodore spoke up. "You should take Owsla with you. As I was saying earlier, she has heightened senses but I'm afraid her eyesight is lacking."

"Isn't that strange though? Considering her other senses are so good?" Natasha asked.

Theodore nodded in agreement. "Yes..." he began mumbling, mulling over possible explanations. "My best guess is it could be a side effect from this regrowth process. It's so complex compared to known boundaries in science today, it wouldn't surprise me if there were side effects."

"Side effects?" Sonny glanced at Theodore worriedly as he bundled Owsla close to him, tucking her under his good arm as if he could protect her from everything there.

"Yes, although I wouldn't worry about it, he eyesight deficiency seems to be completely within the normal range of any human that would need visual aid. Her other senses are remarkable though, check this out..." Theodore stood up and walked to the far side of the room. Facing them, the gang watched as he mouthed something they couldn't even begin to hear. When he walked back over, he had a goofy grin ear to ear. "What did I say Owsla?"

Owsla on the other hand did not look so joyful. In fact, she looked kinda mad. "You said Nattie is stupid! That's mean!"

"Hey!" Natasha protested.

"That's amazing Owsla!" Sonny praised his daughter. "You heard a whisper clearly from over 20 ft. away!"

The little alien tried to hide her face as a fierce blush rose to her cheeks. "It's not that amazing..."

"Likewise, her nose is as good as your average house cat."

"Wow, that's so cool!" Sonny exclaimed, looking at his daughter with a whole new sense of wonder. Owsla meanwhile buried her face in his arm, trying to disappear.

"Now then, shall we move on to what I discovered about that pod goop sample you gave me?" Although the pod goop was gone, Natasha had managed to get a small sample from the thermos Owsla had used last night. She had given it to Theodore to analyze in hope to recreate it. With a chorus of nods as his encouragement, he began to spit out his analysis.

"It's very fascinating! I've never seen anything like it! You could almost say it's alive all on it's own... almost. It doesn't actually fit all the requirements. It's kinda like a virus that way. They aren't considered living things either, you know. It's because they can't reproduce on their own and-" Theodore continued to ramble scientific nonsense which the rest of them tuned out.

Theodore's scientific rambling finally got on Nat's nerves. "That's great!" she snapped. "But can you recreate it?"

Her brother shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, I would need way more time just to analyze it before I could even attempt it. However, I have discovered some interesting things that might help you." Heads turned to focus on the young scientist again. "We know that you guys lost some of the pod goop and from Natasha and Jamie's eye witness accounts, I can estimate the amount lost was probably about one serving. With that in mind, I must remind you of the definition of the regrowth process, Owsla?"

Owsla jolted out of the comfort of her mother's arm, not expecting to be called on. "It's the redevelopment of  subject by the use of rejuvenating fluids to expedient their growth back to the original state of creation."

"Exactly. In other words, every time Owsla consumes the pod goop, aka, the rejuvenating fluid, she will grow at a rapid rate, closer to who she was originally."

People around the room slowly nodded, understanding the definition now. It made sense. Every time Owsla had eaten the goop, she had grown.

"But here's the kicker," Theodore's smile set everyone on edge, but unknown to him, he continued. "If there was one more dosage left, aka, the goop you guys lost, Owsla's growth has been stunted. She should have completed one more stage of growth by consuming that pod goop. Meaning, he 'original state of creation' was an adult.

Sonny swallowed nervously, 'stunted' didn't sound good in his book. "Is that... is that bad?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. It just means she'll age normally from now on... well whatever is normal for her species anyways. However this leads me to an interesting theory."

"A theory?" Natasha asked, concerned.

"Yes, but before I delve further, let me ask you a question Owsla. What is the name of your home planet?"

"What!" Sonny shouted. "She was raised here! She wouldn't know-"

"Gilgamesh."

The room froze. All eyes were on Owsla, who had covered her mouth with two hands, looking just as shocked as the rest of them.

Bucky narrowed her eyes viciously. "What did you just say?"

Owsla blinked. "Gilgamesh. That's the name of my home planet."

"How do you know that?" she pressed.

The alien frowned. "I- I don't know... I just do."

"How!" Jamie barked.

"I don't know!"

"I said how!" Jamie slammed her hand on a lab table as Owsla burst into tears.

Sonny's grip tightened on Owsla protectively. "Bucky!" he shouted, a glare in his eyes. He was appalled at the absolute aggression she showed towards his daughter. "That's enough! She says she doesn't know."

"Ah- if I may interrupt?" Theodore intervened. "I have a theory that explains this. Owsla said 'original state of creation'. Since I've already concluded she was originally an adult, I had to ask, 'Could Owsla have truly just been born into existence as an adult?'. The answer is no. Although that would explain her development physically, I'm afraid it wouldn't explain her mental capabilities. For example, her understanding of the English language, you can't just create learning. Where this true, her understanding of the world would be infantile, since her experiences on earth have been so minimal. So then if she wasn't created as an adult, we must assume she grew up somewhat normally and everything she knows was taught to her while she grew up on her home planet."

"Just as I thought. That's why she was able to recognize Sonny and Joel immediately." Natasha nodded along with her brother's theory.

"So just what does that mean?" Sonny asked the scientist still very confused. "Owsla has never mentioned her home planet or anything about it before."

"It means Owsla has a whole life of memories on her home planet she can't remember, most of which are probably essential to her survival here. If the aliens planned to send her here, she must have had some sort of training which would be in the memories she's lost." he explained.

"But if they're so essential to her survival here why can't she remember?" Joel asked, tying the last knot on Sonny's stitches (he kept getting distracted by everyone around him so it had taken a while)

"Because until she is physically capable of carrying out her purpose here, the mental knowledge that goes with it is unnecessary. In other words, I doubt her memories will be restored until she's an adult. I'm afraid however that because the rest of the pod goop was lost, we'll never be able to regain these memories."

"Never?"

"Well..." Theodore paused. "I guess it's possible. I theorize that all this information is in Owsla's brain but this fluid is the key to unlocking it. Eventually the memories could be retrieved I suppose, but without the 'key' it will be very difficult."

Bucky sat down, folding her arms. "So you're telling me she knows the name of her home planet because any normal teen would know that?"

"Exactly." Theodore smiled. "Now you're getting it. She knows only what she needs to know as a teenager until she develops into the next stage, adult hood. But, that won't be happening of course so her knowledge is currently equivalent to that of a teenager."

Joel frowned. After finishing the stitches on Sonny's third gash and bandaging the entire arm, he had sat with the others, listening to all this scientific mumbo jumbo. But now a question tugged at his mind... what about their original question? "So why wouldn't she know if she can digest human food or not? Normal teenagers know what they can and can not eat."

"Ah, good question," Theodore pushed his glasses back onto his nose, excited that the others were getting into the scientific swing of things. "That information would have been unimportant until the pod goop, her food source,  ran out. That was supposed to happen after she completed the adult stage of growth so I'm afraid that information is irretrievable- locked away with her other memories

"Noooo!" Sonny was the first person to express the crushing disappointment hitting them all by letting out an anguished cry. Was he really doomed to watch his daughter starve to death? Did this really mean she was going to die? Had it all been for nothing? He barely registered Joel squeezing his hand, awkwardly trying to comfort his best friend (emotional support was not one of his strong points).

"However!" Theodore raised his voice over the commotion before they all lost it. "The tests I've done lead me to believe there's a good chance she can digest human food."

"Really!" Nat jumped up excitedly, expressing the new surge of hope spreading trough the gang.

Theodore nodded, smiling along with his sister's enthusiasm. "It's strange, I wouldn't think it possible but the MRI's and x-rays show an anatomy almost identical to the human female."

"So which is it?" Joel asked, getting annoyed. "Can she or can she not digest human food?"

Theodore shrugged. "There's only one way to test that."

A tense silence settled upon them all... until a loud snacking filled the air instead. Inevitably, all eyes turned towards a certain Mau5 and a bag of vending machine Cheez-its.

Bucky broke the silence first. "Joel! How could you eat Markiplier's children at a time like this?"

Joel didn't bother swallowing before trying to speak. "I wuz hungre," he swallowed. "Here, you want some Owsla?" he held out the bag to the little alien in an attempt to rectify his mistake.

Owsla was tentatively reaching into the bag when Sonny karate chopped it out of Joel's hand. "WWWWAAAAH!" (he provided the sound effect)

"Shit! Man, what the fuck!" Joel screamed, jumping away in surprise as pain exploded in his fingers.

"Mom, what?"

"No! I will not have my child's first meal be some lame vending machine Cheez-its! We shall go to On The Border! Tonight, WE FEAST!"