#shadowkaida

"Its stupid," Paulina had said, glaring at him and his shirt, which read 'If found please return to Pauly'. He'd written on hers 'I'm Pauly'

But, with some pleading and lots of cuddling, he managed to talk her into wearing it to the mall, partially because less people would know her there.

The next day, Dell was up bright and early (for a change). He was dressed and asleep at the doorway by the time Paulina walked out of the bathroom.

"Wake up, dummy," she mumbled, shaking him roughly, "Its time to go." Dell opened his eyes, then frowned, reading her t-shirt. It now read ' I'm not Pauly, and I don't want him.'

Dell glared at Paulina. "Pauly!" he whined, "That's not what its supposed to say!"

She scowled. "It was stupid," she said, "I corrected it."

Dell groaned, running his hand down his face, then knelt down untying his shoes.

"What are you doing?" Paulina sounded irritated and confused.

She opened her eyes, sitting up in bed and looking around. "Dell?" she called. Odd. She was usually the first one up, after all. Dell hated waking up.

Dell peeked his head in. Something was in his hands. "Oh, good, you're up! Get dressed, we're going on a walk!"

Paulina raised an eyebrow at Dell. Even after all this time, Dell still managed to surprise her. "Alright, then."

Paulina was still half-asleep, but she managed to get dressed and pull on the first pair of shoes she saw, before following Dell out the door.

Dell shut the door behind them and led the way. He still had the strange bundle.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going?" she asked him sleepily.

He grinned at her. "Aren't you usually the one wide awake?" he replied, not answering her question.

Paulina yawned. "You weren't in bed," she said, then stopped short. A huge puddle of sticky, disgusting looking mud was in front of them. Suddenly, Paulina realized why her shoes were so comfy and soft. She had put on her house slippers, which Dell had gotten her. They looked like fluffy cats. They'd be destroyed if she took so much as a step in the mud.

Dell snorted at the look she gave her. "Oh no. No destroying them!" Before she knew what he was doing, he'd scooped her up, and was carrying her across the mud.

"Dell!" she complained, but not loudly. As soon as they were past the mud, he set her down. Finally, they made it to the spot.

"Close your eyes," Dell told her. Paulina didn't see the big deal about the clearing, but she closed her eyes. Sounds of rattling were heard as Dell went about. When she heard the click of an ipod, and music started playing, she couldn't wait any longer. She opened her eyes.

"Oh! Its so lovely!" She looked around in awe.

Dell had put several saucers with electric tea lights around the clearing, and spread a few blankets in the middle, with pillows forming a little nest. A thin cloth nearby held a picnic basket, which probably had food in it, and he had hooked up speakers in a tree, connected to his ipod. As she watched, the sky began to start lightening, in preparation for dawn. "Oh, Dell, this is so romantic..."

Dell had already sat down in the nest. "I know. Now hurry up, I want to go back to sleep."

He patted the spot next to him. Smiling, she walked over. Paulina curled up beside him, and kissed him. "This is perfect, Dell. Thank you."

After the miscarriage, Mac and Shasta tried to take care of Spencer, but we could still tell that Spencer was feeling neglected. So we'd been taking it in turns to take care of him, or run errands for the family. Today was our turn to take care of Spencer. As soon as Spencer came over, he started pleading to go to the store. Long story short, apparently Shasta's little prodigy accidently broke something that his parents had originally purchased for the baby, and kept around afterwards for sentimental value. He needed to buy a replacement. He'd already asked Intel and Dru to take him, but they both said no, and I guess we were his last hope.

"Eee!" As soon as we entered Walmart, Spencer got distracted. Dell was useless, so I grabbed Spencers arm and slipped him in a cart. "No! Car cart!" I narrowed my eyes at him, but Dell just brought over the cart with a little car in the front. I sighed and made sure Spencer was buckled up.

"Spencer, tell us when you see your mothers thing that you broke, okay?" I said to him. When he nodded, I started pushing the cart through the store. "Dell," I said sharply, noticing Dell was pretty much sleep-walking beside us, "Go get groceries. We might as well do our shopping while we're here." Grumbling, Dell walked away. Meanwhile, I walked the toy and baby aisles with Spencer. It took a while for him to stop pointing at the toys that he wanted (I caved in and let him pick a few toys, though. I was his aunt after all) and start really looking for it. Finally, we found it. A music box that played some sort of melody. It took far too long to find the one that played the right tune, but finally, we found it. Not an entirely meaningful thing, but with the mood Mac was in, even losing something like this would upset her far too much.

Dell met up with us at the front, with several bags worth of groceries in a cart beside him. I frowned at the purchased candy bar he was munching on. Noticing my meaningful look, he tucked it away quickly before Spencer noticed. "Come on," I said, "I need to check out, and you're coming with me."

Grumbling, Dell followed me with his own cart. When he took the candy bar back out, I punched his shoulder. Glaring at me, he stuck it in his pocket yet again.

Finally, we made it to the register.

The cashier was entirely too cheerful. "I hope you enjoyed your trip!" she chirped as she started punching in items.

"I got a music box and a toy!" Spencer spoke up happily. I scowled.

The cashier smiled. "Your parents got you a toy?" she asked him.

Behind me, Dell almost choked on his candy bar. I turned bright red. "Excuse me?" I demanded of the young woman.

The cashier blinked. "Well, you're his parents, aren't you? He looks just like you?" Dell started coughing, and I glared at the cashier.

"No," I said shortly, "Hes our nephew."

The rest of the check-out was awkward and mostly quiet.

It had been Tweets idea to begin with. Alex wouldn't be back from school for long, so Tweet had wanted a nice get-together. They'd had a huge potluck, and now they were going to the bonfire outside. They'd run out of marshmallows a while ago, so Dell had been volunteered to go on a s'mores run.

Once Dell delivered the sweets to Mac, he went over to the bench where Pauly was sitting. Because there were so many of them, they had decided instead of one huge bonfire, they'd make a bunch of smaller ones. Sitting around this one was Pauly, Mac, Shasta, Intel, Dru, Spencer, and Ponder.

Having doled out the marshmallows to the other groups already, Mac had settled down with their supplies to help Spencer make himself a s'more.

Pauly held out a stick to Dell, with a roasted marshmallows on it. "Here you go. I roasted it while you were gone," she said, grinning.

Dell looked down at it, then wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. Its all...toasted."

Pauly glared at him. "Its perfectly fine, compared to the ones I've seen you ruin!"

"They're not ruined, they're perfect! I like them charred!" Snatching away the stick from Pauly, he stuck it in the fire. Once it started burning, a flame surrounding its charred remains, he took it off the fire and blew out the flames, before smirking. "There. Now that's perfection."

Pauly glared at him, and turned away to snatch a new marshmallow from Mac. Growling in frustration, she started to toast her own.

Getting an idea, Dell nudged her at just the right moment. Distracted by the resulting little nudging contest, Pauly didn't remember her marshmallow until it started crackling. Her eyes widened. "Oh no!" She took it out and blew the flames away quickly, but it was already black and charred.

Pauly glared at him. "You did that on purpose!" she said accusingly.

Dell grinned. "Oh, come on, try that and don't tell me its not delicious!" Pauly just glared at him. "Try it!" With a grumble, Pauly put the thing in her mouth.

A minute later, she spat it into the fire. "Ugh! Disgusting!"

Across the fire, they could hear Spencer throw his s'more into the fire himself, echoing Pauly. Mac shot the couple a glare. Dell and Pauly glanced at each other, then blushed.

"Dell!"

I winced at the slam of the door that woke me up, then looked up at Pauly. She looked pretty mad.

"Yes?" I asked her.

"We're moving out." I stared at her, confused. "I can't take it any more! I can hear the kids downstairs staying up later than they're supposed to, every time Lee throws a knife...argh!" She sat down on the closest beanbag and glared at the wall.

I was still half asleep (when am I not?), but I knew enough to know that when Pauly was mad like this, the best thing to do was just nod and go back to sleep.

"Ow!" Okay, apparently that wasn't the right answer. "Okay, okay, we can move out! Geez!" I rubbed my shoulder and glared at her. "Any suggestions?"

Pauly was gone.

I sighed and went back to sleep.

---

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting her to find a place so soon. Apparently she got all the arrangements already. We were moving into a similar house to the ones that were built already for the others. The only difference was, ours was farther away. Pauly was really mad about the sound, I guess.

A week later, we were standing in our new, empty-ish bedroom. All the boxes had been moved in, and everything had been set up...for the most part.

"What do you think?" Pauly asked me. I stared at her. She was wearing her glasses and looking around excitedly.

Well, the room was nice, but I didn't really care to call it a bedroom until there was somewhere I could sleep in it. But I didn't tell Pauly that. "Its...white," I finally said. The walls were blank, a very pale wood.

Pauly glared at me. "We're painting it," she said, taking out some pieces of paper. "We need to order a color," she said.

I pouted at her, but she glared back stubbornly, and I knew I didn't get a choice of whether or not I wanted to pick a color. With a sigh, I rifled through the paint sample strips. Finally, a color caught my eye. A strip of several different bright, vibrant shades of orange. My favorite of them was a colorful one called 'chrome'.

I held it up, pointing to the color. "This one is good," I said.

Pauly winced. "No," she sad flatly, "That's the most eye-smarting color I've ever seen. Its horrible. You're not painting our bedroom that color."

As I scowled at her, she rifled through the rest of the colors, before yanking out a strip. "Midnight blue," she announced to me, "Something that won't burn out my eyes when I walk in here every day."

I glared at her."But Pauly!" I complained, "I want orange!"

"No!"

"Come on, please?"

"No!" She glared at me. "You're not painting the bedroom orange!"

I sighed, then thought of something. Grabbing the paint samples, I rifled through, then showed her another shade of orange. This one was darker, almost a brown shade. "What about this?" I suggested.

She sighed, looking somewhat wistfully at her blue, then back at the color. "I guess...fine."

---

The argument of the paint resolved, we turned our attention to unpacking. I just wanted to take a nap, but every time Pauly caught me asleep, she hit me with something. Finally, evening approached, and Pauly came out of the kitchen. "We're all unpacked," she announced.

"I'm starving," I replied. She made a face at me, then went into the kitchen. A minute later, she returned with a bag of take-out.

Over our microwaved dinner, we were quiet.

After dinner, I stood up, yawning. "Well, I think its time for bed."

I started to head to the bedroom, but Pauly grabbed my arm. "Not so fast, mister. Remember, the bed wasn't delivered yet. We're sleeping on the couch."

I froze. "...The couch?" I asked nervously. So that was why Pauly had been so insistent I do it...I'd fallen asleep instead and fibbed about finishing it.

Pauly narrowed her eyes. "Dell..." She sounded mad. "Now where are we supposed to sleep?!"

"I don't know!" I argued, "We have a bunch of blankets and pillows in the living room, figure something out!"

With a growl of frustration, Paulina dragged me into the living room. Five minutes later, she'd forced me into helping set up a make-shift pillow-fort type nest. She seemed pretty pissed off at me, so I didn't say anything.

  "This is your fault," she informed me angrily, as she finished getting ready for bed and curled up beside me.

I yawned. "I know."

The sight of Alex, trying to fit into that suit, was hilarious.

The school was having some sort of dance this week, and Zahra had gotten it into her head that we should be required to attend. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but she managed to persuade Wolfram to make it mandatory. Which was why Alex was currently hopping around the room and complaining loudly while Cassidy chased after him with pins and needles. Every suit was too short for him, so it had to be extended and patched. Unfortunately, there were only a few of people in the household really good enough for altering clothing. One of them was Cass. Nobody else was willing to give the kid a chance, so Alex had volunteered.

I snorted at the image in front of me. Alex looked like a patchy scarecrow. "Cass, maybe if you stopped stabbing him he'd stop running away?" I suggested from where I sat. "Just a friendly hint."

"Stop making trouble, Flicker," Galen muttered, punching my shoulder.

I pouted. "But its so much fun!" Galen sighed and put her head in her hands.

Cassidy shot me a glare from where she knelt on the floor, clinging to one of Alex's legs and desperately trying to stitch up a seam. "Excuse me, but its not like I have any choice!" she protested, "He keeps squirming! And he refused to take his pants off!" Alex went bright red. "Oh, be quiet you big baby," she muttered, stabbing the fabric with her needle harder than really needed, "Next time don't wear the joke underwear you got, when you know you're coming in for a fitting."

"I-Its not my fault!" Alex protested, still red faced, "Ash bought it--you know how she gets!"

At this, Galen's attempts at a straight face failed, and she burst out laughing at Alex. When she noticed me grinning at her, she immediately growled at me and returned to scowling.

"Don't look like that, Galen!" Cass scolded, "Go try on your dress! I need to know if I need to alter it or not!"

Galen glared at her, but Cassidy didn't back down. Finally, Galen sighed in defeat and stood up.

Cassidy watched in pride as Galen went into the changing room she'd set up, then finished stitching up Alex's pants. Once Alex hobbled out to deal with his cuts, she glanced over at me.

"Sorry, Cass, I have a suit already," I said, smiling at her.

Cassidy squinted at me. "If you wear a pink tux t-shirt, Galen and Zahra will kill you," she informed me.

I sighed. "I know. Fine, I'll wear a suit."

The curtain slid open, and Galen stepped out, looking unsure of herself. "How do I look?" she asked hesitantly.

 My first thought: Woah. Cassidy chose well, for a little tweenlet.

The dress was a dark, silky green. It was ankle length, and strapless. A wide emerald ribbon wound around her waist, forming a sash, and a sheer green fabric lay over it, like a second skirt. It made the dress shimmer when she walked. The sash was tied in the back, forming a clumsy bow. She looked gorgeous.

Cassidy laughed at my awestruck look. "Close your mouth, Flick," she teased, before looking back at Galen. "Its perfect, Galen."

Galen looked down at the dress hesitantly. "Are you sure this is necessary? Can't I just wear a hoodie and jeans?" Cass glared at her. "Okay, a t-shirt and a skirt?"

"No!" Cassidy protested, sounding horrified.

 Arguments were common with Paulina and Dell, especially recently. Even though they were currently living in their own little house (Paulina had decided she wanted to move out, because of all the noise, and Dell followed her), their arguments were still loud enough to be noticed.

Ever since Spencer had brought home a pet, Dell had it set in his mind that the two of them should get a pet, too. He kept dragging Paulina to pet shelters to look at kittens, and tried to bring home a cat twice, only for Paulina to return it. When Dell, angry, demanded to know why, she would only say, "I don't like cats, they're loud and annoying, and ugly." They didn't speak for a week after that.

That day, Dell was forced to go hang out with Mac and Intel. Some sort of family thing. Mac insisted on it, complaining that they never spent enough time together.

Dell had planned to stay late, but Mac had to get back to take care of Spencer, so he came back early.

"Pauly?" Dell entered the house, and heard muttering. Following the sound, he walked into the living room.

Paulina was curled up on the couch, wearing a towel Dell hadn't seen before. It looked like a regular towel, wrapped around her torso and held in place by her arms and knees, but it had a hood with cat ears that was draped over her head, and a pattern of little kitty faces on it. Paulina had a stuffed cat, bright blue with embroidered whiskers, in her arms, and she was snuggling it close as she watched something on TV.

Dell cleared his throat to get her attention.

"What the?!" Paulina shot up on the couch, her grip on the towel loosening, so it fell slightly. Dell reddened and looked away pointedly, before she noticed and adjusted it.

"I thought you said cats were ugly?" he asked her, genuinely confused, and a little amused. "And hear I find you with a cat-patterned towel and snuggling a stuffed animal?" She blushed and looked away.

"Alright, fine, I was lying. Sorry."

Dell grinned, taking a seat next to her and stretching out. "All is forgiven, Pauly," he said. Then he reached out an arm and pulled Pauly close to his side. "Now can we get a cat?" he added hopefully.

When I woke up, I was in bed, wearing an old pair of pajamas. I opened my eyes to Rayk sitting by my bedside, looking (if possible) even darker than usual. For a moment, I tried to figure out how I got from babysitting the kidlets to bed, but then it all came back.

Rayk glanced over when he heard me sitting up. "You're up." Was all he said.

I wasn't sure how to respond to that, so we sat in silence for a while.

"Tweet called Alex and told him to come home to check on you, but I guess you're alright now," Rayk said gruffly. I looked at him, confused. He didn't explain any more, he just left. I was left lying there trying to process everything.

I was babysitting them...and then someone came over.

Flick.

Even thinking his name made me mad all over again.

A knock on the door, and then someone peeked their head in.

Shift looked hesitant to enter, but when he saw that I was awake, and not about to punch anybody, he came in briskly, walking over to take the seat Rayk had been on just a minute ago.

"So..." he started, sounding awkward. "Do you want to be filled in on what happened after you blacked out, or should we just sit here awkwardly for a while until the kids need me?"

I quirked a small smile at his words. Small.

"Fill me in," I replied.

Shift looked away, scratching the back of his head and sounding even more unsure of himself. "Well, for starters, Abigail tells me you guys totally spoiled them, almost set my kitchen on fire--"

"What?! Oh. The brownies." I reddened.

"--And beat up somebody, in front of them," he finished, trying to sound like he was scolding me. It wasn't working. "I take it the next time won't be like this?" I nodded. "Okay. Well, once you...blacked out...Switch brought you back to your room, and I think you have Trance to thank for the outfit swap." He looked at me, I guess trying to judge whether he could continue. "After she left, Rayk...er, invited Flick inside." I could tell he meant something other than 'invite'. "Flick had a backpack with him, so he had to go get that, but then he came in. He wouldn't tell us anything, though. Rayk brought him back to the main house--here--and I think he stayed either in the living room or somewhere else. Last I saw him, he and Wolfram were going at it. You weren't looking so good, so I asked Tweet to call Alex, but then Ash and Ponder said you were fine. We were going to tell him he didn't have to come back, but when he heard about the events, he said he was coming anyway. He sounded pretty pissed off."

I exhaled slowly, taking several deep breaths, trying to stay calm.

"So...you don't know why Flick is...here?" I finally asked quietly. He shook his head.

"Hes downstairs." Shift paused, then added, "Look, I don't trust him, and its up to you, but I think you should talk to him." I glared at him. "Just...I heard a bit of his conversation with Wolfram, and I think you need to find out what happened. Talk to him. Because something might happen, and you might regret throwing a chance away."

I stared at him. Finally, I said, "Tell me what he said."

"No."

His face was stubborn. "This isn't something I can just tell you. You know that perfectly well, Galen. If I didn't think Flick would be so bothered by it, then how come Wolfram never told you what he knew? What about Alex?" My breath caught in my throat.

"Alex...Alex knew?" I breathed. I was shocked, to say the least. It explained all those guilty looks he would give me, the way he never wanted to talk as much to me, as if he would say something he shouldn't, slip up. The way he'd been so insistent, when my headaches came on so strong, that something was different about them, but wouldn't say why.

Shift looked down. "Look, just talk to him, for me? He'll tell you whats up, anyway, and I think you're the only one he will tell..."

Shift leaned over to peck my forehead. "Oh, and feel better, Gal'."