Chapter Twelve - Mrs. Oates, Focus!

Mrs. Oates bent down as she shuffled through the storage containers under the kitchen counter. "Oh, for heaven's sake! These children..." she murmured under her breath, turning towards the stove. "Nothing but Spam and a bag of rice? Emmy's stretching herself more than I thought..."

"Forgive me for asking, but what are you doing?" Rhys cut in gently.

"Wondering how Emmy managed to get past Ava's fathers on this. Usually Devon and Andrew are very observant about their living conditions." She gave them a sly wink. "But I take it they were too distracted with Ava's relationship with you boys to pay attention."

"They had 'laid down the law' with us, but they also mentioned that, for them, it was nice to see us in her apartment. They also promised Emerald they would try to respect her privacy as well."

"Ooo! Hmm... I'm going to assume, since Ava has friends, they're going to try to give her more personal space. Well, I'm glad her parents are making an effort to let her spread her wings and fly. Though... *heh* I wonder how they're really taking it."

* * * * *

Across town in their own apartment, Andrew and Devon were sitting watching a police drama on television. Well, trying to watch may have been a more accurate description: Andrew looked bored out of his mind and Devon kept staring at their cell phones sitting on the coffee table.

"Oh, come on Andrew. Just let me call her once."

"No! It's only been a day. We are trusting her to - "

"They're making videos, I know it! I've seen it in my shows! Once the parents leave, the kids pull out the weed farm and get back to causing trouble!"

"Devon, we raised Ava to be a smart and responsible - "

"Responsible?!"

"I, uh... "

"See?!"

Andrew laughed nervously. "She's a young adult. Who says they're responsible in the first place?" He gave him a calming look. "Besides, that's why we have her living with Emerald: she's made her own share of mistakes and can help Ava avoid making the same ones."

"Are you sure about that? What if she gets desperate for money and starts taking advantage of our baby girl?!"

"Because she would never do that!" He took a deep breath. "Look, I know you can get pretty wrapped up in your shows and start thinking everyone acts like the characters in them, but Emerald is not like them. It's true she had a few rough spots when she was younger, but she came back here and got her life sorted out again. From what I've seen of her work for that science magazine, she's an excellent editor and writer."

"What if she decides to take a job somewhere else and just abandons our baby girl in the middle of the night?! What if Ava wakes up one morning and she's all alone?!"

"You and I both know Emerald is too responsible to leave her obligations like that. They're both young women just trying to figure out their way in life and - "

"I'm calling her!" Devon launched himself off the couch, reaching towards the phones on the table.

But Andrew was even faster. In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of his partner blocking the way. "Don't make me cuddle you to death," he threatened through gritted teeth.

"That won't stop me from checking on our baby this time! She's with five strange men: who knows what they're doing?!"

"I know exactly what they're doing!"

"You can't - wait, you do?"

"Yes, I can see it perfectly." He closed his eyes as he brought the scene to life in his mind. "Now, uh... they're all playing Monopoly, except for Emerald, because she had an emergency article come in that she has to work on. So she's sitting at the kitchen island, working on her laptop while the others play the game. Anyway, our baby has all of the properties. But then she sees that Noi doesn't have any. So she goes over to Noi and decides to share some of her property, which leads her to seeing the wrong in the Justice System, so she decides to then start a democracy where then she can - "

"That's just you and you know it," Devon interrupted flatly.

"Look, let me have this!"

"As long as you let me call her now!" He made a grab for the phones, but Andrew was quicker and backed away, holding a phone up in each hand.

"You will not call her!"

"Give those back now!"

Andrew shoved both phones deep into his pockets, running towards their bedroom at the back of the apartment. "NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" he shouted, Devon right behind him in hot pursuit.

* * * * *

Emerald closed her eyes as the water ran down her back. How long had it been since she'd had a shower, anyway? Felt like way too long, at any rate. 'What day is it, anyway?' She slowly counted on her fingers. 'Friday... which means I missed my run today.' Her eyes snapped open. 'No, I've missed two runs. Pierce made me skip Wednesday's, then I had too much work to do yesterday, then this morning - '

She huffed in annoyance as she grabbed her shampoo. 'Screw it. All that matters this weekend is getting Ava to feel better.' She scrubbed the soap harshly into her hair, not caring when the action made her headache spike slightly. 'I can get back on track Monday.'

* * * * *

"Hmm... well, I do suppose they're handling it like grown adults, if anything." Mrs. Oates brought herself out of her daydream.

"Mrs. Oates." Rhys cut in again, less gently this time.

"Hmm?"

"What shall we do to make sure Ava and Emerald are relieved from their illnesses?"

"Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, the task at hand brought back into focus. "Well..." she blushed as she gave the Daemos a sly wink. "First off, you boys need to change out of your 'Funtime' clothes."

"Uhh, what?" Leif stared at her like she'd gone insane.

"Ah, nope! No! Spare the details! I don't need to know, as I have my own ideas and I'll ask Emerald if I was going to ask anyone." The elder woman blushed again. "That girl certainly has a gift with words, you know."

You could almost see how badly Asch wanted to tilt his head like a confused puppy. "What is she talking about?"

Mrs. Oates let out a happy laugh. "Don't mind me. Just get out of your clothes so we can avoid getting them messy."

The Daemos exchanged confused looks before they all simultaneously began to undo their robes before they heard Mrs. Oates let out a startled gasp. "Wait! What are you doing?!"

"... what you said." Pierce, as usual, had managed to disrobe the furthest.

"Not in front of me," she laughed again. "Just go change into your regular clothes. Taking care of a sick person means the person who's doing the care needs to be comfortable too."

They quickly readjusted themselves while Mrs. Oates turned towards the refrigerator. Once they were sure she wasn't looking, all the Daemos quickly slipped through their portal.

"There's literally nothing in this fridge but milk, pizza, and a few condiment bottles. The rest of the items inside are just cereal boxes stuffed with... paper towels?!" The senior citizen threw the empty cereal box over her shoulder in frustration. "How are these girls living? In fact, how is Emmy managing to feed all those boys?" She turned around again, surprised to see she was completely alone. "Hmm? Oh, where did those boys go?"

A muffled cough from Ava's room had Mrs. Oates rushing out of the kitchen and into the young woman's bedroom. She went straight to the Ava's side, resting her hand against her forehead. "Oh, still pretty high," she murmured to herself.

As she was pondering her next step, Pierce came in through the door in his black tank top and jeans. "Oh, there you are!" she smiled, turning to him. "Do you think you can help me get her to the bath?"

Without a word, the tall Daemos stepped forward and scooped Ava up easily in his arms. He followed Mrs. Oates into the bathroom and waited by the side of the bathtub as she tested the water.

She gave a quick gasp, wincing. "Too hot!" The elder woman immediately turned on the cold water tap, swirling the water with her hand to help even out the temperature. "Oh, much better. Be a dear and gently put her in."

A few soft splashes sounded as he obeyed, being sure to keep Ava's head above the water. "There we go," Mrs. Oates hummed, turning off the faucet. "Let her sit for a moment. Come: follow me." She lead the way back to the living room, Pierce following close behind.

* * * * *

As Mrs. Oates and Pierce exited Ava's bedroom, the other four Daemos were already assembled near the fireplace. "Alright, you boys wait here. I need to grab something." She turned and walked down the hallway, stopping outside Emerald's bathroom and knocking on the door. "Are you all right in there, Emmy?"

To her surprise, the door opened right away. Emerald had gotten dressed in some black yoga pants and a grey t-shirt with two t-rexes trying to hug. "Yeah, Mrs. Oates." The taller woman gave her a somewhat sturdy smile. "I'm feeling a bit better now. Thanks for watching Ava while I got cleaned up. I can take it from here."

"Oh no you don't," Mrs. Oates scolded, wagging one finger. "I said I was going to take care of you two, and that's what I intend to do. You also promised me you'd lie down if you started feeling sick again: how am I supposed to make sure you take care of yourself if I'm not here?"

Emerald opened her mouth to protest, but swiftly closed it again and let out a defeated sigh. "Fair enough. I guess I'll go make a cup of tea in the kitchen and work on a grocery list, then."

The senior woman gave her a small smile. "That's a much better idea. You go sit down, dear. I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

The veteran watched Mrs. Oates leave, then made her way to the kitchen. 'Hopefully they've all calmed down a bit by now,' she thought tiredly.

* * * * *

"Why is this taking so long?"

"Patience, Noi," Rhys soothed. "It's fair to make the obvious assumption that humans heal much slower than Daemos. They also seem to have... certain rituals."

"As long as Princess Ava's all right... " Asch murmured softly under his breath.

"Did you say something, Asch?"

The Daemos prince hurried to cover his tracks. "I-I-I-I-I said 'as long as this mission's all right.' We've... been here on Ee-urth for quite some time."

"Yeah, but you don't seem to mind it," Leif scoffed.He sighed in resignation. "I've grown tired of yelling."

"Well, that's a first."

"Shut up before I change my mind!"

"Well that lasted long!"

"Guys, keep it down," Emerald croaked tiredly, walking into the kitchen. "Ava's resting."

"Dame Emerald!" "How are you feeling?" "Are you better yet?" The Daemos began bombarding her with questions.

"Shh... " The veteran held up one hand, closing her eyes against the onslaught of noise. "I'm feeling better, but I'm nowhere near over this headache yet." She filled the kettle with water, then placed it on the stove and started up the burner. "Don't mind me. I'm just making some tea and a shopping list. As long as you guys keep it down, we'll all be fine."

"Of course," Rhys said softly, mindful of how loud his voice was.

Noi, who had remained strangely quiet, spoke up. "Uh, shouldn't we be worrying?" The other Daemos turned to him in confusion. "I would think if we were gone for long that... someone might come after us?"

"I'm sure Lady Grandma would have something to say about that," Pierce broke in calmly.

Asch nodded. "That's right. Besides, I don't think there's enough magic on Daemos for anyone else to make it to Ee-urth."

"That's right. It would take someone of high standing in order to follow our path. Even then, I'm sure we're not traceable, seeing as Lady Grandma - " Rhys cut himself off, looking down at the pendant hidden beneath his clothing. "Wait... Lady Grandma... I haven't spoken to her in days..."

"W-what's the matter?" Asch questioned his advisor.

"I, um... just forgot something."

"What if the High Council found out about what we did? With the last soul?" Leif let out a soft gasp. "What if they found out and traced it back to Lady Grandma? Heh, they'd probably kill her."

The other Daemos looked at the former assassin in abject horror. "Do you think so?" Noi whispered, sounding scared.

"I mean, that's likely the case, but it's only been a few days, so... so most likely not."

"It's been many suns since we've arrived." Pierce mused."Yeah it has, but for some reason, doesn't time seem... "

"To go slower? Yes, it does," Rhys agreed. "It is absolutely slower here than on Daemos."

Asch stared at him. "How can you tell that for a fact?"

"I have my methods."

"You aren't using magic, are you?" Noi still sounded worried.

"Since when do you care about my magic?"

"Since I don't have any! Because if I did, I could probably heal Ava!"

"Hey guys?" Emerald called from the kitchen, holding her right hand over her right eye. "I know you're all worried about Ava, but trust me: she's going to be fine. Just... tone it down with all the yelling, yeah?" The veteran seemed about to say more, but the kettle behind her began to whistle, drawing her attention away from the Daemos while she prepared her tea.

"Of course, Dame Emerald. Our apologies." Rhys turned back to the smallest Daemos. "Noi, I think it's best you calm down. We have enough magic to - "

"Here we are!" Mrs. Oates called out gently, walking back in with a book in her arms. "My recipe book. Now I know it isn't as fancy as the websites on the internet, but I've cooked up a mean soup that could cure any cold."

"She has a spellbook!" Rhys whispered with barely-contained excitement.

Asch also seemed awestruck. "Actual human spells?!"

"But we can't read well... " Noi reminded them.

"I can." Rhys cut in.

"Great! Then let's kill her for it!" Leif practically vibrated with excitement.

Pierce turned to the others calmly. "We need to help Ava and Emerald first."

"That's right." Noi nodded.

Mrs. Oates hummed in annoyance. "You know, whispering in front of other people isn't a very nice thing to do."

"M-my sincerest apologies," Rhys stuttered out.

"Aren't manners reserved for royalty?" The Daemos prince cried out in pain as his advisor punched him in the shoulder. From the kitchen, Emerald let out a small bark of laughter.

"Royalty?" The senior citizen gasped in shock. "Wait... are you young men from out of the country?!"

Before any of the Daemos could respond, Emerald rushed over to join the group, carrying a cup of tea in her hand. "Ah, that's my fault, Mrs. Oates. They're from... out of the country and are still getting used to some of the customs here."

"Oh, so you knew these boys from before?"

"Yeah, I met them when I was... deployed! I'd been keeping in touch with them for a while, then decided to invite them to come over for a visit." The veteran prayed Mrs. Oates would think the sweat on her forehead was from the fever and not from the blatant lie she'd just told.

Luckily, it seemed the senior woman was wrapped up in more of her own fantasies. "Oh my!" She dropped her recipe book as a blush spread over her cheeks. "Oh, you just reminded me of my old flame, Kyle." She broke down into more girlish giggles.

"Flame?" Rhys was intrigued.

Leif didn't seem to believe her. "A prince of fire?"

"A rival for a kingdom... " Asch mused.

"All of you, shut up!" Emerald whispered fiercely under her breath, praying the older woman was too caught in her memories to pay attention to what they were saying.

Thankfully, it seemed that she was. "Oh my, where do I begin? You know, when I was a young girl, I got around a lot. Much more than Ava and Emmy, that's for sure." She laughed as the veteran nearly choked on her tea. "Of course, back then, we had to go looking for flings, and couldn't just get them on the internet and - "

"WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MAKING SURE AVA IS HEALED?!" Noi screamed in frustration.

"Thank you, Noi!" Emerald had finally finished coughing, thankful she hadn't spilled any tea on the floor.

Their combined outbursts was enough to refocus Mrs. Oates. "Oh, right." She bent down and retrieved her book. "So here... " she carefully flipped to a page before turning the book around for them to see. "I'd like you boys to take this book and buy all the ingredients on this page here. Here: I'll give you some money to get the items."

"That won't be necessary, Mrs. Oates." Emerald reached over and gently took the book, taking it over to the coffee table. She quickly scribbled down the ingredient list on a piece of paper she pulled from her back pocket. "I've been meaning to go to the store myself, and it looks like my check finally went through yesterday. I can cover the cost of these."

"Oh, are you sure, dear? I don't want you going through all your money at once."

"It's no problem. I told you: I need to go to the store anyway. Besides, I'm not feeling well either, so I'll probably be eating some of the soup myself. It's only fair I should pay for it."

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I think it would be best if some of us accompanied you." Rhys gave her a meaningful look. "You are not recovered and should not have to carry everything back here alone."

"Guys, I've done this plenty of times. It'll be fine - "

"I have to agree with Rhys," Asch cut in.

Emerald and the other Daemos all looked at him in open surprise. "Really?" the former spoke up.

"Of course. If you collapse on your way back, Princess Ava will never get the soup and be healed."

"Asch!" Rhys exclaimed in shock.

"He... actually has a point." Emerald sighed. "I haven't been to the store for a while, so there's going to be a lot of shi - stuff to haul back."

"I will assist you," Pierce spoke up, coming to stand next to her.

"In the meantime... " Mrs. Oates looked around at each of the Daemos in turn, settling her gaze on Noi and giving a little growl. "You."

"M-me?!"

"I'm going to need you to help with Ava. Do you think you can do that?"

"Anything!"

"Alright, now you five move along. Once you get back, we'll make something special for Ava and Emmy to get better. In the meantime Noi, I need your help cleaning Ava up."

"Right!"

As Noi and Mrs. Oates retreated into Ava's bedroom, Emerald downed the last of her tea in one gulp. "Okay, let's get going." She waved the list at them as she placed her mug in the sink. "We've got a lot of stuff to pick up."

* * * * *

"Uh, not this box again," Asch muttered in annoyance as they stood in front of the elevator.

Emerald patted his arm. "Don't worry: I'm here this time. I'll give you a full rundown so it doesn't take you guys an hour to go down two floors." She pointed at the call buttons. "We'll need to push the 'Down' arrow so we can get to the ground floor."

"I wanna do it!" Before anyone could object, Leif raced over and smashed the button down.

"Okay, that was technically correct, but you don't need to be so rough with it."

"But I wanted to!"

Before she could respond again, Emerald heard a voice ring out behind her. "Oh, it's you guys." 'Oh no... this is the last thing I needed right now.' She turned to face him along with the rest of the Daemos.

Jake was staring at the group in annoyance. "Can you guys not clutter up the hallway?"

"It's this human," Asch spat out.

"Do I know you guys from somewhere?"

Leif's eyes shined in anticipation. "Should I kill him?"

"Excuse me?!"

"Could you excuse us for one second?" Emerald pulled the Daemos into a conference circle, lowering her voice. "You guys need to chill out and be smart about this," she whispered fiercely. "We cannot let other people know you guys aren't really human."

"Or else they'll take us to the Area 51," Pierce cut in solemnly.

"Yes, correct!"

Leif looked around. "So what do we do?"

"Just let me take care of this. It'll be fine."

"I'm literally right here," Jake groused.

"Yes, so you are," she mumbled back, straightening up. "Look, we're just waiting for the elevator to get here. Shouldn't take too mu - " Emerald was cut off as the doors gave a small *chime* and opened up. "Ah, there we are." She herded the Daemos inside, then turned back to Jake. "You coming?"

"Uh, yeah. I was going to the first floor." He stepped past her and entered.

"Well, what a coincidence: so are we." She looked around the elevator quickly. "Rhys, could you please push the button marked 'G'? It stands for 'Ground'."

"Oh! Of course." Slightly flustered, the spectacled Daemos managed to successfully push the correct button.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Mrs. Oates and Noi had gone back into Ava's bathroom, the former pulling the plug to let the water out of the tub. "Here," she turned, holding out a fluffy pink towel. "Use this to pick her up, then bring her over to the mirror so I can dry her hair."

Noi quickly complied, carrying Ava over bridal-style once she was wrapped up to where the elder woman was waiting with a hair dryer. "Now, the sound is going to be loud. Oh, hopefully it doesn't wake her."

The small Daemos's eyes went wide with panic. "Is that a m-m-m-monster?!"

* * * * *

Emerald could feel Jake staring at her. After a few moments, she turned to him in annoyance. "What?"

"Are you okay? You look kinda pale... "

The veteran blinked once, then sighed. "It's nothing. Just a little head cold. But Grocery Day has no mercy, so I need to go out."

"Why didn't you just give the money to these guys?"

"Because it's on my debit card, and I didn't feel like messing around with an ATM." She felt a little guilty even as she snapped at him. "Do you have any more burning questions that need to be answered right now?"

"N-no. I'm sorry," Jake hastily apologized, pointedly looking away.

Before Emerald could form any sort of apology, the doors gave another *chime* and opened at their destination. Everyone piled out and exited the building, Jake leading the way and veering off once they were outside.

Rhys let out a relieved laugh. "Well, that time was far shorter than the last."

"That's how it's supposed to work," Emerald answered, rubbing the bridge of her nose gingerly under her glasses.

Leif gave her a curious look. "Hey, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh... yeah. My headache's just kicking up a little." She carefully straightened up, collecting herself. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can come back and I can lie down again."

Just at that moment, everyone heard an ear-piercing shriek of terror coming through the open window of Emerald and Ava's apartment. "Do you think Noi's okay?" Pierce wondered as he stared up at the source of the noise.

"He's with Mrs. Oates: he's fine," Emerald reassured him.

"This will be our first real outing without Princess Ava." Leif sounded a little unsure.

Asch looked around at his knights. "Let's be on our guard."

"As long as you stay close to me, everything should be okay." The veteran lightly tapped Pierce on the shoulder, pointing down the sidewalk. "C'mon, let's get this over with."