The Whole Being Alive Thing

Some Help is Needed

When Lydia got home, she wouldn't exactly say why she'd gotten into that fight in the first place. Instead heading upstairs and closing her bedroom door. While this was an indication that she most likely wanted to be alone right now, that wasn't going to stop any of her family from heading upstairs to check on her and make sure she was doing okay.

Particularly Delia and Barbara.

They had done so to allow Charles and Adam some time with Betelgeuse to see if they could start on trying to help him with adjusting to his human state, but, judging from all the shouting that was emanating from downstairs as both adult females headed up the stairs and towards Lydia's bedroom, they guessed both males were having a hard time doing so. As they made their way up the last of the stairs and started down the upstairs hallway, Barbara and Delia stopped short of Lydia's bedroom.

"Should we go back and help them?" Barbara asked, her tone worried.

Delia shook her head. "Let's just let them at least try. If they need us to help, then either one of them will come upstairs."

Letting out a sigh, Barbara found herself seeming to agree. "Yeah, you're right."

At the reverberation of a loud banging noise from Lydia's bedroom, both adult females turned their heads in the room's direction before looking back at one another. Neither one of them needed to say anything. The exact same thought ran through both of their minds at the exact same time.

"Should we-?"

Another crash from Lydia's bedroom, this one louder than the other.

"We should," confirmed Barbara.

They slowly but carefully made their way towards Lydia's bedroom, stopping short of it. Her hand raised and curled in a fist, Barbara prepared to knock. She hesitated, though, for a brief while, but then relaxed as she knocked a few times on Lydia's bedroom door.

The banging had stopped, the sounds of Lydia's feet shuffling across her bedroom floor and towards the door heard. Lydia opened it a second later, and both adult females took notice of a black eye - as well as streams of tears pouring down the teenager's face. Barbara glanced over towards Delia, then both women looked back over at Lydia with equal amounts of worry crossing their faces.

'Oh god,' Barbara thought quietly to herself, moving a little closer to the teenager. "What on earth happened, Lydia?"

"I don't want to talk about it..." Lydia muttered under her breath, looking away from Barbara and Delia.

Barbara turned her head, looking worriedly at Delia. Then she turned her attention back over towards Lydia. Barbara put a hand on Lydia's shoulder, guiding the teenager back inside her bedroom with Delia following closely behind and closing the door behind her.

Once inside, Barbara sat Lydia down on the latter's bed before she and Delia sat themselves down on either side of her. Lydia hung her head, still looking a little unsure, a little upset, and maybe a little angry - all of which Barbara and Delia immediately caught on. Putting a hand on Lydia's back, Barbara turned her attention over towards the teenager.

"Lydia, what happened? We need to know."

"I said I didn't want to talk about it," the teenager repeated, now sounding grouchy. "It was just a fight. There's nothing else to it."

"Yes, but what happened to cause the fight."

Lydia said nothing, only concerning Barbara and Delia even further.

"Do you not want to talk about it? Or would you rather wait until later?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Lydia said softly.

Although they were still as concerned as one another, both of the adult females seemed to accept that answer. If Lydia didn't want to talk about it now, then there was no way she would want to talk about it later. If at all.

At the same time, both Barbara and Delia opened their mouths to speak - only to close them again when a few very frantic knocks sounded, followed closely behind by Adam's equally as frantic sounding voice.

"Barb, Del, you guys in here?"

"Yeah!" Barbara called back to her husband. "You can come in, Ad!"

Adam phased through Lydia's bedroom door, looking worried as he stopped a few feet away from the teenager's bed - looking from Barbara to Lydia to Delia and back to Barbara.

"Let me guess, you couldn't help Betelgeuse start to adjust to his human state," Barbara guessed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

In response, Adam nodded. "Yeah, every time Charles and I try, his focus is on something else. So far, he's broken a few things in the living room as we tried to work on helping him get his heightened strength under control. And then when we tried to start helping him with something else, all he wanted to do was continue breaking heavy objects."

A crash sounded from downstairs, followed by Charles' angered voice.

"See what I mean?" Adam continued.

"Yeah, we do." Barbara stood up from Lydia's bed, moving over towards her husband. "Do you need us to help?"

"Some would be appreciated," Adam said. "So yes. And we still have a month or so left to fully help Betelgeuse adjust, don't we?"

In response, Barbara nodded and added, "then we'll join you downstairs in a little bit. Okay?"

Adam nodded as well, lacing his arms around his wife's neck and embracing her for a brief moment before pulling away and teleporting back downstairs - leaving all three of the female members of the family in Lydia's bedroom.

Barbara turned and focused her attention over towards both living females, a clear look of determination on her face. "Looks like we're going to have to wait until later to discuss this whole situation further. You guys don't mind at all if I teleport the three of us downstairs at once, do you?"

"I don't know, Barbara," Delia's voice was concerned. "Have you even tried to teleport three people to a particular location before?"

"I-," Barbara started to say, only to trail off when Lydia spoke up in a confident tone of voice.

"Teleporting the three of us downstairs at once sounds cool. Bet you can do it, Barb."

Barbara turned to Lydia and nodded, before turning back to Delia. "Since Lydia seems to be fine with it, what do you say Delia?"

"Well..." Delia paused as she tried to think of what to say next, looking over at an expectant Lydia before turning towards Barbara - who was just as expectant as Lydia was. "I guess you can then. Go ahead."

That was all Barbara needed to hear.