Crescent Academy

5. Conspiracy Theories

Pairing: Dolly/Tristan (F/m) hand, Jackson/Lucien (M/m) round paddle

Crescent Academy

Aiden and Josh's Quarters

Friday, June 3, 2011

Evening

Emily had smiled at Henry and went to speak with him after dinner, but he had been with the guys and turned away.

As a fairly shy and reserved person herself, she got it. However, she was a little strung. The other girls, except for the vampire Jade, all seemed to be witches. She doubted she had anything in common with them. They all laughed and chatted through dinner while she dealt with Sara and Chris fussing with their food. Chris knocked over her drink and her plate.

Aiden helped her mop it up.

"Em, you don't have to sit with us. Why don't you go hang with the other kids? We can look after Chris and Sara," Aiden said quietly.

Emily had looked up, but didn't see any friendly faces at the other end of the massive table.

"N-Nah, I'm f-fine," Emily smiled, feeling like a loser.

Aiden patted her hand and went to get her another plate.

That night at bedtime, Emily heard the kids outside her room. The door slowly opened.

"Emmy," Chris whispered.

"Yeah? Chrissy, you guys might as well come in," Emily capitulated.

Sara and Chris were in their pajamas and were carrying a load of different stuffed animals and an old doll.

Sara said in a hush, "Our kids wanted to say night-night."

Emily held open her arms. She knew they wanted her to kiss all their "kids" goodnight. The duo ran to her bed, dropping some of their toys on the way, but not noticing. Emily dutifully kissed the stuffed creatures and then her little brother and Sara.

"Are you still madded us?" Sara wondered.

"No, I'm not. I told you guys that when you told me sorry. I didn't want you to get in trouble," Emily added. "But you can't run and hide from me like that."

"We know. Papa was real mad," Chris intoned. It made Emily both happy and sad that Christopher was already calling Josh "Papa." Her mind flashed to their late parents and she knew they would want their children to move on. But she missed them all the same.

Emily hugged the children harder, knocking two more animals off the bed.

"Shh, he was just worried," she said. She could smell the baby shampoo in their freshly washed hair. The brown dye their mother used to use on Emily and Chris to disguise them from their grandfather was almost all out. Chris' hair was as pale as her own now.

Josh came in, "Did Emily say night-night? Daddy has your water ready and we wanted to see how could do a better job of brushing teeth tonight..."

Josh winked at Emily.

Sara thrust a mermaid-shaped pillow at Emily. "Here, she can sleep with you so you aren't alone tonight!"

"Thanks, Cookie Monster!" Emily said, making both kids giggle. "Love you. Night-night."

Josh picked up the trail of toys on the floor. He leaned over and kissed Emily goodnight.

"Come on, kiddos. We all need a lot of sleep so we can go to the Bayou tomorrow. Grandma Mary said she would bake you something special," Josh prompted.