By My Side - Sam/Aomaris Fanfiction

66) Life Goes On

Nine months, and they had all been blissful peace. Sam returned to work after a month, after spending time with me to make sure I was alright and spending time with his new daughter. Zaelei turned out to be only a couple of months younger than Aiden, and with some assistance, she soon discovered her own powers. Sam and I noticed right off the bat that her eyes changed colour to reflect her emotions, but after a while, she began to experiment and found out that not only could she summon a pair of shining raspberry-coloured scimitars, but she could control water. She laughed her head off when she realised she could put out Aiden's flames, but didn't find it as funny when I froze any water she generated instantly.

Obviously, Zaelei couldn't have her demon name as her human name, so her first week in the human world was spent thinking of a name that she liked. Her mind was decided the night that I decided to show her an old animated film from 1982 called The Last Unicorn, and she adamantly insisted that she wanted to be called Amalthea. Over the months, we took to calling her Thea, or sometimes I'd slip and call her Theo, but she didn't really mind. So after conferring with K, she put us in contact with the man who'd made everything the incubi brothers needed when they came to the human world. I was shocked to find out that it was actually my late grandfather's lawyer, the very one who'd read his will to my family at the end of his funeral. It wasn't long before Thea had everything she needed to be registered as a normal human. Because we adopted her in December, we decided not to enrol her in school until the following September, to let her get used to the ways of the human world and also so she had plenty of time to make friends with Aiden, who she would soon be attending school with.

Thea's first day at school coincided with the last day I had to be in the Anderson Family Toys building, as the line of books and toys I'd spoken to James about over a year ago had finally come to fruition and they were being launched that same day. Sam left for work at eight in the morning like usual, so I rode with Matthew and Aiden to the kids' elementary school to drop Amalthea off. After fondly watching her run around the playground with her cousin for a while until the bell rang, Matthew dropped me off at the company building and departed after giving one of his huge, goofy grins.

I greeted Lauren at the front desk and she beamed at me, congratulating me on the launch of my idea. I thanked her and stared around the lobby as she typed away on her computer, soaking in the atmosphere. I remembered how the lobby had looked last year when I'd come in for my meeting with James. It hadn't changed a bit since I was a child. But when I returned to the company after my adventure in Hell, the entire lobby had been completely redone. It was bright and fun and colourful. Apparently, the only reason the building had been so boring was because my father had insisted that it remain professional and 'clean'. Clearly, his sudden resignation had kicked the company into completely redesigning its entire aesthetic. The logo changed, and the lobby no longer resembled a posh hotel reception area. Colours were plastered everywhere in childish splashes, display models of all the different toys the company made were dotted around the lobby, and there was even a section of wall dedicated to Mika's charity, covered in pictures of her with the kids she helped. A donation box sat just in front of it, looking like it was stuffed pretty full. The entire company became happier, lighter, more enjoyable because it was now actually allowed to represent its entire point.

James and the design team were already in the meeting room by the time I arrived, and all of them sent me warm, friendly smiles as I entered.
"Ah, Mx. You're here." I sat down across from James as he spoke. "The plushies are selling exceedingly quickly. We're here to discuss expanding the line. Assuming that's alright, Mx?" I nodded.
"Sure. I can't really come up with anything else, so I'm fine to have a brainstorming session."
"Perfect. Well, as you all know, we have three animals already. The wolf, the cat, and the sloth. Are there any other creatures that we think would merit a good story?"
"Ooh, how about an animal with a story about how it's alright to not look the same as everyone else?" Suggested Ethan, one of the design team with electric blue hair.
"There are already stories like The Ugly Duckling for that," Bethany responded. "We need original stuff."