Fight for them.

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ

"Please!"

"No."

"Please, please, please!"

Hunter and Carson were now right in Elara's face, begging more than Elara had heard them do ever before.

"Absolutely not. Back up We are not getting a dog."

"But please! We've literally never had true happiness! We've been abused! Tortured!" Hunter exclaimed dramatically, while Elara felt her eyes roll. Lately, this had become their go-to excuse to try and bribe her into anything.

"That's not going to work," she said, gently pushing them both back. "And it's almost two boys' bedtimes." She added playfully.

"We don't even need bedtimes!" Hunter whined. Elara just shrugged.

"You'll thank me when you start school," she teased. The boys, however, didn't seem so sure. Lila had always "homeschooled" them, which in Elara's opinion wasn't much school.

Carson, looking thoughtful, tried another approach. "It'll warm precious little Olivia's heart..."

"No," Elara replied firmly. "I already deal with the five of you—that's plenty."

A week later, Elara was checking her email for any updates from Cid, but nothing had come through. She'd been hesitant to reach out to a different lawyer, but after talking it over with Adria, she decided to stick with him.

Suddenly, Wesley sprinted into the room, almost knocking her over as he crashed into the back of her legs.

"Your phone is buzzing!" he practically shouted, bouncing with energy as he forced the phone into her hands.

"You're way too hyper for your own good, Wes," Elara muttered as she checked the caller ID. It was Alicia Katz. She hesitated but picked up fear over something bad. "What's wrong?" She didn't want to jump to conclusions, but Alicia usually only called when something was wrong with Rex.

"Elara? Oh, nothing's wrong. I've just... been hearing things about you."

"Oh... yeah, things have been happening. I meant to call you, but I've been busy," Elara said, a bit awkwardly.

Alicia chuckled. "I can imagine. I'm guessing you've used your call for Rex?"

"Yeah... I'm sorry I should have let you—"

"I will strangle you through this phone, Elara Finley Hart!" Alicia snapped, clearly frustrated. Elara couldn't help but smile, Alicia was always quick to anger when Elars said something stupid, usually a lot when she would hang out with Rex at her house. "Are you okay?"

Elara chuckled. "I'm fine, I guess. I miss Rex, but that's nothing new." Alicia hummed in agreement as Elara went on to explain how things had been with the boys and Olivia. But her mind kept drifting back to Rex more than usual after the call ended. Talking to Alicia seemed to put her mind in that area.

"Who was that?" Wesley asked, still standing nearby. Elara hadn't realized he'd been there the whole time.

"Rex's mom," she smiled down at him, and Wesley giggled, covering his mouth.

"H-he's your boyfriend!" Wesley teased. Elara held back a smile, raising an eyebrow.

"And who told you that?"

Wesley was still giggling, his hand over his mouth. It was obvious Faron or Ethan had told him and the others about Rex. Elara playfully got him on the ground and started tickling him.

"Who told you that, boy?" she teased. But suddenly, Wesley tensed up, and his playful demeanor vanished as he shrunk back, retreating to a corner and curling up into a ball.