The Lost Girl (Complete)

Chapter Twenty - Dogs & Glocks

Celestia had never thought that a woman only slightly taller than herself could be scary but the way that her uncles sat cringing after Aunt Sang hung up made her reevaluate who was the boss in their relationship.

"So, who's for moving to Canada?" Luke quipped, taking a gulp of his water before he spluttered it all over the table.

"For fuck's sake, Lucian," North grumbled, wiping his jacket.

"Yeah, you lot should probably flee the country," Gabe tapped his fingers together evilly. "And then Sang will be all mine because she can't be mad at me."

"She doesn't know that you didn't help us," Sean quipped, downing the rest of his water before tapping Celestia on the shoulder. "Let's go, niece of mine. You have a job interview to get to and I have to organise a round of enemas so that no one accidentally poops themselves when we have to face Mrs Green."

She shook her head sadly, "And to think you all seemed like tough men."

Nathan pointed a finger at her nose, "One day you'll understand. You'll have a man wrapped around your finger, sitting in your evil lair while you think ways to torture him."

"Actually, she won't. Celestia will be a lovely spinster sharing a home with Sofia and Avery while they care for the numerous adopted cats that will be living nearby."

Celestia's mouth dropped open as the men all started laughing.

"Damn, that's cold, Mr B," Gabe chuckled even though he fist bumped Luke.

"I think that your daughters might have something to say about that," she crossed her arms and glared even though a warm feeling settled in her chest. She'd never experienced the gentle sort of teasing from her mother and the fact that she was now copping from all sides made her feel completely accepted.

"We'd better get going before you manage to piss off anymore females," North started collecting the rubbish around him while the others pushed away from the table - Victor wrapping his arm around Celestia's shoulder, quietly asking how everything had been going at the house and whether she needed anything. "The kids aren't causing you any trouble, are they?"

She squinted as they stepped back outside, the chaos making her press in closer to her uncle as the others all surrounded them, "No, they've been wonderful although I still haven't worked out how to get them to stop paying for all the groceries. I've never had such a full fridge before."

"You make them buy it all, sweetie," Silas slipped on a pair of shades, his size keeping most of the crowd away from them all - or maybe that was her Uncle North's glare. "What they're buying is for them anyway, and they eat a lot. They'll also be helping you to pay for the bills, no arguments."

"But, they're guests," Celestia protested, trying to keep track of where they were going. The uncles must have known exactly where they going since none of them bothered to ask for the map or stopped to read the signs.

"No, they're invaders," Uncle Kota corrected, fiddling with his glasses as we stopped at a large building with the words School of the Arts written across one wall near the door. "Here we are. This is where we need to be correct, Gabe?"

"Yep, I have a meeting with the coordinator while you guys tour the building and check out the teachers. Meet back up in about 30 minutes?"

"Ummm, why do you have a meeting with the coordinator?" Celestia asked, looking around with confusion. Sure, they'd joked about maybe having to change the staff around if need be but they couldn't have been serious! Her uncle Gabe surely didn't have that kind of pull.

"We've already been over this. I'm not going to leave your education to B- idiots who don't know overdone from visionary. I will not, I tell you, Celestia," he patted her gently on the cheek. "Leave it all up to Uncle Gabe, dear. Now go play nicely."

"Oh, we will," North rumbled, eyeing a group of brave young men who had stopped nearby, their sights set on his petite charge. "Keep looking, boys, and I'll introduce you to my Glock."

"Cool it a little, North," Owen warned quietly, his thoughts turning to what had happened at Sofia's high school graduation when one of her male friends had leaned over to kiss her on the cheek - thank God the principal had had a sense of humour. Watching his brother get arrested was not something on his list of things to do, especially when their wife was already annoyed.

"Just making sure that she won't be bothered," was the reply as North patted his hip and narrowed his eyes. "Let's head in."

"Ok, which classes were you considering?" Sean asked as he held the door open for everyone to march inside, the procession striking Celestia as ridiculously funny. All of the other students were going to think that she was someone important, someone who needed a veritable army of bodyguards.

Gabriel headed off down the right hallway while Celestia quietly looked over the list of available subjects, asking their opinions about how she wanted to structure her degree and what she wanted to include in the qualification. "Do you think Uncle Gabe will really want me working at the gallery?"

"Are you kidding me?" Luke exclaimed. "Of course he does. He's always wanted for one of the kids to take an interest and with all of the business that he's getting, he really needs the help."

"I think I'd like to take Art Management as one of my classes," she announced, peering up at the sign near the door - it listed the classes available and which room to go to. "Maybe Art History and Studio Art."

"Only art subjects?" Kota asked, brow scrunching as he peered over her shoulder. "There seems to be quite a lot that you could consider. I respect that you know exactly what you want to do but college is meant to be about experimenting, as well."

"And we don't mean sexually," Nathan smirked, enjoying the fact that his niece looked mortified. Damn, it was fun to mess with children sometimes. "There will be no sexual experimentation for you, young lady."

"Fuck!" Gabriel cried, tugging viciously on his hair as he popped up behind Victor. "I think we may have a problem with that man."

"Did he fail your interview, Gabriel?" Owen asked.

"We didn't get that far. What arts professor hangs a canvas with a dog in a crown behind his desk?"

"A sacrilegious one, apparently," Sean chuckled. "What is to be done about it? He checked out ok."

"I might need to consider burning the building down."

Celestia bit her lip, "Or we could go talk to the people who will actually be teaching me?"

Gabe squinted at her before sighing, "Fine but one more dog painting and I start a bonfire."