Note in Blood

Congratulations On Not Being Insane!

Lily grinned like the Cheshire Cat as she and Danny worked to make eggs and bacon for breakfast. She was due to go home today and she loved the time she had spent at The House almost as much as she hoped she would love living back in the real world. Each one of the other kids helped her learn more about life and herself.

Wyatt taught her to stand up for herself and screw the consequences, his words not hers. He told her that people can say and do mean things but they can not make her care about it. Skyler taught her to not be afraid to be herself and that sometime she can be her own best friend. Furthermore, Simon told her that family is not absolute and that sometimes the people who hurt us the most are our families. Fear, hate and anger teach us about as much as happiness and love and that sometimes the only true way to tell someone you love them is to hit them. Lily did not quite get that last bit of advise but she filed it away for use at a later date.

Gray told her that violence is not for bullying or even protecting yourself but for the protection of the people you care about. He even told her stories about his little sister and Lily truly wished she could meet her, she knew they would be the best of friends. Jade told her that you only live once and that she needed to be brave enough to jump to the front of the group in both good and bad times. Lily laughed and said she would. Drake told her that the world is not made of black and white. That when people say something is bad she should try it for herself and make sure that they were not lying. He said that the different shades of gray that make up the world is what makes their lives great.

Richard taught her about death finally. He said that death is like being released from jail, you have to wait your turn. Lily now knew that her parents were waiting for her somewhere out there and that they would be upset if she tried to join them too soon. However, the advice that Lily treasured the most was Danny's. She said that obstacles in life are not meant to truly stop you but to make you prove who you are to others. Rules and such are there to see how much you want something and death is there when the game is done, almost like a warm blanket and a mug of hot chocolate.

Lily grabbed the perfectly cooked bacon with the metal tongs in her hands and placed them, one by one, on a towel ladened plate. She watched with interest as the grease was soaked into the towel. Danny had flipped the last omelet onto the last plate and shouted, "Boys, last one down here does not get bacon."

The little blonde could hear shouts and running as the boys raced to the kitchen. Drake skidded in with Gray and Simon on his toes. Those three sat down swiftly as Wyatt and Skyler came barreling in. They all dug in with a vengeance and a moment later they were joined by Richard. He took his place at the table and Lily started munching on her bacon.

A comfortable silence filled the room. The only sound came from chewing and the occasional humming from Jade and Drake. Richard glanced from face to face to see a bitter sweet expression on all of their faces. Lily was beaming, almost emanating happiness from her very core. Her voice was high pitched as she said, "I cooked the bacon, isn't it good?"

Her head turned from one person to another, asking for their praise. All the boys nodded quickly and Skyler began to give a long description about the difference of her last round of bacon to this one. Lily was soaking it up and her eyes seemed to get brighter, her back straighter, and her head up with pride.

During the time she spent with them Danny had taught her to cook. She knew the basics about just about everything, she could even make spaghetti without help. However she specialized in spicing things, almost like a super human talent. Everything that she had spiced was eaten in about a minute with a round chorus of calls for seconds. She loved to cook because her mother said that she would teach teach her when she was older and now it seemed as though she allowed Danny to replace her mother a tiny bit.