Doctor Dash

Chapter 42

"So you actually told her?" Ember asked, sitting on the armrest of the couch with one leg drawn up to her chest. Her bright green eyes remained on her child, which was currently squirming around and giggling while Paulina played tickle monster.

"It was kind of hard to avoid telling her when she caught me in ghost form," Desiree replied as she leaned back against the couch. She realized now that the whole situation could have been avoided if she simply tried knocking on the door first while in her human disguise instead of sneaking into the apartment. But she was also glad to have the secret out between them. It was a relief not having to worry about lying about what she was.

"And," Ember frowned, mouth pursing as her gaze trailed over the human woman, "this guy she's been seeing works for the Guys in White?"

"If he dares to lay a finger on any of you, I'll make him regret it," Paulina said firmly, holding up a fist with determination in her emerald eyes. Hunter, clinging onto the raised arm, laughed with legs dangling and kicking.

"You'll have to forgive us if we're not quite as trusting about him as you," Skulker said, leaning against the wall near the door. His arms were folded, but he looked ready to attack if they were suddenly ambushed. Seeing him in a human disguise was rather strange, since he normally never bothered with it. His skin was nicely tanned, like he spent plenty of the time in the sun. His board shoulders and muscular frame mimicked the body shape of his ecto skeleton suit. His green eyes remained the same, and though it gained him many looks from those they passed on the street, he decided to keep the neon green Mohawk, minus the fiery appearance of course. Next to Ember, though, Skulker's disguise seemed to match with the whole rocker look.

Paulina shook her head as she lowered her arm so that Hunter could place feet on the floor again. "I understand being wary. I can't say Steven working for the Guys in White is something I like." She made a face, almost pouting at the man's profession. "But I've decided that as long as he's not going to harm any of you, I can sort of overlook that fact about him." She wiggled her finger as Hunter held onto it. "So you guys didn't say. But what gender is Hunter?" She flushed as she dropped her gaze, looking embarrassed about asking something that maybe was rude.

Ember shot an annoyed glare at Skulker before she scratched at the back of her head. "Well, we sort of argued over the whole thing," she explained, refusing to look at the woman. "Skulker wanted a son, and I wanted a daughter." She shrugged as she folded her arms over her knee. "So we decided to just let Hunter decide."

Paulina stared at the singer as he brow knitted. "You can do that? I mean," she blinked, stunned by the notion, "ghosts can pick their genders?"

"Well, not ghosts that die. But ghosts born from other ghosts can. When the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady had their daughter, they both wanted a daughter, so that's how she ended up. But since Skulker and I argued over it, Hunter was born sort of neutral." Ember's mouth pursed, and Desiree knew she was probably thinking about how crazy that sounded. "Once old enough, Hunter will eventually choose one gender over the other and start to develop an appearance to match that choice. I'm still holding out for a daughter." She smirked over at Skulker, like she already won that battle.

"Don't count on it. Hunter's totally going to choose to be male." Skulker snorted at her.

"I can't believe you two are a couple." Paulina shook her head with disbelief in her eyes.

Since they arrived at the woman's apartment, Ember and Skulker couldn't stop throwing little digs at each other or butting heads. Sometimes Desiree even had a difficult time believing that they were really a couple, but they didn't argue all the time. They had moments, like when they were both caring for Hunter, when Desiree could see how much they really cared for each other.