The Guardian - A My Inner Demons AU Fanfic

Chapter Four - Clothes, Ice Cream, and Illegal Entry

*Contains one top-tier cuss word. Shield your eyes, children!*

Emerald closed her eyes as the hot water from the shower ran over her back. This morning had been... difficult. Between Leif and Rhys coming along on her run and asking so many questions, to coming back home only to realize there was only dry cereal left to eat in the pantry, it was not shaping up to be a very productive Monday.

Still, there was work to do. And she was nothing if not responsible.

Sighing, Emerald opened her eyes and started lathering up her hair. She'd put her shower off a lot longer than she normally would, wanting to make sure Ava was awake first. She'd used the time to try cleaning up some of the mess in the living room, a task made somewhat more difficult by the Daemos coming and going.

She eventually managed to distract them by giving them the clothes Ava had bought the other day and telling them to try figuring it out by themselves. It was a task she didn't think they were taking very seriously, only because (for whatever reason) they seemed more inclined to listen to Ava over her.

'God, it's like we're their paren - ' Emerald cut off the thought, putting a hand over her mouth. No, now was definitely not the time to be thinking about that. Shaking her head to clear it, she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and got the conditioner set.

As she turned to get her loofah, Emerald got the distinct feeling of being watched. She slowly peeked around the shower curtain, not feeling any better when she saw the bathroom door was still firmly closed and locked. She checked to make sure the baseball bat was still leaning within easy reach against the side of the bathtub before closing the curtain.

Leif was half-leaning out of the wall in her shower. "Whaaat are you doing?" the Daemos asked, one eye cocked in confusion as he openly looked her over.

Her reaction was immediate. "WHAT THE FU - ?!"

"What's that?" he interrupted, pointing at a horizontal scar on her lower abdomen.

"None of your business!" Emerald grabbed the bat, not caring about the water she was spilling on the floor. She hefted it in her hand, turning to hide herself as best she could. "GET OUT!" she screamed, swinging at him.

* * * * *

Ava sank further into the bath, closing her eyes as she tilted her head back. She vaguely wondered if Emerald was having any trouble getting back on track with her work after the disaster that had been this weekend.

"I'm sure she'll be fine as long as she got to go on her run this morning," she assured herself. "She can get pretty grumpy if her schedule gets too far off."

Johnny gave an agreeable-sounding mew.

Ava thought she heard Emerald yelling, but brushed it off. The Daemos had been hassling her all morning: she'd probably just lost her temper with one of them. Still, it was a little weird for her to do that. Sometimes it seemed the older woman had the patience of a saint...

"Ugh, you too? What are you doin'?" came a voice from nearby.

"Relaxing. What does it look like?"

"What does that do?"

Ava chuckled. "What do you mean, I - ARGH!"

Leif was hanging half out of the wall above her, staring down. "I'm trying to figure out why you're doing this. The larger female human tried to attack me while she was standing under running water, so I figured I'd come in here to see if you were doing the same thing."

"Why are you in my wall?!"

To her horror, Asch suddenly appeared half out of the wall next to Leif. "Leif, what are you - wait, what is she doing?"