Slaying Dragons

Chapter Three

Marcy dragged the mop over the floor and belted out another line of ‪Radiohead‬'s Creep. It was eight in the evening and Mal just left to get Ellen from the airport. The kids were all asleep and the house was sparkling.

She pushed the mop again and pulled it back as she continued singing. Secret came inside the kitchen and sat looking at her.

When she finished singing, she looked at him. "Hey, boy. Why aren't you sleeping?"

Usually the animals went to sleep with the kids.

He woofed and came to nuzzle her knee.

She patted his clean head (Sunday was deep cleaning day - for everyone). "I'm almost done, Secret. Go on upstairs."

He headbutted her before leaving.

She finished mopping the kitchen floor and sang Landslide under her breath as she poured the dirty mop water into the toilet. She cleaned the toilet over and put away her supplies before washing her hands.

She went around the house (carefully) turning off lights and closing curtains and blinds. The floors were drying but she didn't want to fall pregnant.

She turned the foyer light on and went upstairs to check on the kids. Shea was in Aisling's room, Shū and Scotch and Snowball were in the triplets' room, Sully and Salem were in Riley's room and Smith, Shaggy and Sabrina were in the twins' room. Everyone was asleep.

She continued to the guest room and made sure it was up to her standards. It was - no matter how hard she tried to find something to fix.

So she went to her and Mal's room. Secret was waiting on the couch. "I'm going to take a shower. You go to bed."

Secret didn't move.

"Go to bed." She pointed to the bedroom.

He left the couch and walked to the bedroom.

She knew he was going to get in the big bed instead of his doggy bed on the floor. She rolled her eyes and went to put her newly straightened hair in a big bun then covered it with a shower cap.

She turned on the shower and began washing her face and brushing her teeth. When she was done, she took a shower. Milk and Honey made her feel better.

She wrapped up in a towel and padded to the closet to find a sleep-shirt and undies. She took the cap off and debated taking her hair down but didn't feel like it.

She turned off the light and went to the bathroom to take her meds then the bedroom. Secret lifted his head from the bottom of the bed. She snapped her fingers and pointed to him. "Sleep."

He gave her a sour look and rested his head. But his eyes were still open.

She gave up and went around closing the blinds. She turned on the mister and music before checking her phone on the night-stand. She climbed in bed and settled in to browse the Internet.

She grabbed her glasses and turned the brightness down on her phone. She had a few missed calls and messages so she listened to her voicemail first.

None of it was urgent because most of it was from Karou, who couldn't get comfortable in bed, despite her pregnancy pillow.

Marcy rolled her eyes and deleted the messages before going to her texts. She had quite a few and this time not just from Karou. She answered each, especially the ones from Gianni.

A few people texted back (like Blaine) so she carried on conversations with them as she lingered over Twitter. She posted about how willful her dog was and fans rushed to comment.