Life, Death, and Time - A Books Of Beginning Collection

Oneshot: Arachnophobia

Background: Takes place after the series, does not matter if the ending was canon or not.

Content: Wibberly Sibling Shenanigans, Humor, Fluff.

Kate was sitting cross legged on her bed and reading a book, all in all having a quiet afternoon. Too quiet. It had been such an ordinary, rainy day, that Kate was just holding her breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop. After all, Richard and Clare were at the store, and that left the three children to their own devices; even if adventure didn't find them, chaos most definitely would.

So Kate was not at all surprised when a high pitched scream punctured the silence of the house. In fact, her first thought was; there it is.

Her second thought was to jump to her feet and run to the source of the scream, the kitchen, because that terrified shriek belonged to her brother, and if he was in trouble, then it was her responsibility to protect him. While she doubted there were dark sorcerers or monsters attacking the house at this very moment, the paranoid part of her brain that had seen far too much told her to be prepared for anything. 

Despite this warning, what she saw when she pushed through the kitchen door took her by surprise. Michael was standing on a chair, one foot on the table as he tried to get farther away from the ground. His face was pale and one hand covered his mouth to keep from letting out another shriek. Little high-pitched whimpers could be heard escaping him. As for Emma, she was there too, on her hands and knees, crawling across the kitchen tiles, hands darting out as if to grab something. Mischief glimmered in her eyes, her lips tugging into a smile as a few giggles tore from her throat.

"Ok, what's going on here?" Kate asked, her defensive posture relaxing as she realized this wasn't any sort of danger at all, it was just her siblings making trouble again.

Laughter bubbled out of Emma, full of glee and entirely unhelpful. Kate looked to the stricken Michael, who had begun sweating nervously and who's glasses were now sliding off of his face rather ridiculously. Michael didn't say anything, he only made a squeak of fright and pointed to something on the floor, that something being a little dot of brown that was scuttling away from Emma, who happened to be chasing it.

"Oh," Kate said, finally understanding, "I see."

Michael had been arachnophobic for as long as Kate could remember, and Emma had been teasing him about it for just as long. It was no wonder that when a spider showed up in the kitchen, Michael panicked and Emma tried to catch it and shove it in his face. This wasn't exactly a new pattern.

"Emma, move out of the way so I can get it," Kate sighed, grabbing a paper towel to catch the arachnid. Solving the problem was her part of this lifelong routine. 

Emma had just made another grab for the crawly little creature, and had ended up splayed on her stomach, face against the floor. She grunted in affirmation as Kate stepped past her. 

Then Michael began to scream again, from beneath both hands that now covered his mouth. The spider was right in front of his chair and crawling closer, to the frightened boy's dismay.

"Help!" He shrieked, with enough force to impress a Screecher.

Kate came to his rescue, swooping down in the same way she had a thousand times before (and there were probably another thousand instances like this added on to that, the only difference being those were solved with the heel of her boot) and squishing the spider in her paper towel. Then she promptly opened the lid of the trash can and disposed of it all.

Michael let out a breath of relief, though it was short lived, because a second later his glasses slipped from his sweaty nose and fell to the floor with a crack. He groaned, reluctantly moving one foot down from the table and back to the chair, trying to calculate where to step now that everything was blurry and he risked stepping on his glasses and making things a whole lot worse.

Kate, for her part, took in the sight of the kitchen with an amused expression. There was Michael, feet on the chair, glasses on the floor, look of utter focus etched on his still pale and damp face. There was Emma, still laying face first on the tiles, having not bothered to move. They both looked absolutely ridiculous. Kate bit her lip to keep from laughing.

'The saviors of them magical world right here, everyone.'

She thought it wryly but didn't say it. Instead she picked up the cracked glasses, placing them on the counter, and helped Michael down from the chair. She was already planning to grab the spare glasses from Michael's desk drawer for him, when she heard Emma move and turned to see the youngest Wibberly standing there with what could only be described as a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Emma, now is not the time for whatever you-"

Emma ignored Kate's warning, calling, "oh Michael! Look! There's another one!"

Indeed, there was a black dot that was yet another spider. Michael couldn't see it well with his blurry eyesight, but that didn't matter. His instincts still kicked in, in this case causing him to scream, trip over his own feet, and fall on his rear, to Emma's roaring laughter.

Kate pinched their bridge of her nose in exasperation. Then she reached for another paper towel.

There was a reason she killed the spiders in this house.

A/N: Something short and amusing because after all the angst I write, you all deserve it. Also because I will headcanon until the day I die that Kate is the one who kills the spiders because she is the only one who can handle them with any semblance of calmness and maturity.