#swing with lil jon for a baseball thing??

[shownuubear]

Sometimes I'm just minding my business and suddenly find out Monsta X is collaborating with the wildest list of artists for the most random thing in the world

[demonlandline]

Thanks for the tag @all-or-nothing-baby!

Three ships - obvs Destiel has consumed my entire brain. But Buddie and Sterek are also kind of clinging to the inside of my skull with all of their many combined limbs.

Last Song - Blu - Jon Bellion - he was the last artist I saw live before the pandemic. I went by myself but < 20 minutes in me and the stranger next to me were like, holding onto each other and sobbing.

Last Movie - I just finished watching Everybody Wants Some because I kept seeing gifs of Tyler Hoechlin in a crop top and booty shorts with a big 70's moustache and it stood to reason that more of that would be a good thing to have in my life. I wasn't exactly wrong about that, but it is a baseball movie with no discernable plot and I did want to violently murder most of the characters. But there's a scene of Hoechlin swinging an axe with alarming accuracy wearing his aforementioned slutty lil outfit and there's also a scene of Ryan Guzman swinging from a chain into a lake dressed in nothing but a lone jockstrap so I guess I got what I came for??

Currently Craving - Change I think, or momentum, direction idk. I'm just feeling very confined atm. Also more tattoos lol

Currently Reading - I've barely been reading recently but I'm still getting through the first few chapters of Worm by Wildbow because apparently reading 2 million words about parahumans once in my life wasn't enough?

idk who to tag I have no brain atm everyone that sees this can consider themselves actively tagged and possibly also kissed directly on the mouth if you want.

[secondgenerationnerd]

Cadmus

This literally took multiple months to write. I hope y’all like it! 

-----------------------------

These days have become more common the last few years. Summer sun shining overhead. Shrieking kids racing around the backyard, throwing water balloons at each other. 18-month-old Laney Kent and 19-month-old Max Wilkes splash in their water table and babble nonsense to each other. Despite the cute swimsuits their mothers tried to dress them in, the two prefer their swim diapers and nothing else.

         “Cha-Cha! Cha-Cha!” Laney waves to her big sister as she runs by.

“Hi, Loo-Loo!” Charlie blows her a kiss and shrieks as her best friend tackles her. “Asha!”

“Don’t get distracted, Kent!” Asha teases. She helps her friend up before taking off again. Their parents watch from the back porch, shaking their heads at the gaggle of kids.

“See Asha already does Damian’s ‘call them by their last name’ thing.” Milagro bumps Irey’s hip with hers. Irey sticks her tongue out at the Lantern, grabbing a glass of lemonade as Damian walks by.

“Like how Max and Ben do Colin’s ‘if I smile like this, you won’t be mad’ thing.”

“Sh!” Colin gestures to Irey to stop, “She doesn’t need to know that, Ires!”

“Wilkes, you did that to Father once and thought it would work.” Damian points out.

“It technically worked on him. Alfred, on the other hand...” Cracking up at that image, the heroes can’t imagine a worst position to be in.

“To be fair,” Mar’i giggles, “Alfred had to raise my Dad and Jason; so, he’s definitely seen it all.”

They love how common these days have become. Reminds them of the past summer days when they were kids. Of course, in the past Damian would never kiss Irey like he does now. Jai would never call Lian babe or say he was going to get something from inside their house. Milagro would never laugh as Colin catches their boys, carrying them over his shoulder, all three of their skins beautifully mismatched. Jon would never wink at Mar’i as he makes some flirty joke, only for her to laugh and remind him that they already have four kids.

Things have changed, in all the best ways possible.

         “Alright, let’s eat!” Lian calls to the kids in the backyard. Jai and Irey disappear with cracks. Mini Omega, as their parents call them, run as fast as they can to avoid the older speedsters. Jai and Irey stop beside the back fence as the kids run to the porch.

         “Mom would love this.” Irey says simply, watching her daughter jump into Damian’s arms. Her husband kisses Asha's freckled face and spins her around.

         “She would.” Jai agrees as his kids crowd around Lian. Her warm laugh at the six hands grabbing at her jeans, babbling at her, makes him fall in love again, “Ok, Sissy, let’s eat.

         As they take a step forward, they feel something hit the middle of their backs. Their cries of pain make their families look up. Horror spreads through the group as the twins’ bodies seize. Eyes rolling back, the two collapse on the ground, taser poles embedded in their backs.

         "Mama!" Asha gasps.

         “Daddy!” Lily and Milly Harper-West speed from the back porch to their father. As the girls reach him, a figure jumps from their big oak tree. “MOMMY!”          “BABY DOLLS!” Lian grabs a plate and throws it at the figure advance on her girls, hitting him in the face, “BACK HERE! GIRLS, RUN BACK HERE!”

         Before the girls can take a step, the fence beside them crashes down. A truck drives through it, hired guns spill out of the back, one of them grabbing the girls.

         “MOOOMMMY!” They struggle in his arms, tears rolling down their faces, reaching for her.

         “OMEGA, GO!” Lian shouts. None of them hesitate. They know what to do. Colin and Damian make the other kids hide under the table, telling them to close their eyes.

The others jump over the railing; Lian grabbing a knife as she goes, Jon and Mar’i flying into the air. Lian runs straight for the goon holding her daughters. Someone swings a baton at her face. Hitting the ground baseball style, Lian stabs his ankle, scrambling to her feet as he goes down. Milagro kicks one away as someone grabs her from behind. Dropping down, she throws him over her shoulder. Sucker punch to a third’s face. Jon and Mar’i grab the hired guns in pairs, knocking their heads together.

That’s when things go wrong.

“Gah!” Jon yells as one of the guns opens a pocket. The bright green rock inside makes his body burn.

“Jon!” Mar’i shouts, watching in horror as her husband falls to the ground. She lands next to him. Their attackers throw caninsters at them and onto the porch. Emmitting a white gas, the heroes know they’re losing. Colin and Damian yell as they’re tased too.

“BABY DOLLS!” Lian’s close enough to touch them when she’s hit from behind. She falls to the ground, head throbbing. The last things she hears are her friends coughing, kids crying, and her children screaming for her.

--

         Hours later, in a cramped room with a military grade door, miles and miles away, Mini Omega tries not to panic. Of course, that’s easier said than done when the average age is six. Any hope they might have of their meta cousins’ powers died when they woke up and saw the power dampening collars.

         "It's okay, Charlie..." Asha tries to soothe her friend. As soon as Charlie and Peter realized what was on them, their minds brought them to the Bad Place. The last place the siblings would want to be.

         "Nonononononononononono," Rocking back and forth, the 11-year-old covers her ears, eyes squeezed painfully tight. Nearby, Ben pulls on the metal collar around Lily's neck.

         "Owie!"

         "Sorry, Lil." He takes his hands away. "It's not gonna come off."

         "Pete?" M&M pokes her big brother's face. Peter sits silently, arms wrapped around his legs, shaking. “Pete?”

         “M&M, are you sure your powers don’t work?” Asha asks the young technopath. Face screaming up in concentration, M&M stares at the collar around her brother’s neck before deflating.

         “They won’t work.”

         “It okay, bubba.” Milly promises, letting Luke lay his head on her little lap. Laney and Max shiver in the corner, babbling away. Too young to know what’s going on. Ben finds a blanket in a pile on the ground. Wrapping it around the youngest two, he hugs his brother.

         The toddler tilts his head, “¿Dónde están Mami y Daddy?”

         “No lo sé, pero estoy seguro de que vendrán a salvarnos.”

         “Ben,” Asha shakes her head, “They have to find us first.”

         “They will.” Ben looks at her, “They promised.”

--

When Lian wakes up, her husband shaking her, the first thing out of her mouth is, “Where are the kids?”

“We’re trying to figure that out, babe.” Jai assures her as he helps her up. Leaning against him, she limps up to the porch. Their friends look about as good as she feels.

Even though it’s been a while, they fall into their normal habits. They circle around the back table. Remnants of their planned dinner litter the ground. Damian nods at Lian, “Good, you’re up. You alright?”

“Killer headache, but I’ll live,” She rubs the back of her head, “What do we have?”

“Mercenaries.” Milagro says, tossing a few weapons on the table, “From the looks of these, I can at least confirm they’re earth based.”

“They knew who they were coming for.” Colin notes. “My question, why didn’t they go for any of us? We’ve got two types of alien and a good variety of metas. Plus, Damian, Lian, and Mil are all experts in their areas of fighting.”

Jon and Mar’i share an uneasy look. Mar’i sighs, “If I had to guess…it was Cadmus.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Do you remember the mission where we found our older kids? Li, I know you were still on leave.” Jon runs a hand through his hair, “We found files that called that particular project Exodus.”

“Exodus?” Mil frowns.

Damian asks, “Does that mean something to you?”

“Well, that’s the chapter with Moses’s story.” She explains, “Just seems strange to choose that for a project trial.”

“Maybe not.” Irey looks at Jon and Mar’i, “Did Charlie tell you all how she got the burn scars on her back?”

“Just that she was told to do a-a trial. She was five, I think?” Mar’i says, “In her file, it said she was locked in a weather room. They wanted to see how different powers would react to extreme weather—”

“‘There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.’” Colin looks at his wife, “Those fuckers used the plagues for inspiration.”

“None of this tells us how to find them.” Jai points out, “And that information isn’t exactly helping ease the worry.”

“There’s a way to find the kids.” Jon glances at his wife again, then looks down, “Charlie and Peter both have trackers in their legs—”

“WHA—”

“Cadmus put them there.” Mar’i cuts off the others’ panic. “When they were little. M&M didn’t have one, but she was only there a few months. The ones in Charlie and Peter are too close to the femoral artery, and the muscles started growing around it.”

“Is that how they found us?”

“No, Mil. Babs was able to turn them off and regularly checks in.”

They’re quiet only for a moment. Damian plays Devil’s Advocate, “Can she turn them back on?”

Jon nods. “We need to hurry though.”

“Well, duh—”

“Charlie’s powers have started changing.” Jon cuts Jai off. “Her illusions are becoming…real. Last time she had a nightmare…I felt it when one of them touched me.”

The group takes that in. The three leaders look at each other. Then the group. Communicating in a way that nearly two decades of fighting together can give them. Irey nods at Mar’i and Colin, “You two are retired still—”

“If you think some League bullshit’s gonna keep me from saving my sons, you’re dead wrong.”

“Same with my starlings.”

“Everyone have their spare uniform?” Damian asks. The others nod. “Suit up. Mar’i, call Oracle and see if she can activate the trackers. We leave in five minutes.”

--

         The cell door creaks open. Charlie immediately goes silent, though her shaking doesn’t stop. The group of scientists come into the room. There’s four of them—two men and two women— dressed in white coats and donning badges with six letters that Peter and Charlie see in their nightmares. C.A.D.M.U.S. Barely breathing, Peter curls up tighter, Ben scoots in front of him, mismatched eyes meeting the scientists’. Asha glares at them when they glance at Charlie. Then they look at the younger kids.

         “That one.” The lead man points to Laney. “Initial blood tests show signs of Kryptonian and Tamaranean blood.”

         “Really?” One of the women sounds impressed. Laney tilts her head to the side at the woman, blinking her too blue eyes at the group. “She’s still young.”

“Given what we’ve seen people with her lineage do, I’m not sure that matters.”

“In that case we might consider more physical trials—”

         “No!” Charlie jumps to her feet, brown eyes wide. The older kids look at their usually meek friend in shock as she pulls on the lead man’s arm, “Me! Me! I’ll do a trial! Not her!”

         She doesn’t see his hand, but she feels it across her cheek. As Charlie falls to the ground, Asha’s on her feet in an instant, eyes burning. The lead scientist turns on her.

As if a mean glare could stop a girl raised by heroes.

Asha surges forward. Jumping to kick the lead man in the face, rolling over him as he stumbles. Ben helps Charlie up as Asha elbows one of the females’ stomachs, kicking the other in the knee. The second male scientist grabs her dark curls, yanking her backwards.

“You little bitch—” He doesn’t get the chance to finish. Grabbing his wrist, Asha throws him over her.

She blows hair out of her face, grinning at her cousins, “Uncle Jason taught me that when I was 6.”

“The door’s open!” Ben shouts. The kids start to move forward when guards appear. Before they can get too close, alarms start going off.

Alert: Metas have infiltrated the facility. Full evacuation. Repeat. Metas have—

The room shakes as something explodes above them. The twins turn to the guards, narrowing their dark eyes, and growl together, “Mommy and Daddy are gonna kick your asses.”

Being helped by the guards, the four scientists glare at the kids.

“Take her,” The lead male growls, pointing at Asha. “We know she’s Bruce Wayne’s granddaughter. Once we’re on the plane, we can negotiate for her life.”

“No!” Charlie tries to push the guards away as they come for her friend.

“Take her too!”

“NO! ASHA!”

“CHARLIE!”

The kids fight as best they can, but they’re only children. Grabbed around the middle and held tight, Asha and Charlie scream for the others. Peter snaps out of his silence and races after his sister. Then a guard points his weapon at the little boy. Ben jumps in front of Peter, arms held out.

The door slams shut. The screams fade away, replaced by familiar voices a few minutes later.

“STARLINGS!”

“BABY DOLLS!”

“LITTLE MAN, WE’RE HERE!”

         “We’re in here! We’re in here!” Ben shouts as he and Peter band their hands on the door. “We’re in here! Mami! Dad!”

         Familiar faces peer through the window. Even in their hero apparel, the kids would know their parents anywhere.

         “Dad!” Peter shouts, “You have to save Charlie and Asha! The bad people took them! They’re going on a plane!”

         “Jon, Mar’i, Irey, with me!” Damian shouts, “We’ll get the older girls! The rest of you, get the kids to safety.”

         Four sets of feet race off in another direction.

         “Guys! Way from the door!” Lian shouts, "To a side wall!"

         Ben and Peter pull the other kids to the back corner, shouting when they're in position. A brief pause. Then door flies back with a blast of green energy, their parent spilling into the room. As always, the Harper-West kids are the first to move, "Mommy! Daddy!"

         "Baby dolls! Baby Jedi!" Lian catches Lily and Luke as Jai scoops up Milly. The three children cling to their parents, shaking as Jai and Lian check them for any bruises. "It's okay, we're here. Mommy and Daddy got you."

         "Mami!" With his little brother's hand in his, Ben runs to their mother's arms, crying. Milagro catches her boys and holds them close. "Where's Dad?"

         "I'm here, buddy." Colin backs into the room, “We need to go now.”

         “Hallways?” Lian asks, picking Laney up in her other arm.

         “Clear. You all stay behind me.”

         "Okay, guys, let's go! Fast, fast!" With some trading around, the other three get the youngest kids in their arms. Colin clears ahead of them before the group moves on.

         As they round a corner, a group of guards comes out of the elevator. Colin barrels ahead. Much to his sons’ horror. Ben races forward. Only for his mother to grab him around the middle. Max cries in her other arm.

         "DADDY!" Ben fights Milagro. “NO! DADDY!”

         "AAARGH!" Colin's body ripples, muscles swelling and growing as he mutates. The familiar burn hurts more than it had in when he was younger. That doesn’t matter to Colin. All that matters are the people behind him.

Abuse slams into the guards. Throwing them into walls. Into each other. He catches sight of the children looking at him in horror. Ben and Max’s faces. Pushing it down, Abuse keeps fighting. There will be time to explain later. Passing Laney to Jai, Lian draws her bow. An arrow appears in a guard’s leg as he tries to hit Colin from behind.

“Jai, put kids behind me!” Milagro orders. The speedster sets the kids in his arm behind her, lightning dancing under his skin as he races down to join the fight.

“Mami?” Max reaches for his mother as she sets him down.

“It’s gonna be okay, mi amor.” A glowing green dome appears around the kids. Lian at her side, the two women join the fight.

The kids had heard the stories of their parents fighting. Laughed at details that got fought over. Watched their parents spar, tossing playful insults at each other.

But seeing them in a fight is something else.

Lian spins on her heel, firing an arrow into one guard’s shoulder. Swings her bow and smacks another in the face. Someone tries to fire at her, only for the bullet to disappear and the guard crumple to the ground in a flash of lightning. Jai comes in and out of focus, socking guards in the face. His skin ripples with electricity. Abuse throws a guard to his wife, who slams her fist into his face. Milagro grabs a wrist and flips the man over her shoulder.

All the time maintaining her concentration to protect the kids.

In a few minutes, the area’s clear. The dome dissipates, parents reaching for their kids. Abuse lumbers ahead again. He needs to focus, and seeing his boys horrified faces, knowing they must hate him. No. Worse. They must be afraid of him.

         In another part of the facility, a group of guards and scientists struggle to get the two oldest girls onto the plane. For once, Charlie fights back as hard as her cousin. Screaming at the top of their lungs. The collar around Charlie’s neck presses against her burn scars.

         “Let go of me!” Asha bites at the guard holding her. “Let go of me!”

         “Get them on the plane!” A guard snaps. The door below them blasts open. A crack of lightning and two figures fly into the room, a fourth following seconds later.

         “Mama! Baba!”

         “Momma! Daddy! Help!”

         “Girls!” Damian shouts.

         “Freeze!” The guard holding Asha jerks her up. His arm tightens around her neck

         “LET HER GO!”

         “BACK UP OR I KILL HER!”

         “Jon, her collar.” Mar’i murmurs. He sees the collar around their daughter’s neck, but hears her rapid heart beat too.

         “Her powers—"

         “PUT HER DOWN—”

         “BACK UP!”

         “BABA!” Asha screams. Jon hears the gun click.

A split-second decision.

His heat vision cuts through the wiring.

Then all hell breaks loose. With a deafening scream, the guard holding Charlie is pulled away by a twisted claw. Monstrous figures—doctors in blood stained scrubs and sharpened scalpels, headless guards with mangled guns—appear around them. Asha’s guard yells as a doctor slices his gun hand off. In his shock, he drops Asha, who scrambles to the railing.

“GO AWAY, GO AWAY, GO AWAY!” Charlie covers her ears, her voice otherworldly, “I’M NOT GOING BACK!”

The monsters move. Slicing through skin. Firing bullets into heads. Their parents can’t move. Charlie curls up on the ground, still screaming. Pulling away from the railing, Asha crawls under the monsters to her. A body flies over head, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. Blood drips down the side of the platform.

As quickly as it starts, it stops. Unfreezing, their parents race to them; Mar’i and Jon flying up to the girls. Asha covers Charlie with her body, both girls shaking.

“It’s okay now. We’re gonna be okay.” Asha promises, protecting her cousin’s head.

--

         A few hours later, in a hospital that specializes with heroes, the kids have been mostly cleared by the doctors. They’ll have to stay the night for observations, but that’s nothing compared to what they could be going through. In an empty hospital room and answering the League’s questions, the three leaders try not to lose their minds.

         “Are you three seriously suggesting we dismiss—”

         Lian cuts the senior hero off, “We’re saying given the circumstances, we made a judgement call.”

         “You three know that family members are not allowed to be on missions to rescue each other—”

         “Given that most heroes are related through marriage at this point,” Damian scowls, “That’s damn near impossible. Our children were in danger. That’s not a matter any of us can simply stand aside for.”

         “More than that, we were attacked in my home.” Lian snips, “I don’t need to remind you all about Thawne taking my children from their beds, do I?”

         “Of course not. This is simply routine.” Wonder Woman assures them, “What about the authorization of Abuse and Nightstar?”

         “Emergency authorization Delta.” Irey taps her foot, “We knew the risks. This isn’t a choice any of us made lightly—”

         “There’s also the matter of Charlotte Kent.”

         Damian scoffs, “Asha’s life was in danger. More than that, the people that kidnapped them are part of the group that kept her captive for her early formative years. If you need her medical files, I’m sure Jon and Mar’i can provide those to confirm her diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

         “So, in your eyes, her killing a dozen people is okay?”

         “In our eyes,” Lian grits her teeth, “Charlie’s a traumatized little girl who lost control of her powers. What happened is horrible, none of us are saying otherwise, but what would you have us do? Throw her in Belle Reve?”

         “No! Of course not! But—”

         “I think,” Irey cuts Hal Jordan off with a cool look, “We reconvene another time. We’ll have our team fill out reports on what happened and provide whatever information we need when we meet. But right now, Lian has three kids that need her, and we have a daughter to check on.”

         Signing off, the three leaders look at each other. Lian rubs her face, “Fuck me.”

         “It will be alright, Lian.” Irey promises, “We did what was right for our kids.”

         “I know, but I keep thinking about what could have happened. Especially to my dolls.” Lian grits her teeth. Damian rests his hand on her shoulder.

         “Like Irey said. They need their mother right now.” He opens the door to the empty room they’d been using.

Across the hall, Milagro and Colin sit on a hospital bed together. Their sons cling to Colin, whimpering. They recognize the pain in his face, but that doesn’t stop him from holding Ben and Max close. Milagro hums softly as she runs her fingers through Max’s hair. The sight makes Colin’s worry during the kids’ checkup seem…misplaced.

In another room, Jai sits with his trio of monsters on one of the hospital beds, half signing. The tension in Lian’s chest loosens seeing all her kids snoozing on their father. Asha naps on the other bed.

“Mama?” Asha yawns, rubbing her eyes as Irey picks her up to settle down with her and Damian. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, Bug.” Irey kisses her 11-year-old’s head. “Baba, Aunt Li, and I took care of things.”

“Mommy,” Lily hiccups, reaching for Lian. Picking up both her daughters, she sits next to her husband and their son.

“I’m sorry, baby dolls. I’m sorry the bad people got you earlier.”

“It okay, Mommy,” Milly looks up at her, “We knowed you and Daddy’d save us.”

“Always.” Lian promises, kissing their heads. She holds them tighter, “Daddy and I will always save you.”

         While the other families reunite, and their younger children sleep, Mar’i and Jon are having a much harder conversation down the hall.

Charlie sits beside Mar’i, her mother’s hand running through her hair, while Jon sits in a chair in front of her. One of his strong hands holds hers tightly.

         “Charlie. Momma and I need to talk to you. Is that okay?”

         “I guess…” Charlie sniffles.

         “Hey.” Mar’i tilts her head up. “Starling, if this gets to be too much, you tell us. No questions asked. Okay?”

         “Yes, Momma.” Charlie rests her head on Mar’i’s chest. Mar’i and Jon share a look. He takes a deep breath.

         “First, we know you’re scared. We know there’s a lot of confusing stuff in your head. What we need you to know is that we love you and we’re not going anywhere, ok?” Jon waits until she nods, “Okay. That’s the most important thing we need you to know. No matter what we love you.”

         Mar’i strokes Charlie’s hair, “The other kids said…when the bad people came and tried to take Laney, you asked them to take you. That you’d do a trial for her.”

         “Yeah.”

         “Baby, why would you do that?” The burn scars on her back come to mind.

         “’s what we did before.” Charlie mumbles. “Before you saved us…the big kids would protect the little kids. Do more trials. Keep them safe. I did it for Peter before.”

         “Oh, Charlie…” Mar’i hugs her daughter a little tighter.

         “They were gonna hurt her, Momma.” Charlie hides her face. “They were gonna hurt Loo-Loo.”

         They stay quiet and listen to her cry into Mar’i’s shirt. The dark bruise on Charlie’s pale cheek makes their stomachs churn. Makes them want to go out and take Cadmus down by themselves. But they stay where they’re needed for now.

         “Baby,” Mar’i kisses Charlie’s head, “We need to talk to you about what happened in the hanger.”

         “When I killed those people?”

         “When your powers acted up.” Mar’i corrects. “You know what happened was bad, right?”

         Charlie nods, showing her face to them, “Are they sending me to jail?”

         “No.” Jon speaks firmly. “No. Charlie, what do you think would have happened if your collar didn’t come off?”

         “I dunno…I didn’t want them to hurt Asha.”

         “Why?”

         “She’s my friend, Daddy. They were going to hurt her like they hurt me.” Charlie sniffles, “They were going to kill her.”

         “Charlie, do you know what self-defense is?” Jon asks. Charlie shakes her head, “It’s when someone uses force if they think that they are in danger. What happened in the hanger was self-defense.”

         “I killed them, Daddy.” Charlie whimpers, fresh tears filling her eyes. “I’m a bad person.”

         “Charlotte Elisabeth Kent, you look at me right now.” Mar’i waits until Charlie meets her impossible green eyes. “Your powers made something bad happen. People died. That’s true. But you are not a bad person. Not even close.”

         Charlie wiggles out of Mar’i’s arms, not meeting her parents’ eyes, “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

         Jon nods, “Ok. No more questions. Do you want Momma and I to sta—”

         “I want to be alone.” Charlie squeezes her eyes shut tight.

         “Can Daddy and I tuck—”

         “I want to be alone, Momma.”

         Jon and Mar’i don’t let her see how much that hurts to hear. Mar’i gets off the bed, pulling the sheets back, “Daddy and I are going to check on your siblings. If you need anything, we’re right down the hall. We love you, Charlie.”

         Charlie nods, keeping her eyes squeezed shut. When the door shuts, she opens them. The hospital sheets feel funny as she hides under them. They don’t feel like the ones at home.

         Fresh tears fill her eyes. Home. She doesn’t have a home anymore. Momma and Daddy won’t want her around her brother and sisters. Her brother and sisters are going to hate her. So will her aunties, uncles, and cousins.

         It’s all her fault.

         This is why her tummy Mommy didn't want her.

         “Charlie?”

She didn’t hear the door open, but Asha stands at the foot of her bed. Sitting up, Charlie wipes her tears away. Please don’t let Asha ask. Just let her tell Charlie she’s an awful person and she hates her. It’s what Charlie deserves—

“Chocolate or vanilla?” Asha holds out two pudding cups.

“W-wha—”

“Do you want the chocolate or vanilla? I picked last time.”

“…Halfises?”

Asha smiles. Sitting side by side, the girls trade the cups back and forth. When Asha gets up to throw them away, she notices Charlie curled up on the sheets again. “…Baba did bad things too.”

“Huh?”

“Before he went to live with Jid and met Mama. He did really bad things too.” She shrugs.

“…Why are you telling me that?”

Climbing back onto the bed, Asha says, “Because when Baba told me about the stuff he did, he said he wouldn’t who he is now without people loving him.”

“I could’ve hurt you—”

“I wrestle Gracie all the time. If she hasn’t killed me yet, I think I stand a good chance with you…Do you want me to go?”

Looking down, Charlie shakes her head.

“Can I lay down?”

Nodding, Charlie moves the covers back for Asha to crawl under. Laying in silence for a while, the two just exist together for a while. When their parents check in on them later, they find the two girls sleeping. Asha snores gently, arm flopped over her cousin. Charlie lays curled up. Letting Asha protect her. Neither pair of parents can find it in their hearts to separate the two. Just covers them with an extra blanket and kiss to their heads.

Let them get whatever sleep they can.