Max Moments

"Careful"

"Mason, you can't just turn him into a Caesar salad!" Belle whisper-shouted at her husband. "Of course I can! It's what I do best, remember?!" Mason whisper-yelled back.

It was late at night, and the others were most likely asleep in their rooms (except Happy or Bradley, because they like to sneak candy into their rooms). Belle was giving Mason the third degree because he was gone forever and wouldn't tell anyone what he was doing.

Belle knew, though. She was the one who brought the matter to his attention.

"No, listen to me! Do you understand how bad this is?!" she scolded him, her voice threatening to raise itself about her whisper-yelling, "We came here to get away from crime, not commit more of it! What if you get arrested?!"

"I won't get arrested, Belle! I was careful!"

"Like you were careful when Flynn and Tyreke took me?! Like you were careful when you practically declared war against— against the Headliners?!"

"That was different, Belle! I was trying to get you back!"

"By gutting one of them and stringing him up in a dark alley?! That's not exactly being careful, Mason!"

It was silent for a long, tense moment.

"... I'm sorry, Belle... I was just... trying to make sure that he wouldn't be a threat to us..."

"By killing him?" Belle asked tiredly.

"I didn't mean to kill him." Mason admitted, "I was just going to threaten him with a knife or something, but the bag of bones just fell down the stairs..."

It was silent again.

"My god, Mason." the mother's voice quivered, "W—What are we going to do?"

Mason hugged Belle, and gave her a comforting kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry about it. I've been doing this for years, remember?" the tall man assured her, "Besides, Fredrick knows how to hide a body. Everything will be okay."

"If you s—say so..."

"I love you, Belle."

"I love you, too, Mason."

They shared a loving kiss on the lips, then Belle removes herself from the hug and took her husband by the hand. "Come on, let's go to bed.  I'm exhausted." Belle told him. "Yeah, me too. Murder takes a lot out of you." Mason agreed. Belle shushed him, "We will never speak of this again, understood? And one of us will have to tell Max that he doesn't have to worry about taking care of Mister Greene's garden anymore."

"Understood. I'll take care of it."

The room went quiet again, neither of them speaking while getting in the bed. Outside their room, right next to the door, Max held onto his teddy tighter. He didn't exactly understand what he just heard, but he knew one thing was for certain; he wasn't supposed to hear that.

Silently gulping his anxiety down, Max crept back down the hall and returned to his room. He was really tired, and honestly he wasn't sure if he was still having a nightmare or not. Maybe he could ask his mother tomorrow. Or his father. Either one will do, as long as they can confirm if what he heard was real or not.