Something Special

Chapter 17

On the day Alastor received the call that the investigation on the children's welfare had been dropped, the whole family made plans to go out and celebrate with their friends. Vaggie and Angel were going to close the diner early and sneak Alastor and his family inside for a private meal, then turn on the music loud to have a karaoke night. At six o'clock PM it was hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, onion rings, pickles, milkshakes, and singing all around.

"Hey, what you want,
Baby, I got!" Vaggie sang on table tops.

"What you need.
Do you know I got it?
All I'm askin',
Is for a little respect when you come home.
Hey baby when you get home."

"Sing it baby!" Angel cheered. "Sing it loud!"

"Ooo, your kisses,
Sweeter than
And guess what?
So is my money.
All I want you to do for me,
Is give it to me when you get home.
Yeah baby,
Whip it to me,
When you get home, now.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me,
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB."

Aaron and Louis were just stuffing their faces as much as they were allowed to while Ella and Carrie started climbing on table tops, dancing and singing along with Vaggie. Charlie naturally tried to get the girls down and advise the boys not to eat too much, but Alastor assured her that he'd always catch his daughters and that eating too much food wasn't bad if it happend only once a year.

"Let em have fun sweetheart." He told her. "After this it's back to the schedule you gave them."

"Okay." She said nervously. "But what if one of the girls breaks her neck? Or what if the boys get sick?"

"Relax. I've been watching them just as much as you have. When one slips and one blows chunks, I'll be ready with a pillow in one hand and barf bag in another."

"But Al-"

However she was cut off by Carrie jumping down from the table and running over to grab both her hands.

"Dance with me Mommy!"

"Oh no, I couldn't. I don't dance." Charlie shook her head.

"Please Mommy!" She pleaded, giving her those big, green, puppy dog eyes.

"Oh alright." She caved in. "But just one dance. I don't want to- Oh!"

But Carrie was practically dragging Charlie along the floor. Alastor watched them, watching how Charlie's insecurity about dancing gave way careless happiness. She was soon sweeping Carrie up into her arms and spinning her around and around. Aaron then approached her and asked her for a dance like a gentleman would. She smiled though she couldn't put Carrie down, so she just gave him her hand and they moved to the rhythm of swing dance, followed by the twins joining in.

At first the sight of it made Alastor happy. It had been a long time since his children had smiled like this, since he had smiled like this. Charlie seemed to have filled the hole that Mimzy had left in this family, healing that terrible wound. But then his joy turned somber upon remembering that now that there was no threat trying to take away his children, he had no reason to keep Charlie here with them. Not to mention he was also starting to feel guilty about his deception and it was gnawing at him more and more with each day.

"Hey why so blue?" Angel asked noticing his friend's gloomy expression. "I thought things were finally going good for you, we finally got rid of the grand high bitch and the tikes are here to stay."

"I know and I'm thrilled about that but now I'm gonna have to tell Charlie the truth." He answered, careful to keep his voice quiet enough to where Charlie couldn't hear.