Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Alastor had been sitting at his desk for the last 20 minutes and was growing more impatient by the second, it was only the first parent teacher meeting of the school year and the parents were late which he thought was incredibly disrespectful.

Alastor glanced at his watch again and looked up as the dad finally arrived, and though Alastor recognized him in a heartbeat he deliberately pretended not to.

"Ah, Mr Whittman, so glad you could finally make it, now because of the time, we'll have to make this quick because I do have a few other things to attend to today."

Alastor said, gesturing to the seat in front of him and keeping a smile on his face despite his irritation for his tardiness.

Vincent couldn't have cared less about his tardiness, or the meeting in general. He quit high school almost immediately when he ran away from home, although he did eventually go back to get his GED. The whole process of the education system felt unnecessary to him.

Even attending was a last minute decision due to his boredom. He wasn't worried to leave his three daughters at home alone, he hasn't really since they were infants, he was a single parent and though he could've paid someone, he didn't trust anyone enough, and thought they were capable of taking care of each other. Though, he did have his ringer on in case of a medical emergency, which was more frequent then most families between Kennedy's POTS and Violet's diabetes.

Though upon seeing Alastor, he immediately regretted that decision, he hadn't seen him since college, though he was still pissed off about the way their friendship ended, he also didn't let it show on his face. Though he felt like pretending he didn't have a clue who he was, that might make it seem like he cared, so he decided to choose a different response.

"Hey, Alastor, long time no see, or I guess I should say Mr Thomas now, well you did say you wanted to cut to the chase, so care to tell me what you think the problem is with my amazing daughters?", he braced himself for whatever was about to come out of his mouth, because any criticisms about his daughters felt like they were towards him, and he didn't feel like making a huge scene today, which was rare.

"Yes, so Kennedy is obviously a very bright girl, and that shows in her other classes, but it appears that she is struggling a bit in my class, she's a bit behind her grade level in spelling, and grammar, so it would be my recommendation that she get tested for dyslexia and have after school tutoring to help with it."

Alastor said, completely ignoring the first part of his statement, and professionally explaining what was going on, already dreading how Vincent might react based on his prior statement and general attitude.

Vincent rolled his eyes, he's been told he's had problems and should be tested before, and he never did, and he turned out amazing, as he thought. So there wasn't any question on whether he should take the advice or not.

"You are right, she's a completely bright girl, and I don't think I'll be taking your advice on taking her to some place where they're just gonna tell her she has problems, I know what's going on with my kids, and she's doing great, and since you wanted to keep this short anyway, I think that's all we have here Mr Thomas, unless there's anything else you'd like to discuss", he said as if his professional name was an insult as he got up to leave.

"I am simply given you my professional recommendation, and I think that by you not getting her the help she needs, you are going to be holding her back in life. The last thing she needs right now is to fall too far behind and have to repeat this year a third time. There's no shame in needing a little extra help or having a learning disabilities, and you refusing to acknowledge it is just going to make life harder for her."

Alastor said quite sharply, staring at Vincent as he got up to leave, mad over how he was treating this situation, and mad about how often he had seen this exact situation play out.

His eyebrow twitched at his response, asking himself why he thought he had the right to tell him how to parent, why he always thought he was better than him.

"And I'm simply telling you I'm not taking your suggestion, and I was doing it pretty fucking politely at first, I can tell what she has to say just fine, and I think you're overstepping, she's my child, she's not gonna repeat this grade again, as you said she's doing fine in all her other classes, and even if she did, its fine, and if you ever tell my daughter she needs help for mental problems, we are gonna have a mental problem", it made a lot more sense in his head than out loud but he was to prideful to take it back now.

Alastor just smiled wider and began to arrange the papers onto his desk into a pile while he spoke.

"Of course, I wouldn't want to overstep boundaries, I simply want to see her succeed and excel in my class, and I do apologize if you were offended by my recommendation."

Alastor said, his voice laced with passive aggressive attitude that was just subtle enough to not be called out for.

"That will be all, you may go now, Vincent."

He said, getting up and walking past him out the door.

Anyone else would probably take that as a good enough response, but Vincent wasn't anyone else, the fact he couldn't really yell at him anymore after already getting into it despite what he told himself pissed him off.

"Was trying to do that, don't call me in again, I don't want to see you anymore", he said with a scoff as he sped-walked passed him and out as quick as he could without it seeming like he uncomfortable.

When he got home he couldn't help but think about what he had to say a bit more, he was angry at himself for breaking character, but he still didn't really understand why they broke off at first, especially the way they did, but it didn't matter anyway, it was just college is what he told himself

After thinking about it some more, he still wasn't open to the idea, but he did want to get someone else's opinion on the matter, the only opinion he thought mattered more than his own on this subject, Kennedy herself.

"Hey, Kennedy, I have a question, uhmm…how do you feel about school?", he was hesitant to tell her exactly what her teacher thought of her out of fear that she'd start to think he was right, and there was something wrong with her.

Kennedy paused the TV that was currently playing cartoons and thought for a few minutes before answering, thinking of how school had gone for her the past month and a half.

"It's okay, I really like my science and math class, and art class, but I don't like that I don't get to do gym as much as I used to, and the food usually isn't very good. Why?"

Kennedy asked, not sure what prompted him to ask this out of the blue, and knew the question would stay in her mind until she had an answer.

He sat on the couch next to her, glancing at the tv and then back at her, "you know you can just bring food from home right?", he realized he was getting slightly off track from the main thing he wanted to talk about, "what about English? How do you feel about that?, also, do you care that the school required you to repeat the grade or not really?"

He then realized he was bombarding her with questions, without answering her's, mainly because he wasn't sure how to, " as for why, I'm just curious", he said hoping that would be a good enough answer.

"Mmm, English is okay, kinda hard but the teacher is nice, and he said my dinosaur story was very creative. And I don't really care that I had to repeat 7th grade, I probably would have fallen behind if I didn't."

Kennedy answered, truthfully not bothered by repeating the grade, and she scooted closer to him, eyeing him for a second before giving him a hug. She knew he wasn't giving her a real answer but figured it was probably for a good reason and decided to drop it, for now.

He hugged her back before continuing, "Well I'm glad you think he's nice and he's not a bitch to you", he squinted at the floor as if he was looking for something, as he recalled their falling out.

"Do you think you'd like more help with it? Im sure me or one of your sisters could help you a bit if you need?", even though it wasn't really anything Alastor suggested, this still felt slightly uncomfortable for him, but at this point he couldn't really deny she was behind, "it's up to you", he added not wanting her to feel pressured one way or another.

"Well, Violet did try helping once but she kept explaining it in the same way over and over before just giving up because I didn't get it, but it was nice of her to try".

Kennedy said, recalling the way Violet looked then and had been close to pulling her hair out, and smiling a bit because she thought it was a little funny.

"Well I was going to suggest her, but that's clearly out, would you want Lyra to try and help you? She might be better at it", he was hesitant to put himself in that position, out of fear he'd ruin his own image of himself, deep down he knew he struggled with quite a few grammar concepts.

"Yeah, she'd probably be good at helping with that stuff, especially because of how many books she's read, I think she's actually at the library right now getting more books to read, and oh! Guess what?!"

Kennedy said, becoming excited as she remembered something that she had a wanted to tell him.

He jumped a bit, not ready for her sudden burst in excitement, though he should be used to it by now, " what is it?", he asked not being able to focus on the rest of their discussion till she got it out.

"Mom texted me and said she was almost done filming the pilot she was working on and might be able to visit sometime soon and that you should call her."

Kennedy said, practically shaking with excitement over this, especially because it had been around 10 months since either of them had heard from her.

Vincent's relationship with Kennedy's mother was complicated to say the least, it was just supposed to be a one night stand, he didn't expect to still be in contact with her till this day, but he got her pregnant, and he was left to raise another kid by himself after his wife left.

Though they were friendly with each other, Vincent did have some problems with her, like for one, the fact that she didn't even ask how he felt before dropping an infant off, even though he's glad she did instead of giving Kennedy to an adoption center, when he looked at her in his arms, he knew he would love her forever despite the circumstances. Though he was also thinking, who does that?

He was also annoyed with how provocative she could be, it was a one time thing, that he didn't even particularly enjoy, he'd rather have someone close in life without all that, like Alastor back in college, but not Alastor. Though he knew no matter how many problems they had, they were still at least sort of friends, and Kennedy liked her despite everything, so there was no fully getting rid of her now.

"Ahhh, so that's what this excitement is about, alright, I'll go call her bluebell", he said patting her head as he walked into the other room, pulling up her contact, which he had on mute since it was usually just drunk texts and voicemails.

"Hey, Val, kennedy told me you were coming back"

"Hey Vince, that's correct, I'm hoping to be there maybe next week if filming stays on schedule, and I just can't wait to see my keekee, and you of course."

Valentina said, being flirty like she always was with him despite him saying multiple times he did not like it.

"I'm hoping to take her out to do something fun while I'm there, just me and her, but tell me, how is she doing lately?"

He rolled his eyes at her flirtatious comments, he hated it, he probably wouldn't mind as much, if she wasn't just saying that to try and get him in bed a second time, but he had given up on trying to get her to stop.

"Yep, I'll see you too Val", the thought of val being alone with his daughter did make him slightly uneasy, but he trusted kennedy's judgment enough to let her, "she's been doing good, just had a parent teacher conference with this one fucking prick I knew back in college, and he's arguably even more of a prick now."

"Guy you knew in college? I'm sure you knew him really well, if you catch my drift."

Val said, pausing to yell at someone before continuing.

"Anyways what he'd say about my baby, because if it was negative, I'll fucking end them."

"I don't think I am catching your drift, we were sort of friends I guess, then he started being a bitch right about the time I met my ex-wife", he understood what he meant, but he didn't feel like acknowledging it

"Oh yeah, he was saying how she's behind, and he thinks she needs some like mental help or some shit, and when I told him no, he said I was holding back her education, and I was like fuck off, you're overstepping, and he claimed he just made a suggestion, a suggestion that I told him I wouldn't be taking and he just pushed it off anyway, plus he pretended like he didn't remember me, fucking cunt"

"Wow, what an asshole, the fact that he would even imply such a thing is ridiculous. And besides, she doesn't need to be smart if she's going to be an actress like me, like you really should get her into those acting classes I suggested, they'd be way more beneficial than whatever dumb shit he suggested for her."

Val said, having always had this idea that Kennedy would follow in her footsteps despite her never taking an interest in acting.

"I don't even know what he thinks she's gonna do, I don't think kennedy does either, but she doesn't seem too interested in the acting classes, and there's plenty of other things she can do anyway, and the whole system doesn't even matter, they just try to keep them in for as long as fucking possible, just quit it and get your GED, its a lot fucking easier"

Vincent replied, though he's never really went through high school, so he only knows about it through others.

"Yeah, school was the worst, anyways got to go, byeeee."

Val said, hanging up without waiting for another reply.

He sighed and walked back into the living room, sitting next to Kennedy on the couch, staring at his phone while her eyes were fixated on the TV.

Most of the parent teacher conferences went smoothly for Alastor, most listened to his suggestions, some would say they would, but he could tell by their tone they wouldn't.

Everyone of them was relatively normal, except for that one, with Vincent, he didn't understand how someone could be so conceited and self-centered, especially since he genuinely felt bad for Kennedy and how she clearly needed help.

It didn't really matter anymore, he was home, though the house had been a lot emptier than Vincent's was, especially after his wife's death, it was just him and his daughter.

After a long day at work, he loved coming home to his daughter, " hello how's your day been?"

"Same as every other day, pointless, how was yours?"

Lorraine asked, not bothering to look up from her textbook as she worked through her trigonometry homework, a plate of lemon cookies next to her as clear proof that she had baked earlier this evening.

Alastor had stayed at the school a lot later than most days due to conferences, so he was slightly more tired than usual.

"You'll learn to find joy in the small details of life one day my dear, but anyway, it was long, but mostly it went well, besides a run in with one of the parents whom I somewhat knew in college."

Lorraine nodded but didn't seem too convinced about that, she had mostly just been going through the motions for the last two years since her mom had died rather suddenly, and she hadn't really enjoyed anything aside from baking the same recipes she would make with her mom, which Alastor always gladly ate even if he didn't particularly care for sweets.

"Was it that one TV guy? Because he's the only person you've ever mentioned that you knew in college."

"Mhmm, can barely even remember his name", though he definitely could,"he's so conceited, it's only gotten worse with the amount of publicity he gets, he thinks he's above everyone and can say whatever he wants, it's quite annoying if you ask me, not to mention he's holding his daughter back."

"Sounds obnoxious, but I think one of his other daughters is in my science class, Layla or something, she's got the same last name at least and kinda looks like him. And she always beats me for the top grade in that class, she's a bit of an oddball though."

She said, remembering how much she's studied and practiced for that class only to come in second every single time.

"Really? I never thought someone like that could come from someone as dull as himself, though the odd part makes quite some sense, I'm sure she's cheating in some way or something, was always like her father to take the easy way out"

Every year he noticed how much she tried, he didn't care that she wasn't at the top at all, but he wasn't sure if she did.

"I don't think that's the case, she's like really into bugs and stuff, and I've seen her notes once, full of all those scientific names for things. And for the science fair last year, she had a full terrarium of butterflies she apparently raised from caterpillars, which is probably hard to cheat, especially with how documented it was."

Lorraine said shutting her textbook, even though her grades were still very high, she always felt disappointed in herself that she wasn't at the same level she was when she was younger, she had even skipped a whole grade in elementary school, but now she felt like she was just an average A student.

He paused for a second, he thought it was odd Vincent's child would be anything like she described, then again, Kennedy was a lot more pleasant to have in class than Vincent would ever be.

"Well second is still extraordinary dear, otherwise they wouldn't give it a fancy name", he said putting a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him and gave him a small smile but it again didn't make her feel any better.

Normally after talking with Lorraine, Alastor would record something for his podcast, which was honestly more successful than his teaching job, but due to the long day he decided to just go to bed for tonight.

It was around a week later when Valentina came by on a Saturday morning, just showed up without even calling ahead first, knock on the door before it was even 10 am.

"Morning sleepyhead, is keekee up? Because I already have plans for us for today."

She said when Vincent opened the door still in his pajamas. For once she was dressed modestly, well, modestly for her, wearing skinny jeans, a low cut sweater, and her oversized heart glasses that she swore up and down weren't prescription glasses.

Vincent had just woken up from the sound of the knocking, he typically liked to sleep in on his few days off that weren't during the school week. His eyes looked groggy, his hair was a mess, and his glasses were slightly tilted. Although he had a reputation of himself where his looks definitely mattered, he didn't feel the need to dress up in the first place since it was just val, although it was less than ideal.

"I don't think she is yet, but I'm not entirely sure, I haven't checked yet", he said his voice still tired as he side stepped to the side of the door to let val in, " and what plans are those?"

"Just going to this fall festival in town, I was able to get some tickets for free because I used to date the guy who's running it this year."

She said, stepping inside and setting her purse on the table as she sat down.

"And before you get your panties in a bunch, I know to not let her do any wild rides or anything, and to make sure she's hydrated and has breaks to sit down, I did actually read the articles you sent me on POTS." Though it had been several months after her diagnosis that she had read them.

Vincent did often get overly paranoid about his daughters, but that didn't stop him from an eye roll. how could he not, they were the only people he talked to on a regular basis that wasn't for business, and the worry wasn't particularly unreasonable with how often Violet and Kennedy ended up in the hospital or the ER.

"I appreciate that you read them, thank you, and I hope you stay true to your word, I trust you", though he didn't really, he just hoped implanting that in her head would influence her to keep her safe.

"Of course, now go wake her up so she can get ready, Kay?"

She asked, pulling out her phone, ignoring his eye roll.

"You got it Val", his voice laced with slight irritation. Though the main reason he was annoyed was just because he hated being commanded, he always liked to be the one in charge and if it was someone else he'd probably snap at them just for that, but he knew he had to keep the peace, just until she left again.

He knocked on Kennedy's door, "hey, Bluebell, Val is here."

Kennedy who was already up and was just sitting in bed flung open the door and practically ran towards Val who stood up and caught her in a hug.

"Hi mom, I've missed you so much, are you staying for long?"

Kennedy asked, hoping she was, despite how little Val was actually in her life, she looked up to her a lot and in Vincent's opinion viewed her through rose-colored glasses.

"At least a week, now go get dressed so we can have fun, just me and you DeeDee."

She said pulling away and watching how quickly she went to get ready.

Vincent felt somewhat guilty watching Kennedy be so hopeful for her biological mother to be in her life, he felt the need to do something out of fear she'd eventually realize that she just wasn't around much because she didn't want to be, but he knew he couldn't, at least not without tearing his and his daughter's relationship.

Even though he felt mostly fine a minute ago, watching how excited she was made the thought of losing her even harder, he turned to val, "I know I said I trust you, but so help me, if anything does happen to her…", he just looked at her her feeling as if he didn't have to finish the sentence. "Hope you guys have fun", he says to make the warning sound a little more friendly.

Val squinted at him over her glasses, but just smiled and held back the mouthful of insults she wanted to say.

"Course, babe, I'm always careful."

She said, using the voice she often used for annoying fans, or co-stars that she needed to get along with.

"I already told you that you can stop calling me that, thank you", he said completely ignoring the look she gave him and keeping his mouth shut as much as his brain would physically let him.

Just then Kennedy came back out and Val quickly left with her, not wanting to deal with Vincent anymore.

It couldn't have been more than 45 minutes later when they came back, and Kennedy just went straight back to her room while Val just stood in the doorway, her expression a mix of flustered, worry and annoyance.

After she left, he started making breakfast for him and his daughters, he made sure to leave some left overs in the fridge in case Kennedy wanted anything when she got back.

Violet intended to get up early that morning, she got A's in her one physical education class, since they were participation grades. she decided to delay taking it, if it was up to her she wouldn't have taken it all, because she knew how it would make her feel.

She mainly compared herself to the males who've been doing weightlifting after school every day, and it made her feel insecure about her own abilities, especially as she watched this one girl beat them on the track. She never cared about it much before but she was determined to be better or at least as good as that one girl.

She made a plan, she would start running and lifting every day, starting tomorrow, but she still had a bunch of AP classes she needed to study for and it was already late, she figured she could do it on little to no sleep anyway, but she had missed her alarm and her dad was shaking her away telling her that breakfast was done.

"No thank you, I need to go outside", she said

"Why?….eat first, then you can go do whatever you want", Vincent responded knowing he wouldn't get a straight answer out of her.

Violet rolled her eyes and agreed figuring she would just get this over with and then go.

"Remember to give yourself insulin before you eat", he reminded Violet

Violet hated when he did that, even though she would've forgotten anyway, " I know dad", though her voice didn't show that. She gave herself insulin and ate and then bolted out the door, and less than five minutes later he watched Kennedy come back in.

"Well at least she came back in one piece, what happened?", he sighed giving val a glare.

"She just started freaking out, just out of the blue and she wouldn't tell me what was wrong, so I had to practically drag her back to the car because she refused to calm down."

Val said, her voice sharp, not appreciating the look he was giving her.

"Well for one, how about we not drag my baby?", he said suppressing the anger as best he could, which was not well.

"I highly doubt she freaked out for no reason", he paused to think for a second, " shit…were there clowns?"

"Yeah, there were a few, but since when is she afraid of clowns? That's something you probably could have told me beforehand!"

She said, pointing a finger at him accusingly, deflecting it onto him, so she wouldn't have to feel guilty over not knowing what her own daughter was afraid of or for not knowing how to comfort her when she was scared.

Though the deflection did make him feel guilty internally, Vincent hated admitting when he made a mistake, " she's always been afraid of clowns! Like I'm almost positive she didn't even see any killer clown movies and as soon a normal clown popped up on the tv screen she freaked the fuck out "

"I feel like there was probably some signs that you could've been more attentive too, instead of getting mad at me that I can't give you a run down of her life in five fucking minutes", he said as his fists clenched by his sides.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm sooo busy with my career, and maybe I would be more attentive if you would actually let me be a fucking parent and not some guest or whatever! Like maybe if you weren't so focused on your fucking image and ego, you'd see that you're purposely pushing me out of her life!!"

She said, storming out the door, slamming it, and sitting in her car, and sped out of the driveway, leaving Vincent there to go check on Kennedy, and clean up the mess Val had made, like always.

He stared at the door for a minute trying to find the words or where those claims even came from, before realizing it doesn't really matter, she's gone now anyways, maybe he'll send her some fake-ass apology after he checks on Kennedy.

He knocks on her door, "hey, Kennie, you doing okay?", he asks praying to a god he didn't believe in that she didn't hear the fight.

There wasn't any verbal response from Kennedy but he heard the door unlock, so he opened the door and saw Kennedy sitting on the floor, one of her blankets wrapped around her and one of her favorite stuffed animals in her lap, and she looked up at Vincent, tears running down her face, but didn't say anything.

Vincent's eyebrows immediately drooped as he saw her. He got on the floor with her as he gently placed a hand over the blanket she had wrapped around herself, "do you want a hug?"

She nodded and leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his torso.

"Did she leave?" Kennedy whispered, resting her head against his chest.

He sighed and wrapped around his arms around her tight, " ….yeah she did…I'm sorry"

"I didn't mean to make her mad, I just didn't like the clowns, but she didn't understand that, and kept telling me to stop crying but I couldn't, so she took me to the car and said I was embarrassing her, and that I'm too old to be acting like a baby, and….."

Kennedy said, recalling what had happened and stopped abruptly, looking ashamed as she looked at the floor.

"How fucking dare she. You're too good for her Bluebell. Please don't believe a word that comes out her mouth, you did absolutely nothing wrong, and tell me what else she said babe" He said really worried for whatever she was about to say, he really didn't understand why she still likes her, something like this happens every year, though this is the worst its gotten

"Well, it's more of what I said, I really shouldn't have said it, because I know she didn't mean what she said, she's just really stressed because she doesn't know if her pilot is getting picked up."

Kennedy said, defending her as always, though not as strongly as she had in the past.

"Yeah, I think she knows she'll have plenty more opportunities, did she say anymore, what did you say? you know I won't be mad at you Bluebell."

"I said that I didn't want to hear her screeching and to shut her fucking mouth, and then I threw up on the backseat. She didn't say anything else after that, just drove me home."

Kennedy said, pulling her stuffed animal closer to her, feeling a guilty about saying that and thinking that was what caused her to leave this time.

This was always his least favorite part, watching his daughter get this way, he felt an ache in his chest everytime.

"It's not your fault bluebell, I promise you it's not your fault, you didn't say anything wrong, you should stand up for yourself"

"I know but I could have been nicer about it, it makes me just as bad if I stoop down to her level."

She said, wiping her eyes, before looking back at him and deciding to change the subject.

"Can we have lunch? I'm really hungry."

Vincent accepted the change in subject, he wanted Kennedy to talk to him on her own terms, and didn't want to force her to tell him everything when she didn't feel like it.

"Yeah, I saved food for you from breakfast in the fridge if you want any of that."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Kennedy said, standing up and pausing, feeling a little bit dizzy from the sudden transition from sitting to standing.

Vincent reheats the eggs and toast he made earlier before placing a plate between her and himself.

Vincent had taken Kennedy to the mall in an attempt to try to cheer her up after everything, and it was well so far, they had got some candy, and some beads and were now going to stop at the bookstore before leaving.

Just as they entered the store Kennedy gasped, and began pulling him in a specific direction.

"Dad, it's my teacher Mr Thomas, I want to talk to him about my story."

She said, pulling him over there not even giving him a chance to respond.

Vincent placed a hand over his face, dreading the interaction he was dragged into. For once lately, can he just have a normal day, without needing to get into drama with relationships in the past, he thought to himself.

After yesterday Vincent wasn't really in the mood to play it cool. He had on an awkward intimidating smile, glaring at alastor, waiting for Kennedy to finish talking so it could be over with.

Alastor had just been accompanying Lorraine to the store because she had wanted to pick up some SAT prep books, and he had run into Kennedy and Vincent of all people.

"Hello Kennedy, what a pleasant surprise to see you here, …. Vincent" Alastor briefly glancing at Vincent before looking back at Kennedy.

"Hi Mr Thomas, I wanted to talk to you about my story, I've been working on it a lot, and I changed one of the characters names to-" Kennedy said, clearly planning on telling himself every detail about her story.

"Oh it's always a pleasure", Vincent interjected while further squinting at alastor, " let's keep this short Bluebell, we have things to do."

Kennedy frowned, but nodded and just gave him a brief overview of her progress.

"Well that certainly sounds very interesting, definitely something that would hook readers, just make sure to double check your spelling and grammar."

Alastor said, smiling at her while giving Vincent a pointed look.

His breath got heavy as he held his anger down and put a hand on kennedy's shoulder, "you do amazing Kennie, let's get back to shopping why don't we?"

"Ok, bye Mr Thomas, see you tomorrow."

Kennedy said as he walked away and Vincent steered her in the opposite direction, completely oblivious to the tension between them.

Vincent hated how charming Alastor could be, because he was sure it was all a front, he couldn't see anyone as insane as him wanting to be a teacher, and why did it have to be his daughter's class. Out of everyone in the college, Alastor was the only one he ever talked to, and of course he had to be in his area after too.

"You really like him huh?"

"Yeah, he likes my story and has given me a lot of helpful feedback, and he lets me draw in class because I said it helps me focus better while he's talking."

Kennedy said, looking at the books on the shelf in front of her, and picking up a book about Seahorses.

"Do some of your other teachers not let you? That's pretty fucking stupid if they don't, do you wanna get that?"

"Well I can pay attention in my math and science class without drawing because they're just easier, but my history teacher doesn't let me. No, I'm just looking at it."

She said, setting the book back down, and walking towards the graphic novel section.

Vincent followed her, he'd never been the biggest fan of reading, his thoughts would always cover the words on the page before he spaced out and had to reread sentences ten times over. He picked up one out of the graphic novels out of curiosity and immediately put it down, " I thought these were supposed to be easier, why's there so many words?"

"Because they still have to tell what's going on, but to me they are easier to read with less words, regular books are a little hard because the words kinda get switched around and stop making sense after a little while."

Kennedy said, picking up a book with a pirate ship on the cover.

Vincent knew what her description sounded like, but he always had ways he got around his problems, " do you actually like reading?"

"Yeah, but mostly audiobooks or graphic novels, cause of that stuff, anyways I think I'm gonna get this book." She said, holding up the pirate book.

"Yeah if I have to read something I'll usually put it into a program where it reads it out loud to me. Alright then, do you want to keep looking around or go home?"

"Go home, and probably take a nap." Kennedy said as they walked towards the front of the store.

Lyra glanced out the window again and then back at the clock on the stove reading 11:29, her dad had parked in the driveway a good 20 minutes ago and still hadn't come in yet, and that coupled with how late it was, was enough to prompt Lyra to walk outside to see what he was doing.

She walked around the side of the car and saw him bent over, scrubbing the bottom of the trunk very aggressively.

"You spill something in there?" Lyra asked, making him jump because he hadn't even heard her walk up to him.

Vincent had lost track of the amount of times he's done this, they were all in his way of where he needed to be. He was sure that he could make it without turning this far, but he couldn't leave anything up to chance, because he had plans.

He'd never tell anyone about his psychopathic tendencies, he didn't know them and therefore it didn't effect him, and its not like he didn't give them a chance to get out of his way.

As soon as he heard his daughter Lyra, he placed the towel he using to clean up the stains directly on a big patch of blood that was still there despite his scrubbing, "uhhh, yeah, just cleaning up, hehehe", he was never really sure how his daughters would react if they found out but he preferred that remained a mystery.

Lyra took note of his awkward speech and glanced at the towel that was now absorbing the dark blood, and she looked back at him over the top of her glasses.

She had been suspecting that he'd been doing less than legal things for awhile now, after finding blood on his shirts when she did the laundry despite him not having any cuts or anything, and how that always happened just before he got promoted or a raise, one might call it good detective skills but Lyra was just good at recognizing patterns.

"I'm sure hydrogen peroxide would probably work much better than just a towel, and make sure it's all cleaned up tonight, I wouldn't want Kennedy or Violet's backpacks to get dirty from this when you take them to school tomorrow."

Lyra said, indirectly telling him to keep this stuff from ever effecting Kennedy's or Violet's life.

"Was planning on using it after the towel, for the", he glanced at the visibly red towel, " for the red drink I spilt."

He nodded confident that she wasn't gonna say anything, especially for her sister's sake.

Lyra nodded back but still gave him a long look, reminding him that she could be scary when she wanted to.

"Anyways, I was helping Kennedy with her homework earlier, and I think what you said her teacher said, might be correct, and as much as I love helping her, I don't think I'm equipped to give her the help she needs."

He wasn't taken aback by her serious side, he couldn't be genuinely scared by his daughters, but he understood she was serious.

"I just…i don't know, I don't want her to feel like there's something wrong with her, especially after what happened with val"

"I think by ignoring it is more likely to make it seem like it's something bad that shouldn't be talked about it, her getting tutoring or whatever she needs, wouldn't be any different than the accomodations she needs for her POTS, or for Violet's diabetes."

Lyra said, having already rehearsed this answer in her head earlier when she was thinking about the best way to bring this up to him.

"It's different, those are physical disabilities, and I could get behind tutoring, and I understand what you're saying…to a degree, I talked with her not to long ago about her problems in that class, and I just don't want someone to go in and tell my daughter she has mental problems, which I'm not fully convinced she does", Vincent was a lot more understanding when he talked about this with Lyra compared to alastor, for quite a few reasons.

"1, it's a learning disability, not a mental problem, and it's thought to affect around 1 in 5 people in the US. 2, if you're not fully convinced, then it shouldn't be an issue to get her tested, because if you're right you can say I told you so to the teacher, and if she does have it, she can get the support she needs. It's a win win situation."

Lyra replied, bringing up points in a way he would like.

The main point that stuck in his head was just the possibility of being able to tell Alastor he was right, " I'll talk to her about it", he knew it would probably come back positive but that didn't mean he couldn't fantasize about telling Alastor's stupid face that he was wrong and he was right.

Lyra nodded and went back inside, pleased with how that conversation had went, she honestly expected him to need more convincing than that.

Vincent walked back inside approaching Kennedy, "hey, Kennie, you mentioned before that words got jumbled in your head a lot…do you think you might have a learning disability?"

Kennedy looked up from the book she was reading in bed even though she was technically supposed to be asleep, and thought for a moment.

"Uh, that would probably make sense, and wouldn't really surprise me, why?"

She asked, not sure what prompted him to ask her about this.

"A couple people brought it up and suggested to me that you could get testing, because they think it would help you, I was honestly hesitant about it, but it's your decision. I also don't understand why you like reading, it's so boring", he had been a bit nervous to tell her, afraid shed view it as a bad thing as Lyra said, but she didn't seem ashamed of it which eased a lot of his tensions.

"Well if getting tested would get me stuff to help with school, I want to do it because I do want to do well in school. And I just like reading because I like learning about stuff, or reading about a different perspective than my own."

Kennedy explained before yawning.

"Well your teacher and your sister think they would, so we can get you an appointment to get you tested, alright? and you can go to bed, it's already way too late for you to be up."

Kennedy nodded and set her book on her nightstand and laid down in her bed that was overflowing with her stuffed animals.

Kennedy was in class and she was just doodling in her notebook while listening to Mr Thomas talk about the book they had been reading for class the past few weeks, and she started feeling a little bit lightheaded and nauseous, the warning signs of a pre syncope episode.

She was supposed to go to the nurse when she felt like this, but she figured she would be fine this one time, and she didn't want to miss Mr Thomas's explanation of the book.

Alastor didn't notice anything wrong at first, he just kept writing notes on the whiteboard, before finally glancing at the class, he picked up that she didn't seem too perky, but didn't want to call her out in front of the class, especially since he wasn't sure if she was just tired or not.

She was able to sit through the rest of class fine, but it was hard to pay attention with the lightheadedness and nausea, but when she stood up when the bell rang, she felt the dizziness get worse and her heart start to beat a lot faster and she squatted down beside her desk, just before fainting, and slumping sideways on the ground.

Alastor was at least glad that everyone had left by the time she was on the floor. he felt panic surge in his chest, wondering whether it was appropriate to call 911, the office or just her parents directly. He knew he was supposed to call the office in times like these, but he knew that would just make the process longer.

He kneeled next to her and pulled out his phone, as he searched up his public phone number. It was the same one he had since college. He found it odd and yet like him to not have one phone number for work and the public and another phone number for personal use. He called it and prayed he picked up.

Ever since realizing who Kennedy's father was, he'd been worried for her. Vincent had always had rather aggressive tendencies, and seeing how their meeting went, he clearly hadn't changed. He worried this incident was somehow connected to him, even though her disability was on her transcript so he knew it was pretty unlikely.

Vincent tended to pick up all calls, sometimes without even looking, if it was a scammer or someone trying to sell him something, he'd often just start screwing with them. The main reason being incase any incidents happened, though he was also always curious. As soon as he heard the first ring he pressed accept.

"Vincent, your daughter just fainted,I don't know if she takes the bus or-"

Vincent couldn't care right now that alastor was calling him, all he cared about was making sure his daughter was safe, "I'll be there in 5, if she doesn't wake up in like 2-ish minutes, please call 911", even though it was usually more of an 8-10 minute drive

"will do", Alastor said , the worry in his voice and how quickly he decided to come made him start to think a bit better about Vincent.

Kennedy was awake less than 90 seconds after fainting but she was definitely a bit disoriented from it, and just laid there staring at the ceiling for a minute before slowing sitting up, her back against her desk.

Vincent was in there in 6 minutes after ignoring the stop signs and speed limits, and he entered the classroom and saw Kennedy sitting against her desk with Alastor sitting beside her, and seeing him sitting there, visibly worried about her, did something to his brain that he wasn't sure he liked but he didn't have time to deal with that now.

Vincent sat down next to her, "you alright Bluebell?, do you need a juice box or anything?"

"Probably water, I think I forgot to drink any today."

Kennedy said, sounding like she was probably ready for a nap now.

He opened up his bag that was hanging from his side and handed her the water bottle that was inside it, " just tell me when you're ready babe."

Kennedy nodded and took the bottle from him, drinking half of it in one huge sip and handed it back to him.

"Okay, we can go now." She said a few minutes later, getting up slowly with Vincent holding her arm.

"do you want me to carry you so you can keep laying down or are you good now?", he asked her.

"Carry me." Kennedy said, she probably could have walked but she didn't want to take any chances and faint again, plus, she just liked being carried.

He scooped her up and glanced at Alastor, this time his expression a lot softer. Even though it didn't stop him from being pissy about the fight he was really grateful to him. "thank you", he said softly before carrying her out to the car and immediately turning on the air conditioning to max.

Kennedy laid down in the backseat and was asleep in less than five minutes. When they got home Vincent picked her up again and carried her inside and laid her on the couch, and threw a light blanket over her, before going back on the porch to grab the giant package he had seen and bought it inside.

He checked the label and saw that it was addressed to Kennedy and that it was From Valentina.

Vincent decided to open the package to see what it was before he told her, if he even did. He assumed it was some giant materialistic gift to 'apologize' for her last visit. He gently ripped off the tape and flipped the tabs open.

Inside the box was a giant pink shark stuffed animal that was just about the same size as Kennedy, and underneath it in the box was a couple bracelet kits, as well as a note for Vincent.

"Hey Vinny, hope she's feeling better after what happened, sorry to leave so abruptly but I was needed back on set and you know how it is. Anyways, I really think you should consider those acting classes for Kennedy, they're supposed to be very good for boosting confidence in kids.

Love, V."

He rolled his eyes, he didn't know what to do, he considered either not telling her at all or telling her that he got it, but it was highly possible she'd visit again, and Vincent wasn't really sure if Kennedy would ever want to talk about it between then and she might ask her about it.

The letter was something he would risk keeping silent, especially since it was addressed to him anyway. He took the letter and ripped it up putting the remains in his pocket before going back inside waiting for kennedy to wake up.

Kennedy woke up an hour later, and Immediately noticed the large box in the middle of the living room. "What's that?" She asked, sitting up and looking at Vincent curiously.

"Val sent you something", he already expected her to forgive Val as soon as she saw everything, if she hadn't already.

Kennedy got up and peered inside the box and immediately pulled out the shark and hugged it tight, a huge smile on her face that melted his heart regardless of the reason behind it, she also saw the bracelet sets, but she was mostly just excited about the shark.

"Dad, it's so soft!" She said, shoving it into his hands for a second.

"Oh-, yep, its pretty soft", he responded. he thought about asking her about Val or saying something but he didn't want to ruin this moment of seeing his daughter so happy.

Lorraine thought she would've had more time before her dad was home, and that's why she was on the front porch, smoking. It was something she had only been doing the last few months just because she needed something to help with the stress and baking just wasn't helping as much as it used too.

Alastor had gotten done with his planning early and had managed to get home earlier than he took had expected. Alastor immediately stood in front of her with his hand out, "hand it over, you're too young for that now"

Lorraine handed it over but she didn't look guilty or regretful in the slightest.

"I don't do it that often, just something to help with the stress of everything, and it could be worse, like alcohol or crack."

She said, sounding much grumpier than he expected from her.

" Just because it's better doesn't mean it's good for you, wouldn't want you to die from lung cancer now would we", he didn't really intend on punishing her, he knew she'd been through a lot and was close to being an adult, though he did also smoke occasionally. He felt like he'd be a bad parent if he did nothing.

"It takes years to develop lung cancer from smoking, you don't get it from smoking occasionally at the end of a few shitty days."

she said, glancing at the cigarette in his hand and walking inside without another word.

He followed her inside, "Lola, did something happen today dear?"

"Yeah, but it's stupid and I shouldn't be getting this mad over it."

She said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"you can tell me, you know I'd never judge you",he responded sitting across from her.

"One of the people I hang out with said I'm basically the textbook example of what happens to so-called gifted kids in the real world, they become all depressed and realize they're not actually better than everyone."

Lorraine said , still upset by it and by the fact that it actually got to her.

Alastor didn't know how to respond. He wanted to comfort his daughter but he knew it did hold some truth, "I'm sorry that happened Lora."

"It's fine, I just don't why it got to me, I'm usually able to just ignore their stupid comments."

"I still think you're exceptional dear."

"I know dad, anyways I probably should go start on my homework."

She said, getting up and going to her bedroom.

Violet was walking around with her friend Pearl down the hallway, " Pearl!, okay, I have to tell you everything", she said jumping with excitement

"So, my sister got held back last year, Kennedy, though I already told you that…I'm pretty sure, and she's doing a lot better this year though she still has a lot of struggles with English, I tried to help her but I couldn't and I feel bad, but dad signed her up for an appointment to get diagnosed with dyslexia, which is kinda funny because he hates the teacher that suggested it, I don't really know why, I just remember I was out with him one time when we ran into him and they would not stop giving each other dirty looks."

"Yeah, you told me that part before. It's good she's getting tested for that, I know that it definitely helped me when I got evaluated for autism, and the accomodations I got definitely help me do better in school."

Pearl said, putting her school books into her locker while Violet was moving all around.

"Yeah, do you ever have problems with that? Like teachers or substitutes not looking at the forms they're supposed to and then not believing you?", she asked knowing she's had quite a few run-ins.

"Sometimes, it's especially the worst when I'm trying to explain why they need to be following it, and they think I'm being rude because of my tone, or face, or that I don't make eye contact, but I've gotten used to it, it is probably worse because I'm a girl though."

"Yeah, I've mostly had problems with substitutes trying to take my phone or telling me I can't use it, I used to just hand it over, but it did lead to me having to go to the hospital once and dad told me if it ever happened again I needed to walk straight to the office and report it, with how many stories I've heard about it they really need to put stricter regulations in place, anyway hows your classes going?", Violet asked.

"They're going good, so far I've just had one teacher try and pull that crap this year, but my sister talked with them and they've been better about it. How's yours going?"

"Really bad, I have two B+'s right now and I'm sure I can probably get them up or at least one but it's still freaking me out and I came in last Sunday to do a practice AP test and I got a 3, a stupid 3", she said pulling her hair.

"I would offer to study with you but I don't think that would help because I don't really have to study because I just remember everything really easily."

Pearl said, to anyone else that probably would have sounded conceited but Violet knew her well enough to know she was just saying it like it was.

"Yeah, this stuff also comes pretty easy to me, I just don't think I'm trying enough, plus I keep spacing out, oh yeah, my sister fainted yesterday."

"That sucks, hope she's okay. But why do you think you're spacing out? Is it like day dreaming or something else? Because not being able to focus could be a sign of a lot of stuff if it's happening a lot."

Pearl said, shutting her locker and starting to walk down the hall.

"She is, it happens sometimes, dad drove over to her school quicker than I'd ever seen him drive. Uhmm..I don't know I've just always done it, I wouldn't say it's really daydreaming I mean sometimes, but like I'll try to pay attention and I'll keep telling myself to pay attention and then I forget what's happening because Im focused on telling myself to pay attention, and then it'll make me think of something else, though it gets a lot better in classes where the teacher lets me talk and answer questions, instead of those stupid sticks, I hate the sticks, or sometimes my mind just goes blank."

"Yeah, for me it's the opposite, I do better when I'm not called on and can just pay attention to what's going on. Anyways, Charlie is about to pick me up, you want a ride home or do you have stuff today?"

Pearl asked, glancing at her phone.

"Thanks for the offer but I have Deca in an hour and I'm planning on using that time to get help from a teacher, though it's more so just because I focus better on school stuff when I'm here."

"That makes sense, see you tomorrow." Pearl said walking out the school doors.

Alastor had just finished with his last class of the day and was sitting at his desk waiting for Vincent to show up to the PTA meeting to discuss accommodations for Kennedy regarding her dyslexia diagnosis which Alastor was surprised that he actually went through with it.

Truthfully that did little to change his opinion of vincent compared to seeing how he was with Kennedy after she had fainted, and that scene was enough for Alastor to reconsider killing him, which he was considering pretty heavily, it wouldn't be the first time he had taken care of a parent that he viewed as unfit.

Vincent was almost excited for the meeting this time. He hoped it would go better than it did before hand. Remembering how he felt watching him sit next to her visibly worried he didn't quite understand what he was feeling, but it did motivate him to be on time for this.

He sat down with the same bright smile present like before, five minutes early.

"Mr Whittman, I appreciate you scheduling this meeting and finally taking my recommendation, now I do already have some accommodations that I think would work for Kennedy, but if you have any suggestions or concerns please go ahead."

Alastor said, smiling at him with a wide smile that didn't reach his eyes that were unreadable.

"It was more like I took my other daughter's suggestion, but go ahead", he said watching his eyes, wondering why they seemed just as pretty as they did in college, maybe more.

"Alright, so first, I think she would probably do well to have after school tutoring twice a week to help her with grammar and spelling, and during class she will be allowed extra time to complete in class work."

Alastor said, taking note of how Vincent had a few patches of grey hair mixed in with his black hair, and how it honestly worked for him.

"I do think she'd be okay with that, she wants to do well in your class, but if she does end up having concerns about it, that will come above anything else", he took note of Alastor's hair as well, he couldn't find a single gray hair despite remembering that he was one year younger than him.

"Of course, I'm completely willing to answer any questions you or she has, and here are some tutors that have worked great for some of my other students."

Alastor replied, handing him a list with a few phone numbers written down on it.

"Appreciate it", he says glancing down at the list of numbers, he didn't want this to be over yet, despite everything, he looked back up at him, "and again I really appreciate you calling me, didn't think you still had my number."

"Well I've always had a knack for remembering things, and you're welcome Vincent."

He said, his smile softening slightly into something more genuine.

His smile also softened at the use of his first name, wondering why it made his chest feel both looser and tighter at the same time. "She really likes you"

"Well I'm glad she likes me, I do try my best. But she is a pleasure to have in class, I'd say she's probably my most creative student which is honestly a trait that's not valued enough in school as much as it should be."

Alastor said, meaning what he said about Kennedy, unlike the rest of the time when he said something similar about a student of his to their parents.

"Well, she is my bluebell…I think that's it unless there's something else you wanted to discuss?", he asked folding his hands together.

"I do believe that was all, but I'm glad this meeting was able to be productive."

Alastor said, standing up and holding his hand out for him to shake.

Vincent took his hand in his firmly and shakes it, "I am as well…I suppose…I…apologize..for being difficult before", he said clearly hesitant. He wasn't sure if he was actually sorry but the other man's smile brought it out in him.

"Water under the bridge." Alastor says, waving his hand dismissively. "It's only natural to think your child is good at everything, Lord knows I probably have acted like that with my own daughter a time or two."

"I couldn't deny she was struggling with this, I just was worried she'd view it the wrong way, I probably wouldn't react well if a doctor or anyone told me there was something wrong or different with my brain, but she took it well and wasn't surprised and that's all I care about, I'll see you around Alastor", he said getting up to leave, still wondering why he felt this way.

Alastor nodded and watched Vincent walk out the door, feelings that he had desperately tried to bury two and a half decades ago coming back up to the surface.

When Vincent got home, he thought Lyra might have the answer as to why he's feeling this way. "Hey Lyra, I have a question, so there's this one guy and I feel kind of similar to how I did when I met Elizabeth, but I'm pretty sure I'm not gay, but like he's really pretty and I don't want to stop being around him and he makes my chest feel weird, do you think it's like a disease or something?"

Lyra glanced up from her book, wildly unprepared for that question from him and just stared at him for a second.

"Uh…I think that sounds like a crush? Also there's more than just being gay and straight, you know that right?"

"I mean I know that, yes, I just didn't think I was, and I think I felt a similar way a long time ago about him and I don't really know what to do now because he was being so nice and his eyes looked so nice but he was such a dick back then", he says pacing back and forth.

"Hmm, well if he's being nice now why not asking him on a date, just to test the waters and see how it goes, and if you really do have feelings for him or just want to be friends."

Lyra suggested, not really sure if it was good advice because she's never dated anyone yet.

"Yeah, I should, why not, first I'm gonna send him a meme and see how he reacts though..wait he has a daughter, what if he's married, what if he's straight…then again he did not seem straight at all back in college now that I think about it", Vox said pulling out his phone and searching up memes until he found one that seemed good enough to send him.

"Yeah, a meme is a good icebreaker I suppose." Lyra said, laughing a little over how he was acting.

Alastor heard his phone buzz while he was preparing dinner and picked it up, surprised to see it was Vincent, but upon opening it he was a bit confused by it. Though Alastor did host a very successful podcast, he was definitely not a tech literate person in the slightest.

After staring at the meme for a good 5 minutes he replied to the text.

"I don't think you meant to send this to me, if you did, I'm afraid I don't understand it."

He laughed a bit, "he's so stupid", though it came out more affectionate than anything.

He wasn't even sure how to explain it, it seemed pretty straight forward to him, so he just moved on and replied, " are you currently seeing anyone if I may ask?", using his hand to cover his face in embarrassment.

Alastor felt his heart flutter as he read that text and typed out his response.

"Not currently."

"My daughter suggested that I should ask you out or something, not Kennedy, different one."

"Well, I'm flattered by this, I suppose I could be free this Saturday evening if that works for you."

"Yes!", he said as he pumped his fist in the air before responding. "Yes, that works for me, 5pm? Where were you thinking?"

Alastor thought for a moment as he stirred the soup he was making before replying. "How does Italian sound?"

"Good by me", he didn't typically like foreign foods but he was more excited that Alastor said yes to be picky.

He turned to Lyra, "thank you."

"You're welcome, I hope it goes well for you." Lyra said, happy for him.

"I hope it does too', he said, considering telling Kennedy, but he then decided to wait after the first date at least to see how it went

Though Alastor was excited to go with Vincent on Saturday, he was a bit nervous to tell Lorraine about it.

"Lola, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going on a date on Saturday"

"Oh, who with?" She asked, feeling conflicted about the idea of her dad dating someone other than her mom but not as conflicted as she thought she would be.

"The one parent I was talking about awhile back, Vincent Whittman", he said as if he wasn't ranting to her about how much she hated him.

"The one you said was conceited? Interesting choice but it's not my place to judge." Lorraine said, teasing him a little.

"Yes, that one, he apologized for his previous behavior."

"And is he going to be wearing disguise to avoid the paparazzi? A fake mustache and huge sunglasses and hat?"

"He did not mention that to me, but knowing him I doubt he would do that, especially that far", he said Laughing a little bit.

"Well, just don't do anything that would land the both of you in the tabloids." Lorraine said, laughing too.

"Will do my best dear."

Vincent started getting ready about 4pm, he put his contacts in because he refused to wear glasses most of the time. He went to his car and turned on "Bezos", by bo Burnham.

He arrived five minutes early practically jumping out of his seat when he saw Alastor.

Alastor walked over to the table, finding Vincent's eagerness almost endearing and he sat down across from him. "Hello Vincent, you look nice."

Vincent smiled and touched a piece of his hair, "why thank you, you…also… look nice , uhmm anyways, how have you been lately?"

"I've been good, just dealing with usual ups and downs of life the best I can, how have you been?"

Alastor asked, glancing at his menu.

"Got another promotion yesterday, so that's been good, but Kennedy's mom visited awhile ago and it didn't go very well, she's a lot to deal with", he said with a sigh.

"Oh, what happened?" Alastor asked curiously

"Well she doesn't show up very often in the first place, and every time she does something happens, she said she was going to stay for at least a week, she left in like an hour, and she was on the floor crying. Her mom was saying all this shit to her dragging her to the car telling her she's an embarrassment, then she just sent some gifts for her awhile after that"

"My goodness, that sounds awful, and you say that happens every time she comes around? Sounds like that woman needs to take a parenting class or two." Alastor said, appalled by how someone could treat their child that way.

"Speaking of, whatever did end up happening to Elizabeth? You and her seemed like the perfect couple back in college."

"Yep, and everytime Kennedy gets her hopes up, she was overjoyed when she said she was coming, I feel bad for her, especially since the whole reason that lead to that was she saw clowns, she's terrified of clowns. As for Elizabeth, she left a year after Violet was born, we kinda just grew apart but what happened to your daughter's mother if I may ask?"

"She passed away 2 years ago, it was very sudden. It was hard of course, but Lorraine especially took it hard, she was very close with her, and hasn't really been the same since."

"Oh, I'm so sorry that happened."

"It's alright, anyways moving onto a more pleasant topic, what are you thinking of ordering? Because I think the eggplant Parmesan looks particularly good."

"Great, For a drink, Pepsi, for food", he looked at the menu again looking for something that was bland enough for him tolerate, "I'll probably just get pasta"

"I'll probably just have water with it, I'm not much of a soda drinker." Alastor said, before ordering their meals.

"So what made you decide to ask me out?"

"My daughter suggested it, Lyra."

"Well, I'm glad she did, you know, I used to have the biggest crush on you back in college." Alastor said, smiling at him.

"Oh, I'm flattered, I also liked you back then I'm pretty sure, I actually couldn't figure it out even now, I had to talk with Lyra about it, which speaking of college…what happened?"

"Ah, that, well I can't say that I am particularly proud of how I acted back then, but I was just so jealous of Elizabeth and how much attention and time you spent with her instead of me, and obviously now I know that it's because I liked you, but I was so oblivious to it back then." Alastor said, taking a sip of his water.

"Oh, well that's nice to hear, even though I got really excited about her, I never stopped putting you above her in my head, until I started thinking you were just a bitch."

"So, you have two other daughters besides Kennedy? What are they like?"

"Lyra's generally pretty happy but she can be intimidating when she wants to be, she really likes bugs and is really smart, she's valedictorian. Violet also has some medical problems, she's really sweet though she gets freaked out easily, she's also really smart, I tell her all the time that I think she's doing too much but shes always stubborn when it comes to that."

"I think Lyra might be in Lorraine's science class, but honestly she's the same way, constantly stressing over school and wanting to always be at the top, she's really good at baking though, like exceptional." Alastor said, bragging a little bit.

"Well that's nice, Violet's always wanted this independence, she's never been one that just wanted to stay a kid forever, I'll tell her I'll pay for everything, her gas and whatnot, it's really no dent in my account, but everytime she insists….do you ever get worried she's overworking herself?"

"Definitely, but I'm more worried about her general apathetic approach to life, while she cares about grades and baking, that's really it, and doesn't seem to get much joy out of anything."

"Yeah, I would probably be pretty worried too", he says taking a drink of pop. "A lot has changed since college, hows single-parenting going for you in general?"

"As well as can be expected, I don't think I do as well as Catherine did, though I'm sure it was probably easier for me since she was 15 at the time I became a single parent, meanwhile you had a 3 and 1 year old, plus Kennedy shortly after."

"Well they made it easy, especially as they got older and I could trust Lyra to watch Violet and Violet Kennedy and now I just trust them all at home by themselves, although Kennedy wasn't really planned, so for a couple years it definitely was a bit difficult,had to take paternity leave."

"Oh, speaking of, Lorraine asked me if you were going to show up to here wearing a fake mustache, and a large hat and sunglasses to hide from the paparazzi, and that we better not end up in the tabloids." Alastor said, still amused by it.

"If I did that I'd probably still end up on social media for looking ridiculous. I only told Lyra about this before I left."

"How is their relationship with Elizabeth?" Alastor asked, starting to eat his food.

"She gets along with her but doesn't really know her to well, I have full custody of all my kids pretty much because Elizabeth visits even less than Kennedy's mom, like last time I think Lyra was like 10 or 11, maybe 12."

"Hmm, well I'm sure they've adjusted well, you should try a bit of this, it's really good." Alastor said, holding his fork out to him.

"They have, oh,okay, thank you", he said taking the fork and trying a bite, "ehh, it's alright", he said going back to his pasta. "You're really pretty by the way"

"Thank you, you're not so bad looking yourself." Alastor blushing slightly.

"Wow, I guess I'll take it", he chuckled lightly, "I didn't expect really expect you to say yes to this."

"I'm glad that I did, and I would definitely like to go on a second date."

"Oh…that would be great", he said with a mix of awkwardness and excitement.

"How does coffee sound? Wednesday afternoon?" Alastor asked, finishing the last of his food.

"Works for me, this was nice Al."

"It was." Alastor replied, standing up.

"Would you like me to walk you to your car?"

"I suppose I could indulge you, just this once." Alastor said, teasing him.

Vincent shook his head amused as he walked to him car.

Alastor stopped in front of his car door and very quickly leaned closer and gave Vincent a brief kiss on the cheek.

Vincent held his hand to his face, gazing at him, "uhm…drive safe, see you Wednesday", he said Almost too flustered to speak.

"See you then." Alastor said, smiling at him again before getting into his car and driving away.

As soon as he got home Vincent rushed to tell Lyra everything. It has gone a lot better than he anticipated, and they even managed to clear up their falling out. He was really hoping it turned into having someone else he trusted in his life again., "Lyra, I cannot thank you enough for your suggestion."

"I'm assuming it went well then?" Lyra asked, smiling at him, genuinely happy that it went good. She wanted her dad to find someone to love, especially after how things went with her mom and kennedy's mom.

"Extremely, he kissed me at the end and suggested a second date", he responded shaking his hands, with the excitement of a middle school girl.

"That's awesome! I'm really happy for you dad." Lyra said, getting up and giving him a hug.

"Thank you Lyra", he said hugging her back. "I'm gonna go tell Kennedy."

"Ok, just don't get don't get her too excited that she'll have trouble falling asleep, she was already kinda bouncing off the walls earlier." Lyra said, embellishing a little bit.

"…is there a reason for that? That you know of?"

"Not that I know of, but she kinda settled down after dinner when when I put on that dino movie she likes, I think she's drawing now."

"Got it", he says going over to Kennedy and watching her draw, "hey Kennie, remember that English teacher you like?"

"Mr Thomas, what about him?" Kennedy asked, looking up from her drawing of a dinosaur in a flower garden.

"He kissed me", he said just wanting to see how she'd react with that information alone out of curiosity.

"What? Why?" Kennedy asked, picturing her teacher just randomly going up to him and kissing him.

"Because we're dating", he said laughing a bit at how he presented it.

"Oh, that's awesome, I really like him. " Kennedy getting up and jumping at him for a hug.

"Yeah, I do too, we actually liked each other a long time ago too.", he said hugging her back.

"Oh, cool. " She said, wrapping her arms and legs around him, and hanging off him like a koala.

"It's late bluebell, you shouldn't be so energetic."

"Fine, but only because you asked nicely." Kennedy said, letting go of him and sitting back at the table.

"Was just saying, did something happen today to make you so excited or did someone give you caffeine or something?"

"Violet shared half her soda with me, don't know if it had caffeine, probably should have asked."

"Got it, I'm also gonna go tell Violet about him", Vincent said walking into Violet's room pretty excited to tell her also.

"Hey, vi, I just started seeing someone"

"Oh, how'd that happen?, would I know who it is?"

"Uhmm kinda, you saw him one time when I went to store with you, Alastor, Kennedy's English teacher, Mr. Thomas"

"….thought you hated him to be honest."

"I did"

"Yeah, that figures, what happened?"

"Well I knew him in college and the main reason I hated him was he essentially broke things off with me , we were friends, and then a buncha shit happened and we talked about it and he told me he only did that because he was jealous of Elizabeth."

Violet giggled a bit.

"What is it?", he asked.

"Toxic yaoi."

"What?"

"Nothing dad, happy for you."

It had been just over a month since Alastor and Vincent had started dating, and Alastor was quite honestly still over the moon about it, it was so nice getting to reconnect with Vincent and getting close with him, and he also liked getting to know his daughters as well. Currently they were all out working in Vincent's garden that had definitely gotten a bit overgrown.

Well most of them, Lorraine had stayed home working on school work, and Kennedy was sitting in a lawn chair nearby , working on her dinosaur story.

Violet of course took this as another opportunity to prove herself even her dad never doubted her. Thinking she's going to get all the weeds and she's going to do an amazing job, and she did what she always did and decided the task at hand was determined of herself worth as she ripped them out of the ground aggressively.

"Vi, you don't need to be so hard with it, they come pretty easy", he said gently pulling a patch off the ground.

Vincent still had a hard time believing that he had started dating again, with Alastor no less but it definitely wasn't unwelcome. In some ways it almost felt like nothing changed between them since then.

Lyra was originally also helping pull weeds, but she had gotten a little distracted and now was very intently watching a caterpillar. Alastor noticed this, and nudged Vincent and gestured towards her, finding it a little funny.

He smiled at him as he watched her be mesmerized by the bug. "Oh hey it's you", he said with a smile, feeling like messing with him a little.

"I am not an insect Vincent." Alastor said, pretending to be offended, glancing at Lyra when she spoke up.

"Yeah, insects are cuter." She said giggling, causing Alastor to also laugh.

Vincent also laughed in response, kissing alastor on the cheek. " I got flower seeds if you guys want to plant those."

"You got the ones I told you to right? Because only a few types of flowers can be planted this late in fall, and be ready to grow in the spring." Lyra said, picking up the caterpillar in her hand.

"Yes I did, don't worry", he said glancing at the instructions on the back of the packet and then back to Lyra and Alastor, "do uh, either of you want to read this?"

Alastor took the packet from him and quickly reads the instructions on it.

"It says to rake the dirt until it's softened, sprinkle them on the dirt, and just gently pat the dirt but don't bury the seeds."

"They're so tiny and close together, it's not my fault", Vincent says being defensive about how quickly he could read it. "Anyone got the rake or is it still in the garage?"

"Right there, I'll get it." Lyra said, going to get it while Alastor stared at Vincent over the top of glasses. "Is something the matter dear?"

"I don't think so, why do you ask?"

"You just seem to be a bit defensive dear, but if you say nothing's the matter I'll drop it." Alastor said, taking the rake from Lyra.

"Appreciated but everything's great, as it always is, especially with you ", though Vincent was definitely pretty content in the moment, he had been used to keeping a lot of things suppressed.

Alastor accepted his answer and started on raking, watching as Vincent began taking all of the pulled weeds and put them in a bucket so Lyra could turn them into compost, a project she's been wanting to do for a while.

"So, I was thinking that after we finished, I could make you all lunch? How does chilli sound? As long as you don't mind waiting a bit."

"That sounds good babe, okay, looks softened to me, who wants to put the seeds down?"seeds in?"

"I will!" Lyra said, grabbing the poppy seeds from him and sprinkling them over the dirt patch.

"Any dietary restrictions or preferences I should be aware of?" Alastor asked, setting the rake aside.

"Kennedy's a vegetarian but that's about it, violet has diabetes, though you've probably noticed her dexcom, not sure if you know what that is, but she can still eat anything."

"I know what a dexcom is, a few students of mine have had them, but vegetarian chili and cornbread it is, I'll probably just need to make a quick trip to the store."

"Alright then, do you want me to come with or do you got it?"

"You can come with if you want." Alastor said, slipping off his gardening gloves and brushing the dirt off his pants.

Vincent rubbed his hands together and smacked his pants to get the dirt off, "alright then, love you guys, we'll be back", he said turning to his daughters as he followed him.

Alastor got into his car and switched the radio off so he could talk with Vincent.

"So, when did Lyra's bug obsession start?" Alastor asked, curious about it.

"I think she's pretty much always had it, when she was a baby and I watched her outside she would just be mesmerized by bugs."

"Lorraine was like that a little bit when she was younger but just with fireflies, she used to love catching them, I even used to call her firebug."

"Lyra calls violet 'moonbug' sometimes, also out of curiosity do you also say lightning bugs or do you just say fireflies?"

"Just fireflies, but that's a cute nickname, I call Lorraine Lola and Lora sometimes."

"I call violet vi, Kennedy kennie and bluebell, and I call them all babe also., but you've probably noticed that by now."

"Mmhm, anyways, we're here, just need canned beans and tomatoes, onions, tomato paste and broth, cornbread mix because homemade would take far too long, and I think that's it." Alastor said parking the car.

"Got it", he said writing it down on his phone so he wouldn't forget while walking in the store with him. He knew Alastor wouldn't but he didn't want to have to check with him every 5 minutes.

Alastor walked into the store with him and picked up a basket before heading to the canned food aisle and looking between the types of beans.

"So what hobbies do you have?"

"I'm not sure about hobbies…uhm..I like the ocean, if that counts, what about you?"

"I have a podcast, it's mostly history and cooking stuff, though it's gotten a lot more popular than I ever anticipated it would."

"That's interesting, I'll have to check it out sometime, I'm not big on most history, but I do really like roman history, and everything with manifest destiny and some us history by extension, imperialism, and isolationism".

"Truthfully it makes enough that I could hypothetically quit my teaching job, but I like being a teacher." Alastor said, finally picking a type of bean and moving on the the canned tomatoes and tomato paste.

"With the amount of money my job makes I could probably retire early, but I like my job, I love the attention", he picked up a random can of of tomato paste, "is this good?"

"Yes, that one is fine." Alastor said, taking it from him and setting it in the basket. "So what do you think your girls would be doing for jobs in the future, I know that Lorraine has considered being a piano teacher or opening a bakery."

"I think Lyra might end up doing something with books, librarian or bookstore owner, Violet would probably do something with science, not sure with Kennedy, maybe something with art."

"That makes sense, she's always doodling in class and she's quite good at it, though she does seem particularly invested in that dinosaur story of hers."

"Yeah, she's been working on it a lot lately", he checks the list, "is the broth next?"

A stranger with dark black hair walked up to Vincent. "Oh my God! Are you him? Are you Vincent Whitman? Who's your friend?"

"Yes, and as much as I am flattered, I'm a little busy at the moment, and don't have time for questions, thank you."

Alastor just watched that interaction and as the person walked away before turning to Vincent.

"Does that happen often?"

"Quite, surprised no one said anything before, you mentioned your podcast was pretty popular, people ever recognize your voice?"

"No, when I do it I speak in a Trans-atlantic accent, a skill I taught myself, it's honestly rather fun doing so."

"I love doing accents, don't really have a favorite one, my voice also just kinda goes everywhere sometimes especially when I hear someone else speak in that accent."

"It's especially fun when I slip into that accent unintentionally while having a conversation and the looks I get because of it are priceless." Alastor said picking up a box of cornbread mix.

"That's everything unless there was something you wanted to get?"

"Nah, we can head back now."

Alastor nodded and started walking towards self checkout, preferring to deal with this stuff himself.

They arrived back at the house and Vincent helped take the groceries out of the bag and put them on the counter for him.

Alastor immediately put the broth and tomato paste in a pot to simmer while he began rinsing the beans off. "You can help by chopping the onions." Alastor instructed him.

"Got it", Vincent said grabbing a cutting board that was randomly tossed in a cabinet close to the ground and a sharp kitchen knife. First cutting down the middle and then repeatedly cutting both sides of it vertically. "This good?"

"Yes, good job. Now go ahead and just add them to the pot."

Vincent followed his orders immediately and put them in the pot. Normally he'd hate it, but after Alastor told him he was doing a good job, he decided he could indulge.

Alastor finished with the beans and added them to the pot as well as a few seasoning, and started on the cornbread mix.

"Once this goes in the oven we'll just need to wait for the soup to just simmer for awhile."

Vincent nods, watching him out in the oven. He sat on the counter across from the stove, kicking his legs, "how long does it take?"

"Should be 45 minutes to an hour." Alastor said sliding the cornbread mixture into the oven.

Vincent looks out the window, "hold on Al",he says opening the door. " Vi, you can come inside, you don't have to keep pulling weeds out, I'm pretty sure it's practically just dirt at this point"

"No, there's more, I see them!"

"…. whatever you say Vi", he said closing the door.

"She certainly is determined." Alastor said, sitting beside him on the counter.

"Swear, give that girl a task and that's all she can focus on", he said grabbing his hand.

"Lorraine is the same way sometimes, especially with baking, and speaking of, she'd probably beat me if she knew I was using a mix for the cornbread."

"She's gonna smack you with a meter stick….my science teacher did that before I dropped out…that makes it sound bad, it was a science lesson he didn't actually hurt anyone but he chased everyone around with a meter stick, it was really funny watching the expression of people's faces as they went by the classroom, also, speaking of, I would like to meet your daughter at some point."

"I would like that as well, she's just not much of a people person, and she likes to spend a lot of time studying and preparing for the SATs and that kind of thing."

"Yeah I kinda figured that based on everything you told me, Violet's honestly not a home a lot of the time, she's usually doing something, and when she is home she'll usually finish up some school work."

"Lorraine is home a lot but she used to do cheerleading a few years ago, and she was quite good at it."

"Why'd she quit?"

"She said she just didn't see the point anymore."

They continued talking for the next 45 minutes until he heard his timer beep. "Looks like it's ready."

Alastor put on some oven mitts that had sharks on them and pulled out the cornbread, and then checked the soup.

"It's just about done, where do you keep the bowls?"

Vincent opened up the cabinet and grabbed a small stack of paper bowls.

Alastor made a face at the paper bowls but started serving them up anyways.

Vincent also grabbed a few plastic spoons from one of the drawers.

"Ok, Vincent, we're going to have to something about this, we're going to go shopping sometime to get you proper bowls and utensils, because this is just sad."

Vincent couldn't help but laugh at his comment, "it's not sad, I just prefer this, but if you prefer the other way I will go to the store with you."

"You say that like you had a choice in the matter." Alastor said, setting the bowls on the table.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're the boss of me", he said teasing him, and giving him a kiss in the cheek.

Alastor just smiled at him and brought the cornbread to the table. Lyra and Violet sat down at the table and Kennedy did too after grabbing hot sauce from the fridge that Vincent had no clue how she could eat with how spicy it was.

"I will never understand how you do that Kennie."

Vincent had just gotten home from picking Lyra and Kennedy up from school and was just sitting down to start listening to Alastor's podcast when his phone rang with an unknown number.

Vincent picked up as he always did, "hello, who is this?"

"Hey Vincent…. it's Liz." The voice of his ex-wife sounding much more tired than the last time he heard it.

Getting a call from her in general felt odd. Though he had gotten used to it, he never fully forgot almost everything about her. She turned into essentially a stranger, and yet he still knew so much, hearing her voice somewhat brought those memories back. Which was somewhat bittersweet, because he knew he'd never get back with her.

"Oh hey, there a…reason your calling?"

"I'm gonna be in town for a few weeks, my cousin is sick and needs help and stuff, and I was hoping I could stop by and see the kids if they want to."

"I'll check with them", he turned the phone on mute and looked at Lyra and Kennedy.

Kennedy was very involved in her drawing and wasn't really paying attention to him, but Lyra had looked up from her book and gave him a quizzical look, wondering what it was about since she had only heard half of the conversation.

"Elizabeth's asking if you want to her to stop by", he said snapping his fingers at Kennedy to try and get her to pay attention.

Kennedy glanced up but waited until Lyra spoke up to say anything. "Uh, I think that would be okay as long as Violet is." Lyra said, not sure how to feel about it.

"Yeah, she can come if Violet wants her too, she's nice." Kennedy said going back to her drawing.

"Got it, I'll text vi"

Dad: hey vi, are you okay if Elizabeth comes over

Vi: idc

"They said yeah", he says unmuting.

"Ok, uh, does next Tuesday afternoon work?" She asked, sounding a bit surprised that they wanted to see her.

"Uhmm, my…. friend is planning on coming over that day, but I'm sure I could move it unless both of you are okay with it."

"No, I'm fine with it, see you then." She said, hanging up quickly.

"Oh- okay that was quick, he said slightly annoyed as he called alastor, "hey Al, remember how you were planning on coming over Tuesday?"

"Yes, I do recall that, why?" Alastor said, noticing his annoyed tone.

"Uhm, Elizabeth is stopping by Tuesday afternoon, she said she's chill with it, but if you want to move it, completely understandable."

"Mmm, no it's fine, was there a reason she is showing up after so long?"

"Okay, you'll at least make it more bearable then, she happened to be in town so that's why."

"Alright. Well I hope it goes well for Lyra and Violet's sake."

"I do too, though I don't think Vi's planning on talking to her much."

"I can understand why, the woman has practically ignored her, her whole life."

"Yeah, I don't think she's really mad about it though."

Elizabeth arrived just a few minutes after Alastor had on Tuesday, and she looked a lot different from how Vincent remembered. She glanced around the room only seeing Vincent and Alastor who were sitting on the couch together, and Kennedy on the floor drawing. Lyra was upstairs doing homework and Violet was still doing after school activities.

"I uh, brought gifts, a science book for Vi, an insect book for Vaughn, and I didn't know what Kennedy liked so I just got her a pair of headphones." She said, setting the items on the table and taking her coat off.

Vincent already felt this afternoon was probably not going to be his favorite as he watched his ex-wife come in the door, "actually Vaughn goes by Lyra now, and Violet's currently doing…something I think she's at work."

Elizabeth looked a little surprised by Vincent mentioning Lyra no longer went by Vaughn but just nodded and sat down in the armchair across from them a bit awkwardly. "So, how long have…they? Been going by Lyra?"

"She's been going by Lyra for 3 years now", he said sitting down next to Alastor.

She nodded again and just sat there in silence, not knowing what to say. Just then Lyra appeared on the stairs and paused seeing Elizabeth, not expecting her to be here yet, she glanced between Elizabeth and Vincent before walking the rest of the way down the stairs and sitting next to Vincent on the couch.

Vincent sat there for a few seconds awkwardly, " uhmm, how is everyone?"

"Good, my teacher said I have a good chance at being the valedictorian if my grades stay the same." Lyra said, just staring at the floor, acting noticeably different from how she usually did at home.

"That's great to hear Lyra, uhmm, I've been doing quite well lately, it's been nice reconnecting with Alastor", he said smiling at him, "uh, what about you Elizabeth?, what have you been up to?"

"I'm currently working as a realtor and it's going alright, but I thought I recognized you, when did you two start dating?" She asked, remembering how the three of them would occasionally hangout back in college .

"Yeah, just a little over a month ago, which probably wouldn't have happened if Lyra didn't offer me advice on some things, VI was pretty surprised."

"Well I'm happy for you Vincent." She said, meaning it. "When do you think Violet will be home?"

"That is a great question…she's usually home about 8pm or 9pm on days she has work, but no telling really, I can text her"

Dad: hey vi when you gonna be home?

"I'll tell you when she responds."

"Alright. Uh I got you this book Lyra, it's about insects." She said handing it to her.

"Thank you, it looks really cool." Lyra said, flipping through the pages.

"So, you guys have any Thanksgiving plans?"

Vincent turned to Alastor, "do we?"

"Not officially, but I had been thinking you guys could come over to my house for it if you'd like, a good chance for you to meet Lorraine."

"I'm good with that if my daughters are, uhmm do you have any plans?', he asked turning to Elizabeth.

"Probably going to spend it with my cousin, not sure if any other of my family members will be joining us."

Violet opened the door and saw everyone sitting there, she stood there awkwardly for a moment before walking over, so she was in the area but had an easy exit."hey dad."

Elizabeth looked at Violet and expected her to address her next and when she didn't she just stared at the wall feeling like she shouldn't have come at all.

Violet briefly waved at her, "I'm tired, I'm gonna go to bed, have fun guys", she said going to her room.

"Night babe! Love you!", he yelled as he walked off feeling the tension get worse.

Elizabeth stood up and glanced at Vincent. "I'm going to go, it was nice to see you again Lyra." She said, slipping on her coat. Lyra nodded but didn't look up from the insect book she was now reading.

"Alright, bye, it was nice to see you again", he said to be polite, in truth he was so relieved when he saw her walk out the door. "Vi! She's gone!"

Violet came running down the stairs and hugged her dad.

"Were you at work?", he asked

"Technically, yes, they said they didn't need anyone today, so I sat there doing homework, and eventually I finished and was just gonna wait till it was late, but then for one I got bored and I was also worried that something might be going on and id have no idea because I wasn't here, so I just decided to come home"

"Got it, I thought you said you didn't care if she came?"

"I don't, I just didn't want to be here for it."

Alastor had been up for hours today, making sure the house looked perfect for Vincent and his kids, he had made sure to have a small tofu turkey for Kennedy, and it had been baking alongside the actual turkey, and the sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and stuffing were resting on the stove top, and Lorraine was also quite busy, keeping an eye on the three pies in the second oven Alastor had gotten specifically for her baking because dinner kept being delayed by her baking projects.

Vincent had spent just as much time getting ready for this as he had there first date.

When it was time to get in the car, Violet walked up to him, "can I just drive myself?"

"I'm not going to say no, but I would prefer if you'd ride with me today, just this once"

"Alright", she shrugged getting in the car with him.

They arrived at Alastor's house and Vincent immediately took in all the tiny details, Violet just walked behind him feeling slightly awkward.

"Hey babe, missed you" he said even though the last time they saw each other was just yesterday.

"I missed you too darling, you can go ahead and put that on the counter." Alastor said to Lyra who was holding a green bean casserole, and kissed Vincent on the cheek. "Most everything is done, just waiting on the pies and turkeys, and got a tofu one for Kennedy."

"Aww, so thoughtful" he said as he kissed alastor back.

"Yeah, that was really nice of you!" Kennedy said, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"You're welcome dear." Alastor said, hugging her back. "And Vincent, this is my beautiful daughter Lorraine."

Vincent waved at her with a smile, " it's a pleasure to meet you Lorraine", he said putting his hand out for a handshake.

Lorraine shook his hand, muttering a quick "yeah." Before turning back to the pies, not really in the mood to talk.

"Do you guys typically do any traditions besides the food?"

"We go around saying what we're thankful for but that's it, do you have any?"

"That and we typically play boardgames or card games after."

"We can do that, there's probably a deck of cards somewhere, I could also play the piano, do you play?"

"I do not."

"You'll learn." Alastor said, grinning and turned back around to check on the turkeys.

"Oh, I will?, okay", he said smiling at him, "you said everything is mostly ready but there anything you need help with?"

"You can set the table, the dishes are in the cabinet next to the microwave, and the silverware the drawer below it, napkins in the pantry.

"Got it", he said grabbing the plates, then putting the napkins in top, and then the silverware and then he set the table.

Lorraine pulled the three pies out of the oven and set them on the stove, one apple, and two pumpkin. After making sure they were cooked all the way, she sat down at the table and pulled out her phone, and kept glancing over at Violet and Lyra without saying anything.

Violet noticed Lorraine looking over at her and gave her a friendly wave, "your name was Lorraine right?"

"Yeah, and you're Violet?" She answered without looking up.

"Mhmm, your names pretty."

"It's alright." She said shrugging.

"Do you wanna start with the gratitude thing Al?"

"Sure, I'm grateful for my beautiful and very smart daughter, my new boyfriend and his daughters, the delicious food, and being able to have a job I love." Alastor said, looking at Vincent lovingly.

Vincents eyes softened as he gazed at him back, "honestly, all the same things as you, but I'm not gonna just say same because that feels weird, I'm thankful for my amazing daughters, my beautiful amazing boyfriend, that in really happy I cleared things up with because I never fully stopped missing you, and I'm also thankful for your daughter even though I just met her for the first time, oh and my amazing job also".

"Me next! I'm thankful for my dad and sisters, for Mr Thomas because he's a really good teacher, for Lorraine who made the pies, For vegetarian food, and dinosaurs. Your turn Vi."

"Uhm…thankful for my job, and I'm almost 16, so I'll finally be able to drive by myself…legally."

"I'm grateful for my wonderful and supportive family including Alastor and Lorraine, the food, insects, and potentially being valedictorian."

"I'm thankful for all of you here, baking, and coffee. " Lorraine said, as Alastor started bringing the food over to the table.

After eating for a bit Vincent looked at Alastor, "this is really good guys."

"Thank you, and the green bean casserole is really good too, who made it?" Alastor asked, taking another bite of it.

"Lyra did, I wanted to help but last I helped in the kitchen something caught on fire." Kennedy said, enjoying her tofu turkey.

"It…was a day", Vincent said recalling the memory.

"Well now I'm intrigued, do tell." Alastor said, wanting to hear about it.

"She left the stove on and there was a curtain like cloth hanging by the stove."

"Well that's a lot less dramatic than I was imagining."

After they had all eaten and cleaned up most of the kitchen, Vincent, Alastor, Lyra and Violet sat down to play cards, Lorraine laying down upstairs, and Kennedy half asleep on the couch watching TV.

"What are we playing?', Vincent says

"You guys wanna play garbage?", Violet asks.

"Sure, I'll deal." Alastor said grabbing the deck of cards and shuffling them, and when he dealt the cards out he gave Vincent 11 instead of 10.

Vincent picked up the eleventh card without looking at it and tried handing it back to him, "Al, you gave me an extra."

"No, I definitely gave you 10 cards, try counting again." He said, his face free of any kind of amusement, a perfect poker face.

Vincent laid out the cards, "no, there's 5 on the bottom and 5 on the top, there's very clearly an odd number, because this card is over here and doesn't have one beneath it", he said frustratingly pointing at the odd card.

"Vincent, dear, 10 has always been an odd number."

"What? No, it's divisible by 2, 10 divided by 2 is 5, 5 plus 5 is 10, plus you gave violet 10 cards, see they line up"

"No, he gave me 11 dad", violet says moving her cards around a bit.

"What? No?,I've played this before I swear you get 10."

"Wait, you have 11? I only have 8?" Lyra said, putting some of her cards on top of each other.

"What? I swear you had 10 when I just looked over, am I like.. having delusions or some shit?"

"I think so", Violet suggested, "are you feeling alright dad?"

"No, no, I swear."

Alastor and Lyra exchanged a look and both of them burst our laughing.

"What? Why are you guys laughing?", He said still frustrated.

"He's fucking with you dad", Violet responded.

"….. really", Vincent said as he glared at alastor, though he did have a small smirk on his face.

Alastor smirked back, but he took Vincent's extra card and they actually started playing.

" Why do I keep fucking getting Jacks", Vincent asked.

"Well I think you somehow got them all, already, so there shouldn't be anymore", Violet responded

"Yeah..let's just hope I don't get a queen next time."

Just then Kennedy walked over from the couch, not looking well.

Vincent immediately paused what he was doing, "you okay babe?"

"No, I think I ate too much, and I'm really tired, and my hearts going kinda fast, can we go home please?" She asked, leaning against him

"yeah, of course babe, you want me to carry you again?"

"Yeah." She said, feeling a little bad that they're leaving earlier because of her.

"Just give me a minute and I'll pack up some leftovers for you." Alastor said, going to the kitchen and quickly pulling out some of the food.

Vincent scooped his daughter up in his arms. "Thanks Al, your amazing", he almost told him he loves him without thinking, but then he realized that he shouldn't in the moment in case it didn't go well while Kennedy was like this. "Oh and Violet, did you dose, I forgot to remind you?"

"Yes", Violet said annoyed as she waved by to Loraine and alastor before getting in the car.

Lyra took the food from Alastor and also got into the car, holding the food in her lap as she sat in the front seat.

Kennedy sat in the backseat with Violet and was asleep on her shoulder by the time they got home.

Violet sat there playing on her phone, not wanting to wake her up.

"You good guys?"

Violet nodded lightly as Vincent went inside.

After a few minutes she woke up and looked at Violet, looking a little upset.

"Something wrong?", Violet asked.

"I feel bad that we had to leave because I wasn't feeling good, like I know dad was having fun with Mr Thomas."

"Girl, it's okay, we probably were gonna leave soon anyway, plus dad's gonna see his boyfriend again pretty soon, and I've been the reason we've had to leave things so many times."

"Okay, I'm gonna go inside now." She said, giving her a quick hug.

"I will too, I love you", she hugged her back.

"Love you too Vi." She said, then went inside and changed into pajamas before sitting in bed, not sure if she wanted to sleep yet even though she was tired.

It was around 3 on the following Saturday when there was a knock on the door, Kennedy answered it, opening the door to see someone she vaguely recognized but couldn't place.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi Kennedy, it's me …Lavender?"

Kennedy stepped back into the house and glanced around before shouting"VI! YOUR OLD BEST FRIEND IS AT THE DOOR!"

Violet thought for a second, did she mean someone else that she couldn't remember because lavender moved away a long time ago. She went down the stairs and in fact saw lavender there. She raced to the door and immediately hugged her, " Lav, what are you doing here? Are you back? Like back back?"

"Yeah, I'm back, my parents decided that I should take a break from acting and wanted to move back down here for now, I was gonna tell you, but decided it should be a surprise." She said, hugging her back.

"Oh my God! Yay! I missed you so much!, oh my God how's everything been going with you, do you wanna go to my room? We have so much to catch up on."

"Oh, ok." Lavender said being dragged upstairs by Violet with Kennedy following behind them. "So what's new?"

"Okay, so my dad finally started dating again and it was really funny, Lyra told me about he was so confused because he just realized he was gay. Not like gay gay, queer, but he says gay, and the stories really funny, I don't know like everything"* violet said explaining the story in extreme detail, "Kennedy did you ever even figure out that dad hated him before?"

"No? When was that?" Kennedy asked, looking confused, sitting down on the carpet while lavender and Violet sat on the bed.

"Like from 30 years ago or something to pretty much exactly when they started dating, I don't know how you didn't realize, I was with dad once when he ran into Alastor with me and they were just giving each other the dirtiest looks, so now whenever Dad talks about that I have to say 'toxic yaoi', even though he has no idea what it means and I refuse to explain it."

"I know what it means." Kennedy said giggling.

"Well that's good, uh how's things going with Lyra I think it was now? I saw that she changed that stuff on her Facebook profile Bio that she never posts on."

"Yeah, she's doing pretty good, she's in the running for valedictorian right now", Violet said.

"That's awesome, I remember how she used to read us stuff when were were little and she sounded so smart."

"Yeah", Violet said wanting to go to a different topic because she was jealous of where Lyra was at with school. "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

"Mostly acting, I had to learn ballet for my last film, didn't even go to school the past two years, just got tutors on set, in-between takes and scenes."

"Did you enjoy it? I mean I know you were never too big on acting but did you like the ballet?"

"Yeah, it was fun, I really like dancing, and I definitely want to do more roles where I can learn different types of dances."

"Happy for you, it's so weird seeing you after this long, you look so different but still recognizable."

"I don't think I look that different, just a bit more tan from being in Cali, and my hair is longer."

"I more meant that 5 years ago you looked more like you were about 10…because you were, my hair's shorter than back then though…I think"

"Oh yeah." Lavender said smiling at her, happy to be talking with her friend again in person.

"You have any friends back in California that you were sad to leave?", Violet asked.

"Nah, too busy for friends, how about you, you make any new friends here?"

"Yeah, I probably talk to this one for the most, her name's Pearl, though I end up being too busy to hang out a lot of the time but we get each other so it's alright."

"Oh, I think I remember her from one of our classes, blonde, quiet, Liked reading?"

"Yeah, that one, exactly, speaking of I should text her and tell her about this because I am so so so excited."

"Sure, I'd love to meet her."

"That would be fucking amazing", she said pulling out her phone

Vi: PEARL PEARL GUESS WHAT, LAVENDER JUST CAME BACK! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!

Pearl: that's awesome, I'm happy for you.

Vi: THANK YOU, IM SO EXCITED AHHHHH!!!!!!!!

"She said she's happy for me."

"Ask her if she can come over, or if she can sleepover, my parents already said I could if your dad was cool with it." Lavender said, getting excited too.

"He will be", Violet said as she pulled her phone back out.

Violet: do you wanna stay over?

Pearl: let me ask Charlie

Pearl: she said yes, I'll be over in 20, just tell Kennedy to not attack me with hugs….. again, also I'm bringing my cat if that's okay

Violet: that's alright, I'll tell her

Violet showed the phone to both lavender and Kennedy and then decided she should probably text her dad as well.

Vi: btw, lav and pearl are staying over

Dad: 👍

Dad: wait when the fuck did lavender get back?

Vi: like 5 minutes ago

Dad: ?????

Kennedy saw the text and just smiled at it but promised to not attack Pearl with hugs but vi and lav were free game.

20 minutes later Pearl walked in, holding a purple duffel bag, and a fluffy cat on a leash, and sat next to Kennedy on the carpet, making sure there was some space between them.

Violet gently scratched the cat behind it's ears, "hey Cynthia, I missed you, so what did you guys want to do tonight?"

"I can braid your guy's hair, I brought some hair stuff." Pearl said reaching into her bag.

"Uhh…my hairs really sensitive like really really sensitive."

"Right, well I can do their hair, and your nails? Charlie taught me how to do this one flower thing." Pearl said, pulling out some hair ties, bows, and nail polish.

"Works for me, that won't hurt, what flower thing?", though Violet rarely painted her nails and when would probably end up fidgeting and picking it off before long.

"How to paint flowers with nail polish, it's pretty easy if your hands aren't shaking, which mine aren't because Charlie banned me from coffee for a week because I keep drinking too much and not sleeping."

"I feel that, dad says I should stop and sleep but I have to study…and do push ups as of lately."

"Why push ups?" Lavender asked as Pearl started braiding her hair into to braided pigtails.

"Because I finally decided to take gym class I originally was gonna test out of gym but then I kept losing the papers every summer before I convinced myself to take pictures, and….well….a lot of people are better than me at it."

"Well I'm sure you'll get better at it." lavender said encouragingly. Pearl braided her and Kennedy's hair and did Violet's nails and just finished with them when Lyra walked in with a plate of cookies. "Make sure to dose vi." She said before leaving .

"I know", she said grumbling, when she left she turned to the three of them, " I love her and dad but they always do that, it annoys me, so much", she said even though she did forget to dose frequently or just decide to put it off.

"I don't mind when her or dad, or you remind me things, like drinking water, or taking a break to sit down, and stuff." Kennedy said, waiting until everyone took a cookie before taking three.

"And I'm glad that works for you which is the only reason I do, but sometimes It just annoys me to the point where I'll purposely not give myself insulin…I probably should stop doing that..but I probably won't."

Kennedy shrugged and took another cookie before lay on the carpet and staring up at the ceiling.

"What should we do now" Lavender asked, only eating half her cookie and putting the other half back.

Violet finally decided to dose and take a cookie. "Uhmm…do you guys wanna play a game? Like a talking game to catch up or something?"

"Sure." Lavender said, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"Uhmm…what game? Like…never have I ever or who's most likely too or?", Violet asked.

"We can play never have I ever."

"Okay, never have I ever been to a foreign country", Violet said.

Only Lavender took a sip of her soda. "I went to Greece and new Zealand for filming. Okay, never have I ever…smoked."

"Like anything? Like in general?", she said glancing at Kennedy and then back at her water before drinking.

"I meant like a cigarette." Lavender said, glancing at Pearl who also took a sip of her drink.

"I did once, just wanted to know what it was like. Never have I ever shoplifted something."

"Nope, honestly I've thought about it but I'd get way to anxious about it and it wouldn't be worth it.", Violet said.

Kennedy looked a Violet for a long second before taking a sip of her drink, a sheepish look on her face.

"You don't gotta look at me like that girl, I don't judge."

Kennedy laughed and took another cookie before coming up with one. "Never have I ever um, skipped school."

"Nope,never even faked sick to get out of it", Violet responded.

Lavender and Pearl both took a sip of their drinks. "I just up and left class one day, and went home, that was like last month, remember?" Pearl said looking at Violet.

"Yes I do, And I think it's my turn again, never have I ever dated anyone." Violet said watching as the only one who took a drink was Pearl.

"Really? When did that happen?", Violet asked.

"I'm kinda dating someone right now, it's not been going on for very long though, two and a half weeks." Pearl said, fidgeting with her bracelet.

"I'm so happy for you!, do I know them? What's their name?"

"Emily, she's in the year above us, but she volunteers at the animal shelter that me and Charlie sometimes volunteer at."

"I think I talked to her a couple times in passing she seems nice."

"Yeah, never have I ever broken a bone."

Violet took a sip of her water, "I actually only broke a bone for the first time last year which is pretty surprising since my bones are more susceptible to breaking, then again I'm scared of everything so it does kinda make sense."

Kennedy also took a sip. "I broke my arm, I fell off a trampoline. The worst part was not being able to go swimming because of the cast."

"I've never broken a bone but I've sprained my ankle a few times on set." Lavender said.

"Alright, do you guys want to do something else or keep playing ", Violet asked.

"Let's ask Dad to get pizza, pineapple pizza and cheese." Kennedy said, sitting up and brushing the crumbs off herself.

Vi: Kennedy asked if you could get pineapple pizza and cheese

Dad: got it babe

"He said yes."

"Yes! And while we wait for it, we can watch this cool video." Kennedy said, switching on the TV and pulling up a shark video, which Pearl also got invested in.

Violet was more indifferent to the video then Pearl and Kennedy, she glanced over at lavender to see how invested she was. She thought the sharks were cute, but she'd rather look at her.

Lavender was half watching the video while scrolling on her phone, oblivious to Violet staring at her.

Violet got up and moved beside her, and started watching her scroll.

Lavender moved her phone so she could see better and without even thinking about it, leaned her head on her shoulder.

Violet just smiled at her and leaned her head on top of hers, occasionally clicking the like button before she did.

25 minutes later Lyra stood in the doorway and took in the scene before saying anything. "Guys, foods downstairs."

Violet grabbed her hand, which was a gesture she always did when they knew each other as kids. Violet liked to hold onto things tightly which was something she related to with Kennedy.

Kennedy walked behind them as they walked downstairs holding hands and discreetly took a picture for no specific reason.

Violet sat down next to lavender, she checked her blood sugar and realized she was still a Little high from the cookie, so she gave herself more insulin and decided not to eat anymore at the moment.

Kennedy piled her plate with five slices and sat down next to Pearl who took three, and lavender sat next to Violet, only taking one small slice.

As soon as they were done eating, Violet re grabbed her hand, "you guys wanna go back upstairs now?"

"Yeah, what are we going to do?" Pearl asked, throwing the paper plates away.

"Uhmm..that's a great question….we could make bracelets?"

"Yeah, I can get out all of my bead sets!" Kennedy said going to her room to get them.

"Ok, that sounds fun." Pearl said as they walked back upstairs.

When Kennedy got back Violet grabbed a string and attempted to tie the end, though she wasn't very good at it, "Lav, do you mind helping me with this part if you can?"

"I can try." Lavender said taking the string and tying it after a few attempts while Pearl and Kennedy exchanged a look.

Violet was too focused on Lavender to notice Pearl and Kennedy, she took the string back and started placing a bunch of different shades of purple on the string.

Kennedy whispered something to Pearl and they both left the room, wondering how long it would take for them to notice they were gone.

Violet finished and managed to tie the ending before handing it to Lavender, "here."

"Aww, thank you, it's so pretty." She said, slipping it on. "Here, you can have the one I made." She handed Violet the one she had made that had mostly pink flower beads with a few purple and green ones.

"Your's is prettier! thank you, I love it",she slipped it on her wrist still admiring it before looking up at her, "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you a lot too." Lavender said, smiling and looking at her and looking away.

"Wait a minute, where'd they go?"

"I don't know, they couldn't have been gone that long right?"

"…I don't think so but the last time I remember seeing them was when they Kennedy got the beads."

"Oh, that was a little bit ago." Lavender said standing up.

"You wanna go look for them? Or I can call them?"

"Let's just look for them." Lavender said, and they found them pretty quickly in Kennedy's room, Pearl was sitting on the floor with Cynthia and Kennedy was laying in bed half asleep, another shark video on the TV.

"When did you guys leave?", Violet asked confused.

"Like thirty minutes ago, Kennedy wanted to see how long it would be until you noticed." Pearl said, sounding a little amused.

"…..oh, yeah, we just realized", Violet admitted.

Pearl laughed a little before glancing at Kennedy. "I think she's out for the night."

"Looks like it, you guys ready to go bed?", Violet asked.

"No, but you two can, I'll probably be up till like 2 in the morning." Pearl said, having a bit of a weird sleep schedule due to her insomnia.

"Got it, I'll grab a mattress for you", she said as she went back to her room with Lavender.

Lavender helped Violet set up the mattresses, and Pearl sat down, pulling out one of the books she had brought with her.

"Do you mind sharing with me like we used to or do you want me to grab another one?", she asked Lavender.

"I don't mind sharing just don't kick me in my sleep like you used too."

"I won't", she laughed as she got into bed.

Lavender laughed too and got in bed beside her.

"Is there a particular reason dear?"

"Yeah, I just have a small cold or something and don't wanna get Kennedy or Violet sick."

"Makes sense, I'll be over in 20 to pick them up, but I hope you feel better soon."

"Thank you, but I'm fine, bye bye", Vincent took a deep breath through his mouth as he hung up. "Oh my godddd", he whined his voice much more hoarse then when on the phone.

He pulled out his phone to text violet and Kennedy.

Dad: hey, you guys are gonna go over to Alastor's for a bit because I'm sick and I don't want you catching anything

Vi: bruh, I don't get sick

Dad: and that's what I thought too, and I'm pretty sure you do, you just never want to admit it, and I don't know what I have for sure, so I don't want you getting it because it will be worse, if you have a problem with Al we can work something else out, but last time I checked you were fine with him and Lorraine

Vi:…I don't get sick, but fine

Kennedy: but I'll miss you!

Dad: im sure it won't be that long Bluebell, we can call, I'll miss you too

Kennedy: okay but you're getting 10 million hugs when you're better

Dad: don't worry I know

Vincent put his phone, curled up into a ball and whined.

A little bit later Lyra came and stood in the doorway. "They just left, and I made sure they took their medicine and stuff, had to stop Kennedy from sneaking a whole thing of glitter though, not sure what she planned to do with it though".

"Thank youuuu", he grumbled, "…do you mind getting me some medicine in the cabinet?"

"Course." Lyra said walking away and coming back with the medicine, cough drops, tissues, and some tea.

"Here you go, also I started on sanitizing the house so all the germs just stay in here." She said setting the tea in his nightstand.

His eyes were barely open as he took the medicine and then drank a bit of the tea and mouthed, "thank you", again, before laying back down.

Lyra shut his bedroom door and went back to deep cleaning every surface, once she finished she made some chicken soup and peeked in his room to see if he was awake.

Vincent had been trying to go to sleep since she left but couldn't and continued grumbling holding himself.

"You want some soup dad? Or crackers?"

"..Soup..ugh."

Lyra handed him the soup and sat in the armchair that was by the bed. "You sure this is just a cold?"

"Mhmm.. I'll be fine by tomorrow…probably", his voice still strained as he reluctantly sat up and started eating the soup.

"Ok, if you say so. Anything else you need or want?"

"Mmm..not right now, actually melatonin."

"Ok, but it probably would be better for you to fall asleep on your own."

"I know..ugh."

Lyra got up and returned with the melatonin and gave it to him and sat back down, planning on getting some homework done.

Vincent took the melatonin and managed to fall asleep within the next 10 minutes.

At Alastor's house Kennedy was sitting on the couch, half reading a book she had brought but wasn't particularly invested in it, and kept looking at her phone to check in case her dad had texted her.

Alastor sat next to her on the couch, "you doing alright dear?", he was slightly worried this would feel awkward for Vincent's daughters despite having known them for some time now.

"Yeah, just miss my dad, and feel bad that he's sick." Kennedy said, closing her book.

"Well he'll probably get better pretty soon, he's pretty resilient, is there anything I can do?"

"Uh, can I have a snack?"

"Of course dear, what would you like?"

"I made some strawberry blondies earlier." Lorraine said from where she was sitting at the counter.

"What are blondies?"

"Mm, the best way I can describe it is like a fruity brownie."

"Oh, well those sound good, Vi, do you want one?" She asked, looking at Violet who was sitting on the other couch on her phone.

"No thank you, my blood sugars kinda high right now", though the bigger reason was she didn't feel like eating due to the fact she still felt slightly awkward being there.

"Ok." Kennedy said, and Violet glanced at her phone as she got a text back from Pearl.

Pearl: yeah, I get what you mean, it's still awkward when I'm home with my sister's girlfriend, she's a little intimidating.

Violet: yeah, he's really nice, I just don't like places I'm unfamiliar with too much, at least Kennedy's here or else I'd probably be freaking the fuck out, plus his daughter is pretty quiet and I feel like I'm supposed to say something but I also feel like I'm not allowed to say anything at the same time

Pearl: like you can't say anything until there's an opening in the conversation or they directly ask you something? I hate that feeling. Like I'm not as quiet as people think, I'm just quiet because I don't know when I'm supposed to or allowed to talk.

Violet: yeah I get that, I just usually go the other way and end up talking too much and annoying people a lot of the time and it's also more just I've never been in the situation of being with my dad's boyfriend without him here so I just have to go off what Kennedy does

Pearl: how's she's doing? I know she has some kinda separation anxiety thing with your dad

Violet: she's doing pretty good with it,she's getting a Blondie right now, I might just come up with an excuse to leave tbh

Pearl: you can come over if you want, Charlie would be cool with it

Violet: I was just gonna say that my boss is calling me into work, but that works too, see you in 15

Violet sat there for a minute trying to find the words, occasionally opening her mouth but then feeling like she couldn't speak.

"Are you alright dear? Are you trying to say something?", Alastor asked her.

Violet just shook her head.

Kennedy glanced up from her phone at Violet and give her a questioning look but didn't say anything and went back to her movie.

After another a minute of rocking back and forth in the seat a bit she decided if she started the sentence it would be easier to get it out though it was scary because that meant she couldn't turn back if she started, she rehearsed the sentence in her head various timed, "..I'm going to go hang out with Pearl"

Alastor was confused in why it took her so long to say that, " alright dear, I'm assuming your father would be alright with that."

Violet nodded and sped walked out, when she was a reasonable distance and there was no one around, she covered her mouth and screamed at the top of her lungs to get the stress out. She didn't think it would be that bad originally she continued walking until she got to Pearl's house.

Alastor looked at Kennedy, "do you know what that was about?".

"No, but I didn't want her to leave." Kennedy said, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear", he said trying his best to comfort her.

When Violet arrived she finally calmed down enough to realize she was leaving Kennedy alone, she pulled out her phone.

Vi: hey, uhm, sorry I left, if you get too stressed out without me there or something just tell me and I'll come back

Kennedy: ok tell Pearl I said hi

Kennedy sent the text and started crying anyways, she wanted her to come back but didn't want to say so if she didn't want to come back on her own.

"You miss her?", he knew the answer but he wasn't sure what else to say.

"Yeah, she's just not home that much anymore, she's always doing school stuff, or at work, or hanging out with Pearl and now Lavender again. I know she doesn't mean to, but it makes me feel like an afterthought." Kennedy said, trying to wipe the tears away.

"I'm sorry, from what I've gathered from her and Vincent, she really loves you, I know a lot of siblings tend to have a lot of problems, but you both seem like you get along really well, and I do think she considers you a friend in addition to her sister, she seems to get wrapped up in these expectations she places on herself from what I've noticed, have you tried talking to her about it?"

"No because that'll make her feel bad".

"How about you just ask her if you can go over with her then?"

"No, if she wanted me to go with her she would have asked, but it's fine, I shouldn't get so worked up." Kennedy said, taking a deep breath and smiling at him despite still feeling really bad.

"That's alright dear, it happens."

Kennedy nodded and went back to her movie, and just kept to herself for the entire afternoon.

Eventually Vincent woke up and decided to give her a call, not sure if Alastor was there or it he was on speaker, he used the same "I'm not that sick" voice as before.

"Hey Kennie."

"Hi dad, are you feeling better?"

"Little, just woke up, how you doing?"

"…. Good, just watching my favorite movie , again."

Vincent started coughing not being able to perk his voice up anymore, "you having fun Bluebell?"

"Mmhmm, but you should probably go back to resting, love you, bye!" Kennedy said, panicking and hanging up, because she was not good at lying.

"He didn't seem that unwell when he called me earlier." Alastor said, giving her a curious look.

"I …just….ugh." Kennedy said, pressing her face into the couch.

"Anything I can do for you dear?"

"No thank you."

"Alright then."

Vincent started at the phone confused in why she hung up so suddenly, she was usually pretty eager to talk to him, he watched Lyra walk in the room."Kennedy's being weird and I don't know why", he grumbled.

"What happened?" Lyra asked, picking up the cough drop wrappers off the floor.

"I called her but she hung up pretty quickly and abruptly", he said planting his forehead into his pillow.

"That is odd but maybe she was doing something? Or didn't want to bother you because she thought you were resting?"

"She did say I should get back to resting but it felt more like she was panicking or something, I'm worried about her."

"You could ask Alastor about it."

Vincent nodded, and pulled out his phone,

Vinny: hey, is kennie alright?

Al: she got a little upset earlier but is fine now, she's doing something on her phone

Vinny: do you know what happened?

Al: she started crying when Violet left to go hang out with Pearl, it seems like she feels Violet puts her other activities over her, I talked with her about it, though I'm worried this could be because of a deeper issue

Vinny: yeah, I think the stuff with her mom influences that a bit, they have a pretty good relationship though, it's almost odd, I like never seen them fight

Al: well the school does have a very good counselor, not saying she has mental problems, just that it might be beneficial for her

Vinny: were gonna have a mental problem!, I'm kidding in case that wasn't obvious, I'll talk to her about it

Al: haha, very funny, but how are you feeling dear? Need me to drop off soup real quick?

Vinny: nah, Lyra already got me soup, but thanks for the offer, and I'm doing alright, it's not that bad

Al: alright, well, I'm going to go make dinner for the girls, love you

Vincent smiled reading the response.

Vinny: I love you too darling

Vincent had considered what alastor had said about getting her a counselor. He thought it might be a good idea for her if shed like it. It was a lot easier to convince him this time around since Kennedy had already been diagnosed with dyslexia and he wasn't hearing it from someone he hated anymore. "Hey Bluebell, would you want to see a counselor?", though he was still a bit nervous on how she'd react.

"Why?" Kennedy asked, not sure if she was gonna like his response.

He thought for a second," I just heard it could be helpful, if you don't want to, that's okay too."

"I don't know."

"That's okay, think about it, get back to me."

Kennedy nodded, truthfully she probably wasn't going to think about it any further, especially because she knew her dad hadn't given her the real reason why, plus it sounded boring to her anyways.

It was the weekend before winter break and Vincent was planning on just having a relaxing day with his daughters when there was a knock on the door, and he opened it to see Valentina.Vincent stood there for a moment before putting on an awkward smile. He was frustrated that she didn't call ahead and didn't know how Kennedy was going to react. "Hey val, it's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you too Vince, just planning on taking keekee shopping since I won't be here for Christmas, I've got a thing in LA I can't Skip." She said, not sounding apologetic at all.

"Got it, I'll got tell her you're here", Vincent walks to her room, "hey, Bluebell,uhmm, Val's here."

"Oh, is she staying for Christmas?!" Kennedy asks, jumping up from where she was sitting at her desk.

"No, she said she has a thing for Christmas that she can't skip which is why she's here now", Vincent said worried about how excited she was and hoping he didn't cause her to leave early again.

"Oh, well it's still good that she's visiting, what does she wanna do?" Kennedy said, trying to remain excited.

"She wants to take you shopping", he responded blankly.

"Ok, I'ma change and I'll be ready." Kennedy said, going to her closet and looking through her clothes.

Vincent went back downstairs to Valentina, "she's getting ready."

"Perfect, and there was also something I wanted to talk with you about."

"Uhh, yeah, what is it?"

"So, I was looking over some of the photos Kennedy sent me, and they're obviously all adorable, but I think she should go on a diet, just so she's healthy and stuff, plus if she's gonna be an actress she'll wanna do it, and it's easier to lose weight when you're younger." Val said, as casually as if she was discussing the weather.

Vincent looked at the ground for a moment, trying to think of a way to get his point across without slipping into anger and making her leave, "the doctors never recommended it to me, they says she's generally pretty healthy, and she doesn't want to go into acting."

"Well she could change her mind, and I'd hate for her to not be able to go into acting because no one taught her self control when it comes to food."

Vincent clenched his teeth together before looking back hoping to get her to drop it, "we'll consider it, but if you don't mind I'd prefer to talk to her about it later."

"Course." She said, glancing Kennedy who appeared at the top of the stairs. "Oh, you look so pretty keekee."

"Thanks mom! Bye dad!" Kennedy said giving him a quick hug before walking out the door with Val.

"Bye, have fun", he said sitting down already starting to worry.

His worries didn't ease any when he got a call from Val an hour and a half later.

"Vincent, uh, you know where Kennedy would go if she possibly ran away from me at the mall?" Val said, barely concealing the panic in her voice.

"…No, I don't, hold on let me call her", the panic in his voice very obvious. He paced back and forth waiting for her to pick up.

The phone rang and rang before going to voicemail, and the second time it went to voicemail right away as if she declined the call.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck", he repeated to himself. Though the fact that she declined made him a little less worried because that meant she alive. Violet who was on the couch took note of this and also pulled out her phone.

Vi: hey kennie, dad's like freaking out right now, you good?

The typing bubbles appeared and disappeared for a second before going away.

"Well she's definitely alive, she started typing and then stopped".

Vincent nodded at her and then called val back, still really worried, "what happened?"

"I might have suggested that she would like to live with me ….all the way in California because that's where I'm gonna be staying for a good while." Val squeaked out.

Vincent was too focused on trying to find his daughter to get upset over the suggestion, "do you know what direction she ran in? Im on my way", he said getting into his car.

"No, she ran out of the Michaels and I couldn't see where she went because there's a lot of people here, but I've already told mall security and They're looking for her."

Vincent arrived and still had her on the phone in case she saw his daughter. "Check the bathroom", he instructed val, while running down the aisles.

"Okay." Val said, and went to do that, not finding her there.

Vincent kept walking up and down the mall corridor looking for her, and eventually spotted her sitting in the very back corner of the food court under a table, her face buried in her knees.

Vincent immediately hung up the phone with no explanation as he sat next to her. "Hey bluebell", he said softly.

Kennedy looked at him and her face was completely red from crying and she just grabbed onto him.

Vincent hugged her back. "It's alright, I'm here now."

Just then Val walked over to them and looked relieved, but Kennedy just turned away from her which was definitely not what Vincent expected.

"Do you wanna go home Kennie?", he asked her, ignoring val.

"Yeah." She whispered, standing up and grabbing her bag from off the floor.

" Want me to carry you?"

"No." She said, just staring at ground as they walked to the car.

Vincent drove home with her, he didn't want to say anything until she did.

When they got home, Kennedy went inside and just sat at the table and stared at it. She had so many different thoughts zooming around in her brain but wasn't sure if she even wanted to talk about them.

"You want to talk about anything?' he finally asked.

"Do I have to leave?" Kennedy asked after hesitating for a second.

"What?, no? Of course not, she told me she suggested it."

"She said that you said that you wanted me to live with her in California and not here with you anymore." Kennedy said, starting to cry again.

Vincent immediately hugged her, "that's not true. that would never be true. I love you, and honestly I don't even trust her alone with you for 5 minutes."

"I just don't understand why she would say that, but I don't think she actually likes me that much."

"I'm pretty sure about that too, I thought you didn't know that though."

"I just don't know what I did to make her not like me."

"You didn't do anything bluebell, that's just the way she is."

"But I just want her to like me and stay, like she's supposed to."

"I know but I don't think that's really going to happen."

Kennedy nodded and just rested her head against his shoulder, exhausted from today.

"Of course I'll go Christmas shopping with you dear, but why in the world would you wait until the week before to do it? I got mine done ages ago." Alastor said over the phone to Vincent, teasing him.

"Because I swear just yesterday it was months away, there's no need to be like that about it", Vincent responded.

"Oh I'm just playing, want me to pick you up or meet you at the store?

"I know you are, I can meet you there, I love you."

"Alright, see you in 15, love you too dear." Alastor said hanging up and putting on his coat and boots, and grabbing an extra coat for Vincent because he always refused to bring one despite the cold weather.

Vincent arrived and saw him before running over to him, "hey."

"Hi." Alastor said, smiling at him and handing him the coat. "So which store first?"

Vincent gave him a look as he handed him the coat, "I don't know why you do this everytime, I'm not cold and we're inside,anyway, first I need to pick up a couple squishmallows for Kennedy, so Claire's."

"You say that but last time you took my coat, and then you spilt mustard on it. But for Christmas what's the plan?"

"Didn't happen. What do you want to do, do you and Loraine want to come over?"

"Yes, we could probably stay over the night before so we don't have to get up early and drive over." Alastor said as they walked into Claire's.

Vincent was ecstatic hearing that, though he managed to contain his excitement to a smile, "that works." He picked up a couple squishmallows and checked them out. "Alright next is books for Lyra."

"You think she'd like books on space ? Because that's what I got for her."

"Yeah, she reads a lot, I haven't figured out what I should get Lorraine though, what do you think?"

"Well you could get her baking stuff, like cookware. I picked out a drawing book for Kennedy, not sure about Violet's gift though, I got her a book on Marie curie."

"Those all sound good, Violet will like it even though she has some trouble reading, though she gets more interested in non-fiction especially if it's a topic she likes."

"Can't wait for your reaction when you open your gift."

"Well now you've got me intrigued", though internally he did start panicking a bit as he was unsure what to get him and he wanted it to be perfect.

They walked into the bookstore and while Vincent was looking for some books for Lyra, Alastor was looking at the true crime books, and didn't notice when Vincent walked up besides him.

Vincent took note but didn't say anything, "alright got the books, you ready to finish this up?"

Alastor jumped and held a hand to his chest. "Good Lord Vincent, you should know better than to sneak up on people like that."

Vincent just stared at him with a blank expression, "I literally just walked up, I wasn't being sneaky at all."

"Sure, but yes I'm done." Alastor said grabbing a book off the shelf. "Aside from the cookware for Lorraine, is there anything else you're planning on getting?"

"Yeah I'm also getting a 1950s poster for violet, and something else that I'm going to make a separate trip for."

"Well, now I'm intrigued." Alastor said laughing.

"Well you'll just have to wait a week", he smirked.

"So cruel." Alastor said, smirking back, and then giving him a kiss.

Vincent kissed him back and finished grabbing a couple posters. "Alright, and looks like we're good."

"I could pick up dinner on the way back and bring it over." Alastor said, checking his watch.

"That would be great."

"Mexican sound good?"

"Preferably anything but Mexican."

"Alright, how about sushi, and a rice bowl for Kennedy?"

"Sounds good, see you there babe."

Alastor got into the car and went and got the sushi before arriving at his house and carried the sushi inside.

"Girls! Al brought dinner!", he said sitting at the table .

Kennedy ran in from the living room and sat next to Vincent, and Violet followed sitting next to her as Alastor set out the food.

It was the day before Christmas, Vincent had already put all the presents under the tree. Violet also got everyone something small and wrapped it. He sat on the couch waiting for Alastor to get there, he was really excited to finally share this holiday with someone else since Elizabeth, especially since it would be Alastor's first time staying the night.

Eventually he heard a knock on the door,jumped up out of his seat, and ran to the door. "Babe, I missed you!"

"I missed you too." Alastor said, stepping inside carrying a stack of presents, Lorraine behind him with her arms full of food containers.

"So, is there anything you guys wanted to do today?", he asked as they set their items down.

"We could play cards again." Alastor said smirking. "Or we could watch a movie together."

"If we play cards again, I am dealing, but movie sounds good, you want hot cocoa, its a little chilly outside", he said looking at the large amounts of snow on the ground.

"I'll pass on the Cocoa, but I'll take coffee, and Lorraine made plenty of snacks, peppermint bark, sugar cookies, gingerbread men, to name a few."

"I see, isn't that lovely, thank you Lorraine", he said turning on the coffee machine. "Christmas movie sounds good? The grinch?"

"Sounds good." Alastor said, putting the presents he brought under the tree, and barely having time to stand back up before Kennedy hugged him. "Hello Kennedy."

"Can we have popcorn too", Violet asked.

"You know the answer", Vincent responded as she grabbed a bag and put it the microwave.

"Anyone else want any?" Violet asked.

"Me!" Kennedy said giving Alastor a bracelet like she gave everyone else because she couldn't wait until tomorrow to give them out.

"I'll also have some." Lorraine said, sitting on the couch.

Violet finished making the bags and put them in bowls. They sat around the television."Jim Carrey or the newer one?" Vincent asked."

"The new one, they look too much like clowns in the other one." Kennedy said, sitting next to Vincent.

"…I don't think they do but alright", he responded turning it on.

"I mean, they do a little bit with their face makeup." Alastor said, sitting on the other side of him with his coffee.

"Whatever you guys say", he said rolling his eyes with a smile. "Vi, remember to-", he turned and saw her glaring at him, "alright, alright."

Halfway through the movie Lyra got up and went outside, and Kennedy followed after putting on her coat, wanting to play in the snow. Violet also followed them, packing a ball of snow together and throwing it at Lyra..

"You want to go outside with them?", Vincent asked Alastor.

"Only if you put your coat on." Alastor said, watching as Lyra gently pushed Violet down into the snow while Kennedy started on a snowman.

"…. fine", he put his coat on and went outside with them immediately picking up a snowball and throwing it at Violet.

Lyra began helping Kennedy with her snowman, and found some stick arms for it, and Alastor tossed a snowball at the back of Vincent's head.

"Hey! You bitch", he said smiling throwing one back at him, Violet picked up another snowball and threw it at alastor.

Alastor laughed at his reaction and while they were distracted Kennedy whispered something to Lyra, and Lyra picked her up and Kennedy took the head off her snowman and dropped it right on top of Vincent's head.

Vincent turned to her, "really?", he threw another snowball at her as Violet snickered.

Kennedy laughed and laid down in the snow to make a snow angel, and Alastor just threw another snowball at him.

"Do you guys wanna go sledding?" Violet asked pointing to the hill in the backyard.

"I should probably go inside now," Kennedy said looking at her fingers that were slightly turning blue.

"Got it", she said going inside with her.

Kennedy took off her coat and sat down and unpaused the TV, eating a few of the cookies Lorraine brought. "Want one vi?"

Violet took out her phone and gave herself insulin, " yeah", she grabbed a cookie and sat next to Kennedy.

"You think they're gonna get married?" Kennedy asked, massaging her fingers as they stopped being blue.

"I'm not completely sure but I think so, they seem really happy together, do you think so?"

"Yeah and I do really like Alastor, so I would like it if they did."

"I like him too."

After a bit more of throwing snowballs around the rest of them came inside, Lyra being the winner of it.

"Dad, you need to try the cookies, they're really good." Kennedy said, glancing up from where she was now laying on the floor.

Vincent grabbed one of the cookies and ate it as she suggested. "They are pretty good, you alright?"

"Yeah, felt a little dizzy so figured I should lay down, fine now though."

Violet yawned as the movie finished, "I'm tired going to go to bed", she said heading to her room.

"Night Vi!" Kennedy said, switching on her favorite Christmas movie, Annabelle's wish.

"yeah, it's getting kind of late, I'm also gonna go lay down", Vincent said.

"Good night dad, I'll make she doesn't stay up too late." Lyra said, gesturing to Kennedy.

"Thank you Lyra", he said going to his room.

Alastor grabbed his bag and followed Vincent into the bedroom and set his bag down on the bed, and pulled out his pajamas.

Vincent knew how this was usually supposed to go. They never talked about it before and he was fine with that. "Oh, I never told you that Kennedy's mom visited again."

"And I'm guessing it went as well as last time?" Alastor asked, already disliking the woman.

"I think even worse, she ran away and wouldn't answer my calls because Val told Kennedy I was sending her to live with her, she also suggested to me that she should go on a diet and loose weight."

"The audacity of that woman." Alastor said shaking his head. "Anyways, I'm going to change real quick." He said, going into the bathroom.

"I know! got it."

Alastor came back out in a pair of pajamas that had a cookie pattern on it. "An early gift from Lorraine." Alastor said, before he could say anything.

Vincent giggled, "cute babe", he scooted over to the side of the bed to make room for him.

Alastor gave him a look but sat on the bed next to him.

Vincent laid down expecting him to suggest something. "I also talked to Kennedy about your suggestion."

"About counseling? what did she think about it?" Alastor asked, laying down as well.

"She essentially said no, it honestly felt weird to suggest it to her because I remember when they put me in therapy, almost a mental hospital, I was really young."

"Why? if you don't mind me asking of course."

"…Well..uhm a few reasons, mainly because I tried to cut my head off."

"Oh, well I hope it wasn't a bad experience, because I've honestly heard about far too many of those."

"I mean it wasn't that she was bad, I just didn't want to do it and I was forced into it, also had a lot of anger, so it was a bad experience but that was my fault, only lasted two sessions before I ran away", he said leaving out the part where he killed her.

"Understandable." Alastor said, scooting closer to him.

Vincent watched as he moved closer, "I love you."

"I love you too darling." Alastor said moving a bit closer and resting his head on his shoulder.

Vincent smiled at him and put his head on his.

"So, how early do you think Kennedy will be getting up tomorrow?"

"Probably pretty early", he sighed.

"The earliest Lorraine ever got me up was 5 am." Alastor said, smiling at the memory.

"Was that for Christmas or something else?"

"For Christmas, she's woken me up far earlier for other things, like waking me up at 2 because her favorite blanket was missing."

"Love having daughters, anyway uhm good night?"

"Goodnight." Alastor said kissing his forehead.

Vincent questioned if this was a not today or an always thing, he wondered if he would ever bring it up but he was more than fine leaving it there for now.

Vincent woke up what felt like 10 minutes later to Kennedy gently shaking him awake but to his surprise it was 7:30.

He rubbed his eyes, sat up and stretched his arms out. "Alright alright, I'm up."

"Lyra already made coffee and is starting on making eggs and toasts." Kennedy said, sitting on the end of the bed.

"Got it, we'll be down", he gently tapped alastor.

Alastor gently pushed his hand away but sat up and put his glasses on, his hair a bit of a mess, but still neater than Vincent's currently.

Vincent admired him like this which woke him up slightly more, "you're adorable."

"Shh, it's too early for that." Alastor said, before giggling a little. "Oh my, your hair is such a mess."

"I know it is, but you are, and no my hair isn't, your's is", he grumbled as he tried to straighten out his hair. "anyway, breakfast and presents, then you can go back to sleep if you want."

"No, it's fine, I'm already up, no sense in going back to sleep now." He said reaching over and messing up his hair again.

"Uh-, hey!", he jabbed getting up.

Alastor also got up and yawned before walking downstairs and pouring two cups of coffee and adding a bit of cinnamon to his like he always did.

Vincent went downstairs with him, "thank you love", he said grabbing a cup and sitting at the table.

"No problem." He said sitting next to him, watching as Kennedy and Violet joined them at the table and glanced into the living room where Lorraine was sitting with her own cup of coffee.

Vincent took note of this and peaked into the living room, "do you want to eat anything Lorraine?"

"Just the toast." She said, not looking up from her coffee.

"alright then."

Lyra finished with the food and brought it to the table and brought Lorraine toast before sitting down.

"Thank you Lyra." Kennedy said, dousing her eggs in hot sauce, which she passed to Alastor who did the same.

"I will never understand how you guys do that", he said taking a bite of his eggs.

"It's better this way, though scrambled eggs are also good with syrup on them." Kennedy said, already half finished.

"The syrup thing isn't bad though I still prefer them plain."

Once they finished eating they sat down in the living room and started opening gifts, and Alastor handed Vincent a medium sized box, that held a custom watch with a realistic shark on the watch face, and was engraved with the words "for my darling Vinny."

Vincent ran his finger over the words and started crying before getting up and hugging him. "I, hold on let me get you yours". he watched as he opened it and saw a true crime book and a picture frame with a black and white polka dot pattern as the background. On the side were the words "I never stopped thinking about you", in the middle were the words "I love you", and the rest was filled with pictures of them with their daughters. Vincent looked down hoping he didn't think it was stupid..

"Oh, it's perfect Vincent! I love them!" Alastor said hugging him back tightly.

Vincent wiped his eyes, "alright, Lorraine do you want to open yours next?"

She nodded and opened the gifts from Alastor first, which was a southern recipe cookbook, a new laptop, and a vintage cookie jar. She gave him a quick hug before opening the gift from Vincent which was a high quality food processor. "Thank you." She said, a little surprised by the gift.

"Your welcome, you wanna go next Kennedy?", he asked handing the wrapped present to her watching her open it and see the squishmallows.

She immediately hugged both of the squishmallows, before going to Vincent to give him a hug. "Thank you! They're awesome!"

"Your welcome Bluebell", he says hugging her back. Violet handed out bracelets that she previously wrapped, having slightly more patience then Kennedy, before they distributed the rest of the presents.

"Hey Al, I have a question", he said not really sure how to bring this up.

"Well, go ahead dear, I don't bite."

He laughed feeling a bit more at ease, "so last time you stayed over, uhm, well we've never really talked about it, and everyone else seems really obsessed with it, and I don't know how you feel about it, do you get what I'm asking?"

Alastor thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Not in the slightest."

Vincent sighed, "okay, do you ever want to have sex is what I'm asking."

"I don't really care for it, maybe every once in a blue moon, but not most of the time, why? Do you ever want to have sex?"

"Not particularly if I'm honest, I don't mind it, like obviously I have three daughters, but the main reason I ever did was because my ex wife wanted to."

"Well that works for me, but thank you for asking darling."

"That works for me too, you're welcome love", he said hugging him.

It was the first week of summer break and things were already quite busy, as Alastor and Vincent were moving into their new house they bought together. They had already gotten all of the furniture moved in, and just had the boxes left, some of which were not labeled the best because that job had been left up to Kennedy.

"Vincent, dear? What do you think might be in the box labeled "not mine" with a lightning bolt drawn on it?" Alastor asked, peering at the box.

"I have no idea, Maybe…. lightbulbs? Chargers? I don't know", Vincent peeled the tape off and opened the box to see Christmas lights neatly coiled in there.

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense, in a way." Alastor said. "I would just love to know her thought process behind her labeling system though."

"Yeah, whatever's going on in her head", he closed the box, "you want to put this in the basement?"

"Yep, and I'll leave you to deal with the box labeled "throw away if it was my decision."." Alastor said laughing as he headed down into the basement.

Vincent Opened the box and looked inside to see socks. "Yeah, okay, that makes sense", he muttered to himself before taking them inside and putting them by the kids rooms.

"Dad, is the fridge inside yet? So I can get ice?" Kennedy asked from where she was sitting directly in front of a fan.

"No, it is not, but I'll get that next for you bluebell", he went back outside and tried to pull the fridge out by himself, which he could not, and yet he continued trying not noticing Alastor walking back up behind him.

"I think you might need some help with that dear."

Vincent jumped, "ahh!, oh, sorry. nah, I could totally do it by myself, but if you want to help that's okay."

Alastor gave him a look but just went around the other side of the fridge and started pushing.

Vincent re grabbed the refrigerator and brought it in with him. He plugged it and looked at Kennedy, "your probably going to have to wait a little for it to refreeze the water."

Kennedy was now laying on the floor, perfectly still, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm dead, I've been boiled alive."

"You alright dea-, shit, I mean kennie?"

"No, I've been boiled alive, and by boiled alive, I mean my brain is conspiring against me." Kennedy said, referring to the brain fog she sometimes got as a part of her POTS.

"You want water or something salty?", he asked.

"Yeah, both." Kennedy said, sitting up.

Vincent grabbed her a bag of chips and a glass of water, "tell me if you need anything else babe."

Thanks, and I will, though I think if I said I needed a komodo dragon you'd say no." Kennedy said, eating her chips.

"And you'd be right", he walked back outside and found a small bag with a bunch of letters from the school, which he was pretty sure were report cards.

He opened the ones from Kennedy's school first and saw that she got A's in all of her classes besides English and history in which she got a B.

Lyra's was all straight A's and mentioned she got valedictorian which he knew from her graduation ceremony which was probably one of the proudest moments of his life.

He opened Violet's and it was all A's and A-'s besides one B+ in her English class, which was a class she had above her grade level.

He went back to Kennedy, holding the report card out to her, "hey, great job kennie, proud of you."

Kennedy glanced at it and nodded. "Yeah, the math class was probably the easiest.

He then went to lyra and handed her the report card, "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks dad." She said, giving him a hug. "I still can't believe I made valedictorian, and that Lorraine took it as well as she did, I know she really wanted it."

"You're welcome, also, whenever Vi's been home she's been really quiet and just went to her room lately…like she is now, any idea what that's about?"

"No, you want me to talk to her?"

"uhm, maybe I'm going to go tell her she did a good job on her report card first and then if you still want to you can"

Vincent knocked on Violet's door, "what?", she responded sounding tired.

"You sleeping?"

"No."

"Well, I just got your report card", he said happily.

"I know what I got."

"Alright, well it's really good, I'm really proud of you."

"Sure dad, whatever you say."

"Well, you still tried your best even if you aren't happy with it."

"No. I didn't. I could've done better, I should have done better", she said pulling her hair, which Vincent didn't see sense until he finally opened the door and sat next to her.

"There's still next year Vi, you're already in advanced classes, you don't have to be perfect all of the time, you know Id love you even if you got all E's and dropped out."

"And it's going to go the same, I'll tell myself I'll do better and then I'll give up, it's never different."

"Why does it matter so much to you?"

"I don't know…I mean…everyone thinks I have all A's and I'm doing great until I tell them the truth and everyone's just better than me at this and everything and I just…actually, nevermind, it's fine, I'm good, you can go now."

"You sure?"

"Mhmm", she said as Vincent went back downstairs.

After waiting a few moments Lyra knocked on Violet's door and peeked in. "Hey Vi, you think we could talk?"

Violet was rocking back and forth pulling her hair and hyperventilating. "Yeah, just give me a minute", she said her heart rate picking up from the question, she let go of her hair and took deep breaths, though she kept rocking back and forth as her leg shook. "Okay, okay, yeah."

Lyra came in and sat next to her on the bed, and gently put one arm around her.

"I've noticed that you've been a lot more quiet and just been staying in your room lately, and I just want to make sure everything is okay."

"Yeah I'm okay…just don't like my report card."

"You did really well, better than Kennedy, though it's not a contest. Are you sure it's just that?"

"I mean…pretty much, I didn't really do that well though."

"Well I'm sorry that it makes you feel bad, anything that I can do that would make you feel better?"

"No, but thank you for asking, anyway, I'm going to go sit in the lobby at work in case they need me early, I don't…entirely suck at that", she said getting up.

"Alright, see you later moonbug."

By the end of the week they were completely moved into the house and things were going well.

Vincent currently thought he had the house to himself today, Alastor had taken Lorraine to visit her mom's family, Violet was at work, and Lyra took Kennedy bowling. So he figured know would be the best time to take care of the new guy at work that was trying to outshine him at work.

He had managed to strangle the guy and planned on disposing of his body in the secluded woods behind his new house, and he was currently dragging the body out there and had paused in the back yard, trying to get a breath, only to glance up and see Alastor standing at the sliding glass door just watching, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Ahh, fuck", he whispered to himself, he knew he didn't saw him, but hoped he could just convince him that he didn't…somehow. Thoughts kept zooming in his head wondering if he'd report him or end their relationship over this. He quickly threw the guy into the woods, debating on at least finishing burying him or not, in which he decided he should do that first. He then went back to the house making sure there was no blood trail, despite the victim being carried in a trash bag. "Hey babe, your back early", he said as if nothing happened.

"Hello Vincent, yes, I'm back early because Lorraine was going to spend the night there with her cousins and I'll pick her up tomorrow. So, would you like some help with your little project?" Alastor asked, not even looking up from his book. "I'd hate for the girls to come home and see it ."

"Oh…I mean if you're offering….I did not expect that to be your reaction."

"Don't be silly, now let's go properly dispose of that body, and then we'll talk." Alastor said, standing up.

"wasn't being silly, was genuinely worried, but your right", Vincent said following Alastor outside.

Alastor glanced at where the body was shallowly buried and shook his head, and held up a hacksaw that Vincent never saw him grab.

"It's going to work better if we spread it out, ok?" Alastor said, grabbing onto the body and starting to dismember it.

"Got it, I was planning on going a lot deeper by the way", he said pulling out gloves from his pocket and helping him dismember the body.

Once the body was in several pieces they began to bury each of them in different spots of the woods, and after Vincent buried what he thought was the last piece he walked to Alastor who had also finished and was cleaning the hacksaw.

"We done? That it?", he asked still confused on why he was being so okay with this.

"Yep, all finished. Though you look a bit messy." Alastor said, gesturing at the dirt on his pants and a bit of blood on his hand.

Vincent patted the dirt off his pants, "I'll go wash it off", he said walking inside with him. "you're so hot hiding a body."

"Oh, hardly. But it's always nice to help an amateur out." Alastor said, taking his hand and licking the blood off.

Vincents heart fluttered as he watched Alastor lick the blood off, "not an amateur, just panicked when I saw you, been doing this for a long time and by your choice of wording I assume you have too?"

"Yes, I have, and unlike you, I've never gotten caught by anyone." Alastor said, giving his hand a kiss before letting go of it.

"only two people who would never tell anyone anything about it", he responded smiling at the hand kiss. "So, when was your first time?"

"17, I pushed my father down the stairs, and it was just seen as an accidental death with no foul play. And it just went from there, killing horrible disgusting people that deserve it. But who's the other person that knows?" Alastor asked very intrigued by this.

"13, not an amateur been at it longer than you, I will admit it definitely was not a deserving one looking back, it was my therapist I told you about, also, Lyra."

"Lyra? Well that's quite a shock, and how did that happen?"

"She saw me pull in the driveway and I guess she wondered why I didn't come inside yet it was like midnight, and she came outside and I was cleaning up the blood, and she told me to use hydrogen peroxide, which I was planning on doing after I wiped it with a damp towel."

"Wow, it sounds like your kinda bad at this but that's okay, I'll show you how to do it right." Alastor said, teasing him.

"Oh, fuck you, go ahead smart guy", Vincent rolled his eyes.

"Don't think there's time to go into detail on that, Lyra and Kennedy should be home soon." Alastor said checking his watch. "I'm going to start on dinner, any suggestions?"

"Pizza sound good tonight?, also, how do you think Lorraine would react if she ever found out you did that?"

"I think she'd just react to like it like she does everything else though maybe that would be shocking enough to cause her to freak out, but that will never happen. White sauce or red?"

"I know, because you're amazing at this babe, red."

"How much do you think Kennedy will complain if I leave off the pineapple?" He asked, making a face at the thought of adding it to the pizza.

"I'll just give her pineapple to put on the top of hers", he said laughing at his face.

"Alright, that works." Alastor said poking him before going into the kitchen to start making the pizza.

Vincent then saw Lyra and Kennedy walk in the door. "Hey girls, missed you."

"Missed you too! Next time you should go bowling with us and see how many strikes I get." Kennedy said sitting next to him on the couch.

"I will bluebell, how many did you get this time? Who won?"

"Like half of my turns I got strikes, Lyra won though."

"Sounds fun, Alastor's making pizza."

"Pineapple pizza?"

"No, but I'll give you pineapples that you can put on it."

"Fine, but you guys are missing out, because pineapple pizza is the greatest food ever."

"You have fun with that babe", he responded as Violet also came back in the house.

Alastor finished with the pizza dough and got it into the oven and grabbed something from his nightstand drawer before coming back into the living and sitting next to Vincent, thinking about the best way to do this.

"What were you doing babe?"

"Just checking on something, but close your eyes and hold out your hand, I have a surprise for you."

"Uhmm, alright", he responded, following his instructions despite his confusion.

Alastor pulled the ring out of the box and gently slid it onto Vincent's ring finger.

Vincent looked at the ring on his finger, wondering if he was asking what he thought he was asking. "Are you proposing right now?"

"Yes, I would like to spend the rest of my life with you as your husband." Alastor said, putting his hand over Vincent's.

Vincent looked down at the ring and back up at him and started crying, thinking about how just earlier he was worried their relationship was coming to an end and now he's asking him to get married. He immediately wrapped his arms around him, then cupped the side of his face and gently kissed him. "I love you so much, of course I will", he said as Violet took a picture.

Alastor kissed him back and wiped his tears away, while Lyra was just watching them with a huge smile on her face and Kennedy looking like she was about to explode with happiness.