Life Goes On

Blythe had allowed herself to mourn her parents' deaths. Remember what Death himself had told her, she mad sure her grief hadn't been all consuming. Blythe would probably never forgive herself for forgetting Clare's birthday. She loved all four of her children very dearly and she was determined not to worry them any longer than she already had.

So Blythe had cried, and mourned and cried some more and then, she let go of her parents. She would always love them, and always remember them but she would move on. She would not neglect her family again.

"It's been a while since we last danced together, hasn't it?" Ben said to Blythe.

"Mhm. Our work schedules aren't the most compatible." Blythe said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ben agreed.

Everyone was happy to see Blythe up and about and resuming life as usual. The twins in particular were very happy to see their mother recovering. Perhaps soon they could back to their happy go lucky pranking routines...

"Now boys, I know you're both very fond of your pranks, but if I have to fix the toilet one more time because you guys clog it up with your toilet bombs trying to get your sister to freak out I will be removing your computer and phone privileges." Blythe said with a smile.

Camren and Cole exchanged looks, wondering not for the first time if their mother had some freakish unnatural ability to read minds.

"How about if we fix the toilets afterwards?" Asked Camren hopeful.

"And even clean up the mess." Added Cole.

"Boys..." Was all Blythe said as she left their room.

"Where's Cole?" Clare asked as she was finishing up her homework.

"Uh...not sure." Camren said distractedly.

Caiden eyed his brother suspiciously then shrugged focusing on his homework again. It was hard to tell when the twins were up to something or not. Clare and Caiden knew to be extra watchful if the twins weren't together for long. It usually meant there was some sort of prank plot taking place.

Later that evening, the boys couldn't help but do a bit of spying on their sister. It wasn't something they did often when she was with Charles, but Caiden had been increasingly curious about all the time they were spending together.

"What is she doing? Why is she moving like that?" Caiden said moodily. He had never liked the idea of his kid sister hanging out with Charles.

"Who knows, maybe she's flirting with him." Camren said with a shrug.

"Or trying to seduce him!" Cole said laughing.

"That's ridiculous! She has no reason to do that, do keep you silly ideas to yourself, both of you!" Caiden said storming away. Caiden and Clare had always been close, much in the same way Camren and Cole were. Caiden didn't like sharing his little sister with someone who wasn't even a family member.

"Caiden's too protective of Clare..." Camren said with a sigh.

"I suppose one of us should be. Better him than me." Cole said with a chuckle as they walked away from the window.

"How much trouble do you think we'd be in with Clare if we played a prank on Charles?" Caiden asked the next morning.

"Who cares?" Camren and Cole said in unison.

"Well, maybe you two don't get to see the angry side of Clare, but I have...it's not pretty." Caiden said thoughtfully.

"Did you have anything in particular in mind?" Cole asked Caiden.

"Not really, you two are the experts, think of something. Something...good." Caiden said with a smirk.

"Dude, what's your problem with Charlie? He's not so bad you know." Camren said casually.

"I just don't like him, ok? He's annoying..." Caiden said as he finished his milk.

The twins looked at each other but said nothing else for the time being. It wasn't like Caiden to be upset or not like someone, but they figured in time Caiden would get over it.

"The twins are turning into young adults in a couple of days! That's so awesome!" Clare said happily.

"I wonder if they'll finally grow up a bit." Caiden said curiously.

"Oh hush, you help them with their pranks often enough, you're almost as guilty as they are." Clare said with a chuckle.

"Hey! I'm younger than they are!" Caiden said defensively.

"It's nice to see mom back to her usual self again." Clare said quietly.

"Yeah, I miss grandma and grandpa but I'm glad mom's ok again." Caiden said with a sigh. Losing his grandparents had forced Caiden to think about when his own parents would pass away. It wasn't something he liked thinking about. He wondered if any of his other siblings worried about that too.

Fortunately though, their parents were not too old yet, they all still had time to be together. Death was something not to be hung up on for too long. Everyone was well and happy and that's all that mattered for now.