Chapter 1.10 | Chapter 1.12
After the harsh criticism from her daughter, Caizey decided perhaps it was time to alter her parenting methods. Perhaps she needed to put some more time into it. So, after Kailyn went to school the next morning, she quickly put in an order with the furnishing catalog, and then made one more important call. Before long, there was a new hot tub on the way.. some swings, a treehouse kit, a new hot tub, as well as several items that were to go with the other phone call. The knock at the door was answered swiftly, and the adoption agent brought in the huge cat carrier, and let a tiny little soul out into the house.
Caizey figured kids liked pets. So maybe a new kitten would calm Kailyn down? She reached down and said hello to the tiny Egyptian Mau kitten, dubbed Xena. Xena seemed friendly enough, and Caizey figured another new familiar might be useful. (The concept of actually giving the cat to her daughter was completely alien to Caizey, in her mind, just having a cat in the house should work, right?)
Unbeknownst to Caizey, however, Kailyn might have had more issues than just acting out lately. At school, she had traded her lunch for someone else's assignment, because she hadn't bothered to finish her homework the night before. The teacher somehow missed the whole exchange, and the homework heist went off without a hitch. Hungry, but in good stead grades-wise, Kailyn went on about her day, blithely unaware of the gravity of what they'd just done.
Caizey was having fun, however, getting to know the tiny kitten that had just been delivered.
Xena was turning out to be a really cuddly little baby, and loved meowing back to Caizey's croons.
With one last snuggle and kiss, Caizey sent the adoption agent home, and officially paid the fee. Plopping the tiny kitten back on the floor, Caizey quickly moved on with their day.
With a quick trip to the kitchen to fill the pet food bowls, Caizey then disappeared to the basement workroom. She had decided that she wanted to have her whole collection of potions on the wall in the upstairs office, so she needed to replace the ones she had used.
So, Caizey started in on the first potion, oblivious that it was nearly time for Kailyn to come home.
Kailyn figured that she might be grounded, but that didn't mean she couldn't bring a friend back home, right? And with no Caizey in evidence, there was nobody to correct that assumption. So, Pierce Delgato came home on the bus with Kailyn, and they quickly discovered the new swing-set.
They played for a while, then chatted amiably before Pierce's mom called him home.
Heading into the house, Kailyn was greeted by a tiny, lonely kitten. With a meow, she got Kailyn's full attention.
"Well, hello, little bitty. I wonder what you're doing here. Do you have a name?" Kailyn asked, offering a hand to the kitten to sniff, then petting the little baby sweetly. There was, obviously, no-one around to answer the question, however, so Kailyn headed to the dining room to grab a snack to quell her growly tummy.
Downstairs, the potion had gone all sorts of wrong. Caizey was laying on the floor, recovering from a failed potion. With renewed determination, she dusted herself off, threw away the questionable potion, drank down a needs replacer, and started all over again.
After the hunger pangs all day, Kailyn decided that maybe they'd do their own homework from now on, and sadly sat down at the table to struggle her way through her math homework on her own.
There had been some other additions to the house, including an apparent fish tank in Kailyn's room, which she looked at curiously, noting that she also had a new TV... then she got ready for bed, still alone.. and tucked herself in.
This potion was going much better, and Caizey was blithely unaware of the time.
Once the potion was successfully finished, she bottled up the batch of Curse Cleansing potions, chugged another need potion, and kept working.
With no parent in evidence (still!), Kailyn pulled out some cold mac and cheese out of the fridge, and ate some breakfast. She then ran upstairs, got ready for school, and grabbed her backpack on the way out the door to catch her bus.
By the time Caizey came out of the basement, the bus was just disappearing over the hill, and Caizey just shrugged, and decided that perhaps this was a good time to build the treehouse kit.
By the time the bus reappeared over the hill, it was only halfway done, and Caizey was so focused that, once again, Xena met Kailyn as they walked into the parent-less house. Unwilling to interrupt her mother at whatever she was banging on outside, Kailyn got a snack, and filled the kitten's empty bowls. She then pulled out her homework, and got going on yet another incomprehensible math assignment.
Caizey finished the treehouse, then went inside to find Kailyn doing her homework, and decided to help. (for a change)
Once the homework was done, Caizey pulled a box out from behind her back to present to Kailyn.
Kailyn opened the box, to discover a new bike. Consideringly, she looked at Caizey, wondering how she was supposed to learn to ride it on her own, or whether her mother would actually help.
As a thank-you, Kailyn pulled out a Daisy for her mother, and gave it to her for a Love Day gift.
Caizey was pleased, if a little surprised. She had, quite frankly, forgotten it was Love Day. And she had no one to spend it with. With a frown, she led Kailyn out into the backyard to show her the new treehouse.
She had gotten a telescope to work on scouts badges with, and found it fit perfectly up in the treehouse, so showed Kailyn where the ladder was, then left her to figure out the 'scope on her own. Luckily, it had come put together, and there was a nice, easy manual still hanging from the telescope's stand. Kailyn read what she needed to know, and got to work searching the sky.
By bedtime, it was (again) lightly snowing, and Kailyn had finished her Junior Scientist badge. She was excited to be able to pick up several badges she had managed to get on her own this week at the scouts meeting tomorrow, so she decided she ought to try to call it an early night and get plenty of rest.
The next morning, it was apparent that Caizey was, again, trying to be a present parent, and she had "made" (read: conjured) a breakfast of warm mac and cheese. The two ate a mostly silent breakfast, then, Caizey motioned for Kailyn to follow her.
"What's up? Where we going?" Kailyn wanted to know, but Caizey just smiled. Once they got out into the front yart, Caizey instructed Kailyn on how to get onto their brand new bike, and presented her with a safety helmet.
Caizey was trying. She attempted to talk Kailyn through the basics of steering the bike, but Kailyn was finding her directions hard to follow... and before long, Caizey had, for an unknown reason, wandered off to talk to some weird looking guy who had approached the house.
.. Which left poor Kailyn struggling to learn this bike thing on her own. Of course.
Unbeknownst to Kailyn, however, Caizey was actually going to talk to this particular guy in an effort to actually protect Kailyn - because the male in question was none other than Darren Charm.
In an effort to distract him from running straight up to Kailyn and spill the beans, Caizey interrupted him, and once again, iterated that the child.. was NOT in any certain terms.. his. He had no rights to her, and never would.
"Really? How can you possibly say that?" Darren replied, raising his voice.
Frustrated and worried for her daughter's sake, Caizey hurriedly came up with a plan. "How about we duel on it? I win, you go away. You win, you can tell her whatever you think you know, and we'll see if she even needs a Dad."
.. And with that, the fight was on. This time, however, there was something on the line, and Caizey had no intention of losing.
Darren went on the offense quickly, but Caizey's shield held firm, and the recoil of Darren's magic nearly sent him to his knees.
Once again, Darren summoned his magic and threw one of his harshest spells at the infuriating woman in front of him, but Caizey easily deflected it again. Maybe poor Darren should have paid more attention in his magic classes, or at least been aware that Caizey was a practiced duelist.
Caizey laughed, and shot a bolt of pure energy right at Darren's face. He dodged it just enough that it hit him right in the middle of the chest.
In pain and off-balance, it only took a simple spell to finish the duel. And Darren was definitely NOT the winner.
He picked himself up, and tried to ignore Caizey gloating behind him. This wasn't over in his mind. He silently vowed he WOULD get to Kailyn to find out the truth, without or without Caizey's knowledge, and dusted off his pants, walking away with as much of his dignity as he could manage while limping.
Caizey walked back over to Kailyn, who was putting up her bike on the front porch, and preparing to leave for scouts. Caizey had, predictably, missed the entire lesson. She was riding a high from her win, though, and that fact barely registered. She waved goodbye to her daughter, and watched a very handsome man that she vaguely recognized walking up to their own front door. He was some sort of celebrity, Caizey was sure of that... and went over to say hello.
Before long, her instincts had taken over, and .. it had been so long, she simply couldn't help it. The flirts just came naturally. She never even bothered to ask if he was single. It didn't matter. He was already wrapped around her finger.
One little kiss, and any scruples he had were gone. Caizey led him around to the back porch, and ran into the house to grab a couple of towels. That hot tub needed a test drive, anyway.
... Why not have this man help? Caizey only vaguely realized she had never even asked his name, but that fact didn't really matter to her.
She whispered sweet nothings in his ear, and inhibitions just melted away on his part.
A second kiss, and the romance was well and truly sealed.
The man had come to ask about the school bake sale, but he'd never gotten a chance to ask... and that sale was more than forgotten by this point.
In fact, it would be several hours before he remembered it again, long after he got home to his wife and kids.
Completely clueless, Kailyn walked back up the front stairs from scouts meeting, and ran to her room to put both her uniform and her new badges away.
Which gave Caizey just enough time to dry off, say goodbye, and beguile the man into another kiss.
She made very sure she would not be forgotten.
Then, happily sated, she sent him on his way and cleaned up the towels and water that had splashed out on to the porch..
With one last wistful look, Caizey headed inside to change and see if Kailyn wanted another lesson before bedtime.
Kailyn was already in bed, however, so Caizey tucked her in, and headed downstairs to do some flirty Masterpieces. Two she hung in her bedroom, and the rest she sold. She had over 3 million in the bank.. but it never hurt to add to the total, she figured.
In the kitchen, ignored and alone, a tiny kitten was having her own celebration.
With very little fanfare, tiny Xena was no more, and she struck a pose, proud of her own achievement. Determined that her mistress would finally pay attention to her, she headed outside to hunt down some presents for her human.
Chapter 1.10 | Chapter 1.12
