This Cloud Just Keeps on Covering

That night, everyone came over for dinner. We all sat in the living room, laughing and chatting like usual. Alicia had come with Mikey, which was cool. She really was a sweet girl. In fact, the two of us had a lot in common. I would be pleased to have her a sister-in-law one day. When I told Mikey that, he freaked out.

"Tess! We've only been dating for, like, a month!" he said, laughing.

"I know! I'm just saying if you do marry her, I'll be fine with it," I explained.

Mikey rolled his eyes and put his arm around my shoulder. I blew at his face, laughing. He blew back at me, which just started a whole war over it. Mikey leapt over the couch, dodging my breaths. But, when I turned around, he was right there. He blew at my face. Everyone laughed at our fight, knowing we were probably more immature than Hunter.

"So, do you like having Tessa and Frank as parents?" Bob asked Hunter, leaning up against the couch.

"Yeah. They're a lot more fun than the other people at the adoption agency. Most of them were kind of weird," Hunter explained, nodded.

"Yeah, Tessa's a little strange, but she's a good Mom," Gerard said, laughing.

Hunter laughed and nodded, agreeing with his uncle. I playfully glared at Gerard as I ran from Mikey. He pushed me into the hallway closet, holding it shut. I banged on the door, demanding him to let me go. As I sat there, everyone laughed. Mikey was laughing too.

Grinning to myself, I came up with the perfect plan. I stood up and looked through the boxes on the shelf. When I found the Halloween box, I grabbed a little fake spider from it and held onto it. I took in a big breath of air and let out an ear splitting scream.

Mikey pulled open the door, worried about me. When he did, I threw the spider at me. Eyes wide, Mikey jumped and tried to shake it off, screaming. I laid on the ground, laughing so hard I was crying. When Mikey saw this, he stopped. The spider fell from his shoulder and landed on the floor with a small click. He glared at me.

"You're mean," he grumbled.

"Just getting revenge, Mikester," I said, sighing.

Mikey shrugged and pulled me up, chucking the fake spider back into the closet. I shut the door with my hip and walked into the living room with Mikey. Everyone stared at us, eyebrows raised.

"I thought Mikey was trying to kill her," Ray said.

"And you didn't rush in to save me?" I asked, pushing out my lower lip.

Ray tried to recover, but stopped when he saw me grin. I ruffled his large hair and sat down next to Frank. He laughed.

"Are you tired yet?" he asked.

"Nope," I said, taking a sip of his Diet Coke.

Frank giggled and kissed the side of my head. From my right, I heard Bob laugh. I looked over to him. He was staring at the wall on which my costume hung. The blond turned to me.

"Is that your costume from your first concert with us?" Bob asked.

"M-hm," I said, nodding.

"I was wondering what that was," Hunter said.

"Were you a vampire, Mommy?" Jaxon asked, turning to me.

I nodded. "Yes, I'm a vampire."

A grin spread across the four-year-old's face, like a jackolantern at Halloween. He jumped up and down, obviously glad I was a bloodsucker. Gerard laughed, watching as the little kid jumped around. Jaxon hurried over to me, tugging on my sleeve.

"Mommy, can I be a vampire?" he asked.

I gasped. "Of course!"

Jaxon giggled and ran over to an empty chair. He grabbed something from mid air and began jumping up and down.

"Melly wants to be one, too!" he shrieked.

"Okay," I said, laughing.

The adults laughed as Jaxon jumped around with 'Melly'. He talked to his best friend about what they would as vampires. I was excited Jaxon already knew things about vampires. If not, I would have had to teach him all about them. No kid of mine wouldn't know about vampires.

"So, Hunter's gonna be a rockstar and Jaxon and Melly will be vampires?" Mikey asked.

I turned to Hunter, nodding. "Sounds about right."

Hunter laughed with me, nodding his head also. Frank smiled at me, though I could see he was tired. Just the look in his eyes told me that. I don't think he was physically tired, rather than mentally. With everything going on, I'm sure he was just a bit stressed.

Later on that night, everyone besides Gerard left. He began making his normal bed on the couch, fluffing up his pillow. I smiled at him and headed over to Hunter and Jaxon's room. Hunter was sitting on his bed, showing Jaxon his guitar. The four year old ran his hand over the glossy paint, smiling widely.

"Night, boys," I said, smiling sleepily at them.

They turned to me, smiling. Hunter said goodnight, but Jaxon didn't. He ran over to me, hugging my leg.

"Bubba's gonna be a rockstar," he said, looking up at me.

"I know. And you're gonna be my little vampire," I laughed.

Jaxon nodded. He scurried over to his bed and got under the covers. Frank walked into the room, holding something behind his back. When we walked over to Jaxon, we kneeled down.

"Hey, Bud, I found you something," Frank said.

Jaxon squeeled and sat right back up, staring straight at Frank. Frank pulled a stuffed animal from behind his back. But, it wasn't an animal. It was a stuffed Frankenstein. Jaxon lunged at it, hugging it close to his chest.

"Frankie!" he giggled.

Frank nodded and kissed Jaxon's forehead smiling. I pulled the covers over Jaxon and kissed his head also, bidding him a goodnight. He instantly cuddled up with his new Frankenstein and shut his eyes.

"'Night," Frank said, hugging Hunter.

"'Night," Hunter answered, hugging his Dad.

I kissed his forehead and walked out of the room. Shutting the door, I turned to Frank, smiling. He hugged me tightly, letting out a soft sigh.

This was perfect.