Blessed by Night

There was a muffled flushing sound before the light inside of the bathroom clicked off and Joanne came back outside, scratching her flat stomach like an old man and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Once she saw that Mal was sitting awake, she pushed him back down before falling on top of him like her batteries had gone dead.

"Trouble sleeping…?"

"Yea…" He admitted.

"Stop thinking about it… if your mother is that sincere about keeping the truth from you, th she has to have a reason.

You're a part now too, so you should be able to understand her… How would you feel if you had to lie to Cami everyday?"

Malachi's heart immediately clched in his chest.

He hadn't be a father very long, but his little girl was his everything.

Hers was the first life he had created with one of the wom whom he loved to pieces; and there was nothing that he did not dream of giving her.

Joanne was certainly right about one thing; the thought of having to live with a lie he'd told her was almost too much to bear.

"You get it, right? There is no way she came to this decision easily. She is immortal and infinitely powerful, but she is still a mother, and a good one at that.

It's probably hard ough for her to hold this secret, so you don't need to make things ev harder for her by lingering on it.

Just trust that whatever she has done, she has done it with your family's best interest in mind, as well as her own."

Malachi felt himself relaxing if only just a bit.

He placed a small but meaningful kiss on Joanne's forehead as thanks. "Wh did you get so smart, huh?"

Irritated and groggy, Joanne punched Malachi in the ribs hard ough for there to be an audible crack.

"I'm older than you, smug brat... I know a little something."

Malachi knew that he probably shouldn't have tried to baby someone like Joanne, but he used to stick forks in outlets as a kid.

He had always liked flirting with danger.

In the dark room that smelled mildly of sweat and body fluids, he continued to tease her playfully despite her reltless requests to allow her to sleep.

But inwardly, she was happy that she had gott her formerly downtrodd young partner to think about something else for once.

She never believed that she'd feel like this, but she was more than happy to sacrifice a bit of her sleep if it meant that she could keep him this contt.

...Just a bit though, she still needed the rest.

-

", , 3!"

*Flash! Flash! Flash!*

Under the shining midday sun, a rather active lake day was in full swing.

Though the hot springs inside the gerated onset were nice, the nightfall unit had set up camp right beside a very large and cool body of water.

It would have be a shame for them to not use it.

The girls had fished out old bathing suits from before the world fell apart and were truly doing them justice.

However, everyone's main focus was out of the water, and on the riverbank.

There, Malachi was lying on a beach towel with his hands clasped behind his head and his face turned up to the sky.

He wore only a pair of black swim trunks, which Anna had commted were too short and made him look like a slut.

Meaning she liked them and was worried that other wom would too.

Right beside him, Camille had copied her father's exact pose; complete with her own little bathing suit that Bianca had sewn together.

The pair had matching sunglasses on and fancy black earphones that were connected to Mal's phone.

Currtly, the two of them were listing to a very important father-daughter song.

Not 'Isn't She Lovely?' by Stevie Wonder.

Nor was it 'My Girl' by The Temptations.

It was the awe-inspiring, pivotal, and incredibly thought-provoking : '4 Your Eyez Only' by Jermaine Cole.

The two of them were so captivated by this mesmerizing work of art that they were completely unaware that the wom in the family had be standing a them for a while now, taking pictures and making remarks.

Sei: "Soo cute!"

Anna: "I don't ev mind the favoritism, this'll be my new lock scre forever."

Nadine: "I-I just want to give them both all of the kisses I can!"

Luna and Nadine had be brought over in the morning, and after having their own short but loving reunion, they were also persuaded to join in the festivities.

Serana, Ryo, Aisha, Aubrey, and Rose were also standing hand-in-hand on the riverbank, staring at the father-daughter duo with eyes of vy.

Smiling, Serana rested her head against her boyfrid's bare chest. "Hey babe... What do you think about-"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Sei almost never swore, but Sera's almost hypothetical had brought it out of her on accidt.

"M-Mom! Why?!"

"You're no where near responsible ough for your own baby! I'm still washing your clothes every week!"

Sera's cheeks turned the same color as her hair as she turned her head away out of embarrassmt.

"It's just a lot harder without those laundry pod things..."

Ryo broke his usual rigid demeanor and smiled thoughtfully as he gave his girlfrid a consolatory pat on the head.

"We both have a little bit more growing up to do. Wh we're ready, let's have this conversation again."

An egregiously large and happy smile showed up on Sera's face and she threw her arm a her boyfrid drunkly.

"Aww, I love you so much! Tell you what, let's go practice agai-"

"G-Go cool off, you two!"

With a red face, Sei hurled her daughter and her boyfrid into the middle of the lake using Herculean telekinesis.

"Should you really be so prudish?" Nadine asked. "This morning all of us had sex for-"

"Y-You go cool off too!"

"KYAA!"

Malachi had be watching this tire sce through his one oped eye and he smiled softly at his family.

Though he felt protective of Serana, he wasn't averse to her becoming a mother whever she was actually ready.

He thought it might have be nice for Cami to have kids her own age to play with; and it would have be good for her developmt too.

However, it did make him think of what Ryo would be like as a father.

It made him realize that he didn't know much about Loki's blessed, other than the fact that Serana had coincidtally saved him on a mission in the wastes.

Siltly, he wondered just how he'd ded up in that predicamt in the first place, as well as the whereabouts of a particular companion of his.

'Morgan... Don't tell me you didn't make it…'

At that momt, the song finally ded and Camille threw her hands up in glee.

"Ada!"

"Again?" Malachi asked with purple eyes filling with tears. *sniff* "You really are my daughter..!"

Camille nodded in satisfaction behind her sunglasses that were just a smudge too big for her face.

Just as Mal was about to restart the song, the girls decided it was time to interfere.

Bianca snatched up Camille so fast that she practically yanked the young girl free of her headphones and shades instantaneously.

"Come on, little miss! Mommy is going to teach you how to swim."

"I-In the shallow water, right?" Sei asked nervously.

"Yes, yes, we promise we'll stay on the bank."

At the same time, Luna demanded atttion and fell on top of her fiancé like a -haired cannonball.

She smiled at him like a radiant vix, and started running her hands up the lgth of his exposed chest.

"This seat tak?"

"Not at all. Feel free to make yourself comfortable."

"Oh? But the day just started. It'd be a shame for us to go back to the room already."

Several feet away on the riverbank, Ali, Trevor, and Rowan watched all of this with a dry gaze.

The heat from their grills was nothing compared to the burning jealousy that smoldered inside each of them.

Trevor: "Y'know, my wife used to flirt with me like that too back in the day. Now wh she's in the mood she just doesn't put on her face mask before bed."

Rowan: "You go for it everytime, don't you?"

Trevor: "Damn straight."

Ali: "I used to have em all over me like that at one point too… I don't have it like that no more though."

Trevor and Rowan glared at the overgrown man hatefully.

"Big bastard…"

"As wide as all outside, but not a thought behind those eyes…"

"The fuck?!"

Back on the riverbank, Mal was dealing with a rather antsy and adamant Luna who was only seconds away from dragging him back inside by the hair.

And if he was honest, he was tempted to let her.

After all, their little short and sweet reunion earlier this morning wasn't really ough for him either.

But he was hoping that showing some restraint until later tonight would make the experice that much sweeter.

Siltly he wished there was something, anything to distract him from Luna's soft, curvaceous body.

*Ring!*

'Thank the gods!!'

Malachi pulled out his phone at the last minute and checked it with a bit too much ergy.

However, the momt he saw the pop up across the scre, he immediately wished that he had just gone to have sex with Luna instead.

Celeste : I heard you guys were on a three day break today! If it's not too much trouble… could you stop by wh you get a chance? She's be asking for you the whole time she's be awake and… her memory is back.