Colin's posts

"Yes." Rene responded.

"Jaden got her here in time." he said.

"Good!" Jaden exclaimed, before pausing.

"Wait, what about-" he started to ask, before Rene interrupted.

"The calls have been made, and emergency crews are en route to her building, to see just how extensive the damage is." he explained.

"Ah, good then." Jaden said.

Jaden looked at his mother and shook his head.

"No." he replied. "Not yet." he told her.

"It was weird." he then said. "I couldn't place it, but something definitely felt... off... in her apartment." he went on, but before Sydney could respond, Rene approached them.

"So what is it?" Jaden asked quickly.

Rene was silent for a few seconds, before sighing deeply.

"Carbon Monoxide poisoning." he answered simply.

"Yeah." Jaden replied.

"I'll let you know when I know more." he told her.

"IE: When Rene comes back with more info." he clarified.

"If you show up beforehand, I'll be out in the waiting room." he then said further.

"See you when I see you." he finished, before they said their farewells and he hung up.

He then sat down in one of the chairs, and waited.

When he looked in the window, he saw some strands of pink hair on the floor. Many strands of pink hair. And they all looked like they were still attached to Desiree's head.

"......" Jaden was silent, as his dilemma about ethics was suddenly solved.

He looked around, saw that nobody was around, before creating a portal and stepping inside her apartment. As soon as he did, he could sense... something... was wrong.

But he had no idea what.

Instead, he focused on Desiree... who was laying on the floor, unconscious.

"Desiree!" he exclaimed, before trying to rouse her. After no success, he created another portal, and stepped through it, carrying her, stepping just outside the hospital, Our Lady of Angels.

He then stepped inside, where he was met by Rene, who happened to be walking through. Upon seeing Desiree and Jaden, he and a nurse immediately took Desiree further into the building, leaving Jaden to fill out some details. Once he did, he called his mother.

"At OLA." was all he told her.

"Yeah, sure." Jaden responded.

"Talk to you soon." he said.

He then hung up, sighed, and created a portal, which he used to transport himself just outside Desiree's building, atop the dumpster that was in the nearby alley. He jumped off, made his way out of the alley, and then made his way to Desiree's apartment door, which was conveniently on the ground floor.

'...right.' he thought, before knocking.

He received no answer.

So he knocked again. No answer. So he texted her. No answer. Called her. No answer. Knocked even louder. No answer.

"Okaaaaay..." he mumbled, as he stood at the closed door.

"Hm..." he muttered further, pondering the ethics on... 'letting himself in'...

"Eh?" Jaden muttered.

"Desiree's?" he asked.

"I mean, sure, I can do that. Is there something concerning happening?" he asked her.

Sydney then filled him in on what Max had told her, which caused Jaden to sigh in response.

"All right, I'll check." he told her.

"And I'll call you back with what I find out."

Max smiled back and nodded.

"Of course." he replied, as Leon smiled brightly at all of those that were there.

-Some time later-

Max and Cheryl sat down on the bench that they had found, while Leon splashed around in a shallow fountain that was directly ahead of them.

"Well, this vacation was long overdue." Max commented.

The three of them had decided that it was time to take a vacation. They were going to take a small tour of Ireland, and planned to be away for a month. They were just stopping for a rest, while Leon played around... until Max took out his cell phone, checked the time, and did some quick math in his mind.

"Cheryl, I'm going to call Desiree." he told his wife. "It's time for our weekly little chat." he said.

Cheryl just nodded and went to see Leon, while Max dialed Desiree's number.

He received no response.

"Guess she's in the shower or something." he said, sending her a text.

Desiree, when you get this, let me know, so we can have our little weekly chat session. he sent her, before looking at his wife and child.

About 5 minutes later, the two of them returned, said they were going to get some snacks. Max nodded, and they left to go do so, leaving him to look at his phone again.

After another 15 minutes had passed, he became a little concerned. He sent her another text, but received no response after another 5 minutes. So he called again, but received no response. Yet again, he called her... but no response. It always ended up ringing for the duration, before going to voicemail.

Now thoroughly concerned, he made another call, to a different person. This one answered.

"Sydney, it's Max." he said when the vampire answered. "I'm a bit concerned about Desiree." he told her. "Today's the day we set aside for a weekly chat, and I know it's a decent time over there for her to answer the phone. It's been about half an hour, and I've called her and texted her several times. No answer. And her phone isn't off, either. It always ends up ringing the full duration before the answering service picks it up." he explained further.

"Do you think you could... possibly check up on her?" he asked. "Make sure she's okay?" he went on.

"If nothing else, just to ease my mind?" he finished.

"Leo??" Leon asked, perking up.

"Not you, son." Max said. "Another Leo." he told him.

"Oh." Leon responded.

"We do have some waffles left over." Max then told Desiree.

"If you'd like some." he added, as she received a message on her phone.

I heard the story. Glad you're okay. I'll be finished with the headphones in a matter of a couple of hours. was what it said.

"Ah, right." Max said.

"It was looking a little worse for the wear." he told her.

"So I gave them to Sydney." he went on.

"She said she knew someone that knew the contact information for the one that made your headset, and could, therefore, repair it." he explained further.

"So odds are they have it right now." he continued.

"I hope that's all right." he then said, a little unsure about his decision now.

Max just nodded.

"Yeah." he said.

He then looked over towards Desiree, with Leon on her back.

"Good morning." he greeted them.

"Hiiii!" Leon responded cheerily.

"How are you, Desiree?" Max then asked his daughter. "Sleep well?"

Max just sighed again, this time more deeply than before.

"I figured as much." he said. "And I was afraid of that." he said further.

"Just... I suppose it's me wanting too much. I made the decision to abandon her so long ago, it's self-indulgent of me to think I can have her back with my current family." he continued.

"I guess that's just something I need to live with." he sighed.

"At least she's a good kid."

"That IS impressive." Max replied.

"The level of control she has over it is nothing short of amazing." he said.

"It's impressive, to say the very least." he continued.

"....Cheryl..." he then mumbled.

"I know that you set that meeting up back on Leon's birthday." he told her. "But I feel I need to ask this." he said, before taking a small breath.

"Do you think we can make Desiree a part of this family?" he asked.

Max sighed again.

"I know." he lamented.

"I... I know." he said, leaning forward and covering his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"I never would have guessed I would regret something that was 'gifted to me by God'..." he admitted.

"But now I wish I could go back in time and reject it." he said, before pausing.

"Uh, well... you know, not that I regret you and Leon, but... oh, I hope you know what I mean." he then mumbled.

Max looked at the ceiling, and nodded.

"Seems so." he agreed, before looking back at her.

"...and yeah, you're right." he admitted.

"I wonder if I really did any good. Or did I do more harm?" he asked rhetorically. "I thought I could trust those two. But I couldn't." he went on.

"I was a fool." he lamented.