Heredity; Fires Do Run In The Family.

Gaining knowledge! Don't judge his ability to expand and stretch! He is an alien!

Amy needed to go to the pet store to pick up some horse supplies. She did a double take at the lady behind the counter; she remembered that face from some where. Thinking back to her childhood she giggled to herself. It was Darlean bunch! How weird she used to work for the military. I guess that's what happens when old age gets to ya.

Erin looked at her new birdcage. Amy bought it for her because she knew Erin had a love for the outdoors, nature, and adventure. 

Erin opened the birdcage door to inspect the little cat toy hanging from the top of the cage when she heard shouts coming from the barn. 

Turning around to face the noises she saw black smoke drifting up from the barn, and ran.

"What's going on!?" Erin shouted , looking at her father for answers. She was standing between two picnic benches which seem likely to catch fire at any second...

"ERIN, AMY, GET OUT OF THE BARN NOW! WE CAN HANDLE THIS, IT'S JUST THE FIRE PLACE" he shouted over the smoke and fire which seemed to be multiplying. 

Amy ran around the bench to escort Erin out to safety but it was too late.

She was engulfed  in flames. 

........

The firefighters came late, leaving Chad and Xavier to put out the flames themselves...

Amy woke up with pain down her whole body. She got out of bed slowly. It had been a week since the barn incident and she was healing steadily due to medications and a little help from Buffy.

Dodo became her best friend due to the fact that she hadn't been out of the house much. He was just like her, locked up in a dumb cage. She placed him back inside when she was done holding him and didn't close the cage doors. Birds had wings so why prevent them from flying?

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Brian was still small but his brain was wonders. He loved studying his ant farms and enjoyed reading books on logic. 

"I didn't hire a babysitter for no reason" Xavier told Amy as they arrived at the bistro. "I wanted to take you to a park," he said stopping near the tables, "but we pretty much have one in our backyard."
Amy nodded, agreeing. 

"Then I thought, 'I'll take Amy to the beach!' But no that wasn't a good idea, it's a little bit colder at night and  I know how you get grossed out by seaweed. So here we are ! And I'm buying you dinner!"

They sat down at a table farthest from the door. They both didn't want to be bothered with paparazzi, they just wanted a relaxing date.

Amy looked over at the table across from them. Is that dog food? 

Amy wondered if the bistro was now selling dog food as a delicacy.

She heard Xavier's chair slide across the bricks, thinking that they were going to leave she got up too. 

But she was wrong.

He looked at her and smiled, getting down on one knee he pulled out a small black velvet box.

"Amy, I love you. I promise. I loved you ever since I moved here and then we had Brian and, wow, you just make me so happy"

Xavier's heart swelled with happiness as he watched Amy react to the ring..

But then it dropped to his stomach as she closed the box. 

"No, Xavier. Sorry not now" she said in  a whisper. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO BABYSIT !!!!!!
WHYYYYY"

Erin was able to start exercising again, her runs were becoming longer and longer until she was finally able to run where she always used to.

She stopped, her breathing was slightly hard. She looked across the bay to the light house, proud of herself. 

She realized how hot she had became and had a flash feeling of fire running down her side. Falling a little from the weird sensation, she realized that she needed to cool down, but there was no way she was going in that gross ocean.

Then Erin remembered the time she had went swimming in that random house while no one was home. She walked over to the fence, jumped it, and took a little swim.

Her moves were silent and she hardly made a sound when she moved through the water. The smell of sweat on her vanished and was replaced with the chlorine/saltwater smell.

Everything was going smooth until her phone rang, blasting a dirty rap song that cussed every other word.

She dived underwater and shot of the wall to the other side. What if the windows were open in the house? It was broad daylight, she could be caught! What was she thinking! 

She answered her phone but no one was on the other line.

"Of course" she said to herself as she put her phone on silent. 

It was time to leave.

She crept along the house, daring a peak inside to see if anyone was even home.

She looked through the window and saw some dude watching tv. She moved slowly backwards, back around the house. A sudden movement would cause him to look. 

When she was out of sight she ran back home, Brian's birthday party was in a couple of hours.

Everyone was having a great time dancing when she noticed him. The dude from the house. 

Her cheeks flushed. Maybe she did notice him earlier? Well I've got nothing to lose. She thought.

As she walked over to him, she had a sudden urge to smile. She tried not to smile, her face contracting into a bunch of weird facial expressions. 

Oh my gosh I probably look like an idiot! What's wrong with me I don't even know the guy!
"Hello" he said when she was close enough to greet her. "I'm Harrison. His words seemed to be dragged out in a mysterious way.

AHHGHHHGG TURN AWAY NOW HE KNOWS SOMETHING.

"Errrrrrrrrrrrrr my name is uh.." 

WHAT THE HELL, ERIN YOU KNOW YOUR NAME WHAT IS GETTING INTO YOU!

"Erin?" he offered.

"OH yeah !" She laughed an uncontrollable awkward laugh. 

"Yeah I met your dad the other day at the park, he told me we went to the same school"

Erin didn't know what to say. 

He's lying! I've never seen him before in my life! WHY ARE MY THOUGHTS STILL SHOUTING!

"Uh yeah, SVH! Yeah that's the school that I attended." Erin said looking down at her feet like they were mildly interesting. 

He didn't bother hiding his laugh this time. Erin looked up and noticed that he was smiling at her.

She flushed a deeper pink then before.

"SO, Uh, the weather! It's nice!" She wish she never brought up the weather. Seriously? The weather?!

Xavier's voice rescued her from further embarrassment - "Time for the birthday boy to blow out his candles!" 

He nodded, understanding that the conversation was over. 

When she thought she was far enough away, she let it all out. "WHY AM I THE. MOST. HUMILIATING.PERSON. OUT. HERE!" 

Shouting made everything so much better.

Brian grew up to be as dorky as his father.

But he still got the cross eyed gene.

Cheers to me! No longer the babysitter.. aahh this drink.