PLAYING HOUSE

7 FEBRUARY, SUNDAY, AFTERNOON

Today for Alpha Duties, Harvey, Lola and I were going to accompany Beta Gerald for his "Sunday Rounds". This week, it was Delta Flynn's duty to supervise our team. We also introduced Alaric as my new assitant.

I heard Harvey remind Fluffy sternly as we got out of the truck, "Alaric, do not speak unless spoken to. And only use your innocent pretty boy mode."

Fluffy smiled and answered guilessly, "But I only know this one way to speak, Big Brother Beta."

Harvey hit him.

Hahahaha.

"Me! Me too!" I decided.

"You want Big Brother Beta to hit you too?" Fluffy asked wide-eyed.

Harvey hit him again harder.

"No, not that, I want to play too!" I said.

Fluffy considered this for a moment, and then agreed with another flawlessly executed smile, "Okay, but I want to be the big brother. You can be my little sister."

Normally, I would flare and fight to be the big sister, and I did flare, but just at that moment, I also remembered coming face to face with Adelina. Somewhere in the Colored Mountains, Fluffy really did have a younger sister waiting for him.

"Okay!" I agreed and was immediately rewarded by Harvey face palming. Hahaha so fun to see my calm and collected beta at his wits end.

Fluffy blinked. I don't think he was expecting me to agree so easily, and then with another smile he adjusted his character to a more mature tone and said, "Alright, then since I'm the big brother, I will teach you all about the world."

"Yes!" I quickly agreed before Harvey could stop it, "And since I'm the little sister, you've gotta do whatever I say!"

Hahaha.

Fluffy blinked, he tried to recalibrate his speaking mode, "Are you sure it works that way?"

Yes, of course. Hadn't he met Savy? Hmm...

And then my good beta who was also silently recalibrating, smiled his usual wry smile, "Yes. And if you make your little sister cry, I'll send you straight to Ben."

This made Fluffy take a step back, "Don't worry, Big Brother Beta, I'll take good care of my little sister."

For some reason, Fluffy was really scared of Ben. Hahaha.

We met Lola in front of the Morning Light Packhouse. Her mum had just dropped her off.

"It feels a little like you're playing house." Lola mused after observing us.

"What's that?" I asked.

"I'm sure you played it when you were young... Maybe you called it something else in Night Leaf. It's like when small kids play pretend family." Lola explained.

Oh. I shook my head, "I've only ever played pretend hunting or fighting games."

"You were lucky." Harvey growled lowly.

Lola laughed, "I remember the girls always wanted wanted Harvey to play daddy with them. He was very popular."

"I've lost count of the number of baby teddy bears and dolls I've fathered." Harvey said wryly, but even as he joked, it looked like he had recovered from some harrowing childhood memory.

Hahahaha.

It sounded like fun. So our game got a recast. Lola became our mummy and Harvey became daddy. Fluffy was big brother and I was little sister.

We met Flynn at the lobby, "What are you pups playing at today?"

Harvey and Lola looked surprised at the way Flynn spoke. I guess they were not used to being talked down by a Delta, but since I got talked to like that quite routinely, I simply answered him and introduced our new family.

"Wouldn't that make Beta Gerald a grandpa?" Flynn grinned.

Bwahahaha.

"What about you?" I asked. I was half expecting him to say he wouldn't play, but Flynn surprised me by saying, "Let me think..."

"You can be the father." Harvey was quick to offer.

"Nah, I can deprive Beta Gerald of the pleasure of being a grandfather." Flynn was really considerate of his elders that way.

Then he decided with a cheeky grin, "I'll be the baby. All of you can take care of me today."

He must have thought he was so smart.

We were just having fun like that when Beta Gerald came down the stairs. He was frowning on the phone, it looked important.

"Grandpa Gerald is here!" I announced.

Beta Gerald looked up a little shocked, but he was too polite to brush it off. He got off the phone and came over, "Good afternoon, Alpha Sam. Hello, Flynn, Lola."

Harvey immediately did the introductions, "Dad, this is Alaric, he is the former fight dog training to be Sam's assistant."

I decided to also do the introductions, "We're playing house. Alaric is the big brother. I'm the little sister. Flynn's the baby. Lola is our mummy, and Harvey's our daddy, so it makes you our grandpa, okay?"

From the way everyone else looked at me like I've lost my mind, I got the feeling that they totally didn't plan on roping Beta Gerald into the game.

Why? Did Beta Gerald not like playing house?

"Oh, haha." Beta Gerald looked flustered, "Oh, alright. I...I've always wanted grandchildren."

(You hearing that Harvey? Hahahaha)

Beta Gerald phone rang again. Beta Gerald's ring tone was a quiet but urgent sound. He looked at the screen, "I'm very sorry, I have to take this call."

He bowed and retreated to the other side of the lobby.

I decided to continue our game of house, turning to Fluffy, I said, "Big Brother, you need to greet your grandpa when you see him."

"But Daddy says I can't speak unless I'm spoken to." Fluffy explained.

I looked at Daddy who must really be getting into his role because he was working on his screen.

"Daddy's really strict, huh?" I asked.

"Only to me." Fluffy complained, "He always spoils you."

Oh. That's kind of true. I laughed.

"Maybe Harvey's the kind of dad who would pamper his daughter but be strict with his son." Baby Flynn suggested.

I flared, "Is that something a baby should say?"

"What should I say?" Flynn asked.

"I don't know, maybe like... Urmmm..." I turned to Fluffy, "What should babies says?"

"I'm hungry, please let me suc-" Fluffy's words got cut off when Harvey hit him hard on the back of his head.

Both Flynn and Harvey were growling lowly at the Ex-fightdog. I remembered how Stephan had said Fluffy had a way of riling the other males.

Luckily, mommy Lola was around to keep the peace, "Alright, now children, please behave. Why don't we sit over there on the sofas to wait?"

So we all did. By now, Harvey and Flynn were both tappity tapping on their screens. Sigh, adults. It's always work work work.

(Flynn was a very mature baby.)

I was sitting next to Lola who smiled at me, "I like the way you did your hair today, Sam."

"Thanks. Actually Savy did it." I admitted. Urm... I really wanted to continue this conversation, but you know how girl talk didn't come naturally to me. What to say, what to say?

I poked Fluffy on his stomach, he understood it as his cue to speak, "I think mummy's hair is beautiful too."

Oh. Yes, that would be a good girl talk response. I poked him again to see how to continue, "What kind of tea does mummy like to drink? I'll make it for you next time."

Wow. Just one more time, poke, "I'm really happy we met."

Lola giggled. This was so much fun.

Harvey looked up briefly and kicked Fluffy's couch, "Don't flirt with your mum."

Hahahaha. So fun.

Baby Flynn warned Fluffy with a maturity beyond his babyhood, "I've got my eyes on you."

To Harvey he said, "Where did you guys pick this one up from? He's even worse than Ki."

Harvey shrugged, "Vampire Coven."

"Ah." Flynn nodded. He didn't ask any more.

And then beautiful Lola said, "I'm very happy to have met you too, Alaric. Welcome to our family."

"You are so kind, beautiful lady." Alaric purred, earning himself another hard kick at his sofa. Poor sofa. Hahaha.

Lola would not be deterred, "Alaric. Such a nice name, what does it mean?"

"I do not know. It was the name my Alpha Princess chose for me." Fluffy answered.

"Sam did?" Lola looked at me, "What does Alaric mean?"

I had no idea, "I didn't name you. Alaric is the name your parents gave you."

Fluffy looked at me smiling, but otherwise nonplused. Wait, no one told him?

"I dream travelled to the Colored Mountains and found Alaric's parents. I talked to his dad, Heller, who told me his name." I said.

"My...my parents?" Fluffy repeated.

I nodded, "Yeah, something happened when you were young and they lost you. Your dad searched every mountain and your mum misses you. She prays with tears every night. You have a little sister. A real one. Her name is Adelina. I don't know your mother's name, but she was very beautiful."

No one spoke. I wondered if I said something weird again and decided it would be best to wrap up, "Fluffy was your baby name, but your real name was Alaric. Your dad says he'll come over to bring you home. I don't know how long that'll take though, so in the meantime, you can play house here with my pack. Until your real family comes and takes you home."

Again silence. So I started rambling, "Don't worry, I warned your dad about the vampires and rogues. I think he'll be okay. He had a strong Alpha wolf... And if he doesn't get here, someday, when I finish my work here as Alpha and retire, I'm going to look for the Colored Mountains. You can come with me, if you want."

More silence. What?

My good beta was the first to recover, he raised his hand, "Princess, when you go to the Colored Mountains, I would like to follow you."

"Is that the new retirement location of choice nowadays?" Flynn decided to joke it off.

And then Fluffy spoke, his cornflower blue eyes darkening as his wolf surfaced, and for the first time without his any rehearsed smile or intonations he said, "I want to follow you, Alpha."

"Okay, but your dad says he's coming." I reminded him.

Fluffy didn't answer.

I guess that was all the "realness" I could get out of him for now. That's okay. I reached out and bumped his shoulder with my fist, "You're going to be ok, Fluffy."

Beta Gerald was still on the phone. Harvey and Flynn went back to working on their phones, leaving Lola, Fluffy, and me.

"I can't believe we get to go on Beta Gerald's Sunday Rounds." Lola told me.

Beta Gerald has dedicated his whole life to serve his pack. He spent Monday to Saturday at meetings and admin work, so he always made sure to go around his pack on Sunday afternoons.

Sometimes Harvey went with him. They would load up the van with cleaning supplies, food, medicine, and an assortment of tools, before driving around the pack town.

Sometimes pack members would flag them down, sometimes Beta Gerald would purposely stop at someone's house because he heard they were going through a challenging time.

He had done this every single Sunday, rain or shine for close to twenty years now. Even after his Morning Light Alpha had passed on, he continued ministering to his pack EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY.

Dad had always said Beta Gerald was the main reason why Morning Light could survive without an Alpha for such a long time.

"So we have to do this seriously." Mommy Lola told us.

Fluffy and I nodded obediently.

Mommy Lola made a musical hum when she thought, "If you two do a good job, I will give you..."

Harvey reached into his jacket without and looking up from his phone, and produced two flat heart-shaped lollies.

Wow, these two should be soulmates. They would make a perfect father and mother tag team.

"Deal." I agreed because I always knew a good deal when I saw one. I took them and gave one to Fluffy, "Just follow my lead, and we'll be the best kids in the world."

Beta Gerald returned to us with all the polite apologies, "Oh, we're running late. That's not good. Come, let's load up the truck."