Page 57 of Two Daddies for Little Jenna

"Why don't you sit with us in the kitchen and crayon to keep your mind off things?" Nick said.

"You go ahead," Michael said when I looked at him. "Elijah and I will join you in ten minutes."

And so, I crayoned in the kitchen for the next ten minutes. Occasionally I'd look up at my Daddies busy stirring pots and passing utensils to each other. It put a smile on my face each time they caught me staring and looked at me with love. It was times like these that I was grateful for what I had. I was surrounded by friends and lovers, and it was in such stark contrast with the cruel life I had mere months ago. It was all thanks to my Daddies, but Clark liked to remind me I had bettered my life all on my own, that the brave decision I’d made to run away from the cult led me to them and happiness. I was just glad I was worrying about things like my hair turning green instead of worrying about whether I'd make it out of the basement alive this time, or whether I could save my siblings from being locked up in the basement.

When Michael and Elijah crawled into the kitchen together sucking on their pacifiers, my jaw dropped and it was now my turn to clap my mouth shut in horror.

"Ta-da!" Michael exclaimed, popping the pacifier and letting it hang from the strap of his overalls, everyone gathering around us once again.

"What did you do to your hair?" I asked as they crawled around in little circles to show off their new look. "Why is it all green and hideous?"

"We know you were horrified by what happened," Michael began, wrapping an arm around Elijah's shoulder and then around mine. "So we had a shower to turn our hair green and make you feel better. Now we're twinsies and you have nothing to be embarrassed about because our hair looks just like yours. And what was that? Hideous? Ouch! We were kind enough to say it looked trendy."

I felt a wave of emotions overtake me. This was all too much. All my life I'd been prevented from leaving home and going to school. All I wanted was to make a friend. Now I had two and they were the sweetest ones I could've asked for. I became teary-eyed once again and they collectively hugged me.

"Oh, we wouldn't have done it if it'd make you feel worse," Michael said, tapping my back with a hand.

"Yeah," Elijah said with a nod. "We just wanted to show that you didn't have to go through this alone because we're best friends and your friends are always there for you. We're sorry if this makes you feel like we're making fun of you. We're not. Promise!"

"No," I said, breaking the hug as they wiped my tears. "It's perfect. These are happy tears. I'm just so happy that I found my friends and family. The family I was born in wasn't nice to me, but the family I've created is everything I hoped for. I've always been so desperate to make a friend all my life. Months ago, when I first met Michael he called me his friend within minutes, and now I have a friend in you too, Elijah. No one has done something so nice for me, and I still fear sometimes it's all going to get taken away from me. I didn't mean to create a scene. I just get too emotional sometimes. Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Michael said as I smiled. "Daddy says it's healthy to talk about your feelings. And nothing's going to be taken away from you. We almost lost you to Otis, but now that he's behind bars no one's going to take you away from your Daddies or us. And even if they do, Elijah and I are going to kick their ass."

I giggled. "You did sucker punch Otis pretty hard in his tummy. Can I touch your hair? It looks so much better on you."

I ran my hand through their hair. It made me feel so much better that I wasn't the odd one out anymore. When I looked up at Uncle John, he looked so proud of his boy for the kind gesture.

"Thanks again, guys," I said. "You are the sweetest. Now, do you want to play house together before dinner is ready?"

When Daddies returned to their positions and resumed cooking, Michael whispered loudly with his hands around his mouth, "Psst. I need to tell you something, but it's a secret. So I have a…"

"No!" I held onto his hand, led him out into the living room as we crawled together. "You think you can whisper but you just end up speaking loudly with your hands around your mouth."

"Okay," Michael said when we stopped before the couch. "So I have a revenge plan, but it might or might not be evil. Now I know last time we got caught taking revenge from Kristen, but we were young and naive back then. Now we're what, two months older than we were and much wiser. This time we won't get caught because we won't leave any evidence."

Oh boy. Our eyes widened as Michael unveiled his plan. He always got in trouble, but there was always hope we'd get away with it this time. We just had to be careful.

"Wow, that definitely leans heavily on the evil side," Elijah said. "What even made you think it might not be evil?"

"Because it's justified," I said, my eyes narrowing with an evil smile. "She was cruel to me and I didn't do anything to deserve it. She deserves to learn a lesson that she can't keep getting away with being mean to people."

"Are you in?" Michael said, turning to Elijah. "I know you're too much of a good boy to do something like this. We'd understand if you'd rather sit this one out."

He shifted his gaze between us. "Of course I'm in. Jenna's my friend now and like you said, you always stand with your friends."

When Michael stuck his hand in the middle, Elijah and I placed our hands on his. A pact was formed and if things went as planned, Kristen would soon go through the same suffering she'd put me through.

When Kristen returned to the living room from talking on the phone, we began playing house, acting cool as if we weren't planning anything out of the ordinary.

"Nothing suspicious going on here," Michael announced to no one in particular as Kristen took a seat on the couch. "Just a couple of friends playing house, not discussing anything secretive."

"Oh, Mrs. wifey," Michael continued as he held onto his Ken and made it run towards my Barbie, jumping on it and then humping. "Put a baby in me right this instant."

"Mrs. Wifey?" I chuckled. "No one says that, dummy."

"I heard that," Daddy Nick said as he came into the living room, holding onto a dish with mittens and placing it on the table. "Don't be mean to your friend, Jenna. You know very well how serious your Daddy and I are about being nice to each other. We simply won't allow it. Apologize or you'll be sent to the naughty corner."

Michael giggled. "Yeah, apologize to me, Jenna. I was very offended."