Eliana Hoti and her daughter, Rebecca, were trying hard not to laugh at the moment looking at both Lilith Kane and her daughter Alyssa Kane who were in their Solar Guardian forms and trying hard not to respond the way they usually do to a familiar answer.
"Come on girls it's easy, just tell me who you are." Eliana smirked.
"No, come on Miss Kane, Ally, you two can do this, just say your regular names." Rebecca encouraged the two as they looked like their mouths were ready to burst.
"Wait, I know how to win this bet. Help! Are there any heroes who can possibly save me?" Eliana pretended to call out as Lilith and Alyssa finally broke.
"FEAR NOT MA'AM, I AM SOLAR GUARDIAN PLUTO," Lilith cried out "AND I AM SOLAR GUARDIAN SATURN," Alyssa cried out afterwards. "WE'LL SAVE YOU TOGETHER!"
Eliana and Rebecca now burst into laughter, grasping their sides as Lilith glowered at the pair.
"Fuck, damn it Eliana, was that necessary." Lilith grumbled as she changed back to her normal older form.
"Mom, is this really the only uniforms the Solar Guardians wear?" Alyssa asked looking at her outfit.
"Unfortunately baby girl, it is. So Eliana, you won the bet by cheating, but we did break, so I'll fix dinner tonight then." Lilith sighed as she patted Eliana's shoulder.
"Alright girls, let's get back to it!" Eliana said enthusiastically as the girls groaned at the work before them.
Alyssa Kane couldn't have asked for a nicer day to relax, but unfortunately there wasn't any time to relax at the moment. It had been several days since Dark Garden had attacked the house and destroyed a lot of the front of the house where the front window had once been. Alyssa was glad for one thing in her life: her mother was alive and well again. They had gotten a letter from someone that only read: 'Welcome back to the living, I've helped set you back on life. Enjoy your second chance.' It was only signed 'Life' at the bottom.
Still, Lilith was trying to adjust to missing the previous fourteen years. Before her passing, she had come to know Eliana well. As an unofficial member of Death Riot, Lilith was introduced to all of the bands friends. It was how she met Eliana, the werewolf not much older than herself. The pair quickly made a connection, developing a friendship. When Lilith found out she was dying, she could think of no one else than Eliana. After all, her and Luca were the most stable people she knew.
Alyssa and Rebecca were now picking up the remains of what used to be the living room wall, as well as any remaining glass from the floor that had been smashed into. Alyssa accidentally tried picking up a piece of glass and cut her finger making it bleed a little. Rebecca watched and found it cute as Lilith came over to check on Alyssa's finger.
"Doesn't look too bad, but I'm sure you've had worse scrapes, come on, I'll help you get it cleaned and put a band aid on it." Lilith told Alyssa as they went to get all the stuff for her finger. Alyssa wanted to say she didn't need her mom's help with the band-aid, but decided against it as she wanted to experience all the worst, best, and embarrassing moments she could with her mom.
"Okay yeah, we should have some in the bathroom cabinet in the next room." Alyssa informed her mom as they made their way over to the bathroom.
Eliana was sweeping all of the dirt and rubble away from the living room and back outside into the dirt as Rebecca came over to talk to her mom.
"So, you and Ally's mom talked the other night about her living conditions?" Rebecca asked her mom.
"Of course she is. You know, she cried when I talked to her too. She was so thankful to me for being there for Alyssa all these years. But her coming here was a true godsend for us." Eliana said with a smile. Rebecca raised her eyebrow at her mom's statement.
"What do you mean? You've been doing great raising me and Ally, I couldn't ask for a better mom." Rebecca said hugging her mother.
"You're very sweet Rebecca, but I mean, Lilith couldn't have at a better time into our lives because....I've been struggling with the payments Rebecca." Eliana admitted.
"What? Oh, mom, why didn't you say so? Ally and I could have,"
"You're both 14, you're still minors in the workplace. You can't exactly get high paying jobs at your ages." Eliana argued with her daughter. Rebecca wanted to retort, but knew it was pointless as her mother had a point.
"So is she going to be working with you then?" Rebecca asked.
"Of course she is, I put in a good word with my manager for her. This time next week she'll be working alongside me. Speaking of work, let's get back to it." Eliana said as she moved brought her daughter back over to the hole in the wall.
While Eliana and Rebecca had been talking to each other, Lilith and Ally were talking to each other at the same time in the bathroom.
"So," Lilith asked Ally as she helped clean the wound on her finger. "This is probably nothing right? I'm sure you've had worse than this right?"
"Uh...probably when I was 10, I fell down off my bike and planted my hands on the concrete seriously scraping them. It took a while for them to heal back up, but luckily Eliana helped me clean it up pretty well." Alyssa explained.
"She's been a good caretaker for you then? I'm glad to hear it. I wish Luca could've....never mind, I'm sorry. It's just a little too sad to talk about."
"Well let's not talk about....where he is now, why don't you tell me the kind of person he was like. Eliana doesn't talk about him too much cause it's kind of sad for her." Ally suggested.
"Well let's see, he was a damn fine drummer, a pretty good mercenary for hire, and just like your mom didn't take shit from no one. He once said that he'd ripped Annie Pendragon's arms off if she broke my heart." Lilith laughed then caught herself. She hadn't thought of Annie in a long time.
"Oh my god, I...I hadn't thought of Annie, she...she doesn't know I'm...." Lilith said cupping her mouth trying not to cry.
"We...we...we could call her mom, she'll be happy to see that you're..." Alyssa tried to say before her mother interrupted her.
"No....no right now isn't the time. I can't see her right now because....because she watched me die already," Lilith said trying to keep from crying.
"Oh mom, I'm so sorry. Can....can you tell me how it happened? I...I promise I can handle it, I'm strong, like you." Alyssa encouraged Lilith holding her mother's hands.
Lilith took a deep breath and tried to keep herself from crying, but a single tear did fall from her eye.
"I'm too lucky to have you as my daughter. It was around 2027, you...you would've been just barely a couple of months old. Annie and I were dating again" Lilith said while looking sad.
"Again?"
"In retrospect it's dumb," Lilith sighed. "We had this....deep emotional connection. The two of us experienced so much trauma before we met that we had some bumps along the way. We loved each other, but then we would break up, only to get back together again."
"Damn mom," Alyssa said in awe. "So what happened next?"
"We finally got back together," Lilith stated. "But at that point, I knew I was about to die. We..well we stopped with the bullshit, grew up, stopped fighting about the stupid shit. We just wanted to make up for lost time. It was beautiful."
Alyssa was quiet now, noticing the sad smile spread across her mothers face. "Still remember our last date," Lilith said softly, a small smile spreading across her lips. "Annie had been wanting to go to the beach for awhile. I kept putting it off though. Eventually...well I gave in. It was beautiful. We sat on a blanket, I was so weak at the time that we couldn't walk along the shore. She held me, I squeezed one of her hands while she stroked my hair. She hummed to me..I rested my head on her chest. We watched the sunset together....and I was gone."
Alyssa gawked, watching her mother's eyes grow damp. The entire story sounded beautiful yet tragic. "Mom?!"
"It's fine," Lilith smiled, wiping her eyes. "It's a beautiful memory, but I'm not ready to ruin it. I've watched Annie in the afterlife, just as I watched you. It took her awhile, but she's moved on. I have to do the same. I don't want her to break her heart again."
Alyssa simply nodded, her mother taking a deep breath. Composing herself once more, Lilith now gazed at her daughter. "Did she ever send you anything?"
"She's sent me birthday cards from the same address every year, but she's never called or visited. I think she's just been too sad to visit like you said. Maybe...maybe I can help you two get back in touch?" Alyssa asked encouragingly.
"Oh, no...sweety I...I don't think that's a good idea." Lilith said shaking her head.
"Mom, please, I'm asking you don't wallow in misery. I want you to live again, I want you to be happy again. Please mom, tell me you'll reconsider meeting her?" Alyssa encouraged holding her mother's hands tightly.
"Maybe later but not now. Let me spend time with you first," Lilith said as Alyssa wrapped her arms around her mother and Lilith hugged her back.
"Anyway, let's go and see how Eliana and Rebecca are doing." Lilith said patting her daughter on the shoulder.
Lilith, Eliana, Rebecca, and Ally now stood in the living room looking at the hole in the wall.
"Okay ladies, we got the rubble cleaned out and all the glass off the floor as well. Now, does anyone know how to fix a hole like this?" Lilith asked as she looked at the three of them with unsure faces.
"I know good contractor in town that owes me a favor or two. He'll be happy to help with this, we just have to tell him....a bear did it?" Eliana suggested.
"Bear did it." The other three agreed.
"When my payment comes, I'll give you my money to help you pay for it." Lilith said as Eliana nodded.
"Now, between the two of you, do you have any crushes yet on anyone?" Lilith asked with a smirk and her arms on Rebecca and Alyssa's shoulders.
"Ugh, mom, come on..." Alyssa groaned and blushed at the same time.