Rebecca was looking out the window of her mom's car looking bored as they drove through the forest.
"You're certainly quiet tonight, anything wrong?" Eliana asked her daughter.
"Mom, do we really have to go out here to see this lady? I already told you I'm fine. You don't have to concern yourself with this." Becca said to her mother.
"Rebecca Delilah Redwood, you know how important this is to our people. You're 14 years old and you've yet to have your first transformation yet. Both your father and I could already change into werewolves when we were children, I just....I just want to make sure you can one day." Eliana reassured her daughter looking over at her seat.
"Man, I really wish Ally could have come with us. What did she have to do with her mom?" Becca asked as she saw her mother open her mouth and then shut it.
"Lilith had something she needed to do with Alyssa that was a private matter." Eliana replied after a minute.
"Did Ally's mom tell you what it was she had to do with her?" Becca questioned her mother.
"Yes, and while I wasn't too happy with what it was. Lilith told me she could handle this matter alone. Maybe Alyssa will tell you another time....when she feels ready to." Eliana explained.
"I wonder if Ally's secret is that she actually liked the Christmas photo we took together with matching sweaters that we sent out to the other guardians." Becca guessed looking at her phone with the Christmas photo they took with their mothers looking happy about the photo while Ally and Becca gave a cringing smile.
"Oh come on now, Lilith and I thought you girls would love that."
"Maybe we would have when we were little, I bet dad would've....." Becca began to say but fell silent.
"I know, I miss him too. I think he was really the glue that held everyone of us together. Your father was like a brother to Lilith. Even he called 'bullshit' back when Lilith originally got cancer. We wanted to try and find some kind of magic to heal her, but she was already far along into her pregnancy when she found out, then by the time Alyssa was born, it was already too late to help her. Your father did his best to raise you and her, but he wished day after day that he could get his best friend back. But Alyssa has proven to be sent by the spirits to us. She helped save our home, she brought Lilith back to us, and she's been the best sister to you. Oh, if only Luca could..." Eliana tried to say before wiping tears from her eyes.
"You alright mom?" Becca asked.
"Yeah, I am. Just....talking about old times with your father makes me a little misty eyed sometimes. Anyway, we're here." Eliana said as Rebecca looked out to see they had parked at a national forest park and Rebecca was confused.
"I thought you said we would be going to where some lady could help me?" Becca asked as they got out of the car.
"We're going to see her, she's at her mother's home tonight. It's a little ways walk from here." Eliana said as they walked through the forest away from the parking lot.
Rebecca didn't want to say it, but it was pretty spooky out tonight. It was also pretty cold. She thought if Alyssa were there with her, she would probably either hold onto her hand for emotional support or hug each other for warmth. Rebecca suddenly heard rustling from the woods and walked closer to her mother.
"Mom, what's that? Is that a wolf? Is that a bear? Is that a bear-wolf? Are there such things as bear wolves?" Rebecca asked scared as she saw a huge bear come out of a bush and roar at the two of them making Rebecca scream while Eliana remained quiet.
"Sorry, did it work?" The bear suddenly spoke.
"What? Did....did the bear just speak?" Rebecca asked as she stopped screaming to catch her breath.
"The bear has a name." The bear said as it shifted into a woman with beautiful long golden blonde hair and dressed in old fashioned country style. "How do you do young lady, my name is Goldie Locke. Yes like Goldilocks, I am she and long married to my wonderful husband, Bear."
"Mom, why did Goldilocks just try and scare me, and is she who we've come to see?" Becca asked her mother.
"Sorry for the scare, your mom suggested I try scaring the werewolf out of you first." Goldie revealed as Becca now looked at her mom in shock.
"Mom! I thought our lives were in danger!" Becca said.
"Well, sometimes a good scare can help you." Eliana suggested.
"I don't have the hiccups mom, I have a transformation issue." Becca said crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.
"Which is precisely why your mother has brought you out to see my daughter, she's just in my back yard at my house, come on, she's waiting for you." Goldie said as she motioned for them to follow her.
"I hope Ally is having more fun than I am tonight." Becca said under her breath.
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Back at the house, Lilith and Alyssa were outside of the house with Alyssa shivering in the cold, while Lilith didn't look too cold as she stood there with a smirk.
"Mom, do we really have to do this? It's really fucking cold out here." Alyssa said rubbing her hands on her arms.
"Just watch and do what I do." Lilith said as she transformed into her young Solar Guardian Pluto form while Alyssa rolled her eyes and also changed into her Solar Guardian Saturn form.
"Okay mom, you happy? Now we're both wearing skirts in the cold weather." Alyssa said as she stood there shivering.
Her young mother gave a smirk on her face a she then used her solar guardian powers and Alyssa watched as her mother's uniform changed into something warmer for the weather.
"Are you kidding me? We can change how our outfits look?!" Alyssa said surprised.
"Well, we can alter them for weather conditions, and Mister Martin and Miss Marilyn can change their clothes to blend in when they're in their Solar Guardian and Solar Sentinel form." Lilith explained.
"Oh yeah, Miss Marilyn really looked or I guess looks beautiful in her Solar Guardian form." Alyssa commented.
"Alright, now I want you to toss your rings at me and I'll deflect and dodge them." Lilith informed her daughter.
Alyssa shrugged and did as her mother instructed and began tossing her rings at Lilith as she dodged deflected them to her best degree. Alyssa was having a fun time, despite being out in the cold with her mother. She liked it when the four of them did something together, but she loved the times just she and her mother could do something together.
Lilith then did something unexpected as she tossed some snow in front of Alyssa's eyes as she closed them and shook off some of the snow that had gotten on her uniform. Alyssa then looked up to see that her mother was no where in sight.
"Mom? Where....where are you?" Alyssa asked looking around.
"Why have you been skipping school?" Alyssa heard her mother's voice ask as she looked around but didn't see her.
"Wh-Wh-What? I don't know what you're talking about." Alyssa asked nervously.
"Eliana and I went to your school to inform them that I was the other emergency contact in case anything should happen to you. We told them I'd been away getting surgery done." Lilith explained as Alyssa looked around and thought her mother might have been hiding behind a snowman they built the day before, but no luck.
"While we were there they told us that in the last year you had skipped a lot of your classes. Eliana was completely unaware and they told us that they had called her phone before, but she had apparently never responded. I had a theory however: you went behind Eliana's back and went through her phone deleting the school's messages. Am I right?" Lilith asked as Alyssa looked around nervously now tossing her rings towards she thought her mother might be, but to no luck.
"Yes, you're....you're right. I deleted the messages so Eliana never found out, and I kept it secret from Becca as well, just so she wouldn't think less of me." Alyssa explained.
"Why did you keep it from me then? I've come back and we've talked about everything, why didn't you talk to me about this?" Lilith asked Alyssa took deep breaths looking a little worried about her next answer.
"Ally, why did you keep this from me?" Lilith said from behind Alyssa as she tried not to cry.
"BECAUSE SCHOOL ISN'T AS IMPORTANT AS YOU ARE TO ME!" Alyssa shouted at her mother.
"I spent the first 14 years of my life, knowing absolutely nothing about you. Eliana would never talk about you, it was so hard for her because she missed you so much. There were times when I would catch Becca and her mom having a private moment and I never joined in because I knew it was a moment between them. Then I brought you back, I brought you back into my life and it's been so.....amazing to have you in my life. I used to skip school because there were days when I was angry at the world before, then when you came back, it was because I just wanted to spend time with you. I don't know how many years we'll really have together, but I just want to spend as much as them as I can with you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry I disappointed you." Alyssa explained as she began to cry.
Lilith changed out of her solar guardian form and into her normal clothes as she hugged Alyssa.
"You could never disappoint me. When I look at you, I see the young girl who I used to be. I cut classes, I smoked at a young age, even did a little underage drinking. Responsibly of course, but Alyssa, I don't want you to be another carbon copy of me. You're your own woman. I mean look at you, are you another Solar Guardian Pluto, or are you Solar Guardian Saturn?" Lilith asked.
"I am Solar Guardian Sat...." Alyssa began to say triumphantly before Lilith cupped her daughter's mouth.
"Sorry, I forgot you were still in your solar guardian form." Lilith said as Alyssa changed back into her normal form.
"I still am sorry." Alyssa replied while shivering.
"I know you are, but why don't we go talk more about this inside by the fireplace?" Lilith suggested as the two of them went inside.
Alyssa got the fire in their fireplace started and grabbed a large blanket while Lilith was in the kitchen making hot chocolate with marshmallows for them. She came over to Alyssa and handed one cup to her as she sat down and covered herself with the other side of the blanket.
"You know Eliana was furious when we got into the car when she found out what you did." Lilith said.
"I wouldn't really expect her not to be." Alyssa said under her breath.
"She initially wanted to punish you. Ground you until the end of the school year, but I convinced her otherwise and that I had alternative solution to handling this." Lilith explained.
"Yeah, what would that be? You ground me until college?" Alyssa scoffed.
"No, I want you to promise me that you'll finish school to get a good education, but maybe on days when you're feeling in a bit of a mood and don't feel like going, I'll call the school saying you're not feeling well and we can spend the day together. How does that sound?" Lilith suggested as Alyssa looked a little surprised.
"I thought you were the one who would encourage skipping school?"
"That would've been the Lilith who was tossed from foster home to foster home at your age. But this is Lilith, the mother who got a second chance to raise her daughter." Lilith explained as Alyssa nodded knowing what she meant.
"By the way, Eliana and I both know you haven't told Rebecca about this and you don't have to. But you can tell her when or if you feel ready to. I know you tell each other almost everything, but I was surprised you didn't tell her about this." Lilith remarked.
"I don't want to be a bad influence on her." Alyssa half joked.
"I think it's a little too late for that. Just remember Alyssa, when you have problems, you can come to me or Eliana with anything you need. I'm strong with you, you're strong with me, we're strong together." Lilith said.
"I like that little mantra, maybe it should be our family motto. We can tell it to Becca and her mom, whenever they get back." Alyssa said as she leaned her head on her mother's shoulder as they both sat near the fire enjoying the warmth.
"How about a little song?" Lilith asked.
"Like what?" Alyssa asked her mother.
"I like your eyes, I like your nose, I like your mouth, your ears, your hands, your toes. I like your face, it's really you. I like the things you say and do. There's not a single soul who sees the skies the way you see them through your eyes. And aren't you glad, you should be glad. There's no one, no one exactly like you." Lilith sang as Alyssa smiled listening to her mother's sweet song.
"Guns and roses?" Alyssa asked.
"John Denver, way before my time but a really good song." Lilith answered as Alyssa leaned her head back on Lilith's shoulder and her mother kissed her head as Alyssa was so comfortable she fell asleep.
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Goldie, Eliana and Rebecca soon found themselves at Goldie's house and Rebecca was very impressed with the layout of the house. She expected a woman like Goldie to have a simple log cabin, but it looked like had plenty of modern updates to a self built home.
"Come on, my daughter's got a fire going for you." Goldie said as she led the two around to the back yard.
Rebecca was expecting the woman to look like Goldie, but she was a little confused t o see that the woman who Goldie claimed to be her daughter didn't look anything like her. She looked more like her mother than she did Goldie and was heavily pregnant.
"Uh....she's your daughter? No offense or anything to your family." Becca asked.
"Goddaughter, she and her husband, my father, raised me after my own parents gave their lives to save me. Now, let me have a look at you, young one." The woman said as she stood up carefully with Goldie rushing over to her side.
"Careful sweetie, you don't want to make any drastic moves with her in your belly." Goldie said to her daughter.
"Heh, you know Miles thought it would be another boy." The woman said to her mother.
"Oh, what does he know? Gabby and I have our grandmother instincts and we knew you were due for a girl this time." Goldie said with a smile as she helped her daughter over to Becca's side.
"Hello young one. I'm Chenoa and I'm a druid. It's nice to meet you." Chenoa said holding out her hand to Becca.
"I'm Becca, or I guess that is 'Rebecca' but my friends....or friend calls me Becca." Becca introduced herself shaking Chenoa's hand.
"Yes, now come, sit by the fire with me." Chenoa said as she held her pregnant belly with Goldie offering to help her but she waved her off with a smile.
Becca and Eliana sat with Cheno and Goldie by the fire.
"May I look you over Rebecca?" Chenoa asked as Becca looked over at her mother a little unsure as Eliana nodded.
Chenoa looked into Becca's eyes and then opened her mouth and looked at her hands as she closed her eyes and sat silently there not saying anything for a moment.
"Ah, just as I thought." Chenoa finally said letting go of Becca's hands.
"What? What is it? Is she sick or something? Does she have a transformation problem?" Eliana worriedly asked Chenoa.
"Nope, your daughter is perfectly healthy. Her werewolf transformation seems more emotional based than mind based." Chenoa explained.
"But....but she was in danger back when Dark Garden attacked our home and she didn't transform then." Eliana brought up.
"Yes, but from what I heard, the Solar Guardians were there to protect her as was her sister." Chenoa said as Becca now looked a little sad making Chenoa think of something.
"Tell me, how have you liked living with your foster sister and her mother by now?" Chenoa asked Becca.
"Oh, it's really wonderful. I really love miss Lilith like she was a second mom or aunt. Ally has been like my sister and best friend since we grew up together." Becca replied.
"I see, alright, I want you to close your eyes and think of your family. Think hard about all of them and what they mean to you." Chenoa explained as Becca closed her eyes and thought deep and hard about her mother, Lilith, and Ally, and although she didn't say it, she thought of her father as well.
Chenoa tossed a few sticks into the fire to make it burn brighter. Eliana, Chenoa, and Goldie all looked as they looked into the fire and saw a vision of people in there.
"That's...." Eliana began to say before Chenoa shushed her as they watched closely.
What Eliana was seeing in the fire was what Rebecca was envisioning. They could see a toddler Rebecca with Eliana, but also Luca there with them. They then saw Lilith and Alyssa together, but it was of moments that didn't happen. It was Lilith helping Alyssa to walk, it was of Lilith, Eliana, and Luca celebrating Alyssa and Rebecca's 10th birthday together. They realized it was Rebecca's heart's desire, for the five of them to be a family together. Rebecca at one point opened her eyes and saw her father in the fire.
"Dad!" Becca cried out as the vision now faded and they all only saw the fire.
"Wait, but....what was that? Was that really my dad?" Becca asked as she tried not to cry.
"Yes, and no. It was him, but your vision of him. The perfect father to you, and a life that you and the rest of your family didn't get to have. The one you want for them, your heart's desire. You wanted your father to be there for you and you wanted Lilith to be there and raise Alyssa alongside you." Chenoa explained.
"Of course I do. My dad was great and I barely got to know him. Ally wasn't so lucky. I know my dad gave his life for us, but Ally and her family were cheated." Becca said as her mother suddenly gasped.
"Rebecca, look, your hands." Eliana said amazed.
Becca looked down at her hands to see they looked like werewolf hands before they changed back into her regular hands.
"What? No, why did they change back? I thought I was changing." Becca questioned.
"You are young one. But your werewolf form will come when you know deep down inside that you are ready. If you have anything else insides you besides your werewolf form, I think it's your kind heart. You think of your mother, as well as your sister and her mother before you think of yourself. Be patient, your time will come." Chenoa said holding Becca's hands.
"That goes for you too Eliana, you don't need to worry." Chenoa said as Eliana gave a little blush.
"Now why don't we....oh! I believe she's kicking. Would you like to feel her?" Chenoa asked as Becca slowly nodded.
Becca gently put her hand on Chenoa's stomach and felt her baby kick inside of her as Becca gave a little smile.
"For what it's worth Eliana, I think you and Lilith are doing your best as mothers." Chenoa complimented as Eliana smiled at the wise druid woman.