When they woke up in the morning, Beatrice saw Lisha standing over them, crying from how adorable she thought the sight was. Bea pried the kid off of her and Fluffy slithered up her arm to wrap around her neck.

“Alright kid, hit the road.” Beatrice said contently. “Your free stay is over.” Lizzy looked heartbroken.

“Babe! No!” Lisha said firmly.

“What?!” Beatrice asked, an emerald fire in her eyes.

“We’ll… be right back.” Lisha said to Lizzy with a wide smile. 

She grabbed Beatrice’s hand and exited the room, taking care to close the door behind her. Lizzy heard loud and intense shouting, but couldn't make out any actual words. After some loud words and tussling, the two of them walked back in. Beatrice was wearing a noticeably big frown while Lisha had a nice grin.

“You’re staying with us!” Lisha said proudly. Beatrice couldn’t quantify how wide the girl’s eyes got. She smiled widely and hugged Lisha.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” Lizzy cheered, small tears forming in her eyes.

“Of course! You’re our daughter now, and we’d never let you go!” Lisha gave Beatrice a tiny nudge and she sighed.

“This is your home now.” Beatrice said without a hint of emotion. “Get comfy. You’re outta here in eight years.” Beatrice rubbed her eyes and walked out the door to get ready for work. Lisha gave a small chuckle.

“She’s a bit hard to warm up to.”

“Mommy’s the best.” the little girl said, absolutely idolizing her. “She gave me a name.”

“A name, did she?” Lisha said, surprised. “What name?”

“Lizzy.”

Lisha and Beatrice were in a stuffy waiting room with Lizzy, waiting to be let in. When they were finally called, the process was quick.

“Guardian names?” the woman asked.

“Beatrice Hawthorne.”

“Lisha Hawthorne.”

“And what’s your name?” the lady asked Lizzy.

“Lizzy!” she said with pride. The woman looked at Beatrice, uncertain.

“She didn’t get a name, apparently.” Beatrice sighed. “So I gave her one myself. She’s Elizabeth Hawthorne II.”

“And it’s official!” the office lady said, stamping the papers. “Congratulations Mrs. Hawthornes, you’re now the proud parents of Elizabeth Hawthorne the Second.”

“Yaaaay!” Lisha and Lizzy both cheered together. Beatrice took the office lady’s pen and signed the papers, shoving the pen into her own bag, where Fluffy was hiding because they wouldn’t let him in, and standing up.

“My work here’s done then.” she said, putting on a pair of sunglasses and leaving.

“See you tonight, babe.” Lisha said, waving.

“Bye, mommy!” Lizzy said, also waving her away.

Lisha took Lizzy’s hand and they walked out of the building and into an alleyway. In an instant, they teleported to Lisha’s castle and she looked like a Carvation again. Lizzy laughed and started to dance around.

“How do you do that?” Lizzy asked with a playful grin.

“Because you’ve got a magical mom now.” Lisha winked, putting on an apron. 

“Mama?” Lizzy asked, pulling at Lisha’s apron. “Where’s mommy?”

“Mommy’s at work.” Lisha said sadly, lifting Lizzy with her oven mitts and spinning her around.

“What does mommy do?” Lisha put her down and looked away guiltily.

“She does a couple things… Maybe you can know them both when you’re older.” Lisha said. “Mommy can explain it to you herself.”

“Aww.”

“Why do you wanna know?” Lisha said sassily.

“They asked us at school if we wanted to be like our parents. How can I want to be like mommy if I don’t know what she does?”

“You can be like me!” Lisha said. “Staying home with little girls and making food!”

“But-”

“Shhh… have some cheddar.” Lisha split a brick of cheddar in half and handed it to Lizzy. She shrugged and began eating it with her.

“I still wanna know what she does.” Lizzy insisted.

“Well, one of her jobs is being a model.” Lisha said proudly. “Trying on the prettiest clothes and making them look amazing!

“So mommy’s a fashion star?” Lizzy asked, amazed.

“Yup, she sure is.” Lisha said. “The most beautiful one there is.”

“Can I see?”

“Uh…” Lisha started sweating while trying to think of an appropriate picture she could show the kid. “Maybe when you’re older?”

“Aww.” said Lizzy, disappointed. Her head perked up when she thought of another question though. “At school, they told us everyone shows love differently.” Lizzy said, sipping her glass of milk that Lisha had poured her. “How do you and mommy do it?”

“Do what?” Lisha asked in between bites of cheese.

“How do you show each other love?”

“Well… we cuddle and eat cheese and watch movies.” Lisha said.

“What else?” Lizzy asked curiously. “How else do you show each other love?”

“What else?” Lisha asked nervously. She couldn’t really say the first thing that came to her mind. “Well, uh, maybe when-”

“Don’t say when I’m older!” Lizzy fussed.

“Then you can ask mommy when she gets home.” Lisha said quickly, hoping the kid would forget by the time Beatrice came home.

“Do I have to wait until I’m older to get a glass of water too?”

“This is just an 18+ household really.” Lisha said, scratching the back of her head nervously. “Come on, ask me something I can answer.”

“Ok, then why did mommy say cheese was evil this morning?” she asked curiously.

“Because mommy thinks that all food is evil.” Lisha huffed.

“Why?”

“Well… that’s another story for when you’re older.”

“Fine.” she said angrily. “What can you tell me now?”

“Um…” Lisha thought. “Do you want to know how I started the first world war?”

“You didn’t start it!” Lizzy laughed.

“That’s what the books want you to think.” Lisha purred slyly.

They talked for hours about mostly history facts that Lisha was glad to clear up for her on the actual events that happened. Beatrice got home later that afternoon and was met by Lizzy assaulting her leg and clinging on.

“Mommy!” she cheered. Fluffy slithered off of Beatrice’s shoulder and rubbed against Lizzy’s head.

“Oh, yeah, you.” Bea said. “Babe, is she going to be here all day, every day?” Beatrice asked. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle that.

“Don’t worry, she’ll be going back to school tomorrow.” Lisha said. “Little girl’s in fourth grade! Gotta build that big noggin!” Lisha leaned over and whispered to Lizzy, but made sure it was still loud enough for Beatrice to hear. “Just don’t ask mommy for help writing stuff.”

“I heard that!” Beatrice fumed. Lisha and Lizzy giggled. That’s all she needed; two little Lisha’s running around.

They sat around the table, quietly eating food. Well, Lisha and Lizzy were eating. Beatrice was tiredly stirring her lasagna, not really committed to trying to eat. She also wasn’t committed to having her stomach wrecked after the meal. Lisha was eating the same meal as her, but had gotten Lizzy cheesy dinosaur chicken nuggets. She was even giggling while feeding Fluffy some under the table.

“You’re really giving her that shit?” Beatrice asked Lisha, gesturing to Lizzy’s nuggets.

“Babe…” Lisha said.

“She’s gonna get massive if you feed her like that.” Fluffy had slithered across the floor and wrapped tightly around Beatrice’s ankle. She ignored him.

“Stop it.” Lisha said sternly.

“What?” Beatrice asked like she had done nothing wrong. “I’m just pointing out what she probably already knows. Look at her! She’s already devoured over half the bag!” 

Even though Lizzy hadn’t come close to eating that much, she blushed and looked down. She was starving from having not eaten many good meals in her life, so the dino nuggets were sublime to her.

“Let the girl eat.” Lisha huffed. “At least she’ll eat at the table.”

“Babe, I know you’re not trying to start this conversation.”

“Excuse me.” Lizzy quietly said, getting down from the table and running down the hall. Beatrice and Lisha paused and glanced at each other.

“Are you happy now?” Lisha asked. “This girl looks up to you and you’re trying to put her down every moment you get!”

“I didn’t ask for her to look up to me!” Beatrice countered. “I didn’t even ask for-”

“Don’t finish that.” Lisha growled. Beatrice had rarely seen Lisha actually this angry at her. Lisha’s horns were starting to glow red-hot. “You’re going to go find that girl, and you’re going to apologize, and you’re going to love her. Got it?”

“And why will I do that?”

“Because she loves you.”

Ouch. Something about that hurt Beatrice for some reason. Maybe it was the harshness in which Lisha said it. Maybe it was because she had named the kid herself. Maybe it was because even she knew that those comments were too far for a ten-year-old. No matter the reason though, she found herself getting up and looking for Lizzy. Lisha stayed behind and pet Fluffy, probably planning to feed him more dino nuggets.

Beatrice searched through the castle, throwing open all the doors and looking for any sign of Lizzy. If they never found the kid, Lisha was going to kill her for sure. Or at least make her eat some actual dinner. Beatrice paused and heard something though. It was a piano. She didn’t even know they had one of those. 

Beatrice stumbled around and finally found the door the kid was behind. She was sitting on the piano bench, fingers clumsily playing a simple bassline while she bounced to the rhythm. Bea was going to grab her and scold her for walking off, but then Lizzy decided to start singing.

“Heart and soul, I fell in love with you

Heart and soul, the way a fool would do,

Madly,

Because you held me tight,

And stole a kiss in the night.”

It definitely wasn’t the best singing Beatrice had heard, and certainly not even average piano playing. It wasn’t even special music like Bailey’s was. But there was something sweet about watching the kid have fun. If only for a few seconds though.

“Hey!” Beatrice barked, causing Lizzy to jump in her seat. “You walked off!”

“I’m sorry…” she said quietly. Memories of what Bea had said at the table flashed through both of their minds. Beatrice walked over to the piano and sat on the bench next to her, making Lizzy squirm uncomfortably.

“You sing?” Bea asked.

“I try.”

“No, you tried to play piano.” she said harshly. “Here, let me do it.”

Beatrice had been forced to play some piano when she was young, so she at least knew how to play things smoothly. Lizzy stared at Beatrice, who was putting her focus into playing right. Bea looked back at her impatiently.

“Are you going to sing or not?”

“Oh!” Lizzy snapped back to reality.

“You wanted to sing. So sing.” Lizzy nodded and took a deep breath.

“Heart and soul…”

Beatrice and Lizzy finished their small duet before Lisha got to find them, but Lizzy wanted to make Beatrice do it again sometime. The snake lady smirked and walked away.

“Maybe if you can slip away again, you little snake.”