After a few days flew by, the seventh day of Lisha’s deal with Beatrice arrived. It was on a Saturday, so Lizzy didn’t have school. Beatrice had already called out of work to deal with it too. Lisha was pacing the floor of the kitchen while chewing on a brick of cheese piece by piece.

“What if we can’t convince her?” Lisha asked. “What if she takes her anyway? What if she takes Lizzy and we never see her again and-“

“Honey, calm down.” Beatrice said, grabbing her shoulders. “If you freak out too much, you’ll make me feel freaked out.”

“Yeah you’re right.” Lisha said. “We’re cool. We’re fine. We’re calm.”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Lisha felt another wave of fear and anticipation flood her. Beatrice had to fight hard to not succumb to their shared feelings.

“I’ll get the door.” Beatrice offered. “You go play with Lizzy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Hun, I helped handle a psychopath who wanted to kill me and my coworkers to take over the universe.” she said, hands on her hips. “I think I can handle a conversation with my sister-in-law.”

“Good luck.” Lisha said softly, giving her one last kiss before retreating to Lizzy’s bedroom. 

Turning to the door, Beatrice convinced herself that she had nothing to fear. Even if Iris was an insanely powerful magic creature, she was crippled of most of that power long ago. So she had nothing at all to fear from Iris. Or at least she hoped so. Beatrice opened the door and was face-to-face with her.

“You wanna chat, sis?” Beatrice asked. “Let’s chat.”

“Fancy way of greeting me.” Iris said, walking inside. Her cane echoed across the hard floors.

“We both know why you’re here.” Beatrice said. “You’re not taking her.”

“It’s more if you’re willing to let her go than if I’m going to take her.” Iris commented. “But yes, you really can’t have her.” Iris and Beatrice migrated to the table to sit down and continue the conversation.

“Ok, let me start this.” Beatrice said, taking a calm inhale. “I don’t give jack shit about your rules up there.”

“I get that.” Iris said, neither surprised nor amused. “But rules are there for a reason.”

“Well, you can respectfully take your rules and shove them up your-” Fluffy pulled on her arm and shook his head. Beatrice rethought her words. “Listen, Lizzy’s happier with us than she ever was in that orphanage.”

“Do you know that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Who’s happy to live in an orphanage?”

“Fair.” Iris admitted.

“Do you really think she’d be happier without us?”

“It’s not about you or her.” Iris stressed. “It’s about the rules. Rules that we have for a reason. What happens if she brings another child with her to Hell? It’s a whole ordeal!”

“You worry too much.” Beatrice said, waving her hand. She leaned over on the table. “Besides, I know this isn’t about the rules. You’ve let Lisha get away with a lot. Why is this offense so important?” Iris let out a painful sigh.

“Do you know why I ever come down here?” she asked. “It’s for my sister.”

“Flattered.” Beatrice said slyly.

“Lisha’s one of the few people ignorant enough to adopt a child while shopping for bread.” Iris said, ignoring the comment. “Why do you think I worry about her so much?”

“And you think taking her child will make her happy.” Bea judged, putting her feet up on the table. “Smooth thinking.”

“Lisha can’t… let go of people.” she explained. “What do you think’s going to happen when she has to make do with letting that kid go?”

“She’ll get over it.” Bea growled, standing up. “Discussion over.”

“Discussion not over!” Iris demanded. “Do you think me being here is a joke?!”

“Do you think me being here is a joke?!” Beatrice returned. “My wife wants the kid, so we’re keeping the kid. End of story. And I-” Beatrice felt herself pause, thinking about what she was about to say. She took a deep breath.

“Yes?” Iris asked impatiently.

“I’ll be right back.” Bea said, teleporting to Lizzy’s room.

“How did it go?!” Lisha asked, instantly tackling Beatrice.

“More like how it’s still going.”

“She’s still here?” she gasped.

“Can you make her go away?” Beatrice asked. “She’s not going to listen to me. You’re her sister though. If anyone can convince her, it’s you.”

“I don’t know.” Lisha said apprehensively, fiddling with her tail. “I’m not great at convincing my sister of things.” Beatrice gave her a sudden kiss on the cheek.

“Try, honey. For her.” she nodded her head over to Lizzy.

“Alright!” she said with renewed confidence. “I can do this!” Lisha teleported to where Beatrice said he left Iris and started to give her declaration. “Iris! If you want her, you’ll…” 

Lisha looked left and right, but Iris wasn’t in sight. Apparently Beatrice didn’t exactly tell her to stay put. Lisha made herself go to the bedroom just in time to see Iris open the bedroom door.

Beatrice was sitting there on the bed, holding Lizzy in her arms and telling her everything was going to be fine. She looked up and glared at Iris. Her eyes were a glowing yellow-green hue and her hair had fallen into a wave of hissing snakes that were baring their teeth at her. Lizzy buried her face into Beatrice’s shirt, feeling parts of her skin turn scaly.

“Beatrice, don’t make this harder than it has to.” Iris begged. “I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to.”

“Then leave.” Bea growled.

“Because rules exist for a reason.” Iris explained. “Now, I’ve let Lisha get away with a lot of things. Too many things, judging by this. I can’t let this stand.”

“Then try and take her from me.”

Iris and Beatrice had a stare off and Bea dared her to try something. Iris didn’t want to have a full on fight with her sister-in-law. She wasn’t physically or mentally prepared for that.

“I’ll ask one last time, Beatrice. This is for your own good. Lisha’s too. This will hurt you beyond repair one day.”

“I never did know what was good for me.” she slyly hissed. “Now leave my daughter and I alone before we have a real problem.”

“Know that I warned you.” Iris said, turning around with her cane. “That little girl will only be more miserable because of it.”

“I’d rather she hurt in my arms than suffer back up there. I wouldn’t test again how committed I am to that belief.” Iris clenched her fists, but took a deep breath and released them.

“Fine.” she said, fed up with trying. “Ignore everything I’m saying! See if I care when you end up on the floor crying!” She stormed out of the room, knowing that Beatrice was behind her, challenging a fight Iris could’ve once won, but can’t anymore.

“Iris,” Bea said behind her. “I’m not ignoring you. I just care more about her than me. And so does Lisha.”

“Then I hope you can live with that.” she said, tapping her cane against the ground and disappearing in a flash of light.

Beatrice sighed and her scaly Medusa form faded away. She fell backwards into the bed to relax. That sure was a magic she wasn’t expecting to have to do. Lisha was standing over her, tears in her eyes.

“Did you mean it?” she asked. “What you told Iris?”

“Every word.” Bea sighed. “This mommy needs a hot cup of tea. That was exhausting.”

“I’ll get that.” Lisha offered, disappearing to carry out the wish. Beatrice felt something tugging at her leg.

“Mommy’s brave.” Lizzy said, holding onto her leg. “I wanna be like mommy when I grow up! You’re more than my real mother was.”

“Oh hun, you won’t be like me if I can help it.” Beatrice said fondly, petting her head. “I’ll make sure you’re better.”

“How do I get better than mommy?”

“Heh, you’ll find a way.” Beatrice groaned and got up from the bed. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find some of those dino nuggets for you.”

“I thought you said dino nuggets were poison.”

“Sometimes you gotta feed people the poison to build an immunity.” Beatrice shrugged. “That, and I’m not cooking tonight after doing that.”

“Can we all have dino nuggets?” Lizzy asked eagerly. Beatrice paused and looked into Lizzy’s begging eyes.

“Fine.” she said. “I’ll get the family sized bag.”

“Yayyy!”

Beatrice walked out of the bedroom and Lizzy got ready to go out. Lisha handed her wife the fresh tea while she celebrated keeping their daughter. They laughed and cheered that night to their permanent family. A saddened sister kept watch from atop the clouds, looking into her orb at the sight of them all together.

The three of them thought life didn’t get much better than this. The family was something that all three of them valued more than anything else. And because of that, they all held each other close and grew even closer, even as Lizzy grew and her mothers did not. And above all, Lizzy couldn’t wait to learn the secrets of her mothers. But that’s a story for when she is older.