Amy didn’t know what to think of the Hebert girl at first. She looked like a wide-eyed, out-of-her-depth basket-case that had stumbled into a power that could easily become a nightmare.

Then she started acting like... Amy frowned, an expression she was growing used to.

Taylor was with one of her little sisters, the one Amy had touched earlier. (Crochet, maybe?) She was squatting low before the girl and holding her head in place with one hand, the other pressing a napkin to her tongue. When it was nice and wet, she rubbed it over the chocolatey stains all over the girl’s cheeks.

“Eww, Big Sis, no,” Crochet said as she tried to squirm away. “That’s indirect kissing.”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “I won’t have the Dallons see my sisters all messy,” she warned before rubbing the chocolate away.

Amy couldn’t pin exactly how Taylor was acting, not at first, then it hit her. Sometime between arriving at the cafe and ordering, as she watched Taylor coax an order out of her girls and fish out change while simultaneously holding the Asian girl back from leaving to do God-knew-what, Amy realized that Taylor was acting like many of the mothers she had seen.

Was that what Taylor was? An unfortunate young mother in over her head? Did it matter? She sipped her coffee (black) and kept watching as Taylor lost sight of her own drink in favour of convincing the ninja girl that the rude waitress did not need to be encouraged to commit seppuku just because she had been rude.

With almost militaristic discipline, Taylor took each girl’s hand and started walking back. She had taken a dozen steps before Amy realized that she (along with Taylor’s coffee) had been forgotten.

Rolling her eyes, she picked the steaming cardboard cup up and followed. She still had to decide where she stood with the whole tiny clone thing.

***

Victoria poked the ear.

It twitched out of the way, and the girl whose head it was stuck on looked up to her with an angry pout.

“They’re so real,” Victoria said.

“Of course they look real,” Remedy said. She had her arms crossed, her chest puffed out and her nose in the air. It was the least intimidating thing she had ever seen. “I made them based on a real kitty’s DNA.”

“Do you even know what DNA is?” Victoria asked. She saw the tiny Amy flushing next to her, but was too busy rubbing Cheshire’s ears to care.

“It’s... gene stuff,” Remedy said. She waved a hand to the side, dismissing the question. “It’s not important. You just need to know that I can do it. I’ll even do it to you... if--” the flush grew a lot worse and the girl started breathing a little harder. “If you let me touch you.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Victoria said.

The ear she was holding onto went ghostly and slid out of her grip, leaving Cheshire free to nod. “Yeah. The bimbo doesn’t deserve proper predator ears. She’s just a big wuss.”

Victoria felt a bit of a tic under her eye, but reined it in. She was the mature one here, after all. “I haven’t said no,” she said. “But deciding to install cat ears on your head is a big choice.”

“Couldn’t your little sister remove them?” Remedy asked. “We have the same powers.”

Vicky blinked. That... if that was true, then Amy had been holding back on her. Maybe after the whole discussion with mom and Aunt Sarah, they could have a bit of a chat about future Halloween costumes.

***

Amy pulled her keys out of her pocket with a jingle. She had gotten rid of Taylor’s coffee a while ago, Taylor taking it from her when she had fallen upon the ingenious idea of having Crochet tie a ribbon between her wrist and the girl’s to free up a hand.

The fact that Crochet pouted the entire time at the lack of contact, or that Taylor never noticed, wasn’t any of Amy’s business.

Carol’s SUV was tucked up against the garage door and Aunt Sarah’s little roadster was parked next to the sidewalk. She had noticed both from around the block, but it was obvious that Taylor was only clueing into it now.

“Should we have gotten them some coffee? Maybe some pastries? I hope Remedy and Cheshire are behaving... mostly Cheshire. I swear if she burnt the house down I will tan her hide, cat tail or no.” Taylor’s voice went from a worried, high-pitched babble to a low growl. It didn’t hide how nervous she was, her hands were tightening around her coffee and the Pop girl was looking ready to yank her hand out of Taylor’s.

“You’ll be fine,” Amy said. It was a platitude she was used to hearing and giving. It didn’t require much thought to say it, even if she didn’t mean it at all.

“You think? Your mom’s nice, right?” Taylor asked.

Amy gave it an honest moment’s thought. Was Carol nice? “Yeah, sure,” she said with a shrug. No point in stressing Taylor out any more.

Taylor took a few deep breaths, then tried on a smile for size. “Thanks Amy. I... I wanted to say sorry about Remedy, and I kind of forgot. Um, but yeah, thanks. You’re kind of the ideal hero, you know?”

“Uh huh,” Amy said. She’d heard the obnoxiously saccharine praise before. “I’ll be in my room. Call me if you need proof that your sisters are human.”

“Right, sure,” Taylor said.

Amy was the first to walk in. She left the door opened behind her, not leaving Taylor much of a choice but to follow or stand outside and let the heat seep out of the house. Carol and Sarah were in the living room, both of them sitting on chairs stolen from the kitchen. Across from them sat Remedy, hands on her lap and freckled face split by a large grin. Next to her, Cheshire was bouncing on the couch, little fang poking out and plastic cat ears perched on her head.

Amy slid past the entrance with a quick step and pretended not to hear her aunt’s call before she made her way upstairs. Taylor would figure it out, probably.

She paused when she saw the door to her room, the door that she always closed, was halfway open. Vicky had a tendency to slip in unannounced (so many close calls) but why would she go in there when Amy wasn’t around?

Cautious, and aware that all the little girls were downstairs, she moved to stand in her doorway and pushed it open with a foot.

Vicky was there. Vicky was there and bent over double to snoop into one of Amy’s clothing drawers.

Vicky was bent over double and her tail was wiggling behind her.

“What.”

Her sister’s long, fluffy blonde ears were twitching towards Amy. “Oh, hey Ames,” she said as she stood up properly. She grinned. “What do you think?”

“What?”

“I think it’s pretty hot, actually,” Vicky said. She raised both hands up, bent her wrists forward, winked at Amy and said “Nyaa?” while tilting her head to one side.

Amy’s eyes rolled back into her head.