~ Los Angeles, Cliffside vi ~


    Wednesday morning was lively.


    Shortly after breakfast, Jamari, Ade, N, Oni, Z, Masika and Imani arrived at the Cliffside vi.


    They were curious and excited about Kitty and promised to take good care of her whenever Sarah and Aiden are not around. Kids know that their bosses are traveling a lot, and even though they wish to join them, Sarah more than once told them that they still have a lot to learn.


    Kitty epted the neers, but she prefers her mommy. Sarah observed that the cub is very sensitive to human feelings and as long as someone has good intentions, and does not mistreat her, Kitty will ept them.


    However, Kitty still hisses when Harues near. Sarah concluded that Kitty holds grudges. She still didn''t forget that Haru checked her private parts.


    Sarah watched them hit the training ground as soon as they settled into their rooms. Ade was eager to try out his skills against Haru.


    Sarahughed at Ade''s outraged expression when Haru defeated him repeatedly with ease.


    "You know that he is training for fifteen years, and you are training only four months. Right?", Sarah tried to console Ade, but he was only getting more dejected.


    Haru was surprised that Ade is training for only four months. But he kept that to himself.


    "Does that mean that I will never defeat him?" How Ade sees it, gap of fifteen years is impossible to eliminate.


    "No. But it means that you can learn a lot from him. Work hard and soon you will be able to defeat him.", Sarah encouraged Ade.


    Sarah can''t deny that in only four months since those seven are in their care, they made an amazing progress. They are all capable fighters and their academics are strong as well. All seven kids are attending online courses and getting credits.


    N and Oni are only sixteen years old, and both of them already passed all courses and tests necessary to enroll to a University. But they said that they want to stay by Sarah''s and Aiden''s side longer and learn other skills with reasoning that they can start Universityter.


    Sarah advised them not to postpone too much. If they don''t want to leave the house, they can always attend University courses online. And also, since they are in Los Angeles now, they have number of educational institutions avable at the drivable distance, including UCLA which offers more than 100 different majors.


    N and Oni said they will think about it. Their first priority is to get driver''s license.


    "You can''t be our bodyguard unless you get an undergraduate degree.", Sarah told everyone with hope to motivate them not to lower their education in priority of things to do.


    "Will we fight the enemies by smacking them with a diploma?", Jamari asked cheekily.


    Sarahughed. "Of course, not. But there is no better way to meet variety of people than attending courses on campus. And getting more knowledge will help you in developing this…", Sarah pointed at her temple. "Without a brain filled with various information, you will not be able to analyze the situation properly and will end up putting yourself and everyone around you in danger. And I want you all to think about your future. What will happen if you get hurt so badly that you can''t fight?"


    Sarah hopes that her talk will sink in, eventually. But she can see that her audience is still young and they all see themselves as invincible.


    Sarah watched all the kids take turns to spar with Haru in the rink. She didn''t miss that Haru never attacked N. He only defended, and even with those moves he was… gentle.


    "It seems that Haru likes N.", Aiden voiced his observation.


    Sarah turned to Aiden. She was happy that he decided to join. "Done with work?"


    "Taking a break.", he sat next to Sarah and was happy that Kitty moved to hisp. That was a first.


    Sarah looked at N and Haru in the rink and exhaled. "I think that we should talk about boy-girl rtionships with everyone."


    Aiden confirmed. "Liking each other is not something we can control. But if they decide to move forward without thinking it through, it could be disruptive. We need to talk to them about this as soon as possible. Especially because Haru didn''t have much interaction with the opposite gender."


    Sarah agreed. "Let''s organize a dinner event tonight. Then we can talk to all of them. Maybe you can have a talk with Haru and other boys? I will talk to the girls."


    Aiden''s expression showed that he is conflicted, but he still confirmed. Who else will talk to boys about that if not him? He should probably do some research on this topic before tonight.


    Kids got excited at the news that there will be a dinner event. They all voted for a barbecue in the open.


    Sarah and Aiden agreed and instructed staff to make sure there is enough meat as well as fruits and vegetables that can be grilled. Everyone will have a meal together, staff included.


    Sarah and Aiden shared their ns and schedule for next few days.


    "Take your time to adjust to this ce." Aiden told everyone and then gestured toward Haru. "Haru is new, he can''t leave the property until he gets his papers settled. For everyone else, we don''t forbid you from leaving, but make sure to inform us if you n to do so. Other than Jesse, all of you are minors and as your guardians, we want to know where you are."


    Kids confirmed that they have no ns to go anywhere. At least not at this time.


    Sarah continued: "Today, we will be out for the afternoon, but we wille back in time for dinner. Tomorrow, we will be busy most of the day with thepany meeting and starting with Friday we will be home for some time. By then, I want all of you to go through the educational brochures in your rooms and over the weekend we expect to hear about your ns and ideas what you want to learn next. Help out Haru by telling him what you did so far. I hope that we can all get along as a family."


    Aiden showed kids the trail made for their runs, and they agreed to check it out.


    "I know that all of you sparred with Haru, but I didn''t see any of you warm up!", Sarah''s reminder made all kids stop in their tracks.


    Sarah and Aiden sat next to each other while watching the kids stretch. Sarah nced at Aiden who held Kitty in hisp and happily scratched her head.


    Sarah leaned on him and exhaled. "It''s nice to be home with the kids. It really feels like a family."


    Aiden nced at Sarah and kissed top of her head.


    "While on the topic of kids and family…" His hand moved from Kitty to Sarah and he ced his palm on her belly. "Did you have your period?"


    Aiden clearly remembers that they talked about safe and unsafe days, and then she said that her period is about one week away, and that was few weeks ago! He patiently waited for her to say something since he is not aware that she had her period, but his patience ran out. He needs to know!


    Sarah nced at him, and then looked down quickly, avoiding his questionable gaze. "That… I don''t know."


    "You don''t know?" He was not sure if he heard her right. Is she joking? This is not a topic to joke about.


    Sarah fidgeted for few seconds before exining: "While in the mountains... I had some cramping and sporadic bleeding. But just a little bit. Periods can be impacted with irregr sleep, stress, changes in diet… and I had all of those. So, I''m not sure if that was a period or…"


    Aiden waited few endless seconds, but she didn''t continue.


    "Or?", he urged her to finish her sentence.


    Sarah could not make herself say that <em>''or''</em> means that she is pregnant and there is a chance that something is wrong with the pregnancy. Well, she can''t be sure, but she remembers reading how cramping and bleeding is not a good sign during pregnancy.


    She saw Aiden''s concerned expression and forced a smile. "Whatever it is, I feel fine now. Today and tomorrow are too hectic. I can''t handle any new information one way or the other. But I promise that on Friday, first thing in the morning, I will do a test. OK?"


    Aiden pressed his lips into a line and thought how he really wants to know if Sarah is pregnant or not. But he knows that she is at her limits with stress. Two days will not change the result of the test, and he can wait that much. His expression softened. "OK."


    Kitty nudged Aiden reminding him to continue with head scratching.


    "Eh… spoiled already?", he said helplessly while his hand moved back to Kitty''s head.


    Sarah leaned on him and said softly: "You will be a great dad."


    ---


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