[ 11 ] 2014 

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"You all have your Diamond Flower thing."

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The family had breakfast together after Billy returned to the house minutes later. He had spent a good couple of minutes on the driveway of the residence, admiring his new car. He had been there so long that Cindy and Harley had to drag him back into the house because everyone was hungry. 

Harley devoured her food within seconds and wiped her mouth off with a napkin before getting up to excuse herself. There was no point in going to search for Calum in Brisbane anymore, but they still needed to make plans in order to get the information from his uncle Cole. "I have to go because Paúl is going to help me with my math homework." She thought up a quick lie and was a bit proud of herself that it sounded believable. She had also just then realized she was still in her pajamas and would have to go change clothes.

"Oh," Harleen frowned as she remembered their neighbors which had moved into the neighborhood very recently, but it wasn't because she disliked them. "I completely forgot to invite them. Paul and Dempsey are so sweet, and its really obvious that they care about you." Her mother cooed whilst the smile returned to her face. Harley rolled her eyes playfully. Dempsey and Paúl were probably more worried about losing their lives if they didn't watch over her properly. But when she thought about it, she had grown to actually like them. Harley considered them to be her friends. As Harley turned to leave, her mother gave her one last thing to do, "Take some cake over to them, dear."

Harley nodded her head and went to hug her father goodbye, then her mother, Cindy, and last her brother Billy. "Happy birthday, loser." She smiled at him.

Hugging her back, he replied, "Thanks, booger. Happy birthday to you too."

When she left the table, she raced up the stairs to her bedroom and grabbed a fresh set of clothes to wear. It only took her a few minutes to change into a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a black BVB t-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and her leather jacket over it to provide her with a bit of warmth. On her feet as always were the black leather combat boots she had gotten from her dad for Christmas. Harleen had gotten her a pair of heels that year, she wanted her daughter to be more girly. Aaron was different. He didn't like those kinds of things either, but he always encouraged Harley to be herself, and always made sure she felt comfortable in what she was wearing.

It was one of the reasons she loved Aaron and even knowing he wasn't her real father, she loved him just the same. Arthur had been forced to be apart from her, and she was just now beginning to understand that. Perhaps if she could be given the chance to get to know him better, she thought she might end up actually liking him as well, or at the very least tolerating him. He was her real father after all, and he seemed to actually care about her and Michael, and Harleen.

She went to the kitchen after she was finished changing, cut some slices of cake for everyone, placed them into a large tupper ware contained and left the house with it. Harley walked three houses down from hers, where Dempsey and Paúl lived. 

Balancing the container with cake in the palm of one hand, she used the other to knock on the door. She only waited a few moments before someone came to open it for her. It was Michael, whose eyes darted down to the container in her hands. A smirk formed on his lips as he said to her, "You didn't invite me to your birthday party, sis." Though he had called her that, the word didn't sound natural in his voice. To him, it sounded off and completely awkward, as though he had forced himself to call her that. "I'll forgive you if I can have that cake."

"There's a slice for you in here." She said with a nod. 

Harley didn't admit it to him, but she hadn't invited him for several reasons, which were all very good ones to her. Her parents didn't know he was in town, for one thing. And she also knew that if she invited him, Arthur would somehow find out. He had eyes and ears everywhere, for the most part. Then he would probably go to Sydney and kill Hazel and Jack. Harley didn't want to be the one to cause all of that, especially when both Hazel and Jack were trying to keep a low profile in order to remain unknown to the hunters.

But Michael had other ideas in regards to the cake. He took the container from her hands and said, "I want all of it. Thanks." And he took off for an unknown part of the house, leaving the front door open.

Harley walked into the house and made her way into the living room. She already knew Paúl and Dempsey's house well enough. She had spent more than enough time there ever since they arrived in town.

She made her way into the living room where everyone was already there waiting for her. That wasn't too much of a surprise to Harley since most of them lived there. Everyone except Niall and Andrea was living at Paúl and Dempsey's. Harley's blue eyes looked towards Andrea, who provided her with an answer. "I heard you saying you were coming over here." She explained rather bored and with a light shrug of her shoulders. Harley remembered Andrea had very good hearing and she only lived across the street from her. Harley wondered how many other things Andrea had overheard. "So I assumed you had something to tell us. Please don't say it was your new car."

"You got a car for your birthday?" Niall asked, impressed. He soon added, "Your parents must be loaded."

Harley heaved a sigh. "My dad got a huge Christmas bonus. I also brought cake, but-"

"Cake? Where is the cake?" Niall cut her off with a gasp, his blue eyes suddenly lusting for the food she said she had for them and he licked his lips.

She nodded. "Michael took it."

"Excuse me, everyone. I'll be right back." Niall told the rest of the teenagers in the room and got up to leave the room. Once he was in the next room, Harley could hear him calling to Michael. "Hunter! Surrender that cake right now! You could hide under a rock, and I would still be able to sniff you out, so don't even bother."

"So you had something to tell us?" Paúl asked the girl who had just arrived in his home, getting her attention.

She went to sit on one of the couches in the room where there was an empty space and replied to his question as she bit down on her lip a bit nervously, "I just wanted to brainstorm with you all because I've thought about it all night, and I don't see how we can get into that house without getting caught. They have security guards outside, and even if we get them out of the way, we can't just stroll in there and get the information from him."

"And Sniffy was no help either." Paúl added a comment about Niall, earning him a glare from Andrea. "Luckily, Demsi and I have a genius plan that could work. The only problem with it is that I will need everyone to participate and some of your other friends," he looked to Andrea, who was the one more likely to oppose any plans they could come up with. "might not be so willing to help."

With her arms crossed over her chest, Andrea responded, "Niall and I will help only because Calum is our friend."

"What do you have in mind?" Harley wondered, her blue eyes looking towards where Paúl was sitting on one of the couches next to Dempsey, as always. There was hardly a moment that she would see them apart. Dempsey had been quiet the whole time, watching the whole conversation unfold. She already knew what Paúl was going to tell them. The two of them had been the ones to come up with that strategy together. 

"Demsi has the ability to shape shift to look like any other human being she wants, as long as she has seen the person before." Paúl paused for a second after explaining the slight limitation to Dempsey's abilities. "The human brain cannot create a new person like that, so her ability is only slightly limited. What I propose might be risky for all of us because we don't know to what extent Cole Hood's powers can go. He's older and probably has more knowledge on these gifts than we do." 

Harley thought that was a given. She knew next to nothing about her powers. Calum had been the one to offer teaching her everything, but she had declined back when he wasn't that great of a person. The rest of her friends seemed to be well informed, which meant their parents probably had the same gifts and were teaching them about the special abilities that made them different from all other humans. It was almost certain that Cole Hood was well aware of his supernatural abilities and would not hesitate to use them.

"I propose that we take out both guards, Demsi will pose as one of them, take Arlequin into the house of the target claiming she is attempting a break in. With the two guards immobilized, the remaining people will be waiting outside where all Michael can do his thing. Then we all leave and go find your friend." He explained to the girls in the room. Just as he had finished running through the plan, Niall walked into the living room with the container of cake in his hands. A spoon in hand, he was scooping up chunks of it and bringing it to his mouth. Michael walked in behind him with a bowl filled to the top with cake. It seemed they had reached a compromise and decided to split the food. But they were unwilling to share with anyone else.

Niall skipped happily to the other side of the living room and plopped down next to Andrea. His girlfriend raised her hand like a child in a classroom, which was ironic because Paúl was a teaching assistant at St. Genevieve's. Paúl eyed her, giving her his attention saying, "Yes, señorita Ramsey?"

"Do you expect Niall and I to waltz in there unarmed?" She asked him. Niall had no idea what anyone was talking about, but at the time he was more preoccupied with his cake. "You all have your Diamond Flower thing."

"Diamond Rose." Dempsey corrected Andrea.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Paúl replied to her question. "Of course I wouldn't have you going in there unarmed. I'm the adult here, and someone has to be responsible for Arlequin and her friends. Demsi and I will provide you with a Diamond Rose, but I want them back once we return from this mission. And yours," he looked to Andrea before continuing, "will only have one bullet in it because I don't trust you. So use it wisely."

"When are we doing this?" Harley asked, letting out a nervous breath. "I want to let Ashton know so he can help us too."

"Tomorrow if you want." Dempsey shrugged.

"Dieter will help us too." Michael commented, but his friend from Germany was nowhere to be found at the moment.

With a nod of her head, Harley and her friends agreed to be a part of the plan to find Calum. They spent the entire afternoon planning each step carefully, to ensure that everything would work out for them.

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finally an update for this story. i tried to make it longer than i normally do because its been ages since i updated this. so i hope you all like it, and vote, and comment, and stuff like that. i was going to upload this friday, but there were many last minute preps for my cousin's wedding. she is like a sister to me so i had to be concentrated on that. then on saturday was her wedding and then the party which was a blast.

and remember i asked you all to vote on who should be my leading man for my next story? there was a draw between calum and michael. so the voting continues on here! let me know who you want as the leading man! my leading lady will be named athena alanis and she will be portrayed by angelique boyer, only because boyer and perrie edwards look alike, and for plot purposes, i need two actresses that look alike. anyway, i hope you all vote for the leading man in the next story.

question of the day: do you think el chapo will escape again? what do you think of hendall? guys, i was heartbroken. i mean, if they like each other i respect that. but she could have any man in the world, why my man? lol jk. but seriously, i am upset by it. but im not gonna harass kendall over it even though i think her family is a waste of space and human oxygen.

bonus: MY TEAM DIDNT LOSE THIS WEEK. DO YOU ALL KNOW HOW GREAT IT FEELS TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT? GO CHIVAS, MY CATHOLIC LITTLE GOAT HERD OF 100% MEXICAN TRADITION WITH THEIR DADDY AF TEAM COACH.

anyway, have a great week!

-clary xx