Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a long week.

Ever since the gala, where walls had been broken down and the tentative acquaintanceship between Wednesday, Agnes & Enid had grown into a tentative friendship, the dynamic between the 3 girls had shifted considerably. Now that Agnes had stopped desperately trying to mould herself into a second Wednesday Addams, Wednesday had apparently concluded that having someone that proved both competent and good at following instructions was worthy of her time. Wednesday had therefore taken it upon herself to round out Agnes’ education since regular schoolwork was apparently ‘severely lacking in teaching anything of actual import’.

Agnes was not complaining and in fact delighted in Wednesday’s undivided attention during these hours, soaking up every piece of freely given information like a sponge. However, while Agnes could usually respect Wednesday’s impeccably high standards, it was nearly 3 in the morning the previous evening when the psychic finally seemed satisfied with her work and concluded their evening.

Agnes had dragged her exhausted body into bed only to be awoken by one of her roommates not nearly enough hours later. While it was Sunday and she could technically have slept in, the mountain of schoolwork she had been neglecting that week loomed over her. Forgoing sleep, Agnes had instead hit the library to save her grades from slipping any further.   

She had returned to her dorm later that afternoon, head pounding and eyes strained, to find her roommate had invited friends into their shared space and made it quite clear that ‘the invisible weirdo that stalks people’ was not welcome.

Teary eyed and lip quivering, Agnes had wound up on Enid & Wednesday’s metaphorical doorstep. Enid had immediately pulled her into the room, fussing over her and threatening to march over to her dorm and give ‘those brats a piece of my mind’. Given her exhaustion and Enid’s protective Mama bear act, it wasn’t surprising that the soft, hazy feeling that being around Enid or Wednesday sometimes did to the vanisher washed over her. 

It had been a new dynamic, one that Enid had whole-heartedly embraced and Wednesday had been surprisingly tolerant of. They had slowly fallen into a routine and all 3 had accepted that there were times that Agnes was soft and cute and small, instead of useful and competent and creepy.

“I have to finish this assignment otherwise Mr B will kill me, he’s already given me an extension” Enid had griped, throwing her hands up dramatically, “but you could play with your toys while I work on it?”

That was how Agnes found herself on the floor playing with her stuffed animals and blocks. She was dressed in a black, bat onesie, complete with small wings on the back. A recent gift from Enid, although Agnes suspects Wednesday may have been involved somehow as when Enid had first suggested getting a onesie she had excitedly talked about a bright pink unicorn one she had found online ‘You would look so cute!”

The pink onesie had never arrived, however, the black one had turned up wrapped in soft paper. Enid had chalked it up to supplier error and hadn’t made a fuss after Agnes had immediately asked to try it on.

A pacifier bobbed rhythmically in her mouth as Agnes built an insane asylum out of her blocks, occasionally murmuring to herself as she went. Management had really let the cracks build up over time and a small group of faculty staff were struggling to contain the assortment of creatures contained within the facilities walls. Budget cuts had meant a shipment of food for the hydes had failed to arrive, and the faculty were being forced to select one of their own as a sacrifice to prevent the hungry creatures from breaking loose. Agnes was busy overseeing the voting process when Enid’s voice interrupted her playing.

“Agnes,” Agnes looked up to see Enid had paused her writing, pen hovering over the page, and was instead gazing at Agnes with a soft smile, “Do you need to go to the bathroom?"

What? Of course not. What a strange thing to ask.  

Agnes started to shake her head no before pausing and realizing that she did indeed have to go. In fact, now that she was focusing on it the need was fairly urgent. Huh. How had she not noticed before? And how did Enid know?

The older girl noticed her hesitation and grinned at being right before gesturing to her “Come here.”

Agnes stood and padded over to where Enid was sitting at her desk. “How did you know?” her voice garbled from behind her pacifier.

Enid pulled Agnes down onto her lap, planting several kisses over her face, drawing a giggle from the girl as she tried to duck away from the onslaught. “Because you were wriggling around like a little worm. Do you want to change out of your onesie before going to the bathroom?”

Right. The bathroom was down the hall. And she was wearing a onesie and pacifier in the middle of the afternoon. The girls had learnt rather quickly that Agnes’ invisibility was not the most reliable when she was in this headspace, tending to flicker on and off, meaning that simply vanishing for the venture was not an option.

The regressed part of her had no interest in getting out of the cozy garment, it took so long to take on and off and her asylum staff were waiting on her to be the deciding vote, while the bigger part of her was mortified at the thought of leaving the room as she was.

The decision was altogether too much and Agnes looked at Enid with the most pitiful expression she could muster, hoping that Enid would get the hint and magically fix the situation for her.

Enid evidentially understood the turmoil going on in her head as she gently got them both to their feet and led Agnes over to the closet. “I’ll help you take it off. I promise it will be quick and you can be back playing in no time!”

Enid helped her out of the onesie, grabbing some soft shorts and helping Agnes step into them, before reaching up and softly tugging the pacifier from her lips. Agnes couldn’t help the soft whine that escaped her at the action. Enid grimaced in apology, “I’m so sorry baby but big you would be so mad at me if I let you wander the halls with this. Do you want me to come with you?”

She considered briefly before shaking her head, “I can do it myself.” She knew Enid would have happily joined her, but being around Enid while she was like this made it hard to focus. She didn’t want to get to the bathroom and suddenly start whining and whimpering like a child and have someone notice.  

When she returned Enid made short work of helping her back into her onesie, placing the pacifier back in her mouth. “Good work kiddo, such a big brave girl you are.”

Agnes blushed and ducked her head at the praise. Enid always said things like that to her when she was small and she didn’t quite know what to do with it. Trying to push past the discomfort, Agnes looked up at Enid hopefully “Will you play with me?”

Enid’s smile faltered, before replacing itself with a grimace “I’m sorry baby, I would love to but I’ve still got a little bit more to do with this assignment. How about you keep playing quietly for another 30 minutes and I’ll get this boring essay all wrapped up and then we can play together for as long as you want!”

It was a fair offer, which is why it surprised both the girls when instead of replying in the affirmative Agnes instead let out an annoyed whine and stomped her foot. “Nooo, why can’t you play now?”

Enid studied her for a moment before coming to an apparent conclusion. “I can’t right now baby, but you can keep playing for 30 minutes by yourself and then I’ll play with you, or I can put you down for a nap now and we can play when you wake up.”

No! She didn’t need a nap! She wanted Enid to play with her now, not in 30 minutes. She’d already been writing her dumb assignment foreeever, it wasn’t fair. Agnes crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks, pacifier falling from her lips at the act, “No nap.”

“Hmmm” Enid sing-songed, “I think someone’s feeling a little bit tired and a little bit grumpy. Do you want me to choose for you?”

Enid’s cavalier attitude was not helping. How dare Enid make fun of her. She wasn’t tired OR grumpy. Well okay, maybe she was a little bit annoyed but that was only because Enid was being so annoying. “Not grumpy.”

“Okay Miss Not Tired or Grumpy, how about if we just lie down and cuddle? I can read you a story and if by the end of it you’re still awake I will believe that you are not even a little bit tired.”

Agnes eyed Enid suspiciously. “And then you’ll play with me?”

“Uh huh, you bet kiddo.”

She considered the deal on the table. It felt like a trap, Enid was looking entirely too sure of herself. But all she had to do was stay awake for the length of a story, right? She could do that. After all, she wasn’t tired or grumpy, no matter what Enid seemed to think.

Agnes slowly nodded, “Kay”.

Enid grinned brightly, lifting the covers up and helping the younger girl clamber into her bed. “You snuggle down, I’ll grab a book and be right there.”

Agnes snuggled into the pillows, allowing her eyes to flutter closed. The bed dipping alerted her to Enid’s return, and she felt something press against her lips – her pacifier. Enid must have picked it up from where it had dropped. She opened her mouth and gave it a couple of lazy sucks, feeling Enid’s arms wrap around her and pull her into her side.

Distantly, she heard Enid’s voice start on the story, and realized that she may have been outsmarted by the werewolf before she was out.

--

Agnes woke sometime later to someone gently shaking her “Agnes.. Agnes.. it’s time to wake up, baby.” Agnes opened her eyes and blinked blearily up at the person shaking her. The blonds face slowly came into focus and she found Enid gazing down at her.

“Hey sleepyhead. You’ve been out for a couple hours and I was worried if you slept for much longer you wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. How are you feeling?”

A yawn escaped Agnes and the pacifier dropped from her mouth. The first thing she noticed was that it was dark outside, the light of the afternoon completely gone. The second was that Thing had returned and was sitting on Enid’s nightstand, but there was still no sign of Wednesday.

Enid must have noticed her looking around the room, “I sent Wednesday out to scavenge some dinner for us. I figured you wouldn’t be up to heading to the cafeteria, so I thought we could have dinner here,” she explained.

“Kay.” Agnes mumbled quietly, rubbing her eyes with the palm of her hand. She wasn’t sure how she was feeling, she wasn’t all the way big, but enough that she was starting to feel silly thinking back to her actions before she went to bed.

She glanced over at her toys, still left out as they had been before her nap. She longed to go and play with them but she couldn’t help remembering how Enid had turned her down when she’d asked her to play. Logically, she knew that Enid had been busy, schoolwork was important, and hadn’t been dismissing her. But trapped in this in-between space it was hard not to feel the sting of the rejection. Of course Enid hadn’t wanted to play with her. She should be grateful that Enid even let her into her dorm at all, not gone around expecting more from the girl.

“I didn’t touch your toys. I wasn’t sure if you would feel up to playing after your nap but I left them out for you,” Enid’s voice interrupted her ruminating. “We can play with them after dinner if you want, or we can put them away and watch a movie instead,” Enid said, smoothing Agnes’ hair down where it had been mussed from sleep.  

Agnes turned her head and pushed Enid’s hand away from her. “You don’t have to. I can eat dinner and just go back to my dorm.”

“I know I don’t have to, but if you want to keep playing then I would love to join you.” Enid said gently.

“You don’t have to placate me. It was just a dumb kids game anyway.” Agnes wasn’t sure why she was behaving so petulantly, she had after all crashed Enid’s whole afternoon and the girl had been nothing but kind and wonderful.

With horror she felt tears start to prick at the back of her eyes for reasons she couldn’t comprehend. She hadn’t felt that tired before her nap, no matter what Enid thought, but now she felt absolutely exhausted. Her head was sore and her throat felt parched and that sullen, irritable feeling she’d had before she went to sleep was back with a vengeance.

It wasn’t fair! How come she had to have this stupid regressed headspace in the first place? Why couldn’t she just be normal?

“Oh baby,” Enid sighed, gently tugging the younger girl into her arms.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Agnes whispered into Enid’s neck, clinging to Enid’s shirt like her life depended on it.

“I think you are very tired right now and things are feeling a little overwhelming,” Enid said, squeezing the younger girl and slowly rocking the two of them.

Agnes sniffled, “But I just had a nap! I shouldn’t be feeling more tired.”

“You did. But I also know that Wednesday has hardly slept this week, and I’m starting to think that maybe you have also hardly slept, am I on the right track?”

“Maybe.” Agnes responded wetly, “I feel really grumpy”.

“Really? Grumpy? I had no idea!” Enid teased lightly.

It worked in drawing a small smile to the younger girls face, although this realization caused her to whine and kick her feet out, annoyed with both herself and Enid for the teasing.

Enid drew back, and lifted her chin up so Agnes was forced to look at the blond “Hey, you can be and feel whatever you need to feel. You can’t scare me off with your grumpiness. I am dating the world’s grumpiest person after all, trust me, I can handle anything you throw at me.”

Agnes let out a watery laugh, rubbing at her eyes and trying not to squirm under Enid’s too soft and too tender gaze, “Okay.”

“Now, would you like to play with your toys after dinner, or should we put them away?”

“Play, please.”

“Such good manners my baby girl has! I would love to play with you after dinner. What were you building anyway? Is it some kind of zoo?”

Agnes shook her head, not bothering to explain what it actually was and instead opting to lay her head down in Enid’s lap. Enid, sensing the conversation was over for now, pulled out her phone and started aimlessly scrolling, her other hand lightly scratching at Agnes’ scalp while they waited for Wednesday to return with dinner.

Not long after, the door opened revealing Wednesday holding a large carton and 3 plates with cutlery. “This school once again upholds it’s reputation for serving the worst food known to man,” opening the carton to reveal a heaping of lasagna, which happened to be one of Agnes’ favourites, not that Wednesday would ever admit that was her reason for selecting it. “It was the least objectionable option available.”

Agnes grinned up at her, sitting up as Enid stood up and stretched. “Thanks Wednesday, I am starving! Ugh there is something about writing essays for Mr B that makes a girl work up an appetite”.

“And also want to gouge your eyes out. The man manages to make the worst bits of history seem like dull trivialities,” Wednesday griped while passing over the plates and placing the lasagna down on the desk.

Enid grimaced, “Could we not talk about gouging eyes out right before dinner please?” taking the plates from Wednesday and dishing up, talking over her shoulder at Agnes “Agnes, come and eat at my desk, I don’t want you spilling food all over my bed.”

Agnes scowled and folded her arms, glaring at Enid. She wasn’t an actual child, she knew how to eat food without spilling it everywhere.

“Now, please.” Enid repeated, locking eyes with the younger girl. For a while no one said anything, the girls remaining locked in a staring contest, Wednesday’s eyes flicked between the two before deciding not to get involved.

Agnes broke first, muttering a loud “Fine!” and stomping her way over to the desk, looking anywhere but at the smug werewolf.

Enid merely pulled the chair back and handed her a knife and fork as she sat down, not the least bit phased with her dramatics.

“We have a very tired and grumpy little on our hands today, do either of you want to explain what you were doing this week instead of sleeping?” Enid addressed the question to the both of them, but was mostly looking at Wednesday for answers, knowing Agnes probably wouldn’t have the mental energy to explain properly.

“I have been teaching Agnes how to properly kill and gut a rabbit, among other things. It’s an important life skill every young woman should know”.

“Wait.. you were what?!” Enid squeaked out, the answer clearly not having been in the realm of possible activities she had imagined Agnes and Wednesday getting up to. “In the middle of the night?!”

“The ritual calls for the heart to be separated from the body at midnight exactly, otherwise they’re worthless.” Wednesday’s further explanation doing little to calm the werewolf.

“You were cutting out their hearts?!” Enid looked horrified.

“Yes. For the ritual. Why bother asking if you refuse to listen to the answers.”

Agnes let the sounds of their bickering wash over her as she ate her lasagna. It was different to how her parents used to fight before their separation. Their angry shouting loud enough to shake the house, often concluding with her father throwing or breaking something. Agnes would sit, invisible, outside the spare bedroom and listen to her mother weep, only going to bed herself when her mother’s cries softened into gentle snores.

This didn’t sound like that. Enid wasn’t truly angry, more exasperated, and Wednesday, was, well, Wednesday. Neither of them seemed angry at her, even though she was the reason for the bickering in the first place. Hearing them talk about her in front of her, as though she was truly a baby with no comprehension of what they were saying, sent her mind deeper into that floaty space she associated with being small. It was a peculiar, but not unwelcome, sensation.

Despite Agnes’ insistence that she wouldn’t spill food while eating, there was food splattering’s on the desk when she had cleared her plate. Her cheeks flushed as she felt Enid wiping a damp cloth over her face before wiping the table. Agnes blinked owlishly and tuned back into her surroundings hearing Enid muttering something about “Crazy psychics and their crazy heart cutting out rituals.”

“Play now?” Agnes asked, looking up at Enid.

Pausing her mutterings, Enid turned a warm expression to the younger girl, “Of course baby. Why don’t you play with Wednesday while I clean up and take these plates back downstairs?”

Her expression darkened as she redirected her gaze to Wednesday and spoke in a tone that left no room for argument, “Wednesday, build a zoo with the baby. I’ll be back soon.”

Wednesday nodded curtly, her eyes following Enid as she left the room, wisely choosing not to argue with the blond.

“It’s not a zoo,” Agnes said softly, Wednesday’s eyes snapping back to look at her, a questioning look on her face. “It’s an insane asylum.” Agnes clarified, watching as Wednesday’s lips turned upwards just a fraction.

By the time Enid made it back to the dorm room the vanishers and psychics had joined forces and taken over the facility. They had set up an arena in the cafeteria and were watching as the hydes battled to the death, the facilities faculty long since cleared out or fed to the hungry werewolves trapped in their werewolf forms.

Agnes was giggling gleefully as the two plush bunnies representing the hydes battled it out, one of them even had a knife that Wednesday had procured from her desk draw. Enid was too slow to stop the knife being plunged into one of the bunnies craniums, protruding straight into the floorboards below.

Enid groaned while Agnes shrieked loudly, clapping her hands. “I left you alone for 20 minutes and you’ve somehow managed to give the baby a knife and murder another bunny.”

“Further proof that my lessons this week were worthwhile.”

Enid gave Wednesday a withering look before kneeling down on the mat.

“.. But maybe it’s best I put the knives away. I don’t want them getting damaged, after all.”

The play continued for a while after that, Wednesday and Agnes getting Enid up to speed on what was happening at the facility. Enid made a squeamish face when learning about the werewolves trapped in their werewolf form. “We shouldn’t feed humans to them, they will feel awful knowing they’ve done that when they change back.”

“It’s okay, they were bad people before they got trapped,” Agnes explained helpfully, “And the only way they can turn back is with true loves kiss, but nobody loves them so they’re trapped forever.”

“True love’s kiss aye?” Enid grinned, looking between the 2 girls, Wednesday’s face remaining impassive, although she seemed to be determinedly avoiding looking at the blond.

“Uh huh. Just like how you turned back when Wednesday found you.”

Agnes was oblivious to the absolute shit-eating grin Enid directed at Wednesday. “Well how about that.”

---

The play continued until Agnes’ eyes started to droop and when she absent mindedly placed her thumb in her mouth Enid announced that it was bedtime, despite it still being relatively early.

“I think it’s bedtime, huh kiddo?” Enid asked.

“Nooo, I don’t wanna go to bed. I’m not even tired,” her argument made much less effective as she immediately yawned and rubbed at her eyes with both hands.

“Uh huh, sure you’re not”, Enid cooed, “Come on, we’ll help you put your toys away and then we can read you a story.” Enid said as she placed the box that the blocks were stored in down between the 3 of them.

“No! You can’t make me,” Agnes yelled, knocking the box away and scowling at Enid. The 2 older girls stilled, Enid looking back at Agnes with her eyebrow raised. Agnes looked to Wednesday for support, hoping the 2 of them could put up a united front against Enid’s overbearing mothering but was horrified to see that Wednesday was also looking at her with a stern expression, clearly not impressed with how the younger girl had spoken to her girlfriend.

Agnes wilted under Wednesday’s expression, tears welling up behind her eyes, gaze lowering, and hands dropping to her lap in front of her. While she no longer sought out the older girls approval with her every action, she still looked up to the girl and knowing she had wrought her ire caused shame to flood through her. “I’m sorry,” Agnes whispered, trying and failing to stop the tears running down her face.

Enid sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen. Agnes, you and I are going to put your toys away and get ready for bed. Wednesday, you are going to go to Agnes’ dorm room and get her school bag, books and uniform for tomorrow.”

“And why exactly would I do that?” Wednesday asked, her stoic gaze shifting to Enid.

“Because the baby would probably get lost on the way and end up falling down a flight of stairs or something”

“That still doesn’t explain why I am the one being sent on a fetch and retrieve mission.”

“Oh, you want reasons? Okay. How about because it’s your fault we have a tired and grumpy little in the first place. You kept the baby out late everyday for the past week doing god knows what, god knows where until some ungodly hour of the morning! We agreed we would look out for Agnes when she’s regressed, and part of looking out for her means not forcing her to work until she drops dead from exhaustion!” Enid glared at Wednesday, panting slightly from the outburst.

“I didn’t force –“

“Wednesday!”

“…Fine. I concede to your point. Agnes, where will I find your belongings?”

Agnes startled at being addressed directly, shocked that Wednesday was apparently the one being told off despite it being her that had spoken rudely.  “Oh, uhh, my bag is on the floor near my desk. There should be a uniform hung up in the closet”

Wednesday nodded once, striding to the door before pausing in the entryway, glancing back at her. “I should have ensured your needs were met.”

Agnes’ mouth fell open in shock, her tears forgotten for the moment. Wednesday practically just apologized to her! What was happening? She turned her stunned expression to Enid, shrinking back when she saw the girl was looking at her sternly.

“Now, don’t think you’re off the hook missy. When you’re feeling better we need to have a serious chat. You can’t push yourself to the point of exhaustion. I know Wednesday can be hard to say no to.. but you have to take care of yourself, okay?” Enid lectured, her tone and expression softening as she spoke.

Agnes nodded dumbly, her heart fluttering strangely in her chest. Was this what it felt like to be cared for? Her own parents never noticed when she stayed up late. They didn’t notice much of anything. Agnes annoyingly felt tears threaten to fall once more and reached up to angrily swipe at her face. Stupid eyes. Hadn’t they leaked enough today?

“Come on, let’s get you ready for bed.” Enid said kindly, cupping Agnes’ face and wiping her thumbs over the tear tracks under the younger girls eyes.  

Together they put the blocks and toys away and Agnes allowed that soft, hazy feeling to wash over her once more, trusting the werewolf to take care of her.

When they returned from the bathroom they found Wednesday had returned with Agnes’ things, placing them on Enid’s side of the room. Agnes wordlessly padded over and wrapped her arms around Wednesday, not noticing the slight look of panic she shot to Enid, nor the fond gaze the girl returned watching the 2 of them. While Wednesday didn’t hug her back, she also didn’t actively try to push the regressed girl away, sensing that she needed the comfort.

After a moment Enid came to Wednesday’s rescue and tugged Agnes out of the embrace. “Come on, it’s bedtime baby.”

Agnes let Enid tuck her in bed, snuggling a stuffed bunny when it was handed to her. Wednesday had followed them and was standing at the head of the bed, reaching out to very lightly brush a strand of hair out of Agnes’ face.

The exhaustion was back now that she was horizontal. It was weird, even with her bratty behaviour and Enid telling off both her and Wednesday, she somehow felt safer and warmer than she ever had with her parents. Was this what family was supposed to be? Just a group of flawed individuals loving and accepting one another in spite of those flaws?

Enid had started reading aloud the same story she had read before her earlier nap.  Agnes thought about protesting that she’d already heard that one today (not that she had) but she was already drifting.

She’d complain about it tomorrow.

Chapter Text

It was flu season at Nevermore. A wave of illness had spread slowly over the school as the season turned. Enid had come down with it first, werewolf genes fighting the infection off with relative ease. The girl had moped around for exactly 1 day, sniffling and complaining loudly to Wednesday & Agnes about how she was ‘definitely dying’ and how she may ‘never be able to breath through my nose again’. The following day her nose had miraculously cleared and the only indication that she had ever been sick was the light redness around her nose caused from the scratchiness of the tissues.

Wednesday caught it next, and in true fashion was determined to not let ‘a common triviality such as the flu’ slow her down. She stubbornly refused to admit her body was displaying any flu like symptoms, shivering her way through classes and only conceding to Enid’s insistence that she ‘take it easy’ after she had a coughing fit so bad at lunch that several tables of students had stopped to stare at her in pity, some even having the audacity to ask if she was feeling okay.

Choosing to isolate to prevent further such looks, she spent 3 days in her dorm with only Enid welcome inside. Emerging at the end of the third day at dinner time as though nothing had happened and she had merely been absent to focus on her latest murder case. 

So it wasn’t a surprise when a week later Agnes awoke one morning to a sore throat. Concluding that the symptoms weren’t that bad, she decided to take the Wednesday route and stubbornly ignore them. She would skip classes if it got any worse, but for now she would still go about her day as usual.

Avoiding Enid was imperative, she knew as soon as the werewolf knew she was sick she would be on bedrest for the foreseeable future. Wednesday was more of a wildcard. While the psychic didn’t typically concern herself with the welfare of other students, nor for the welfare of herself, she had recently been more attuned to Agnes’ needs. Ensuring the girl wasn’t out late 2 nights in a row under her watch, and that she was fed and watered during any long mentoring sessions the 2 had. There was also the chance that, having been sick herself so soon, she may simply conclude that the illness was nothing to be trifled with and immediately enlist Enid to force the younger girl to rest.

Agnes decided that the easiest route would be to avoid them both. At least until the symptoms cleared up. Happy with her plan, she pulled out her phone, messaging the group chat with Eugene and Pugsley.

“Running late, won’t make breakfast. Could you grab me some toast and I’ll meet you in class?”

Pugsley – “You got it A Dog”

Eugene – “I’ll bring you some back up toast, with normal ingredients”

Pugsley - “Hey! My Dad loves my French toast”

Eugene – “French toast is made with EGGS not SNAILS. French toast shouldn’t be crunchy”

Pugsley – “The shells are the best bit!”

Agnes grinned at their banter, remembering the one and only time Eugene had ever eaten food made by Pugsley. The poor boy had heard ‘French Toast’ and taken a huge bite without stopping to think about who was calling it that. Watching his face contort from delighted to confused to horrified in less than a second had been one of the funniest things she had ever witnessed.

Exciting the chat with the boys Agnes opened the chat with her, Enid and Wednesday. It was mostly her and Enid who used it, with Wednesday’s phone spending more time in her desk drawer than on her person.

Agnes – “Slept in, don’t wait for me at breakfast”

Enid - “Oh no! Need us to grab you some food?”

Agnes - “Nah all good, Pugsley’s bringing some to class”

Enid - “Wednesday says don’t eat anything Pugsley gives you! Catch you tonight?”

Agnes - “I won’t, Eugene is bringing back up food! Gotta catch up on schoolwork next few nights but maybe on the weekend?”

Enid - “Booo, but okay! don’t work yourself too hard xoxo”

Satisfied that she had avoided arousing suspicion, Agnes put her phone away and got ready for the day. Avoiding Wednesday and Enid was going to be a breeze.

--

By day 3 Agnes’ brilliant plan was starting to feel slightly less brilliant. While she had successfully managed to avoid Enid and Wednesday for the past 2 days she was running out of excuses for not seeing them. To add to that, her symptoms now included a cough that worsened whenever she laid down, which meant that sleeping had been particularly difficult, a pounding headache and runny nose.

Thankfully today was Thursday which meant there was only 1 day of classes left before she had the weekend to rest, although that also meant she had to come up with a reason to avoid seeing the 2 older girls. She doubted Enid in particular would believe the schoolwork excuse again, and she wasn’t a part of any clubs she could lie about having to attend.

She felt someone nudge her, finding Eugene looking at her with concern. Looking up she noticed that the class was over and the students were filtering out. She glanced down at her notebook, which was blank and cursed herself for not paying attention.

“You can borrow my notes if you need them.” Eugene offered.

“Thanks Eugene.” Agnes said, her voice thick with congestion.

“Maybe you should head to bed for the rest of the day?” the boy asked.

Agnes shook her head, “I’m fine. I just need more coffee. I’ll catch up with you in biology.” She grabbed her bag and started heading towards the cafeteria to get more coffee. As she rounded the corner she heard her name being called.

“Agnes DeMille” Enid’s voice sounded in the corridor.

Agnes froze. Then vanished. Which was the wrong order as Enid had obviously already spotted her. It’s also rather ineffective being invisible when your body chooses that moment to start coughing.

Enid’s eyes narrowed, striding right up to the invisible spluttering. “You’re sick?! Is this why you’ve been avoiding us? What are you doing up?! You should be in bed resting!” she all but yells at the younger girl, her face painted with concern.

Agnes flickered back into sight and scowled at Eugene, who was slinking guiltily behind Enid. “You told on me?”

“I’m sorry! She cornered me and it just kinda slipped out!” The boy had the decency to look guilty.

“Don’t blame him” Enid intervenes, “he was worried about you. He said you haven’t been eating, can’t stop shivering and are falling asleep in class!”

“All of that just slipped out did it?” Agnes shot at the boy, causing him to shrink further behind Enid.

 “Have you seen yourself? You look like a ghost!”

“Hello, Vanisher! I basically am a ghost.” Agnes argued, flickering out briefly to prove her point, “and I’m fine. It’s just a cold, it will go away in a couple of days.”

“Yea and you will spend those couple of days resting in bed.” Enid chimed back in, placing the back of her hand on Agnes’ forehead checking for a fever.

“I’m fine!” Agnes repeated, attempting to push the werewolf off “I can rest on the weekend.”

“This isn’t up for debate young lady. Come on, I’m marching you to straight to bed myself.” Enid placed her arm over the younger girl’s shoulder, leading her away. “Eugene, can you please let the teachers know that Agnes is sick and won’t be in class this afternoon or tomorrow?”

“Sure thing Enid,” Eugene nodded, before wisely making a hasty retreat, “I hope you feel better Agnes!” He called back at them.

“I hope your bees sting you!” Agnes shouted out to his retreating form, walking sullenly next to Enid. So lost was she in her brooding that it took her a while to notice that they weren’t heading in the direction of her dorm room, but rather were making their way to Ophelia Hall.

Enid was letting out a continuous stream of mutterings beside her. “I can’t believe you’ve been sick all week and still going to class. You just wait until Wednesday hears about this.”

“Did you seriously just hit me with a ‘wait until Wednesday hears about this’? What are you, a housewife from the 60s?” Agnes said petulantly as they entered Enid and Wednesday’s dorm.

“I don’t have time to deal with your bad attitude. In fact, you’re banned from speaking. No more speaking for a hundred hours.” Enid marched over to her closet and started rifling through her drawers.

Agnes stopped just inside the door, crossing her arms. “I’m not little right now, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“Yea I know you’re not, because my baby is a sweet, polite angel, and not a sullen teenager with an attitude problem.” Enid snapped back, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a hoody.

“Here” she held out the garments to the younger girl who made no move to take them, instead keeping her arms firmly crossed. Enid stepped right into the girls space, “You can either put these on and get into bed, or I will throw you over my shoulder and put you in bed. Either way you are not leaving this room. It’s your choice, pup.”

For a moment nobody moved, both girls silently staring at each other. At the same moment Agnes vanished from sight, Enid’s arm flashed out and grabbed a hold of her, as if she had been anticipating the move. Agnes suddenly found her world tilted as Enid kept good on her promise and threw Agnes over her shoulder. Her head spun and she shrieked, coming back into view as Enid marched over to her bed and dumped her unceremoniously onto it.

All of the sudden movements caused her to cough violently, and the next couple of minutes were spent spluttering and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath.

“Oh yea, you’re so fine, you’d win an award for most health at the health olympics” Enid said, rolling her eyes and handing Agnes a bottle of water.

Agnes glared at her through her coughs and tears and wheezed out “That was entirely your fault!”

“I warned you didn’t I? You wanna go again? Cause I’ve got nothing better to do!” Enid postured.

Agnes shook her head, the brief struggle having taken it out of her, head pounding behind her eyes. “Congratulations. The werewolf took down the sick 13 year old, you’re so strong and brave,” she grumbled.

Enid looked smugly down at her, “Yup,” she said, popping the p sound, “I’m the strongest and the bravest. Here put these on,” she had collected the comfy clothing from where they had fallen and handed them to Agnes, “I’ll get the cold and flu medicine. We have a stack of it here since we were both sick.”

Agnes sullenly changed out of her uniform and accepted the cold and flu medicine when it was handed to her. She wouldn’t admit this to Enid, but it was nice to be in a bed instead of in class. Her head hurt, her throat a constant burn and her body ached. With the cough and blocked nose she was a miserable bundle.

She looked over at Enid to see the girl taking her books out and setting them up at her desk. “Don’t you have class?” she asked.

“Nah, Wednesday will take notes for me. I don’t trust you not to make a break for it the second I leave, so I am officially on guard duty.” Enid joked, in an annoyingly cheery mood considering the two had been snapping back and forth at each other mere minutes ago.

“Great, I always wanted a guard dog,” Agnes grumbled back, frustratingly only causing Enid to laugh.

“Go to sleep, pup”

Agnes did, but not because Enid told her to, because she chose to go to sleep.

--

When Agnes woke she was, somehow, feeling more miserable than when she went to sleep. She had barely been awake for 2 minutes before she started coughing. She struggled to sit up when she felt someone rubbing her back as her body spasmed. Looking up she was surprised to see it was Wednesday and not Enid at her bedside, holding out a glass of water for her. Taking a drink Agnes winced as she gulped, her throat protesting it’s continued existence.

“You are unwell.” Wednesday stated the obvious. “You hid this from us. Why?”

“It’s not that bad,” Agnes muttered, “Enid is overreacting.”

“Enid overreacts to many things, this is not one of them.

“I was handling it fine on my own.” Agnes said, attempting to stand up from the bed only for Wednesday to reach out and gently push her back into a sitting position.

“I have been instructed not to let you leave.” Wednesday’s voice was surprisingly gentle.

“Well I need to go to the bathroom, so unless you prefer I go somewhere in this room I suggest you let me.” Agnes snapped.

“Fine. Then I shall accompany you to the bathroom.”

Agnes groaned, “Seriously? I’m not a child, I can go to the bathroom myself.”

“You are a child. An unwell child. You are also a flight risk. I will accompany you, or I’m sure we could fashion a litterbox for you out of a dresser drawer if you prefer.” Wednesday said levelly, leaving no question that if Agnes pushed it she would in fact prevent her from leaving and supply her with a box.  

Agnes was suddenly furious at the Wednesday in front of her. She could usually count on the girl not to hover, leaving the mothering role to Enid. Today was when Wednesday decided she wanted to get involved? Now, when she felt like death and wanted nothing more than to get away from all of the overbearing energy?

She was silently stewing when the door opened and Enid walked in, smiling when she saw the 2 of them. “Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling fine, you can call your hound off now.” Agnes all but growled, causing Enid to slow and her smile to drop, replaced with a look of confusion and concern.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“What’s wrong is that you dragged me here against my will and now you won’t even let me go to the bathroom! I didn’t ask for your help and I don’t need it. So you can both quit the overbearing mother act and let me get on with my life.” Agnes was furious, she wasn’t even sure what she was saying at this point. She just had to get away from them both, away from Enid’s kindness and Wednesday’s out of character gentleness.

Enid flinched at the outburst, hurt crossing her face, causing guilt to churn in the pit of Agnes’ stomach. “We were only trying to help,” Enid spoke softly, “you don’t have to stay here if you really don’t want to.” Her words and softness only causing more guilt to churn it’s way through Agnes.  

She tried to take a breath, it wasn’t Enid’s fault she was sick. “I just don’t like people in my space when I’m sick.” She stood and moved past the girls to pick up her bag, but mostly so she didn’t have to look at Enid’s watering eyes.

She walked to the door and felt a hand on her arm, turning to see Enid looking at her softly. “We’re always here if you need us. I hope you feel better soon.”

Agnes nodded once, not trusting herself to speak, before she strode out of the room.

Chapter Text

If anything good had come from her encounter with Wednesday & Enid, it was that she had at least admitted to herself that she was too sick for schoolwork. After very little sleep thanks to the persistent cough overnight, Agnes accepted that Friday would be spent in bed.

She spent the day fading in and out of consciousness, the coughing preventing her from having any kind of meaningful rest. She wished she had thought to take the cold and flu medicine with her when she had left Enid and Wednesday’s dorm room yesterday, the medicine having provided the best stretch of sleep since she had come down with the cold. She knew if she asked either Enid or Wednesday they would probably drop some off, but that would require speaking to them and she was pointedly ignoring the message on her phone from Enid.

Enid – “I hope you’re feeling better today, let me know if you need anything xo”

She wasn’t feeling better and she did need something. But she couldn’t ask for it.  Agnes wasn’t the type of child who was cared for when sick. She was the invisible child. The one people could put in a room and forget about, because when they looked in she more than often wasn’t there.

So as much as this self-inflicted state of isolation hurt it was better than the alternative. Better than being welcomed into loving arms only to be turned away when she became too much. Too needy with her demands for love. It had been her own fault for getting sick at inconvenient times after all. When her mother had a new baby to worry about and her father had been expecting a childfree summer. Agnes swallowed down a lump in her throat as the memory washed over her unbidden.

“Oh Agnes honey I know you’re not well but I have to keep my distance,” her mother spoke through the phone, having called Agnes rather than enter the room that she’d been isolating in since coming down with a fever 2 days ago.  “I really can’t afford to get sick what with the new baby in the house, and he hasn’t had all of his shots yet so I think it’s best if you head back to your Dads. I’ve already spoken to him and he’s sending a car to come and pick you up. Besides, you’d probably much prefer to be back at home where you can hang out with your friends, I know teenagers think it’s lame to spend so much time with their mother’s.”

Agnes nodded before remembering that her mother couldn’t see her and whispered “Okay” into the phone trying not to give away the hurt she was feeling.

“Thank you for understanding honey. Now the car will be here in an hour so Dave and I are going to take the baby out so that you can get out of the house safely, and could you please open the windows in your room before you leave? Thank you honey, love you.” her mother hung up the phone before Agnes could reply.

The car collected her an hour later, and Agnes huddled in the back seat for the 2 hour drive back to her Dad’s house. The driver left the windows open the whole way, obviously wanting to minimize his risk of catching whatever plague the child in the backseat had.

Upon her return home she found an empty house and a note on the counter, next to some cold and flu medicine, explaining that her Dad had had an emergency come up at work and he would be busy dealing with that the next few days.

Agnes took herself to bed, too feverish to even cry. Seems she had traded one cold, empty room for another.

Agnes grit her teeth at the memory, trying desperately to think of something else. Something else that wasn’t the look on Enid’s face the day before.

As day turned to night, a soft ding on her phone broke her out of her light sleep. Coughing (always coughing) she grabbed her phone to see another message from Enid.

Enid – “Heading to dinner, want us to drop you off some food?”

Agnes stared at the message, trembling for completely different reasons this time. God this dumb werewolf was persistent. Couldn’t she just leave Agnes alone in her misery? Didn’t she understand that with every message it became harder and harder for Agnes not to respond?

Agnes choked back tears and put her phone back on the nightstand.

--

It was nearing midnight and Agnes had yet to fall asleep. The coughing hadn’t eased and as much as she was trying to cough quietly under the blankets, she could tell her roommates were getting frustrated at the noise. Losing her patience with her current state, Agnes eventually threw back the covers and got out of bed.

Dressing in warm clothes Agnes headed out of the dorm, vanishing as she exited. The corridors were still and quiet, most students already in bed asleep. She didn’t really have a destination in mind, she just needed a respite from the coughing, which wasn’t nearly as bad when she was vertical.

She wandered in and out of a few classrooms, stumbling across a couple making out in one of them. She didn’t know them personally, but she was pretty sure she had seen the girl holding hands with a different boy during the daylight hours. She thought about taking a photo in case any scenarios requiring blackmail arose in the future, but realized she didn’t have her phone. She left them to it, not wanting any stray coughs to alert them to her presence.

As she was walked, she noticed a figure crossing the courtyard. Upon second glance, Agnes realized it was Wednesday and she seemed to be holding.. a shovel? Where was she going so late with a shovel? She hesitated momentarily before curiosity won out and she decided to follow. Wednesday left the school and headed in the direction of the forest. Agnes, keeping as quiet as she could, trailed behind.

After 20 minutes or so, Wednesday was showing no signs of slowing down and as far as Agnes could tell, the only thing further in the direction she was going was more forest. Agnes started to regret following the girl, she really wasn’t well enough to be trekking through the woods and at this point she wasn’t sure she could get herself back to the school. So she was stuck following behind until Wednesday was done for the evening, or until she showed herself and they (hopefully) went back. Neither option held much appeal.

After what felt like an eternity but may have only been another few minutes Wednesday stopped abruptly, looking at something on the forest floor. Agnes couldn’t see anything other than plants and bushes, maybe there was a body buried here Wednesday was about to dig up? Maybe  -

“Agnes,” Wednesday’s voice rang out clearly.

Agnes jumped, her heart thumping in her chest. Wednesday was looking right at her.

“You are sloppy when you’re sick.” Wednesday supplied to Agnes’ unasked question, turning her back on the girl and digging into the earth below.

Agnes flickered back into sight, “How long have you known?”

“Since we entered the forest. It was as if a pack of werewolves were trailing me.” Wednesday said, something akin to disappointment in her tone.

“Oh.” Agnes scuffed her toe, “Why did you let me come all the way out here?”

“I was curious to see if you would.” Wednesday replied simply, before collecting something from the hole she had dug and turning to face Agnes.

“You rejected Enid’s affections, why?” She didn’t sound mad, just curious.

Agnes shrugged, thrown by the offhanded question. “I don’t know, she was annoying me. I didn’t need her help.”

“You are often annoyed by her, yet you still welcome her mothering.”

Wednesday wasn’t wrong, Enid and Agnes bickered often, but at the end of the bickering Agnes always accepted care when it was offered. She’d never lost her temper for real like she had yesterday.

“You rejected Enid’s affections too when you got sick.” Agnes shot back.

Wednesday frowned slightly at that, likely not happy at the reminder of her body’s recent display of weakness. “You and I are not the same,” was all she said.

Which was true, but it stung a little. Like Wednesday was confirming that Agnes was weaker than she was for accepting care.

“Well maybe we both don’t like people fussing when we’re sick. I didn’t need help when I was a kid and I don’t need it now!” Agnes said, her voice cracking slightly. Agnes turned away from the older girl, frustrated with herself for showing weakness in front of her.

Wednesday was silent for a moment, as if weighing the younger girls words up, then “When I was younger and my body betrayed me, my Mother would wrap me in blankets and allow me to rest in my favourite coffin. She would read stories to me and my Father and Uncle would take turns torturing each other, their screams lulling me to sleep.”

Agnes processed this, it was hard to imagine Wednesday as a kid. Even harder to imagine a sick Wednesday being cared for by her parents, albeit in horrifying ways. She doesn’t remember her parents ever doing something like that for her. She assumes they must have when she was really little, but not since she was old enough to retain memories. 

She felt a lump in her throat that had little to do with her illness. Why hadn’t they cared for her? Why didn’t they care now? “Is Enid mad at me?” she whispered, still not looking at Wednesday.  

“No.” Wednesday said without hesitation. The best thing about Wednesday is that she never lies, especially not to protect someone else’s feelings. “She is concerned for your well-being, and wishes she knew how to assist.”

The silence lingered for a few moments, before Wednesday said “Come. You are shivering and it is a long walk back to Nevermore.”

The two headed back, Agness sniffling and coughing, the cold and physical exertion worsening her symptoms. It was a relief when the school came into sight, Agnes’ body exhausted from the walk. At the point where the path to the 2 separate dorms diverged the girls paused, Wednesday giving Agnes a questioning look but not pushing. Wednesday never pushed, not like Enid, Wednesday would let Agnes return to isolation if she chose to.

Agnes looked at the way to her dorm, then back at Wednesday. Then, pushing down her fears, she took a small, hesitant step towards Wednesday. Wednesday said nothing, but her face took on the slightest look of satisfaction, as though she were proud of the younger girls decision. She lead the way to Ophelia hall, Agnes trailing behind her and feeling ever so slightly less miserable.

--

The 2 stepped into the dorm room, Agnes attempting to quiet her coughs and sniffles not wanting to wake Enid. She needn’t have bothered, the girl was up and out of bed the moment they entered. Wednesday headed to her side of the room, leaving the 2 girls staring at each other.

Agnes blinked back tears, took a steadying breath and breathed out “I’m sorry.” Then suddenly Enid was there and she was wrapped in warm arms and Enid was murmuring sweet nothings in her ear and Agnes wondered why she had ever thought to push the girl away.

Enid pulled back from the hug, cupping Agnes’ face “You big dummy,” she said, voice wavering just a bit.

“Yea, I know.” Agnes responded weakly, eyes still watering but feeling lighter than she had for the past few days.

“You’re freezing,” Enid worried, immediately switching into mothering mode now that the conflict had resolved itself, “Wednesday, you didn’t take her out grave digging did you? She’s sick!”

“We weren’t digging graves” Wednesday said at the same time Agnes sheepishly said “I followed her.”

“Ugh! Just.. gah! Both of you” Enid mimed a strangling motion in front of her, before rounding on the younger girl “You – bed! Now!”

Agnes was happy to comply, changing into the pyjamas Enid handed her without complaint, a far cry from the last time she was in the room.

When she was in bed Enid fluttered around her, tucking her in, handing her tissues and fetching an extra blanket to drape over her shivering form. This time the hovering was welcomed, Agnes shyly basking in the affection.

Unfortunately, now that she was horizontal, the coughing started back up, her body not caring in the slightest that she was exhausted and just wanted sleep. “I can’t stop coughing,” Agnes complained as Enid helped her sit up and have a drink of water. “Whenever I lay down it gets so much worse.” She said miserably.

Enid made a sympathetic face, “We don’t have any cough medicine but the cold and flu should help, I’ll get you some.”

“No need.” Wednesday cut her off, appearing suddenly behind her. “Drink this, it will help you sleep,” she said, handing Agnes a mug.

Agnes took it with shaking hands, it was warm but not hot. She sent a questioning look up at Wednesday while Enid said in a slightly panicked voice “Wait, help her sleep how? What is it?”

“It’s tea made from a few ingredients I had in my personal collection, and also the crushed root from the plant in the Aextoxicon family, I collected it earlier so the effects will still be quite potent.” Wednesday explained.   

So that was what Wednesday had been digging up this evening? Agnes was touched and a little stunned that Wednesday had gone to such efforts to get her something to help her sleep.

Enid still didn’t seem convinced “You’re not poisoning her are you? How long will it make her sleep for?”

“Around 10 to 12 hours, give or take. Her body needs rest to fight off the infection, the coughing makes that rest impossible. This will help.”

Enid still looked concerned. Agnes looked at her and shrugged. Enid sighed softly and nodded her head.

Agnes lifted the mug and took a few gulps, grimacing at the bitter, earthy taste. She had barely finished swallowing before the effects hit her and she felt herself being dragged towards sleep, the mug slipping from her hands and being caught by Enid.

She felt hands rearranging her and then she was out.

Chapter Text

When Agnes returned to consciousness it felt like she was swimming through thick sludge, her limbs heavy and her eyes felt as though they were laden with lead. What on earth had been in that tea?

“Wednesday she’s been asleep for 15 hours! You said 10 to 12!” that was Enid, her voice was shriller than normal.

“I may have underestimated the potency.” That was Wednesday, as calm as ever.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! What do we do? Should we call an ambulance?” Enid was definitely freaking out.

Agnes panicked a little at that, she really didn’t want an ambulance turning up. Using every ounce of strength she had, she managed to open her eyes briefly in a slow blink.

“That will not be necessary,” that was Wednesday again, “she is waking up.”

“What?! Really? How do you know? Agnes, can you hear me?!” Okay ouch. Enid’s shrill voice was right in her ear.

Giving up on her eyes for the moment, she tried her mouth next, “Whas hapin?” she managed to get out.

“Wednesday nearly killed you! You’ve been asleep for 15 hours, 15!”

“Enid is overreacting. The potency of the root was greater than expected, but you were not in any danger. You simply slept for longer.” Wednesday explained. Then added, a twinge of annoyance evident in her tone, “The decibel level has been getting increasingly higher with each successive hour you have been asleep.”

With more effort than she’d ever needed in her entire life, Agnes managed to force her eyes open. Enid’s blurry face was barely a few inches from her own, and the dark hazy shape behind her could only be Wednesday.

“Are you okay?” Enid asked, worry and panic still evident in her voice and Agnes noted her hands were wringing in front of her, as though she was desperate to do something but didn't know what. 

“..es” Agnes managed to breath out, her body still struggling to come back online. 

She moved her arms and attempted to sit up, the motion snapping Enid into action and she leapt forward to help the girl into a sitting position. 

“That was some tea.” Agnes mumbled.

“You were asleep for so long, and you were so still, I had to keep checking you were actually breathing.” Enid filled her in, still fluttering anxiously around.

“I'll admit the dosage was probably a little strong. I will recalibrate for next time.” Wednesday said behind her. 

“Next time?” Enid squeaked. “Oh no, there will be no next time. You can keep your coma plants to yourself! How are you feeling?” She addressed the question to Agnes, sitting on the edge of the bed facing the vanisher.

Agnes considered the question. Truthfully, a lot better. Her head was no longer pounding, and her body wasn't aching. The sore throat was ever persistent and she was sure she'd be sniffling and coughing again later but the 15 hours of sleep really had seemed to help. At least she was no longer so exhausted. 

“Better,” she said, “for real,” she promised when Enid gave her a sharp look. “My throat hurts, but I feel less like death than I did yesterday.”

Relief washed across Enid's face and she reached out and tidied the younger girl’s bangs. “I'm so glad, you really did look like death when you walked in last night.” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you” Agnes said softly.

“It’s alright,” Enid replied equally as softly, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

The 2 smiled at each other before Wednesday, obviously tiring of the emotional display, interrupted the moment “Well if you've finished needlessly panicking, I shall return to my writing.” Before turning to stride across the room, pausing when Enid grabbed her hand. 

She raised an eyebrow at the blond. 

'Welllll' Enid sing-songed, “it's just that it is dinner time and Agnes is probably starving seeing as she’s been asleep for 15 hours thanks to your ‘minor overdose’ but I doubt she's well enough to head out just yet sooo...” she fluttered her eyes up at the stoic girl. 

Agnes held her breath, always amazed watching Enid get away with things that would land others in the infirmary.

Wednesday remained silent, varying emotions flickering behind her eyes before landing on reluctant acceptance. “Fine. I shall venture out for dinner. But when I return, I will be working on my novel for the remainder of the evening. I will tolerate no more distractions from you Sinclair.” 

“Thanks Wednesday! You're the beeeeest.” Enid called out unabashedly, grinning at her retreating form.

Agnes flushed lightly, trying not to think about what distracting things the couple had been up to with her asleep in the room. 

Enid must have noticed something in her eyes as she said, “I keep telling you, Wednesday is nothing but a big softie.”

“To you, maybe,” Agnes murmured.

“And to you,” Enid said kindly, nudging the younger girl gently, “She was really worried too, when you didn't wake up. She kept checking your pulse and trying to convince me she was just doing it 'for science'.” She wrinkled her nose. Turning back to Agnes she asked “Do you wanna stay another night? We could watch a movie or something?”

Agnes hesitated, then nodded shyly, “Yea, if that's okay?” 

Enid's face split into a smile, one so bright that Agnes could hardly believe it’s presence was due to the prospect of her company. “Of course!” 

Enid grabbed her laptop, giving it to Agnes to find a movie, then scurried around the room fetching water, tissues and more cold and flu medicine. When she was content that Agnes had everything she needed, she settled into the bed, Agnes moving over to make space for the older girl. 

Enid wrapped her arms around the younger girl, pulling her close and murmured into her hairline, “I'm really glad you're here.” 

“Me too,” Agnes whispered back, her heart fluttering in her chest.

Eventually, Wednesday returned with dinner. The 3 girls ate then Wednesday retreated to her side of the room and the 2 resumed the movie. Agnes wasn’t really paying attention, just happy to be snuggled in Enid’s arms. The contrast between how she was feeling this evening compared with yesterday stark in her mind.

Now that she was better rested and warm it was hard to reconcile all of the fears that had been swirling around in her head yesterday. Although if she dug deep, Agnes could admit that those same fears were still present, just buried for the moment. Fears that at any moment Wednesday and Enid could decide that she wasn’t worth the trouble and decide they didn’t want her around anymore.

The thought made her heart constrict but before she could get too lost in that train of thought she felt Enid give her a squeeze and say “I can hear you overthinking. What’s going on?”

Agnes shrugged against her, “Dunno,” then, more quietly, “Were you angry at me?” Wednesday had said that she hadn’t been, but Agnes suddenly needed to hear it from the werewolf herself.

“Oh baby, never.” Enid said with finality, shaking her head. “I was worried about you, and I wanted to help but I didn’t know how without you pushing yourself further away.”

“I’m sorry.” Agnes shrank slightly, burrowing her face into Enid’s jumper, “I didn’t mean to push you away. I didn’t want to, I just..” her words failing her as she struggled to explain.

“I know baby, I know” Enid reassured her gently, squeezing even tighter and kissing her brow. “Now hush and watch the movie. We are too warm and cosy for spiralling.”

That got a laugh out of Agnes, although she made no effort to move from where she had buried her face. Enid didn’t seem to mind, she just continued to hold her, bringing a hand up to lightly scratch at the girls scalp.

When the movie ended Enid picked a second one to play. Unbelievably, Agnes felt herself growing tired. She'd assumed that after sleeping for so long that she would struggle to fall asleep, but turns out her body had other plans, obviously still worn out from the illness. 

She didn't bother saying anything and just let herself slowly drift off in Enid's arms. 

--

The following day was Sunday and this was spent in much the same way as the previous evening, with Enid and Agnes lazing about watching Netflix and Wednesday pottering around doing Wednesday things and fetching food.

Agnes was feeling much better, she still wasn’t 100% and the odd cough or sniffle was still occurring, but the burn in her throat had finally simmered down. By late-afternoon she was getting bored.

Without even really being conscious of it, her mind had been drifting into that soft hazy space for the past half hour or so. She didn't notice the meaningful look Wednesday and Enid gave each other, only really noticing the change in headspace when Enid drew attention to it. 

"Do you wanna put your bat onesie on, baby?” The werewolf asked. Putting on the onesie had become a sort of code for Agnes spending time little. It created a nice visual distinction for the older girls to remind them of what they were dealing with, and for Agnes the garment was a physical representation of the transition. Nobody expected the person dressed in a onesie to be a grownup. When she was dressed in it, it meant that she was free to play and relax while the older girls took care of things for her. 

"Yes please," she said, practically skipping over to Enid and bouncing on her toes while waiting for the blond to get it. 

Enid smiled at the young girl’s enthusiasm and helped her into the garment. "Your wriggling is making this difficult!" she said, a laugh in her voice.

Agnes grinned back, trying and failing to slow her body down. The worries and stresses of the previous few days already feeling small and insignificant. 

When she was finally dressed the girl shot away, sliding across the floor in her socks and stopping in front of Wednesday. "Can we play jail break please?" Agnes asked in a rush.

'Jail break' being the name the girl had given the made up game the first time Wednesday had 'played' it. The rules being that while Wednesday was sat at her desk Agnes tried to sneak up on her to steal whatever she was using - pens, paper, books - and then Wednesday put her in increasingly complex 'jail' situations that the girl had to escape from. Of course, the first time they had 'played' Wednesday had genuinely been trying to prevent the younger girl from stealing her things, her increased ire only causing giggles from Agnes rather than the expected fear and obedience. Enid found the whole thing hilarious and delighted in the days that Agnes was feeling carefree enough to suggest playing it. 

Wednesday’s sigh at the question did little to deter the young girl and Wednesday soon found herself repeatedly locking Agnes to various fixtures around the room. Her lock pick teachings had obviously been sinking in and Wednesday looked almost impressed with the speed at which Agnes managed to free herself each time. 

An hour into the game Agnes eventually hit a jail situation she couldn't break free from. Wednesday made no move to release the girl and looked far too proud of herself at having finally defeated the equivalent of a small child. After 10 minutes of increasingly loud whining Enid intervened, freeing Agnes on the proviso that jail break was finished and she had to pick a different game. 

Agnes suggested hide and seek and Wednesday gave Enid a look that could only be interpreted as "Your turn." 

Little Agnes was a terrible hide and seek participant, cheating at every chance she got, spying between her fingers when it was her turn to seek and turning invisible when she was hiding. She did tend to flicker in and out when she was little, which offset that particular brand of cheating and it was amusing when she would sit in plain sight grinning, not realising she wasn't invisible. 

Enid played a few rounds with the girl, play acting dramatically whenever it was her turn to seek, which caused the girl to erupt into giggles at Enid's antics. 

One such giggle eruption turned into a coughing fit, which reminded the older girls that Agnes was technically still sick. Trying to wind down the girl’s energy, Enid got out some toys for her to play with on the floor. Agnes plonked herself down, accepting her pacifier when Enid handed it to her, and started playing, chattering happily to herself. 

Wednesday and Enid let out a sigh of relief, happy for the break to relax for a bit themselves. 

The evening wore on with little fanfare, they had dinner at some point and Wednesday played with Agnes on the floor for a while. This time they built a cemetery out of blocks and held vigils for the various stuffed animals while Enid lounged around, scrolling on her phone.

After the third yawn from the young girl in as many minutes Wednesday paused the game and murmured “I believe it is time for bed, little one.”

Agnes blinked at her and nodded sleepily, the lack of protest a testament to how tired she was.

Wednesday nodded her head towards Enid, “Go. Enid will put you to bed, I will put your toys away.”

 Agnes nodded again, then stood and padded over to the werewolf, pausing next to the bed and rubbing her eyes.   

"Oh hi babygirl" Enid greeted, opening her arms and allowing Agnes to crawl into her lap, wrapping her arms around the regressed girl and pulling her so she was lying atop of her. "You sleepy, huh? Should we put you to bed?"  

“Hmmm” Agnes hummed sleepily into Enid’s shoulder.

Enid kissed the top of her brow, “Did you say thank you to Wednesday for putting your toys away?”

“..ank you ..dnesday” Agnes mumbled, barely awake, breathing already starting to even out.

“Great manners babygirl, sleep now.” She heard Enid whisper to her as she drifted off.

Chapter Text

“I don’t know what to do” Enid wailed, flopping face first dramatically on her bed, “the only date she has ever been on was basically perfect.”

“What was it?” Agnes asked curiously, not having been privy to Wednesday’s dating life before Enid. Although she knew the psychic had been dating Tyler at one point, before the whole, killer hyde thing had gone down.

“Tyler took her on a surprise picnic in a crypt.” Enid’s voice was muffled, her head face down in her pillow.

Agnes blinked. “I see your point, that is pretty much the perfect Wednesday date. You might be screwed.”

Enid threw the pillow at her. “Stupid hyde. I refuse to let him beat me, I just have to think of something more perfect than a crypt. Something so creepy and horrifying that she’ll never think of him again.” Enid stood from the bed and started pacing as she spoke. “Let’s think, what are some perfect Wednesday date activities?”

“What about a picnic in a cemetery?” Agnes suggested.

“That’s basically just a less cool version of the crypt thing.” Enid shook her head. “It has to be unique, something she would never expect.”

“Oh, oh! What if we dug a few of the graves up and just like, spread the bodies around the place?” Agnes suggested eagerly.

Enid looked at her with horror. “Ew, what? No, you psycho! That’s insane, I am not having a date right next to a dug up corpse!”

“How about the morgue then? Wednesday loves the morgue! And the bodies are chilled so they’re less corpsey.”

“Okay I think we need to move away from the whole ‘picnic near dead people’ theme” Enid begged, the look on her face suggesting she was regretting asking the vanisher for help.

“Oh, oh!” Agnes clapped her hands in front of her, “Is the death penalty legal in this state?”

“Agnes! Stop! Don’t joke about those kinds of things!”

“Well I seem to be the only one coming up with any ideas! But if you don’t want my help then you could just take her on a regular Normie date, you know, to the movies or something, and let her slowly question this entire relationship and wonder if you even know her...” Agnes taunted, the werewolf was just so easy to rile.

Enid paused in her pacing to glare at Agnes, “You know what, maybe you’re right. Maybe a picnic next to a dead body is a great idea..” she growled, claws coming out.

Agnes cackled, fleeing the room.

She didn’t stop running until she was a safe distance away from Ophelia Hall. Enid was too easy to stir up sometimes. Agnes didn’t know much about romance, and even less about celebrating the 3 month anniversary of when your roommate turned girlfriend finally tracked you down while you were trapped in werewolf form, helped you turn back into a human and then confessed their undying love for you, but she knew that Enid didn’t need to worry so much. It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Wednesday would do whatever Enid wanted, including normal teenage dating activities like movies and dinner.

She pulled out her phone and opened the chat with Eugene and Pugsley.

Ever since Agnes had calmed down with her worship of Wednesday, she’d found herself spending more time with the boys. Pugsley’s love for the macabre matched with hers in unexpected ways, and she had found she needed little to no convincing joining in with some of his more outlandish ideas. Meanwhile Eugene’s earnest nature and genuine respect for his insects that he cared for had endeared himself to Agnes. Trying his hardest to distance himself from Pugsley and Agnes’ shenanigans, he somehow managed to get swept up in them just the same. 

Enid, for her part, had been delighted to see Agnes making friends her own age and had embarrassingly turned up with snacks and an extra jumper for Agnes on more than one occasion when she had seen them outside during the winter months. If Wednesday had minded Agnes’ newfound closeness with her younger brother she hadn’t mentioned it, merely raised an eyebrow and said “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Which basically gave Agnes free reign to do practically anything.

Agnes – “You guys busy? Need help with an Enid and Wednesday problem.”

Eugene – “Nah, just chilling in the usual spot.”

Agnes – “Be there soon.”

Agnes trudged off in the direction of the forest, the ‘usual spot’ being a small clearing some ways into the forest. There was a very small, abandoned shed that had been used to store wood or something, which now held a couple of crossbows that Pugsley had snuck onto school grounds. The 3 would take turns shooting at different targets and then would just chill and hang out. It was something out of a highschool TV show and Agnes still had trouble believing that she had actual friends she could just hang out with.

She made her way to the small clearing, finding the 2 boys. Eugene had brought a container of one of his insects out and looked as though he was practising controlling them. Meanwhile Pugsley was aiming a crossbow at a makeshift target hung on a tree.

They both paused what they were doing to greet her as she approached.

“Hey Agnes, what’s happening?” Eugene greeted.

“Enid’s freaking out again,” Agnes said, rolling her eyes.

“Is this about the spider thing again?” Pugsley asked, referring to a recent prank the 3 had played that had involved several large spiders and 1 napping werewolf.

“No, I think she’s mostly forgotten about that now.” Agnes grimaced, Enid had Not been happy. “This is a new freak out. She wants to take Wednesday on the perfect date.”

“Does she need some pigs blood?” Pugsley asked immediately, “Cause I know a guy.”

“Just take her to the morgue, she loves the morgue” Eugene said a little stiffly. While he had accepted that Enid was not interested in him and was very happy in her current relationship, he was still a little salty that Wednesday had ended up with her, it being Wednesday that had told him to move on in the first place. He was trying though, bless him.

“That’s what I said!” Agnes exclaimed, “Enid said she doesn’t want to have a date next to a corpse.” 

“Well she’s dating the wrong person then.” Eugene responded, turning back to his insects.

“Lurch could probably drive some of our old torture devices out and they could take turns torturing each other? My parents do that all the time.” Pugsley suggested.

“Yeeeaa.. I think Enid will probably veto bodily torture.” Agnes said slowly, turning the idea over in her mind. “But maybe they could like, go to a torture museum?”

“Wednesday would probably like that,” Pugsley agreed, “but there are no torture museums in Jericho.”

“Hmm. True... could we make a torture museum? Or, like, a torture chamber?”

Pugsley’s eyes lit up at the thought “Yes! Definitely. We could get a bunch of old mannequins and rig them up, and we could use the torture devices and then record our screams so it sounds like the mannequins are being tortured.”

Eugene seemed to perk up at the prospect of building a torture chamber “Yes! Except we don’t actually need to torture each other, right? We could just pretend scream.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Pugsley and Agnes both asked, grinning at each other.

“You guys are the worst,” Eugene groaned, “where would we set it up? In the forest?”

“Maybe.. or maybe in the closed down section of Nevermore? That could be creepy.” Agnes mused. Then her face brightened, “This is a brilliant plan. I’ll text Enid now and let her know we have solved her dating problems.”

Agnes – “Eugene, Pugsley and I have thought of the perfect anniversary date idea!”

Enid – “Oh great, I’m so glad you’ve included more people in this.”

Agnes – “Do you want to hear our idea or not?”

Enid – “No corpses?”

Agnes – “No corpses”

Enid – “Fine. What is it?”

--

"Agnes, I don’t know about this.” Enid said for about the twelfth time that day.

“It’s totally fine!” Pugsley called out cheerfully, “Wednesday used to waterboard me all the time when I was a kid, and I turned out okay”

“Okay, no, no. Absolutely not. Agnes, get down from there right now.” Enid said, shooing Pugsley away from where he was standing with a watering can and cloth, and helping Agnes down from the waterboard.

Agnes sighed, trust Enid to ruin a good torture experience.

It had been surprisingly easy to get all of the torture devices into the school. Mr & Mrs Addams had thought the idea wonderful when Enid had called to ask about borrowing them. They’d even sent a message out to their extended family requesting that their various pieces be sent to Nevermore for the weekend for their daughters ‘wonderfully romantic girlfriend’.

They had sent Lurch up in a moving truck and Enid had enlisted the help of several DaVinci’s she knew from one of her clubs to get everything inside, while Agnes had gone out with Wednesday on a crypt raiding mission.

Once everything was in position, it was just a matter of putting a bunch of dismembered mannequins around the place, recording some realistic screams and moans, and dousing the place with pigs blood, which is what the 4 of them (Pugsley, Eugene, Enid & Agnes) were supposed to be doing right now. Eugene and Enid had mostly stayed on task, however this was the third time Enid had caught Pugsley and Agnes attempting to try out one of the devices.

“Okay, you two can no longer be trusted together. Pugsley, you go with Eugene and set up things over there. Agnes, come with me.” Enid ordered.

Agnes sighed again. Wednesday would have waterboarded her.

Well maybe her and Pugsley could sneak down here later tonight, after Wednesday and Enid had left. She brightened at the thought and hurried to catch up with Enid.

“So you ready for the big date?” Agnes asked, as she placed a voice recorder with a recording of Bianca begging for mercy inside an iron maiden. The screams were quite realistic, Bianca had done a good job.

Enid was attempting to tie up a mannequin on the rack, and Agnes couldn’t tell if her queasy face was a result of the task she was currently doing, or at the thought of the date later tonight.

“Uhh.. yea! Totally ready!” Enid chirped.

So definitely the date then. Relationships were confusing.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Huh? What? Nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything is the opposite of wrong. It’s good, great, even. Nothing but peachy vibes over here.” Enid word vomited, the picture of someone who was decidedly not great or peachy.

“Uh huh. You seem peachy.”

“Well, good. Because that’s what I am. Peachy. The peachiest.”

“So peachy.” Agnes said, giving Enid a hard look.

It took all of 3 seconds for Enid’s façade to falter, before she sighed and put her face in her hands. “Okay, I’m not peachy. I’m freaking out.”

“I can see that,” Agnes said, trying not to laugh, “why are you freaking out?”

“It’s just, and this is gonna sound dumb, but I’ve never done ‘this’ before,” Enid made a gesture around her with her hands.

This time Agnes did laugh, “What? Built a torture chamber? I don’t think many people have!”

“No not that, I mean, not, not that. I have definitely never done this before. But I mean the actual date planning part! Ajax and Bruno always did that, I just had to turn up and look cute! I never realized how nerve wracking it is.”

Agnes’ bemused expression softened at that a bit, “Enid it’s going be great! Wednesday will -” did Wednesday love anything? “- be so impressed that you did this for her.”

“Yea, maybe.” Enid looked genuinely dejected, which was an unusual expression on the normally bubbly werewolf.

Agnes frowned, then softly nudged Enid “I promise, she’ll love it.” She picked up a small contraption that had several screws and metal pieces sticking out. “I mean look at this thing, what even is it? She’ll probably be like ‘I cannot wait to use this on my enemies and feast on their screams.’” Agnes said in her best Wednesday impression.

Enid smiled at that “My victims will beg for mercy, but there will be no one to hear them.” She said, joining in.

“The next boy that looks at my girlfriend will be locked in my torture chamber for the rest of his miserable life.”

The 2 laughed at the terrible Wednesday impersonations, Enid looking slightly cheerier.

“You’re probably right. It’s just, she did so much for me, you know? Tracking me in the woods for all those weeks. I want her to know how much that meant to me. How much she means to me. It’s silly.” Enid said softly, gazing at the space in front of her with unfocused eyes, lost in the memory of the time she spent trapped in her werewolf form.

“It’s not silly,” Agnes promised gently. “But for the record I don’t think you need to worry about that. Wednesday knows, I promise.”

“Thanks Agnes,” Enid said quietly, blinking out of her daze, “come on, let’s get this finished.”

They continued on with their current mission, eventually reuniting with Eugene and Pugsley.

Pugsley was holding the container of pigs blood, looking as though Christmas had come early. “Sooo, can I?”

Enid nodded “Just, go easy okay? Remember it will be us who will have to clean this up tomorrow.”

“You got it, I’ll save some of it for later.”

Eugene did not look thrilled at the prospect of his roommate bringing any of the blood back to their dorm. 

Pugsley sloshed the blood around and by the end of it the place really did look and sound like a torture chamber.  

“This is perfect” Agnes said gleefully.

“It really does look good,” Enid agreed, “it’s gonna be super creepy tonight.” She said, the slightest twinge of regret in her tone, probably remembering that she doesn’t super love creepy things. “Alright let’s go and hey, no one is allowed back in here until tomorrow when we tidy it up. Pugsley, Agnes, I mean it. No sneaking in to torture yourselves.” She said sternly, pointing her finger at the 2.

Agnes sighed, nodding her head. Enid was getting too good at predicting her thoughts. She’d have to talk to Wednesday, see if the psychic could convince the overprotective werewolf that it was fine for Agnes to use the rack just a little.

The 4 headed back to the open parts of the school, splitting ways, the 3 younger kids off to find some more mischief to get up to and Enid heading up to her dorm to get ready for the date.   

--

The next morning Agnes could barely sit still, she was so excited to hear about how the date went. And also talk to Wednesday about letting her and Pugsley go back to the torture chamber for a little while, before the equipment got picked up later that afternoon.

She was sat at a table with Eugene and Pugsley having breakfast, and she kept glancing up every few seconds to scan the room, checking to see if the couple had arrived.  

“Could you just chill?” Eugene said next to her, “It’s only 8 o clock, they’ll get here when they get her.”

“Sorry Eugene, I just really want to know how it went.” If she was being honest, she was also a little nervous. Seeing as it had technically been her idea and if Wednesday had hated it there was a chance Enid might blame her.

She tried to focus on her breakfast and the conversation Eugene and Pugsley were having, when she finally, finally, caught a glimpse of colourful blond hair and dark braids entering the courtyard. She was off her seat in a flash, hurrying over to greet the 2 girls.

“So, how was it?! Were you surprised? Was she surprised?” She practically squealed, bouncing in front of them and directing the first question to Wednesday, the second to Enid, realizing that Enid would likely give her more gossip of the previous evening than Wednesday.  

“She was so surprised!” Enid squealed back, “she blinked, like, 3 times when we walked in!”

“The set up of our date was.. unexpected.” Wednesday confirmed, “I was unfamiliar with some of the items my family owns, it was enlightening to see them up close,” which was Wednesday’s way of saying that she loved it.

“Awww!” Agnes exclaimed, happy for her friends. “Do you wanna come sit with us?” she asked, gesturing towards the table where Eugene and Pugsley were.

“Yea!” Enid said at the same time as Wednesday said “No.”

“Too bad! The kids helped set everything up so the least we can do is let them know it was a success.” Enid said, dragging her girlfriend in the direction of the table.

They sat down and Enid filled them in on the events of the previous evening. “We wandered around for a while, and Wednesday spent some time figuring out how everything worked and tested things out on the mannequins. Then we just, hung out on the blanket and talked.” Enid said, blushing lightly as she said the last bit.

Pugsley elbowed Agnes in the ribs, “ooo that’s code for kissing!”

“Careful,” Wednesday said sharply to her brother, “or have you already forgotten there is an array of torture devices at my disposal.”

“Well actually,” Agnes started, “Pugsley and I were hoping you could show us how some of the things work.” She said to Wednesday, pointedly not looking at Enid.

“What? No, Agnes!” Enid said, shaking her head, “I already told you, no torture! That stuff is dangerous, you’ll hurt yourself.”

“Not if Wednesday is there!” Agnes shoots back, “She knows what she’s doing. Please Wednesday?” she looked hopefully at the older Addams sibling, her fingers crossed that Wednesday’s desire to have willing participants she could torture would enlist the girl to their side against Enid’s protectiveness.

Wednesday considered for a moment, “It could be a good opportunity for Agnes to learn how to break free from the devices, in case they are ever used against her.”

“When would Agnes ever be in a position where someone is trying to use the rack on her?” Enid asked incredulously.

“You’d be surprised how often the situation arises.” Wednesday replied ominously.

“Ugh. Fine, whatever!” Enid said, throwing her hands up in defeat. “You two win. Just please promise to bring the kids back in one piece.”

Agnes and Pugsley cheered, hi fiving each other.

The group finished breakfast and then everyone, sans Enid, headed off to the torture chamber, Eugene joining not because he planned to get tortured, but so he could record some funny videos of his 2 friends.

As they were nearing the corridor Agnes paused, then raced back to the table and threw her arms around Enid. “I’m really glad the date went well.”

Enid returned the hug, “It was perfect. You did good.” Pulling back, Enid pushed the girl lightly in the direction of the others, “now go have fun being tortured, my little psycho.” she said, affection evident in her voice.

Agnes grinned at her and bounced off after Wednesday. 

Chapter Text

Agnes and Pugsley flicked back into existence at the edge of a small clearing in the forest, causing Eugene to whoop in excitement from where he had been timing them, “2 minutes and 17 seconds! That was your longest time yet!”

“We even walked a few steps and stayed invisible! That was awesome!” Pugsley beamed and held out his hand to Agnes for a hi five.

Agnes and Eugene had recently tracked down several books from the library on each of their unique abilities and the 3 of them had been practising new techniques in the forest every chance they got. For her part, Agnes had been slowly mastering how to extend her invisibility to a second person.

Pugsley’s exuberance infectious, Agnes beamed back, slapping her hand against his. Her cheeks were flushed and she was panting, the effort to hold the invisibility for more than just herself was draining, requiring all of her concentration to maintain it. Whenever her and Pugsley had previously tried to take a step the act of moving had so far caused them to flicker in and out. Holding it for 2 minutes and moving to the edge of the clearing really was impressive, and she allowed herself to join in the excitement with her friends.   

“You wanna go again?” Pugsley asked, moving back to a fallen tree in the centre of the clearing to join Eugene.

Agnes shook her head “No, that was exhausting. I’m going to need a few minutes to recover.” Sitting next to Eugene on the log, she asked Pugsley, “Why don’t you try the bottle thing again?”

“Hell yea!” Pugsley pumped his fist, running to set up the bottles. He had been practising directing his electricity through the ground, trying to get it to burst out several meters away from him and knock down a small bottle. So far he hadn’t managed to hit just the bottle, the electricity veering off wildly every time.

Eugene handed her a bottle of water, “That was awesome! You could barely last a couple of seconds last week!” he said, reminding Agnes of the first time she had succeeded in causing both herself and Pugsley to flicker out for a brief moment. The celebration the 2 boys had had at her accomplishment had flustered and warmed her in equal parts, still unused to anyone caring about her successes let alone celebrating them wildly.

“Thanks Eugene,” Agnes said, accepting the bottle and taking a few swigs. “It’s so much harder. When it’s just me I don’t even have to think about, but with a second person it’s like I have to focus on it non-stop for it to work. It’s exhausting.”

“Well you’re doing amazing. That book said it could take vanishers years to master vanishing others.” Eugene said.

“Thanks Eugene,” Agnes repeated, genuinely touched by her friends support. “Should we duck behind the log when he does this?” she joked, gesturing towards the Addams who was running back to them after setting up the bottles.

Eugene grinned back at her “Well he’s aiming for something that’s 5 meters in front us and we are directly behind him so.. definitely!”

“Hey! I only got you that one time, and it was only because I was distracted by that really weird looking bird that flew past!” Pugsley’s indignant response causing the other 2 to laugh.

The afternoon continued in much the same vain, each taking it in turns to practice their unique abilities. As the sun began to set the 3 packed up and headed back to Nevermore for dinner.

Entering the cafeteria Agnes noticed Enid waving to her where she was sat at a table with Wednesday, Bianca and Ajax. The 3 strolled over, Enid scooting over and making space for Agnes next to her. The vanisher sat down, laying her head in her arms on the table.

Noone else moved to make room for the standing boys. “Aw no fair, how come she gets to sit with you?” Pugsley complained to his sister.

“Because she has proven herself infinitely more useful than you.” Wednesday said, her eyes not lifting from the book her head was buried in.   

Agnes lifted her head from her arms sheepishly, “Sorry guys, I’ll catch up with you later.”

The boys said their goodbyes and left to get their own table.

“What have you guys been up to all afternoon?” Enid addressed to Agnes curiously.

Agnes shrugged, “Just hanging out.”

“It’s a good thing you aren’t being paid for the quality of your lies.” Wednesday lamented, lifting her head to give Agnes a pointed look.

Agnes only smiled sweetly, long past the days when Wednesday could force the truth from her lips with just a look “It’s need to know.”

The response caused a bark of laughter from Ajax. “Mini you has got sass, Wends.” Earning a glare from Wednesday at the moniker. 

“She gets that from me” Enid said proudly, “But seriously, you 3 have been absent a suspicious amount this week.” She said, narrowing her eyes at Agnes, “You better not be doing anything reckless.”

“Nothing reckless, I promise” Agnes replied, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

“Lay off her guys, they were probably just doing dumb 13-year-old stuff.” Ajax defended the younger girl.

“Dumb like what, stoning yourself in the mirror?” Agnes responded airily. “And I’m nearly 14, I don’t do ‘dumb 13-year-old stuff’.”

“Whoa Little Red, I was just trying to help. I’m sure you’ve never done anything dumb in your entire life. Better?” Ajax said, throwing up his hands in surrender.

“Much. Thank you.” Agnes settling into an easy banter with the older boy. Since spending more time with Enid & Wednesday, their friends had gotten used to the younger girls presence, treating her much the same as they would a younger sibling.

It was a stark contrast to where she had been the previous year, friendless, and spending large swaths of time invisible and stalking those at the table in her relentless pursuit of Wednesday’s approval.

Agnes rested her head back on her arms, eyes closing. She really was exhausted, maybe she had pushed it too hard today. Luckily tomorrow was Saturday, so she could get some extra rest and maybe spend some time with Enid and Wednesday. Now that she was thinking about it, being small and fussed over sounded delightful. Maybe she should ask what they’re up to tomorrow..

She was startled out of her dozing by Enid nudging her side. Agnes shot up mumbling “Huh, whashappen?”

“You were falling asleep there,” Enid explained, “come on, let’s get some food into you.” She pushed her plate in front of Agnes. “Eat. I’ll go get another plate.”

Agnes flushed, annoyed with herself for dozing off in front of the older kids. “Oh, sorry. Thanks Enid.”

They finished up dinner and the group disbanded, everyone heading back to their respective dorms. Enid linked arms with Agnes “Come on, we’ll walk you back to your dorm,” she said, leading Agnes in the direction of her room, Wednesday trailing silently behind them.

Once they reached the dorm they paused outside, Agnes growing nervous. While both older girls had been clear that they enjoyed looking after her regressed self, she still struggled with asking to spend time in that headspace with them. Fears that she was burdening them lingered below the surface that were hard to push away completely.  

“I can see your mind spinning my little psycho, what’s going on?” Enid asked, moving to stand in front of the vanisher.

“Oh um,” Agnes stammered, fiddling with the hem of her shirt, “I was just.. I thought maybe, only if you wanted of course, you don’t have to -”

“Speak plainly,” Wednesday cut her off, never one to tolerate babbling, “We cannot determine if it is something we wish to do unless you tell us what it is you desire.”

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Agnes blurted. “I wanted to, you know..” she flushed. ‘You know’ was as close as she could get to telling them she wanted to ‘spend time with you both while being babied, cared for and snuggled’. 

Thankfully Wednesday seemed to accept ‘You know’ as a sufficient description of what Agnes wanted and didn’t press the girl further.

A smile broke out across Enid’s face and the girl practically squealed with delight “OMG Yes! I miss my sweet little baby. I’m catching the bus to Jericho in the morning with some of the pack but we’ll be back in the afternoon. Dinner and movie night in our dorm?”

Wednesday nodded. “I am also unavailable in the morning, but dinner is acceptable. And I shall submit to a movie on the condition that Enid does not pick it.”

Relief rushed through Agnes at their enthusiasm and she gave them a shy smile “Dinner and a movie would be amazing.” Turning to Wednesday she asked, “What’s happening in the morning?”

“I am tending to a personal matter. If you have any attachment to your limbs I suggest you do not follow me. I mean it Agnes,” Wednesday pre-empted, knowing Agnes’ curiosity would get the best of her without explicit instruction.

Agnes sighed, she’d gotten better at respecting Wednesday and Enid’s wishes and no longer stalked them if they explicitly requested it. If they didn’t mention it on the other hand, well, old habits die hard.

The girls agreed to meet at Enid and Wednesday’s dorm the following night at 6, before the older girls said their farewells and headed to Ophelia Hall.  

--

Agnes slept in the next morning, waking blearily and finding she was the last one still in the dorm. She plucked her phone from the nightstand, seeing messages from 2 different group chats.

The first was from the chat with Enid and Wednesday, with a selfie from Enid of her on the bus.

Enid - “Off to Jericho, can’t wait for tonight!”

Agnes smiled softly then fired a quick message back.

Agnes – “Me either! Have fun in Jericho”

The second was from the group chat with her, Pugsley and Eugene.

Pugsley - “Forest, 10 o clock?”

Eugene - “Ugh. I think my brain is still fried from you zapping me yesterday”

Pugsley - “Oh come on! I barely got you. You should try our electric chair some time, that’s way more intense!”

Eugene - “Please no. Fine, I’m in. But I’m taking out a restraining order on you if you get me again. Agnes, you in?”

Agnes grinned at her friends banter, before glancing at the time and seeing it was 9:24. She really had been tired yesterday! Breakfast ended at 10am on Saturdays so if she hurried she could get some food and still meet the boys on time.

Agnes – “I’m in. Pugsley, I’m with Eugene on this, keep your electricity to yourself.”

--

It was nearing 6 and after a full day out in the forest Agnes was ready for an evening of relaxing with Enid and Wednesday, her body thrumming with nervous excitement. She still struggled to admit it, but she loved spending time with the older girls while regressed.

Her parents had been more focused on hating the other rather than caring for their child, and that had only worsened with the separation. Her parents weren’t forthright in their disdain, like Enid’s mother was, but the quiet neglect over the years had created a void of affection that Agnes had been desperate to fill. At first it didn’t matter that it was filled with Wednesday’s ire and Enid’s anger, negative attention was still attention after all, and she had soaked up every ounce until it all came crashing down at the gala. Ever since, ire and anger had slowly been replaced with love and care, and Agnes revelled in it.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Ajax heading the other direction, only snapping out of her musings when the boy practically tripped over her, sending Agnes tumbling to the ground.

“Whoa! Little Red! I didn’t see you there, you okay??” Ajax asked, reaching a hand down to help her up. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“Sorry Ajax! I wasn’t paying attention, movie night with Enid and Wednesday.” Agnes explained, her face hot as she got to her feet.

“Don’t worry about it, stuff happens.” Ajax waved her off, “But movie night? I thought Enid and Wednesday were in Jericho?”

Agnes shook her head, “Enid was for the day, but she was coming back this afternoon.”

“Are you sure? Coz Bianca drove Wednesday into Jericho like an hour ago, I thought they were meeting up with Enid for something.” Noticing Agnes’ face wilt Ajax tried to quickly correct, “but hey! What do I know? They were probably just picking her up or something.”

Agnes forced herself to smile, “Yea, probably. Thanks Ajax, I’ll catch you later,” side stepping the boy and hurrying away from him, mind already spinning.

Wednesday had gone to Jericho an hour ago? What for? She pulled out her phone but there were no updates from either girl since the message Enid had sent this morning. Maybe Ajax was right and they were just saving the werewolf a bus ride back to the school. They wouldn’t cancel on her without at least telling her.. would they?

Agnes arrived at their dorm and stood outside for a few moments, trying to convince herself that when she opened it they would both be there to greet her. Taking a breath she pushed the door open, heart dropping into her stomach when she was faced with an empty room.

She looked at the time, 6:05pm. Enid would have told her if they were running late, the girls phone was practically glued to her hand and she was usually sending constant updates. The radio silence therefore could mean only one of two things.

The first is that they forgot. They got swept up in whatever they were doing and it had slipped their minds that they had made other plans. The second reason was more sinister and was already solidifying itself in Agnes’ mind, and it was that they simply hadn’t wanted to.  Agnes couldn’t even blame them, who would want to spend their Saturday evening playing parents to a teenager acting like a child? Helpless to stop the tears from spilling over, Agnes vanished and fled, not even bothering to close the door.

--

Agnes ran blindly down the corridors, tears blurring her vision. Not knowing where she was going, only knowing that she needed to put as much distance as possible between herself and Enid and Wednesday’s dorm room. As though distance could cancel out the crushing feelings of shame and abandonment. How could she have been so foolish? They had likely just been placating the girl, getting more frustrated every time Agnes didn’t take the hint that she wasn’t wanted. Now they were letting her know in a way that left no room for ambiguity. She was an unwelcome burden on them and she had best make herself scarce.

Not paying attention, she only slowed down when she found herself at the edge of the forest. Hesitating for a brief moment, she surged forward, heading towards the clearing her, Eugene and Pugsley had used during the day. When she arrived Agnes sat down, her back to the fallen tree and wept.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there, limbs slowly going numb from her seated position. Her tears eventually dried out and she was left with a knot in the pit of her stomach. How stupid she was. Stupid and small and worthless.

She shivered, realizing only now that she must have dropped her jumper somewhere in her mad dash, it not having been quite cool enough to wear it when she had left her dorm. Not wanting to go back to the school, but admitting that she couldn’t stay shivering in the forest Agnes stood, wrapped her arms around herself and headed away from the clearing.

An hour or so later Agnes had to admit that she was lost, the forest all looked the same in the dark and to add insult to injury, it had started raining heavily and she was soaked from head to toe. She must look the perfect picture of pathetic and miserable. Of course Enid and Wednesday wanted nothing to do with her. Trying to push down the well of despair, she kept moving, stumbling through the forest in search of shelter.

She wasn’t sure how long she walked, her shivering had picked up considerably with the rain and her teeth were chattering. She eventually stumbled across a graveyard, it must be the one near the school she thought. Her thoughts were all muddled up and it was getting harder to walk. Shuffling between the graves she spotted what looked to be a small shed that must have been used by the caretaker or something. Blessedly it was open. The shed wasn’t warm but at least it was out of the wind and the rain. Shivering violently, Agnes curled up in a ball on the floor.

--

“Agnes …”

…. Agnes..”

Her name being called broke Agnes out of her light daze. Oh great, now she was hallucinating. What stage of hypothermia was that?

Ignoring the hallucinations Agnes tried to curl further into herself and fall back to sleep, dimly worried that she was no longer shivering. Was that bad? She thinks maybe she read somewhere that that might be bad but she couldn’t remember why.

“Agnes!”

These hallucinations were persistent, it was almost as if –

 “Agnes!”

Enid suddenly burst into the shed. “Agnes, oh my god! Wednesday! I found her, she’s in here!” Enid yelled, dropping next to Agnes’ prone form.

“Agnes can you hear me?” Enid cupped Agnes’ face with her hands looking for a hint of recognition in the girls eyes.

“..nid?” Agnes whispered, “What are you doing here?” Relief washed over Enid’s face at the words, although Agnes couldn’t understand why. “It’s really cold in here.”

Enid let out a watery laugh “I know baby, we’re gonna get you warmed up. You just stay awake for me, okay?”

“Okay,” Agnes responded faintly, staring up at the shadows dancing on the roof of the shed. “Do the fairies have to stay awake too?”

“Yes baby, the fairies have to stay awake too” Enid replied to the girl, “Wednesday, what do we do? She’s freezing” Enid sounded close to tears, which was weird. Maybe she didn’t like fairies.

 “We have to get her warm.” Wednesday’s voice sounded out, and Agnes realized that Wednesday was also kneeling over her. When had she gotten here? Wednesday continued “I sent Pugsley to get a thermos of tea, it’s an Addams speciality, it will help with the hypothermia. Help me get her out of these wet clothes.” 

Agnes felt the girls pull her wet shirt over her head, and replace it with Enid’s sweatshirt, leaving Enid in just a T shirt. Agnes then felt someone tugging at her feet and she glanced down to see Wednesday was removing her shoes and socks. She giggled, slightly delirious, “Please don’t eat my socks, the fairies will be maaad.”

“Hush child, I will not eat your socks.” Wednesday said, next moving to tug Agnes’ pants off. Agnes felt herself being lifted and found herself in Enid’s lap, head resting against the girls chest.

“You prooooomise?” Agnes sang, eyes struggling to focus on the older girl.

“I promise,” Wednesday confirmed softly, taking her jacket off and draping it over the younger girl’s lower half.

“Kay.” Agnes said, dropping her head back to Enid’s chest, surprised to find that she had started shivering again. She felt Enid’s arms wrap around her and squeeze tightly. Then perhaps more surprisingly, she felt a second pair of arms snake around her and a second body pressed up against her and Agnes realized that Wednesday had joined the cuddle pile. Well that was nice. Wednesday never joined the cuddle pile.  

“She’s shaking a lot Wednesday, is that bad? Do we need to do something?” Enid asked, worry evident in her voice although Agnes couldn’t see her face any more.

“No. Her bodies core temperature is rising and is trying to produce it’s own warmth through shivering. Our combined body heat will further help. Pugsley should return soon.” Wednesday also sounded worried. How very strange, Wednesday was never worried.

Agnes looked around the room trying to find the source of the older girls anxiety, but couldn’t pinpoint what it might be. It had stopped raining. Maybe that was it? She was so tired, it was hard to think. She felt like she might be forgetting something. She whimpered, the parts of her body that were touching Enid and Wednesday felt strangely tingly and she was shaking violently. Was she too warm or too cold?

“You’re okay baby,” Enid soothed, “we’ve got you and we’re not going anywhere, you’re safe now.” Enid pressed her lips to the top of Agnes’ head.

Agnes wasn’t sure how long they sat there, Enid and Wednesday both whispering things that didn’t make any sense but made her feel cared for all the same. The moment was broken by the younger Addams bursting into the shed panting heavily.

“I have the tea!” the boy shouted, thrusting something towards his sister “And I brought some warm clothes and a blanket. Sorry Enid, I just grabbed them from your closet. I wasn’t snooping I swear, I just thought you might need them.”

“It’s okay Pugsley, that was a good idea! All of her clothes were soaked through.” Enid said, releasing her grip on Agnes and grabbing a bag from Pugsley. Agnes whimpered again, the loss of warmth suddenly noticeable.

From there things happened very fast and Agnes’ spinning mind struggled to keep up. Eugene and Bianca suddenly appeared behind Pugsley, then Pugsley and Eugene left and she was maneuvered into a pair of warm sweatpants and fuzzy socks. Then Wednesday was helping her sit up and forcing her to drink some kind of hot poison. She managed a couple of sips before gagging at the taste and she attempted to retreat to Enid for safety. Unfortunately, Enid appeared to be on Wednesday’s side and also forced her to drink more of the concoction. Finally, she was wrapped in a blanket, hoisted into a pair of arms, carried some distance and placed in the backseat of a car, Bianca’s car maybe?

She could barely keep her eyes open but she had mercifully stopped shaking and the tingly feeling had largely left her limbs.

“Sleep now baby, you’re safe”

--

“Is she okay?” Bianca asked from the drivers seat, looking in the rearview mirror at the redhead lying across the backseat, her head in Enid’s lap.

“I think so.” Enid answered quietly, her hand not moving from where she was carding her fingers through the younger girls hair, “she’s stopped shivering. Is that a good thing now Wednesday?”

“Yes. The tea is helping to return her bodies core temperature to normal levels. This time the shivering has stopped because her body no longer needs to generate extra warmth.” Wednesday explained from the front passenger seat, equally as quiet.

It was silent for some time after that. Then, “any idea why she was in the forest in the pouring rain?” Bianca asked the question they were all wondering.

“I don’t know,” Enid whispered, tears silently trailing down her face. “I called, but it went straight to voicemail. She was like a block of ice. If we hadn’t found her when we did - ”

“But we did find her.” Wednesday said firmly, reaching into the backseat to clasp Enid’s hand tightly. “We found her and she is safe.”

Enid squeezed Wednesday’s hand back just as tight. “Thanks for driving out to get us Bee.”

“Hey, you’re not the only ones who care about her. After how you all helped my mother and I.. well I owe you more than a lift.” The siren said, pulling into the student carpark at Nevermore.  

Chapter Text

When Agnes came to she found herself in a bed. Enid’s bed, her mind supplied helpfully. She was weighed down with more blankets than normal she noticed, and she was bordering on uncomfortably warm.

She sifted through the muddy waters of her mind trying to make sense of the situation when the events of the previous evening came flooding back. The forest, the storm, Enid and Wednesday finding her..  Oh God. She was trying to be less of a burden, not require rescuing from them in the middle of the night!

Panicking, Agnes shot up and scrambled out of the bed. The numerous blankets hampered the escape effort however, and she half face planted to the floor, one of her legs still tangled in the bedding.

Crap! She needed to get out of here before they woke up, she needed to-

“Agnes?” Enid’s groggy voice rang out from across the room, the thump obviously having woken her.

Without thinking Agnes vanished.

“Hey!” Enid yelled, fully alert now that Agnes had disappeared, her shout waking Wednesday.

“Wait, Agnes!” Enid jumped out of bed and raced to the door, attempting to cut Agnes off if she made a dash for it. “We’re not mad, we just want - ”

“Agnes.” Wednesday clear and commanding voice cut over Enid’s, “Show yourself. You owe us an explanation, now.” 

Agnes swallowed thickly, her heart racing. Wednesday didn’t sound mad, exactly, but her tone was firm and indicated she had little patience for Agnes’ disappearing act.

She allowed her body to flicker back into sight, still on the floor where she had fallen. “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady, “I didn’t intend to be in the forest while it was raining, but I got turned around in the dark. I’m sorry you had to rescue me, it won’t happen again.”

She remained where she was, head bowed, flinching slightly when Enid’s socked feet came into view.

She didn’t see the worried glance the older girls shared across the room. She felt a hand lifting her chin up until Agnes was looking into concerned blue eyes. “Agnes, we’re not mad at you, we just want to understand. Why were you in the forest? We were supposed to have movie night.”

“I saw Ajax,” Agnes said by way of explanation. When Enid merely blinked in confusion, she continued. “He told me you were both in Jericho and when you weren’t here I figured you must have forgot. So I just, I dunno, went to the forest to hang out for a bit.”

Enid frowned at the explanation, looking perplexed. “Agnes, I messaged you so many times! We were running late but we were still coming, how come you didn’t check your phone?”

Agnes paused, now equally as perplexed as Enid. “I did! I hadn’t heard from you since you left on the bus in the morning!” she protested, her heart rate picking up. She had checked her phone, hadn’t she?

Enid turned her head to Wednesday from where she was crouching in front of Agnes. Utilising whatever silent communication powers the two had, Wednesday seemed to understand and grabbed Enid’s phone from her nightstand, walking it over to the two girls on the floor.

Enid grabbed her phone, opened the chat and handed it Agnes. Agnes scrolled through the chat, seeing the missed calls and messages that Enid had sent to her over the day, the messages increasing in alarm the more time went on.

She didn’t understand. “Do you have my phone?” she asked. Enid grabbed a second phone from her own nightstand, passing it to Agnes. Agnes opened the same chat and saw the single message from Enid in the morning, as well as her response, then nothing. No messages, no missed calls. She showed Enid the message log.

Enid called Agnes from her phone. The girls watched as the call went straight to voicemail, Agnes’ phone remaining silent.  “Baby, I don’t think your phone is working.” Enid said gently, “I swear to you, we would never just ditch you without an explanation.”

“Never,” Wednesday chimed in from where she was standing over them, “unless of course it was a matter of life or death, but otherwise nothing would stop us from upholding our vow to you.”

Agnes breathed in slowly, processing their words. Despite how warm she was she felt her body trembling, a tidal wave of emotion bubbling up. They did still want her around. She was just an idiot who went and gave herself hypothermia because her friends were 20 minutes late to movie night.

She tried to keep it together, she really did. She had ruined Enid and Wednesday’s night, causing them undue stress and anxiety for no reason. It wasn’t fair for her to have a breakdown when she was the one that had caused all of the stress.

“Oh” she said quietly, her voice quivering. “I didn’t -” Her resolve crumbled when Enid sat down and pulled her into warm arms. She buried her face in Enid’s shirt and sobbed.

Enid held her tight as she cried. “This was a really dramatic way to let us know you were annoyed we were late. Next time you can just tell us, okay?” The attempt at humour causing a slightly hysterical laugh out of the sobbing girl.

They sat like that for some time, Enid holding her and Wednesday had even sat on her other side and was lightly scratching up and down her back.  Eventually, her sobs slowed to soft sniffles and hiccups.

 “How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?” Enid asked gently, helping her sit up so that all 3 had their backs to the bed, Agnes in the middle.

“Tired,” Agnes responded, wiping the tears from her face, “nothing hurts, but my limbs feel really like, um.. heavy? Like it takes more effort than normal to move them.”

“Is that normal?” Enid asked, directing the question to Wednesday.

Wednesday nodded. “She will likely feel tired over the next day or so. We should ensure she doesn’t overexert herself, and if she’s not right by tomorrow we should take her to the infirmary.”

“Well you heard the doctor, you’re on bedrest missy,” Enid said teasingly to Agnes, “Do you want to have a little day?”

Agnes almost starting sobbing anew with the question. She wanted that so badly it hurt, so convinced had she been the previous evening that this part of herself was to be locked away for good.

Typically, it took some time for Agnes to settle into little space, the soft hazy feeling settling over her mind like a warm blanket. Whether it was because of the physical toll or the emotional rollercoaster she had been through, the feeling crashed into her like a tonne of bricks. Her mind obviously yearning for the comfort and escape the head space brought her.

Overwhelmed by the sudden plummet Agnes whimpered, reaching out for Enid again and fisting her shirt in a tight grip. Thankfully Enid picked up on what had happened almost immediately, and if she was surprised by the speed of the drop, she didn’t show it. She merely reached over to the nightstand draw and grabbed a pacifier, popping it in the regressed girls mouth.

From there, Enid organized them all with efficiency, sending Wednesday out to source breakfast (who seemed to like being given practical jobs to do), getting Agnes dressed in her onesie and setting up her laptop with cartoons for the girl. The 2 snuggled in bed together, waiting for Wednesday to return.

When Wednesday arrived with breakfast Agnes made no move to grab the plate being offered to her, instead blinking owlishly up at the psychic. Without batting an eye Enid took the offered plate herself and started feeding forkfuls of eggs to the redhead. That was new, Agnes usually fed herself, but she had to admit it felt nice having someone do it for her.

When she was full she turned her head away from the offered food and whined, hoping Enid would get the hint. Thankfully she did, replacing Agnes’ pacifier and starting on her own meal.

Whether it was due to the events of the night before, or the effects of the sudden drop, Agnes seemed to be in a much younger headspace than normal.

It was a different experience to what they were used to. Little Agnes was usually content to play by herself while the older girls were busy, often happily chattering to herself. But on this occasion they learned that baby Agnes was exceptionally clingy and practically non-verbal. She absolutely refused to be separated from them for any length of time, whimpering whenever they moved slightly out of reach.

The older girls took it in stride making sure at least 1 of them was by her side at all times and they kept her occupied with gentle activities like movies and stories.

Another thing they discovered was that baby Agnes was particularly uncoordinated. Enid learned that fun fact when she had mistakenly given the girl a glass of juice at lunch and Agnes had proceeded to tip half the contents down her front when taking a drink, and then tip the remaining half onto Enid when she panicked and the glass slipped from her grasp.

Wednesday definitely didn’t laugh. It was a mere coincidence that her body choose to cough at that exact moment.

Enid spent the next 30 minutes consoling a teary-eyed Agnes and changing her out of the wet onesie into sweatpants and a hoody. Frazzled, and still covered in juice herself, she scooped the younger girl up and marched over to Wednesday who was sat at her desk. 

The blond plopped the redhead down in Wednesday’s lap without warning, “I need a shower. I love you baby, but no you can’t come. You’re going to stay here and Wednesday is going to cuddle you until I’m back, okay?” Enid ordered, half glaring at Wednesday as though daring the psychic to contradict her. She then grabbed a towel and marched out of the room not looking back.  

Agnes and Wednesday blinked at each other. Wednesday was not a cuddler, preferring to assist with more practical things – fetching food, playing games, or reading stories. In fact, the previous night was the first time Wednesday had engaged in any sort of behaviour with Agnes that could be described as cuddling, and that was only because the situation had been literally life or death.

Several blinks later, Wednesday nodded to herself, as though she had settled on a decision.

When Enid returned from the shower she found Agnes curled up against Wednesday in the psychics bed, the older girl holding a book and softly reading to her.

“I wasn’t sure you’d actually cuddle with her.” Enid murmured to Wednesday, having crossed the room and was now standing at the head of Wednesday’s bed.

Wednesday paused the story to murmur back “I am not so cold-hearted as to not comfort an infant when one is left in my care.” She didn’t sound angry when she said it, more like she was just stating a fact.

Enid shook her head, “I never thought you were cold-hearted, I know cuddling isn’t your thing.” Then, “You two look cute together.”

Wednesday frowned at that, not liking the word ‘cute’ being used to describe her in any capacity. “I’ll admit I do not entirely.. detest it.”

Enid smiled, her fingers ghosting over the back of Wednesday’s neck. “Wednesday, that book is entirely inappropriate for children.” She said, just noticing that the open book had a large image of a witch being burnt at the stake.

“On the contrary, this was my favourite bedtime story as a child. Besides, I do not believe she is awake enough to register the words.”

“Of course it was” Enid said, bemused. “Do you want me to move her back to my bed?”

Wednesday considered for a moment, then “No. She is comfortable and calm, it would be impractical to disturb her.”

Enid hummed her agreement. “Can I?” she gestured to the bed.

Wednesday closed the book, moving it to the side and lifted the arm that wasn’t wrapped around Agnes in response. Enid curled into her other side. It was a bit squishy with 3 of them in the single bed, but they made it work, Wednesday’s arms locked tightly around her girls.  

--

When Agnes awoke next she found herself on Wednesday’s side of the room, curled into Enid, who was sat next to her typing away on her laptop. Glancing around she noted that Wednesday was absent from the room and her head felt clearer.

Enid must have felt her shifting as she felt the girl kiss the top of her head, “Hey baby, sleep well?”

“Yea” Agnes breathed out, taking the pacifier from her mouth and sitting up.

Noting the change in Agnes’ demeanour Enid asked, “you back with us?”

Agnes nodded, slightly conflicted about the days event’s. She had been small, really small. She’d never been that small before.

“You were younger than normal” Enid murmured.

“Yea.. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s okay, Wednesday thought it was probably a trauma response because of what happened last night.”

“Yea.. I guess that makes sense.” Agnes said haltingly, still not entirely sure how she was feeling about it.

“Hey,” Enid said comfortingly, closing the laptop and putting it to the side and refocusing all of her attention on the vanisher, “you’re okay, no ones mad at you. Wednesday and I both just want you to feel safe with us.”

“I also wanted to say that I’m sorry,” Enid continued, softer this time.

Agnes turned and was startled to see tears in Enid’s eyes, “What for?”

“Last night was my fault,” the werewolf said, her voice sorrowful and eyes watering, “If I had come back from Jericho in the afternoon as planned, then we wouldn’t have been late and you wouldn’t have thought we’d abandoned you.”

“What? No!” Agnes said with urgency, she had to make Enid understand that she hadn’t done anything wrong. “You tried to tell me, but the messages didn’t come through! It was my fault, I didn’t think and I made a stupid decision. I should have trusted you.” She said, the last part barely above a whisper.

“Maybe,” Enid said, shaking her head lightly, “but trust isn’t always that easy and I know how hard it is for you. I can’t blame you for that, I did spend most of last year being awful to you.”

“Well yea, but I nearly killed you the first time we met, so it was probably justified.”

That caused Enid to laugh. “You did. Psycho.”

“Whatever, rainbow barbie.”

The 2 grinned at each, the mood shifting to something lighter.

“Do you trust me when you’re little?” Enid asked suddenly.

Agnes didn’t even have to think about it “I do. When I’m in that space I feel like no matter what happens, you’d still be there. You make me feel safe.”

“That makes me really happy,” Enid said, and her smile seemed to suggest that she meant it. “I want you to feel like that when you’re big too. But it will take time, and that’s okay too.”

The 2 settled back in the bed, each processing their feelings from the conversation. Enid was right, Agnes couldn’t say she trusted her completely. Sure, she could say she trusted Enid with her life, she didn’t doubt that Enid would rush headfirst into danger if her life was ever threatened. But trusting that their friendship was real and Enid cared for her just because? That was harder. She wished it wasn’t, she wanted to trust the girl the same way the little side of her did. But she’d been let down by people that had said they cared about her before.

Despite the heaviness of the conversation, Agnes felt lighter, like something she didn’t know she had been carrying had been set down. Enid understood the mixed up emotions in her head, she understood and didn’t hate her for it.

“How did you find me?” Agnes eventually asked, curious how the girls had tracked her to the graveyard.

Enid’s face darkened slightly at the question. “We searched the school, but we didn’t know if we couldn’t find you because you weren’t there, or because you were invisible and didn’t want to be found.” She explained. “Then we found your jumper. Wednesday had a vision when she touched it, and saw you stumbling in the graveyard, eventually going into that shed and laying down.”

Enid turned her head, looking at Agnes but not seeing her, lost in the memory from the night before. “I was so scared. You were so still.”

Agnes lip quivered and she buried herself back into Enid’s side. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, realizing just how much anguish she had caused the older girl and knowing that she would have been just as scared if their roles were reversed. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Silence enveloped the room once more, this time it being Enid that was seeking comfort and reassurance from Agnes.

The moment eventually passed and at some point Wednesday returned from whatever excursion she had been on to find the 2 girls in good spirits. With Agnes having mostly recovered after the nights events, they headed downstairs for dinner.

Chapter Text

It had been a few weeks since the hypothermia debacle and the issue with Agnes’ phone had arisen.

Agnes had spoken to her Dad and found out that he had taken her off his phone plan and hadn’t bothered to let her know. He had apparently decided that as he was paying the rather expensive tuition fees, her mother needed to contribute more to Agnes’ expenses, phone bill included.

When Agnes had asked her mother about renewing it the woman had told her she would ‘get around to it’ but that was several weeks back and she was still without a working phone except when it was connected to wi-fi.

Agnes tried not to think about it too hard, it was just another thing in a long list of things her parents had put her in the middle of as they tried their best to make the other miserable.

But today was not about her parents. Today she turned 14, and this year she had actual friends to celebrate with. It had been Pugsley’s suggestion that they light a campfire at the clearing in the forest for the event, and surprisingly the older kids (Enid, Bianca & Ajax) had been on board with the idea. Wednesday was less thrilled, but she was rarely thrilled by anything that didn’t involve murder or sharp knives.

So here they were, the 7 of them, heading through the forest after having snuck off campus 30 minutes earlier. Enid’s arm was linked through her own, the blond having bundled her up in warm clothes before they left, completely ignoring Agnes’ complaints that the weather was warmer and she didn’t need so many layers.

Arriving at the clearing, Agnes noticed a small stone circle and a stack of wood had been built near the fallen log, likely a courtesy of Eugene and Pugsley who had awkwardly prevented her from heading with them yesterday because there was a ‘serious wasp problem’ they needed to take care of.  

‘Yea it was so weird. There was just like a whole hive of giant killer wasps and they looked really dangerous so you should probably stay here while Eugene and I go take care of them.’ She had let them go, both bemused and touched at whatever they were hiding in order to organize the night.

In addition to the firepit several camp chairs had been placed in a loose circle, and a few makeshift targets for the crossbows had been set up, including several cans, glass bottles and a watermelon.

Ajax immediately went with Pugsley and Eugene to get the crossbows out, the 2 younger boys delighted to show him how they worked. Meanwhile Wednesday got started on the fire and Bianca handed out some soda cans and set some chips and other snacks out on the log.

“So this is where you kids have been hanging out,” Bianca said as she relaxed on one of the chairs, munching on some chips. “I gotta admit, it’s a pretty sweet spot you’ve found.”

“I hope you’ve been using those things safely,” Enid said, side eyeing the crossbows and wincing as a bolt shot straight through the watermelon and out the other side, causing the boys to cheer.

“Relax Mama Bear,” Bianca teased, “it’s a party, let the kids have some fun.”

“Hey I’m 14 now, I’m not a kid.” Agnes shot to Bianca, folding her arms.

Bianca rolled her eyes. “Sure you’re not. So did you get anything good from your parents?”

Agnes deflated slightly at the mention of her parents. “My Dad’s assistant sent me some clothes, my Mom said she’d call but.. she’s probably busy.” She had been checking her phone every few minutes right up until they had left the school but had yet to hear from her.

She felt Enid grab her hand and give it a small squeeze.

Realizing she’d hit a sore spot, Bianca tried to redirect, “Well hey, it’s your party, what do you want to do?”

“Oh umm,” Agnes stuttered, she’d never had or been to a party like this, she wasn’t sure what people typically did at them.

“We could play a drinking game?” Ajax suggested as he plopped down in one of the chairs.

“Ah hello, children present!” Enid said, glaring at the boy.

Both Bianca and Ajax rolled their eyes at that, “Jeez mama bear is right. We don’t have to drink drink, we’ve got sodas.” Ajax said.

“Which drinking game?” Pugsley asked, as he and Eugene joined them in the circle.

“How about Never have I ever?” Ajax suggested, “we take turns saying something that we’ve either done or never done, and you have to take a drink if you’ve done it.”

They all agreed and the game began. Pugsley let out a stream of horrors when it was his turn, seemingly listing every torture method his sister had subjected him to and drinking happily each time, not caring that he was the only one taking a drink.

Wednesday adopted a similar method, basically listing her accomplishments and drinking mostly on her own.

Ajax, Bianca and Enid went the more classic teenage direction, trying to eek out as much information from their friends about their personal dating lives. The younger 3 watched in bemusement, none of them having dated anyone before.

Eugene’s were pretty tame, although he did bust out ‘Never have I ever been gutted by a hyde’ at some point, the others agreeing that Enid could drink to that as well.

Agnes threw her own house of horrors in the mix, ‘never have I ever tied someone up and lowered a rack of knives down on them,’ surprised when Wednesday joined her in drinking. After several rounds she realized she could use this opportunity to see what Wednesday and Enid got up to without her knowing.

“Never have I ever made out with my partner when someone was asleep in the same room.” She said, throwing an empty can at Enid when both her and Wednesday had a drink.

“Ewww! Gross!” she complained, causing the group to laugh

“Hey the fact that you’re just finding out about it means we’ve been pretty sneaky, some might even say respectful!” Enid argued back.

“You’re still gross.” She grumbled.

At some point someone mentioned ghost stories and suddenly everyone was clamouring to tell their best story, Wednesday succeeding in traumatizing nearly everyone at the fire. Agnes suspected that the story she recounted had actually happened to her, the details too specific to be mere fabrication.

In the middle of Pugsley’s story about the ghost that reportedly haunts the Addams manor, Enid and Bianca vanished into the forest, coming back with a cake with 14 candles. Agnes blushed in the dark as the group sang happy birthday and cheered when she blew out the candles.

“Now it’s time for presents!” Enid announced, startling Agnes further. She hadn’t expected anyone to get her a present! But apparently that was standard, as 6 presents were withdrawn from 6 different coat pockets.

She opened them all with trembling fingers. There was a switchblade from Wednesday, a packet of dried crickets from Pugsley that were apparently ‘delicious’, an instructional book from Eugene titled ‘Mastering the Art of Vanishing’, a box of normal snacks from Ajax, a pair of earrings from Bianca and finally, a small photo printer from Enid.

Agnes thanked them all earnestly, and if anyone noticed the quiver in her voice or the tears in her eyes, no one mentioned it.

--

It was late when the group finally headed back to Nevermore, Agnes still buzzing from the night’s events. This was the first party she had ever had that hadn’t been organized by her parents, and the first time the guest list had been made up of people she was actually friends with, rather than the kids of the people her parents were friends with.

As they entered through the balcony door to Enid and Wednesday’s dorm Enid casually asked over her shoulder “Do you wanna open your presents tonight, or wait until tomorrow?”

Agnes paused from where she had been grabbing her pyjamas out of her backpack “Huh? But you already gave me your presents.” she said, confused about what presents Enid could be talking about.

Enid turned to her, grinning “We’ve given you our presents for big you. But we haven’t given you your little you presents yet.”

Agnes flushed, that not having been what she had expected Enid to say. “What? No. You’ve already given me so much. You didn’t have to get little me presents.”

“Well we did. But if you really don’t want them we can give them to someone else,” Enid teased.

“No, gimme.” Agnes said grinning, abandoning her pyjamas and bouncing up to the werewolf.

Enid grinned back at her “Why don’t you get ready for bed first.”

“What? Whhyyyy?” Enid was so mean, teasing her with presents and then refusing to hand them over.

“Go on, the sooner you’re ready the sooner you can open them.” Enid shooed the younger girl away from where she was hovering.

“You’re the worst,” Agnes grumbled, but she resumed getting ready for bed, moving as quickly as she could. When she returned from brushing her teeth there was a small pile of presents on Enid’s bed waiting for her.

Suddenly shy, she stood awkwardly in the doorway. The presents were wrapped in black paper she noted, Wednesday must have also been involved in the present operation.  

Enid was sitting cross-legged on the bed, next to the pile. When it became clear that the vanisher wasn’t moving, she patted the bed opposite her “Come sit.”

The invitation breaking the spell she bounded over to the bed, sitting cross legged opposite Enid. Wednesday had pulled over her desk chair and was sitting next to the bed, also looking faintly excited.

Agnes stared at the pile of presents, there were so many! The 2 older girls were looking at her expectantly and she wasn’t sure where to start.

As the silence lingered, Enid eventually said “Do you want me to pick one for you to open first?”

Agnes nodded, placing the tip of her index finger in her mouth.

Enid picked up one of the presents and handed it to her.

Agnes took it gingerly. It crinkled in her hands.

“This one’s from both of us.”

Agnes turned the present over and found where it had been taped, slowly peeling each section of tape back without ripping the paper. She folded the paper over to reveal a fuzzy, black and white item of clothing.

“It’s a onesie. After the juice spilling incident, we figured you should probably have a back up change of clothes. This ones a panda, look it has little ears on the hood and a tail” Enid showed her. “Do you like it?”

Agnes nodded shyly, running the fabric through her hands “Soft.”

Putting the onesie to the side Agnes looked up at Enid expectantly.

“Should I pick another one?” she asked, selecting a second one from the pile when Agnes nodded a little more eagerly this time.

Enid handed her the second present “This one was inspired from that same day. You don’t have to use them if you don’t want to, but you don’t have to decide right now.”

Feeling a little nervous from the explanation Agnes took the present. It was a misshaped thing, weird angles jutting out in various directions. It was obviously a few things that had been bundled all together.

Treating this present with the same reverence as the first, Agnes found the tape and lifted the edges carefully until several items spilled out onto the bed.

Agnes felt her face heating up as she realized it was a bunch of baby items, including a sippy cup, a set of kids plates and bib, all with a small matching cartoon fox.  There was even a baby bottle in the mix.  

“I thought they could be good if you’re ever feeling really little again.” Enid said gently.

Still slightly red, and not sure if she would ever want to use them, Agnes put the items next to the onesie.

“Should I pick another?” Enid asked.

Agnes shook her head. “No, you,” she said pointing at Wednesday.

Wednesday plucked a present from the pile.

“You don’t want to give her the one from you?” Enid asked.

“Everyone knows you must always save the best for last,” Wednesday replied placidly, passing the present to Agnes.

Enid rolled her eyes. “This is another one from both of us.”

This one was the heaviest and the hardest so far. Agnes opened it to find a plastic container with interlocking construction pieces inside. The picture on the box showed kids having built various structures out of the contents. Agnes let out a small squeak of excitement. She loved building things, the blocks she already owned being her favourite toy. She would have killed for something like this when she was an actual kid but her parents never got her stuff like this. Her mother preferred her child play with more feminine toys, and her father was never interested enough to care what she wanted.

She looked up at the older girls excitedly “Can we please play with them?” she asked in a rush.

Enid beamed at her, clearly thrilled that the present was a hit. “Not tonight baby, but you can play with them tomorrow okay?”

Agnes pouted at that, she really wanted to play with them now.  Putting the container to the side she looked back at the shrinking pile. There were 2 unopened presents left. She looked questioningly up at the older girls.

Enid picked up 1 of the 2 remaining presents. “This one is from me.”

This one was also soft, but larger than the present with the onesie. Agnes wasn’t sure why, but she held her breath as she opened it.

Red fur peaked out from the wrapping paper and she found a red fox stuffed animal inside. Its fur was incredibly soft and the toy itself was soft and squishy, rather than rigid.

“All of the stuffed animals you play with are mine,” Enid explained softly, “I wanted you to have one that was yours, that way you can take him back to your dorm and home with you in the holidays.”

Agnes brought the toy into her arms and squeezed it, burying her face in it’s soft fur. She didn’t want to think about the holidays. 2 wholes months back at her Dads, alone, and possibly some time at her Moms, with people but still somehow just as alone.  

“Do you like him?” she heard Enid hesitantly ask, having picked up on the change in mood from Agnes.

Pushing down the thoughts of home for now, Agnes nodded. “I love him,” voice muffled, her face still buried in the toys fur.

Placing the toy in her lap, rather than with the small pile to her left, Agnes looked at the last present in front of her then up at Wednesday.

Wednesday for her part looked like she was holding back barely contained excitement, as if she was witnessing the execution of an enemy rather than a friend opening a gift from her.

Wednesday picked the present up and gave it to Agnes “This is part one” she said.

“It’s not anything dangerous, right Wednesday?” Enid suddenly asked with concern, obviously not privy to what the gift was either. “Like, it won’t explode or anything when she opens it, right?”

Wednesday didn’t dignify that with a response.

It was heavy for its’s size Agnes noted. Carefully lifting the wrapping paper she found a small metal case. Her first thought was that it looked like an old pencil case, but it had a medical cross on the front.

Opening the lid she found a collection of medical tools – scalpels, scissors, clamps, needle & thread, bandages, gauze and some vials of what could be fake blood. 

“Are those real?” Enid asked, slight alarm in her voice, “Wednesday you can’t give a child real scalpels! She’s going to hurt herself!”

“She’s learned to use a knife, a scalpel is not so different.” Wednesday said standing and crossing to her side of the room.

“Yea when she’s big!! Enid half yelled exasperated, “Where are you going?”

“I told you the present comes in two parts.” Wednesday replied, grabbing a large cardboard box that had been hidden in her closet and walking back over. “When I was a child I would often practice medical experiments on my dolls. Cutting limbs off and stitching them back up. Sometimes I would stich two dolls together. It was one of my favourite pastimes when I was young.”

Enid looked queasy. Agnes looked delighted, eyeing the box as Wednesday placed it down on the floor in front of them.

Standing up she eagerly opened the top of the box. Inside was a host of misshapen dolls with various limbs swapped out, bandages and fake blood strewn about.

“Cool.” She said, reaching into the box and pulling out a baby doll that had it’s hands and feet swapped.

“Ugh!” Enid said, flopping back on the bed and covering her face with her arms “How is it that my girlfriend and child are exactly the same person?”

Agnes coughed at Enid casually referring to her as her child.

Sitting up, Enid pointed a finger at Agnes “Agnes, these medical experiments are for Wednesday’s horror show of dolls only do you hear me? You are not to touch any of my things. And you,” she rounded on Wednesday, “you will be supervising the use of these things at all times. She is not to touch a scalpel by herself.”

“I am sure we will find that Agnes is perfectly competent at wielding a scalpel, even with a younger mindset.” Wednesday defended the younger girl, “But I shall supervise if you insist.”

“Can you show me now?” Agnes asked, looking hopefully at Wednesday.

Wednesday looked like she might say yes, but then her eyes glanced in Enid’s direction. “It is late, I will provide lessons tomorrow morning after we have rested.”

Agnes huffed. Enid could be such a Mom sometimes. She nodded though, it was late and she was tired, sleep was probably a wise move.   

Enid helped her move all of her presents off the bed, Agnes feeling a warmth flow through her as looked at the small pile of items the girls had gotten her. Agnes was used to presents feeling like an obligation. Something she had to use or wear, regardless of whether she actually wanted to, because her parents had spent money on it.

This didn’t feel like that. They’d both gotten her things that they thought she’d actually like and had seemed genuinely excited for her to have them. It was a nice feeling.

She wasn’t little right now, or at least not all the way, but neither girl said anything as she brought her new fox to bed with her, pressing it’s soft fur against her cheek.

“Did you have a good birthday babygirl?” Enid asked as she tucked the younger girl in.

Agnes hummed sleepily, “It was the best birthday ever.”

Chapter Text

Agnes woke before the sun the next morning. Checking her phone she found it was a little past 5, which was early for a Saturday, especially since she had been up so late the night before.

She smiled to herself as she thought about the previous night, hugging her new fox close to her chest. The whole night had been a dream and she was incredibly touched at Enid and Wednesday’s thoughtfulness in getting the smaller side of her gifts. 

Enid had said that she could play with her new toys today, which meant that they were obviously expecting her to be little for at least some portion of the day. It hadn’t been planned, but now she could hardly wait. She hoped Wednesday would show her how to use the new medical kit she had given her, she had said she would. Maybe she would even wake up soon! She usually got up first of the 3 them. Maybe –

She paused her train of thought, registering that a soft haze was settling over her. She bit her lip, she should probably stop thinking about her toys and try to get back to sleep. It was early after all, the toys could wait.

But on the other hand, she reeaally wanted to play with them. Grinning to herself, she sent a mental apology to Enid and Wednesday and let the haze wash over her.

Slipping from the bed she tip-toed over to Wednesdays side of the room. Getting right up close she whispered into the psychics ear “Wednesday?” When she got no response, she tried again a little bit louder. “Wednesday?” Seeing her eyes fluttering she whispered a touch louder, “Do you wanna play doctor with me?”

Wednesday’s eyes snapped open and if she was alarmed to find Agnes’ face so close to her own she didn’t show it. “It is too early for children to be awake. Go back to sleep.”

Agnes pouted, “Please? You said we could play today!”

“I will join you when the hour is appropriate, now hush.”

“But Enid said I couldn’t touch a scalpel without you, why can’t you get out of bed now?” Agnes whined, her voice louder than intended.

 Wednesday opened her mouth to respond when Enid beat her to it, mumbling from her side of the bed “Babe, if you 2 don’t stop whining I will kill you both.”

“I wasn’t whining,” Wednesday said stiffly.

“It’s your own fault for getting her the creepy dolls. Go and play with the child.”

Wednesday contemplated for a second before sighing and sitting up, Enid rolling over and pulling the covers over her head behind her.

Agnes bounced on her toes at the victory before racing to get the kit and the dolls. Setting the kit down next to the box of dolls, she sat cross legged on the floor and looked up at Wednesday expectantly.

From there, they fell into their normal rhythm that they had practiced many times before while Agnes was in her bigger head space, Wednesday instructing and Agnes hanging off of her every word.

“You must only ever hold the scalpel like thus,” Wednesday demonstrated on one of the silicone dolls, “it must be wielded with care and precision.”

Agnes followed along, slicing a leg off of her own doll. She grinned at Wednesday.

Wednesday’s lips ticked upward ever so slightly. Next, she took the needle and thread, “Stitches take patience and cannot be rushed. Your work will fall apart if you attempt to hasten the process.”

Copying Wednesday, Agnes carefully sewed a plush horse’s leg in place of the dolls missing limb, making sure to keep the stitches tight as Wednesday had shown her. When she was finished she handed the doll over for inspection. Looking the work over, Wednesday nodded her head once, which was high praise coming from the psychic. Agnes beamed. 

The medical procedures continued as the sun rose. Agnes completed the second leg, replaced one arm with the horses tail and then finally replaced the dolls head with the horses.

When the sun had been up for some time, the lump that was Enid finally stirred. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes she mumbled, “Morning. How’s doctor school going?”

Agnes scrambled to her feet and bounced over to the bed, jumping up next to Enid on her knees. “Look what I made!” she said as she presented Enid her creation.

“Oh.. wow! Did you make this all by yourself?” Enid asked, trying her hardest to be supportive of the horrifying item presented to her so soon after waking him.

“Yea!” Agnes said happily, “Wednesday helped me.”

“It’s wonderful baby, you did a great job.” Enid encouraged, then tried to hand the toy back to the vanisher only to have Agnes shake her head and push it back to Enid.

“It’s for you.”

“For me?”

“Yea! I made it for you.”

“…Thank you so much. I love it.” Enid said, sending a death glare in Wednesday’s direction as Agnes skipped back across the room.

Enid put the doll to the side and stood, stretching as she wandered over to the 2 insane doctors. “Ugh. I stink of campfire.” she said, wrinkling her nose, “we all need a shower.”

“Agreed,” said Wednesday. “Agnes, it is time to put your toys away.”

“Aw, but - ” Agnes started, only to snap her mouth shut mid whine when she locked eyes with Wednesday.

She had already pushed her luck as far as it could go it would seem.

“Okay” she grumbled instead, putting the kit back in the box and helping Wednesday clean up the mess made from the medical procedures. “Can we play some more later today?” she asked.

“We will see.” Wednesday replied, which wasn’t a no.

The girls slowly got ready for the day, giving Agnes time to come back to herself without needing to rush. Enid had dance practice later that morning and Wednesday was due at the Sherifs office for something or other around 10. She had agreed to let Agnes tag along. They arranged to meet back at the dorm later that day so that Agnes could play with her new toys some more.

--

Agnes and Wednesday returned from Jericho early afternoon to find Enid already back in the dorm, lounging on her bed. She smiled brightly when they entered the room. “Hi! You’re back!”

“Hi,” Agnes said shyly from the door. She was always nervous when they had scheduled time for her to be little, never quite knowing where to stand or how to act. It was much easier when it happened organically, as it had this morning, as she didn’t have time to let the worries in her head build up. She shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot as Wednesday strode to her side of the room, leaving her in the entrance.

Enid rolled her eyes, although not unkindly, used to this dance with the younger girl. She smiled softly at Agnes and patted the bed next to her. “Come here, cutie.”

Agnes ducked her head and padded over to the bed, laying down next to Enid. The werewolf pulled the vanisher flush against her side, “I’m so excited, I haven’t seen my sweet little baby in forever.”

Agnes flushed and pressed her face into Enid’s side. “I was little this morning!”

“Yea but I was asleep! Lucky Wednesday got you all to herself. I haven’t had time with my baby for like 3 weeks, which is basically a million years ago! I may just cuddle you all afternoon and not let you go,” Enid said, squeezing Agnes tighter and showering her in kisses as she said it.

“Eeeeniiiid, stooop!” Agnes cried, giggling as she tried to wriggle out of the werewolf’s grasp.

“Nope, never. You’re mine and you’re never leaving me again,” Enid joked as she danced her fingers up and down the younger girls sides, causing the girl to shriek. 

“Wednesday, help!” the vanisher gasped in between giggles.

“You think she can help you? She is no match for me, mwa-hahaha!” Enid chanted, upping her assault.

Agnes managed to get her feet between her and Enid and pushed, breaking free from the werewolf’s grasp and toppling off the side of the bed.  

Enid scrambled to look over the edge of the bed, presumably to make certain she was alright, however Agnes had already vanished, her giggles trailing off in the direction of Wednesday.

Putting Wednesday between herself and Enid, Agnes gripped onto Wednesday’s arm and reappeared “help, please!” she cried, still giggling.

“Sinclair this kind of attack is beneath you. If you must engage in war with a child at least do so in an appropriate manner. For example,” Wednesday said, pulling several ninja throwing stars from her sleeves.

Several chaotic minutes later Enid was pacing up and down the room mid tirade, Wednesday and Agnes sporting identical pouts at Enid having spoiled their fun.

“Wednesday we agreed no knives around Agnes when she’s little!” Enid ranted as she paced.

“I was not aware that included throwing stars,” Wednesday grumbled back.

“Yes! Obviously it included throwing stars!” Enid yelled in exasperation, “no knives, no throwing stars, no axes, no guillotines, nothing sharp or pointy!”

“Just, argh!” Enid looked like she was about to strangle the psychic, instead she turned abruptly and marched to her side the room. “Agnes, come here,” she ordered, not looking back.  

Agnes turned pleading eyes to Wednesday, not wanting to be left alone with the angry werewolf.

Wednesday nodded her head in the blonds direction, “Go. It is not you she is angry with.”

“That’s for sure!” Enid yelled back at them.

Agnes scurried off after Enid, not wanting the blond to turn her ire to herself instead. Thankfully Wednesday seemed to be right, as Enid schooled her expression into something softer as Agnes stepped in front of her. “Do you want to wear your new one?” she asked, holding out the new panda onesie.

Agnes nodded her head, her trepidation easing “yes please!”

Enid helped her into the garment and pulled the hood up over her head when she was dressed. “Aww,” she cooed, “my cute little panda bear.”

Agnes looked at herself in the full-length mirror. It was slightly too big, the sleeves slipped past her wrists and the hood flopped over her eyes a little.  The onesie was pretty cute, even if she still felt slightly weird dressing in the childish clothes sometimes.

Turning back to Enid she asked “Can we please play with the building things?”

“Of course, babygirl.” Enid smiled at her.

Things calmed down after that, with less throwing stars and tickle attacks. Enid and Agnes got out her new toy and started building things on the floor, Agnes letting out an excited stream of chatter as they played. Meanwhile Wednesday spent some time writing on her typewriter, trying to avoid more death stares from Enid.

The toy was a huge hit, Agnes copying some of the images on the box initially then branching out and making her own creations. Eventually asking Enid if they could build a giant castle for her new fox.

“Of course! Do you know what you’re gonna call him?” Enid asked, taking apart the truck she had been building to add to the castle.

Agnes paused before shrugging her shoulders, “I dunno.”

“That’s okay, we can just call him ‘Mr Fox’ for now.”

Wednesday eventually deemed it safe enough to rejoin them as the castle was nearing completion, Agnes proudly placing Mr Fox in the centre of the structure.

“Awesome castle, baby” Enid praised, kissing the younger girl on the cheek. “Do you guys wanna watch a movie?”

Agnes grinned shyly up at Wednesday from where she was still sitting on the floor “You said this morning that you’d play doctor with me again today.”

Wednesday raised an eyebrow down at the regressed girl. “I believe what I said was, ‘we will see’”.

“And do you see us playing doctor?” Agnes asked cheekily, smiling sweetly up at Wednesday, causing Enid to laugh.

“I’m not sure you’re getting out of this one babe.” She said to her girlfriend, amusement evident on her face. She got to her feet, also planting a kiss on Wednesdays cheek, “My 2 insane cuties,” she said fondly, before wandering over to her bed.

So Wednesday and Agnes settled back on the floor, medical kit and haunted doll selection out.

At some point Enid ventured out to fetch dinner for them all. When she returned she grabbed the bib, sippy cup and kids plate and offered them to Agnes “Do you want to use these?”

Agnes hurriedly shook her head, she had pointedly not been thinking about those particular items that had been gifted to her. She wasn’t a baby, she didn’t need them and it definitely didn’t matter that the cartoon fox looked a little bit like Mr Fox, she still didn’t want them.

“That’s okay,” Enid said without skipping a beat, placing them back next to the baby bottle. “You don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.”

Agnes ate her dinner with the grown-up plate and grown-up cup, and her eyes definitely did not keep flickering over to the small collection of items.   

Wednesday and Agnes resumed their play after dinner, and despite the relatively early hour Agnes felt herself growing tired. Which made sense, considering the early start. Not wanting Enid or Wednesday to pick up on this and send her to bed she tried her best to suppress her yawns, blinking slowly as her eyes grew heavy.

Maybe she should have said something as before she knew it the scalpel slipped in her hands, her concentration waning with her tiredness, and bright red droplets appeared on her thumb.

Suddenly alert, Agnes took in a sharp breath and quickly curled her thumb into her fist not wanting the older girls to see. Fortunately, neither seemed to have noticed. Pulling her sleeve over her fist she got to her feet, both girls turning to look at her questioningly as she did.

“I uh, I need the bathroom.” She lied in a rush.

“Oh okay,” Enid said sitting up, “do you want to get changed?”

“No uh, no that’s okay. I’ll be quick.” She said, already moving towards the door. She could feel hot liquid trickling through her fingers.

Exiting the dorm and hastening to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Pulling her hand out she could see the blood trickling from her thumb, the cut deeper than she initially thought.

She felt her lower lip quivering, not from the pain or the blood, she wasn’t squeamish (or a baby) but from fear of what Enid and Wednesday might say if they found out. Enid would be mad. She wasn’t happy that Wednesday had gifted her the kit in the first place, she would likely blame Wednesday for the slip up.

Wednesday would probably accuse her of being sloppy, and maybe even deem that Agnes wasn’t worthy to partake in the same activities she herself had when she was a child.  Then they might fight for real and it would be all her fault.

She sniffled at the thought. She had been having so much fun playing with Wednesday.

She just had to hope she could get it to stop bleeding without rousing suspicion. She placed her hand under the tap to wash away the blood, then wrapped some toilet paper around her thumb and applied pressure.

Unfortunately, whenever she removed pressure her thumb started bleeding again, and she couldn’t very well return to the dorm with her thumb wrapped in paper without at least one of the two noticing.

Feeling more distraught as time went by, she wondered if she could just head straight back to her dorm for the night. But she didn’t have her phone on her and Enid and Wednesday would worry if she just disappeared without saying anything.

A knock at the door and Enid’s voice startled her from her thoughts. “Agnes? Are you alright?”

She whimpered.

“Agnes, please open the door. I promise whatever it is, it will be okay.”

With trembling fingers, Agnes unlocked the door and Enid stepped in, her eyes surveying the room and noting the bloodied tissues and Agnes gripping her thumb in her other hand.

“Did you cut yourself? Let me see.” Enid said gently, reaching for Agnes’ hand.

Agnes flinched and took a step back, shaking her head and feeling tears seep out of her eyes “n-no.”

Enid’s eyes were filled with concern, “Hey, it’s okay. I just want to have a look, okay?”

“M-mad.”

“I’m not mad baby, I just want to see how bad it is so I can help.”

Agnes shook her head again, struggling to communicate that she was terrified of being the problem in yet another relationship of people she cared about. Of being the cause of Enid’s anger towards Wednesday. “Mad at Wednesday,” she whispered.

Understanding washed over Enid’s face, “No, I promise I’m not mad at Wednesday either. It was an accident, accidents happen sometimes and it’s not anyone’s fault.”

Agnes searched Enid’s face looking for any hint of deception or anger. When she found none she gingerly offered her hand with the injured thumb out for Enid to inspect.

Enid gently took the hand in hers, removing the tissues wrapped around it. When the pressure was lifted a thin line of red appeared at the cut but it was no longer trickling blood. 

“My brave girl, how about we go back and put a bandage on it then you and I can cuddle before bed, hmm?” Enid hummed, wrapping the thumb back up in fresh tissues.

Enid led her back to the dorm, luckily they didn’t pass anyone on the way as her eyes were still teary and her other thumb had made it’s way into her mouth.

Wednesday greeted them as they entered, worry evident in her eyes.

Agnes let out a small whimper and stepped behind Enid. Enid had said she wasn’t mad, but Wednesday still might be. She had been careless with the blade, and Wednesday didn’t typically stand for carelessness. 

“There was a small incident with the scalpel,” Enid explained, squeezing the hand that was holding Agnes, “but Agnes knows it was just an accident and it wasn’t anyone’s fault, right Wednesday?”

Wednesday searched Enid’s face for a second before shifting her gaze to Agnes and nodding. “Yes, sometimes mistakes happen. The important thing is to learn from them when they do. Enid will take care of you, I will put your toys away.”

“Keep?” Agnes asked shakily behind Enid.

Wednesday glanced at Enid, obviously not sure what the question meant. Luckily Enid seemed to figure it out, “Yes baby, you can keep the medical kit. Wednesday won’t throw it away, I promise. Now, let’s get a Band-Aid on that thumb.”

Enid lead Agnes over to her bed, collecting Mr Fox on the way and placing him in the younger girl’s arms. From there she replaced the thumb in her mouth with a pacifier and gently wrapped a piece of gauze and Band-Aid over the injured thumb, kissing the top of it when she was finished. “There, all better.”

Agnes was still trembling slightly, struggling to stop the tears since they had started.

Enid helped her into bed, and she curled up with her fox, watching Wednesday pack away the dolls and kit they had been using. She tried to take a deep breath. No one was mad. Not at her, not at each other. Everything was okay.  

Agnes moved over when Enid came back, and she climbed in next to the vanisher. It took her a second to realize Enid was holding the baby bottle in her hand. She felt embarrassment creeping up her neck and she pressed her face into Mr Fox and whined.

That bottle felt like too much pressure, like Enid was expecting something from her and she wasn’t sure if she could meet whatever that expectation was.

“Hey, you’re okay,” Enid said in a soothing voice, rubbing Agnes’ back. “I can put it away if you really don’t want it, but I think it will help you relax and feel safe.”

Agnes whined again, softer this time. She didn’t know how to admit that she did want it, she wanted to be that small that she could use a baby bottle, but it was too intimate, would make her too vulnerable.

“Shhh, you’re okay,” Enid repeated. “How about you try it, just for tonight? I can hold it for you and we can read a story while you fall asleep, and if you hate it you never have to use it again.”

They sat like that for a bit, Enid lightly scratching up and down Agnes’ back, not pushing, not rushing, letting the younger girl sort through the jumbled emotions in her head.  

Slowly, Agnes unfurled herself from against Enid’s side, lifting her head ever so slightly to blink up at the older girl.

Enid smiled down at her, nothing but affection and warmth in her gaze.

Agnes gave an almost imperceptible nod.  

Enid kissed the top of her head and tugged the pacifier from her mouth, replacing it with the bottle. Agnes gave it a small, hesitant suck and cool water trickled into her mouth. Enid started on the story, and between the soft tone of Enid’s voice and the suckling Agnes did relax, her body going limp against Enid.

She was still nursing the bottle when it had emptied, barely registering when Enid replaced it with her pacifier. “That’s my brave girl,” Enid whispered to her as she drifted off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

As much as Agnes had willed time to slow down, the summer holidays had arrived. Agnes had already spent a little over a week at her dad’s and was now at her mother’s place for the next month. It was the longest stretch of time she was to spend at her mom’s since her parents had separated.

Her mother had hugged her when she had arrived, which had been nice. Although she had been holding her brother, so it had felt a little half hearted. Almost like her mother needed a barrier between them to remind herself she was here, and not still back at that cold, empty house with Agnes’ father. 

Dave was nice enough, she supposed. He told really bad jokes and laughed too loudly at them, and he clearly wasn’t sure how to interact with a teenage outcast girl but he had wrapped her in a hug and carried her suitcase inside.

She hadn’t seen her little brother in person for a whole six months, the last time he had barely been sitting up on his own and now he was up and toddling around on little legs, unable to keep still.

He called her ‘Aggy’ in his lispy baby voice and said ‘BA’ loudly in place of the word ‘no’ when he didn’t want to nap. He seemed enthralled by her presence. A new person to give him undivided attention at all hours other than his parents. He followed her around the house handing her things – half eaten apple slices, toys, his pacifier – and babbling in an undiscernible baby language. At bedtime he rested his lips on her cheek, obviously still not quite sure what a kiss was but copying the action his parents did to him.

Her mother seemed mesmerized by him, drinking him in whenever he was in the same room as her, as though she had never seen a more perfect child. Dave was much the same, always coming home from work early to ‘work from home’ but he more often than not ended up chasing her brother around the house. The 3 of them would curl up on the sofa in the evenings, a children’s show playing on the TV, or maybe one of them would be reading a book.

The house was warm, full of love and joy, and so completely unlike the house she had grown up in.

Maybe it should have felt wonderful, but instead it made her feel small, like she was an intruder on this perfect home. Just a big ugly reminder that her mother had a life before this one, and that life had not been filled with joy or warmth.

She was happy for her mother, she had gotten the family she so clearly had always wanted. But it hurt. It hurt that her brother got this version of her, the carefree version who sang and danced while she cooked dinner. Whereas Agnes had gotten the one that was broken and hollowed out.

Mostly, it made her miss Enid and Wednesday. Enid who would give her cuddles and kisses, and Wednesday who would pause her writing to sit on the floor and play games with her.

She messaged and spoke with Enid most days. It sounded like Enid was struggling at her home just as much as Agnes was, her status as Alpha making the tumultuous relationship with her mother worse. Werewolf pheromones were apparently a thing that went a little crazy when there was a power imbalance, which it sounds like her being an Alpha was causing. She was planning on heading to the Addams family manor soon if things didn’t calm down.

Agnes wished she could go with her, she hadn’t heard from Wednesday since the holidays started, although Enid had spoken with her and provided the occasional update.

Enid facetimed her late one night. Agnes wasn’t asleep, she’d been mindlessly scrolling on her phone in bed when the call came through. Tear tracks were visible on Enid’s cheeks. It obviously hadn’t been a good day with her family.

“Hey,” Agnes said, sitting up.

“Hey,” Enid replied with a small, wobbly voice. “I’m sorry for calling so late, I just needed to talk to someone who doesn’t hate everything about me.”

“It’s okay, I was still awake. What's wrong?”

“Just the usual. It’s um, it’s not good. With my mom.” Enid lifted her hand to rub at her eyes, more tears spilling down her cheeks. Agnes stayed quiet, letting Enid decide if she wanted to share what happened with her mom or not. Sometimes she does, sometimes she just wants to be distracted from it.  

“It just sucks.” Enid said after a long moment. “My whole life my mom was desperate for me to wolf out and stop being the weakling of the family. And then I finally did but now she’s disappointed for a whole different reason. It feels like I can’t do anything right.”

Agnes heart hurt listening to Enid talk. It was wrong to see her so despondent. Enid was never despondent. She was overdramatic and loud and when someone wronged her, she raged about it for all to hear. Her mom was the only person who could make Enid look so broken.  

“It’s a full moon and they’re all out there. I think she’s in denial about the Alpha thing. Like, she wants my wolf to just submit to her and my older brothers like how I used to, but that’s not who I am any more. I can feel it. My wolf will not submit to her, even if I wanted to. So it’s safer for everyone if I don’t join them. She is not happy about that.”

“I’m sorry.” Agnes murmured. “Your family should love you for who you are, not who they want you to be.”

“Thanks kid.” Enid sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s just.. they’re not my pack. I’m not sure they ever were. We’ve just gotten to the point where we can’t keep pretending anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” Agnes repeats. She knows a little something about not belonging with the family you were given, and how it can make you feel like the smallest speck of dirt. Not wanting to change the subject, but not knowing how to help she asked instead “Are you going to Wednesday’s soon?”

Enid nodded her head, “Yea, I leave tomorrow morning. I can’t stay here any longer.”

“Say hi to Wednesday and Pugsley for me.”

“I will. I’m excited to see Wednesday, she is the world’s worst long distance communicator.” Enid rolled her eyes, “I swear that girl goes out of her way to lose her phone.”

Agnes gives her a half smile, “What, is she supposed to carry 1 less knife in her pocket to make room for her phone?  That’s crazy talk.”

“Yea she definitely needs that 16^th knife, that’s way more important than talking to your girlfriend you haven’t seen for 3 weeks.” Enid grumbled back and Agnes is relieved to see some cheer returning to her after the heaviness of the beginning of the call. “How are you doing? Have you spent some time with your mom yet?”

Something in Agnes’ chest clenches at the questions. She knew Enid wasn’t just asking if she had spent time in her mother’s house. She was asking if her mother had shown any interest in Agnes’ life, outside of her daughter being a guest in her home.

Agnes shrugs, unable to look at the phone as she answers, “She’s busy. She has work, and my brother and Dave.”

Something dangerous flickered across Enid’s eyes and when she speaks next it’s in a growl. “That’s crap. She can take one afternoon off to spend time with her daughter who she hasn’t seen for 6 months.”

Agnes shrugs again, not sure what to do with this growling, overprotective Enid who thinks that Agnes is worth something.

“Hey,” Enid was speaking to her again, softer this time, and when Agnes glances at her that dangerous thing in her eyes is gone. “I’m sorry. You’re a brilliant and funny and thoughtful, and yea okay, sometimes clinically insane, kid. She should feel honoured to be your mother. I know I would.”

Agnes shifts down in the bed, lifting the covers up to her chin “Thanks Enid.” Then, feeling emboldened from a combination of Enid’s earnestness and the relative cloak of darkness, tacks on, “You’re a better mother than she is anyway.”

Enid smiles, and murmurs “Thanks, kid. I miss you. You should come to Wednesday’s.”

 “I’d like to.” Agnes replied simply, before she yawned, suddenly tired from the hour and the emotional weight of the conversation.

“It’s late, you should be asleep already.” Enid worries.

Agnes just barely refrains from rolling her eyes. “You’re the one who called me,” she reminds the werewolf.

“Yea, well, you should have been asleep then too.” Enid argues back half-heartedly. “Thanks for answering though. Will you talk to your mom about coming to visit?”

“I will,” Agnes promises, before the 2 say their goodbyes.  

--

“My friends.. they invited me to stay with them.” Agnes said to her mother one afternoon a couple of days after her phone call with Enid.

“Hmm?” her mother asked, not looking up from her computer. “Is that the ones you talk about, the werewolf.. and the other one.. the day of the week girl.”

“Wednesday.” Agnes confirmed, “Enid’s gone to stay with Wednesday’s family and they asked if I want to go too before the end of the holidays.” A part of her hoped her mother would say no, that they only had another 2 weeks together before she was back at her dad’s and they’d be separated for several months.

“Well I think that’s a great idea honey. Better than you sitting around bored here, I know we haven’t been able to do much with your brother still so little.” A small cry from the baby monitor on the desk distracted them both. Her mother picked up the baby monitor, looking at the small screen to see if her brother would go back to sleep on his own.

“Why don’t you have a look at flights while I go check on your brother?” she asked, standing from her computer and leaving Agnes alone in the small office.  

Agnes watched her go and tried to push down the feelings of rejection. This is what she had wanted, to get away from this house, she should be grateful her mother hadn’t objected. She sat down at the computer and pulled up flights. There were multiple flights available over the next week. Maybe her mother would want to spend some time with her before she left, since their time would be cut short. She clicked on a flight a few days from now.  

While she waited for her mother to come back she picked up the baby monitor. Her brother had a big floor bed, with a rail to stop him from crawling out. It was big enough for her mother to fit and she watched her lie down with the baby, pulling him into her arms.

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. It was stupid to feel jealous of a baby.  Pulling out her phone she opened the chat with Enid and Wednesday. The last message was a photo of them, they were out and about somewhere and had gotten ice-cream. Enid was beaming and even Wednesday looked slightly less stoic than she normally did.

‘Can’t wait to see you, we miss you!’ Enid’s message read.

Diverting her attention back to the baby monitor she saw that her mother had fallen asleep in the bed with her brother. Looking back at the computer she clicked out of the flight she had selected and instead clicked on one that left the following morning.

Chapter Text

Dave dropped her off at the airport the following morning. She was still a minor, so he had to wait with her at the gate until the flight was boarding, then hand her off to a flight attendant.  The same process was to be repeated in reverse when she landed.

She had said goodbye to her mother at the house, the woman distracted as she tried to deal with her brother who was having a meltdown. When the flight was called Dave gave her a 1-armed hug before leaving her with the flight attendant.

When the flight landed she caught sight of Enid first, the blond grinning widely and waving at her, Wednesday standing stoically next to her and Lurch looming behind them.

The flight attendant looked slightly uneasy at handing her ward off to the large man but there was no mistaking that Agnes knew them after Enid squealed, threw her arms around Agnes and lifted the vanisher off her feet.

Wednesday nodded to her, her lips turned slightly upward and the 4 of them headed off to grab her bags. Enid asked a million questions about the flight and gave her no time to answer as she filled Agnes in on her stay with the Addams so far.

“Their place is huge, Agnes, it’s like a mansion with 7 other mansions stacked on top of it. There are rooms I am too scared to go into. Oh! Remember all those things we had shipped up for our anniversary? Well they’ve got a whole 3 rooms full of the stuff! I walked in on Mr Addams and Pugsley using I don’t even know what, but Mr Addams’ arm was out of it’s socket!” Enid visibly shuddered at the memory, “he popped it back in RIGHT in front of me. It was so gross. Anyway, how was the flight?”

Enid kept up the steady stream of chatter in the limousine all the way back to the Addams’ manor. Agnes listened with half an ear as she pushed each of the buttons that she could find, watching as several road spikes spilled out on the road behind them after one. Luckily, Enid didn’t notice. Wednesday stopped her from pushing the last one, catching her wrist and shaking her head.

She pouted at Wednesday, however she didn’t have too long to be disappointed as the limo pulled up to a metal iron gate, the manor looming in the distance.

“Mother, Father” Wednesday greeted her parents as they met them in the foyer, “you’ve met my former stalker, Agnes. I trust you will not completely embarrass yourselves during her stay here.”

“Agnes darling, it is wonderful to have you here. I’m sure you’ll have a dreadful time with us.” Morticia said fondly as she pulled Agnes into a hug.

“It is so exciting to have a vanisher in the house,” Gomez said joyfully from behind her. “Our little stormcloud told us all about the first time you met, you will have to do something equally as thrilling and dangerous while you are here. Oh but shh, surprise me,” he winked at Agnes.

Agnes smiled back at them and bowed her head “Thank you for having me Mr and Mrs Addams, I hope it’s not too much trouble”

“Oh nonsense dear, we are always happy to have one of Wednesday’s friends staying with us.” Morticia said, waving Agnes off.

Agnes was about to respond when a large, dark shape barrelled into her. She determined it was Pugsley when he spoke. “Hey Red! Glad you could make it,” he said, releasing her.

“Hey Pugsley, what’s happening?” she asked the grinning boy, noting that he was covered in wet soil and weeds from head to toe.  

“Oh sorry,” he said, not looking the least bit sorry as he plucked a worm off his shirt and popped it in his mouth. “Wednesday buried me in the woods before she went to get you, I only just managed to dig my way out.”

Wednesday was scowling at her brother “I buried you so that you wouldn’t cause a scene. Next time I’ll make sure to tie your hands and feet before I do so.”

Pugsley only smiled wider. “Cool. Do you wanna come help set up some land mines in the woods? Dad and I have been building them all week.” He asked Agnes.

Agnes nodded eagerly and was about to hurry out with him when she felt Enid grab her shoulders from behind, “How about we show Agnes to her room first? And no offense Pugsley, but you really need a bath.”

“Yes darling, you’ve gotten mud all over our guest. Go and shake off in the dungeon, Lurch ran the vacuum down there and I find myself missing that earthy smell.” Morticia shooed her son away, “Wednesday, Enid, I trust you will help make our guest uncomfortable during her stay here.”

Agnes let Enid pull her away, promising to catch up with Pugsley later, Wednesday leading them up the stairs.

Wednesday provided commentary as they walked through the house, “All of the house and the grounds, bar my parents private chambers, are open to you. Although be warned, you will be met with a gruesome death if you let your guard down in some of the rooms.”

“Wednesday is not kidding about that. You do not want to go in the room at the far end of the South corridor” Enid said, grimacing as she said it.

“It is probably best if you avoid that room,” Wednesday agreed, “but if you insist on entering ensure Pugsley goes in ahead of you.”

They walked through a hallway with large paintings on the wall, before stopping at a door. “My room is just across the hall.” Wednesday pointed out, “and this will be your room for the duration of your stay.” She opened the door to a large room with high ceilings and the biggest canopy bed that Agnes had ever seen. Lurch had already brought her suitcase upstairs.

Agnes wandered over to the large glass windows on the opposite side of the room and looked out over the manor grounds. There was a small courtyard and glass house close to the house, a large oak tree that looked like something straight out of a horror movie slightly further away with a large patch of bare dirt and the odd weed sticking out below, and the woods lay beyond that.

Enid joined her at the window. “It’s a little spooky out there at night. You can’t see it from here but there’s a cemetery around the side of the house and there are a number of gargoyles and things on the roof and awnings. I swear their eyes follow you everywhere you go…” 

“It is imperative that you are not in the cemetery between the hours of midnight to 1am on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.” Wednesday said ominously behind them. “Not even your vanishing powers will help you if you decide to forgo this advice.”

Agnes looked uneasily at Enid. The werewolf had an equally solemn expression on her face and nodded her head in agreement with Wednesday’s warning.

Turning away from the window, Enid said “Are you hungry?  Lurch usually makes breakfast and dinner for everyone, but lunch we just grab things ourselves. We could make something if you are. I introduced Mr Addams to the Philly cheese steak and he loves it. Although he keeps trying to make it with roadkill.. but I promise they’ve gotten more normal ingredients while I’ve been staying here.”

Agnes hadn’t eaten since before she had left for the airport and her stomach growled at the mention of food. Enid and Wednesday left her to get settled in, agreeing to meet downstairs in the kitchen in 20 minutes.

Agnes slowly unpacked her suitcase, putting her clothes in the tall ornate wardrobe. She pulled out Mr Fox, the one little item she had brought to her moms, the rest of her things in a box buried in her closet at her dads.

She brought the stuffed fox into her arms and squeezed, burying her face in it’s fur. She was actually here, staying at a friends house for the holidays. And not just 1 friend, 3 of her friends were here and they had all seemed excited (in their own way) that she was here.

She took a deep breath to help calm her nerves and excitement, before hiding Mr Fox under the pillows and heading out of the room to join the others.

--

Her days at the manor were full from sunup to sun down. What was most unexpected to Agnes was that everyone in the house seemed to genuinely be interested in spending time with her.

Pugsley taught her how to fish and also how to throw her first ever grenade. Turns out that when some people throw their first ever grenade they sometimes panic and forget to throw it after they pull the pin. She definitely wasn’t one of those people. Pugsley definitely did not have to grab it off her and throw it before pulling them both to the ground at the last second.

The 2 of them also rigged increasingly elaborate traps for Mr Addams, Agnes making use of her ability to set them up in places he wouldn’t expect. The man laughed loudly whenever he was surprised by one, clapping his hands and applauding their creativity.

Wednesday gave her fencing lessons in the morning and she found she was surprisingly not terrible at it. It was kind of like dancing, but with swords. She thought she might join the team this year.

She baked cookies and pastries with Enid, who had apparently gotten into baking as her latest hobby. She had gotten several baking books from the library and was trying out new recipes each day. The results ranged from disastrous to barely edible, but the Addams all munched happily on the failed attempts and complimented Enid on her baking prowess.

Mrs Addams gave her tours of her carnivorous greenhouses, explaining in great detail about all of the different plants she grew. As she always did when an adult gave her undivided attention, Agnes hung on every word and asked question after question.

They all ate breakfast and dinner together, and despite the manors darkness, it all felt very wholesome and light.

Before she knew it a whole week had passed.  

She hadn’t regressed since the school term had ended, and while she had missed it at her parents houses she hadn’t felt the need to regress. Now, being back around Wednesday and Enid she sometimes found herself subconsciously putting the tip of her thumb to her lips.

When she noticed she was doing this she yanked her hand away, heart racing. She really didn’t want to regress where any of Wednesday’s family could see her, and she didn’t want to put that responsibility on the older girls during their summer break. That was something for school time only, where they could be safe and hidden in Enid and Wednesday’s dorm room.  

She thought maybe Enid and Wednesday noticed, as she would occasionally catch them giving each other a look when it happened. That theory was confirmed one evening when she was in Wednesday’s room watching a movie with Enid on her laptop. She found herself leaning more heavily on Enid as the movie went on, thumb eventually coming up to touch her lips.

Enid had murmured into her hairline, quietly asking if she wanted to be little. The question caused Agnes to shoot up, shaking her head and stammering out apologies. She tried to avoid getting too close to either of them after that, not trusting herself not to slip.

She found out at some point that Eugene had organized for Pugsley to go and visit him for a week at his moms place, and upon learning that Agnes was at the manor had invited her to join. Mr and Mrs Addams were also going, they would drop Pugsley off and spend a couple of nights with Eugene's family before going off on their own romantic getaway.

Agnes didn’t really want to leave the manor, getting used to a whole new house and set of parents felt a bit overwhelming but she thought maybe she should go and give Enid and Wednesday some space. She wasn’t sure they would want her hanging around for a whole week with just the 3 of them.

She was still mulling over her decision when one morning during fencing practice with Wednesday the psychic casually mentioned that when the rest of the family had left they would have more time to train. Then later that evening Enid mentioned, equally as casually, that she had ordered a projector and fairy lights to set up in the living room so that they could have movie nights during Wednesday’s writing time.

Agnes was relieved when she realized that both of the older girls had assumed she would be staying with them. She let Eugene and Pugsley know and 2 days later the Addams, minus Wednesday, packed up the limo and headed off.

--

The first afternoon by themselves, her and Enid set up the projector in the living room. They hung a white sheet on one of the walls, covering some of the paintings, and arranged the fairy lights around the sheet. When the main light was switched off and with all the pillows and blankets they heaped on the couch, the gothic living room could almost have been considered cosy.

It was still relatively early in the day but Enid insisted they have a Disney movie marathon.

The first sign that anything was afoot was when Enid came down the stairs with several stuffed animals in her arms, including Mr Fox which she had obviously fished out from under Agnes’ pillow. She arranged them on the couch, handing Agnes the fox, before settling in on the couch herself.

Agnes accepted the fox warily. Sitting on the couch, Agnes kept a foot of buffer between herself and the werewolf.

What perhaps should have been the bigger clue was when Wednesday sat down on her other side without a word. Usually, Enid had to bully the psychic into watching Disney movies with them.

Agnes eyed them both suspiciously. When neither so much as looked her way she settled back and tried to focus on the movie.

Halfway through, it became glaringly obvious what the older girls were doing. They had both shifted towards her over the course of the movie so that she was now properly sandwiched in between the 2 of them.

When Enid placed a pillow on her lap and gestured for Agnes to place her head on it, Agnes glared at the girl. “I know what you’re doing,” she accused Enid.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Enid replied with a straight face, “we are watching a movie and relaxing.”

Agnes didn’t believe her for a second, but she allowed Enid to pull her down so that her head was in her lap and her feet were resting against Wednesday’s legs.

When Enid started lightly scratching at her scalp she whined. “This isn’t fair, you’re cheating.”

“Shhh,” Enid hushed her, “just relax, we’ve got you.”

Between the warmth of the blankets and the safety of being curled up with her 2 favourite people, Agnes breathed out and let herself slip.

Chapter Text

Enid felt the shift almost immediately, feeling the tension leaving the younger girls body. She grinned triumphantly over at Wednesday, the psychic giving her a small smile and nod, looking adorable in her summery black pyjamas.  

Agnes had desperately needed to regress, she had been fighting it ever since she had arrived at the manor nearly 2 weeks ago. Enid had caught her on multiple occasions with her thumb at her lips, a soft, dreamy look in her eyes. It hadn’t been difficult to orchestrate the perfect conditions to help facilitate the drop, and it had happened quicker than Enid had expected.

If she was being honest, Enid needed this almost as much as Agnes did. She had come to depend on the times over the past 6 months when Agnes was small. During those times, nothing else seemed to matter. Having Agnes look at her with so much love and trust filled her in a way she hadn’t thought was possible, and it grounded her on the days when she struggled to get her mother’s voice out of her head.

Reverting her attention back to the girl in her arms, she saw that Agnes’ thumb had slipped into her mouth. “Babe, can you” she started, Wednesday already handing her a small black bag that had the few little items that they had picked up earlier that week, knowing that all of Agnes’ little things were at her fathers. 

“Thanks,” she said gratefully to Wednesday before she gently tugged Agnes thumb out of her mouth. The younger girl whined at the action, but Enid quickly replaced her thumb with a pacifier. Agnes gave it a couple of tentative sucks, before settling back down in Enid’s arms. 

They watched the rest of the movie, Enid running her hands through Agnes’ hair throughout. When the credits rolled Enid paused the movie and stretched, Wednesday sitting up next to her. “We should probably think about dinner.” Enid said to no one in particular.

“There are a few places that deliver nearby, I will get the menus” Wednesday stated, standing.

“Trust the Addams family to still be using take out menus, how did you even call them before you got a cell phone? What, did you hand out crystal balls to the local restaurants?” Enid teased her girlfriend.

“Yes.” Wednesday said matter-of-factly, as though that was obvious. “They are not complicated, a child could use them.”

“Oh. Well. Right.” Enid rambled, surprised at having been right, but never that surprised when it came to Wednesday and her family. Looking down, she saw that Agnes was still contentedly sucking on her pacifier, her fox close to her chest. “What do you feel like for dinner, baby?”

She got no response. Enid wondered if that was because Agnes was feeling shy and needed to warm up to being regressed after such a long break, or if it was because she was feeling smaller than normal. Enid kind of hoped it was the latter, baby Agnes was just so cute and it had been a while since she had been really little.

“Can I braid your hair?” she asked instead, helping Agnes sit on the floor in front of her when she gave a half nod. She wove the girl’s hair into a loose single French braid, idly noting that her bangs were starting to cover her eyes. She would need to take her to the hairdressers before the end of the summer.

Wednesday returned with the menus and they settled on pizza, Wednesday leaving the act of calling up to Enid. She got a meatlovers for herself, and a plain cheese for Agnes who had yet to utter a single word, and Wednesday asked for something called an ‘Addams speciality’. Enid decided she didn’t want to know.  

When she was finished, she helped Agnes back on the couch. The girl curled up in her lap, resting her head against Enid’s chest and fisting her hand in Enid’s shirt. “I think we might have an extra little baby with us tonight.” Enid murmured to Wednesday.

“That is unsurprising. She has been holding this part of herself back for over a month now.” Wednesday agreed.

“It’s nice,” Enid softly admitted after a moments silence, “I like it when she’s like this, it makes me feel needed. Do you think that’s selfish of me?”

“No,” Wednesday replied simply. “Agnes needs this just as much as you do. And you have always had a tenancy to care and protect others. You protected me from Tyler. You are constantly helping everyone who so much as looks at you at school. Agnes is pack and when she’s small, she accepts your care more readily, which in turn allows you to fulfil that side of you.”

Enid considered Wednesday’s words. Was Agnes pack? She guessed she was, although she had never thought about the girl in those terms, not like she had with Wednesday. Her wolf certainly seemed to agree with the thought, almost purring at the back of her mind. “Wait.. are you saying that I’m only doing this because I’m an Alpha? That this is just some, wolf instinct thing?”

“No. You are doing it because you are you, and you care deeply about your pack.”

“That still sounds like you’re saying it’s because I’m an Alpha, and an Alpha looks out for the pack.”

“You misunderstand me. You believe that I am saying that you are like this because you are an Alpha. When in fact it is because you care so deeply that you were destined to become an Alpha.”

Enid thought she understood the distinction Wednesday was making. It was maybe the difference between blindly following instinct, and forging your own path with instinct catching up later.

She thought about her phone call with Agnes the night of the full moon, when she saw how defeated the girl had looked, as though Agnes had accepted that she wasn’t worth anything in her mother’s eyes. Her wolf had gotten dangerously close to the surface in that moment.

She looked down at her young charge. It was clear Agnes hadn’t been paying any attention to the heavy conversation going on around her. She was blinking sleepily and drawing shapes on Enid’s collarbone with her index finger. Enid got the sudden, overwhelming feeling that she was holding something very precious. Pack, she thought. That felt right. Her wolf agreed.

The doorbell ringing startled her out of her thoughts. Agnes looked up at her, panic evident in her eyes. “It’s okay baby, it’s just the pizza’s” Enid soothed, “how about we go set the table while Wednesday gets the food hm?” she said standing and hoisting Agnes onto her hip.  

She managed to get the plates out 1 handed, a whine and a glare preventing her from setting the vanisher down, as well as some napkins and glasses of water for her and Wednesday.

When Wednesday joined them with the pizzas she was able to sit Agnes down at the table, the girl more content to be released with Wednesday next to her, and went to fetch the little items from the living room. When she returned, she put a bib on a wriggling Agnes, who did not seem pleased at being bibbed, and filled up a sippy cup with water.

She cooed at Agnes, the girl was glaring at her with folded arms, although the bib and pacifier made the sight adorable rather than threatening. “Aw baby, I know, I’m the worst making sure you don’t spill food and water on your pyjamas.”

Agnes huffed then turned her gaze to Wednesday, obviously searching for some kind of backup against the bibbing travesty. “I’m sure I could find an old highchair somewhere in storage if you prefer.” Wednesday said placidly while dishing up the pizza, cutting Agnes’ slices into smaller pieces.

Agnes’ eyes widened comically large at the suggestion before she rapidly shook her head. Enid had to stifle a laugh at the reaction.

The 3 of them had dinner, and Enid was glad for both the bib and the sippy cup as the cup ended up on the floor more than once and Agnes was covered in sauce and grease by the time they were finished.

Enid wrestled a damp cloth over the girls hands and face, Agnes squawking at the mistreatment and flickering ineffectively in and out of sight. Enid took the bib off and handed Agnes back her pacifier. She couldn’t help but grin, Agnes was just too cute when she was like this, even with all the huffing and glares.

“Come on cutie, how about we go pick another movie to watch?” she asked as she lifted the vanisher onto her hip. “Babe can you please bring some milk out for her?” she called back to Wednesday, calling out a thank you when she heard Wednesday’s affirmation.  

She got them settled back on the couch, Agnes lying across it with her head on a pillow in Enid’s lap, back to being placid and sweet and cute. She pulled up another Disney movie for them to watch.

When Wednesday returned she handed Enid a bottle of milk. Agnes eyed it, but didn’t protest when Enid replaced her pacifier with the bottle’s teat. She squeaked at the first suck, obviously not having expected it to be warm but settled back down soon after.

Enid gazed at her, watching as her blinks got slower and slower. “I don’t think she’s going to last much longer.”

Enid was right, Agnes got halfway through the bottle before her suckles slowed and a bit of milk dripped down her chin. Enid replaced the bottle with her pacifier, wiping the milk away.

When it was clear that Agnes was down for the count, Enid switched the movie to some new serial killer documentary at Wednesday’s request.

Wednesday moved to Enid’s other side, and Enid leaned into her girlfriend, feeling Wednesday wrap her arm around her. Pack, she thought again. These 2 lunatics were her pack.  

She smiled to herself. Yes, pack. 

Chapter Text

Wednesday woke first the next morning, which was nearly always the case between her and Enid. She stared at the ceiling for a bit, her black out curtains preventing the early morning light from filtering through the room, before she glanced at Enid sleeping beside her. Agnes was curled up on the werewolf’s other side.

It was the first time Agnes had ever shared a bed with the 2 of them, the single beds at the dorm barely practical for her and Enid, let alone a third body. Enid had carried the sleeping child up the stairs the previous evening, but when Wednesday had opened the door to the girls room Enid had stood on the threshold looking a little lost. Like she couldn’t bear the thought of releasing the vanisher and leaving her in this far away space. 

It hadn’t taken Wednesday long to come to a decision. She closed the door and lead the blond to her own room instead. The sheer look of relief and gratitude that had washed over Enid’s face had made her insides squirm. Enid had a habit of bringing seldom felt emotions coursing through her, and although it had been some months since they had entered into a relationship Wednesday still couldn’t say she was used to the sensations.

She thought back to her conversation with Enid before dinner. It seemed that her suggesting that Enid thought of Agnes as pack was the first time the werewolf had considered the idea. Wednesday had thought it had been obvious, which is why she had never mentioned it. Although Enid had been dealing with a lot this year since it became known she was an Alpha, the worsening relationship with her family and navigating the new dynamics with the pack at Nevermore had taken up a lot of mental bandwidth. She obviously hadn’t had time to realize that her wolf had been busy making its own pack.

She considered getting up and taking advantage of the quiet of the morning before her attention would be demanded by the 2 sleeping next to her. But when she looked back over at them something in her chest squeezed ever so slightly, and she found the calls of her never ending To-Do list receding to the back of her mind. So for the first time in a long while, Wednesday allowed herself the luxury of closing her eyes and returning to sleep.  

--

She was woken an unknown amount of time later to soft whisperings beside her.

“Shh, Wednesday is still sleeping.” That was Enid.

“Is she dead? Wednesday never sleeps in.” That was Agnes, sounding like she had aged back up.

“I checked, she’s still breathing. Maybe she was just tired?”

“Weird.”

“I know.”

There was a pause, then “Should we stick her hand in a bowl of warm water?”

“Try it and someone will indeed be dead before the day is out.” Wednesday spoke without opening her eyes, causing the younger girl to let out a squeak of fright.

“Morning babe” she heard Enid say happily, and she felt warm lips press against her cheek.

Opening her eyes she saw that Enid was sitting up in the bed, her back to the headboard, the lump under the covers on Enid’s other side was obviously Agnes ineffectively hiding herself after Wednesday’s threat.

“You look so cute when you're sleeping,” Enid continued.

Agnes peaked her head out next to Enid. “How come you were still asleep? Are you dying? Can I have your guillotine if you die?”

Wednesday twitched, vowing to herself to never fall back to sleep in the mornings in future. Neither Enid nor Agnes could be trusted.

Getting up from the bed Wednesday grabbed a fresh set of clothes from her closet. “I’m going to shower. I suggest you both not be here when I return.”

She didn’t love that she heard 2 sets of giggles as she left the bedroom. She was letting them get entirely too comfortable around her.

--

When she ventured downstairs after getting ready for the day she found them in the kitchen, both changed out of their pjs. Enid was cooking something at the stove and Agnes was setting out plates and drinks at the table.

Wednesday watched Agnes as they ate breakfast and she noticed Enid doing the same. The girl was slipping and, as she often did, she seemed completely unaware of that fact. She was squirming in her chair, food forgotten on her plate as she looked around the room curiously.

Wednesday had asked her once, if she remembered much of her time being little when she aged back up and vice versa. Agnes had confirmed that she remembered everything, but it was fuzzy and when she dropped it was like she was seeing things with new eyes.

Wednesday supposed that for a child such as Agnes the Addams manor must seem like a theme park, with many exciting new places to explore and things to do. She felt a sudden spike of alarm. While she had never believed in baby proofing, indeed she only kept her knives out of sight at Enid’s insistence, she realized that there were actually many, many, things in this house that could harm a child.

While she could count on big Agnes to have enough competence to at least keep herself alive when her curiosity got the better of her, the same could not be said for this smaller, softer version of Agnes.

She looked at Enid, surely the werewolf would also realize the potential danger that lurked around every corner. Unfortunately, Enid wasn’t looking at her and was instead trying to convince a fully dropped Agnes to eat more of her breakfast.

“Come on, just 3 more bites and then you can go and play.”

‘Go and play’? Wednesday thought incredulously. Go and play where exactly? In the living room next to the cursed voodoo heads? Or perhaps in the 3 dedicated torture chambers? Hey maybe she should lead Agnes through the cemetery that her ancestors haunted and occasionally killed a stray cat when it got to close, that would be a ball!

Strangely, she felt her pulse quicken. She looked down at the half eaten food in front of her. Had Enid put something in it? She would be impressed if she had, but poison didn’t seem like Enid’s style.

When she looked up next Agnes was gone. Her breath hitched. She stood up from the table and called out to her. “Agnes. Show yourself.”

Enid looked startled. “She’s just gone to the bathroom, I told her she could play with the toys in the living room while we finish breakfast.”

The bathroom? There were at least 17 different things that could kill her on the way to the ground level bathroom. How could Enid have been so reckless?

“We need to stop her.” She snapped at Enid, already moving in the direction of the bathroom. Her heart was pounding in her chest, was there a gas leak maybe?

“What? Why?!” finally Enid was starting to show the appropriate level of alarm for the situation. “Wednesday!” she felt Enid grab her hand, stopping her from pursuing.

She yanked her hand from Enid’s grasp and turned to her, snarling “this house is dangerous Enid. You can’t just let her wander around on her own.” Her breath was coming out in uneven gasps all of a sudden, and her vision was blurring at the edges. What on earth was happening?

Enid grabbed a hold of her hands, more firmly this time, and squeezed. “Wednesday, I think you might be having a panic attack. It’s okay, she’s okay. This is just new, we’re used to her regressing in our dorm where it’s familiar and safe. It’s going to take a bit to get used to the new environment. But I promise, everything is okay.”

She felt Enid pulling her to walk, and then something ice cold was placed on the back of her neck. She looked at Enid’s worried face in front of her, then glanced over to where she could see through the doorway to Agnes in the living room, playing with the stuffed animals that had been left there from the night before.

Right. She was okay. Her and Enid would watch her and keep her alive. Her body having this absurd reaction was only going to limit her effectiveness in keeping the small child out of harm’s way. She returned her gaze to Enid.

“You back with me?” Enid asked.

Wednesday nodded in the affirmative. “I apologize. I am unsure what happened, it was if my body had a mind of it’s own. I will investigate the possibility of possession later today.”

Enid gave her a soft smile, “I don’t think you’re possessed babe. This is how parents feel when they think their kid is in danger.”

Wednesday blinked at her. Well that was absurd. Wednesday was hardly a parent and even if she was how was panicking supposed to help parents keep their children alive? Enid was obviously losing it. She would need to keep a closer eye on the both of them it would seem.

Trying to move past the odd moment, Wednesday said “Regardless, the dangers in this house are numerous and Agnes is… incorrigible. We must ensure that one of us is in her presence at all times while she is regressed. Any room with something harmful is off limits.” Wednesday ran through a mental checklist of each room in the manor. “Scratch that, they are all too dangerous. The grounds are also off limits. She must remain within the living room.” Wednesday concluded.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to convince her to stay in the living room babe.” Enid had the nerve to look bemused, as though it were Wednesday and not her that was being ridiculous.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously then perhaps I should monitor Agnes for the remainder of the day. You may go and do whatever it is that you do.”

Enid raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Sure. Yea. You monitor her Wednesday, I’ll go do whatever it is that I do.” She was speaking in that tone that implied that Wednesday had said something wrong, but Wednesday didn’t have time to puzzle out what it could be. Every moment Agnes was left alone in the living room was a moment closer to potential death.

Accepting Enid’s words at face value, Wednesday headed to the living room. Agnes jumped up when she entered and bounced in front of Wednesday “Can we please go exploring?”

Wednesday felt justified in her decision to keep Agnes contained in the living room, the girl was already far too excited at the prospect of the manor. “No, the manor isn’t safe for children. You may play with your toys within the living room.”

“But,” Agnes whined, “none of my toys are here and stuffed animals are boring. Why can’t we do something fun?”

“No,” Wednesday said firmly. “Whining will not help you. You may play with Enid’s toys, or you may watch a movie.”

Enid brushed past her and lay on the couch pulling out her phone. Wednesday eyed her. “Oh don’t mind me, I’m just doing whatever it is that I do.” She said airily, not looking up from her phone.  

“Eeenid,” Agnes turned her pleading to the werewolf instead, “Wednesday is being mean. Can you play with me please? We could go fishing? I know where Pugsley keeps everything.”

Wednesday was slightly worried that Enid would go back on her word and give in to the younger girl’s whines, she was always soft with the girl. However, Enid just looked up briefly and said, “I’m sorry baby, I’d love to but Wednesday’s in charge today,” before going back to her phone.

Agnes eyes glanced between the two older girls, before she scowled. “You guys are mean,” she muttered, sitting down on the floor and angrily picking up one of Enid’s stuffed animals.

Wednesday breathed an internal sigh of relief. Agnes could be as upset as she liked, better to be angry in the living room than decapitated in another. All she had to do was watch over her until she aged back up. Now, to babyproof the living room.

She found a box and started collecting all of the cursed voodoo heads and knickknacks that were in the room, as well as anything sharp or pointy. Agnes was muttering angrily under her breath but she was playing with Enid’s toys so Wednesday left her to it.

As she was clearing out the shelf in the far corner of the room she became dimly aware that the muttering had stopped. She paused briefly to confirm, before whirling in place. The spot where Agnes had been was empty.

She hurried over to find that one of Enid’s stuffed rabbits had been tied to a coffee table leg with string, the rest of the toys were in a semi circle around the rabbit. The rabbit had a piece of paper stuck to it that read ‘Wednesday’ while some of the other toys were holding small, makeshift signs that read ‘Burn the Witch.’

Enid was softly humming to herself on the couch behind her.

Great.

--

Wednesday hurried through the manor, thinking fast. Where would a psychotic teenager with the headspace of a 6 year old go? All of the bedrooms were out, they would be far too mundane for Agnes. The library and music room, again, likely too boring. The torture chambers or the dungeons could be a possibility. She decided to check them first.

Opening the door to 1 of the torture chamber a clunking sound alerted her and she ducked to the side, watching as a crossbow bolt whizzed past her and slammed into the hallway behind her. She had definitely been through here then.

“Nice try Agnes,” she called to the empty room, “but you’ve already used that one before.” She listened out for any signs of movement. When she heard none she entered cautiously. As she moved further into the room she noticed something glinting in the air from the light of the hallway. Turning her head she could see it was a fishing line, and as she followed the line with her eyes she found it was connected to another crossbow.

How disappointing. Apparently little Agnes was a one trick pony. She grabbed the string and yanked, deftly stepping to the side to avoid the bolt only to feel white hot pain shoot through her foot. Looking down she found that she had stepped in a small animal trap and it had clamped down on her foot.

“I haven’t used that one before.” She heard Agnes call, before the girl appeared a few feet in front of her, blew her a kiss then vanished again.

Wednesday was both impressed and furious. Freeing herself from the trap she noted her platform shoes had prevented the trap from piercing her skin but the force of it had still hurt. Taking a moment to enjoy the pain, Wednesday exited after Agnes.

She contemplated Agnes’ next move. She had likely headed far from this room, putting space between her and Wednesday. The torture chambers were all on the ground floor, the stairs to the dungeon fairly close by. No, it was more likely that Agnes had gone to a higher level.

As she hurried to the stairs she heard Enid call out as she passed the living room. “Need any help?”

“No,” she called back. “Everything is under control.”

Level 1 was mostly bedrooms, so Wednesday went straight up to Level 2. Level 2 contained the taxidermy room, bone room and lab, among others, although those 3 seemed the most likely.

The taxidermy room was closest so Wednesday entered. Large hulking beasts loomed over her, with smaller animals stacked on shelves and in boxes. She stopped abruptly. A needle was being thread through a small doll in the middle of the room, both were suspended in mid air. The doll slowly turned to face her and she saw that black X’s had been threaded over the dolls eyes.

“Agnes, enough. Return with me to the living room at once.”

Wednesday watched as the doll slowly moved it’s head from side to side before it and the needle dropped suddenly to the floor.

Wednesday moved quickly to the doll, reaching out to the space where Agnes had been, her hand passing through air ineffectively. Turning abruptly she watched as the door to the room slammed shut and she heard the sound of a key being turned.

Cursing to herself, Wednesday spent the next few minutes unlocking the door with her lockpick set. When it finally opened she stood in the hallway and debated her next move. Agnes had had plenty of time to get practically anywhere she wanted with no way for Wednesday to know where she had gone.

Sighing, Wednesday decided to check the remaining rooms on level 2 and see if she could see anything amiss. She narrowly avoided having a vial of acid dropped on her in the lab, her only clue a faint sizzling sound after a drop had landed on her shirt. The other rooms on the floor provided no clues and after checking all of the bedrooms she was still no closer to finding the vanisher.

Wednesday knew that Agnes had explored the majority of the manor in her older headspace, all except one room. The room at the end of the southern corridor. Wednesday swallowed. Surely Agnes wouldn’t be so foolish as to enter it unaccompanied.

But somewhere way down she knew that wasn’t true. Agnes was angry, and she would know that this would get under Wednesday’s skin. She headed back down the stairs, passing Enid again, still prone on the couch.

As she approached the room, she noted that the door was ever so slightly ajar. Her theory had been correct then. The family largely avoided this room, and even her and Pugsley had an unspoken agreement that this room was off limits when they were trying to kill one another.

She pushed the door open slowly. It was dark, but not dark in the normal sense. It was more a complete absence of light, the light from the hallway stopping right at the doorway. She took a breath and stepped into the room, the darkness swallowing her.

No longer able to see the hallway behind her, Wednesday edged further into the room. “Agnes,” she said evenly, “this has gone on long enough.” She heard the sound of a door closing somewhere behind her.  

Ah. Right. That was smart of the girl, she should have thought of that. A chill breeze went through the room, even though there were no windows. Well, at least the child would be spared whatever was about to happen next.

--

Wednesday wasn’t sure how much time had passed but she eventually found the door handle, half spilling into the living room before righting herself with as much dignity as she could muster.

She trudged back to the living room.

Enid didn’t even look up from her phone. The werewolf was really going to make her say it. Wednesday fumed silently for a few seconds, before forcing the words out. “I require your assistance.”

“Please,” she added on when Enid still didn’t glance at her.

Finally, Enid stopped her scrolling and sat up on the couch, her eyes raking over Wednesday’s appearance. She knew she didn’t look great, her clothing rumpled, braids coming undone and sweat making several strands of hair stick to her face. This was the most humiliating thing she had ever had happen to her, and if it had been anyone other than Enid she would not have been standing in front of them admitting defeat.

She worried for a moment that Enid might still refuse her, but the werewolf stood and lightly kissed her on the cheek, then marched to the bottom of the stairwell.

“Agnes,” she called out. “That’s enough, please come back downstairs.”

Wednesday looked at Enid incredulously. That was her whole plan? Just telling the girl to come back downstairs? Wednesday had been trying that for hours with no success and Enid thought she could just say it once and it would magica-

She startled as Agnes appeared on the staircase. Then watched with sheer disbelief as Enid opened her arms and Agnes walked straight into them.

The two broke from the hug, Enid’s arm over Agnes’ shoulders as they walked back to Wednesday. “Thank you for playing with me, that was really fun.” Agnes said to Wednesday. She looked at Enid, “I’m hungry.”

“Why don’t you go watch something while Wednesday and I make some lunch?” Enid said fondly, handing the younger girl her pacifier. Agnes put the pacifier in her mouth and skipped happily over to the couch.

Wednesday followed Enid to the kitchen, head still reeling from the last few minutes. How had Enid done that? Why had Agnes listened to her and not Wednesday? Did the werewolf have some mind control powers she had neglected to tell Wednesday about?

She stopped as she realized that Enid was glaring at her, her arms folded. “Thank you,” Wednesday said, “that was… effective.”

Enid didn’t move. “Just doing whatever it is that I do.”

There was that phrase again. “You are angry with me, for allowing Agnes to put herself in danger.”

“No Wednesday, I’m angry at you because you just shut me down this morning and acted like I contribute nothing useful when it comes to taking care of Agnes.”

“You were not taking the dangers presented seriously.”

“Ya, I was. But you didn’t give me a chance to say that. We’re supposed to be a team, we should have discussed our concerns and made a plan together. Not just you decide to keep her trapped in the living room which, spoiler, was never going to work!”

Wednesday was quiet for a long moment. She grudgingly accepted that Enid may have a point. She was used to doing things on her own, not relying or discussing with others before she did something. She had been slowly trying to break the habit since her and Enid had gotten together. She knew that was an important part of being in a relationship, even if she didn’t like it at times.

“She listened to you.” She said quietly to Enid. “She came downstairs when you told her to, but not when I did. Why?”

Enid softened at the question, her arms uncrossing. “She was trying to teach you a lesson, not me. But she listens to me because she trusts that I don’t just make arbitrary rules out of nowhere and expect her to blindly obey. But she listens to you too, Wednesday, you know, when you’re not being a dick.” Enid gave her a crooked smile.

Wednesday mulled that over. Perhaps she had been slightly overbearing this morning, little Agnes was not so incompetent it would seem. It was usually her reminding Enid of that fact, not the other way around. Looking over at Enid she said, “I apologize for not hearing you out earlier. I would like to discuss with you the rules going forward, if that would be acceptable.”

Enid stepped up to her, arms wrapping over her shoulders. “It would,” she said then pressed her lips softly against Wednesday’s own.

“Aww,” a voice sounded, causing Wednesday and Enid to hastily separate. “You guys made up,” Agnes was grinning at them.

Enid threw a tea towel at her. “It’s rude to spy on people.”

Agnes shrugged, “you were taking ages and I wanted some juice.”

--

As the 3 later settled on the couch Agnes, now aged back up, turned to Wednesday and asked “Are you mad?”

Wednesday gave her a steely look. “That was the most fun I’ve had in years, Pugsley has never provided such a challenge. You are a worthy adversary. However, be warned. You have started a war and next time I won’t go so easy on you.”

Agnes beamed at her.

Chapter Text

Agnes balanced precariously on the top step of the ladder, a bead of sweat trickling down her forehead. The carnivorous plants below couldn’t see her, but they seemed to sense that there was something present above them as they snapped lazily at the air beneath her feet.

Wednesday had been caring for the plants while her mother was away, and while she usually fed them first thing, she had been busy that morning and had yet to get around to it. Agnes therefore knew that the psychic would have to enter the greenhouse at some point during that day. Which was why the greenhouse, and the paths leading up to it, had been set with traps.

Ever since Agnes had lead Wednesday through the manor on a wild goose chase a week earlier, her and Wednesday had been engaged in active warfare. Wednesday had promised her as much however it had been most surprising when Enid had also allowed them to partake in the dangerous game of cat and mouse, albeit with a few ground rules. The first being that common areas and bedrooms were off limits and the second that this was only to go on until the Addams family returned and not a minute longer.

Agnes had asked Enid at bedtime that night why she had agreed and Enid had muttered through gritted teeth something about compromise being an important part of a relationship. Agnes hadn’t asked any more follow up questions for fear of the werewolf changing her mind.

She finished tying off the small pouch to the greenhouse rafters, making sure it was hidden from sight. She couldn’t set up anything in the greenhouse that might accidentally harm the plants, however if she could get Wednesday to stray too close to them at the wrong time the carnivorous beauties would do the work for her.

During their time spent together, Mrs Addams had shown her a perfume that contained a pheromone that drove the plants into a frenzy. Agnes had watched in fascination as Mrs Addams had puffed a small amount into the air and the plants had thrashed in their pots, mouths snapping open and shut wildly. This was what the pouch contained, and if she could get it to release at the right moment she could finally get one up on Wednesday.

Agnes hadn’t realized just lucky she had gotten that day, Wednesday’s worry about her safety having obviously thrown her off her game. While Wednesday’s traps had gotten her on multiple occasions over the week, every one of Agnes’ traps had been foiled by the psychic.

Enid was handling the whole thing better than Agnes would have expected, although the indifference Enid displayed when Pugsley and Wednesday tried to kill each other definitely didn’t extend to Agnes. Indeed, when Enid had found Agnes dangling by her ankle over several large animal traps earlier in the week Agnes had expected her to lose it. However, Enid had calmly helped her down, ignoring Agnes’ protests that she could get down herself, then marched silently out into the woods without looking back.

Wednesday and Agnes had halted everything for the rest of the day and instead had tidied, cooked dinner and sat quietly at the dinner table while they waited for the werewolf to return.

Enid’s eyes still had hints of something dangerous in them when she walked out of the woods, however she thanked them for cooking and cuddled with Agnes on the couch after she had eaten.

When two nights prior to their expected return, Pugsley had informed them that his parents were extending their vacation and they would all be away for another few days, the glass in Enid’s hand had cracked. She set it down and said firmly “this ends tomorrow.”

So today was the last day Agnes had to get back at Wednesday and she was not going to waste it. She climbed down the ladder, picking it up when she was back on solid ground. She stepped carefully over the tripwire at the entrance, Wednesday would spot that immediately but hopefully once she found 3 or 4 of the more obvious traps that Agnes had set she would miss the hidden one.

She tread slowly around the landmines she had placed outside of the greenhouse, all far enough away that they wouldn’t damage the greenhouse or the plants within, and returned the ladder to the shed she had found it in.

As she set the ladder down it flickered back into sight. While it was effortless to turn her clothing and small objects invisible, it took considerable concentration to extend the invisibility to large objects and she found herself drained from having kept the ladder out of sight for so long.

As much as she wanted Wednesday to get caught in her trap soon, she registered a soft haze was prickling at the edges of her mind.

She thought about tracking down Enid or Wednesday and letting them know. That was another thing that had changed since that day. She now had rules during her times regressed. They were mostly relevant for the manor, although some of them would remain for when they returned to Nevermore.

The main one was that she wasn’t allowed anywhere without either Enid or Wednesday in her presence, and there were several rooms that were forbidden no matter what. They had also made it very clear that if she was ever feeling like she might regress or did ever regress with no one around that she had to come and find one of them immediately. Agnes had nodded along to the new rules, they all seemed fair.

Maintaining her invisibility for now, Agnes snuck in through one of the side doors, then headed for her bedroom, not wanting to give Wednesday any clues about where she had been. She dropped the invisibility after she entered, then stepped back into the corridor.

“Wednesday? Enid?” she called into the hallway. Getting no response she checked their bedroom, then headed upstairs when she found it empty. She suspected she knew where Wednesday was. A package had arrived late yesterday that contained a small, frozen crocodile sent by Wednesday’s uncle, and Wednesday had been holed up in the taxidermy room ever since.

Her hunch proved correct and she found Wednesday hunched over the work bench. She stopped at the threshold of the room, this space was technically within the bounds of their game.

“Wednesday?” she called.

Wednesday turned and studied Agnes intensely for a long moment, obviously trying to determine if this was a trick of some kind. Agnes shuffled on her feet under the scrutiny and placed the tip of her index finger in her mouth, biting down.

Wednesday’s expression eventually softened, “Come in little one, it is safe to enter.”

Agnes hurried inside. She sat on the stool at the workbench, her shoulder brushing against Wednesday’s. The partially skinned crocodile sat in front of her. It had a lot of teeth, more than any animal she had ever seen!

“Can we put a clock inside?” she asked Wednesday. Wednesday glanced at her from where she stood over the small animal, scalpel and forceps in hand. “Like in Peter Pan,” Agnes clarified, “then we can hear it and it won’t be able to sneak up on us.”

“This one’s sneaking days are long gone.” Wednesday said.

Agnes’ shoulders deflated slightly.

Wednesday carefully cut the skin around the crocodile’s leg. “But.. perhaps we can put one in when it is nearing completion.”

Agnes perked up again. “It has to be a ticking clock.”

Wednesday nodded “Anything else would be inferior.”

Agnes watched Wednesday work for a while before growing bored, skinning an animal was a slow process. She spun on the stool. She loved this room. Enid said the animals were creepy but she didn’t think so, she wanted to take all of them back to school with her.

She jumped off the stool to go play with them. “Agnes,” Wednesday’s firm voice sounded behind her, “remember the rules, please remain where I can see you.”

“I knooow,” Agnes huffed. How could she possibly forget the rules, Enid and Wednesday reminded her of them only about a billion times a day.

She gave the large, upright bear a hug and complimented an owl next to it on its new hat (she had made it for him yesterday) before finding the box with the family of foxes, her favourites. There was a mom, a dad and 5 babies that had apparently been buried and perished in their den when an earthquake had struck their home region. An extended Addams family member had found them and sent them over.

The babies had a habit of sneaking away from their parents and hiding. She wasn’t sure how they were doing it, maybe they came to life when she wasn’t looking? Like the toys in Toy Story. She looked in the box and gasped when she saw that the 5 babies were once again missing.

“Wednesday!” she called excitedly, “the baby foxes have run away again!”

“Well you had better hunt them down, it is not safe for cubs to be separated from their parents.”

Agnes searched the room. She knew they would be here somewhere, the babies were brave but not that brave. She found one in a box that contained several rabbits. “You’re too little to catch dinner all by yourself,” she admonished the baby as she set her down with her parents.

The next two were playing with a wolf cub on the floor in the far corner of the room, and the fourth was pretending to be a bird on a tall shelf. It took longer to find the last one, but she eventually found him on the workbench, watching Wednesday curiously. “Wednesday, look! He wanted to meet the crocodile!”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get eaten,” she said sternly to the cub. She returned him to his parents. They looked happier now that their babies were back with them. Maybe the cubs would run away less if they had a proper home? The cardboard box they normally lived in didn’t seem very comfy. She looked around the room, maybe she could build them a den underneath a table?

She hurried back to Wednesday. “Wednesday,” she said hesitantly. Wednesday’s hands stilled and she raised an eyebrow in invitation for her to continue. “Can we please get some blankets and sheets so I can build a den for the foxes?” she asked hopefully.

Wednesday considered the question then nodded, setting down her tools and removing her gloves. She offered her hand out to Agnes. Agnes grasped it and let Wednesday lead her to the linen cupboard on the level below, where they grabbed some towels and blankets. “Maybe the cubs won’t run away if they have a nice home?” Agnes said to Wednesday.

“Perhaps.” Wednesday said as they walked back. “Although cubs are curious creatures, they may still want to investigate their surroundings.”

Agnes could understand that, staying in one place was boring when there were so many other exciting things to be doing.

When they arrived back Agnes wasted no time in clearing space beneath one of the tables and laying the towels down on the floor. Next, she hung the blankets off the sides of the table, so that the area below was completely enclosed. She moved the foxes into the den one by one. “This is your new home,” she explained to them as she showed them the space.

Sometime later, a rapping sounded on the table above her and Enid’s voice rang out “Knock knock, Mr and Mrs Fox? I’m looking for my baby girl, have you seen her anywhere?”

Agnes giggled, Enid was silly. “I’m in here!” she called.

“What? Are you?” Enid said as though she didn’t believe what she was hearing. “I’m coming in!”

“Oh hi cutie!” she said warmly as she crawled into the den, sitting down cross legged.

Agnes moved into her lap “Enid!” she said happily. “I built the foxes a den so they don’t have to live in a cold cardboard box anymore.”

Enid wrapped her in a hug, kissing her on the forehead. “What a wonderful idea, I bet they much prefer this to the box.”

Agnes cuddled into Enid, “uh huh,” she said, resting her head on Enid’s chest. “Enid, I’m hungry. And thirsty.”

Enid rubbed her back “I bet you are, building homes is hard work. How about we go make some lunch?”

They walked over to where Wednesday was sitting at the desk now, working with something under the microscope. Enid placed her free hand on the back of the chair and leant down to give Wednesday a quick kiss. “We’re going to make lunch, how’s the project coming along?” Enid asked her fondly.

Wednesday started explaining something really boring about taxidermy. Agnes tuned her out. She shuffled on her feet as Enid and Wednesday’s conversation dragged on. Whhhy were they talking so much? She wanted to go now.

She tugged on Enid’s arm. “Hold on baby, I’m just talking to Wednesday right now.” Enid said to her.

Agnes sighed, then tried to pull Enid with her. The older girl didn’t budge. Agnes frowned and tried again, eventually putting all of her weight into it. The werewolf didn’t so much as twitch. Werewolves were so strong. Were all of them this strong? Or just Alphas?

She flopped on the floor, grown ups were so boring sometimes. She saw Enid look down at her and smile, but she kept talking to Wednesday. Agnes moved under the desk, resting against Wednesday’s legs.

She liked sitting on the floor when the older girls were standing. They were all practically the same height - Wednesday was even a little bit shorter! – so when she stood next to them it made her feel like she should be more in control. But sitting on the floor like this, with both of them towering above her made her feel small, but in a good way. She could just be safe and tiny while they looked after her.

She gazed up at them. What were they even talking about for this long? She tuned back into the conversation.

“Agnes has been with me for about an hour.” Wednesday was saying, and Agnes felt her face heat up. Oh. They were talking about her. “I am not aware of where she has been since breakfast, by my estimate, that’s 3 hours of time unaccounted for. You must remain within the neutral zones until I can locate and dismantle any traps that have been set.”

Enid nodded, sighing as she did so. “I cannot wait for this day to be over. I know you 2 have been having fun but my heart can’t take much more of this.”

Agnes pressed her forehead against Wednesday’s leg, feeling a twinge of guilt. It must be hard to have a kid that set death traps.

She felt a hand lightly thread through her hair and looked up to see Wednesday eyes boring into her. “Of course, it would be much easier if you would just tell us what you have been up to, hm?”

As if. “I haven’t been up to anything” she said with as much innocence as she could muster, blinking up at the psychic.

Wednesday smirked at her and Agnes couldn’t help but grin back. She knew Wednesday was just as excited as she was at the prospect of locating Agnes’ traps.

Enid held out a hand to her, “come on my little pyscho, let’s go get you some food.”

--

Agnes sat down at the kitchen island while Enid filled 2 glasses with water, before setting 1 down in front of Agnes. She held up 2 crazy straws that spiralled and had a small animal figure at the top of the straw. 1 had an elephant and the other a lion. Enid had found them at the supermarket when they had gotten groceries a few days ago and they were the coolest thing ever.

Agnes pointed at the elephant, thanking Enid as she handed it over and taking a long drink of water. It had been hot in that greenhouse, she probably should have had a drink sooner.

“I was thinking toasted sandwiches for lunch, sound good?” Enid asked her, already moving to get the various ingredients out.

“Cheese please!” Agnes chirped happily, “can I help?”

Together, they made 4 toasted sandwiches. Just cheese for Agnes, meat and cheese for Wednesday and double meat and 2 sandwiches for Enid. As the first 2 were cooking Enid cut an apple into slices and placed the bowl in between her and Agnes to share while they waited.

They munched on the apple slices and blew bubbles into their water glasses while Agnes told Enid all about how the fox cubs had run away from their parents again. “One of them nearly got eaten by the crocodile!”

“Oh no!” Enid gasped, “lucky you found him in time.”

Agnes nodded seriously. “Otherwise Wednesday would have to cut open the crocodile’s stomach to save him.”

“Well I’m glad she didn’t have to do that,” Enid agreed.

Wednesday joined them when lunch was ready, Enid cut up some more fruit for everyone, and Agnes spent lunch chattering non-stop. She liked that they never told her to be quiet, unless of course she was interrupting, because that was rude. But otherwise they seemed content to listen to her babbling. She knew it must be annoying, but they never made her feel like it was.

By the time lunch was finished, Agnes was tiring. She had been tired before lunch, but she’d forgotten about that after finding Wednesday and playing with the foxes. Now with a full belly and the warmth from the afternoon she was sleepy.

She didn’t think she’d been that obvious, but Enid was already saying to Wednesday that she was ‘going to put Agnes down for a nap.’ They talked about her as if she weren’t there way more often at the manor, even when she wasn’t regressed. She should have found it annoying, but mostly it just made her feel loved and cared for and it never failed to send her deeper into that warm, fuzzy feeling she got when she was regressed.

She didn’t register straight away when Wednesday mentioned she needed to feed her mother’s plants, her smaller side forgetting the importance of it. It wasn’t until Enid was lifting her from the chair and Wednesday was heading to the door that lead outside that something in her tweaked.

She felt her younger self retreat as her older self’s excitement at Wednesday heading to the greenhouse mounted. Not wanting to give anything away, she tried to relax into Enid’s arms as she was carried up the stairs. Man, this werewolf was strong, she thought again, Enid was carrying her as though she weighed practically nothing.

Enid set her down on her bed then gave her a second look and said “Oh hi there, welcome back.”

Enid seemed to have magic powers when it came to determining which version of Agnes she was dealing with. They were both distracted when a loud, angry voice sounded from outside the window below. “Agnes!”

Enid looked at Agnes with a raised eyebrow. Agnes grinned back at her. “I gotta go,” she said before vanishing and racing out of the room.

--

Much later, when things had calmed down and Agnes had deemed it safe to leave her hiding place she got the details from Enid. Apparently Wednesday had stormed into the bedroom, knife out, and dripping with water. It turned out that Wednesday had spied the land mines immediately and was on guard when she entered the greenhouse. She dismantled the tripwire, removed the razor blades from the cupboard door handle, prevented the axe from falling and stopped the actions that would release the pouch from its place on the rafters.

What she amazingly hadn’t spotted was the innocent bucket perched precariously in it’s usual place on top of the cupboard. The idea that Agnes would do something so basic as fill the bucket with water and set it to fall when the cupboard door was opened had apparently not crossed Wednesday’s mind.

Wednesday must have sensed her unrestrained glee as she had appeared suddenly and barked orders for Agnes to go outside and clean up her mess in the greenhouse. Enid had backed Wednesday, declaring to both of them that she wanted all traces of death traps gone before they went to bed that night.

In fairness, Agnes had tried, but she really was exhausted by this point. It was late and the adrenaline rush from earlier combined with the days activities had drained her and after cleaning the greenhouse and disarming 1 landmine she had to admit defeat. Even she didn’t want her regressed self dealing with live landmines.

She trudged back inside, teary eyed at not having completed what was asked of her and worried that the older girls would be mad at her. When Enid asked if she had finished she shook her head and stammered out “I’m-I’m sorry. I know I had to clean up but I feel small and you-you said I had to come find you when I feel small and-and-”

Enid hushed her and gently picked her up. “Shh it’s okay, good job for coming to find me.” Agnes wrapped herself around Enid, relieved that she wasn’t mad. Wednesday eventually joined them, having finished dismantling whatever things she had set up in the manor. Agnes tried to protest when Enid sent Wednesday out to get rid of the landmines.

“I can do it tomorrow,” she murmured from Enid’s shoulder.

“Shh,” Enid soothed her, “I feel safer with Wednesday doing it now. Come on, I saved you some dinner and then it’s bedtime.” There was a pause, then Enid said with a laugh in her voice “I can’t believe you managed to tip a bucket of water on her.”

Agnes grinned.