Beautiful Nightshade

Chapter 40

"Hi Nightshade and Flower," Uncle smiled as Belladonna and Calla Lily came into the diner a few days later. "Give me a second and I'll bring you out something to eat."

"Otay Ankhy," Calla Lilly smiled as they sat a booth. Belladonna pulled a coloring book out for Calla Lily and some crayons. She smiled as she started coloring while Belladonna looked out the window.

"Where are the guys?" Uncle asked as he sat food in front of the both of them then sat down.

"Work," Belladonna smiled as she took a drink of her water. "They know I'm here, I told them before I left the house."

"What's on your mind, Nightshade?" Uncle asked as she ate a fry.

She sighed and thought for a moment, "I think I want to go back to school," She finally admitted. "But I don't know for sure because of Flower and also I don't think I am ready to go on campus yet and also I don't know what I would pick for a major. I don't know maybe I shouldn't."

Uncle chuckled and took her hand. "Nightshade, you have so many more options then when you first went to college."

"Ten already went to college?" Kota asked as he and the rest of the group walked into the diner. "Hey Ten, hi Flower."

"Hi Daddy," Calla Lily smiled up at him then went back to her food.

"Yes, she did," Uncle smiled proudly. "She took college classes in high school. She even graduated a year early from high school at 16 due to her advanced classes and taking college classes. She then got her Associated Degree at 18. She finished all her classes in one year instead of two."

"Only because I took classes in high school and classes during breaks," She shook her head. "So did a ton of other people."

"You had a GPA of 3. 97 Nightshade, that is something to be proud of," Uncle shook his head.

"And there were others that had higher than me," She shook her head.

"That's what you meant by Flower taking after Princess," Victor smiled, "That's amazing Princess, some of us never even finished high school."

"Yeah, well, I doubt I could even get in now, there are too many variables to factor in not even including care for Flower, all the student loans I am still supposed to be paying back, or picking a major. Just forget it," She shook her head as she pushed her full plate away. "Mommy will be right back, Flower, keep eating," She kissed the top of her daughter's head and headed to the bathroom.

She slid to the floor and pressed her face into Night's neck as he rested his head on her shoulder. "Let me in Nightshade," Uncle said as he knocked on the door.

"In a minute," She called out as she hugged the pitch black pit bull. Once she felt herself under control she stood and took a deep breath.

She opened the door and was pulled into Uncle's arms. "It'll be okay, Nightshade. We will help you with everything, I promise."

"Thank you Ankh," She mumbled into his shirt.

"Come on, try and eat a little more please," He said as he led her back to the booth.

"I'll try," She mumbled as she looked down at the plate.

"Here," North took the plate and removed half the sandwich and half the fries. "There you go Baby," He said putting the plate back down in front of her.

"Thank you," She smiled at him and took a bite out of the sandwich.

"You can do classes online so you don't have to go on campus," Kota mentioned as Uncle brought out food for all of them. He bit back a chuckle when he noticed she would take bites from the men when they would offer or take fries or fruit off their plates. Sean gave him a look and he nodded in understanding. It made him happy how much she had improved with them.

"That would also allow you to stay with Flower," Nathan nodded as he tossed a fry Night while Luke tossed a fry to Max and Calla Lilly tossed a fry to Snow.

"That's enough human food for them," Uncle said as he placed plain hamburgers down for the dogs.

"We can discuss school later," Owen said after he took a drink of his water.

Raven's phone started ringing and he answered it. He started talking in Russian and Corey looked up shocked. "What?" Belladonna asked curiously.

Just then the diner door opened and a tall olive skinned man with dark eyes and salt and pepper hair slicked back walked in wearing dark blue jeans and a black shirt. He had full sleeve tattoos and neck tattoos. He was dangerous.

All three dogs started growling while he smirked at them but remained still.

"Grigoriy," Raven beamed as he stood.

"Yevgeny," He smiled as they hugged.

"Grigoriy this my wife, daughter, husbands, Uncle," Raven smiled proudly. "This Cousin Grigoriy."

"We've met before," Uncle chuckled as he shook Grigoriy's hand. "Nice to see you again."

"Da," Grigoriy nodded, "Same."

The dogs smelled him then went back to eating.

Belladonna stood and walked over to him. "Thank you," She smiled and hugged him. "Thank you."

"Da," He chuckled as he hugged her. "You family. I protect."

"Are you staying?" Corey asked and he shook his head.

"Nyet, I go road again. Got things do Uncle Nikolai before go home Russia."

"Will you come visit soon?" Belladonna asked and he nodded.

"Da, soon," He smirked. "Bye."

They said bye then watched as he left. She leaned against Raven. "Thank you for letting me say thank you to him in person."

Raven nodded. "Da."