No Need To Be Human

Cody froze when he heard Dia, debating whether to respond or not, unsure how he'd actually respond thanks to the paranoia. After a minute he slowly pulled the blankets down off his face, peering up at her. He figured he probably looked terrible, knowing his hair at least was messy from moving around so much.
He was tempted to get up and go over to Dia when he first saw her before he decided to stay where he was, remembering what she'd said about wanting himto make decisions on his own; though Cody wasn't entirely sure that was all that made him stay.

"Wh-what do you want?" Cody mumbled after a minute, as if he'd already forgotten what Dia had said, his voice shaking slightly.

Dia couldn't help but feel bad when she saw how Cody looked. If there was a visual idea of death froze over, he was definitly it. She walked into the room, smiling as she sat on the edge of his bed. "I made breakfast," Dia smiled, "pancakes because Louis wanted them. Do you want some?"

Cody blinked, taking a minute to actually realise what she said, giving a small nod in response after sitting up. He ran a hand through his hair to neaten it a little bit; yawning more out of habit than anything else. "Yeah...pancakes are good." He mumbled, giving a small smile; trying to convince himself more than Dia that he was fine.

Dia smiled and nodded, "How do you like yours? Syrup, butter?" she smiled. There was something almost juvenile about the way Cody looked now, like a teenage boy who was late for high school. He would stay that way forever, she realized. Even when Louis had grown old and gray, Cody would be the same age. It upset her a bit and she stood up, not wanting Cody to see that she was hurt.

"Syrup's fine." Cody said with a small smile, distracted for now from the voices while he was talking to Dia. He frowned slightly when Dia got up, accidentally ending up staring at her like a curious child would.
"Are you okay...?" He asked, wondering for a second if he'd done something to upset her before ignoring the concern, assuming it was both the paranoia and the enthrallment making him worry too much about it.

Dia smiled at him softly, trying to convince that she was fine more than she was trying to convince that he hadn't done something wrong though both of them were her intention. "You ain't done anything wrong kid I just...you'll stay this age forever, you know that? When even my four year old son has grown old and gray, you'll still look like you're barely older than a teenager. I envy that. I know it sounds stupid, me being a sucubus and all...but I've always envied immortal life."

She headed into the other room, heaping pancakes onto his plate. She didn't see Louis get up from his spot on the couch and zip into the bedroom. "Youw mama new fwiend! Did you have a sweep ovew?" Louis grinned at Cody from his spot near the door.

"Don't bother the nice man Louis," Dia smiled softly.

"Oh..." As if someone had used a switch, any signs of Cody being happy instantly vanished as he frowned, hanging his head. That one word and the way he said it showed that he'd thought about it before and guessed it was true, though he'd been trying to tell himself, or at least been hoping it wasn't.

He stayed quiet for a what seemed like ages, barely noticing Dia leave the room. 'Being immortal can't be that great...who wants to stay a kid while they watch their friends die?' He thought to himself, quickly looking up when Louis came into the room out of instinct.
Before Cody could respond to the boy though, he heard Dia and slowly looked up at her; hoping his eyes didn't show the sadness he felt.

Louis looked at Dia and then at Cody, his empathy sensing Cody's sadness. Instead of listening to his mother, he walked over to him and climbed up on the bed next to him. "Pwease don't be sad. It makes my head huwt when peopwe awe sad. It can't make you feew nice..."

Dia wasn't sure if she was going to stay where she was or if she was going to talk to Louis about not bothering him again. She couldn't deny that they looked adorable while they sat there talking to one another.

When Cody saw Louis climb up onto the bed, he recoiled slightly out of a habit he'd formed of avoiding kids, not wanting to risk hurting them. When he remembered he'd fed recently though, he relaxed and turned to face Louis.

"I'm sorry," He said to the boy, frowning still. "And no...it doesn't." he added quietly before suddenly reaching out to grab Louis, not to hurt him though but to hug him, pulling Louis close.

Louis grinned and snuggled up to Cody, being a very affectionate young man. He looked at Cody and grinned, "You wanna pway wif me? I gots an x-box and lotsa games!"

"I'm sure Mr. Rhodes would like to sleep," Dia chuckled, "and if he doesn't I don't think he would have very much fun playing games."

"Aw but momma!" Louis pouted.

Cody didn't answer straight away, still hugging Louis close, the lack of affection since being turned showing through, only letting go when Dia spoke so he could look up at her. "I doubt I'd get much more sleep than I have already." He said before looking down at Louis. "I don't mind playing games actually..."

He gave Louis a small smile before looking back up at Dia. "I used to play a lot of games." He told her.

Dia gave him a smile, "Could you look after him for me while I go to work? I know you work during the night anyways and during the day I do my show..."

"Uh...I guess so?" Cody said uncertainly. "I've never really looked after someone his age before..." He ran a hand though his hair nervously, looking more child-like again. "Is there anything in particular he needs?"

"I can take cawe of mysewf," Louis pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm a big boy."

Dia ruffled his hair, "He's mostly right. He can feed himself as long as we have Lunchables in the fridge, he'll tell you when he's thirsty and you can give him something to drink. He can use the restroom by himself. As long as you make sure that he takes a nap, otherwise he gets cranky, you should be good to go."

"Okay, okay." Cody chuckled, smiling at Louis. "I was just asking to make sure, I don't look after people much, just the animals we have here." He said before looking up at Dia, nodding to show he understood.
"Right; is there any certain time for his nap?" Cody asked, glancing back down at Louis afterwards.

"No nap," huffed Louis, "I don't wanna take a nap! Big boys don't take naps!"

Dia chuckled, "Usually after lunch he starts getting sleepy so I pop in a child appropriate movie and lay him down on the couch."

"Hey, come on... even people my age take naps sometimes." Cody said to Louis, giving a small smile before looking up at Dia. "Okay," He said quietly. "Anything else?"

He slowly moved out from under the blankets, making sure to move like any other person would, worried people would pick up the slightest difference in behaviour and make a big deal of it. After straightening the blankets, Cody moved to sit on top of them, crossing his legs like a child would.

"I guess," Louis sighed dramatically as he laid his head on Cody's lap. He giggled, "You watch movie wif me?"

Dia shook her head, "Oh! He's not allowed to have soda but that's kinda a basic childcare thing. I mean, usually I give him one a day but he's not allowed to have any more than that."

"I guess I can watch a movie with you." Cody chuckled, smiling nervously at Louis laying on him. "Well I wouldn't have known it if you didn't say..." He said to Dia. "I'm not exactly the kind of person people come to often for babysitting or anything like that... I'm too quiet..." He added, remembering Louis was there.

"Well now you know," Dia smiled before she checked her watch, "I have to get going. Can I trust you to look after him for me?"

Cody smiled and nodded. "It shouldn't be too hard." He said. "I'm sure it's much simpler than looking after a tiger after all..." he chuckled.

"I dunno about that, at least you know a tiger is going to eat you," chuckled Dia as she walked over and pressed a kiss to Cody's cheek. "Behave, both of you boys."

Dia left the home and headed out to her work area. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to sense the person who was watching her. "Colt, I know you think I did the wrong thing but I didn't trap him in this. I didn't trap you in it either. You bit me and drew blood, he bit me and drew blood. It's the same thing."
*****************

Louis grinned as Dia left the house and grabbed Cody by the hand, trying to drag him into the living room. "You gotta pway wif me! We gotta pway Wii wif me!"

"We will." Cody said, looking away to hide the smile on his face after Dia kissed his cheek. He looked up as Louis grabbed his hand and nodded before getting up. "Okay, okay. I'll play." He chuckled, letting Louis lead him.


"I never said it wasn't the same thing," Colt said. "But you should still be more worried about finding a way to help him... Unless you want to risk him ending up like I did." He added quietly.

Louis grinned and led Cody into the living room. Before she had left, Dia had drawn the shades and made sure that no light could get to Cody. The last thing she wanted was someone elses death on her hands. Louis grinned and pointed to the Wii, still not understanding how to set it up. "You gots to do it so you get to pick what games we pway," Louis said innocently.


"That's low," Dia said, wheeling around to look at Colt. She, much like her son, could see his ghost. It wasn't like the Barrow family and he appeared to everyone so to many it looked like she was arguing with herself. "How dare you insinuate that I want anyone to end up like you did. I didn't want you to end up like you did! You know I can't go to Jacen for help until later. He won't be awake, he'll be to hung over."

"I can do that." Cody nodded, going over to set it up after cautiously peeking into the room to make sure it was safe first. "You can pick the game though if you want, I don't mind." He said, smiling at Louis when he was done.

"Well you could have at least asked someone about my change in behaviour when it first happened..." Colt said, sounding irritated, though that wasn't actually what was bothering him. "And that's pretty pathetic of him..." He added, referring to Jacen. "Are you sure he's really happy about being what he is if he gets that drunk so often?"