A.N.— And here is the last chapter of this! Please enjoy! I'll start on itssequel asap! :D

Chapter 23: Adriana's Father

Pedro angrily slams the door behind him as he slides into his house. The slam is loud enough to wake Adriana and she looks weirdly towards the bedroom door and glances at the clock. "Wonder what he's mad about..." She yawns and stretches and lazily wonders if she ought to get up and check on him or if he would be fine until morning. She gets up and waddles towards the snake's room and stops outside the door when she hears crying inside. "Pedrrrro?" She knocks.

"Go back to bed." Pedro sniffs. "I'll be there too soon enough." He says as he gets his pet snake out from his terrarium and hugs him close. Adriana outside of the room just shrugs and goes back to bed.

The snake flicks his tongue out at Pedro, looking at him as if to ask, 'Where are my micccccccce?'

Pedro gets out a mouse for his snake and feeds it to him. "At least I've still got you, Flix." He says silently. "You're never mean to me and you don't care about really anything except your next meal." He pets the snake as he watches him eat.

The snake glances at him. 'Darn right.' He seems to be thinking from the look. 'Thessssse sssssssqueaky thingssssss are yum. You sssssshould try ssssssome, dude.'

Pedro pets his snake and looks at his dark green and smooth scales. "I had a fight with Bobby today about Adriana and her pregnancy...I think I may have lost a friend..." He sniffs.

The snake coils himself some around Pedro's flipper. 'Have a mousssssse. I find them mossssssst ssssssscrumotiousssss and they alwaysssss make me feel better.' He flicks his tongue some more and looks at his master. 'More food for me, pleassssse?'

"I shouldn't have lied to him in the first place, I know...I just thought he would end up being a little more understanding about this all than he was..." Pedro sniffs as he gives Flix another mouse.

'Thankssssss, dude.' The snake thinks and gobbles down the rodent. 'And ssssstop being sssssso hard on yourssssself, dude. You're getting my ssssscalessss wet.'

Pedro watches Flix and sniffs. "And so now, I'm going to be a father in a few months...My best friend is probably moving to Europe...My new boss is a total pain in the tail...What am I going to do?" He mumbles.

'You could try getting me a nicssssssse female.' Flix almost seems to grin for a moment. 'Maybe one of thosssssse sssssassssy vipersssss with the diamondsssss. No rattlesssssnakessss, though. They tend to be too noisssssey and would really cut into my sssssssleep sssschedule.'

"And look at me, I'm talking to my pet snake as if he's supposed to understand me...I wonder how he will take that he will probably be moving..." Pedro mutters and watches Flix flick his tongue at him.

'Move? What do you mean, dude? Isssss ssssssomeone elssssse getting my room or sssssomething? That better come with more miccccce! And a ssssassssy viper!' The snake then hisses with narrowed eyes at Pedro.

Pedro frowns a bit and looks at him. "What? Would you prefer sharing your room with an infant than to move to my and Adriana's room?" He asks the snake. "Or the living room?"

Flix silently flicks his tongue in thought. 'The living room. Then I get to ssssssee that televissssssssion thing you have ssssssspoken about.' He 'nods'.

"We'll have to see what Adriana thinks is best..." He murmurs. "Most likely the living room..."

'Yessssssssss!' The snake rubs his head on his flipper and licks it.

Pedro smiles a bit. "Oh, so you like that idea, boy?" He holds the snake up some and it licks the end of his beak. Pedro smiles a little more and puts him gently back in his cage. "Here's another mouse for being such a trooper." He says dropping another mouse into the cage before getting up and waddling to the bedroom.

Adriana lies on the bed and looks over at Pedro as he enters the room. "So?"

Pedro sighs a bit and lies down next to her. "I told Bob the truth finally...We had an argument and he's probably going to move to Lithuania." He says and pulls the covers up.

"Oh..." She then shrugs. "I didn't care much for him anyway...Or his wife...Or his kid." She says.

Pedro looks at her. "You didn't even meet Edmond, Adriana. He's a nice kid, sweet, too." He says.

Adriana shrugs. "A demon is a demon no matter how much they sugarcoat themselves." She says.

"Ah, so does that mean our chick will be one, too?" He asks with a look.

"Eh." She shrugs yet again. "Most likely."

"Oh really? Because I thought he or she will be more like us than a Chupacabra." He replies, propping himself up on his flipper.

"Well, what else do you think the Chupacabra is? It's obviously someone's child that went berserk and killed some farmer's sheep." She says joking and rolling her eyes. "Because, as I said, they are all EVIL."

"Adri, I think my new boss could out evil any child any day." He laughs. "I don't think I've ever met anyone so narcissistic and strict before."

Adriana looks at him somewhat curiously. "What's his name?" She asks.

"Beltran Estrada."

"WHAT?!" Adriana sits immediately up and looks at him with wide eyes.

Pedro frowns a bit as he is confused and sits up, too. "What what? Do you know him or something?"

Adriana just looks at him and shakes her head. "Pack up, we're moving to Spain. Both us and your snake."

"What?" Pedro asks with a weird look. "Why?"

"I am soooo not going to be in the same country with that...That...Ooh, I don't even have a fitting insult!" She growls and crinkles the bedsheets in her flippers.

"Who is he then?" Pedro asks, greatly confused.

Adriana looks at him before snorting angrily. "My father." She growls. "And I hate him and do not want anything to do with him, so pack the minimum and let's go NOW." She starts to get up, but Pedro grabs her flipper and pulls her back down.

"Now hold on, Adriana." He says and looks at her. "I can't just hop up and leave on the drop of a hat. I would lose my job, and then how would I pay for all those groceries you keep insisting that we have to buy?"

"Then get a flipping transfer!"

Pedro shakes his head. "No." He says and looks at her. "Commanders like him never last very long. Heck, most commanders in general don't last long. He should be gone soon enough. I doubt highly that you will have to do anything about him at all." He says softly. "I'm the one who will have to deal with him..."

Adriana looks at him, frowning and the lies back down with a sigh. "Fine...But if he tries anything...We are out of here and he's as good as dead, got it?"

"No murdering familia." He says, lying back down as well and looking at her.

"You don't understand, or you would think death is best for him, too." She then growls at him.

Pedro looks at her. "Then explain it for me, please, so that I'm on the same page."

Adriana just looks at him for a moment before turning over with a snort. "Good night."

"Well, that didn't tell me anything..." Pedro mutters as he lies back down completely in his pillows.

"Wasn't supposed to, now shut up and sleep." She growls. She doesn't really want to share about her childhood right now. She really just wants to forget all about it as if she had never been a child. As if she never had been abused. She just wants to concentrate on the here and now, but NO. He just had to show up out if nowhere and interrupt her peace again. Adriana sighs a little silently to herself and tries to go to sleep.

Pedro just silently stares up at the ceiling. Today has really just been too much for him. Adriana is pregnant. Bob no doubt hates him now and he may never again see his friend, or is it now ex-friend? His new aggravating boss is his potential father-in-law! Pedro takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself. "Maybe life will start getting better again shortly..." He mumbles silently to himself and turns over towards the wall.