AN: Guess what! We had a blizzard and I got two days off school. You have 14 inches of snow and a half inch of ice to thank for this most recent chapter. My tentative goal is to publish at least one chapter a month, but I have 20 hours of observation to do for ONE class, and I am working part time. So thank you for understanding and for all the reviews, favs, and follows!

Random shout-out to that one person in Canada, Australia, and Portugal whom always seems to read my story from start to finish every month, and to the insanely high number of readers from Germany, Chile, and Peru. I had no idea how wide spread the Adventure Time fandom was until I started to write this story!

Trigger Warning: Mentions of childhood abandonment and bullying

Chapter 9: Full house

Thump

Ember exchanged a glance with Lady and grimaced as the thump was soon followed by the screams of several children. Both women had their hands full, infant in one hand bottle in the other, which meant the ensuing debate was held in silence.

Ember watched as Lady gave a coy smile, gesturing her head towards the door as if to say: 'your turn.'

Ember shook her head. 'No way'. She bounced the feeding infant in her arms and glanced over the other three cribs still occupied in the nursery. 'These guys are hungry!'

Lady raised a brow before silently closing the distance between them. She shifted the infant to her left arm and positioned the bottle it suckled against her chest, coming to a stop in front of Ember. Her right hand freed, she gently scooped the two-month-old out of Ember's arms, taking the bottle and balancing it as she had the first in the process.

Ember rolled her eyes, lifting both arms in surrender 'Alright, alright I'm going!'

Lady gave a satisfied nod and moved to sit in one of the nursery's wooden chairs as the smell of diaper filled the air. The red-headed woman laughed silently at Lady's face, clearly the woman had not intended to feed and change all the infants by herself, but it was too late now!

As Ember escaped into the hall her demeanor changed from gentile caregiver to jail-warden in an instant. By the time she reached the stairwell the stampede of children fleeing from the second floor was in full swing. The fiery haired woman inhaled deeply before letting out a mighty bellow.

"FREEZE!"

All of the children ceased their movement, as if by magic... though there were a few collisions. Any of the orphanage's longtime residents knew better than to flee from Ember MacKay. The orphanage owner and caretaker had made a point to know every child by name. Escape attempts meant certain punishment, and none of them wanted that.

Ember scanned for oldest among them, looking for the most reliable explication, but it was a wasted effort.

"Uhm, like, Ms. Ember? I can't believe what just happened! So like, we were all like-"

Ember turned towards the voice, not surprised to find Liseli* pushing her way through the crowed and up to the front. The girl had been left as a toddler, abandoned in a shopping mall with only a 'Hello My Name Is' sticker stuck on her back. The MacKay house had taken her in a few weeks later, and she'd been there ever since.

"...just wait-tin to take our freak-EN showers but like, NOOO. We didn't even GET Any-ah sweet show-ah time. Like, I was about tah when this FIGHT broke out and I was all 'OH MY GOSH' and—"

Ember smiled, but she had to stop the girl there, "Liseli! I need the short version, please."

Liseli was annoyed by this and crossed her arms over her purple pajama top with a humph.

Ember resisted rolling her eyes, and corrected herself, adding the girl's self-given last name, "Ms. Party I need to know what happened."

Before Liseli had the chance to respond, the entire house was filled with a screech capable of breaking glass.

Ember frowned as the children around her plugged their ears in a desperate attempt to muffle the sound. Wails from the nursery joined the inhuman screech, creating a symphony that could only be titled 'Hell's Cacophony'.

Wading through the sea of children Ember began up the stairs taking them two at a time

The glare of the ceiling lights on the wet tiled floor made Bonnibel's head throb, bringing her out of her trance. She stood in what appeared to be a small changing hall that was separated from the much larger shower room by only a thin shower curtain extending the length of the room. Beyond the curtain several shower heads jutted out from the walls. Bonnibel looked to her right, taking note of the cubbies along the wall filled with shower products and fresh towels. She frowned at the dirty clothes and wet towels that littered the floor... almost as if their owners had left in a hurry.

Her thoughts still fuzzy, she turned to her left to find Marceline laying prone on a bench. Initially Bonnibel just stood there, merely observing the frail girl's ragged breathing. Several moments passed before the synapses in her brain finally connected, allowing her a moment of absolute clarity.

"Marceline!"

Bonnibel closed the distance between them and stared down at her friend... wait... friend?

The thought surprised her. There was no logical reason for her to think of Marceline as a friend... What's the point anyway? After last night there's no way we'll be friends... but... then...

"...el", A buzz began in her ears, but she ignored it.

Why did I stand up for her? I mean no one else was... and that Maja girl wasn't making any sense... except...

"...Et... El", The buzzing grew sharper and more persistent, sounding almost familiar...

Except she knew about my accident last night! And she told everyone about it! Globit!

"BONNET-BELL!" the buzzing broke through.

Marceline was tugging on the front of her shirt urgently, pulling her from her trance and back to reality. The so called vampire was in a panic, her milk-chocolate eyes focused on the shower room's entrance.

"Run Bonnet-Bell! He's coming!"

Bonnibel stared questioningly at her... friend... that title would have to do for now.

Bonnet-bell? Does she mean me?

"...Who?"

Marceline's eyes widened into saucers before she had a chance to reply and Bonnibel knew that they were in trouble. She turned and looked over her shoulder, eyes meeting kneecaps. Tilting her head upwards she gasped at the man towering before her.

He must have been over six feet tall, yet retained the spitting image of a stick figure. His arms and legs were abnormally skinny and long, and there was hardly any torso worth mentioning. His face was the only thing remotely round about him, and even that was more like an oval that came to meet at a funny bump atop his head which remained visible despite his brown hair.

The man's nose was slender and jutted out like a toothpick between his two oval eyes, while his thin, almost nonexistent, lips sat puckered just above his chin. He looked as if he had just tasted something sour... that is until those lips spread out disturbingly wide and he unleashed a ghoulish screech.

"NNNNEEERRRRRYYYYYYYYY!"

Bonnibel stumbled away from him, fear gripping her in a flash. She could feel Marceline tugging them closer together, seeming to shrink away behind Bonnibel as if she were a shield. Bonnibel found a small amount of comfort in knowing she was not alone with the man.

"THIS IS UNNACCEEPTABLE!"

His voice drained all the color from her cheeks but she could not look away. Bonnibel stared in shock as he reached out to tightly grab her shoulder. He yanked her forwards and out of Marceline's grasp, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"NOO TOUUUCHING! NO TOUCHING!" he screeched.

Bonnibel was released only once she had been dragged several feet away from Marceline. She realized that despite the man's jerky movements and tight grip, he had left her unharmed. Confused she looked to Marceline, who seemed just as dazed.

Footsteps from the hallway caught all of their attention, as well as the voice that accompanied it.

"What's going on up here?!" Ember roared.

The fiery haired woman came to a stop at the entrance and took in the scene. Bonnibel could sense the man next to her growing tense. He seemed afraid of Ember despite being a head taller.

"Leon," her voice cracked like wood popping in a fire, "Care to explain why you felt it necessary to wake the infants downstairs with your yelling?"

Bonnibel glanced back to the man and smirked... You're in trouble now

"Ms. MacKay," the man nodded, sounding satisfied that she had finally arrived, "these two –were – TOUCHING!"

Ember waited... then waited some more. Surely there had to be some other explanation... but when none came she couldn't say she was surprised.

"Leon how many times do we have to go over this?" Ember sighed in exasperation, "You're responsible for the teenagers upstairs. THEY are the ones you're supposed to keep from touching each other!"

Leon straightened himself up to his full height and jutting out his chin, "But they—"

Ember silenced him with a simple raised hand, "Were the ones responsible for all the commotion. I know, Leon, and I'll take care of it," she took a deep breath in before walking forwards and patting the strange man once on the shoulder. He flinched at the contact but it seemed to get his attention.

"I appreciate you stepping in, but please let Lady and I deal with the children. After all, your responsibilities on the third floor are far too important for you to be distracted by a minor squabble like this," she explained, stroking his ego a bit in order to prevent another outburst.

It worked, and Leon left with a grunt that sounded an awful lot like 'acceptable'... but Bonnibel couldn't be sure. With that crisis averted, Ember crossed the room to Marceline and placed the back of her hand against the girl's forehead.

"You're not looking so hot there Marcy... but you don't feel warm. Do you want me to call the doctor?"

Marceline stood up and shook her head, careful to avoid Ember's gaze.

"No... I wanna s-s-shower..." came her mumbled response.

"Maja was picking on you again, wasn't she?"

It was more of a statement then a question, but after a moment's pause Marceline shook her head 'No'.

"Yes she was!"

Bonnibel stopped, trying to find the source of the voice until she realized it was her own. She felt self-conscious when she realized both Ember and Marceline were staring at her. It was like they'd both forgotten she was in the room.

"She was being mean and calling her names," Bonnibel continued, stepping up to Ember, "and... and no one tried to stop her until-"

"BONNET-BELL"

Bonnibel stopped short, surprised by Marceline's sudden outburst.

"It's no big deal, Maja... was-s-s jus-s-t joking. Right Bonnet-bell?"

What is she saying?! How can she defend Maja like that?

Bonnibel wanted to disagree, she wanted to rat on Maja and get the wicked girl in trouble. She wanted Ember to know the truth... but Marceline was staring daggers at her and she knew... she just knew if she told the truth she'd anger her roommate and potential friend.

"Is this true Bonnibel?" Ember probed.

"N-No... I mean... I don't really know Maja very well yet. If... if Marceline says she was just joking then... I misunderstood," Bonnibel said carefully, hating herself for lying until she saw the relief on Marceline's face.

Ember frowned, but seemed to accept her answer as she stood up.

"Right, well then you two get cleaned up and do it quick or you'll miss breakfast!"

Turning on her heel, the two girls were left alone to bathe.

AN: *you pronounce LSP's name as Lee-SEE lee