There are few things more unnerving than an attentive dog. It's worse when that dog is not paying any attention to anything you might have thought would keep him interested. Despite the fact that Juno was out in the garden, filling water balloons from the outside tap in preparation of ambushing Max where he was lounging in the sun, Beetle was indoors, staring fixedly at the basement door.

Max was reclining upon a white washed wooden sun bathing chair. His eyes were closed, but he was hardly asleep. Sleep had not been his friends, they were not bed buddies and he was frankly growing more irrate with the absence of his long-time companion. He could hear the little giggles and the water spigot turning as Juno turned the water off and on. So long as it entertained Juno, Max could see nothing wrong with her wasting a little water. The grass needed it, anyway.

He was comfortable in their back yard and there was a proud smile on his face when he thought about it. Their home. Images of Juno growing from a child to a pre-teen, then teen and then young adult, then young lady, then adulthood, were flitting through his head. He could see her in tutu's, toe shoes and the head dress of the lead swan upon her head, the entire way.

With her carefully arranged bucket of water bombs fully prepared, Juno's giggle grew even cheekier as she hauled the container onto the lawn, putting herself into position. The balloons had been bought by 'Taya, even the game had been suggested by 'Taya as a means to keep Juno entertained until she got home with dinner in hand today. Of course, Juno was supposed to have told Max about it first. The first waterbomb burst on the grass next to the chair, splashing his leg with cold water. The second, however, got him right in the stomach. "Got him!"

Giggle. Splat. Max frowned and reached down to wipe the water from his leg. Then it struck him just what was going on. And then it really struck him as the bomb exploded onto his chest. "Hey! Juno! What?" He sat up quickly and turned to look over at the giggling little girl. "Oooh, I'm gonna getcha!" He jumped up from the chair and hobbled over to her, jumping from side to side, foot to foot in a comical way to illicit even more giggles.

Cackling loudly, the little girl already had her hands loaded to throw more water bombs at the man she'd pretty much adopted as her father, arms flailing as she squeezed one too tightly and ended up drenching herself down the side with cold water. It didn't take more than a minute to throw a couple more in Max's direction, though, before she grabbed hold of her bucket to try and haul it to safety. "Beetle! Help!" There was no answering bark, no scrabble of paws in reply. The big wolfdog was fixated upon the basement door, his lips slowly beginning to peel back in a terrifying growl.

"There's no helping you!" Max had managed to dodge one bomb, but not the other and it splatted on his shoulder, drenching his bare chest and shoulder. He came after her in the same, goblin-style hobble. "Gonna get my precioussss," he hissed with a goofy grin on his face. The growl was very nearly missed, but shrugged off. The neighborhood had quite a few dogs and Max didn't think much of it.

Juno, too, missed the growling from her four-legged friend, too distracted by the imminent promise of being drenched as badly as she'd drenched Max. She paused in her escape to throw another balloon, aiming squarely for his head this time. Mataya had a lot to answer for when she got home.

Max caught sight of the incoming watery missile a moment too late. Barely able to turn his head quickly enough, it smacked and exploded against his ear. "Ah! I'm wounded!" He grabbed his head and spun in a tight circle, dropping to his knees and then finally falling over in a dramatic death pose. "Y'got me, Sam, y'got me!"

Inside the house, Beetle began to back up as a slow click sounded from the lock on the basement door, the handle turning under the dog's growling glare. As Max went down, Juno's green eyes went wide, suddenly scared she'd actually hurt her big friendly giant of a father figure. "Max?" she ventured uncertainly, abandoning her bucket of missiles to run over to him, prodding at his chest. "You're not dead."

Max played dead until the poke to his chest. "Waah!" he opened his eyes wide and reached to grab his daughter in a tight bear hug. "Gotcha!" He laughed and then let her go, knowing how independent Juno liked to think she was.

Juno let out a loud scream, giggling wildly as she was dragged off her feet by the supposed 'corpse'. "No! You're making me all wet, get off!" Arms and legs flailing, she fell into excited cackles, poking at Max's stomach as he let her go. There was a sudden bang from inside the house, the sound of a door slamming open or closed, and Beetle's angry barking filled the quiet of the building.

'Taya's brows rose, displaying no real surprise. Juno was revealing new strangeness almost every day, it was about time some of it started to scare her as well as them. "Oh," she shrugged. "Okay. Well ....pizza and ice cream should sort that out, shouldn't it?" She grinned, leaning up to kiss Max's cheek. "Oh god, you're soaking!" A small voice called into the house from the back door. "Is it gone?" Beetle lifted his head from his inspection of the basement door, his tail wagging as though nothing was wrong, turning to pad back through the kitchen and rescue Juno from being on her own outside.

There was a look of abject terror in Max's eyes that was slowly subsiding. Whatever it was, it had terrified Juno and threatened them all. He was glad of Mataya's presence, not because it seemed to frighten away the malevolence but because she was making him feel more normal. He took the pizza box from her and was about to lead the way into the kitchen when Juno's voice floated down to them. He smirked at Mataya's notice of his wet skin and hair and called to Juno. "Yes, it's gone, baby. You're safe." He hoped.

Chuckling at her sopping fiance, 'Taya let him take the boxes from her hand, closing the front door behind her. She had no idea what had been going on before she walked in, but whatever it was, it had freaked Max out plainly. "Hey, June-bug!" she called to the owner of the scared little voice. "How does pizza and ice cream sound?" As 'Taya came into view, leading Max behind her, Juno scurried in from the garden, flinging her arms around the woman's waist and holding on tightly for a long moment. But with Beetle suddenly acting as though nothing was wrong, and Mataya back in the house, the fear and the worry of her half-remembered recollection was receding fast. "I got Max inna head with the water bombs!"

Max settled the pizza boxes onto the table, flipping the lids open and then grabbing paper plates from the cupboard. As the ladies in his life caught each other up on the good part of the afternoon, he also set out glasses and bottles of juice. "She got me big time in the head." He lifted his head just a bit to look over at Mataya. "And just where did she get the water bombs from?" It was hard to shake off the fear that had been present not even ten minutes ago, but he was trying.

Laughing at the equally soggy Juno latched onto her, 'Taya glanced between the pair of them, quite glad she'd managed to miss whatever had been going on this afternoon. She squeezed the little girl warmly, stroking her hair. "Told you it'd be fun, didn't I?" she grinned down at Juno, turning a completely innocent smile onto Max. "I have no idea, darlin'. Maybe they flew in through the window and asked her to play with them." She flashed him a cheeky wink, patting his backside as she slipped past. With normality restored, Juno was her usual self once again, transferring her hug from 'Taya to Beetle as the dog started to nudge her toward the table. "You gotta play next time, Matty."

When his tush was getting patted, Max did a bit of tushy patting of his own on his fiancee. "Yeah, you gotta play next time. I think she still has a bucket full of them. Maybe after we eat?" He grinned innocently, pulling a slice of pizza onto a plate and setting it in front of the smallest cup. "Wash up, Juno. Dinner time."

"Okay!"

As Juno disappeared up the stairs - running past the basement door without a second thought - 'Taya's grin softened, her arms winding about Max's waist. "That freaky, huh?" she asked softly, touching her lips to his jaw. "You looked like you'd seen a ghost when I came in."

Max watched the girl go, stiffening just a bit as she ran past the door that Beetle had been growling at. When she passed safely, his arms went around Mataya and he sagged against her. "I don't know what it was, babe. All I know is that Juno was terrified and Beetle was mad." He lowered his head and buried his face into her warm hair. "But it's gone for now." He couldn't help but think that it'd be back.

She hugged him warmly, unused to seeing Max rattled at all, much less to the point where he held on so tightly. Her lips gently touched his temple as he hugged into her. "She seems fine now," she murmured reassuringly, stroking her hand down his back. "And Beetle's his usual zany self, I see. It's probably nothing, darlin'." She drew back to kiss him tenderly. "Don't let her see that it spooked you, it'll upset her."

Max nodded dumbly as Mataya reassured him. The word of advice was heeded and when their lips parted, he took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "I'm trying. Just keep things status quo. But if it happens again, I'm calling Ghost Busters or whoever they use for this sort of thing here. I mean, they have to have a service for that in a place like this. Right?"

"All right." Mataya nodded, smiling gently. She wasn't going to call him out on overreacting, especially since she hadn't seen whatever it was that had freaked him out. "You're really wet," she added with a low laugh, listening as the familiar thud of over-excited footsteps announced the return of dog and child from upstairs. Barrelling into the kitchen, Juno pressed her hands against Max's bare back, still wet and cold from using the cold tap. In the same moment, as his two-legged friend giggled cheekily, Beetle inserted himself between the adults, shoving his nose up 'Taya's skirt.

"Cold!" Max jumped out of 'Taya's arms when those little hands pressed into his warm back. He laughed when he landed and shook his head. "Okay, my turn to go clean up and dry off." He walked over to the counter and grabbed the roll of paper towels. And that's when he noticed Beetle being a little too nosey in what Max determined his own personal playground. "Beetle, down!"

Laughing as Beetle all but flipped Max off when he was ordered away, 'Taya caught Juno around the waist to thump her into her chair, pressing a kiss to the little girl's cheek as she tucked a paper napkin into Juno's collar. "Eat up, little horror," she declared, giving Beetle a tug by the collar over to his food bowls. "You, eat from there."

Max earned another squeeze of the rear as 'Taya slipped past him, pouring juice into Juno's glass as the little girl proceeded to pick every last mushroom off her pizza slices before feeding herself messily.

"Ooh!" Max flexed his butt muscles when his tush was grabbed the second time that night. And as Mataya went into mother mode, Max nabbed a slice of pizza. Forgoing the plate and napkins, he took a casual lean against the counter so he could watch it all. There was a proud gleam in his eyes. The afternoon was nearly forgotten in the normalcy of what was becoming family life. And Max had never been happier.

But under Juno's chair, Beetle's eyes had focused upon the basement door once again, wary and protective of his merry little friend even as she dismissed her fright as something to be forgotten. The shadow slithered out of sight through the gap at the bottom of that door, and a soft click went unnoticed. Whatever was down there, the door was locked once more, and the little family were safe. For now.

((Thanks to all. Yup, we're goin' a little Paranormal Activity on yo' a*s!))