67 New Year's Eve

"Haley. It's New Year's Eve", Phil said as he put down his suitcase, "Are you sure you don't want to go to a party or something? You know, hang out with your friends and stuff".

"And listen to all my friends talk about how awesome college is?", Haley countered, "No thanks. I know how awesome college is. It's what got me kicked out!".

"I'm sure you're uncles Cam and Mitchell feel much better knowing that they're leaving Lily in your care", Claire added, attempting to distract Haley from the consequences of her actions. Her efforts seemed to work as Haley strutted out of the kitchen with a smile on her face. As soon as she left, Claire turned to look at Alex, "You know you're in charge, right?".

"How do you know I don't have a party to go to?", Alex inquired, raising her eyebrow.

"Well ...", Phil muttered, unsure of how to express his thoughts.

"You see ...", Claire mumbled, incapable of voicing her opinion.

Seeing this, Alex sighed, "It's fine then. I'll tell Zephyr that we can celebrate here".

"Thanks, honey", Phil said gratefully, giving Alex a pat on the shoulder.

"If you were thankful, you wouldn't be making me babysit Lily. You'd have hired an actual babysitter", Alex retorted.

"Urgh", Claire groaned, "Those people don't even babysit. They just sit around for the money".

Alex rolled her eyes as she left the room. Observing her retreating figure, Phil murmured, "I feel bad for her. She had plans and we're kinda ruining them".

"It's fine", Claire reassured, "She'll be fine as long as Zephyr's here".

"Yeah", Phil nodded his head, "It'll be just Alex, Zephyr, Haley, Luke, Manny and Lily. Nothing to worry about".

Claire also nodded her head before halting halfway, "Phil!".

"What?!", Phil screamed in panic.

"We can't let Alex be alone with Zephyr!", Claire yelled.

"But they won't be alone", Phil replied in confusion, "They'll have Haley, Luke, Manny and Lily with them".

"Haley might as well not be in the house. Manny looks up to Zephyr too much. Luke ... well, the less said about him the better", Claire answered, "We'd basically be leaving Alex and Zephyr alone without adult supervision".

"It'll be fine honey", Phil comforted, "And besides, we really need a break. We haven't ... well, you know in almost a month. This is the perfect opportunity".

"Phil!", Claire shouted, "How can you be thinking about that when that's exactly what could happen to Alex".

"I'm just saying", Phil said in surrender as he hugged his wife, "It's been a while. This isn't like us. We need to relax too you know?". Phil ended his miniature speech with a kiss on Claire's shoulder.

"You're right", Claire admitted, giving in to the hug, "But we have to get back here as soon as possible. Okay?".

"Of course honey", Phil immediately agreed, "Now hurry up. I have the car ready. I just need to put this in the trunk and we can go".

"Fine", Claire rolled her eyes at Phil's enthusiasm.

As Claire and Phil made their way to the door, the doorbell was suddenly rung.

Opening the door, Claire was met with a loud, "Did someone say Palm Springs?!", from Cam.

"We did!", Phill yelled.

After quickly greeting each other, Cam bent down to look Lily in the eye, "Okay. I know it's going to be scary having a sleepover without your daddies, but you'll be fine, Alex is in charge. Now, make sure you don't misbehave, okay?".

"Okay", Lily nodded her head, walking into the house.

"You guys ready?", Mitchell asked Phil and Claire.

"Yep", Phil nodded his head, "Just give me a sec to pop this into the trunk and then we'll set off".

As Phil loaded the trunk with his suitcase, Cam excitedly whispered into Mitchell's ear, "I'm so excited".

"So am I", Mitchell replied, entering the driver's seat of his car. Looking at his watch for a second, he turned to look at his husband, "As long as there's not a lot of traffic, we'll make it to the airport in time".

[Time Skip]

"Does everyone remember the rules?", Zephyr asked, 2 pistol Nerf guns held in his hands.

"There are no rules!", Alex, Manny, Luke, Bella and Lily shouted at the same time.

"Correct trainees", Zephyr nodded his head, "Now. Everyone get into their designated positions. When the timer goes off, the first round begins".

At his words, everyone nodded and then everyone split up. Manny headed to the kitchen, Luke to the living room, Bella to the bathroom, Lily towards Haley's room, Alex to her parents' bedroom and Zephyr to Alex's room.

For the next 2 minutes, everyone remained alert, patiently waiting for the timer to go off. Just as Manny was about to give up, a sharp ringing sound reverberated throughout the house, startling him and causing him to drop the gun in his hand. "Damn it!", Manny cursed, bending down to grab the gun, before suddenly screaming, "Ow!".

"Looks like you're out Delgado", Luke muttered, blowing the tip of his gun.

"Did you have to shoot me in the butt?", Manny complained, rubbing his bum due to the sting of being shot.

"You set me up perfectly", Luke retorted. Before he could continue, Luke was suddenly shot in his left leg before being swiftly shot in the arm holding his gun, "And you set me up perfectly". Looking around for a second, Alex muttered, "Now, there's just Zephyr and Lily left".

Creeping forward, she suddenly heard a floorboard creak and she rushed forward and quickly shot up the stairs. However, due to how rushed she was, she missed her shot with her bullet wizzing past Lily's face.

Lily let out a screen and pressed on the trigger of her gun, her bullet zooming through the air towards Alex who yelped as she rolled away. Quickly recovering, she leaned against the staircase while she quickly reloaded her gun. A few seconds passed, and just as Lily reached the bottom of the staircase, Alex shot at her, with Alex's bullet just about managing to hit Lily's hand.

Taking a deep breath, Alex observed her surroundings, yelling, "Zephyr! I know you're there!". Despite being called out, Zephyr remained quiet which further unnerved Alex. "We can make this easy! Just come out!", Alex shouted, further encouraging Zephyr to come forward to no success.

Before she could continue, Alex heard a whooshing sound behind her and quickly swerved on the soles of her feet and shot, hitting nothing but air. Before she could relax, she heard a loud cracking sound behind her and without hesitation shot as soon she turned around, hitting nothing but vacant air once again. A second later, Alex heard a voice from behind her. Without even thinking about who the voice belonged to, Alex turned around and shot with her eyes closed.

"Argh!", Haley screamed as the rubber bullet hit her on her chin, "You freak! Why'd you shoot me?!". Without even waiting to hear her response, Haley rushed past Alex and up the stairs, screaming, "You better hope there's no mark on my face!".

Despite feeling somewhat guilty for what she did, Alex didn't let her guard down, even after noticing the looks she was receiving from Lily, Manny and Luke. "Don't look at me like that. If you were in the position I am, you'd do the same", Alex snapped.

Before they could retort, a figure descended from the top of the stairs and landed in the classic Superman position, his cape fluttering as he landed. Standing up, a faint breeze caused the cape to flutter even more. Staring at the shocked form of Alex, Zephyr hoarsely muttered, "I am darkness. I am the night. And I'm ... the winner!", Zephyr exclaimed at the end, shooting at Alex with his two pistols. One bullet hit her on the knee, disrupting her balance and causing her to tumble, while the second hit her gun, causing it to fly out of her hand. Standing conveniently in front of her, Zephyr held the muzzle of his gun in front of Alex's forehead and quickly pulled the trigger. Blowing the tip of his gun, Zephyr smirked as he looked at the defeated form of Alex, "I believe that makes me the winner".

"Urgh", Alex groaned as she stood up and rubbed her forehead, "I can't believe you won that".

"You better", Zephyr retorted, "Because there's no way I'm going to lose the second or third run".

"As if", Alex scoffed, "You got lucky this round. If Haley hadn't disrupted me, I wouldn't have wasted my last bullet on her and I would've shot you as you made your entrance".

"That was so cool!", Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah!", Manny nodded his head, "You were like the Batman".

Before Zephyr could reply, he felt the brief impact of something hitting him on the back. Turning around, Zephyr was met with the sight of Bella right in front of him with her gun right in front of him. Quickly dropping the gun, she began to cheer and broke into a cute little dance, "I won! Uhuh! Oh yeah! Let's go!".

Zephyr sighed and then turned to look at Luke and Manny who had run away. "I can't believe I got duped by those two of all people", Zephyr muttered under his breath.

"Why else do you think they were so loud?", Alex asked, "But to be honest, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. Bella tied two sponges to her feet so you wouldn't have heard her anyway".

"I would have!", Zephyr argued.

"No way!", Alex argued, "You just lost to a 10-year-old!".

"So did you!", Zephyr countered.