In Which Fabian Really Needs to Shut Up

"Gideon, my good twin, I think that-"

"-This situation-"

"-Has gone on long enough," the Prewett twins finished together.

"Sasha and Mary need each other-"

"-They're too good friends to fight for two months like this-"

"-It's just not right," Gideon stated. "They're fighting over something so stupid, too!"

"Sasha's got a bit too much pride," Fabian shrugged sadly. "Don't get me wrong, she's my friend and all, but…"

"Not talking to your best friend because she has a namesake now instead of you is a whole different level of idiocy," Gideon nodded.

"We have to fix this."

"Mary wouldn't want us to interfere-"

"-Mary's done everything she could and none of it worked. It's time to take matters into our own hands."

Gideon sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just… I don't want her to get mad at us."

Fabian smirked, a knowing twinkle in his eyes. "And why are you so worried about that, dear brother of mine?"

"Because she's my- our friend," Gideon answered hastily. "What's so wrong with me not wanting my friend to get mad at us?"

"You've never cared about it before," Fabian countered.

"Mary's sensitive!"

Fabian laughed out loud. He laughed so hard that he clutched his sides, fighting for breath. "You-" he gasped out, "are so whipped."

Out of instinct, Gideon hit his twin. "I am not! She's Remus' girlfriend, for crying out loud!"

"She used to be Remus' girlfriend. But he's down there and she's up here. He'll move on eventually- Mary has to at some point, too."

"But she hasn't yet," Gideon pointed out. "I'm not going to do anything until she's moved on."

Fabian sighed disappointedly. "Well, that makes my dead-life a whole lot less interesting for awhile. You've got a point though, as much as I hate to admit it, and Mary's my friend, too, so I don't exactly want her to be unhappy. So I guess I won't nag you too much."

"Speaking of wanting what's best for her, how about we work on that plan to make her and Sasha friends again?"

"Yes, let's, Brother of Whippedness."

"Shut up, Fabian!"

XxxxX

"Mary."

"Sasha."

The names were said in cold, distant tones as the two girls stared at each other; one's gaze high and proud, the other's sad and hopeful.

"My mother wants you to know that she needs to speak with you about something tomorrow, so you should meet her in her office fifteen minutes before you would usually arrive at work," Sasha declared, her eyes never losing that proud look.

"Alright." Mary paused. "I assume that was the only reason you came back here?" She gestured around the home they used to share.

"Yep."

"Sasha, when are you going to speak to me again? This is getting ridiculous; you've stopped being my friend and moved in with your parents just because Michael's named after me, not you-"

"Oh, sure, it has nothing to do with the fact that you took used the fact that my mother was dead for my whole life against me. Nothing at all," Sasha cut her off, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"I said I'm sorry for that, Sasha, and I still am!" Mary exclaimed exasperatedly. "Please, Sasha, can't we just try to start over? I miss you; you're my only good friend here-"

"Oh? What about the Prewett twins?" The dark-haired girl arched her eyebrows in question. "You've been hanging out with them an awful lot lately."

"Because you've been ignoring me! Who else am I supposed to hang out with?"

"I dunno, you could make friends that are girls-"

"Wait. Just hold up a second, Sasha. What do you mean, saying girls like that? Are you trying to imply that I'm… flirting with Fabian and Gideon or something?" Sasha's silence made it clear that that was exactly what she was trying to say. Mary's eyes narrowed. "I'll have you know, Sasha, that I love Remus. I can't say that I'll love him forever, because he's got a full life ahead of him and I want him to get over me, but I'm going to love him for a long time."

"Sirius has a full life ahead of him, too," Sasha murmured. "But no matter what happens, I'm always going to love him."

"Then I hope for your sake that he's always going to love you, too."

Sasha looked at Mary for one more second for leaving the house, slamming the door after her. Mary sighed and collapsed onto the couch.

Being dead sucked.

XxxxX

"Hello, Sasha," two voices chorused while the named woman walked home. She groaned as she turned around.

"Come to lecture me?" she asked. "I dare you."

"Much as we love dares…" Fabian began almost wistfully. Gideon elbowed him in the ribs to snap him out of it.

"We've got other, more important matters to deal with right now," Gideon finished. He linked his arm through Sasha's. "Come on over to our place, Sasha; let's have some tea."

Sasha took out her wand and pointed it at him. "Let go of me. Now. I don't want to talk to you two."

She suddenly felt her wand fly out of her hand and cursed herself not for using Legilimency like any intelligent witch would. Her head spun around and looked at the other grinning Prewett twin, who twirled her wand in his hand as he spoke. "Oh, but we want to talk to you, Sasha-"

"-and we aren't going to take 'no' for an answer."

Sasha sighed. Note to self: Powerful as I may be, I'm no match for a double dose of Prewett.

What she said out loud was, "You've got half an hour to say what you want to say, and when we get to your house, I want my wand back. Deal?"

"Forty-five minutes, and we'll throw in some fried chicken."

"What part of the fried chicken?"

"Breast. We've got some barbecue wings for you, too."

"…You guys have been planning this for awhile, haven't you," Sasha asked, though it was really more of a statement than anything else. After all, how else would they have her two biggest weaknesses so conveniently on hand?

"We're the best pranksters to ever go to Hogwarts-"

"-And don't tell us that the Marauders were, because we did even more successful pranks than them and there are only two of us-"

"-So obviously, we're clever enough to know how to manipulate people to our will."

The three set off for the Prewetts' house and arrived there in a matter of minutes. Sasha was immediately ushered inside and into the kitchen, where she found an already hot, set-out plate of her chicken. She immediately plopped down and began stuffing her face with it; there was nothing more comforting than fried and barbecue chickens. Nothing.

After a few moments, Gideon cleared his throat. Sasha raised her eyes up to him, still chewing. "So. About what we wanted to talk about in the first place," the redhead started.

Sasha swallowed. "It's about me and Mary's fight, I know," she said. "You want us to be friends again."

"Duh," Fabian snorted. "Frankly, Sasha, it's entirely your fault. We want to know why this upsets you so much."

"First things first," Sasha began, "this is not entirely my fault. I assume Mary didn't tell you about what she said to me, did she?" Not even waiting for an answer, she went on, "We were having an argument; I told her she was acting like my mother and she said- and I quote, 'How do you know what a mother's like? You've only had one for two months!'"

She stabbed her fork into her chicken, showing just for angry that still made her. Fabian and Gideon exchanged a look.

"I'm sure Mary didn't mean to say it," Gideon began, but Sasha cut him off.

"You're biased, Prewett, you have a crush on Mary. Don't look at me like that, I've been watching you for the past two months, it's so obvious-"

"So you admit you've been watching us?" Fabian declared suddenly. "Ha! See, you do care; otherwise you'd just be moving on! You want to be friends with Mary again, too!"

Sasha glared at him. Then, her face softened, and she sighed. "Fine. You're right, I do want to be friends with her again. She's my best friend, and I don't even know why I've taken our argument this far for this long."

"Then why don't you just apologize?"

"Because that would mean admitting I was wrong," Sasha shuddered, as though that was something she had only seen in nightmares. "I don't work that way."

"Well, do you want Mary to apologize?" Gideon asked. Sasha gave him a look that clearly said, Well, duh. "Has she already apologized for saying that stuff about your mum?"

Slowly, Sasha nodded.

"Then she's done everything she can do. Now it's your turn to suck it up and admit your mistake," Fabian told her.

"But I can't. It doesn't help that I keep finding reasons to be mad at her."

"Like what?"

"Like her planning on getting over Remus one day- oh, don't look so thrilled, lover boy," Sasha scowled at Gideon. "Remus is one of my best friends, and he and Mary… Well, they've always been together. We all thought they were a match made in Heaven; to be perfectly honest, I'm still not too well adjusted to the idea of them not being together."

"They were great for each other," Fabian agreed, "but not all relationships are for forever, Sasha. Especially when one person's dead and the other isn't."

"Makes it rather difficult to go on dates," Gideon nodded solemnly.

"My point is," Sasha went on, "we all thought that Mary and Remus, at least, would be together forever… So what does that mean for everyone else? Lily and James? Delilah and Dexter? Me and Sirius? I don't give a fuck if I'm dead, I love him, I'm not planning on moving on any time soon."

There was a pause. Finally, Fabian said, "So, in other words, the real reason why you're not talking to Mary is because you're turning all of your own insecurities into her fault?"

"Basically."

"Then there's only one way to solve that," Fabian proclaimed.

"You have to get over your insecurities," Gideon told Sasha before the woman could even ask. "Then you can get over your anger at Mary, too."

"It sounds easier than it really is," Sasha replied matter-of-factly. "Believe me, I've tried it."

"We'll figure out something," Fabian promised her.

"No price, either," Gideon put in. "So you're getting all of our genius to help you, with no extra charge."

"Except that you might screw everything up even more."

Fabian put his hand to his heart as though he'd been wounded. "I'm hurt by how little faith you have in us," he told her, grinning.

"I'm impressed," shrugged Gideon. "All joking aside though-"

"Oh, so you aren't really impressed by me?"

"-By the end of the month, we'll have a foolproof plan to make you and Mary friends again," Gideon continued, undeterred.

"The end of the month is tomorrow. It's July 30." Suddenly, Sasha went totally still; her eyes widened; her jaw dropped; and then, after a frozen minute, she jumped up. "IT'S JULY 30!" She shook Fabian's shoulders. "WHERE IS YOUR WATCHERVISION?"

"In the living room!"

Sasha ran away from the alarmed twins, plopped down on the couch, and hurriedly said, "Alice Longbottom! Alice Longbottom! Alice Long- oh, for God's sake, where's the fucking remote?" She spent about three minutes tearing apart the twins' living room until she found it; then, she pointed at the Watchervision, yelled, "Alice Longbottom!" at it, and watched the screen almost greedily as it flickered to life.

"What's going on?" Fabian asked worriedly as he and Gideon finally arrived in the living room, sitting down next to Sasha. "What happened to Alice?"

"It's July 30," Sasha answered. "Her baby's due today!"

Fabian and Gideon stared at her. "That's why you just had to get to the Watchervision? So urgently that you tore apart our living room and screamed us half-deaf in the process? Couldn't you have just checked in tomorrow or something?" the latter asked incredulously.

"No," Sasha glared at him. "You're a guy, you don't get it. Girls have to see all important milestones in each others' lives."

Fabian shook his head. "And this is why I'm a bachelor."

"Eeeep!" Sasha squealed, pointing at the screen. "There she is! Look! Oh, and she looks so tired, I bet she just had the baby- aaaah! There he is there he is there he is! Oh, he looks just like her!"

"He looks like a radish. Shriveled up, tiny and pink."

"Shut up, Fabian."

XxxxX

The next morning, Sasha found herself knocking on Mary's door, a note in hand. When Mary finally answered the door, she was holding one, too.

"Fabian and Gideon?" Sasha asked, holding up her own note to show what she meant.

"They said you'd be coming," Mary nodded.

"They told me to come," Sasha replied.

Silence.

"Can I- Can I come in?" Sasha requested, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. As a response, Mary stepped aside, clearing the doorway for Sasha to walk through. She did.

The two girls stood facing each other. Mary started, "Did you see Alice yesterday?"

"Not the whole birth, but I saw the baby, yeah. He looks just like her."

"He really does! He's got Frank's hair, though."

"How can you tell? The baby's still bald!"

"Gut feeling," Mary shrugged. "There's always the possibility that Neville has a few hairs that we didn't see because they're blond."

"True that, true that," Sasha nodded. "So- almost August. Weird, huh?"

"I know. Time here's just… flown by."

A pause. "I feel like I'm forgetting something," Sasha said finally. "Something really, really important."

"Me too," Mary agreed after a moment, frowning. "Do we have any other friends that are due to have babies?"

The realized it at the same time and gasped together, "Lily and James!"

They hastily scampered over to the couch; Mary turned it on and declared, "Lily Potter!" thereby turning it to the right channel. They were met with the sight of a familiar redhead who looked very tired, but elated nonetheless.

"Aw, man!" Mary complained. "We missed the birth again!"

"Shh!" Sasha shushed her, almost falling forward in her seat in her eagerness to look at the screen. "It's Sirius!"

The man looked rather worse for the wear; there were dark bags under his red eyes, he has a serious case of aftershave, was in desperate need of a haircut (and a hair wash, for that matter) and altogether looked shabby and exhausted. But he was rocking a tiny bundle in a blue blanket back and forth in his arms with a tenderness that looked almost foreign on him.

"What's his name?" he asked the new parents.

"Harry," James beamed, staring down at his son. "Harry James Potter."

"That name has a nice ring to it," Mary put in quietly.

"I certainly get the middle name, Prongs," Sirius frowned confusedly. "But where'd you get the name Harry from?"

When Lily answered him, she was clearly holding back tears; gone was the expression of such joy from before. "Sasha's father w-was named Harry," she began. Sasha sucked in a gasp. "She- She always wanted her father to have a namesake, so we- we figured that the best way to honor her m-memory would be to name our son after him."

"Oh my God," Sasha breathed, putting her hand over her mouth as a tear trickled down her cheek.

She wasn't the only one who was crying. In the screen, Sirius gulped back a sob, blinking his tears away. He grabbed Harry's tiny hand in his own and the baby looked up at him with eyes the exact same shape of Lily's; and although they were that newborn blue now, Sasha had no doubt that they would change to green. He smiled, and though his face was wet now, Sirius smiled back.

Sasha let out a sob and buried her face in her hands; immediately, Mary put her arms around her.

"I- I'm sorry, Pom-Pom," Sasha muttered finally. "I've been a bitch, and you didn't deserve it."

"I've said some not-so-nice things too; I'm sorry for that," Mary responded. "Does this mean we're friends again now?"

Sasha sniffled and wiped her nose, looking Mary in the eye. "Pom-Pom, I just got my snot all over your shirt. It's only fair that I pay you back by being your friend again."

The two laughed and hugged each other again; at that moment, there was a crack, and two people began applauding.

"Gideon and Fabian Prewett, get out of my house!" Mary told them with mock sternness, turning around to face them.

"Yeah, get out of our house!" Sasha echoed playfully, linking her arm through her friend's. Mary grinned broader.

"What, we aren't allowed to watch the results of all our hard work?" Gideon asked, pretending to look insulted.

"You should be on your knees thanking us!" Fabian exclaimed. Gideon nodded in agreement. "We got you two to be friends again!"

"Right. By sending us notes. Yeah, you did so much," Sasha rolled her eyes.

"Yes, we did do so much. Would you have come here without the note? No," Gideon pointed out.

"Can't argue with you there," Sasha sighed. "By the way, how'd you know that Lily was due today?"

"Well, we knew that she was due in July-"

"-And figured that we would've heard from Mary already if she'd given birth-"

"-Which meant that she would probably have the baby today-"

"And here we are now," the twins finished together.

"Not bad, I have to admit," Mary smiled.

"It was all Gideon's idea," Fabian said hastily, pushing his brother forward.

"Well, then it was a good idea, Gideon," Mary told him. Getting up, she wrapped her arms around him and said, "Thank you for getting me my best friend back."

Gideon gently hugged her back and assured her, "It was nothing," grinning broadly.

"Awwwwww!"

"Shut up, Fabian!"
_

Three minor announcements:

1. The annual I'm-a-terrible-person-for-not-updating-in-over-two-months apology. As usual, I am so, so, so, so, so sorry. I've just been completely lost for ideas. Feel free to throw anything you want at me.

2. I feel like this chapter was rather 'meh.' Sorry.

3. DO NOT yell at me for doing Gideon/Mary. Come on, people, do you want her to be completely heartbroken when Remus comes back with Tonks? No. Gideon's a very nice boy, and even though he's very different from Remus, I think he's a good match for Mary.

And now, the most important announcement(s):

THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF "They Are Watching." I know, I know, it's only five chapters, but I just don't have any inspiration for this story whatsoever. I just… can't write it anymore. It bores me. I'm so, so, so sorry. However, have no fear:

I AM WRITING ANOTHER SEQUEL.

Yes, that's right. This new story will be the actual sequel. I adore the plot (and I even have some of it planned out for a change!), and I can't wait to see what you guys think of it. I'm not going to post it for awhile, because I want to make sure I have at least a few chapters written before I start putting it up, in an effort to make my updates less spaced-out.

In any case, thank you to all of you so, so much for your reviews, your ideas, your support, your Favorites, your Alerts, your time. It means so much to me, and I can only hope that I don't let you down.

-Joelle8