“Yes, she wants a farm with lots of animals.” Rhodes explains to them all. There are several male groans.
“Can we persuade you with a few pets rather than a whole farm-load of animals to clean?” Hollis questions.
“I can work out some kind of self-cleaning system for the farm with runes, if that helps.” Onyx supports me. I love him.
“It doesn’t.” Aleksander grunts. “Chickens peck, and you need lots of them for eggs.”
“Alright, but I still want them. I once saw these chickens that look funny when it’s rained. Not sure what breed they were, but... can we find them?”
Each of them sigh. Onyx answers though. “I’ll research them and buy you some eggs to raise in our new home.”
“We haven’t decided what we are doing after the war. Where we want to live that is.” Finnegan murmurs.
“You know, it never really mattered to me where I lived, or who I was with, or any of it, until I met you lot. Now all that matters is that we do it together. So it can be a farm, or it can be an apartment, or it could be a house in the middle of nowhere. I just want to be with you. All of you, like this, just us.” I softly explain to them.
“We love you too.” Rhodes softly offers.
“Do you want to stay in your aunt’s City? I don’t know if we’ve ever actually asked you that. Your aunt’s there; you have family.” Onyx asks.
“Would it be bad for me to say no?” I admit. “Not because of my aunt — it’s not that. I do like being able to talk to her sometimes, and it’s strange to have a family that I remember from my childhood who wasn’t, you know, psychopathic. But it’s never really felt like home. It felt like somewhere I wanted to stay, just not permanently. I think if I stayed there, she’d endup trying to make me into a mini version of her to take over, and that’s not what I want. That city is just not right for me. So, no, not there. Not forever. We need to find somewhere that can ours.”
“How about Starlight? Like the vision you told us about?” Finnegan questions softly.
“Maybe. Oh, I saw a greenhouse in that future, and I want it to look like this!” I wave around the glowing botanical garden. “So I’ll need to steal some things to make that work.”
“Completely down for stealing plants.” Severi backs me up.
“I’m sure your aunt will happily give us some seeds, or we’ll work something out without stealing.” Aleksander interrupts our plans.
“You take the fun out of everything, big man.” Severi sighs.
We all smile as they bicker. Someone presses play on the movie, and I realise I’d do it all over again to have this. The pain, the suffering and loneliness lead me here... and it was worth it.
I finish warmingup the cookies in the microwave and put them on a plate, opening the fridge to get the milk for my drink. I just finish pouring it when I hear footsteps, and I turn to see Annie walk into the kitchen. “Oh, I didn’t realise anyone was up.” Annie stretches her arms above her head. “How was your date? Don’t tell me they screwed it up, and that’s why you’re up at four in the morning.“
“No, they outdid themselves, and I fear no date will compare now. They will need a miracle to beat tonight. I couldn’t sleep—a nightmare.” I smile at her, moving easily around the kitchen even though my body is sore everywhere. The good kind of sore that reminds me what they did that made that date so fuckinggood. “We got back just after midnight, but Hollis and Rhodes were pulled away because of a problem with the Vian spies in the city. Finn went to be with his sister because she’s had a bit of a bad time, according to a healer who was waiting, and I fell asleep for a little, but I just woke up and I won’t be sleeping for a while now. I thought some milk and cookies would make me feel better. It usually does. Or makes me sleepy, at least.”
“I’ll get Issan to take notes on your date so he can do equally good.” She yawns. “Oh and your aunt dropped this off to you.”
She hands me a note after getting it from the coffee table, and I rip it open. I read it quickly and it’s my aunt saying she hopes I enjoyed tonight and how proud she is of me. I smiled and put it down on the side. “She is too kind to be my relative. Who writes sweet notes to wish her a good date night? For an Alpha, she’s very up with technology; she could have texted that.”
I hand the note to Annie, who makes aww noises as she reads it. “I love your aunt; she is bossy and scary, but a sweetheart. It’s sweet she sent this when she must be busy.”
“True. It is still weird for me to have older family that care enough for notes.” I agree. I’m glad for the note, things have been a little weird since I told her about Georgina and killing her. She understood that Georgina had to be killed, but I think a part of my aunt thought there might have been a way to help Georgina like she always tried to help my mother. I think my aunt is the type of woman to try to give everyone a chance. A shuffle makes us both look up as Nibbles comes in, followed not long after by Franklin, in his cute pyjamas with aeroplanes all over them and his hair ruffled up. He looks at me with his wide eyes and pauses. I don’t think Franklin thought I’d be in here. It’s still weird between us, and I don’t know enough about kids to fix it. “Hey, Franklin. You okay? Why are you up?” I’m sure kids need a certain amount of sleep, but I’m not brave enough to suggest he goes back to bed. He doesn’t say anything, but I’mstarting to understand him well enough, and I see his eyes flicker to the cookies and milk. Ah, he is hungry. Annie just watches and doesn’t help. I get the feeling she is throwing me in the deep end with the kid. “Do you want some milk and cookies with me? You can sit on the sofa and eat and drink them with us. I get hungry in the night too, and this always helps me.” I pause. “Or we can take them back to bed if you want.”
He nods at the sofa. I breathe out a sigh of relief. He isn’t going to run from me or ignore me. It’s progress, even though it’s not much. I’ll take it. “Alright, go sit down. I’ll be over in a minute.”
I go to the cupboard and pull out a glass for Franklin while Annie sorts out the cookies. Nibbles pads over and lies down next to Franklin on the sofa. “I think the dog really helps him settle in with us. It must be so strange for him, being here, knowing Hollis is his father, but really feeling out of sorts with everybody else. The kids must talk about who his dad is and who you are. I don’t think I’d have done as well as he has done so far.”
“I don’t think he knew Hollis all that well before, either.” I admit. I hadn’t thought of it like that; how it must be strange for him to be living with people the city is gossiping about. He goes to classes here to learn the basics, and he is making friends, from what Hollis told me. I look over and find him touching my Nex dagger, and we both pause. “Well, you clearly trust him, or your dagger would be reacting badly to strangers like mine does. Only Issan can touch mine.”
“He’s family. I’ve talked about the whole situation with Hollis, and I’m going to try to make this work.” I smile at her. “Anyway, let’s get this over to him.”
My father used to make warm cookies and cold milk for me when I was a kid, when I couldn’t sleep because of the nightmares. It still works to this day. Annie squeezes my arm gently before I take the milk and cookies over to Franklin beforegoing back for mine. We all eat our cookies, dipping them in the milk in silence, with Franklin’s eyes flickering between us. Annie just talks about absolute rubbish — from the weather, to the coffee shop down the road being out of stock due to war circumstances, to how they don’t even have rainbow sprinkles anymore for the cakes she was making for the food banks around the city. Franklin takes it all in, small smiles tilting his lips up every so often. I swear Annie can make anyone smile- even Franklin and I.
By the time she’s done talking, Franklin has finished, and it surprises me when he moves a cushion and lies his head on it, on my leg. Next to me. What do I do? Nibbles jumps up onto the sofa behind him, curling around his legs and quickly falling to sleep. I do the only logical thing I can think of and pull a blanket over Franklin, running my fingers through his soft hair. I look at Annie with wide eyes. She shrugs, smiling, resting her head on her hand, watching. Within a few minutes, Franklin is asleep too. Annie sighs. “You know, I am so glad that you decided to be my friend. You didn’t shut me out — I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did, for the record — but I wouldn’t have all of this. Never would have had any of this. A true family. If it wasn’t for the choices you made by being my friend.”
“You’re going to make me cry, and this is my first bonding moment with the kid, so I can’t cry on top of him. That would be really strange for him to wake up too.” I half joke.