Modern Day

Jason Grant stared around at his friends, settled comfortably in the seats of Belle Morte's cinema room, and felt a sudden pang in his heart.

He and Gideon were making the right decision, he knew that, but change was still difficult, and breaking the news of that change to the people he loved was even harder.

He glanced at his husband, and Gideon smiled softly back at him. That small smile was all the encouragement Jason needed.

"Okay, so you're probably wondering why we asked you to come here," he said. "Gideon and I have some news."

Roux sat up a little straighter, her eyes gleaming. "Do spill," she said.

Jason hesitated, all the words he'd carefully rehearsed slipping out of his head.

"As you all know, construction on the latest vampire house is still ongoing, but the end is getting closer, and once that house is finished, someone will need to help run it," Gideon took over. "Ysanne has asked us to do that."

Jason took Gideon's hand.

"Wait, you guys are going to be in charge of the new house? That's amazing," Renie said.

Jason suspected she hadn't yet understood what that meant. Roux had though, he could see it in the way her expression drooped.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" she said quietly.

"Wait, what? What does it mean?" said Renie.

Jason took a deep breath. "It means that Gideon and I will be leaving Belle Morte."

Renie's mouth fell open.

Roux grabbed Ludovic's hand.

Edmond lifted one dark eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Renie asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Jason nodded. "Hopefully we're getting our own place built in the grounds of the new house, so that's where we'll be moving to when it's ready."

"But . . ." Renie looked around the room. "Belle Morte is your home."

"It has been, and we'll always love it, but we need to do this," Jason said.

"We will only be a few miles away though, so it's not like we're moving to the other side of the country," Gideon pointed out.

"No, but you won't be here," Roux said. "I'm so used to seeing you both every day – I love that. I just . . . I hate the thought that you won't be here. I hate that I won't be able to knock on your door whenever I feel like it."

Ludovic put his arm around her, and she leaned against his shoulder.

Jason wasn't surprised that Roux was taking it harder than Renie. Despite her bubbly personality and loyal nature, she didn't have any truly good friends outside Belle Morte. Years of bullying had taken their toll on her, and it wasn't until she left school that she started to blossom into the woman that Jason knew and loved today. He and Renie were Roux's best friends. More than that, they were family.

And now Jason was leaving them.

"If you think you won't still see me all the time, you're wrong," he said. "We'll still be visiting Belle Morte constantly, and you'd better visit us too."

Roux sniffled a bit and nodded.

"When are you leaving?" Renie asked.

"We don't know yet. Work hasn't even started on our house, so we have no idea how long that will take," Gideon said.

"What if it takes longer to build than the kids' house?"

"Then we may have to temporarily move into the house with the kids."

"That's something else we wanted to talk to you guys about," Jason said. "Since a house is being built for us, we can design it ourselves, and we thought maybe you'd all like to help."

"First the kids' house, and now yours. Did we all miss our calling as architects or something?" Roux said. Her voice was still a bit wobbly, but her smile was genuine.

"Oh, we'll veto anything we don't like," Jason cheerfully told her. "It's our house, after all. But you're all so important to us, and we want you to be involved with this."

Roux straightened up, brushing her fingers under her eyes. "Have you thought about what kind of house you'd like?"

Jason gently squeezed her knee. Roux wasn't okay with this, and she probably wouldn't be for a while, but she would put aside whatever she was feeling for Jason's sake. It was one of the reasons he loved her.

"We're thinking some kind of cottage. We really loved the place we went to after Christmas, so maybe something like that, only a bit bigger," he said. He gave Roux's knee another squeeze. "We have to make sure there's enough room for you to come and stay."

"Even though you'll only be a few miles away?" Roux said.

"You didn't think we'd move house and not have room for our whole family, did you?" Gideon said.

"There's something else we need to consider," Jason said. He and Gideon had already discussed it, and Gideon had been nothing but supportive, but Jason wanted to know what everyone else thought about it.

"What is it?" Edmond asked.

"Nikki turned seventeen a couple of months ago. In less than a year, she'll legally be an adult, which means she'll legally be allowed to leave home. She's been counting down to that day since Dexter died, and the second she turns eighteen, she'll want to get away from Diane, but if she doesn't have anywhere to go, then Gid and I are going to offer her a room at our place."

"Oh, wow," said Renie.

"Do you think she'll accept?" Edmond said.

"I think she'll do whatever it takes to leave home. I'd rather she come and live with us for a while than have to find complete strangers as roommates," Jason said.

"Does she know this?" said Ludovic.

Jason and Gideon exchanged looks.

"We haven't told her yet. We wanted you all to know we were moving before anyone else," said Gideon.

"What if it takes her years to be able to afford her own place?" Renie asked.

Jason shrugged. "Then she'll live with us for years."

"So how many bedrooms are we thinking?" said Roux.

"That's what we're not sure about. Four would be ideal, but that might make the house too big. We want to keep that cosy cottage feeling," Jason said.

"So make the rooms smaller."

"But I like a big bedroom."

"Why don't you make your bedroom big and the guest rooms smaller?" Edmond suggested.

Jason glanced at Gideon. "That could work."

"Are there any limits on what you can do?" Renie asked.

"Ysanne hasn't set any yet, but she'll let us know if we get carried away."

"So no swimming pool?"

"The kids' house will have its own pool, so we'll probably just use that one. There's no point having two, especially not when I can use it during the day, when the kids are inside," Jason said. He winked at Gideon. "Maybe I'll finally teach you how to swim."

"Maybe," said Gideon without enthusiasm.

Jason blew him a kiss.

"Perhaps what you guys need to do is research existing cottages and get a really good feel for the kind of thing you want," Roux suggested. "You said you liked the one from your weekend getaway, so that's a start." She clapped her hands. "Ooh, we could make moodboards."

"Mood-what?" Ludovic said.

"I'll explain later."

"Yeah, that would probably help, wouldn't it?" Jason said.

Ludovic still looked baffled. "Do you know what they're talking about?" he asked Gideon.

Gideon nodded, looking faintly smug.

Roux patted Ludovic's cheek. "You've still got a lot of learning to do," she said.

"Apparently so."

Edmond raised his hand. "I don't know what they're talking about either."

"I'm going to get my laptop and then we can start really brainstorming ideas," said Roux, jumping out of her seat. "I'll be back in five."

Jason watched her run out of the room, and his heart panged again. There was so much about Belle Morte and living with his friends that he would miss. But, as he looked at Gideon, the beautiful blond vampire who'd turned his whole world upside down, he felt a tingle of excitement too. Yes, they were leaving much of their old lives behind, but they also had so much to look forward to.

In just a few short months, they could have their very own house, and maybe it wouldn't be just theirs for long because there would always be a room there for Nikki if she needed it, but that would still be very different to living in a mansion with so many other people.

Jason wasn't ready to become a vampire yet, and he suspected it would still be years before he wanted to take that step. But in the meantime, they could take this step.

He couldn't wait.

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