Chapter 21
I watched Mum sip her glass of champagne, the rosy glow on her cheeks giving her a more youthful appearance. I hadn't seen her so relaxed in a long time; even at the wedding, she'd been unable to just stop and enjoy herself. There was always a caterer that needed direction, a friend that wanted attention or a wedding planner to yell at when they decided it was over and helped themselves to a bottle of the vintage red left out on a nearby table. I was on the planner's side, dealing with Mum and Penny in the weeks leading up to the wedding was probably enough to warrant an early retirement and more than a bottle of wine on the sly.
Dad looked equally at peace beside her. I watched from the opposite side of the table as they shared looks and smiles as each of the courses were placed in front of them. Despite having the same food, they shared whatever they had just tasted with an enthusiastic, try this, to the other. It was adorable and surreal. Beside Dad, Jordan joked with Colton. I hadn't realised the pair of them were so friendly, and Penny joined in as stories from their honeymoon - the appropriate edition, not the girls night version, were shared with our little family.
That's what we all were.
Family.
Three years ago I would have laughed if you told me that I'd be here like this. I never would have believed I'd be willingly seated beside Penny, and think of her as a real friend. None of this was punishment or pretend. We hadn't attempted to bring each other down, and there had been no passive-aggressive remarks discreetly served with fake smiles. I had been genuinely happy to see her tonight.
Richard would call this progress. I call it well, I guess it was progress.
Ailin politely nodded along to whatever Mum was currently talking about, not quite as comfortable here as the others, but even our demon president looked happier to be here than what Zane did. Seated beside Cain, he was constantly fidgeting with the collar of his shirt and the cufflinks. The boutique beer he drank was one he never would have tried if it wasn't the only beer on the menu; while the others sipped wine and whisky, which a bottle of would cost more than some peoples cars. Anytime Mum leaned over to him, whispering how nice he looked dressed up he blushed.
We'd booked a table at one of the fanciest restaurants in the city that I knew my parents would enjoy and I wanted them both in the best of moods. This was one I knew they had frequented whenever we came by before they ended the nomad lifestyle and settled at the Academy. Clearly, it had been too long since their last visit, and with our people gathered, it was nearly time to break the news. I just hoped we fed and liquored them up enough to handle the announcement. It would be hard to hate anything in this place, with the piano set up in the corner, sparkling chandeliers and candlelight that made it feel so exclusive and luxurious.
"And no one can find them?" Zane kept his voice low while Mum was distracted with the truffle foam served alongside the duck ravioli.
Cain gave a little shake of his head, putting his wine glass down as he gave the table a once over. No one was listening, or maybe they were as I saw Ailin watching him as she glanced up from her phone. Jordan had tried bringing up the Furies and what had happened on the mountain more than once tonight, but Mum had shut him up pretty quickly. I kind of liked her, no work talk at the table, rule, but it was the only thing that seemed to stop Zane from looking like he was about to run out of the restaurant.
"Hermes is exhausted, he's done as much as he can," Cain told him. "Deimos needs time to recover, and they will too. For now, all we can do is be alert for when they come back."
It wasn't a plan, and we had to come up with more than being alert as the next time would be harder. If they wanted to play dirty as they did with their use of Perseus's shield, I could only imagine what they'd come up with now.
"And they will be back." Zane agreed, looking older than usual as he finished his beer. "I still can't believe Medusa is real."
"It would have gone a lot differently if Elle hadn't shown up when she did." Cain's hand found mine under the table.
Zane smiled. "I don't doubt that at all. Are you staying here for a while then?"
"Yes, and it will be easier to move between the two worlds now I am not supposed to be dead."
"Tomorrow night then?" Zane smirked. "If you think you can keep up, that is. We've got a rogue group of vamps attacking-"
"No work talk. Zane! You know we love you but relax. Enjoy yourself." Mum interrupted, lightly scolding him. "Have you tried the foam?"
Zane's face implied he had not tried the foam and I also had a sneaking suspicion he'd be heading out after this for an actual dinner. Fine dining was not for Zane. Dad must be thinking what I was, as he let out a deep belly laugh drawing in attention from the few tables nearby.
"I know a great kebab place around the corner," Dad laughed. "Don't worry. Enjoy your appetizers."
Mum glared at him.
"What? You know as much as I love this place, we stop there every time on the way home."
Mum kept glaring.
"How about this duck?" Penny pipes up, the two small parcels of ravioli on her fork. "It's amazing."
"It should be at this price." Colton mumbles.
Penny glares at Colton.
Dad just laughs some more, while Jordan hides his smile behind his wine glass.
Yup, this was my family and while Penny talked about the beach they'd practically lived on for two weeks, I pushed my food around the plate too nervous to eat. Cain did not have that issue, and whatever I left he happily made disappear. I thought Apollo finding out would be the hardest, but anytime I looked at my parents I wanted to follow Zane and run for freedom. Since he also knew what was happening tonight, the anxious looks he was constantly giving me, and then my parents weren't helping. Cain seemed unaffected or unbothered by the whole ordeal, but then again, he'd had more than a bottle of wine so he had an unfair advantage.
"The sunset boat cruise was amazing, and I'm so glad we decided to do it." Penny sighed. "We were tired from the morning we spent on the reef, weren't we babe?"
"Yeah, babe." Colton agreed, though, from the way Mum was glaring at him and Jordan as they were doing something on their phones, I wasn't sure he even knew what he was agreeing to right now.
"Enough about us, I don't think I've stopped talking all night! What have we missed?" Penny smiled, finally taking a breath. "Have I been here before? I feel like I have, years ago though. There was a really hot waiter, remember Elise? You managed to talk him into serving us that champagne. What were we then? Sixteen?"
"And you got him fired," Dad growled as Jordan laughed.
"Oh, I remember that too. Wasn't that when we stole, I mean borrowed that car because, um, what was that idiots name from the Academy. He always wore his sunglasses at night because he thought it made him look like Blade."
Penny slapped my arm. "Yes! I had the biggest crush on him though."
"His name was Blade. The whole thing was like an alter ego and he didn't think I could drive better than him because I am a girl."
"You kicked his ass." Penny looked at me proudly. "It was so good. Dad nearly died when he heard about it."
"He wasn't the only one," Dad grumbled. "You all stole my car!"
"Borrowed." Jordan pointed out, making Penny laugh again.
Mum joined in, reaching over to kiss Dad on the cheek. "Don't look so sour. You knew exactly what she was up to and let them all get away with it."
That explained why it had been so easy to take his keys.
"Never liked that kid," Dad mumbled. "He needed to be taught a lesson."
"That was for my birthday," Mum smiled, closing her eyes for a second as she remembered the night. "Apart from that, it was such a nice night. There are so many good memories to be had here."
I felt Cain looking at me as all this went on, and as Mum said that he nudged me with his shoulder. Giving him the attention he wanted, he merely looked at me expectantly.
"You do it," I whisper.
"I did Hades."
"I told everyone else."
"It wasn't on purpose so it doesn't count." He shrugs. "It'll be fine. You got this."
"You're an asshole."
"I love you."
I let Mum reminisce a moment longer as the staff subtly cleared plates in preparation for the final course, and glasses were either refilled or taken away. Squeezing Cain's hand, as each second ticks by his relaxed mood seems to fall away until he's sitting upright, tense and the colour starts to drain from his face. As Zane was the only other person at our table who knew our secret, he seemed to recognize what was about to happen from Cain's subtle shift in mood - so much for it'll be fine.
Zane finished his beer and went for the wine which the waiter for our table nearly had a heart attack over as not only did he go to pour his own glass, he was using the old beer one. No one noticed. The waiter was fast and direct, replacing the used beer glass with a fresh, round wine one that he filled with practised finesse. He gave Zane a tight-lipped smile and disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. In response, Zane nearly emptied the glass in one go, cringing as he swallowed it all down. He seemed even more nervous than me, and in the brief moment of quiet as they all ate their wedge of beef cheek in some kind of jus, I subtly cleared my throat.
Nothing.
So I did it again.
"You okay?" Penny asked, her concern genuine as she patted my arm.
I offer her a smile and she returns her attention to her plate. I glance at Cain who only shrugs. Being subtle had failed, and so, I decided to take the band-aid approach and just rip it off in one go, quickly, painfully, yet efficiently. It seemed to have worked out well in the past so why not now?
"We're having a baby."
Penny gasps, chokes, and then coughs; Colton slaps her on the back while I don't think Jordan heard as he looks at her, then simply scoops up more to eat. Zane finishes his wine, holding up the glass for the waiter to refill immediately - which he does. Ailin looks surprised, right as her phone rings and this time she quickly rejects it and flips the screen over onto the table.
I look at Mum and Dad.
They look at me.
"What did you say?" Jordan asks, still chewing. He glances at Mum and Dad, then frowns. "I missed it?"
"I'm pregnant," I say clearly.
"Holy shit." Penny gets out between coughs.
Jordan laughs. "No seriously, what did you say?"
"We're having a baby," Cain tells him. There was no room to misinterpret that.
"This is unexpected," Penny says slowly. "But, congratulations!"
"Very unexpected." Ailin agrees, yet her face looks like it might crack as she smiles.
Penny throws herself at me in a big hug, nearly headbutting me as she wobbles in her chair.
"Yeah, this is good news! Congratulations guys." Colton adds.
He gets up and replaces Penny before giving Cain an awkward shoulder pat and sits back down.
"I, ah, wow. Very, er, unexpected." Jordan stutters. "Like, an actual baby?"
"Yes Jord, an actual baby." I roll my eyes, but my confidence is disappearing with every second of silence from my parents. "This is ah, why we got you all here tonight. Surprise!"
"I had expected bad news. The Furies perhaps or one of your team. Did I hear Deimos was in recovery?" Ailin speaks slowly like she's really needing to concentrate on each of the words as she says them.
"The Furies turned him to stone Medusa style." Zane mumbles, which seems to shock Ailin more than our announcement. "He's fine."
"You and Raya are going to be baby buddies! Can I please be the godmother? You get to be Olivia's so I should at least get one of these two!" Penny claps her hands together excitedly. "Colton, what if we forgot the five-year plan and we-"
"Um, not the time, Pen." He shushes her, and she looks at my parents as if she just remembers they were even there.
Everyone looks at them.
Too long passes.
This was a mistake, and all the progress we'd made this last year or so just disappeared. We shouldn't have told them, maybe once Blueberry was here and they'd have no choice other than to fall in love with him. I could avoid them for nine months, I'd managed to do it for nearly twelve weeks so what was another thirty or so. I still could, and wonder who will notice around us if I happen to disappear from my chair.
Every so slowly, Mum puts down her fork and removes the napkin from her lap. She folds and smoothes it before placing it on the table. Her eyes are watery in the candlelight, and it's impossible not to notice how her chin and lip is trembling as she stands.
Dad is unreadable.
"Mum, I-" I start, unsure what to actually say so I say nothing.
Instead, I hold Cain's hand so tightly I'm positive I'm breaking bones. He doesn't even flinch; not even as Mum comes over and stands between us and a sickening sense of dread takes over. Only, then I don't know what happens exactly, but somehow she has us both up, squeezing us close against her as she bursts into tears.
"Oh, my babies. I didn't think, I never wanted to hope, but, but, it's happening!" She sobbed. "I'm getting a grandbaby all of my own!"
I'm given a moment of peace as she latches on to Cain who is completely bewildered by the older woman smothering his face in kisses as she says a million words a second on how excited, how thankful, how simply thrilled she is that he is here and that this miracle has happened.
Giving her all that champagne earlier clearly paid off.
It's impossible not to be overwhelmed by her emotions, and as I wipe my eyes I glance to where Dad was only to find him missing. I am positive my heart is actually about to break, yet warm, firm hand tugs on my arm and I turn around to see him standing there.
"Call me a traditionalist, I always thought marriage should come first," He glares at Cain who is still being assaulted by Mum. "You have never done anything that I think you should, or that I want you to do though."
I feel about two feet tall, even smaller as he pulls me into a hug. My worst fears of going back to the disappointment, the irresponsible one who stole cars to prove a point and got waiters fired, slowly faded as all I felt was their happiness. Mum joins us in a group hug, and I can't remember the last time I had felt like this with them. Loved. Accepted. There was no argument, passive-aggressive undertones, or forced smiles. They were truly happy for me, for us. It was strange and I still couldn't stop myself from wondering if once they sobered up that would change.
"This is great news," Dad whispers to me. "Unexpected, definitely, but great news Elliephant."
Dad gives Cain an ever so subtle nod, before sitting back down. Mum still crying - tears of joy, as she keeps mumbling to no one and dessert finally arrives. Everyone seems to have more energy now, even Zane despite how much wine he'd just drank in that small space of time.
"That wasn't so bad," Cain whispers before kissing my hand. "What were you so worried about?"
"Me, who made us late?" I tease. "It's because we're in public. If I told them in the safety of their home, I'm sure it would have gone differently. Your bulletproof right?"
Cain laughed before settling back in his chair. He slowly glanced around us, and at that moment he looked like the kind of guy who had found his place in the world. There was a look of pure bliss on his face, and whatever tension had been present earlier was gone. It was a different kind of glimpse into the future, and all I wanted to do was get there too.
"How long have you been keeping this secret?" Penny asks, interrupting us.
"Yeah, how far along are you?" Jordan adds, tilting his head slightly as he looks over at me. "You're not showing like Raya. Are you?"
"I'm only eleven weeks."
"Have you had a scan yet?" Mum looks even more excited now.
"No, it's next Friday." She tones it back down. "I'll show you the scan pics as soon we're done."
"Oh, I hope it's a girl! She can be Olivia's little BFF!" Penny gushes. "I'm going to buy so many things for her!"
I glance at Cain, deciding against telling her we already knew because of how screwed up my family is. "We'll find out, I promise, but that won't be until much later."
"Uncle Jordan, I like it." My brother smiles before his face pales. "I don't have to like, do anything with the birth, do I? Like, be there or anything or-"
"Shut up Jordan." Mum groans, as Dad whacks him on the back of the head and that conversation is over before it begins.
Dessert comes and goes and by the time we leave, I'm exhausted. The guys all start without us, no doubt in search of the kebab Dad promised, Ailin has gone back to work, and Penny and I walk with Mum in the same direction as the men though at a much slower pace.
"So, how are you? Really." Mum asks.
"I can't believe you kept this a secret for so long! I'd be telling everyone the second I peed on a stick!" Penny exclaims a little too loudly.
"It's only been the last couple of weeks I've managed to accept this is happening. I didn't take it well in the beginning, and then we've had all this stuff with the Furies going on."
"And Cain?" Mum frowns, patting my hand as she links her arm with mine.
"Good, then not the best, then good again. Great actually."
Penny gasps. "Have you told Apollo?"
I frowned as I nodded, and Mum looked more concerned over that than she did anytime we mentioned the Furies.
"How did he take it?" She asked softly.
"Also not the best. He kind of walked in on a conversation Cain and I were having at the time, and Kara-"
"Kara knows too? Who else does?" Penny pouted.
"All of our friends and family do now. We were going to tell you guys first, back when we had organised this dinner the first time, but then the news got out among the god crew and it's been a crazy week." I looked at Mum. "I'm sorry. It wasn't this way on purpose."
"Never mind that, love. We know now, and can not wait to meet the little pumpkin when he or she is born."
"Wait, so all those other people knew before us, your best friends and family?" Penny sounded more hurt about this than Mum did.
"It was not intentional. Kara kind of appeared, at a really bad time and we've since had some big discussions about doors, and boundaries. I told Raya during one of my freakouts because I do this weird thing now where I like, talk to him sometimes. It's crazy, but Raya says it's totally normal." I shrug. "And well, when I finally told Cain. he managed to tell Zane, and Eric, after declaring we shouldn't tell anyone yet, so take that up with him."
"Even Eric knew before me? Oh, I will be talking to him about that!" She huffed, apparently that meant right now as she stormed off ahead of us which made Mum chuckle. I had to as well, she looked like a force to be reckoned with as she practically ran over in her ridiculously high stilettos and sparkling mini-dress like a redheaded Barbie nightmare.
"How are you feeling, love?" Mum asks, watching Penny disappear around the corner.
"Tired. Scared. Relieved now you guys know. Morning sickness has made me its bitch, but I've found a cure for that. I also have this weird doughnut obsession now." I shrug.
"I liked strawberries. I don't know how many I used to eat with you two. It was the same thing both times." She smiled at the memory. "This will be the start of a whole new chapter of your life, for both of you. You can move on to something good, something that helps everything you've fought so hard for make sense."
"I'm not done fighting yet. There's more coming." I admit, and she doesn't miss a step as we keep walking.
"You two are not normal in any sense of the word and I am sure this will not be the last time either. This baby will give you something to keep you going. It will give you purpose." Mum sighs. "There were so many times I thought this world we live in would beat us. We went into situations facing odds that were not in our favour. We lost friends, family. Sometimes I wished for it to be the last time, for this mission to beat us. Then, we had Jordan. Everything changed. We survived. We kept going. We had to. It wasn't about us anymore. Everything we did was for him. And then you came along."
"Lucky you."
"Indeed." She smiles. "You were special from day one, our beautiful and very unexpected, baby girl. Buntings always seem to have boys!"
I force a laugh as she giggles about it.
"Things will work out. They always do." Mum sounds so sure I want to believe her.
Instead, I just hugged her. Her perfume was subtle and floral; it smelt like home. It made me think of school holidays, of the relief I felt being away from the Academy. Even if it was often to a house I'd never been to before, and my things were still being kept in storage, it didn't matter because she had been there.
Opening my eyes, Penny was coming back over and I remember the Christmas she had stayed with us. She'd been so horrible for the whole week, breaking down on Christmas Eve about how she forgot what it was like to have a mother. She couldn't remember anything about her own, and she'd hated me for still having mine when so many like us had no one.
"Did you two want anything? They're about to pay." Penny called out.
"No dear, I'm okay." Mum smiled, wiped her eyes and kept walking as if nothing had just happened.
"Ellie?" I shook my head and watched them go, arm in arm as Mum and I had just been.
I thought about how easily the Fates preyed on their relationship to make me jealous, and it seemed even more laughable now. Somehow through all this, Penny found her place within our family; she was more sister than a friend. Years spent at war had led to this and while I was away, and for every time in the future that I would be gone, they'd still had each other. She'd care for Mum as if she were her own, and Mum would be waiting with a cup of tea and piece of cake whenever Penny needed her wisdom. It didn't take anything away from me, I wasn't being replaced, or removed, it was just the way our family had evolved.
Their laughter echoed down the quiet street before Jordan did something to Colton that had him shouting and chasing him around a bus stop. I keep walking as the cold starts to sink through the layers of my jacket and shivering, I go a little faster. Zane nudges my arm as I stand beside him, and I smile, knowing his inclusion into our little club would be no different to how Jordan found himself the brother he'd always wanted.
"You alright, kid?"
"Yup. What a night, hey?" I find Cain standing with Dad near the counter inside the shop.
Despite the serious looks on their faces, Dad's hands moved dramatically around as he was telling a story about something. Cain breaks first, a smile appearing as Dad makes some kind of explosion with his hands, right before he slaps a hand on Cain's back. He doesn't miss a beat, the second of surprise at the action hidden well.
"Went a lot better than I thought it might," Zane admits. "Guess it helps that your Dad likes him already. You're welcome."
"Why am I thanking you?"
"I did some groundwork last week while I was staying there. Long story short, I assured him he was, in your Dad's words, not mine, nothing like the last one." Zane smirked. "I said he was much, much worse."
"You didn't?" I gasped.
"I did. It made him laugh, maybe he thought I was joking?" He shrugged. "Or maybe none of us will ever forget watching him bring you back that night."
That made me frown. "Apollo has saved my life a bunch of times since then, so what does it-"
"No. That wasn't the part I was talking about, Sunshine."
Dad and Cain leave the shop, their hands full with everyone's orders. Jordan and Colton appear like seagulls, swooping in to grab their kebabs and then start walking in the direction of the hotel we're all staying in tonight. Penny floats around them, stealing bites of Colton's as she can despite protesting she doesn't want one of her own. Mum and Dad stick in the middle, and the three of us linger behind.
"Please don't take me to a place like that again." Zane gets out as he chews.
"Well, with those manners." I shake my head.
"We weren't all raised as Buntings."
"Obviously." He ignores that and looking at Cain, he's very quiet and looks thoughtful. "Are you still with us?"
"Yes." He answers instantly, pulling me closer against his side. "It's been a good night, a lot better than I thought it would be."
"I said the same thing." Zane agreed. "Rather uneventful. I half expected those Fury things to turn up and crash the party."
"Not even a death threat or stern warning. I didn't miss that dig about marriage then baby, though." Cain whispered, probably so Dad didn't hear it. "I've enjoyed myself tonight."
"Guess you are part of the family now too." Zane manages to say without a mouthful of food.
Again, Cain hides it well, but I see the look that briefly appears on his face.
Acceptance.
Relief.
"Well, the night is still young, plenty of time for all of the above to happen." I see the hotel sign at the end of the road, and a few drunken women stagger across the road not far from us. "Furies, that you?"
"Not funny," Zane warns before we slow down to watch Jordan approach the women, the one in green is apparently interested in whatever he is saying. "Shit, I'm sharing with Jord tonight and that isn't happening."
"Good luck!" I tease them before we leave them to go inside.
Penny and Colton have disappeared and we walk through the lobby in time for Mum to wave at us as the elevator doors close. The hotel staff all smile politely as we pass, and one eagerly pushes the button for the second elevator before we have to do it ourselves. Cain gives him a simple nod in thanks and selecting our floor, I close my eyes and hold onto the railing as the doors close. Cain's hands cover mine. My heart starts to race as I feel we're moving up. He says nothing and instead, his thumbs run across the top of my hands, giving me something to focus on other than the fact we're in the tiny space.
"All done." The doors open on our floor and Cain steps back, before moving out of the elevator.
I follow and as he turns back to face me, I reach up and kiss him. We're at our door quicker than I was expecting, and it unlocks without the use of the keycard.
"Get a room!" Penny calls out, and turning her way, she makes kissing sounds before giggling as Colton pulls her into their room and shuts the door.
"Why did we get a room on the same floor?" I groan, going inside.
"No idea. It was Penny's booking." Cain drops down onto the bed, stretching out as his clothes vanish and he's only in sweatpants. "This bed is so comfortable. I'm getting one like this back at our place."
I take off my heels and drop my coat over the sofa. Pyjamas appear as I follow his lead and just as I'm about to sit, he's there, pulling me down beside him. We curl up together, and he's right - it's amazing yet the King size bed feels too big so I wiggle as close as I can to him. Cain's breathing is instantly deep and slow, a lazy smile on his face as one of his legs drops over mine. His eyes are closed, and I wonder if he even realises he's smiling. Not only that, how did he fall asleep so quickly?
"Are you asleep?" I whisper, poking his cheek right before he yawns.
"Yes." He yawns again, and the shadows in the room vanish as the clouds move outside so the moon's soft light comes in. "Are you not tired?"
I can't stop myself from yawning too. "I like seeing you like this."
"Like what?" One eye opens to look at me. "A little drunk and smelling like garlic sauce?"
"I was going to just go with happy."
His body stills, those wrinkles back on his forehead as his eyebrows dip together before he rolls over to face me and he's right; he does smell like garlic sauce. Before I can pull back, it fades just like whatever place he nearly slipped away to. The warmth of his skin replaces the last of the cold I still felt from outside, and his kiss lacks the urgency that had been there minutes ago.
"I am happy, and why wouldn't I be. I finally feel like I'm home."
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Who even am I with all these updates?! To be fair, this was a semi-recycled chapter from the first time I had started Fate&Fury, It jumped from being part of chapter 4 to 21 so it's been waiting for its turn.
Hope you're enjoying #6 so far.... I think Portia is hovering nearby, so let's see what she's up to next
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