He wouldn't have thought it possible, not at first glance at least, maybe not even at a fourth or tenth glance, but somehow, Kate Freelander had a way with kids. Though when he thought about it, it made perfect sense. She most likely had helped raise her brother and the way she still took care of Thad even then showed that there was a lot more to her feisty, tough-girl side then one would initially think. But then again, Henry already knew all of this, knew that she had a whole different side to her.
It was why he had fallen for her in the first place, really.
They were at the Sanctuary in Rio de Janeiro, Magnus and the team had been called over to help after the city's latest abnormal disaster with a fire-breathing bird. A dragon if Henry ever saw one. Quite rare and dangerous when provoked, the Amazonian dwelling creature had been captured and smuggled into one of the countries main cities and had managed to escape, creating must havoc on it's path.
With the help of the members of the Brazilian Sanctuary, Magnus and them had managed to contain the abnormal and put it into safe living quarters again, at the same time as dealing with the press around these mysterious events. Luckily for them the worse that had happened were a few burnt buildings here and there and some 1st and 2nd degree burns of poor passersby folks in the area at the wrong time. Things could have been a lot worse.
While Magnus and Will have teamed up to take care of the wounded and do their doctor stuff, Kate and Henry had somehow been put in charge of taking care of the children from an orphanage that had been caught up in the flames. Luckily none of the children had gotten physically hurt and their fear had started to die down a bit. While she had at first complained and protested very loud over the fact of not doing well with kids, Henry couldn't help but smile as he saw her interacting with the kids around her.
They were in small room, with couches and beanbags spread around it, as well as some toys that had been found lying around the Sanctuary. There were no more then 25 kids, ages going from 3 to 10, boys as well as girls. They were all laughing and playing and interacting with each other, letting the events from the previous hours wash over them, as was normal with kids. Henry couldn't help but look at each of them and think how that could have so easily been his situation as well, had the Doc not taken him in when she found him. Henry didn't like to think about his past much, there were just so many open wounds there.
His eyes traveled back to Kate, who was sitting down on one of the couches with a small child in her arms, a girl, no more then 4 curled up in her lap. There were 3 other kids also sitting beside Kate on the couch, their heads leaning on her shoulders and on each other as Kate slowly stroked the little girls hair. Kate didn't speak Portuguese and the kids didn't speak English, but somehow they seemed to be able to communicate with each other, again, something that just came naturally to kids.
Henry had to admit that the sight of Kate surrounded by kids and just being all Motherly made his heart swell with longing and desire. IShe probably didn't even know how beautiful and natural it came to her./I But he knew, he could see in the kids eyes just how much they had taken to her and he could also see it in her own powerful grey eyes the same devotion to them. She would make an amazing Mother one day.
An amazing, kick-ass, sexy as hell, doesn't take shit from anyone, surprisingly gentle and devoted Mother. That thought made his heart break.
If Henry were honest to himself, he would admit that it wasn't the thought of Kate being a mother that broke him. It was the thought of her being a Mother to anyone else's kids but his. IThat/I was what broke him. That she was not his. Never would be.
It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did, really, but somehow he just had been blind to it. Or maybe he just didn't want to see. That could be it too, him not wanting to see what was clearly so visible to the rest of the world. Mumbai had only confirmed it. Henry had even tried to get mad at Will, for betraying him in this way, but the truth was that he only really had himself to blame.
He had lost her because he refused to act. Served him right.
It was Rachel all over again and this time he really should have known better, should have been able to deal with it. It was all so simple really, now that he thought about it. You like the pretty girl, you tell her she's pretty, you ask her out and then you kiss her. That's how the pretty girl became yours. You didn't stay quiet while you watched Dr. Expendable swoop in and charm her right out from under you. IWay to go, Dude./I
Henry shook these thoughts away as he felt someone poking him on the shoulder, tearing his eyes away from Kate, he looked down into the brown eyes of a 7yr boy, smiling up at him. He was missing his two front teeth. Carlos had taken to Henry almost as much as Henry had taken to him.
"Que tu tem, 'Enry?"* Carlos asked, his inability to properly pronounce his name always brought a smile to Henry's face.
"Nada, nada…*" Henry could tell by the look on Carlos's face that he didn't buy his answer. But what could Henry possibly answer in response to 'IWhat was wrong?'/I. Compared to what Carlos had to deal with, Henry was complaining on a full stomach.
Carlos looked over at where Kate was sitting, her head resting gently against Maria's head, her fingers slowly tickling the small girls arms as she giggled.
"Moça bonita. Eu gosto dela."* He said.
Henry looked up to where Carlos was looking at, smiling at the scene despite the gut-wrenching feel in his stomach. "É, eu também.."* Henry also liked the pretty girl.
"Ela é tua namorada 'Enry?"*
No, she wasn't his girlfriend, even thought he wished she was. "Não, não é."*
"Por que não?"* That was a very good question. Why not? Because I am a jack-ass, that's why, thought Henry.
Not answering Carlos's question, he just shook his head and smiled at the young boy. One day he would figure it out for himself too. Carlos stared at him for a few more minutes, before tugging on his hand and pulling him over to where Kate was. Henry really did try to protest, but for a small child, the boy had a strange iron-like grip on his hands and he allowed himself to be pulled over to the couch.
Kate lifted her head when she saw them coming, smiling up at him. "Hey."
"Hey." IDamn, she had an amazing smile./I
"Actually, I'm glad you came over, I didn't want to get up, but can you ask them if they're hungry? Magnus tried to teach me, but that was kinda hopeless" Kate chuckled.
"You know, instead of spending all your time driving me crazy, you could be doing something productive, like learning a language." He teased.
"Ha ha. Aren't you in a good mood."
"Only around you." Henry replied, his tone a lot more serious then what he had initially intended it to be.
Kate held his eyes for a few seconds, something flashed in her own grey ones, but it was gone before Henry could figure out what it meant. If it even meant anything at all.
"Right, so, you going to help here?"
"Yeah, yeah." Henry nodded, crouching down in front of her as he grabbed one of Maria's hands and pretended to bite it as the little girl laughed. "Repeat after me. Tá com fome?*"
"Tah com foam-ay?" Kate said, scrunching up her nose at the sound. The kids around her giggled and she couldn't help, but chuckle too. "That was terrible, wasn't it?"
Henry laughed and looked at Maria. "Kate não sabe falar Portuguese, a gente deveria ensinar ela, né?"*
The kids laughed again and nodded their heads as Kate looked between them and Henry. "What? What did you say?"
"Nothing, just that you're an evil monster that's going to eat them up." Henry teased, chuckling as she swapped him across the shoulder. "I asked them if they thought we should teach you some Portuguese, since you're obviously very bad at it."
"That's because I have a lousy teacher." Kate pointed out, tickling Maria as the little girl laughed at the interplay between the two adults. "But fine, hit me with your best shot."
"Okay, so you already know the basic from what I hope Magnus taught you, right?" At Kate's nod, Henry continued. "Then, I don't know, what do you want to learn?"
"Teach me something useful."
"Something useful? Let's see." Henry turned to the kids, asking them what they wanted him to teach Kate. They all started speaking at once and he laughed at Kate's utter look of confusion.
Carlos came over to Kate and picked one of her hands, smiling as he played with it. "Moça bonita."
Henry first looked surprised, them grinned as Kate smiled at the boy, but turned to stare at him with a confused look. "He called you a pretty girl."
Kate smiled at Carlos again, squeezing his hand. "Aww, that's so sweet! Er…Obrigada?"
She tried, looking at Henry for confirmation and smiling when he nodded in approval. Carlos smiled back at her.
This continued on for a while longer, the kids saying things to Kate which Henry would translate and then get Kate to repeat after him. Usually Kate wouldn't be able to pronounce the words properly and that would send both the kids and Henry into a small laughing fit, with her eventually joining in.
"I don't appreciate everyone laughing at my expenses, just so you know." She said, still quietly chuckling.
"Hey, you can't complain you brought this upon yourself." Henry replied, grinning at her as Kate stuck her tongue out at him.
Maria, who at the moment been quietly sitting on Kate's lap and giggling every now and then, decided to turn around and wrap her arms around her neck, pulling Kate into a tight hug. Kate's arms went automatically against the young girls body.
"Eu te amo." Maria whispered into Kate's ear, making her look up and meet Henry's eyes in confusion.
"She said she loves you." He replied, as Kate smiled and threaded her hand through Maria's head.
"How do I say it back?" She asked, and Henry felt something drop in the pit of his stomach again.
"It's, er…Eu também te amo." He answered softly, dropping his eyes from hers.
"Eu também te amo." Kate repeated slowly back to Maria, while he nodded. "Did I say it right?"
"Yeah, you said it perfectly."
His voice was bitter, he realized. Of all the moments he had wanted to say that to her, and hear it back, the fact that it was like this, as a translation hurt more then it should. She caught the hint in his voice, she even saw the glooming look in his eyes and that's when he realized that in reality, she had always known.
"I better go." He said, standing up and stretching his legs. "See what the Doc is up to."
"Right, I should check on Will." Kate answered, standing up too, despite Maria still being in her lap.
Henry gave her a small smile, hoping that would mask the quick flash of hurt in his eyes. "I think you learned more then enough today. You did good." He said, covering up.
"Thanks…" Her answering smile also made him smile and for a moment they just stared at each other, trying not to think to much. "Can you repeat it again? That last sentence?"
Her voice broke on the last word and Henry closed his eyes, sighing deeply. He opened them again as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Gotta show Will what you learned, eh?"
"That's not fair." She replied, biting her lower lip.
"Didn't say it was." He replied, sighing again, bowing his head again.
"Forget it, I'm sorry I asked." Kate said, turning around and heading towards the opposite side of the room, where the door was.
Despite himself, he answered. "It's, Eu te amo…I love you in Portuguese, it's Eu. Te. Amo."
Kate stopped mid stride to turn her head back at him, staring at his blue eyes in the hope that there would be something there that would explain him to her.
"Eu te amo?" She asked.
"Eu te amo." He nodded, looking up at her.
"…Thank you."
And then she was gone. Again.