Miles wiped off his tears and strolled outside the wall. No one could blame him for wanting some time alone after what happened. It was possible the patriots knew who he was but Miles wasn't worried about that right now. He was worried about the unmarked grave outside of town that was supposed to hold Sebastian Monroe. Miles wasn't sure if they had dumped the coffin in yet or what. He didn't really care one way or the other really.

A large brown bunny hopped to him. "I was wondering where you got to," he said. The rabbit twitched his nose. "Were you by the grave yet? Did they dump the body?" The rabbit's ears flicked back and forth. "Fine," Miles sighed. He leaned down and stroked him from nose to tail. The rabbit began to change and grow. "Bass," Miles greeted with a smirk as his friend finally stood before him.

Bass socked him in the jaw hard enough to send Miles sprawling. "Good to see you too, Bass," he groaned. "You're welcome for saving your life."

Miles tried to get to his feet but Bass aimed a vicious kick to his stomach. "You hid my son from me?" he demanded. He hit the man again. "All I wanted was a family and you deliberately took that from me!" He began to go to town on Miles.

Miles let out a sharp whistle and Bass dropped to his knees as claws sank into his back. Miles got to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. "If you'd let me explain," he snapped as he detached Mistoffelees, "then I would tell you that Mason is safe and sound in the other world. Maggie has been training him." Miles scratched Mist behind the ears. "He can't wait to meet you by the way."

Bass turned to him. "He knows about me? About all the stuff I've done?"

"Most of it," Miles nodded. "I eased up on some of the darker years but yeah…he knows." Mist purred as he rubbed himself under Miles' chin. "Such a good cat," Miles crooned. "So smart and brave."

"Do you two want a moment?" Bass asked.

"Shut up." Miles waited until Mist settled before shrugging off his satchel. "Speaking of things you obsess over, someone wanted to say hi."

Bass opened the satchel to John poking his nose out. He lifted the rabbit into his arms. "Hey there,' he greeted softly as he cuddled the rabbit. "Glad you're okay." He looked up at Miles's snickering. "You and Mist were practically making out. I don't want to hear it."

"Yeah but he's my familiar. We're supposed to be close."

"According to Mist, John is mine."

"Yeah but you're not even magical."

"Which reminds me," Bass said, setting John back in the satchel so he could stand, "what did you mean 'Maggie's training him'? Why would she be training him?"

Miles grinned. "He's got magic Bass. A lot of it. Especially for a guy whose parents…well, you know. But Mason has magic and he is good at it."

Bass looked at him warily. "You wouldn't lie to me about this would you Miles?"

"Of course not. Look you can even meet him tonight if you want. After we get word from Charlie."

"What's he best at?" Bass asked.

"Transformation. He can change himself into anything. Not to mention the physical objects he can manipulate. Maggie has been begging us to let him out in this world. Says we'll really need him if the patriots are as bad as we imagine." Miles looked to the sky, waiting for Schrodinger to appear.

Bass reached into the satchel to pet John. His son was alive and knew about him. And the boy had magic. "If he knows about me why does he want to meet me?"

Miles shrugged. "Because you're his dad." He got a glimpse of white against the dark sky. "There's Schrodinger."

"Keep that thing away from John," Bass growled.

"You and Charlie were riding together for how long?" Miles asked as the hawk dove towards them.

"Hawks eat rabbits," Bass reminded him.

"That's their job," a new voice said. Charlie grinned as she appeared from the trees.

"Be nice," Miles warned as he moved to embrace her.

Bass turned away at their kissing. He understood the bond but that didn't mean he needed to witness it. "What's the word?" he asked.

"Gene's a patriot," Charlie declared as she pulled away. "I don't know if they know about his magic but we need to step carefully or he'll infect us all."

"Infect you?" Bass frowned.

"Black magic is a dangerous thing," Miles explained. "It can creep into our lives and corrupt our magic as well. We need to take care what spells we do." He let her go. "But that's neither here nor there. Right now, we need to get to the other world."

"The Other World?" Bass repeated. "Why are we going there?"

"You wanna see your kid or not?"

"I can see him? Really? You're actually going to let me see my son?"

"Sure," Charlie said. "He's been dying to see you for ages now. I was going to take you while we were on the road but it wasn't safe yet."

"Then why are we standing around? I want to meet my kid."

"This way," Miles said, leading the way. He led them between two trees and before Bass could blink they were in the bustling market place that always marked the entrance to the Other World. Bass was always distracted when they first walked through. There was nothing like this in the world he came from.

But Bass didn't have time to be distracted for long. Miles and Charlie were moving quickly and he had to hurry to keep up. They weaved through with such ease it amazed Bass. But then he supposed it was easier to accept the wonders of this world when you spent half your life in it. They ignored the strange creatures strolling around and the sellers hawking their wares. Bass did his best to look like them and blend it. He was happy when they finally stopped in front of a yellow wagon. "Maggie," Charlie called, knocking on the door.

A large black raven perched on the top of the wagon and let out a loud caw. "Orpheus," Miles nodded. "We know she's in there."

"Yes, she is," Maggie said opening the top of the door. "She is also currently cleaning up after that damn badger." She fixed Bass with a glare. "Your damn son somehow got a badger for his familiar. And it's not housetrained!" She opened the door and a honey badger came ambling out. "This is Heracles."

Bass knelt and stroked the badger's fur. "Hello, Heracles," he greeted softly. He looked up at Maggie. "Miles said my son is here."

"He is. He's been aching to see you for months now. Won't shut up at all."

"So where is he? Can I meet him?"

"Let me get him," Maggie nodded as she disappeared back into the wagon.

Bass rubbed his hands on his jeans, wishing vainly for his old president's uniform. He would have liked to look more presentable to meet his son for the first time. Instead he looked like a homeless stray who had spent the last hour running through the woods as a rabbit.

A mouse appeared on the sill of the wagon. It stopped to sniff the air then scurried down to the steps. Bass barely noticed as it ran by him until a voice called out to him. "Hey dad."

Bass turned to see a young man about his height with red curls and blue eyes smiling next to Heracles. "You're…" Bass didn't want to finish the sentence in case he was wrong.

"I'm Mason. Mason Monroe. I'm your son. And the mouse from earlier." His blue eyes grew excited in a way Bass knew so well. "Did you like it? I've been working on it for the last few days to get it perfect." He ducked his head in a shy manner. "I suppose I was hoping to impress you."

"It was incredible," Bass nodded. "Absolutely amazing."

Mason laughed and sounded like his mother when she found something really funny. Then he hugged Bass. "God…it is so great to meet you. Come inside, okay? We have so much to talk about."

"Yeah, yeah, I'd like that," Bass nodded. He knew he had tears in his eyes but he couldn't help it. He threw one last smile back at Miles before following Mason into wagon where Maggie had set up tea for them to talk.