Fathers' Day in the Library

By Alasse Fefalas

Flynn tilted his head slightly when he saw a colourful card standing upright on his table as he walked into the Annex. "What's this?" he asked, an amused smile gracing his face.

Stone, Cassandra and Ezekiel all stood in a horizontal line in front of his table. Stone had his arms crossed as he struggled to keep a straight face. Cassandra had her hands behind her back, a large smile on her face. Ezekiel was in a relaxed stance with one hand in his pocket. Flynn noticed Eve standing at the back of the room beside Jenkins, trying to keep her laughter in.

"Read it," giggled Cassandra as she swayed back and forth with excitement.

Putting his satchel down onto his table, Flynn picked up the card. "Happy Father's day!" he read aloud. "Aww, guys that's sweet but… I'm... not a dad."

"Yeah, but Cassandra thought -" started Ezekiel but he was cut off by the red-head.

"WE thought that since we gave Colonel Baird something for Mother's day, we thought it'd be nice to give you something on Father's day too," interjected Cassandra.

"Since it was you who got us all here," added Stone.

"Unless you're hiding a kid somewhere…" Ezekiel offered, grinning.

"No, no I'm not," denied Flynn quickly, pointing a finger towards the thief. He placed the card back onto the table. Frowning, he added, "well, not that I know of, anyway. Shouldn't be."

Cassandra smiled and brought her hands before her. In them was a small box. It was encased in a grey wrapping paper, a thin gold ribbon going around it, ending in a beautiful balanced bow. "Happy Father's day!"

Flynn took the box from her hands carefully, not wanting to drop it in case it was something fragile inside. He could feel a slight heat creeping up his neck and up to his cheeks. Never had he thought he would receive such a greeting and especially not from the junior Librarians. He looked at them and gave each a bashful nod. "I really appreciate it guys. Truly."

Cassandra gave a small shriek of delight and ran up to give him a hug. Laughing, Flynn returned the gesture. He held her tightly and gave her a gentle squeeze before letting her go. Stone shook his hand solemnly and Flynn pulled him in for a pat on the back. Shrugging, Ezekiel smirked at Flynn and gave him a high five before clasping their hands together and giving each other a short half-hug.

"I hope you like the present," chirped Cassie.

"Stone picked it out," divulged Ezekiel.

"HEY!" hissed Stone as he elbowed his fellow Librarian. "He wasn't supposed to know that!"

Grimacing, Ezekiel started to take a few steps backwards. "Oops," he offered. Turning, he ran out of the Annex, Stone hot on his heels.

Cassandra sighed. "Well, I guess that's my cue."

"Are you sure you don't want me to follow?" asked Eve as she walked up to her wards.

The mathematician shook her head. "It doesn't sound too dangerous. I think we should be fine."

"Nothing sounds too dangerous at first," replied Eve cynically. "Remember, if you need me, just give me a call. Anything at all."

Cassandra nodded in agreement and waved goodbye. Flynn watched as the petite woman jogged out to catch up to the other two. Pride swelled up in his chest as he remembered their initial expressions of fear, excitement and hesitation which had now changed into enthusiasm and thrill for the adventure into the vast world of magic.

"Someone's happy," chuckled Eve as she gave him a nudge on his shoulder. "And that's a pretty smug look on your face."

"Well… yeah," he admitted bashfully. He turned to Eve and gave her a calculative look. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

She looked away. "... No…?"

"Liar," laughed Flynn. He held up the gift in his hand and squinted at it. "What's inside?"

"Well, you have to open it."

"It's a waste to open it without them though."

"Did you see how fast Ezekiel and Stone ran out of here? Knowing them, I bet they were embarrassed to be here when you open it," Eve pointed out. "Go on. Open it."

Flynn pulled the tail of the bow, unravelling it. He placed the ribbon on the table, next to his card. Carefully, he peeled off the wrapper and discarded it on the table as well. A well-polished and unmarked brown wooden box laid in his hand. "You know what's inside, don't you?"

"I have an inkling, but not really. Jenkins was the one helping Stone." Eve looked around. The grumpy inventor was nowhere to be seen. "Speaking of which, where is he...?"

"Probably at the back," Flynn chuckled. The Annex's custodian had a habit of disappearing whenever him and Eve were together.

Slowly, he pried the box open. Inside, a gold pocket watch sat in the centre of a purple velvet cushion. Embossed on the top of the watch was the insignia of the Library. "The Tree of Knowledge," breathed Flynn. "Wow."

He picked it up from the box gingerly and traced the pattern on the front. Setting the box down on the table, he turned the watch in his hands. A tessellation design was etched onto the back of the watch, converging towards the centre, where a date was engraved. 7 Dec '14.

Flynn turned to Eve, who was taking off the watch on her wrist that she had gotten from the younger Librarians a month earlier. "Hey, isn't this date...?"

Eve flipped over her watch, revealing an embossing of the same insignia and below it, an etching of the same date. "The date we met. All of us."

Flynn grinned. "It looks like our children got us matching gifts."

"Oh god please don't call them that," groaned Eve. "That's just weird."

Flynn gave a bark of laughter. He held onto his watch with one hand. "Fine," he said as his other hand curled around hers, entwining their fingers together. "Our little LITs, then."

Eve grinned. "Our little LITs."

A/N: Well. That took me a while to write. I hope you enjoyed it! And a happy father's day to all the amazing dads and "dads" out there!