*
"My sister was in love with a killer…"
Flame and Alex struggle to balance the aspirations of Souls and humans. As Dorsey falls for Blackheath, he continues to resist a future that includes Souls. Can they ever live together in peace?
*
To Nicola and Harry who once told me to just write for as long as I could, and see where it took me.
This is where I stopped. For a while.
Being happy
***
"We have football!" Alex said, walking in the front door with his arms raised in victory. Dorsey and Bhask let out twin shouts of triumph from the kitchen.
The code of conduct negotiations had been stuck on this point for days. The humans couldn't understand the problem, and the Souls could not see its appeal. Now the Souls had finally conceded it to them, and in return the humans had put off their unlikely appeal for boxing. Self defence had been agreed upon, but boxing was considered too blatantly aggressive. Boxing would just go underground. Of course, even with self defence, there would be conditions; there always were. But that was the nature of compromise, and much compromise would be necessary if humans and Souls were to live side by side.
"Oh, and this is Josh," Alex continued, introducing a young man that had followed him in. "His sister's been brought into the Healing Centre, I said he could stay with us tonight. This is Flame and Ayasha, Bhaskar, and that's Dorsey."
"Hiii Josh" we droned. It wasn't the first time Alex had brought home strays. It was as if he was on a personal mission to ensure every possible human was as happy as could be. He'd never let one be sent to a lonely hotel room if there was a possibility of a home cooked meal.
"No problem, I think I've got another rabbit out the back. You like stew, kid?" Dorsey said, giving him a solemn wink.
"Stew would be great," Josh said faintly.
Bhask cracked up. "She's having you on, we're having roast." Dorsey loved teasing strays newly arrived from camps.
Alex had come and kneeled beside me, drinking in the sight of a peaceful healthy baby. I found much of my time spent with her. Too much, according to Dorsey. If Melts Blue Ice felt it was important to have me at negotiations, Dorsey or Bhask jumped at the chance to look after her for a few hours. But I wasn't comfortable away from her for too long. I'd never expected to have her grow into a normal healthy baby, and still felt vaguely amazed whenever I saw her perfect face, breathing on its own, no hospital equipment in sight. I knew Alex felt much the same, perhaps more so, because he still felt responsible for her poor start in life. His day was always filled with Human-Soul issues of one kind or another, and sometimes the nights too, so he treasured any spare time with her even more than I did.
"Take her. I've had her all day," I said softly to him.
"Nah, she's comfy," he murmured.
"Go on."
"I can't just stroll straight in here and take her away from you-"
"Oh pick the damn kid up already!" Dorsey yelled. Josh's mouth hung open.
Dorsey raised an eyebrow at him while tossing the roasts' vegetables.
"What, you think we should all bow and scrape to the Leader of the Free World?" Though Alex was technically just a member of the parliament, many still saw him, and treated him, as their leader. Dorsey, Bhask, and I hated it.
"He'll always be just Alex to us."
"No Hawkmoth allowed in this house."
"No. Way."
"And it's our job to keep him down to Earth."
"Sure is."
"As often as possible."
But Alex had eyes only for the baby in his arms.
"You three are by far more challenging than being Leader of the Free World. Hundreds of people are happy to do what I say, they even ask for my advice, if you can believe it. But you can count on it, if I tell one of you guys not to do something you'll just go right ahead and do it. You don't listen to a word I say. But you, little one," he said, smiling at Ayasha, "You are going to be different. I will have you snapping to attention, obeying my slightest order, doing push-ups on command…"
Dorsey and Bhask were helpless with laughter.
"Oh, yeah, that's likely."
I had paused from setting the table, picturing my daughter manically doing pushups in a military uniform. Dorsey glanced at me and rolled her eyes.
"Alex, tell Flame you're not really going to turn her into a soldier," she said as she pulled the roast out of the oven to check it.
"His one and only daughter? He's not going to let her near a sharp object let alone a conflict zone," Bhask said, pinching some roast skin. Dorsey smacked him with a spoon.
"Sons, on the other hand," she said darkly threatening, returning the roast to the oven.
"What did the employment people say?" I asked a little hurriedly.
Bhask scowled and went back to laying out knives and forks.
"They keep wanting me to do work in positions that 'revitalise human culture'. I've never done ballroom dancing in my life! I couldn't dance if my life depended on it. And they were like, but you're human!"
Dorsey hooted gleefully.
"I blame you, Mum, you never took me to the art gallery. I don't know anything about these so-called 'humans'."
"What about movies, comics…? You spent most of your childhood watching movies. I remember I had to sneak comics out of bins for you."
"Oh that was sacrilege! They were throwing out X-Men for being too violent!!" Bhask howled, "But they don't consider that traditional human culture. It doesn't count."
"They don't know it as well, that's all. Maybe you need to show them."
"It's your sworn duty, Bhask," Dorsey said, "you can't let generations of human children grow up without X-men. That's so much more important than ballroom dancing." She hefted the roast out of the oven again.
"Good enough. Dinner is served."
Alex came up to the table and sat Ayasha on his knee while he ate. I looked at them contentedly. I had my family, including a healthy baby, a secure home, opportunities for Bhask, even a piano for Alex. Who would have thought Bhask and I could be living so happily in a city after just a few years. It was a night no different from countless others, but I remembered it because it was the last night we were all happily together there.
***
The next day we left to visit George; he hadn't yet seen his granddaughter. Dorsey had finally persuaded Alex to come.
"You guys go," Alex had said, "It's too close to winter for me. If it snows, I won't make it back for the next session of negotiations." Dorsey rolled her eyes at me behind his back. I could see the headlines now: Hawkmoth Strikes Again! Leader of the Free World Ruins Family Holiday: women and children devastated.
"It's not going to snow," she insisted.
He looked unconvinced.
"I promise you it won't snow for another 3 weeks at least."
He looked at her lengthily.
"Alright", he said slowly, "I have to talk to Blackheath about a few things… but I guess I could take a little time off..." Dorsey grinned and started packing. Alex shook his head and left.
"Dorsey!" I said incredulously: there was no way she could know it wasn't going to snow.
"What?" she said, all innocence, "It might be true. And he needs a break. He works All the Time." She grinned mischievously at me. I smiled back; it would be good to have Alex at home for a while. And he would love the extra time with Ayasha.