Warnings: Tame.

I own nothing, literally.


Blood, Lust and Magic

Blood Chapter Fifty Four

He watches Master and Master's allies eating.

Master has put some of Master's food on the plate in front of him. Master has given him a plate with food. The orange squishy round things with holes and some of the crunchy chewy stuff. Master eats some of Master's food and then turns to feed him because Master is wonderful like that.

He looks at the food on the plate in front of him and then watches the man who is not a boy anymore very carefully. Using his hand he mimics him and catches one of the crunchy bits with his fingers and eats it.

He doesn't believe it, Kurt just fed himself with a piece of grilled cheese sandwich. "Kurt, that's amazing," he wipes his fingers and then touches Kurt's shoulder to squeeze it gently. "Well done Kurt," he praises him, "You're so clever."

Master has called him clever again, he is a good Familiar for Master.

He catches an orange squishy thing and eats that too.

Master is pleased with him so he chews and swallows the squishy thing.

Everyone at the table's excited and Dave can't help feeling proud of Kurt's achievement, hell Dave's got nothing to do with it but damn it's another big step Kurt's taken on his own.

Slinging his arm over Kurt's he can go back to his own meal and just cast an eye over Kurt every now and again to make sure the man's doing okay. The Familiar's still taking forever to eat anything this way, he's savouring it, so Dave lets himself get sucked into the conversation going on.

Master is busy talking to Master's allies so he lets himself think about his last Masters and how he had to feed himself. The food in the bowls they gave him was not nice and smelt, sometimes they moved where wiggly things burrowed in the food, sometimes they were furry and made him sick. The best Master for food had been the one who kept him in the cage where the climbing things lived on the walls, if he was quick he could catch them and eat them, they were crunchy and the legs would wiggle in his mouth.

He was able to eat lots there.

But the bestest Master was this Master.

This Master feeds him.

This Master gives him food that does not make him sick.

This Master lets him have some of Master's good tasty food.

He is so lucky. He likes Master and Master likes him too.

Laughing at a story Carole's just told Dave glances at Kurt to find him finishing off the last spaghetti ring. Everyone else is finished too so Dave wipes Kurt's face and mouth, "Did you like that Kurt?"

A full and happy bubble from Kurt is quickly followed by a yawn and surprise.

"Oh someone's filled their stomach up and needs a nap huh?" Dave teases him, "You've done lots today, you were really brave and rode in the minivan, you helped me by giving me power, you played with your new toy, so if you want we can go lay down and you can have a little sleep," he brushes his fingers over Kurt's face.

"That's okay man I got this," And Finn's already standing up and coming around the table. Before Dave can stop him Finn's got Kurt up and then the Healer wraps his arms around the smaller man and carts him off to the lounge.

He can hear him talking to Kurt, "Hi, my name is Finn, I know your Wizard Dave or Fury," the man is stressing the last word and Dave hates that damn name.

Getting up Dave hurries after them but Carole blocks him, "Give him a chance."

So Dave hesitates and hovers checking in on Kurt who's mostly full of surprise and shock. Finn carries on with, "And I know your new name is Fancy," he stresses that name, "Fancy. So Fancy we're going to read a book and then we're going to take a nap. Fury will be right out there."

They're sitting side by side on the sofa and Finn's got a book in his hands, Dave has to admit he's curious to how Kurt's going to react but then this is Finn and everyone seems to like him.

The tall man who is not a boy has just taken him from Master. But Master is not that worried and is watching him. Master is slightly amused and curious.

He looks up at Master and then the man who is not a boy opens the new book and starts to read to him.

It is a book that makes noises, but they are new noises.

The book's caught Kurt's attention so he creeps back to the table, "Looks like Finn's made a new friend," a quack comes from the living room.

Rip's already tapping away on her communicator, "Hmm, we might be able to reschedule so that Finn can stick around for a few months before he's back on the Healing circuit."

"Good idea," Torn leans back and rubs his stomach, "Oh man that was good, normally we only eat the healthy crap, gotta keep up our exercise regime, but sometimes that kinda food is like mana from heaven. Thanks Carole."

"You're more than welcome," she stands and starts to clear the table.

From experience Dave knows that Santana won't lift a finger to help so he does, and the usual exchange of 'You don't have to's' and 'I want to's' happen. Packing the dishwasher Dave hands Carole dish after dish as she neatly stacks them.

"Hey Fancy," the tall man who is not a boy says, "You want to press the buttons for me?"

He does not understand. The buttons are for Master or whoever reads the book. But he secretly wants to press them.

His eyes dart to the door but Master is with Master's allies. He does not want to upset Master.

"Okay so what's this picture here?" The tall man points to a bird, "Hmm, well it looks just like this one here," and the tall man's hand gently takes his and the tall man makes him press the button. Birds chirp.

He looks to the door, Master is busy, and is not angry.

The tall man who is not a boy is watching him and the tall man's feelings bleed through to him. The man is hurting a little where his chest is, the man has the fluttering feelings but they are in his chest not his stomach, and the man is hopeful too. There are flickers in the man's mind, he can see himself from the tall man's memories, memories that match some of his own, all buried in the Before time.

He must not remember them. He is Broken. They are lost to him.

Leaning down the tall man whispers in his ear, "It's okay. I know you're not Kurt anymore. I know he's gone, because the Dark Wizard that took him destroyed him," and now the man's pain and grief buffets him. "I will miss Kurt everyday for the rest of my life, I love him so damn much," he is beginning to drown in the man's emotions. "You won't be him, but you might have some of him in you, and I will learn to love you as much as I did my little brother, he was one hell of a fighter, he was special," the tall man is proud of him, of who he once was. "And so are you Fancy," the tall man kisses his forehead just like Master does.

They do not know he can remember bits and pieces from Before.

He has fooled them.

The tall man has gone back to reading and helping him to press the right button to make the noises.

He is safe.


A/N: Sorry for any and all mistakes, I've tried to catch those I could, but I'm only human.