Jake woke up in the middle of another fashion show. He blearily looked around and he felt the heaviness of a too much wine. It wasn't a complete hangover but he definitely should have stopped a glass before he did. He sat up on the couch and watched Anna flounce over to Rose, her dress swinging around her legs.
"Is this too much for school?" Anna asked.
"It's school appropriate so if you want to wear it, it's not too much."
Jake pulled himself up and looked at Anna. The dress seemed fine. The skirt was big but it seemed fine. Rose took Anna's hair in her hands and twisted it, holding it in different styles. She caught Jake's eye doing this and seemed startled to realize that he was awake. She looked away quickly and Jake felt an uneasiness creep into his stomach. It hadn't been that much wine, had it?
"Dad, do you like my dress?"
"It's beautiful," Jake said.
"Ugh, you're such a dad."
Jake hauled himself up off the couch and caught Anna around her shoulders, pulling her into him.
"Yeah, and it's all because of you."
Anna giggled and then she shoved him off. Jake messed up her hair as he walked by, knowing that it wasn't done yet. Once again, she snorted in annoyance and then laughed as she shoved the strands away from her face.
"Morning," Rose said and Jake wondered if Anna could hear how stiff she sounded. "How'd you sleep?"
"I had a great sleep," Jake said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "What about you?"
"I kept tossing and turning all night," Rose confessed.
Jake wondered what that meant but knew he would have to bide his time to ask.
"So, am I allowed to go to Coney Island with Mandy this weekend?" Anna asked. "Dad said we'd figure it out but we never did."
"We want you to be able to go," Rose said, "I just don't know. You don't know the city very well yet."
"Mom, I'll be with a friend. Her parents are going to be there!"
"There's no reason we can't go too, then," Jake said.
"What?" Anna said. "Like one set of parents isn't bad enough?"
"Bad enough?" Rose said. "You think we're bad?"
"Well, no," Anna admitted, she scuffed her barefoot along the floor, not really looking at Jake or Rose. "I know what it's like not to have you guys and I wouldn't trade either of you, I promise, but, like, I gotta have some freedom."
"We'd just be in the area, we wouldn't follow you around," Rose said.
"And, do what with each other?" Anna asked.
Jake tried very hard not to choke on his coffee.
"Stroll around, be tourists. It's been a long time since I've been there too," Rose answered, much more smoothly than Jake would have.
"Uh-huh," Anna said. "But, I can tell Mandy I can go?"
"Yes," Jake said. "Tell Mandy you can go."
Anna pumped her hand up in excitement. "Yes!"
She dashed off back to her room and Rose crossed her arms over her chest and sighed.
"I still don't like to let her out of my sight."
"We won't be far and she'll be okay,' Jake said. "She deserves to see her friends."
"I know," Rose said irritably. "This is all I wanted for her but it's a big change for me."
"I know, we'll get through it together."
Jake went to approach her and Rose glared at him so he made a detour to the coffee maker. He leant against the counter and watched Rose as he sipped his coffee, wishing that she would look at him, wishing that he knew what was going on inside of her head. Jake didn't regret a single thing about last night, even if he could admit they'd had too much too drink and a lot of it was clunky. He remembered everything that they'd said and he stood by it. He'd say it all again sober if that was what it took.
Jake groaned as his phone rang. He saw Fu' name and knew what it was going to be and so he slammed his coffee down before he answered the distress call.
"Hey," Jake said.
Fu's voice came back garbled and Jake squinted at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was being said.
"Did you just say someone stole a baby? You know what, Fu, I'm already on my way. Just text me the address."
"You're going?" Anna cried, appearing in the doorway of her room.
"I'm sorry," Jake said, and he kissed her forehead. "Have a good day at school. Rose, if I'm not back by the time you're done with PT, can you get Haley to take you to Gramps'? I'll meet you there."
"Sure," Rose agreed. "Good luck."
Jake grinned at her. "Thanks."
He booked it up the stairs and out onto his balcony, transforming and heading toward the early morning sun.
(-.-)
Jake walked into Gramps' shop the better part of three hours later, his hair still drenched from the quick shower he'd taken after his flight. The shop was starting to fill with Huntsclan technology, the relics that Gramps no longer tried to sell being pushed off to the side to make room.
"Gramps and Fu keep sending things over on the backs of unicorns," Rose said. "At least, all of the tech and files and missed weapons."
Jake jumped. He hadn't even noticed her standing there.
"Haley's over at the Huntsclan with them. They're sending all the lab related things over there so that they can study them together."
"Spud will be stopping by in a couple of hours once he's off work," Jake said.
"I've been trying to keep it organized for him."
Jake slowly made his way toward her as they traded the stilted bits of information, but all Jake had sussed out, and all that he had cared about finding out, was that they were alone now.
"Anna got to school okay?"
"Yeah," Rose said, taking a step toward Jake too, filling him with hope. "She's going to start walking herself before I'm ready for her too."
"That's what kids do," Jake said, like he really knew what kids did, like he had any experience outside of his teenaged daughter.
"How was your incident?"
"Lost troll baby. We found him okay. Just some worried parents."
"I have sympathy for worried parents."
They were face to face now and Jake wondered if she was going to start glaring at him like she'd done this morning or if he was going to be allowed to kiss her again like he'd done last night.
"Do you want to talk about last night?" Jake asked.
Rose sighed and it wasn't an encouraging sound. "I don't know what to say. That's the confusing part."
"Do you want me to say something, then?"
"Sure." Rose met his gaze.
Jake took her hand in his, wrapping their fingers around one another. The innocent gesture sent fireworks bursting through him. "I don't have any regrets. I meant everything that I said. I don't know what I'm going to do if you say that you don't really feel it or if you want to take any part of it back. It's always been you for me, Rose."
"Yesterday was just so long. Today is going to be long too," Rose said. "I don't want to say anything because I'm already so emotional and mess it all up. You were right last night, when you said that I was scared, I just didn't want to admit it. I don't … I don't want to mess this up. I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. I've just dreamt about seeing you again for so long that I don't know what to do now."
Jake leant in closer to her and Rose leant in close to her. Jake gently brushed his lips against hers and was encouraged by the kiss back. It was nothing like the drunken, passionate kisses that they had shared yesterday but there was hope in the gesture.
"I need a few days," Rose said, "to really figure out what I'm feeling after seeing the Clan and having to go through all of these documents and everything that I have to remember about that. I can't handle both things at once, Jake, I can't, and I'm sorry."
"I understand and I want to be here for you for everything. I just need to know: what do you want?"
Rose stared at him like he was stupid. "You. I want to figure it out with you."
Jake wanted to lean in and kiss her again but there was a sharp rapping noise at the shop door. Reluctantly, Jake let go of Rose and answered it, letting in two unicorns. One was carrying more computers, the other had bags on its back stuffed full of files.
"Thanks guys," Jake said, once he and Rose had made quick work of unpacking their burdens. "I appreciate it."
With a sassy flick of their hooves, the unicorns were gone again, racing through the city streets in a flash that most humans would miss. Jake turned around to look at the mess and then at Rose. The moment was broken; he had to take a step back and give her that space. But, now he knew that it was just space. Now he knew that they were really on the path of finding their way back to each other.
Monday, he was going to take her on a real date, for sure.
It was as much patience as Jake had.
"We should get these organized. Fu said that Spud was coming over to look at the computers."
"Yeah, technology outpaced Gramps about thirteen years ago," Jake said with a chuckle. "Spud understands how it all works. Don't tell Anna but the new Facebook update has me completely confused."
Rose chuckled and then hesitantly touched the keys of the computer. "I gave up pretty much all technology when we were in Australia. We had a home phone and a TV. Once a week, Anna and I would hitch a ride into town with the old man and I would take her to classes at the library so that she would know what the internet was and how to type and things. I haven't even looked at Facebook since 2005. I was still on MySpace when I left. Anna tells me that's outdated now."
"I don't even know if the website is still up," Jake said. "I got Anna a laptop and a phone. I'll get you those things too."
"Jake –"
"At the very least, your own phone. Just in case. You can get used to Facebook on a small mobile screen."
"You do too much for me," Rose said with a sigh, and then she switched topics slightly, probably because she knew what Jake was going to say in response. "Besides, what do I even need Facebook for? Who am I going to look up? Brad?"
Jake snorted and tried to play it off. "If you wanted to. I bet he peaked in high school though. He's probably bald and still way to into football."
"Hey, you think your hair looks the same as it did ten years ago?"
Vainly, Jake ran his hands through his hair, trying to judge how thick it was before feeling around his hair line.
"I'm not going to go bald," Jake said. "Gramps still has hair."
Rose giggled at him. "Yeah, I guess that's true."
They were moving the computers to one side of the shop and the papers to the other when Spud arrived.
"I thought you were coming after work," Jake said.
"I got bored. I'll spend my lunch break here and if they notice I'm gone, catch up on work later," Spud said, crouching down in front of the computer towers. "Whoever let me work from home made a gigantic mistake because now I just do it all at the last minute."
"At least you do it," Jake said.
"That's true." Spud sat down on the floor, spreading open a toolbox next to him. "This is a lot. I thought you meant like one or two computers. Like, a laptop and a desktop or something."
"This should be, probably, seventy percent of what's downstairs," Rose guessed. "The laptops that belonged to the higher ups probably didn't survive the heat."
"Probably not," Spud agreed, "but might be worth it for you to do a sweep, Jake. You never know what I might find."
Jake shrugged. "Yeah, can do. What about this stuff? Can we just plug it in and it'll work again or? It was only sitting down there for a year."
"I probably wouldn't plug it in," Spud mused. "Looks like there's been some climate wear and tear and some critter damage. They're not that old though so getting in there and getting the information out shouldn't be too difficult, just a little time consuming."
Dust billowed out from one of the desk tops and Spud coughed.
"Should have most of these up and running in, like, a week? I'll know more in a week."
Behind him, Jake heard Rose inhale sharply and shakily. He wanted to reach back and take her hand but he didn't know how she would feel about it with Spud there. Even though it was just Spud. Even though there was a good chance that Spud wouldn't even realize it.
"Are you able to work here? Gramps isn't going to want to let this stuff out of his sight."
Spud groaned dramatically, flopping backward. "They always touch my stuff. They can't leave well enough alone."
That had always been true.
"It's either that or they move in with you," Jake said. "You've got the space now, right?"
Spud grinned smugly. "Trixie's building is for sale and she's moving in!"
"Poor Trixie," Rose said. "How are you as a roommate, Spud?"
"Better than Jake," Spud snorted. "How is that going anyway?"
It was hard to miss the innuendo in his tone and Jake refused to turn around and face Rose's expression.
"He's not as messy as our teenaged daughter," Rose said pointedly. "So, I guess some improvements have been made since you two lived together."
"Well, good for you, Jake, growing up it sounds like!" Spud hugged Jake's shoulders and then said to Rose, "We are going to go out for a grown-up dinner and I'll tell you stories about that when Anna's not around."
Rose laughed. "I'm already both intrigued and horrified."
"That," Spud said, pointing at her, "is exactly the right attitude."
Jake felt himself flushing with embarrassment. He was going to have to get a hold of Spud when Rose wasn't around and set him straight on what stories were allowed to be told. Not that he really thought that Spud would listen to him. And if Spud didn't listen, Trixie certainly wouldn't. Actually, thinking about it, Jake decided that Trixie's stories were certainly his biggest threat. While she didn't live with them full time and wasn't a witness to all the tiny stupid things they did – like how in the first month living on their own it took them three cartons of eggs and several hours to figure out their breakfast – Trixie remembered the bigger things in more detail that Spud would ever hope to.
"Okay, um, I'll leave this stuff here," Spud said, "I've still got my key so let Gramps and Fu know that I'm going to be coming and going. I'll let you know when I've got something up and running."
"Awesome, thanks, Spud."
"Thank you," Rose said, a lot more quietly.
"See you later!"
Gramps and Fu arrived seconds after Spud had.
"This is the last of it," Fu called, propping the front door open and leading six unicorns into the shop.
"What favours did you have to call in for the unicorns to let you use them as pack mules?" Jake asked as they all worked quickly around each other to free the unicorns from their saddle bags.
"Something I've been holding onto since the Zhou Dynasty," Fu grunted, "but they were the best choice."
"Jake," Rose said urgently, when the unicorns were set free out the door, "We've gotta go if we're going to get to Anna on time."
Jake checked the time on his phone. That wasn't entirely true – leaving now would give them an extra twenty minutes of wiggle room. He glanced at Rose to say so and then he saw how uncomfortable she looked, fidgeting with the long-sleeved shirt she'd had to wear today to cover the Huntsmark on her arm.
"Gramps, did you run into Spud?"
"He updated us," Lao Shi said.
"And Haley's taking my duties tomorrow. Rose and I are taking Anna to hang out with one of her friends."
"Now?"
Jake tried not to roll his eyes at his grandfather. It was something that Gramps had never, and at this rate would never, grow out of. Even when there wasn't anything that could be done right now, if there was something going out, Jake was expected to think of work and nothing but work.
"Spud's not going to have anything ready to go for at least a few days. Plus, yeah, it's valuable information but we're not going to find anything on those computers that we can actually do anything about. Anything the Huntsclan has ever done, is over."
"We don't know how many are left," Lao Shi said. "Not when you keep setting things on fire without thinking!"
Feeling sassy, Jake spat a tiny fireball in Lao Shi's direction and watched his grandfather's face turn puce.
"See you on Sunday, Gramps!" Jake called over his shoulder. "Call Haley if you need anything!"
Jake took Rose's arm and they walked out of the shop together. Rose wrapped herself further around his bicep, keeping them so close that they were almost tripping over each other's feet as they slowly walked to get Anna, but Jake wasn't going to complain. Anything to have Rose close.
"Are you all right?" Jake asked, when they were far enough away that it didn't feel like the memories were quite as haunting.
"It felt like the walls were closing in," Rose confessed. "I just want to walk before we go get Anna. I just need to be able to breathe a bit."
"We can walk for as long as you need to," Jake promised. "I'm with you."
Jake met Rose's eyes and she smiled at him, making his heart stop just to look at her.
"I know you are," she said. "Thank you, Jake, for everything."
Jake rubbed her hand, keeping her close to him. He didn't know how to tell her 'thank you for everything' and that he could never repay the things that she had done for him, now that he felt he was really starting to understand everything that she had done for him. The steps she had taken to protect his childhood while raising their child, the strength of her to go through the worst of things, and still be standing tall next to him now. Jake admired her and he would tell her, but not today.
Today, they would walk and be together, and that was all they needed.
Next time, Coney Island!
Don't forget that you can find me on tumblr: we - are - all - of - legend - now!
~TLL~
