Chapter 5
"Hello, me again." Ann said, in her best, cheery-Brit voice. Warren rolled his eyes up, looking at her through his dark curtain of hair.
"There goes the multiple head look again." She thought.
"It turns out we have one little thing we have to talk about."
Warren kept staring at her, making her distinctly uncomfortable.
"One?" He asked, obviously hinting at their earlier conversation. Ann lowered her eyelids and gazed down at him.
"Yes, one." She replied firmly, allowing no room for argument. She might be totally freaked out by him, but she knew how to stand her ground when she wanted to.
Warren looked back down at his book, and since he hadn't nuked her, or dismissed her, she imagined that it was relatively safe to sit down.
"So, I assume Principal Powers has spoken with you?" Asked Ann, and Warren grunted.
"Well, I'm not sure how you would be comfortable doing this, but I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind you coming over."
He looked up at her when she said this, evidently surprised that she would suggest such a thing.
"Don't worry." She said, vaguely sarcastically, "We don't have a swimming pool."
This made Warren smirk, and finally look up completely.
"Fine. But the only time that I'll be free for the next week is tonight."
Undeterred, Ann pressed on.
"Well then. I'll tell my mother to cook extra. I imagine you eat like a teenage boy as well?"
Ann heard a faint, drawn out 'Oh' in her brain, and softly scolded Wren. Warren, on the other hand, went a little pale, but he remembered just what Layla would do to him if he hurt Ann, so he struggled to control himself.
"Would five work for you?" He asked between clenched teeth.
"Absolutely perfect. If I may ask, where do you live? I imagine I could give you directions easily enough."
The pyro pulled out a sheet of paper and scribbled his address on it, then slid it over to her. One look at the paper and Ann blanched.
"Um… well… I'm not sure what to say."
"What?" Warren snapped.
"I'm sorry to say this, but it appears that for the past seven months, we've been neighbors."
His head shot up from his book.
"Next door neighbors as a matter of fact."
"Wait." Warren said. "You mean the old house to our left with the turret…?"
"Is the current residence of Ann Cromwell. Honestly I'm wondering how we managed to live so close and never know it."
"I don't spend a lot of time there during the day." Warren said, and shrugged.
"And I spend all of my time there, but usually not outside. But…" She frowned.
"Why didn't Father say anything? He must have not known… or did he? No, it's not possible. Father!"
Ann's felt her mouth opening and closing as she gasped for breath. Finally she stood up.
"I'll be right back. I have to go kill someone."
Warren raised his eyebrows and gave a light, 'Hokay' as she retreated. She ran to an abandoned schoolroom and pulled out her cell phone, quickly calling her father's work number.
"Hey, Emmy." Damn caller-id.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm sorry, sweetie, unlike some I can't read your mind." He joked.
"They're living right next to us, Father."
There was silence on the other end. He definitely knew what she was talking about.
"It's a long story, Em. How about we talk about this when we get home." Ann sighed.
"Okay. Oh, by the way. If you talk to Mum, tell her that someone from my school will be coming over to help me with my math."
When she got back, Warren only gave the slightest acknowledgment that she was there, and went back to his book. Smiling, she leaned over slightly and looked at what he was reading.
"The Raven? Ouch." She said.
"Don't flatter yourself." He grumbled, not particularly interested in her opinion on his reading material.
"So, tonight at five?"
"I'll be there." He said absently.
It was a start. Ann had always hated being on bad terms with anyone, and she especially disliked the direction that her relationship with Warren had started out going. He was the first pyro she had met since she was three years old, and she wanted desperately to get to know him better.
…
With his mother's blessing, though for some reason he found himself avoiding telling her the name of the family he was visiting, Warren started out for Ann's. Approximately thirty seconds and one hopped fence later he knocked on her door. There was a slight scrambling sound inside, and the door flew open quite quickly, revealing Ann dressed in a button-down shirt, which was un-tucked from her jeans, her hair tied up in a messy bun, and a baby on her hip.
At the sight of this, Warren felt a familiar uncomfortable feeling settling around him. It wasn't like he didn't see a lot of kids. He saw his fair share of families at the Paper Lantern, and he knew how to act around them well enough, he had just never been particularly comfortable around them, they all seemed so… fragile.
Ann beamed at him.
"Hey, you're a bit early. Sorry for how I look, Baby is a little obsessed with hair." She chuckled as she ushered him inside.
"Could you do me a favor, please? Could you just hold her for a second while I get cleaned up?"
"Um, I…" He tried to think of an excuse.
"Oh, don't worry. She doesn't mind strangers holding her. She's a regular social butterfly as a matter of fact. Here, Ariel, this is Warren. Warren, this is Ariel. There now you aren't strangers anymore!"
With that, she held the infant out to him, and he instinctively reached out to hold her.
"Living rooms over there. Feel free to make yourself comfortable. Be back in a jiff!" She said as she ran upstairs.
Warren realized that he was going to be stuck with this baby for the next few minutes, so he carefully made his way into the room that Ann had pointed out, and sat down on a couch after depositing his backpack on a table.
The child in his arms looked up at him curiously. At his estimation, she was maybe eight months old, but even at that age she had a soft head of curly, brown-blonde hair, the exact shade as Ann's. Her eyes were still mostly the same blue that all babies had at birth, but they looked like they might be more of a green color when she got older. She was dressed in a pale purple, terrycloth onesy, with matching booties. All around, he supposed that she was fairly cute… for a baby.
"Wa-we."
Warren started when Ariel pulled her thumb out of her mouth, and very clearly said… something.
"Excuse me?" He said reflexively.
"Wa-we." She repeated, quite pleased at her own success. He suddenly realized that she was trying to say Warren.
"Um, yeah, that's my name. Warren."
"Wa-we!" She shouted, now hysterically happy.
Her eyes suddenly locked on something… right next to his head. With a cry of glee she grabbed one of his red locks of hair. He winced, but surprisingly she didn't tug on it, only gave one of those adorable baby-frowns and studied it.
"Yes, that's my hair." He said, knowing he sounded slightly sarcastic. Ariel chuckled and began to study the zipper on his jacket. With an extremely serious look, she picked up one side, and then the other, and began to try and figure out how they were supposed to go together, all the while muttering to herself in baby talk.
Warren couldn't help but smile a little. She was certainly clever, not like some babies he'd seen, who didn't seem to notice a single thing around them. He found himself lightly touching the impossibly soft curls on her head.
"Sorry about that. I had to give Ariel her bath and she has this weird fixation with water and it took longer then I thought and…" Ann trailed off when she saw Warren and her sister. "But I guess you are getting along just fine."
He immediately wiped the smile off of his face when he heard her, but he still gently sat Ariel on the couch as he got up.
"So, where should we start?" He asked gruffly. Ann decided that he probably wouldn't be the best person to tease about being soft.
"Well let's see. How about supper? Father should be home any time now, and I don't know about you but I'm starving. Come on, we can go bother Mum." She said, gesturing for him to follow her.
They found Brook Cromwell in the kitchen, happily surrounded with pots and pans. She looked up when they entered. They were both certainly surprised to see each other, but they both managed to cover it up extremely well.
Brook saw a young man, seventeen years old, wearing worn, black jeans, a dark green t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Not only that but he was also 6'2", towering over six inches over her stepdaughter… and hot. She gave Ann a look that was unmistakable in the world of females, and Ann gave her a 'Don't go there' look.
Perhaps what Warren saw was even more surprising. A tall, slim woman, perhaps a couple inches taller than Ann, with dark auburn hair piled on her head and kept back with a simple clip. Her eyes were the brilliant green hinted at in her own daughter, and she looked to be in her mid-twenties.
"This is my wicked stepmother. Wicked stepmother, this is Warren."
Brook waved a spoon at her and glared at Ann, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.
"Watch yourself, missy, or you'll be on baby-bathing duty for a month." Ann laughed and mock-whispered over her shoulder to Warren.
"Told you she was wicked. So, what are you making?"
"Well, I'm not sure if I'll tell you now." Brook turned her attention to Warren. "I hear you're going to be helping Em with her math."
Warren nodded in response, just as he heard the front door open. Ann smiled for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
"Come on. I'll introduce you to my Father." As soon as he entered the hallway, Ann ran to say hello to her father.
"Hello, Em." He said, smiling at her, his smile fell slightly when he saw Warren. "Is this your friend?"
"Warren, this is my father. Father, etcetera, etcetera."
Peter Cromwell shook hands with the younger man. Ann's dad was another surprise. His features not so much, he was rather handsome, with Ann's hair and eye color, but he looked like he couldn't possibly be over thirty-five. Warren hadn't expected the man who had helped keep thousands of the small businesses in Maxville Metropolis afloat, would be so young.
"How do you do?" Peter asked politely, while he looked him up and down. Assessing the threat to his daughter maybe?
It was at this point that Ann began to unfold her plan to… well… there wasn't really any reason for it. She just liked to see her father squirm every once in awhile.
"It turns out that Warren here lives right next door to us." Peter's face registered surprise for only a second, and then he smiled.
"Oh, that Warren. Of course, I haven't spoken to your mother for such a long time. You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."
Warren began to get the distinct impression that he was being placed in the middle of a family dispute, and he hastened to pull himself out of the crossfire… NOT.
"Really? I don't remember meeting you."
"Oh, you were quite a bit younger, and it was only briefly."
"Supper's ready!" Brook, ever ready to keep the peace, announced just in time.
Supper was quite pleasant. Brook was an excellent cook, and she had made a wonderful chicken and biscuits in gravy, which as Ann said, was the "Ultimate comfort food." They had managed to keep the conversation away from any uncomfortable topics, mostly because Brook had her feet poised next to Ann and Peter's shins.
While the two adults cleared the table, Ann and Warren got to work.
"Let's see. We could start with some of my older tests, go through what I got wrong and try and figure out what I've been doing."
Warren nodded. They got through the next hour as quietly as possible, talking only when needed and actually getting quite a bit done.
"Can I ask you something?" Warren finally asked. Ann looked up.
"You can ask."
"What is with your family and mine?"
"What do you mean?" Ann said, doing a poor job of covering her own knowledge on the matter.
"You know what I mean. I just found out that I've been living next door to one of the most powerful men in Maxville for years, and I didn't know it."
Ann leaned back on the couch they were sitting on and sighed.
"I honestly have no idea how that particular… thing happened. But there really isn't that much about us that is connected."
Warren scowled, but decided not to press the issue. It went against his instincts to not grill her until she told him all she knew, but at that point he was tired, he had a headache, and he had to go home anyway. They said goodbye with the least amount of word necessary, and Ann went to talk with her father.
"So, you were going to explain something to me?"
Ann leaned in the doorway of her father's study. Peter looked up from his computer and sighed.
"Alright, have a seat." Ann sat.
"He's an… interesting boy, Warren." Peter said, and Ann shrugged.
"I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like him."
"Not even that Wren of yours?" Her father teased, smiling softly.
"First, Wren is not mine. Second, no, they are much more different then I thought. And third, don't change the subject. How did you do it anyway? How did you keep us both ignorant for so long?"
"Honestly, I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Of course, they moved in after you left."
"Dad, he's the son of…"
"Don't say his name!" Peter said sharply. Ann jumped, realizing she had gone a bit far this time.
"Now, several years ago I learned that his mother needed a safe place to live. I offered to sell her that house. We both agreed that the conditions would be that we would never have any contact with each other, and that we would make sure that you and Warren never met."
"But why?" Ann asked. "Why… why so many things? Why let them move in next to us. Why go through so much to keep us apart?"
"Beatrice, Warren's mother, and I decided that our history made it a not-so-good idea for us to have much to do with each other. But I still wanted to do something for them."
"None of this makes any sense." Ann cried, slumping in her chair. "A year ago, the most I had to think about was not flunking out of school."
Peter stood up, and crouched down to embrace his elder daughter.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. But at the time we thought it was the best thing for everyone. People were trying to come after Beatrice and Warren, and I thought that I would be able to give them some measure of protection if they were close by. It never occurred to us that the two of you would meet like this. It must have been a horrible shock."
"Tell me about it. But Dad," She looked up at him, and stared him straight in the eyes. "I'm willing to accept that you meant well in keeping this from me, but don't pretend that you let them buy that house out of any liking for them. This is one of those keeping enemies closer things, isn't it?"
"I never could lie to you could I?" Said Peter ruefully. "I admit, it's felt good to know where they are. Beatrice is a kind woman, and an excellent hero, but Warren…"
"…Is his father's son." Ann finished, and paused before saying. "I guess that some of the blame for not realizing things sooner is on me for being so dense."
Peter laughed.
"Something gives me the feeling that the denseness wasn't all your fault."
…
In her room, Ann chewed Wren out for a good hour about keeping important things from her, and especially screwing with her mind for his own purposes.
"And what I can't get, is why would you want to do that anyway? What was in it for you?"
"Except for the absolutely priceless look on your face when you realized who he was?"
"That's not enough for you." Ann said, the wheels turning in her brain. "Even you wouldn't go to such extents for a joke. There must be something else."
She thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up, and she looked at Wren slyly.
"This doesn't have something to do with him being a pyro, does it?"
Wren's face became deadly serious, and he gave her a look that made a shiver run up her spine.
"It wasn't just me. It was all of us. We all felt that it would be bad if he ever came into your life."
"How so?" Ann asked, her curiosity overriding her wounded feelings.
"Don't play dumb with me. It's already begun."
"Straying from the straight and narrow?" She asked sarcastically.
"You could say that. And who's to say what will be at the end of this? An angel or a demon?"
Okay, I know I wasn't going to do this anymore, but I just have to mention that if you think that this chapter sucks comparatively speaking, I'm not completely happy with it myself. But if you do like it… well… good! If it's a bit confusing, I promise that it will all make sense soon enough. And if anything is particularly confusing, just tell me in a review, or PM me, and I'll try to explain.
WA
