Liam's eyes swept carefully around the diner, performing another headcount of how many patrons were left inside the building.
After getting over her initial surprise at seeing them both again, Granny had promised to explain everything that she knew - but only when the diner was empty. While no other customers had entered the building after them, the hunters that had already been inside were sure taking their sweet time leaving.
"Can you knock that off?" Killian asked, around a mouthful of apple pie.
"That's disgusting," Liam threw back at him.
"And you're annoying, so quit it," Killian snapped, nodding his head in the direction of his brother's bouncing leg.
Liam couldn't understand how his brother could remain so calm at a time like this. Given their strange greeting with Granny and the constant look of concern she wore whenever she glanced their way, he'd completely lost his appetite. His brother, however, hadn't. In fact, Killian seemed to take Liam's refusal of food as some sort of personal insult and had ordered extra to make up for it. After demolishing two helpings of lasagne, two large slices of garlic bread, and an entire portion of French fries, he had turned his attention to the last slice of apple pie that had been calling to him ever since they'd arrived.
"You're gonna make yourself sick," Liam told him, as he watched his brother lick his spoon clean before he dug it back into what little remained of his dessert.
"Nah. There's always plenty of room for pie."
Liam shook his head in exasperation and then forgot all about his brother's eating habits as the guy three tables away called Granny over to settle his bill. The process of paying for his meal and clearing up his files seemed to take forever, but finally, Granny followed him over to the exit, bade the hunter a goodnight, and then flicked the sign in the window to CLOSED. Three long hours after they had first arrived, Granny was locking the door behind her final customer of the day.
"Tell us everything," Liam begged, pushing himself up to his feet; anticipation and adrenaline were already curling inside his belly.
"Hold your horses, boy," Granny snapped, and Liam sank back down into his seat. "I've gotta clean up around here first and then bank the day's takings. The work won't do itself just 'cuz you boys have shown your faces again."
"Sorry," Liam mumbled, looking appropriately chastised. "Can I help at all?"
Granny gave him an appraising once over before she nodded her head in the direction of the kitchen. "There's clean rags and some antibacterial sprays in there if you wanna get to work."
Liam pushed himself straight back to his feet and then made his way through to the kitchen to look for the supplies.
While he was gone, Killian took his time finishing the last of his pie as Granny scrutinized him from behind the counter. It was only when he set down his spoon that he seemed to realize he was being watched, and he turned in his seat to ask, "What?"
"Does he know?"
"Does he know what?" Killian threw back at her.
"What happened that night. Does he know?"
"I don't know what you're talking about right now," Killian told her, his brow creasing with confusion, "So I doubt Liam does."
Granny's eyes slowly rolled shut as she tilted her head up towards the ceiling. If Killian hadn't known her as well as he did, he'd have thought she was praying.
The moment between the two of them was shattered when Liam appeared once more, cleaning supplies in each hand and a look of determination set into his features.
Killian let his brother and Granny work as he pulled out their father's journal and began flicking through it. There was the odd mention of Granny dotted throughout the pages, but nothing that he recognized as being new. Nothing that would give him any indication of what she might have been hinting about. With each page he turned, Killian let himself get lost in the words and codes scribbled across the paper as the darkness outside the windows seemed to deepen.
The pages were melting into one, the scribbles across them twisting and twirling into ropes that reached out to wrap around his wrists, binding them to the tabletop. The blackness of the windows appeared to be shifting, morphing into different shapes before it dissolved back into nothingness; taunting him… teasing him.
It was only when a firm hand landed on his shoulder that he realized he'd been drifting to sleep, and he jerked awake to find his brother peering down at him.
"Are you okay?" Liam asked, frowning in concern.
"Yeah, fine," Killian assured him, shrugging off his brother's hold. "Guess I was more tired than I thought I was."
Liam stared down at him for a moment more before he nodded his head and said, "Well, Granny's done. She's gonna be upstairs waiting for us, if you're ready?"
"I was born ready," Killian assured his brother. He gathered up his bag, tucked the journal back inside of it, and then slung it over his shoulder.
Killian followed Liam out of the diner and through the kitchen to a door at the very back of the room, which opened into a small hallway. From there, the boys headed up a narrow flight of stairs and came to a stop at the very top of them, where Liam raised his hand to knock on the door to his left.
"Come in," Granny's voice called out.
Liam pushed open the door and made his way inside with his brother hot on his heels. Although it had been years since he'd last been inside Granny's home, the place looked like it hadn't changed at all. The walls were still covered in some sort of cream wallpaper decorated with bright red roses, and the red couch in the middle of the room looked just as inviting and comfortable as it always had, if somewhat smaller these days.
Liam dropped his bag beside the sofa and took a seat on one side, watching as his brother did the same. The two boys then turned their full attention towards the matching red recliner sitting opposite them, and started a little at the sight of the crossbow resting over Granny's lap.
"Woah, what's that for?" Killian demanded.
"It's just a precaution."
"Against what?"
"What do you think?" she snapped, and Killian at least had the sense to look a little ashamed of his question. Granny had lost her son in the last house she'd owned. If anyone felt it was necessary to arm themselves inside their home, it would be her.
"Sorry," he mumbled quietly, staring down at his feet.
For a moment, an awkward silence seemed to linger between the three of them, and nobody appeared to be inclined to break it. After a while of fidgeting in his seat, Liam finally took the plunge and said, "We're sorry to just drop in on you like this, Granny, but we really need your help. We can't find Dad and it feels like something big is going on. Something dangerous. Have you seen him at all? Has anyone else mentioned seeing him recently?"
"I've seen him," Granny eventually said, and Killian's head snapped up just in time to see her fingers tighten around the end of the crossbow. "He was with you," she explained, nodding her head in his direction.
"What?" Killian asked, chuckling a little awkwardly. "No, he wasn't! Dad and I haven't been here together for… years."
Granny was already shaking her head before Killian had finished speaking.
"I think I'd remember being here," he snapped out, because he didn't like the look that was suddenly working its way back onto her face. It was that same stunned disbelief she'd worn when he'd first walked into the diner that evening.
"No, you wouldn't," she chuckled bitterly, and Killian's anger began rising inside of him hard and fast. He didn't like being laughed at. Granny knew that.
"I –"
"You wouldn't have remembered it, Killian," she said harshly, her voice rising to speak over his own. "You wouldn't have remembered it because when your daddy brought you here, you were bleeding out in his arms. You wouldn't have remembered being here, Killian, because you weren't… not really. You were already gone by the time your daddy set you down on my table."
She nodded her head in the direction of the dining table that usually sat at the back of the room, but Killian couldn't force his eyes away from her face to look at it.
"You wouldn't remember it, Killian, because that night, you died in my arms."
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