Eve Baird couldn't quite wrap her mind around what had happened this day. Oh in her career, she'd seen plenty of weird, plenty of dangerous. None of the weird had measured up to these six months at the Library, however, and if she'd really thought that minotaurs, mummies, dragons in man costumes and splintering across the universe to spread good will had been the weirdest things she'd ever experience, well today had proven her wrong. Crossing three alternate universes, finding out her alter had been a mother figure for Ezekiel and the lover of at least Stone, if not both he and Cassandra . . . . She cringed and shook her head. She tried to replace the unsettling feel of that Stone's lips on hers with the real Stone's much more brotherly kiss to her forehead, one of the last things she'd thought she'd ever feel. If she had died that day, she wouldn't have minded dying for these people, taking the blow for her Librarian and dying in the arms of her three charges. She had a family she loved dearly, but life had scattered them to the four corners of the globe. So it was this new makeshift family, two little brothers and a sister, plus whatever Jenkins was, that she was closest to. She didn't die today, but she would make that sacrifice again and again for them.
They'd all been so scared today, Stone had shown cracks in his armor, Cassandra had screamed and Ezekiel had suddenly acted his age instead of the worldly thief he usually let the world see. She hoped they'd all gone home and were recovering from this day in their own ways.
As for her, she could really use a stiff drink. . . and a massage. But a stiff drink was the first thing on her to do list.
She found Ezekiel alone in the Annex, an unfinished cup of tea sitting in front of him. Jenkins had pressed cups on every one being of the opinion that a cuppa cured all ills.
"Where's everyone else?" she asked him, taking the seat across from him.
"I think Cassandra and Stone left," Ezekiel shrugged. "Jenkins is in his lab and Flynn. . . ."
Flynn chose that moment to pop back through the door which was set up to connect to the Library. Jenkins had explained that until they figured out a better solution they would have to use the Back Door to access the Library.
Flynn actually looked the most subdued she'd ever seen him and a bit worried too. "Why aren't you resting?"
Ah, it was worry toward her. That she could handle. "I'm sitting down. Besides, I'm fine. Good as new as you said. What I could really use is a drink."
Ezekiel, who also seemed very down for him, visibly perked up at that. "Oh, I'm in."
They both looked at Flynn. He shrugged. "I suppose I could go for a drink."
Baird smiled, "I know Jenkins will probably decline as he'd probably prefer to savor his Scotch in peace. I do wish Stone and Cassandra were here." She chuckled, "who knows, maybe they went for a drink together."
Ezekiel snorted but Flynn looked thoughtful.
"Things are better between them, aren't they? I mean they seem much more friendly."
"As far as I can tell," Baird said, getting up and leading the way to the street door. "Though I imagine Stone probably did go for a drink and Cassandra went for a bath. Which actually sounds like that'll be my next step after a drink."
"That sounds lovely," Flynn said a bit wistfully.
Behind them Ezekiel groaned. "Don't make me regret going out with you."
Baird laughed, a much needed one as they headed out into the fresh air.
"Are you and Daddy okay, Andra?" Max had asked after both Jacob and Cassandra had taken turns hugging him tightly. Jacob had let Cassandra go first and was a long time releasing his son, burying his face in the child's hair. Cassandra was quite certain that had been to hide tears from both of them. Today had been rough, first Lamia, then Baird, but Baird had stopped breathing in Jacob's arms . . .and as painful as that moment had been for her, Cassandra imagined that it was even worse for Stone.
"We had a really tough day, sweetheart," Cassandra said kneeling down next to him. "A dear friend of ours was very sick for a while and we were really worried. But she's all better now. And so are we. Especially," and she smiled and tickled him, getting a giggle from the boy. "Now that we've had your special hugs."
Jacob grinned and ruffled Max's hair. "And Cassandra and I were thinkin', what else makes us feel better besides your hugs?"
"Ice cream?" Max asked, his eyes wide and hopeful.
Cassandra laughed, already feeling a million times better.
"Ice cream!" Jacob said, picking Max up. "C'mon, I feel like we deserve that giant banana split."
"Oooh," Cassandra said following them out the door. "With vanilla and chocolate . . . ."
"And strawberry!" Max cried.
"Yes and strawberry."
"Oh my goodness, I think no more sweets for a week for me." Cassandra giggled, leaning back against the booth at the ice cream place. They'd gotten the family size banana split and despite their valiant efforts, there was still some ice cream and banana left in the dish.
"Amateur," Stone laughed, making a face at Max, who laughed in return.
"Uh-huh, you're the one who is going to deal with your son being on a sugar high all evening, not me."
Stone sighed. "Right . . . hey, you wanna go to the park? It's still light out and he can run some of this off."
Cassandra shrugged. "I had no plans, so that sounds good."
Stone took Max back to the restroom and Cassandra asked for the check from the waitress. She told Jacob it was her treat since he cooked her dinner so often.
When she returned with the check, the waitress smiled and said, "your little boy is adorable. Looks just like his daddy. Gonna be a heartbreaker, that one."
Cassandra paused for a moment, wanting to correct the woman, but aside from the 'your' she was certainly telling the truth. So she only smiled and thanked her. She was waiting in line at the register when Jacob and Max returned and she waved at them. She sometimes wished father and son wouldn't smile at her like they did, all happy and crinkly eyed. It made it so easy to pretend that they were a family. She sighed a little and shook her head .
When she rejoined the Stones at the door, Jacob asked her if she was okay. But she put a smile on and said she was, just had been thinking a little too much. And he'd nodded and smiled sympathetically and she let him believe she'd been thinking about the day and not about their relationship.
"Ready to go to the park?" she smiled down at Max, deflecting Jacob's attention off of her.
"Yep!"
It was easier, after Cassandra assessed the parking situation to leave Stone's truck where it was and walk to the park, then try to drive over and find new parking. Jacob went over the walking rules with Max.
"And make sure you're holding on to both of our hands at all times, okay?" Jacob wondered when the last time he'd said that was probably before he and Josie had decided to split up and Max had probably been closer to two than to three.
"Yes, Daddy," Max chirped grabbing each adult's hands. Cassandra giggled at his tone and Jacob chuckled. He was plenty sure he'd be carrying the boy back to the car. As it was, the sugar rush hadn't quite kicked in yet and all of them were sluggish from all the ice cream. So it was a slow walk toward the park. But none of them really minded. The sun would still be up for a while and they had no plans.
"If I'm right, this bar should be right here. And I'm usually correct. Well mostly. Well 89 percent of the time anyway. And this bar should be right here." Flynn pointed at a store front that was most decidedly not a bar.
"Seriously?" Baird asked, rolling her eyes. "Are we even in the right neighborhood? Or does this bar even exist at all? And why couldn't we just go drink at the usual place?"
Flynn held up a hand. "To be fair, I don't drink at your usual place, as it's the place you go with the L.I.T.s and not me."
Ezekiel cackled. "He's got a point."
Baird rested her face against her palm. "Alright, let's go down to the end of this block and if it's still not there, we get a cab and go to our usual."
Flynn and Ezekiel nodded in agreement and started walking, all three scanning the doorways for the bar that Flynn had described. Suddenly, Ezekiel stopped dead.
"Well, I'll be."
"What?" Baird asked. "Do you see the bar?"
"Nope."
"Then why are we stopping?" Baird now wanted to go home and just drink a whole bottle of something in peace.
"Because of that," and Ezekiel pointed across the street. At a man who looked like a certain art historian from Oklahoma and a woman who looked like their synesthete mathematician. They were both holding the hands of a small boy.
"No way," Baird breathed. "They don't . . .what is going on?"
Flynn had opened and closed his mouth twice, but was suddenly striding across the street. Jaywalking, of course. Baird sighed, but looked for traffic before running after him. Ezekiel chortled and then followed the two of them.
Cassandra noticed them first. "Oh, no."
"What?" Stone saw his co-workers and sighed. "Well . . . ."
Upon closer inspection, it was quite obvious that the child bore a striking resemblance to Stone. So that, Baird reflected, answered questions about paternity. But who was this child's mother? Was it Cassandra? It couldn't possibly be, could it?
"Hi, guys," Cassandra said lamely when it was obvious she couldn't pretend to not see her co-workers any longer.
Flynn was staring at Max in such a way that made the child start clutching both their hands tighter. Stone knew that Flynn was just trying to solve the puzzle and knew he didn't mean anything by it, but Max could be very shy around strangers. Stone let go of his son's hand to wrap his arm around the boy's shoulders and Cassandra dropped the hand she was holding.
"So," Baird said after an awkward second. "I take it there is something that you're not telling us? Possibly several somethings?"
Ezekiel jumped in. "You guys had a kid together? When were you going to tell us about your mini me?"
Baird turned to Ezekiel. "I don't think she's his mother. I mean we all met at the same time, right? I mean why would she be in New York? I mean I guess they could have broken up . . . ."
Stone was about to put an end to the speculation but Max, now overwhelmed by the staring and the talking burst into tears. In a moment, Stone had picked the child up and was rocking him against his shoulder, pressing kisses against his forehead and whispering words of comfort.
Cassandra looked over with concern, gently patting Max's back, before turning to her co-workers. "Guys?"
Ezekiel and Baird were now arguing over how they could have concealed Max's existence and a hypothetical relationship between Stone and Cassandra.
In between comments from Ezekiel and Baird and over the sounds of Max's tears, a frustrated Cassandra kept trying to interrupt, saying "um, guys?" over and over but she was largely ignored. Stone was far too busy trying to take care of Max to really get them to listen.
Flynn turned to Baird and Ezekiel. "While that child is undoubtedly Stone's, there's no way that he could be Cassandra's."
"How do you know?" Baird asked, curious.
"Isn't it obvious?" Flynn asked, blinking.
"No, not really," she said with an eye roll.
Flynn took a deep breath. "Well his . . . ."
"GUYS!" Cassandra's voice finally broke through all the chatter and the threesome finally turned their attention to her.
That's when they noticed the boy sobbing in his father's arms. Stone glared at them over the boy's head.
"Oh . . ." Baird said, her face apologetic. "I'm sorry."
"We didn't mean to make the little fella cry," Ezekiel said, his voice oddly contrite.
"He's shy," Cassandra said softly. "He's been through a lot. But he isn't my son."
"He is mine," Stone said, his own face softening as he pressed a kiss to the boy's head. "And I know you have a lot of questions. But not here, okay?"
"Yeah, here isn't the best place." Baird nodded her head.
"We're parked around the corner, come over to my place in about a half an hour, okay? You remember how to get there?"
"Well, we took a cab here, so just text me your address," Baird said.
Jacob nodded and he and Cassandra turned toward the direction they'd come from in the first place.
"Well, wow," Baird said. "Do you think we still have time for a drink? Because I really need one now."
