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Chapter 31:

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Delilah peeked open her eyes as the light streamed through her very large window. She heard a stirring in another room, the shifting of pots and pans, the running of water from a faucet. It made her open her eyes fully. On the pillow next to her lay the tiniest of flowers. A small jasmine. She smelled it for a moment, before grabbing her robe and walking to the kitchen as she shrugged it on her shoulders and tied it around her waist.

There was Joe, in the kitchen, making omelets on the stove with the professional skill of a chef. It was just as well. She couldn't cook to save her life.

Joe set the lovely-smelling egg concoction on a plate and put the plate on the small dining table, motioning for her to sit there. She obeyed. She hadn't even realized that he knew of her presence behind him.

"You didn't sleep a wink, did you?" she guessed as she grabbed a fork and dug in.

"I don't really sleep much," he admitted sullenly, as he broke open another egg into the frying pan. "Ly… I have to go back."

"I know," Delilah sighed. "It's your duty to the Covenant. You are their leader after all. They need you. Do anything you can… just… don't marry her."

Joe smiled and nodded, thankful for her understanding.

"I won't," he promised with a chuckle. Suddenly, he stopped what he was doing, leaning his hands on the white tile counters either side of the stove. "And I'm not going back for them. I'm going back to get my trust fund, and my mother's ring. Then I'm going sort out whatever I need to with Jimmy and the others, and say my goodbyes. Then you and I are going to get married, anywhere you'd like. And we're going to stay there."

Delilah nodded obligingly and stared off into space dreamily.

"I'm thinking… someplace tropical…"

"Three days," Joe promised to the stove very seriously. "Three days, come back to Ipswich and get me. We'll leave together from there."

Delilah got up and hugged her man around his waist, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'll be counting down."

-

Glenn watched James standing on the large red pedestal, as the tailor fitted James for a tux. Glenn twiddled his thumbs as James rambled on about wedding particulars, having been recruited to be best man since Joe had disappeared and Wayne had become the enemy.

"James," Glenn interrupted at length. "Wayne's worrying me. He's looking pretty crappy lately."

James was now beaming with pride, admiring himself in the mirror while the tailor begged him to stand still.

"Oh, Wayne needs to get over himself," James shrugged it off. It seemed Glenn had set him off on another tangent.

"I mean," James rambled on while Glenn yawned widely. "I know that there's always going to be that sense of awkwardness, but geez, you know? Sooner or later you have to grow up. I just wish he would be more supportive."

"Jimmy, you're marrying Beatrice," Glenn replied, waving his hands for emphasis. "Stinkin' Beatrice. GOD! Do you really not get it? You're the one that needs to grow up, man! How could you ever expect Wayne… This is Wayne we're talking about here… to be okay with you marrying Beatrice?"

James quirked an eyebrow at Glenn, wondering where this had come from.

"Are… are you okay, man?"

"No, I am not okay!" Glenn hissed back. "I am so sick and tired of everyone's drama and the world just not going the way it's supposed to!"

"Alright, fine, Glenn, you're a smart kid. Why don't you tell me how things are supposed to be."

"Joe is supposed to be happy, and picking fights with people and kicking their butts and being with Delilah every second. And Wayne is supposed to be off in some barn of his somewhere screwing Beatrice all day, and you are supposed to be in Paris with Evelyn right now and I am supposed to have Rosalind!"

James stepped off his stage, and waved the tailor off to take a break. The white-haired man was more than happy to do so. James then seized Glenn's arms and took him aside.

"Look, Glenn," he said slowly and furiously. "Your perfect world doesn't, can't, and will never exist. And it's a good thing too, because it sucks. And while you're off playing 'daddy' somewhere with your little Rosie, let me tell you how the world is really going. I am going to marry Beatrice, because I love her. Wayne will have Desiree and a few dozen blonde women and he's going to be just peachy! As for Joe, we'll be lucky if he doesn't kill himself because he's not allowed to have the woman he really wants because she has sex for money. And you, my friend, are going to have your wonderful Rosalind and one day you will realize that you are raising Damien Roth's child, and you have married his bitch."

Glenn suddenly called out, a gust of a forcefield hurling James backward into a nearby mirror.

"Damn you, Jimmy," Glenn said, his voice clenched as tightly as his fists. "I wish Joe was here. He was the real leader of our Covenant. You're no leader, Jimmy. Damn you."

With that, Glenn grabbed his backpack and headed for the door.

"What? This isn't over!" James called after him. "Where you going?"

"I'm meeting her parents for lunch. Because even though I don't like her, I respect her enough to keep my honor. Unlike some people I know."

Glenn slammed the glass door of the shop closed, making the tiny bell hanging over it ring violently in protest. James couldn't help but smirk at what Glenn had said. Glenn's age really showed sometimes. For being so smart, he really didn't know much.

James looked at himself in the mirror, straightening his tux. He couldn't help but feel a little proud that he had gotten Beatrice over the notorious always-gets-his-girl Wayne. Secretly, he'd been kind of jealous over the years of Wayne's conquests, his never-ending supply of wit and charm. Now James was on top. He was the man. Not Wayne, not Joe. There was a sense of power in the fact.

And he liked it.

-

Glenn fiddled with his food, twirling the fettuccine around with his fork without interest in eating it. The restaurant had broad windows that he found solace in, letting his mind wander onto the streets and away from the Italian restaurant. Rosie wouldn't so much as even look at him. Glenn concentrated hard on getting a hold of his anger. There had to be something he could do to counteract all the mishaps going on. James was wrong. Glenn could make this right. He just had to speak up.

He perked his head up, trying to get his head back into the conversation at hand. Rosie was explaining about colleges she was looking into.

"So, even though I had my heart set on Harvard, I'm thinking Brown might just be the better choice given with recent developments."

"Oh, it's only her nerves talking," Glenn sat up straighter, his outburst surprising Rosie more than anyone. He put his arm around her shoulders and held her close. "I keep telling her Harvard would love to have a smart girl like her, but she's just so modest."

"What are you doing?" she hissed angrily into Glenn's ear through her teeth.

"Saving us," Glenn muttered back, smiling at Rosie's parents just as they smiled back.

"You know, that's so nice of you to say," Rosie said to Glenn with sarcasm only he would catch. "But you don't have to try so hard to make my parents like you."

Her mother and father laughed together at this.

"Glenn's very smart as well, mother," Rosie said with venom in her voice. "He's reminded me on many occasions. Isn't that right, Glenn?"

Glenn shook his head, his cheeks going red.

"She's joking, of course," he said across the table, chuckling a bit to cover for it.

"You're right, Glenn, we should get serious," Rosie snapped. "Maybe we should just tell them the truth."

Glenn stopped laughing. Rosie immediately turned to her parents.

"Mom, Dad… I'm--"

"She's being held back a year!" Glenn practically shouted over her. "She was so embarrassed, but there it is, we've told them, darling. Now they know."

"What?!" her father outburst.

"How could this happen, Rosie?" her mother cooed. "You were doing so well in school…"

Rosie shot Glenn a glare that said it all. Then slowly, her face softened. She smiled at Glenn, and Glenn smiled back.

"Well," Rosie shrugged to her parents. "I guess I just didn't realized how much I'd fallen behind…"

-

James walked to the barn with his head held high, ignoring the glaring looks he was getting from Glenn. He tried to force his mind on deciding what he was going to tell the council, or more specifically, his father. Breaking big life-changing news was not an easy task. Luckily, they knew Beatrice, so it might be easier for them to digest, knowing he wasn't asking to expose their secret for a lover that already knew of it. Another fortunate aspect was that the Concordats weren't here tonight. It wasn't necessary for small family matters. Glenn's looks were getting harder and harder to just go disregarded.

"What?" James shrugged at him. "I'm not welcome in my own Oath-Takers clan anymore? Maybe I should just sit with the Concordats then…"

"Maybe you should!" Glenn snapped, then trotted on ahead without them.

"Hey, don't mind him," Wayne reassured James. "He's just having problems with his girl. And speaking of girls… uh… you talking to the Council about Bee tonight?"

"Yeah… why?" James said suspiciously.

"No, no reason. How's she doing these days?"

"What, you don't know?" James shot back. "Let it go, already, Wayne. Geez. You're starting to sound pathetic."

Wayne stopped in his tracks at this, James's word boring deep into him. James didn't stick around to see if he would catch up.

James walked into the underground Pentagram, kneeling beside Glenn before the Council elders with respect. A few were missing, he realized. His own father, for one, was nowhere to be seen.

"Arise, son of Danvers."

"Where is…?"

"He's not here," Joe's father interrupted to explain. "We have called the Council today to tell you that Danvers senior has been taken to the colony house for rehabilitation."

"Rehabilitation…?" James breathed. "Why…?"

"His addiction is starting to turn fatal. We're trying to save his life."

"You said you wished to say something to the Council as well, James," Wayne's father nodded at him. "What is it?"

"I…" James was speechless with shock, desperately trying to gather thoughts to speak. "I wanted to pose a request for marriage. To Beatrice."

"The girl who discovered the Covenant?" Glenn's father perked up. "She's old enough for marriage now?"

"Same one."

Wayne's father's eyes were on his son, as if searching for a reaction out of him. Wayne just had his eyes to the floor. Glenn was still glaring at James. The Council members hesitated, looking back and forth between themselves.

It was in those moments James's temper raged. What the hell was wrong with everyone? It wasn't as if Wayne staked some flag of claim on Beatrice's head, just because he was so open about his little crush for all these years. James had every right to marry her.

"We will answer your question after a short review. We will meet again tomorrow at the same time. You are all excused for now."

James immediately rose to his feet, turning to storm out. He had every intention of finding Beatrice and screwing the hell out of her, just to spite them all. And even if Beatrice protested to sleeping with him, it was nothing a little lust spell couldn't fix. Wayne would be hearing about it first thing tomorrow too. He'd be put in his place. James had authority now, and his authority would not be question. He could do whatever the hell he wanted. He was boss. He was commander. He was…

"Joe?" James froze at the sight of his old comrade before him at the top of the stairs, his heart plummeting to his stomach. "What are you doing back?"

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Signed,
--RedRogue