Seven Months Later
At the sound of a knock on the door, Alex attempted to wriggle out from underneath the sleeping four year old who'd fallen asleep in her lap. It had taken her nearly an hour to get the girl to take a nap and, now that she was sleeping, Alex was reluctant to wake her for anything short of a nuclear bomb...
When she opened the door, though, the last person she expected to see was standing on the other side... "Em-Emily?" she stammered.
Emily attempted a smile, but it was more than a little nervous. "Hi..." she whispered, lifting her hand in a half-hearted wave.
Alex's jaw hung open slightly for what felt like the longest time, her brain refusing to believe that Emily truly was standing in front of her. "Emily, what... What are you doing here?" she rasped. It wasn't the most eloquent of questions, but it was as good a place to start as any.
With a nervous little laugh, Emily gestured into the foyer and asked, "Can I come inside?"
Alex didn't seem to find it funny, though. In fact, anger seemed to wash over her in that moment and she held up a hand to block Emily's way. "I haven't heard from you in seven months and you expect to just waltz in here like nothing ever happened?"
"No, of course not," Emily insisted, "It's not like that. I just...it's better if we have this conversation in private." She shrugged her shoulders up near her ears sheepishly. "Please?"
And, though she seemed like she would have liked to refuse her, after a few moments of thought, she shook her head and stood back to let Emily inside the house. "You'll have to keep your voice down," she said, "Lily is sleeping in the living room."
"Oh, good," Emily said when she realized that meant that Alex couldn't raise her voice either. Then, "Wait, who's Lily?"
"The neighbour's daughter," she explained, though it was clear her patience was wearing thin. "Why are you here, Emily?"
Emily sighed, teeth scraping over her bottom lip as she seemed to struggle for the words to explain everything that had happened over the past seven months. "I should have told you about my past with Interpol," she said at length. It wasn't an explanation or even really an apology, but it was as good a place to start as any... "I should have told you. But after I left, all I wanted was to put it as far in the past as possible. It was exhausting and soul-sucking and used up every last ounce of faith in humanity I possessed. I needed something good in my life and when I met you, you were that something good."
That seemed to soften Alex, just a little, but she was doing her best to maintain her grasp on her anger, at least a little longer...
"Believe me when I say that the last thing I ever expected was for Interpol to recall me," Emily added. "They probably wouldn't have sought me out if I hadn't become a vampire, but that's neither here nor there..." She gestured helplessly. "The point is that I never imagined this would happen or I would have given you a heads up."
Alex raised a brow. "And what exactly would that have looked like? 'Oh, hey, by the way...you might be asked to leave your entire life behind at a moment's notice but I can't tell you why or for how long or whether you're in danger...'?"
"Alex, I'm sorry!" Emily said, a little too loudly, judging by the way Lily stirred in her sleep. Seeing the movement, Emily winced, then repeated in a whisper, "I really am sorry for the way it happened, but I had no control over it. I did the only thing I could think to do to ensure that you were safe from James."
She seemed to change tack then, inquiring, "And what is that you've been doing for the past seven months?"
"I can't tell you that," Emily admitted in a mumble. "It's classified. All I can share is that it was a high-profile target that required a vampire with my, shall we say, skill set..."
"Skill set?" Alex echoed dubiously.
She nodded, but didn't clarify anything further.
Alex seemed to sense that that was all the explanation she was going to get on the matter and, though she had about a million more questions, she wasn't about to push her luck. "Well, thanks for dropping by to clear that up."
Emily's brows leapt up her forehead. "That's it?" she asked. "You don't want to – I don't know – fill me in on what you've been doing for the past seven months?" She offered a smile that was intended to be hopeful, but came off as more of a grimace.
She sighed, shrugged helplessly. She seemed like she would have liked to ask her to leave, but before she could do so, a small hand tugged at the hem of her shirt. When she looked down, two owlish eyes peered back up at her. "Alesk, why are you fighting with your girlfriend?" she asked, at once innocent and intuitive.
Alex seemed at a loss for words – at least ones that would summarize the situation in a way that was age appropriate and would also satisfy a preschooler's curiosity – at that and she spent several moments stammering.
Emily, on the other hand, seemed confounded by the girl's knowledge of their situation, in spite of having been both asleep and four... "How does she...?" she started to ask.
Alex, sensing the question Emily was about to ask, preemptively answered, "She's psychic." A beat. "But she doesn't have full control over her powers yet," she added. (Lord knows how someone who'd come from the most mundane of roots had ended up in a situation involving two vampires and a pint-sized psychic...but that was a question for another time.)
Lily nodded sagely. Then she turned back to Alex and asked, "Are you mad 'cause she gots a baby in her belly?"
