CHAPTER FIVE
Zak
Standing at the foot of the bed, I looked down at Saber, who was finally sleeping peacefully on her side, snuggled into the huge pregnancy body pillow Tori had bought her. She'd kicked off all the covers again, and I was currently debating the risks of covering her back up. She'd been put on bed rest a few days ago, but the 'resting' part was simply not happening. It had been almost seventy two hours of sleeplessness, because if she wasn't sleeping, I wasn't sleeping, and the exhausted part of my brain was telling me 'don't risk it, it's not worth your life'. I took a chance and threw the light sheet over her in compromise to the 'father to be' part. Fortunately, there was no movement, in the clear for the next hour. Hopefully.
Carefully, I walked over to my side of the bed, wincing at the creaking mattress, I very, very slowly laid down. Maybe I should just sleep on the couch.
Bzz, bzz, bzz
Son of a --! I whipped around to the night-stand, and grabbed my phone before it could wake up Saber. I blinked at the bright screen, where 'Idiot #1' and Aaron's face popped up.
I quickly and as quietly as possible minced across the room to seal myself in the hallway bathroom. Taking a deep breath, I pressed the green button and hissed, "One of you two idiots had better be dying!"
"Hey Zak!"
I don't know when, how or why it happened, but somehow, after my informal induction to the Crow and Hammer, and the dissipation of our 'testosterone fueled animosity' as Tori called it, Aaron and I actually started getting along. So between Aaron and I becoming friends and, consequently, Kit and Aaron becoming friends, the both of them started treating me like a big brother. I didn't know if it was some weird form of mutual respect (I did appreciate that) or if I gave off some sort of paternal hormone, but being in this position has required me to do 'brotherly' things; such as listening to movie quotes ad nauseum, and more importantly, answering a phone call at
2:32 in the morning to ensure that death wasn't imminent. I closed my eyes and pinched my eyebrows together; I was not awake enough for this.
"What is it, Aaron?" I snapped. "I told you two last time, if you're not bleeding profusely, call Kai! Or Tori, even."
"Wait, what? I'm not with Kit! And that was one time! Are you ever gonna let that go?"
"No." I took a deep breath. I heard him give a frustrated sigh. "So, if this doesn't have anything to do with you and Shakespeare bleeding to death, then what, pray tell, is so damn important that you felt the need to call me at," I pulled the phone away from my ear to look at the screen, "2:35 in the morning?"
"Umm, we may have an all hands on deck situation here that requires your very specific set of skills."
"What I'm hearing is:" I leaned against the sink, "someone pissed off a fae and you need me to talk it down."
"Honestly, we don't know yet, but it definitely ranks a nine point nine on the weird shit-o- meter,"
"That is pretty high."
"But it seems to be fae adjacent and we'll probably need your advice. Can you come to the guild tomorrow for 10 A.M.?"
His tone had changed from sarcastic kid to officer in charge, which meant this was actually something important, I let out a long breath, "Sure, I'll be there."
"Great, see you tomorrow then." Click.
I hung up and rubbed my very tired eyes. Then, carefully opened the bathroom door and walked to the bedroom where Saber was still sleeping. I stood in the doorway for a second, then made the decision that I was sleeping on the couch tonight.