The next day, by coincidence, both Jack and Sam had decided to come and visit. Jack because he wanted to see how Ain and Aldebaran were adjusting, and Sam because it had been a very long time since I'd seen him last. To be honest, I'd been avoiding Sam a little. I'd sent him letters and the winds had been whispering tidbits of info to me on how he'd been doing but I hadn't seen him in person since everything had happened with Caeden. As much as I would have loved to spend time with him, even for a movie or so, I didn't want to go to his place. I'd pointedly avoided it when I met back up with my Salem believers a few years back and had only seen Sam in the crowd, saying a quick 'hi' before making up an excuse and running off. I couldn't make myself go back inside his house when the last time I'd been there was to breakdown over my brother's death. In all honesty, the reason I'd gone there instead of the Sanctuary was because, on some subconscious level, I knew I couldn't walk to Antarctica.

But I missed Sam, and the short time I'd spent with Jack a few weeks prior hadn't really been the reunion that either of us needed. So for the first time in a long time, the three of us were spending time together. Well, together plus two more. I'd invited Ain and Aldebaran to hang out with us and Ain had eagerly accepted, even though Aldebaran looked a little more wary of the whole thing. I'd asked Sam to bring over some games all of us could play and I was hoping that the twins would pick up on the rules without too much fuss.

Jack got there first, having already been in the area as Fall was beginning to die off. He arrived on the main porch as per the usual and stepped through the doorway. "Knock, knock! Anybody home?" There was a laugh already in his voice which caused me to smile even from the other room.

"I'm in the kitchen, give me a sec!" I was getting some snack together for everyone, knowing full well that the twins required sustenance and that between Sam and me - at least - we had larger appetites. For Immortals, anyway. Jack occasionally enjoyed eating but not for fun, believe it or not. I closed the fridge door with my hip and felt the telltale chill next to me. I looked over my shoulder to see Jack standing just inside the door.

"You need some help?" He raised a dark eyebrow at me in question.

I nodded, holding out one of the food items I was barely holding onto. "Yes, please." He grabbed an armload, one hand still hanging onto his staff. "Help me set this stuff out in the living room." I gestured with my chin.

"Why didn't you just make trips?" His eyebrow was raised again until he was faced with my deadpan expression. "Yeah, never mind I asked." I set the snacks on the console table with Jack following suit. "What's with all the food, are you having a party?"

I shrugged and shook my head simultaneously. "The twins eat more than you'd think, plus between me and Sam all of this will be smashed by the time we're done." I turned to him grinning with my hands on my hips.

"I glad to see the three of you are getting along better."

I moved the chairs around a little, trying to make sure we all had a little more room once we all piled in. "Oh, Ain apologized right away." I grunted a little as I tugged one of the unattached armchairs backward. "Once they learned a little more about our strange and mysterious ways, they loosened up a bit." Jack went around to the front of the chair and helped me shove it to where I wanted it. "I actually had a nice chat with Aldebaran yesterday and cleared up a few things." I looked at Jack with my eyebrows raised. "He's actually a lot less stuck up than I originally pegged him for."

Jack's skepticism was plain on his face. "Him? He was stiff as a board while he was at my place."

"Here too. According to his sis, he's like that until he feels comfortable somewhere. Now he'll probably fit in pretty well with the rest of us." I shrugged again. "He's pretty cool once you get a chance to talk to him." I surveyed my handiwork on the chairs and set my hands on my hips again. "You wanna wait for Sam, or go get the newbies?"

"I'll wait for Sam. I haven't seen him since..." He trailed off and when I glanced at him I saw exactly what he was about to say. I knew full well that Jack still didn't wanna talk about what happened because he didn't want to set me off again.

"It's cool. When he gets here, have him set any candy he brought with the snacks and help him set up the projector - he's bringing a movie for when the games are done." Jack nodded and went to grab his staff from where he had set it temporarily while he'd helped me with the chairs. Meanwhile, I went to give the twins a heads up that the 'party' so to speak was gonna be starting soon.

After telling them they could come over to Big Guy in about ten minutes or so, I headed back towards him myself. When I got to the porch, I overheard Jack talking to Sam on the roof - the latter having arrived in the interim. "... seems fine. I'd avoid the topic still, but when I almost mentioned it earlier she didn't bat an eye."

I stopped to eavesdrop. Don't judge me, it's my house they were having this conversation in and it was me their conversation was about if Jack's statement was about what I think it was. "Are you sure? Jack you know it was way worse than we think it is just because she let us see her crying - let alone anything else. Story doesn't let anyone see her cry. She's told me so on many occasions."

"She's throwing the party, isn't she? I think those two being here gave her something to get her mind off of it, finally." They paused for a second and I started to walk inside. "I want it to stay that way. Don't push it too far, Sam. She's okay right now and that's the best she's been since he died." I didn't break my stride as their voiced became more muffled but I did take a breath when Jack's last sentence ended. I should probably be happy that I was normal in their eyes again, but I still couldn't keep all reactions off of my face when it was put so bluntly. I didn't want to skate around the elephant in the room, but I didn't want to run into it headfirst, either. Besides, my bigger worry for game slash movie night was the twins saying something that might set Sam off. Which is why my plan was to run interception on the boys and give them a heads up of Aldebaran's boundaries issue when it came to questions.

I started up the stairs and ended up meeting them halfway. I smiled at them, said hi to Sam, and turned around to show him where to park all of his stuff. After that was set up I turned to the two of them. "Okay, so a little heads up about Aldebaran." Both of them looked at me. "He's super blunt with questions. If you don't give a straight answer he'll ask again and be more blunt than before, so either give a real answer or outright tell him that you won't tell him." I looked Sam in the eye, the statement more for him than for Jack. I knew where to steer the conversations to avoid Jack's no-talkie subjects, but as I've previously stated, Sam was a wild card.

Jack snorted. "Blunter than you? I'm pretty sure we can handle him, we're friends with you aren't we?" He snickered at me and flopped into one of the armchairs.

Sam shrugged. "Jack's right. You know no boundaries when it comes to satiating your curiosity." He eyed me as he sat down. "Jack told me how he warned you not to bring up my hometown's history before we met." The boys looked at each other. "And we all know how that conversation went." He looked at me in a bemused yet chastising way.

I folded my arms and stuck my tongue out at him. I was about to bring up the - many - times I hadn't pushed him on a subject, but just then the twins walked in. Ain smiled at Jack and Sam, walking towards the former. "It is nice to see you again, Jack." She paused a moment before deliberately saying his name instead of a title and shot me a small smile that said 'I did it!'

Jack smiled back at her. "It's nice to see you too." He shot me a bemused smile. "How are the lessons going?"

Her smile turned into a grin. "They are marvelous! We've learned so much!" She looked excitedly at Aldebaran. "Haven't we, Aldie?"

He nodded, smiling cordially. "Though I must admit, your Earth has a dark history to it."

Sam snorted and all of us glanced at him. "You don't know the half of it." He sat back, grabbing a snack off the table near him first. "Wars, plagues, ignorance, insanity. It doesn't matter how far our leaps and strides take us, the human race always reverts back to basic violence." I frowned at him and he shrugged. "What? Jack and I have lived through ten wars, and multiple waves of illness on this continent alone. You've lived through one war and, what? Seven bouts of 'plague'?" I pursed my lips at him, but he was right. He shrugged at me again, popping the chip into his mouth.

Aldebaran eyes Sam for a moment. "We have yet to be introduced... you are?"

"Aldebaran, this is Sam Owen. He's the spirit of Haloween night - a holiday on earth." I looked at Sam. "Sam, this is Aldebaran and Ain." I gestured to the two of them respectively.

Ain smiled at Sam, moving to shake his hand. "Hello, Sam. It is lovely, meeting another Immortal." Aldebaran shook Sam's hand too but said nothing. I caught a look that passed between the two of them that looked a lot like testosterone firing on all cylinders. Ain noticed too and directed her attention towards me. "Story you said there would be games tonight, what did you have in mind?"

I looked at Sam. "What'd you bring?"

-

After a few rounds of card games, monopoly, and Mario Karts, we finally moved onto the movie. Despite the many horror movies we could have chosen or the multitude of more serious films there was to choose from, we ended up watching Moana. By this point in time, it was an oldie but a goodie. Of course, I sang along. I also quietly said the lines to myself that I knew... which was most of them. Chills abounded and when Gramma Tala came back as a ghost I got very choked up. When the movie was over I excused myself momentarily. I went outside to the first-floor porch and called my wings. I flew around the house for a few minutes, trying to work off my emotions. After about five minutes I'd cooled off enough to be back inside. When I did I was met with chaos.

"I said drop it!" Sam was screaming at Aldebaran who looked mad enough to punch the wall.

"I asked a question!"

"Aldie, just let this go." Ain was trying to pull him backward and away from Sam, who had Jack trying to shove him back.

"No, I want to know what his problem is. All I did was ask him something and he's making a big deal out of it!" Aldebaran threw his arm towards Sam who surged against Jack.

I jumped in between the two of them, both Jack and Ain talking above the argument. I couldn't hear what anyone was saying and I sure as hell couldn't figure out what was wrong. "What is going on!" I brought pages to plaster their faces which threw the two of them off their game long enough for them to calm down. "I go outside for ten seconds and all Hell breaks loose inside!" Sam finally pried the paper off his face and threw it to the floor, looking frazzled and angry. He glared between me and Aldebaran before stomping up the stairs. I looked after him, flabbergasted. "Jack, can you go calm him down?" I looked at my chilly friend pleadingly.

Jack sighed and shrugged, puffing out the air as he grabbed his staff and started after Sam. "You were right about the blunt questions." He shook his head as he leaped up the stairs.

After they were gone I turned my growing fury onto Aldebaran. "What did you ask him?!" Ain looked fearfully between the two of us.

"I asked where you had gone and they said I should leave you be. I then asked if it was about your brother and they stiffened up as if it was some taboo subject." I winced a little and on the inside, I sent a mental thank you to the two of them for trying to protect me - again. "They claim to be your friends and yet they don't seem to know that you have moved on -"

"You don't know them!" My outburst silenced him. "They've gotten me through more than you'll ever know so don't criticize them for trying to let me heal on my own."

After a second of silence, he huffed at me. "That aside I then asked about some of the things Sam had mentioned earlier - what he had meant by ignorance being one of the darker parts of Earth's past. I thought it might be a slur about our lack of knowledge and wanted to clarify. He," Aldebaran jabbed his finger towards the ceiling. "Became obstinate." He threw his arms up. "He said I needed to 'drop it' and when I mentioned that he had initially brought it up, his anger grew to monumental proportions!" He shrugged Ain off when she tried to calm him down. "He is dangerous and you should rethink your association with him."

I stalked over to him, getting within one inch of his nose, and glared at him. "Sam is as dangerous as a fly. I on the other hand, never claimed my moral compass to point north." I gritted my teeth and my voice got to such a low pitch that I was surprised I could still yell. "I've known Sam longer than I've known you existed, so if I was going to kick anyone out of my life right now, it'd be you. Don't think that if I hadn't shown up that Sam would have hurt you because I've seen him in a fight before and he's never thrown a punch in his life. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met and you have been a pain in my ass almost from the first moment I met you. I thought that maybe we could be friends, but if you're gonna act like this to my family then you can leave!" I turned on my heel and stalked my way upstairs to where Jack was still trying to cool Sam off on the roof. I would have slammed the door behind me if there was a door to slam, as it was I kicked at one of my flower pots. I breathed hard for a few seconds after that, trying to cool down once more.

Sam and Jack looked at me like I was an angry parent who'd come to pick them up from a fight at school. The sad thing is, it wasn't far off right about then. Jack broke the silence first. "Dang, Story. I haven't seen you fired up like that in a while."

"Yeah well, the same goes for Sam." I looked at the immortal in question and raised my eyebrows at him. "Now's your chance to explain what happened down there."

Sam gritted his teeth and looked away. "Nothing happened."

I scoffed. "Really?" The sarcasm dripped off that word like an overflowing sink. "Because it sure as hell didn't look that way to me. I heard you guys yelling from across the lake!" Anger still clouded Sam's face but I saw him wince slightly.

Jack waved me down. "Hey, he was trying to keep Mr. Romance Novel from butting into your business."

I rolled my eyes. "They both know about Caeden." Jack blinked in surprise and Sam's arms slipped from their originally crossed position. "I told them a few days ago when Aldebaran asked a stupid question that I didn't want to fight about answering. You two have been skating around the subject ever since it happened, and as much as I appreciate the two of you wanting to let me do this at my own pace, I'm not helpless. You don't have to cut sentences short because you're scared that I'm gonna break down in tears again." I dropped my own arms to my sides as Sam finally deigned to look my way. "It's been five years. I've grieved, I've accepted what happened, and I've been slowly getting better. I haven't cried in months. You don't have to outright talk about it, but stop avoiding it." I glanced at Sam again. "I know that wasn't all that got you worked up, Sam."

He rolled his eyes and sighed a sigh that was almost a snort. "You just love to push things, don't you?" I folded my arms across my chest and stared him down, tapping my foot as I did. "He was getting on my nerves." He begrudgingly glanced at me. "The same way Bunny did the first time we met. He blew me off before he even knew who I was."

Jack snorted. "He did that with Story too." I shot him a glare. "What? Sandy gave me the low down on that first conversation." He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "Dude's a downright asshole sometimes. I can't believe he thinks he can bring stuff up like that when he doesn't even know you."

I sighed in a very annoyed way. "At least he didn't ask the two of you how you died." Too late I realized I'd said it out loud and to say that I winced in instant regret was an understatement. Shit!

Both of them yelled in unison. "He didwhat?!" I slowly opened one of my eyes to see Jack looking almost as mad as I'd been a few minutes ago and Sam looking like he was about to throw something off the roof.

Grimacing, I held up my hands to try and calm them down. "Ombric told them about how most of us became immortals and that day at lunch Mr. Romance Novel, as you put it, decided he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He asked if I was one of the immortals who'd died and I told them yes." I waved behind me. "Ain was pissed too. They agreed they weren't gonna ask anyone apparently but he decided he wanted to know anyway." I winced again. "That's part of what I was trying to warn you about with his questions." Sam stared at me with wide eyes despite his obvious fury.

Jack looked at me in disbelief. "You told them how you died?"

"Ain was trying to comfort me or something and I didn't want her to get weird on me, so I told them that dying didn't bother me because of what happened after." I also told them that you died saving your sister but I'm not gonna tell youthat I told them. "I was really hoping that Aldebaran was going to not incite a riot with you guys here, but apparently he can't help himself."

They both stared at me for a few moments until Sam broke the silence. "I'm going home. Bring my stuff back later I don't want to risk running into him again while I'm still mad." With that, he disappeared in a puff of autumn leaves.

Jack's shoulders drooped as he held his hands up like he was looking for a response. Eventually, he sort of waved his hands like he gave up and turned to me. "We heard you, you know." He gestured towards the stairs. "You telling him off down there."

I shrugged, arms crossed. "This is so not how I hoped tonight was gonna go." I rolled my eyes.

Jack swung his staff up onto his shoulders. "You want some help cleaning up?" I shrugged, nodding as he headed down the stairs.

I followed him, stopping short behind him when we saw Ain standing in the middle of the living room. She gave us a sheepish look and tensed up a little. "I did not want to leave all the cleaning to you. I am so sorry for how my brother behaved tonight, I wanted to do something to try and make up for it." She gestured to how the games were already packed up. "I haven't gotten very far yet." She gave us a tentative smile. "I was trying to calm Aldie down first. He's in his room, now." She gestured over her shoulder, looking at me like I might explode.

I blinked and nudged Jack into the room so I could get off the stairs. "Thanks." I gestured between us. "We were just about to start cleaning."

She smiled, looking instantly more relieved. "I wasn't sure where to start. I have the games placed back as they were before we started, though. What else can I do to help?"

"Um, pick up the plates and take them to the kitchen. Put the food back in the fridge, first." She nodded, smiling greatfully. While she did that, Jack and I started getting all the electronics together for me to take them to Sam later. After a few trips, Ain stood awkwardly near me until I noticed her. "What's up?"

She wrung her hands together. "I truly am sorry for the chaos that my brother caused tonight, Story. I don't believe that he intended to rile Mr. Owen up as much as he did."

Jack scoffed. "Their alpha male fight almost made me wanna leave." He rolled his eyes as he said it and the two of us looked at him. He glanced at me before going back to what he was doing. "Good thing Story's the real Alpha." He snickered to himself, eliciting smiles from Ain and me.

"You don't have to keep apologizing for him. He needs to apologize for himself, that's for sure, but you don't have to. You didn't do anything wrong." I offered her a smile.

"That being said, I wanted to make sure we weren't being... evicted for his actions."

She's actually worried. "No matter how mad I might get at you guys, as long as you don't hurt someone I care about, you won't do anything bad enough to be kicked out." I started to turn back to putting the chairs back but stopped and looked back at her. "Just maybe don't let Aldebaran and Sam get near eachother for a few years." I smiled at my half joking half serious comment.

Ain smiled, finally looking at ease. She went back to the kitchen, calling over her shoulder that she was going to wash the dishes while Jack and I finished cleaning up. After I heard the water start running, I spoke quietly to Jack. "You think Sam's gonna be okay?"

"He's a big boy. He'll be fine." He glanced over his shoulder at me. "Just avoid mentioning our alien friend for a while."

I rolled my eyes, making a sound of agreement. "No shit, Sherlock." We went back to what we were doing and a minute or two later, all of Sam's things were packed up and ready to go.

Jack stood up and pucked up his staff from where he'd set it. "Well I think I'm gonna head out, that's enough excitement for me to last the rest of the week." He shot me a cocky grin, starting to turn.

"Jack, wait. I have something for you." A nervous feeling was gathering in the pit of my stomach, but I had to do it. I waved at him to follow me. "It's in the library, come on." I walked up the stairs ahead of him, ready to get this over with as much as I was dreading his response. When we reached the above floor, I walked towards where I'd stashed the letter between two of my books.

I pulled it out and handed it to him. He looked at it in confusion. "What's this?" He took it from me and started opening it before I even responded.

"It's from Ombric. He asked me to give it to you..." I watched as he read the letter. I knew the gist of it but not everything he'd written word for word. I could feel my nerves mounting as his expression changed. It started open and bemused but very quickly became guarded. Eventually, it turned into amazed and hopeful before the inevitable anger I knew would be there reared its ugly little head.

He got to the end of it and he was gripping the paper to where he'd started crumpling it. "What... ?" He stopped and took a breath, trying to calm down. After he'd read it I think twice he finally met my eyes. "Did you read this?" He shook it a little.

I shook my head slightly. "No. The first day we were there he dropped the bomb on me, though." I held my shoulders up nervously. "I thought you should know so I told him to write it down." I swallowed. I didn't know how Jack was going to react and it was freaking me out. He looked at the note again, seemingly pondering his response. "I thought it'd be better if I gave it to you in person as opposed to having a plane or a bird take it to you -"

"You were right about that." He didn't take his eyes off the paper at first. When he did, he looked like he was a million miles away. "What did you say to him when he told you?" His eyes cleared and he looked at me like I damn well better give the right answer.

I hesitated before answering. "Well... after I realized that he'd just told me he was your great-grandfather... my first response was to ask if you knew." I shrugged a little helplessly. "Then I reamed him out for not having told you sooner, for leaving you alone for four hundred years and basically being a coward all this time." I relaxed a little. Emphasis on little. "I didn't think it was right to keep you in the dark any longer, so I told him to lay everything out on the table, and..." I gestured towards the letter he still held.

He glanced at the piece of paper again and studied it for another second. "Do you know what he wrote?" It was a rhetorical question and he didn't really give me time to answer. "He said that I have family in Burgess." He glanced up at me, eyes shining. "Story, It's Jamie - I know it is!" He looked down at the letter again, eyes roving it for the twelfth time. "I kind of thought he might be but I didn't have any proof but this -" He hurried over to me and shoved the note in my face. "Look, it says that her descendants are still living in the same house by my pond! It's Jamie!"

I pulled the paper out of his hands tentatively even though I wanted to snatch it. I ate through the words faster than I'd ever read before. He'd told me earlier but I'd been too busy reeling at the knowledge that he and Jack were related to realize what he'd said about Jack's sister. 'Her children's children's children have long since stayed in the town you called home. When Pitch Black wiped out belief I knew the last child had to be her's.' I blinked and reread that line. "Holy shit..." My eyes widened and I looked at Jack. His smile almost didn't fit on his face. "Jack..."

"I know!" He couldn't stand still. Hell, he couldn't stand. He ended up floating in the middle of the room, ecstatic. "Story - I have to tell him!"

I jerked my eyes off the paper again. "Whoa, calm down." He stopped floating but was still more jittery than a kid on a sugar high. "It's the middle of the night in Burgess, what are you gonna do? Fly there at mach speed and wait impatiently until he wakes up tomorrow?" I waved the paper a little. "What about Ombric?"

"Who cares about Ombric?" He was still too worked up over Jamie being related to him that he couldn't really care about anything else right now.

I shot him the look. "Jack." He sighed and calmed down a little, no longer buzzing around. "Ombric's been wanting to meet you from the day you were born. He's known about you for years without being allowed to know you." I waved at the piece of paper in my hand. "Don't you think he deserves an answer at least?"

Jack completely stopped moving and stared at me, deadpan. "Four hundred years. You said it yourself. He has no excuse for avoiding me all that time and trying to be a part of my life now, so why should I give him the time of day?"

My shoulders slumped. "Jack, come on. Manny told him not to approach you until your memories came back. Ombric waited every day for the news to come in that he could go find you but it never did. Yeah, he should have tried harder but he was scared of how you'd react." I eyed him. "For good reason apparently." He rolled his eyes at me. "Look, I've met the guy and he's a good person. I think you should at least meet him. Decide whether you want to call him family later but at least give him the time of day."

Jack sighed and rolled his eyes at me. "How can you be so okay about this? How aren't you freaking out about Jamie as much as I am? You almost peed yourself when you met him for the first time." He cocked a sly grin and I swatted him on the shoulder.

"I did not. And I am, Jack, it's amazing that Jamie is your however many time's great nephew, and I understand the draw of letting him know as much but having been there myself recently..." I handed him back the letter. "It doesn't make it better when they leave." He watched me for a second before his eyes fell to the paper. This time when he held it, it wasn't in a vice grip. It was loose, almost like he was afraid to break it. "Whether you tell Jamie or not is your business, but please don't let it change the way you look at him. He's still the same incredible person that he's always been. Knowing he's related to you by blood shouldn't make a difference." He finally looked at me again. "Besides, you said it yourself, you always sort of thought he was anyway." I shrugged, smiling faintly.

He sighed after a few moments of silence. "You're right. Jamie's the same as he's always been." He looked at me, eyes shining again. "I'm gonna tell him, but... yeah, having proof is just a nice thing to know." He smiled lightly. "And I'll give Ombric a test run. I'll come with you guys to Santoff Claussen in a few days after I've told Jamie and I'll meet him. No promises beyond that, though." I shot him another smile, infinitely happy that things had gone better than when I'd dropped the news I was moving out. He walked over to me and hugged me. "Thank's, Story."

I hugged him back, grinning over his shoulder. "Any time."

Short chapter, I know, but I've wanted to drop these bombs for a while about Jack, Jamie, Ombric, Nightlight, and Katherine all being related. Not the biggest secrets of this story by far, but one of the ones that hits closest to home. Oh and Sam just doesn't get along with Aldebaran lmao. Foreshadowing there a bit ;)