Chapter 2
Simon
When I wake up Baz is in the shower. He had held me last night stroking my hair and kissing my forehead until I fell asleep. I roll onto my stomach and stretch my arms and wings out, letting a large yawn escape. It doesn’t take long after I’ve awoken for my stomach to start growling so I decide I may as well get out of bed and make my way to the kitchen. The shower has stopped running, but Baz won’t be out of the bathroom anytime soon. He still has to get dressed and do his hair. It always looks like he spent hours on it making it look perfect, but he has it down to a science- it only takes him 15 minutes. Well, 15 minutes still sounds like a long time to me but he says that's because the most I do for my hair is run my fingers through it when I’m anxious. He’s not wrong.
I decide to put on the kettle so that we can have some tea together when he gets out of the bathroom and begin the task of combing through the leftovers Ruth sent home with us. She told me it was okay to call her Grandmother, and I think I’d like to. It just also feels a little weird. I’ve never had a grandmother before. I quite like having a grandmother.
I take out some leftover sandwiches and plate them on the new dishes Baz and I had picked out from Ikea earlier this month. That feels like a lifetime ago. The kettle clicks off indicating that the water has been boiled so I get to work fixing us up some cups of tea. Picking up the plates I move over to put them on the small kitchen table, leaving the tea to continue steeping.
Baz comes out of the bathroom fully dressed in a pair of fitted jeans and a teal floral shirt. When he opens the door a wave of steam and bergamot fills the room. He looks gorgeous as always and in the cool lighting of the apartment his grey skin almost glows. He sees me sitting at the table and makes his way over to me, stopping in the kitchen to grab our tea after depositing the used tea bags in the bin.
In one fluid movement, he places my cup in front of me and takes a seat in front of his plate. He looks like a painting, posed elegantly with his cup lifted to his mouth. I don’t think he could look anything less than refined even if he tried. I’ve seen him in the aftermath of many fights, and even rugged and scuffed from battle he can still manage to look like an angel.
I must have been a little too open with my staring because his neck and cheeks flush a pale pink and he clears his throat, putting his cup down.
“Thanks for getting breakfast ready, have you been awake long? You were still out cold when I got up to shower.” He asks, making small talk. I think he doesn’t want to bring up what we talked about last night on his own in case it’s still too emotional for me.
“No, I just got up a few minutes ago,” I respond, picking up one of my sandwiches- this one is coronation chicken, and taking a bite.
“I’ve been thinking though, I think we should tell Penny- about my parents. I think she would want to help and at the very least I should tell her. I mean… it’s pretty big news” I say once I’ve finished my first sandwich. Penny and I don't keep secrets from each other. Well. That was easier said and done when we were kids. We try not to.
I’m already picking up my second sandwich when Baz replies, “I think that's a good idea. Do you have any idea where we should start looking for information?”
I take a moment to think before answering, “the Mage named me in his will. I guess he left some properties and other items to me. I asked the estate attorney to give it all to the rest of his family but maybe some things were left unclaimed.” I guess I could also find a way to reach out to his family… my family? And ask them, but I don’t think I’m ready to expand my family again quite yet. I’m still reeling from the knowledge of having a grandmother and an uncle. Plus, I doubt The Mage ever even told them about me.
“That sounds like a good place to start. I assume you’ll want to fill Bunce in first?” He’s just finished a bite, and I’m still a little bit in awe at the sight of him eating sans fangs. Yesterday was the longest I’ve seen him eat in front of people who aren’t me or Penny (though he would previously cover his mouth around us). I’m glad he’s found a way to make himself more comfortable around others. I really enjoy eating my meals with him.
Baz
Bunce and Shepard came over around noon and are sitting on the couch together, Bunce with her feet tucked up next to her and her head resting on Shepard’s shoulder, Shepard with one arm on the armrest, the other resting on her shoulders. Well, they look very smitten with each other. Bunce with a Normal. Sounds as likely as me and Snow. I guess Shepard is the least normal a Normal can get and she looks truly happy. Good for them.
Snow has just finished telling them about Lucy’s candle going out at Lady Salisbury’s and how it revealed who his parents were.
“The Mage?! The Mage is your father?!” Bunce exclaims, sitting up so fast that Shepard’s arm falls off her shoulder. She settles back into his side before adding “it’s just… I can’t believe he never said anything.”
“Me neither,” Snow says and his voice sounds small. I've never seen him get so emotional about something. I've never seen him made small by information. The Mage is still finding ways to get at Snow and make him feel inadequate, even in death. “Maybe he thought naming me as his heir was enough?” His hands are in his hair, gripping at his curls, which he usually does when he’s stressed or processing something he doesn’t like.
“I can’t help but feel angry at him. He knew all my anxieties about not being a true mage, about not knowing who my parents were… he sent me back to those foster homes every summer and watched me come back malnourished and attention-starved… he did that and never said a word! To his own son!” His hands are gripping his curls even tighter and I reach up to release his fingers from them, lacing them through my own. He grips back at me hard, but it doesn’t hurt. I squeeze his hand back to let him know I’m here for him. His wings are still opening and closing slightly and his tail is twitching, but at least he’s not taking his frustration out on his hair.
He takes a deep breath and continues, his grip loosening slightly on my hand. “And I killed him,” his voice is breaking again and I pull his hand to bring him in close to me for a hug. Bunce is off the couch in a flash and has him in her arms as well. Shepard is standing back a bit but he has his hand on Snow’s shoulder to show his support. Snow wraps his scarlet wings around us as if hugging us back with his arms wasn’t enough for him.
~
It takes a while for Snow to slowly re-open his wings from the leathery cocoon he’s wrapped around Bunce and me but once he’s stepped back and had a moment to wipe his eyes I leave the room to get him a cup of water. He’s lost a lot of water in the past 24 hours from crying. I don’t know how he hasn't been crying more.
When we’re all seated at the table with a slice of lemon cake leftovers from Lady Salisbury’s and some drinks Bunce decides it’s time to get to work. She starts to spell the walls into chalkboards but Snow stops her, “Penny, if you don’t mind I’d actually like my walls to remain walls if that's okay. I do have some sticky notes we can use.” He gets up and leaves the room before returning with a stack of multi-colored sticky notes and a small handful of pens from various takeout spots in the neighborhood.
Bunce grabs them and connects several into two larger sticky notes before titling each “What We Know” and “What We Don’t Know”. She gets up and places them on the empty wall above the couch. We haven’t had the time to find decorations yet, we only just got real furniture and dishes.
Snow picks up a purple sticky note and a pen and writes “who my parents are” before getting up and sticking it below “What We Know”.
I take a green sticky note and write “what happened to Lucy”, placing it below "What We Don’t Know". We continue on like this for the next few minutes until we have a small list under both sections.
They read What We Know- “who my parents are”, “born as a mage”, “items were left to Simon in will”, “both parents are gone”, “family alive on Mage’s side”, “Grandmother and uncle alive on Lucy’s side”, “I was wanted” (this one is written in a somehow more shaky version of Snow’s handwriting), and “Lucy’s photo in the catacombs” with a question mark in parenthesis after it. We know there's a photo there, and that it weeps, Snow and I found it during his phase of following me around the catacombs, but what we don’t know is why it’s there or why she’s crying. Snow has also stuck the business card of the estate attorney who had prosecuted The Mage’s will to the wall with tape.
Under What We Don’t Know- “what happened to Simon’s magic”, "exactly what was left to Simon in the will", “where to find The Mage’s family”, “what happened to Lucy”, and “why The Mage never told me”.
Simon takes a step back and looks at the wall. “It’s not much…” he starts, “but it’s the most I’ve ever had in way of answers or getting closer to them.”