The team is shaken after the Emergence is prevented.
They go back to Ajak’s house in South Dakota, someplace familiar for them all.
No one has talked much, and Makkari notices how Sersi’s eyes resolutely avoid the place where Ajak laid dead.
Thena, always seeming so bright, has lost her color. Her hair is limp and her hands seem to be perpetually reaching for Gilgamesh. Phastos eventually creates a small fidget for her, the group tired of witnessing her mangle her fingers together.
Phastos is also weary, and immediately excuses himself upon entering to call his family.
The rest of them have no family to call.
Kingo settles in an armchair in the corner, closing his eyes. Makkari knows he is not sleeping. None of them will sleep for several hours and the minute vibrations of his breaths are coming much too irregular for slumber.
Druig is the last of them to cross the threshold, and he somehow manages to slip further away when Makkari approaches him. He always pulled away when things did not go according to plan. He becomes a small, cold, closed off Druig that Makkari longed to never have to see again.
Sprite sits, knees to her chest, by the fireplace, tear tracks running down her cheeks. Thena sets an arm around her, still fiddling with Phastos’s invention.
Sersi takes the couch opposite Kingo’s chair, lying down immediately and probably trying to sleep.
Druig takes the couch, and Makkari settles next to him. She reaches out to take his hand -- the usual way they take comfort in each other -- but he automatically moves it away.
Please, she signs, hoping he will read the desperation whether it be through her hands or her mind.
He finally meets her eyes, signing, I’m sorry, my beautiful Makkari.
He allows their hands to intertwine, and Makkari understands how hard it is for him to acquiesce even this little loss of control. Control is how he keeps himself from falling apart, and she feels lucky to be the only person he trusts with it.
Makkari signs, It’s alright, my beautiful Druig. It’s over, and I am here. She hesitantly rests her head on his solid shoulder, returning her hand to his, and only then does she relax.
Makkari does not think about how Ikaris almost killed him. She does not think about how Ikaris killed Ajak and would’ve killed them all.
She thinks no more than of Druig’s careful hands in hers, and the soft vibrations of his breathing.
---
The next morning, Phastos’s family arrives at the cabin. After managing some sleep, the Eternals attempt again to joke and smile.
Mikkari woke in Druig’s warm embrace on the couch, and she studied him for many moments, appreciating the curves of his face, the locks of his hair, the flutter of his eyelids.
Makkari does not -- will not -- think that there was a chance she would never have gotten to see and study his face again.
After gently extricating herself from Druig’s arms, she makes her way to the connected kitchen where Thena is making coffee and Sersi is leaning against the counter sipping tea.
Morning, Makkari signs.
Both women give small smiles, Sersi saying, “Have you met Jack and Ben? I believe they are outside throwing around a football.”
Nodding, Makkari takes the few steps to the door and peers out. Sure enough, Phastos’s husband and son are out there, doing something so normal that it threatens to drive her to tears.
She reigns in the emotion when she feels someone’s steps behind her. Druig. She has his gait memorized, and she turns just as he reaches out a hand to settle on her arm.
You’re up bright and early, Makkari signs, raising her eyebrows to convey the sarcasm.
He just nudges his hand into hers, mouthing, I missed you this morning.
Makkari is startled by Druig’s forwardness, she had given them a clear out to return to their previous banter but he chose the serious path. She knows he means his words because she did not feel the vibrations of his words, meaning he had mouthed them so that only she would receive the message.
Makkari extracts her hand from his to sign, I’m glad we are together. Then she rests her head on his shoulder and does not think of the centuries that they spent apart.
---
Phastos opens the door a few minutes later, and Makkari twists to press her fingers to his lips before he can remark on their hug.
He just quirks an eyebrow and gestures towards his family coming in the door.
“This is Ben and Jack. Both know ASL; Ben’s sister is deaf.” Phastos is saying.
Makkari bends to greet Jack, giving him a smile before rising to shake Ben’s hand.
It’s an honor to meet you.
Makkari can feel Druig retreat to the kitchen behind them so she sets a firm hand on the small of his back and steers him back to the trio.
Druig gives her a small smirk, and she knows that he knew he wouldn’t have gotten away and just wanted her to have to stop him.
He loved the opportunity to tease her when she forced him to have manners.
“I’m Druig,” he says to them. “Glad to have you.”
Makkari smiles at him, before poking him and signing, Now was that so hard?
He responds with a wider smirk this time. Yes.
Phastos rolls his eyes and pushes past them to the kitchen, calling for Kingo and Sprite to wake up.
---
Everyone gathers at the dining room table after breakfast to discuss where we go from here.
Makkari sits at the head, so that she can better read everyone’s lips. Druig leans on the back of her chair, and will make sure any dialogue she misses is delivered concisely into her head.
“I’m going home,” Phastos says bluntly.
“I want to go to school,” Sprite says.
“Karun is waiting for me,” Kingo adds.
“I’d like to go back to the museum,” Sersi says, almost apologetically.
It leaves three. Makkari, Druig, and Thena.
“I think I will go home.” Thena says. The rest of them know why. It is where Gilgamesh still has the most presence, and where she will be in the least danger of injuring others with her Mahd W’yry.
The table looks to Makkari and Druig.
Makkari looks back at Druig before turning to sign, We’d like to stay at the cabin for a while longer, but we can get around quickly, so you might be receiving a visit from us.
The table gives a collective nod.
“So, that’s it.” Kingo remarks. “I’ll see you when I see you.”
Makkari raises a finger to get their attention. I can take you guys, avoid plane ticket costs. She chuckles, and Sprite grins.
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to add that onto my student debt.”
The rest of the table laughs, and they all stand up, gathering their few belongings.
Makkari stands to help Kingo with his clothes, of which he has a little more than the others.
“You know,” he starts, speaking and signing, “I like to think of myself as the resident love-expert. There was a lot of ‘we’ in your decision to stay. Am I wrong to assume there's something there?”
Makkari blushes. Just pack, old man.
Kingo beams, “I get you.”
Makkari takes him home first, zipping out the door and across continents in the blink of an eye.
She carries him right into his home, startling Karun.
After one last hug, Makkari signs, You might be right. It could be something. I don’t know.
Kingo gives a quick cheer. “Yes! I haven’t lost my touch. Visit sometime, Makkari.”
I will, Kingo.
---
Phastos is next, a shorter trip but with more people. She takes Ben first, then Jack and their bag of stuff, then Phastos.
Makkari walks Phastos to the door just as she did Kingo.
I’m going to miss you, Phastos.
“I’m going to miss you too, Makkari. Take care of Druig for us.” Phastos gives her a wink before he opens the door of his home and goes inside.
---
Sersi is next.
She is waiting by the door when Makkari returns from delivering Phastos.
Ready to see Boy-Toy? Makkari teases. I heard about him from Sprite.
“I don’t think I am, actually.” Sersi admits.
Face your fears, Sersi, that’s what Ajak would say.
Makkari whisks her away before either of them can dwell on their lost leader.
Dane is waiting when they get there, and he stands abruptly to greet her.
Makkari only catches the beginning of a long hug before she is off again, back in the cabin before she knows it.
---
Only Thena and Sprite left.
Sprite is still upstairs in her old room where she stayed with Ajak, so Thena is next.
Neither Makkari or Thena say anything, but Makkari takes Thena home.
She can’t help but spend a few minutes in Gilgamesh’s house. She had never been, choosing to stay in the Domo after the group split.
Makkari wishes she had visited now.
Makkari stops thinking about Gilgamesh. She gives Thena a strong hug and goes back to South Dakota.
---
Sprite’s face is red and blotchy, but her eyes are bright and she gives Makkari a firm look.
Where to?
“Kingo said I could stay with him?”
Makkari smiles and scoops up the girl, before beginning the same path she took only a minute ago.
She doesn’t walk Sprite in this time, explaining, Kingo and I already said our goodbyes. Greet Karun again for me.
Sprite surprises Makkari with a quick hug, before bounding up the steps to her new home.
---
When Makkari gets back, Druig is leaning casually against the cabinets, a mug of coffee in his hands.
He doesn’t sign with her, just weaving his voice into her head. It comes as a welcome relief for Makkari to not have to sign.
She can sign quickly with her speed, but then people are unable to keep up. Communication is easiest with Druig when what she means can be conveyed instantly and without misunderstanding.
“Peace and quiet at last,” he jokes.
“Shut it, you.” Makkari slaps his arm before stepping into his space to grab his coffee.
She takes a big sip before ruffling his hair and pulling away. “Thanks for the coffee.”
“Anything for you, my beautiful Makkari,” he says, turning back around to pour himself another cup.
Makkari stops drinking and sets her stolen cup on the marble.
She speeds to Druig and wraps her arms around his back.
His muscles tense in surprise but he rotates in her arms to return the embrace.
“It’s alright, my beautiful Makkari,” he says somehow softly in her head. “I’m here.”
Makkari looks up at him, touching her forehead to his. “You were gone. It’s all I can think about. You were gone and it killed me.”
Druig’s gentle fingers brush away a tear on her cheek. “He did not get me. I’m alright, beautiful Makkari.”
“It plays over and over in my head and all I can think of is how close I was to never hearing you call me beautiful Makkari again.” If her voice could quiver in her head, her words would be shaking like an earthquake.
“Beautiful Makkari…” Druig says seriously. “I think I’m in love with you.”
Makkari meets his eyes, touches her hands to his face, and kisses him. “I know I’m in love with you.”
---
Later, when they have kissed for far too long than is appropriate, they hold hands and watch some program on Ajak’s old TV, Druig will speak.
“So… what do you think about getting a cat?”