“Little Omega, we wanted to come get you, so I could cook for you, but alas, some foul fiend started a fire and we were forced to assist.” I’m putting all the frittata ingredients back in the fridge and Xan is looking at me like I lost my fucking mind.
“Oh, my god, is everyone ok? Where are Leo and Gabe? Were any of you hurt?” She’s wringing her hands now. Xan turns to put her out of her misery, but I beat him to it.
“Fair maiden, our pack lead hath suffered from smoke inhalation and is being cared for at yon hospital, but fear not, the all-knowing doctor is with him and shall text us when they depart forsooth unto our home. Shall you join with us, and meet them thus upon their return?”
Xan strides over and smacks me in the back of the head, with a snort of laughter.
“Sorry, Love, he gets goofy on no sleep. We work with the volunteer fire department. They had an emergency. Probably arson, over the old gym. We got the call just before five yesterday evening, and by the time we got there it had started to spread.No one was seriously hurt. The building was empty, but idiot teenagers sometimes hang out there, so we still had to check it out. Gabe got caught in a downdraft, he wasn’t even in the building at the time, but he got a pretty big hit of smoke. Doc took him to the hospital to get him checked out. But we didn’t get the all clear to leave until almost six this morning and we are all dead on our feet.”
Candice visibly deflates as Xan explains. I don’t know what’s going through her head, but I know that we missed what was supposed to be our first courting date, and we needed to explain.
“Come on Little Lion, the offer still stands.” I take her hand and start to purr. “You wanna come over for breakfast and a nap? I think we could all use some snuggles right now, and I know it would help Gabe feel better.” I waggle my eyebrows at her. Xan’s right, I am feeling pretty damned loopy.
She chews on her lip for a minute, “Ok, but on two conditions. You have to bring me back this afternoon, I can’t leave Iggy alone all day, and I really do need to get work done since I didn’t work last night. And can you remind me later to call the locksmith to come out and put in a deadbolt on the back door?”
“Already taken care of, Pretty Lady,” Xan leans against the counter beside me. “I texted Joseph, he’s one of the volunteer firefighters we work with, and I doubt any of us have had a chance to crash yet. He runs a handyman business, and will come out this afternoon at three after he gets some rest himself.”
“Oh, ok…well…Um…let me get my shoes I guess. And thank you.” She reaches out to quickly touch Xan’s arm before pulling back.
“Anytime, Pretty Lady.” He wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head–smooth bastard.
Xan
Candice relocks the back door, grabs a tiny backpack forpersonal care items, whatever that means, and gives Iggy a kiss, telling her that she will be back soon. Then Jacks is bundling her into the back of the Jeep before climbing in the back with her. We all smell like smoke, but she was kind enough not to mention it.
“Why is no one sitting in the front seat with me? I’m not a chauffeur.”
“Oh…Shotgun!” Candice shouts before trying to squeeze through the bucket seats. It is a valiant effort, but she almost loses her pajama bottoms in the process. Not that Jacks seems to mind. I’m actually surprised he isn’t trying to shimmy them down her hips. Then I see him out of the corner of my eye,pinching the fleecy fabric between two fingers, rubbing it back and forth, so I think he’s just trying to get a feel for the texture at this point. He’s been very interested in setting up her nest, and once he focuses on something he will keep at it until he wears himself out, or it gets done. Often to his own detriment.
“My Lady! You left me…I mean, I can sit up front with you in my lap if you really want to be in the front.” He starts to try to climb through the seats after her but I punch the gas and pull away from the curb, and he has to sit down. “Now, put on your seatbelt, the sooner we get home the sooner we can have breakfast and sleep.”
Leo messaged while we were waiting on Candice, and Gabe had been discharged. He said that they would meet us at home, and we are pulling into the driveway about ten minutes later, to park beside the truck. I go around to open Candice’s door.
“Wow, so I guess owning a garage pays pretty well, huh?” She laughs nervously.
Jacks wraps his arm around her shoulder. “Well, if you have four incomes and are willing to swing a hammer, you can work some stuff out.”
Our house is old, not exactly historic district old, or fancy, but Jacks isn’t wrong. We pooled our resources and bought a big fixer upper outside of town. It had a solid brick foundation on a good slab, and after the last few years of work, it looks pretty good. There are always small things we could fix up, but it’s ours and it’s home.
“Hey, come on, I need to show you your surprise!” Jacks pulls her towards the front door, staring at her to watch her reaction as they walk inside.
“Shit Man, Goddamit!” Gabe croaks, then bolts up the stairs in just a towel–we probably should have told them we were bringing Candice home, but oh well. It's too late now.
“What’s wrong, do we need to go back to the hospital?” Leo comes rushing down the hall in nothing but boxer briefs with a towel around his neck, slides to a stop, sees us standing in the doorway and trips over his long legs trying to escape upstairs to his room.
Jacks is leaning against the wall laughing, tears running down his face, and Candice has turned the color of a tomato and is staring at the floor.
“Great man…real mature. Now, do you want to show her what you’ve been working so hard on, or do you want to start breakfast?”
“You in the mood for sweet or savory, Little Lion?” Jacks asks when he can finally catch his breath.
“Well, I always like sweet. But it’s your house, so whatever you feel like doing.” I don’t think she quite understands how much we want this to be her house too, but we need to ease her into it. Jacks taps his chin a few times looking thoughtful.
“Have you ever had a German Pancake?” She shakes her head. “It has a kind of a custard thing going on, so it's sweet, but eggy. Wanna try it? I can put on some sausages for anybodywho wants meat.”
He pulls her into the kitchen and sets her up on a barstool, and I leave them there to go find Gabe and Leo and make sure they’re alright.
“So, I take it she was alive then, unharmed?” Leo is coming back down the hallway, wearing pajama pants and a tank top this time. It looks like he got a shower and is just about ready to crash.
