Home Sweet Home (Epilogue for Hayden and Kris) Santa Rosa, California November 8, 2014
"Ow!"
Hayden wrung his hand and accused Kris with his eyes. "I need those fingers!" Underneath the complaint, his voice shook with laughter. He circled the Slayer and lifted his practice sword, dulled to a reasonably safe extent. They were in the yard behind their small house. A fence hid them from neighborhood scrutiny as they sparred, a long-neglected activity which they had picked up again when they left the stress of Chicago for the small city nestled in California wine and farm country. To their east, the redwoods dwarfed the hilly landscape. To the west, the Pacific ocean gleamed under the sun. San Francisco was only a car ride away.
He lifted the weapon and got into a better stance. "Okay." He gestured the tip at her. "This time, I'm gonna swing at you. I want you to stay perfectly still, alright, and when I attack, just let me hit you." He mopped the sweat off his temple with his shoulder. "I think that's fair."
Kris simply lifted an eyebrow, readjusting the way she was holding the practice sword. "And what do I get if I do?" She stepped to the left and circled Hayden slowly, much like a shark did in the open sea. "It would have to be a pretty impressive payoff if I'm going to stand here and let you hit me."
The sword was turned over in her hand again and she reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind one ear. "So, tell me, Hayden, what can you offer me that might tempt me to let that happen?"
"I don't know, a back rub?" Hayden asked helplessly. He pivoted and followed the brunette's movements. Something shifted in his demeanor and he lunged, taking a broad sweep at her stomach. Metal glanced off metal. Hayden clicked his tongue. "Guess that wasn't good enough, huh?"
The dog, Eddie, panted and drooled as he jogged past. Under a tree in the corner, he flopped and sighed.
"You want me to look like that when we're done?" Hayden asked, lifting his elbow to indicate the lazy old dog. When they sparred, he liked to pretend he was just a beaten down man, no match for Kris or her skill set. Somehow, the efforts at persuasion never worked.
Kris smirked as she stepped to the side and then found herself rolling her eyes, affectionately of course. "I like to think I know you better than that." She twisted on the spot and swept her blade downwards, catching the very edge of Hayden's. She grinned as they parried, back and forth, before simply stepping back to put space between them.
"A back rub?" She repeated, tipping her head to one side. "Is that all you've got?" She tutted under her breath. "I was expecting better from you, baby."
He looped the sword to keep his arm muscles limber. "Alright. A back rub and homemade dinner. I'll even burn it for you." Hayden smiled and raised the sword. He took their sparring up a notch with a few powerful swings, spinning across the grass as he closed the gap between them, then lunging to try and hit her shoulder. The noises ricocheted off the wooden fence and drifted into the yard beyond, but it was nothing the neighbors weren't used to. Luckily, most of them were at work.
Life since Chicago moved at a different pace.
They packed up and left shortly after the portal blew. Hayden didn't remember much of that night; he had been standing on the beach alongside what seemed like half of Chicago. The portal released a shock wave that temporarily blinded anybody looking. When it rolled past him, Hayden's mind had gone someplace else. He remembered that time was frozen. Wherever he was, it was white, and people spoke in a language he understood even though he hadn't heard it before. The Powers That Be spoke of rewards given to those who had played their parts in keeping the balance, lending credence to the theory that they -- white hats and black -- were all puppets on a grand stage.
There was talk of a wish of the heart, something Hayden might not even know he wanted for himself, being given to him. And then he was back on the beach. Just like that. At first, nothing changed. But then everything did. He was offered a professorship at a west coast college, teaching a class that went under the vague heading of 'world religions and philosophy', but the course material examined the occult from a historical perspective.
Not long after the Fall semester of school started, another call came, this one from San Francisco. A sixteen-year-old Slayer named Mara had been in an accident that incapacitated her Watcher and gave her significant physical impairments to overcome before she could patrol again. Since September, Hayden had met with her four times and struck up a fledgling friendship. It showed promise of developing into a full-on Watcher/Slayer role, once she was back on her feet. Nothing was set in stone, but he was optimistic.
The best thing about it all? It fell right into step with what Kris wanted.
"So does microwave popcorn count as dinner?" Hayden asked.
Kris ducked beneath the lunge and swept her blade outwards, meaning to catch the very edge of Hayden's blade so she could knock him slightly off balance and make good on that to get a bit closer, for the "killing" blow. Much like Hayden, Kris couldn't remember a whole lot of what had happened on the evening of the whiteout that had consumed a city and clustered crowd on the long sandy beach, but she'd spoken an unconscious desire and it had come true, much to her bewilderment and amazement.
She was free of her family and all obligation that had once weighted her down like a block of cement.
Kris had been able to say yes when Hayden had mentioned moving away, but only after she'd said goodbyes and grabbed contact numbers off the people closest to her. She hoped Toby was enjoying his roadtrip, he deserved some fun. She had barely spared a look over her shoulder for Chicago when she and Hayden had set off for their new home, it wasn't as if she could never go back and visit.
"Microwave popcorn?" She repeated, parrying another blow. "Does that mean we're collapsing onto the couch after I'm done kicking your ass?" Kris gave a playful smile and finally slipped that much closer, meaning it was easy enough to drop a kiss on his mouth.
"Hey!" He moved out of range of that distracting mouth. "Who said you were going to kick my ass?" He wasn't falling for that move twice. Kris wouldn't hesitate to reel him in for a lip-lock and then, when he wasn't paying attention, strike him with the practice sword and call herself the winner. Problematically, he usually didn't care at that point. Damn guerrilla tactics.
He scratched his ear with a shoulder and sized up her stance, looking for a weakness. "Let's order pizza." He swung down hard from left to right, hoping to take advantage of the fact that he was left-handed and stronger on that side.
Her only reaction to his pulling away was to pull a somewhat dramatic pout. It disappeared a few moments later as he took a chance at attacking her. "Sneaky, Hayden, very sneaky!" She tutted under her breath and shook her head. "Whatever would your good student Slayer think if she saw you right now." A grin inched its way across Kris' lips as she simply fell back into an easy exchange of both words and blows.
Leaving her family behind had lifted a considerable amount off Kris' mind and she was lighter on her feet in all the ways that mattered.
"Pizza," she said with a nod of her head. "That works."
Kris' concentration was only broken by the sound of Eddy barking followed by a smaller sound from the golden retriever puppy she had convinced Hayden was the most adorable thing ever and definitely needed adopting right away.
He pulled a face. "You wanna know what she'd think? 'Good job, Hayden. No mercy!'" When the dog and puppy struck up their orchestra of barks, he took advantage, swinging at her torso when she looked away. "You see that? The dogs are on my side." When they weren't galloping around the house under his feet, making him trip and bang into walls to avoid stepping on them. That wouldn't go over well.
Kris was unfortunately taken by surprise, damn those dogs, and so she stumbled in response to trying to guard herself and before she knew what was happening she was barreling over backwards thanks to the puppy having placed himself right behind her. Oh, this was not going to be pretty. Kris eventually wound up on the ground with a heavy "oof" and she looked less put together, hair everywhere.
Not that the puppy seemed to care about her predicament given that he clambered all over her and went about trying to lick her face and chew at her hair.
"Okay, ew," she complained loudly as she attempted to push the puppy off.
Hayden laughed and put his sword in the grass. "Hey! Get back." Nudging the dog out of the way, he squatted down next to his girlfriend, elbows resting on his knees. "You don't say 'eww' when I do that." He pulled his sleeve onto the heel of his hand and wiped puppy spit off her face, before the wind blew and her hair stuck to it. "By the way, you're not allowed to take the dog on patrol."
Once the worst of the saliva was gone, he bent down and kissed her.
Kris had been about to say something, but then he was kissing her and well, one thing led to another and her hand was in his hair and she was leaning up to return the kiss.
This was exactly where she wanted to be and she didn't feel bad for wanting something that was just hers and didn't have to be shared.
Life was good, very good.
Hayden grinned against her mouth and stretched out the grass with Kris. Later on, he'd probably itch like crazy, but it was worth it. He kept kissing her, using his arm to bat the dogs out of the way when a sniffing sound alerted him to their nearness. "You're my favorite girl, you know that?" he murmured, nuzzling her cheek with his beard.
Sometimes, he'd back off and look at her and their home and their life, and he couldn't believe how lucky he was. Then he'd think, nah, it wasn't luck. Too many things had come together to give him second chances, with Kris and with being a Watcher and even picking a place where they could make a good life. The northern California lifestyle suited them. When they wanted to watch all Hell break loose and get into the fray, San Francisco was a short car ride away. When they wanted to sit back and build something peaceful together, they had their house in Santa Rosa.
One of those days, Hayden would break out the ring he kept in a box in the closet, get down on his knee, and ask her to be his wife. He had bought it right after Nevada and never got a chance to give it to her before things went to shit. But he kept it, because he believed someday they'd get it right, and he could point at their relationship and prove to her that they could make it, that not every man was like her father, and that he'd be there for her forever.
One thing at a time, though. Right now, he wanted to order pizza, curl up on the sofa with his girlfriend, and bask in how simple and awesome things turned out. "You ready to go in?"
Kris turned into the nuzzling and smiled as a result of it, letting her fingers thread their way through his hair. She was so glad he'd grown it again, she'd missed the long lengths.
Right now and right here she couldn't think of anywhere else she'd rather be or anybody else she'd rather be with.
"Mm," she murmured. "I know." And she could say that confidently and without second guessing, they'd come too far for any of that these days. She brushed her thumb over the side of his neck as she turned and dropped a kiss on his jaw, giving a nod of her head.
"Yeah, I think I'm ready." She smiled at him and then eventually picked herself up, very ready to go into their nice home and collapse into the couch with the man she loved.