Darker London

Thomas was not sure how this was going to go. He hadn't been in the basement to visit Amaris since getting locked into the hallway during the blackout. Now he was heading down there and Stephie was coming with him. He was carrying a bag of supplies with him, because no way was he getting stuck without food again, and he had a tight hold on Stephie's hand. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her as the elevator opened to the basement. Both Svetlana and Peter were waiting for them down there, and waved in greeting.

At 2:53 pm, Thomas and Svetlana stepped into the super secure demon ward in the basement of Robert McGillivray Memorial Hospital. Had they been staff members, they would have known when the power cut off at 3:12, they had a total of sixty seconds to exit the secure ward before it locked up tight.

Instead, Thomas and Svetlana stared at Amaris, who stared back at them, shrugging. The lights flickered, and then rose again, at about 40%. They heard the air conditioner cease working. "That can't be good," Thomas mused. "We should probably check on it."

Svetlana and Thomas let themselves out of Amaris' room just in time to hear the sound of metal scraping against metal as the large security bolt slid into place. It was there on purpose, to protect the secure ward from anyone who might try to access it by cutting RMMH's power. The ward would not be accessible again until power was restored.

Not that Thomas knew that. He jogged the last few steps, worried about the sound, and tried the door.

Nothing.

He tried again, keying in the code with shaking fingers.

Nothing.

"Svetlana!" Thomas panicked, and she immediately took out her phone, calling Stephie.

It had been Deirdre's idea.

Stephie, Tasha, and Deirdre were going to head out to find Stephie a dress for the wedding. Before they could go, however, everyone needed to have lunch and sort out what Thomas, Svetlana and the kids were going to do. And while Tasha, Stephie and Svetlana discussed it, Deirdre had gone to decide what to wear on their outing. She had heard Thomas in the hall, and dragged him in.

How he had then ended up dressed in her yellow sundress, modelling maternity wear chic, she wasn't entirely certain. Things like that just tended to happen when Thomas and Deirdre were alone together.

And then James walked in and whooped. "Yeah, work it, Dad!" he said, clapping and Thomas posed. "Stephie! Svetlana! Everyone! Dad's saying yes to the dress!" he called out.

"I'm going to try him in my floral robe next!" Deirdre said, excitedly.

The second that Svetlana, Deirdre and Thomas had gone to put the kids down for the night, it was like Stephie and Tasha both knew what the other was thinking. Which was how they ended up at the table outside, already several shots of vodka in, laughing and talking.

"Pour me another!" Tasha yelled, her arms in the air. "Celebration for leaving the city for the first time in ages! And doing so with a hottie! Do you know what Deirdre can do with her body? Dear goddess."

There were enough children in the large taxi van, that Thomas being quieter than usual went unnoticed by everyone except probably Stephie. He had been fine on the flight; excited even, but as the van drew close to the vacation house, Thomas said less and less. Now that he had started talking about what Brian had done to him, the idea of seeing the man's face in photos, even to hide them, was not something Thomas was looking forward to. It was a staunch reminder that one of Thomas' safe spaces just happened to also be the childhood vacation home of a man who tortured and assaulted him.

( SPAIN )

Perhaps on a day when he had both opened up about fearing breaking Stephie's heart by dying and going to the Beyond, and begged his best friend not to let him die, he should have known better than to read about the Templar. Most of his translation work was about them this time around, however, and while Stephie seemed sure it was the Templar Peter had dreamed about taking Thomas, Thomas himself didn't believe it was.

( Trauma )

The spring in Thomas' step was so fucking unsubtle, but he couldn't help it. He had made love to his wife for the first time in two years, and he felt fantastic. He had left Mary at Peter's house, in the room she had there, because she wanted to spend time with the Kemps, and made his way back home. Not alone, of course, Svetlana walked beside him, rolling her eyes fondly.

"You're ridiculous," she informed him as Thomas danced his way from the footpath to the house he shared with Stephie.

"I'm happy! These are bootyshakes of happiness!" he informed her with a grin. "You should bootyshake too!"

"No no, I'm going to leave that to you," Svetlana laughed. "Go inside, Jesus!"

Thomas chuckled and he flung the door open happily. "I'm hoomeeeee!"

"If you keep looking like that, your face might freeze that way."

Peter looked up at the voice of his daughter, though the look she was referring to, dour and confused, faded away to a delighted grin. "Tasha! Please! Come save me from accounts!" He slammed his laptop shut and pushed his rolling chair away from the desk with a look of slight glee.

( Just a thing I forgot I was doinnngggg )

It had taken months of visiting Amaris for Thomas to get to the point where he felt he could take his eyes off her and relax. He sort of regretted it when, as he was stretched out on the floor while they chatted, she felt the need to say, 'I miss sex' apropos of absolutely nothing.

( Trauma everywhere )

"Heads up!"

Amaris had looked up when she heard the door to her room unlock and open, but she certainly hadn't expected a Galaxy bar to come sailing through the air towards her as the door closed. The warning was enough, however, and she was able to catch it easily, the wrapper crinkling as her hand closed around it. "You brought me chocolate?" It was Thomas because of course it was. He was the only person besides staff members who came to see her.

( Confrontations )

"I still don't understand why you want to talk to her?"

( Want is a strong word really. )

Every now and then, Stephie’s anxious twitchiness made her reflexes sharp as scalpels. She did start to wonder, quietly and underneath the rampant trash talk she was throwing at Jinx, if trauma was giving her an unfair advantage at Mario Cart. But then there were too many times that it went the other way and she ended up reacting too much, spinning off the track and crashing into walls.

So not really an advantage at all.

( ... )

Cai was so busy these days, and with good reason, that the moment he had a free day he had jumped at the chance to introduce his brother to the man who had come to mean so much to him. What he hadn't thought to do, however, was check to see if Thomas was busy. It was a Sunday afternoon and Danny knew Thomas' kids would be around, what he hadn't expected, was a semi-family reunion.

( So...many...people )

Stephie made a mean cinnamon toast. It was an easy enough dish but she was pretty proud of it, it was comfort food, it was sugar, it was hot sweet carbs. Pancakes was, of course, the other excellent breakfast staple, but she could never get them as good as Thomas could, although flipping them was the most fun you could have cooking breakfast.

She stood in the middle of the kitchen, stressing about food, trying to think of anything other than cinnamon toast. They’d already had breakfast, and several cups of coffee, and right now Stephie’s body felt like it was running on nothing but caffeine and sugar and stress. She should eat a vegetable. Something rooted in the earth. She’d volunteered to cook something for lunch while Thomas showered and it was going to be great. Wholesome. At least borderline healthy.

She was so good at cinnamon toast though.

( ... )