Life was returning back to normal. It was a bit of a fleeting sensation though, a calm before the downpour that ended up coming every couple of weeks. The one good thing was they probably weren’t due for another tsunami situation like the ancient evil that had struck at the beginning of August. Some random insane birds would no doubt start attacking the forest in a week or so--Sabrina was betting on it being hummingbirds this time around. Or maybe chipmunks. Something that seemed like it should always be cute and cuddly and Vallo would somehow turn into the most vicious creature ever.
And yet, it was still lightyears better than back home.
She wasn’t needing to rush off into any of it if she didn’t want to. The weight of the world wasn’t on her shoulders and the creatures weren’t specifically targeting her loved ones. It was still crappy, but a better sort of crappy. Plus she was alive and that was always a plus.
Sabrina headed into her usual lunch spot with Dan, an extra pep to her step as she hummed along to the song she’d been rehearsing an hour before. The musical was a few weeks away still, but she felt lighter having a chance to focus on something fun. Even if the musical was basically a tragic love story.
Classes were starting back up next week, or well, starting for the first time for her. College. It wasn’t Vassar, but considering she was never going to attend her dream college, being able to attend any was nice. Eventually she hoped her glass half full approach would lead to an actual glass full one, but baby steps. At least she’d been able to get out of bed every day for the past month and not found herself having a panic attack in the apartment.
She slid into their usual booth, smiling brightly at their usual waitress and waited for Dan to arrive.
It was good that Dan was taking a lunch break - sometimes he brought his lunch (though with Claire having been on summer vacation he hadn’t been packing her one, and thus occasionally he forgot his own), sometimes he worked through the day without much of anything in terms of sustenance besides granola bars or trail mix stuffed into his face. And coffee. Plenty of coffee. But those days were the hard ones - where the injured folks flowed in like an entire sluice of icy water and Dan’s worry buzzed through him, electricity through his veins.
Lately, it had been easier - and after the magic siphoning debacle, he was just trying to help Sabrina and Nick, and others he cared about, find their footing again. But especially those two - and lunch with Sabrina was always something he appreciated anyway. Now that they weren’t living in the same place, he didn’t get a chance to make her anything to take to school (not to mention she had probably outgrown that) - and while he maintained a constant connection with her, psychically, he wasn’t physically there to ask how her day had gone.
So it was with full intent to catch up that he went to their favorite diner, all bright blue vinyl stools, stacks of pancakes, the sizzle of burgers, and a familiar Formica counter. She was already in the booth they frequented and he, in his scrubs slid in across from her. “Hey,” he grinned. “You look pretty chipper.” It was a pleasant observation.
“Things are starting to get back to Vallo’s version of normal and I’m trying to embrace them.” Not dwell on all of the crap that could and would continue to happen. She had plans for this weekend with Roz and then there was the party and the quarry to attend as well. And Nick was actually going to take off work and attend it so things were looking up.
“School starting back up is good and rehearsals start to get serious next week for the musical I’m in.” She was really excited for that one considering there were only two leads and she was one of them. It was a bittersweet story but the music ranged from upbeat to utterly depressing, giving her a chance to really showcase her range. “Even if I’m not sure how I’m going to break the puppies from their habit of following me everywhere. How are you guys?”
Education and a musical, it was so normal - it almost made this weary nurse’s heart ache, but in a purely good way. The thought of puppies bonding with Sabrina and traveling with her was also cute; the image caused Dan to smile a little. “Do you have homes for them lined up?” he asked, since he didn’t think her and Nick were going to keep every single one at their apartment - if so, they’d probably need a bigger place at some point. Shadow and Salem, the stalwart familiars, needed space too - and Salem wasn’t known for being a sharer anyway. Having all those furballs in the vicinity must be getting on every last possessive nerve of his.
He didn’t even bother consulting a menu - just asked for the cheeseburger, fries, and milkshake sort of deal, when the waitress came by. Black forest shake, since he liked the cherry kick to the flavor - and the cheeseburger had his usual fixins on it. A greasy lunch, to be sure, and the acid reflux might hit him - but it’d be tasty and, well, he was willing to make the sacrifice.
“We’re good though,” he assured. “Getting all of Claire’s things together for back to school times. She’s pretty excited about first grade. It’s so grown up.” And that stage where kids were pretty independent, but also got their feelings hurt easily and sought approval from other adults. Amazing to see all those cognitive and social and emotional developments in real time.
"We're giving one to the Beketh coven and one was going to go to Maze, but since she left, now we'll have two staying at Pandemonium with the others." It was just getting the puppies to actually stay in Hell that was proving to be a bit harder to make happen. But hopefully when they were a little older they'd do better with that. At least they hadn't followed her to the shop this time.
"I bet she's gotten all of the unicorn accessories she'll need for this year." It was a little weird to know they wouldn't all be together for that first day. No big breakfast in the morning with Dan making their lunches. Not that she needed him to make her lunch anymore with how college worked.
It had been nice to be in the mortuary together though, even if Sabrina was happy with how things were now. She still couldn't quite handle being in her old childhood home and knew Dan and Allison were enjoying making their own home as well. One of the few constants of Vallo was change.
“She has,” Dan laughed fondly, shaking his head. “We got a checklist of supplies from her teacher - just the usual things. Crayons, folders, glue sticks, stuff like that. Though she definitely insisted on a new backpack and lunchbox, and those are as sparkly as can be.” He didn’t mind though - Claire with her very whimsical interests in turn brought a lot of whimsy for Dan too; he found it uplifting, and interesting, since he’d never really gotten a chance to actually go through a stage like that.
He had toys and themed lunch boxes when he was a kid, sure (Bugs Bunny - the cartoon rabbit, Doc, had been a favorite) but most of his childhood was tainted with darkness and shadows. With ghosts that cloaked themselves in anger, and wanted him to feel that way too.
“Oh - and can we get tickets for your musical yet?” he asked. His milkshake was delivered promptly so he didn’t waste any time in taking that first satisfying sip. “Or do you at least know the performance dates?”
“It's at the end of September. I’ll text you the specific dates.” It was supposed to have been a little earlier but with the magic craziness at the beginning of August everything had been pushed back some. “Nick and I still want to get Claire for a night on one of the weekends. Just not this one because Roz and I are cashing in my Vorerra gift.” And then there was the end of the summer party too. But any time after that should work for a night and Claire could style her hair and paint Nick’s nails before they all watched a Disney classic together and ate a ridiculous amount of sugar and pizza.
Sabrina stirred her straw in her milkshake--her namesake of course--wanting to get all the peanut butter and chocolate mixed to the right ratio. When had they done this the first time? It had been over a year ago, she knew that. They had gone together for lunch to talk about something, she couldn’t really remember what and then everything had just kept coming together after that. Dan had been a steady rock in ways that no one else had for her in a long time. Ambrose was a close second, but while her cousin chided her schemes sometimes, he always followed her through them.
“Have you been caught up in any of the singing?”
The Sabrina Shake was admittedly one of Dan’s favorites too - he liked peanut butter with pretty much anything, and then add vanilla and chocolate? Well. You couldn’t go wrong there. But the Grease Bucket definitely had amazing shakes and the whole place in general meant something to him - mostly because of Sabrina. He’d sat in this booth with her many times, sharing in happiness and also, in some more depressing circumstances, drying her tears. They’d been to Hell and back (literally?) and then some - he’d celebrated her triumphs with her, and even doled out punishment when she made mistakes (like everyone did, at some point in their lives). He honestly could say that he wouldn’t be this person he’d evolved into - after the True Knot, after the Overlook, after the heat and smoke and bright flames he saw from behind his eyelids as he died, if he didn’t have her.
“What kinds of things do you have planned at the Vorerra hotel? Sounds fancy,” he noted - and count him as one of those people who didn’t trust Vorerra as far as they could be thrown, but. He didn’t think that they’d try anything shady in this instance. “And not yet - but if you want me to sing, I can,” he added with a grin.
He could. He had a pretty good voice. When Claire wasn’t feeling well, he’d sing to her to help her sleep - but not every night since she had grown out of the stage where she appreciated the art.
“We’re going to try basically every food available. I think we’ve got lunch reservations at one of the restaurants and then we’re doing room service that night. And we have our own butler.” It still seemed a little too much like a dream. She didn’t even know butlers came with hotel rooms--or suites as was the case. “We’re going to do all of the spa treatments that we can possibly fit in and then probably jump on the beds or something.” Watch some scary movies and have an official girls night. It had been awhile since they’d been able to do that together.
“And nah, it's okay. It's better when the singing just happens. Nick and I had an impromptu one last night. It was neat.” An unexpected surprise that had led to an even better evening together. Who knew that breaking out into a random song had been the thing the two of them had needed.
Fancy restaurants, fancy room service, a butler (what?) - all of that was check, check, check. Things that Dan expected for a Vorerra hotel. But then Sabrina mentioned jumping on the beds and he laughed all of a sudden, a genuinely surprised sound. “That’s very you,” he stated fondly. “I hope you and Roz have a great time though. You deserve it, especially now.” Especially after the magic siphoning husk misadventure - a scary time to be sure, and unwinding from that seemed ideal.
“And I bet spontaneous singing was very sweet, for you and Nick. You deserve something sweet too.” Dan couldn’t really imagine it - not as he poked his straw in his milkshake, poke poke, not as he (somehow) heard the first opening piano chords of a certain song come out of fucking nowhere.
Where had that music come from, anyway? He didn’t know. All he knew was that whatever the singing bullshit magic was, it settled over him like a warm blanket.
He hummed the first few notes - and then just...sang. “Goodnight, my angel, time to close your eyes - and save these questions for another day...”
His regular speaking voice was kind of rough and gravelly, but the singing voice was velvet gliding across bare skin. Smooth. “I think I know what you’ve been asking me - I think you know what I’ve been trying to say...”
To make matters worse (or better?), people began trickling in - gathering around, pulling up chairs. The waitress stuck her pencil behind her ear and tuned in. The cooks all turned around, in the midst of flipping burgers. “I promised I would never leave you, and you should always know wherever you may go, no matter where you are, I will never be far away.”
Vaguely, he was kind of surprised no one held up lighters in solidarity - they all did sway though, and hummed along, as Dan embarrassingly continued and then capped off this little musical diddy.
“Someday we’ll all be gone, but lullabies go on and on, they never die - that’s how you and I will be.” There was not a dry eye in the house.
Sabrina blinked as everyone who'd stopped to watch began to go about their day. Being randomly, yet somehow not exactly all that random, serenaded was still pretty mind boggling. But there has been something sweet about both times that it had happened now, in very different ways.
"You're a sap," Sabrina told Dan, smiling softly at him. "Which isn't a bad thing." Out was a reflection of their relationship and the caring that swirled between them. "And you've got a good voice. You sure you shouldn't be trying out for musicals too?"
Because he definitely had the voice for it.
A sap, yes, and also embarrassed - Dan realized that he turned bright red, cherry tomatoes all up in his cheeks. He looked around, quickly, but it was almost like no one had even noticed - they all just went back to work, the piano notes fading away into nothing. Huh, weird - he always wondered about musicals and how it was just kind of a way of life, to break into song. That was a prime example - even if he did feel awkward as hell right now.
“I don’t know about that,” he chuckled, a sheepish puff of air. “Might leave the musicals to you.” Was he too old for that sort of thing? Originally he thought so, but - maybe not. To be fair, if he wasn’t too old for an Outlander calendar, then a musical shouldn’t be off the table either.
Their food was delivered then, the waitress dropping off burgers and other fried things with a big smile on her face. “Can we just pretend that never happened though?” he asked teasingly, even if he was sure someone had recorded it.
“Nope.” They definitely weren’t going to forget that happened. “I need to get the waitress to send me what she recorded so I can share it with Allison, Nick, Roz, probably Mr. Dwight, Dad…” The list just went on and on and on. She grinned brightly at him before popping a fry into her mouth.
She wouldn’t really share it with everyone. Or okay, no, she probably would with the first three that she’d mentioned and Allison could share it with Claire. And she’d need to show Salem and Azzie. Plus the hounds would probably want to watch it too. Maybe she could make it the background on her computer or something. So many possibilities.
“It was really sweet though and I love you too.” Thankfully she didn’t feel the urge to suddenly burst into song to say all of that though.
So basically everyone was going to see it. Great. Dan may as well accept his fate. “Well, as long as you didn’t run away in embarrassment,” he stammered, though he was smiling a little - and unclenched his fingers enough to reach for the ketchup so he could squeeze some out and consume this very unhealthy lunch in peace.
Well. Relative peace. You just never knew what would happen with the likes of Vallo sometimes.