Bright - Part Two
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
I sit on the floor of my apartment, lost in my thoughts.
I’m working, my hands full of leaves and flowers, but mentally I’m going through everything that was said at Mugshot yesterday.
Floyd was unable to turn up any more information about the kid in the photo. So far as he can tell, that one photo is the only evidence that the upset, tearful little boy ever existed. The records state that the Stasi official was married, but without children. His file marks him as deceased, along with his wife - unsurprising, given how long ago the picture was taken - so there’s no one we can contact to ask more questions.
But we all feel like Floyd is on the right track, and our working theory is that maybe this child was the product of a hushed-up affair.
“And if the CIA knew of the kid’s existence,” Kasey said, “Then it makes perfect sense that the Stasi official would want to stow him away somewhere that nobody would ever think to look for him. Especially considering that this kid looks like a carbon copy of his dad, even when he was that little.”
We all agree on that front, so Floyd went back to Greenrock to keep researching, see if he can figure out the names of the other security guys in the photos. One of them might be the other agent who was posted to Port Sitka, along with Scholz.
Kasey and Will went back to the Ghost Office with renewed energy, eager to try and crack the code.
“This could make a huge difference,” Kasey told me, already tying her hair up with her shoelace. “Floyd’s information, I mean.”
“Really?” I asked, confused. “This - helps us crack the code, somehow?”
“Yes, because now we know one of the words that might be buried in there,” Kasey said, her dark eyes bright with excitement. “Scholz.”
Aiden and I are planning to go back to Port Sitka soon, check out that corner store we were supposed to look at when we ended up searching the caves instead. We can’t do it until we can take a full day, which means it’ll have to wait until the weekend.
In the meantime, I’m thinking through everything we talked about. I do my best thinking when my hands are busy, so I brought home some discarded flowers from the shop. I have something I need to work on, anyways.
Mel gave me full control over the flowers for her, Noah, and Raj’s wedding. I want them to look perfect. I’m also trying to do something I’ve never done before, so I need to practice. I’ve got a tutorial pulled up on my laptop, and I’m following along.
I’ve got a number of flowers strung together already, forming a neat little chain. But I’ve had to stop and start over from the beginning more than once. I’m making more mistakes than I usually do.
I think I’m just tired. Mentally, anyways. Between the exhibition opening, the case, the emotional tax of watching Aiden walk into a fire… it’s all been kind of a lot.
I close my eyes and take a long breath. All I need to do is stay focused, not let any distractions get in the way of my work.
My eyes blink open as a soft knock comes at my door. Before I can say anything, it opens, and Aiden steps inside, chestnut hair windblown from the spring breeze.
He’s in his work clothes, and he didn’t wear a jacket. I guess it’s warmed up enough outside that a Heliomancer doesn’t need one. He’s got two pastry bags from Mugshot in his hands, the glasses on his face.
He looks at me where I’m sitting on the floor, cross-legged in a pool of sunshine, surrounded by all the flowers I’m working with.
“Hi,” he says warmly, fixing me with one of those ridiculous, heart-melting smiles.
I nearly crush the flowers in my hands, get a hold of myself at the last second. “Hi.”
Aiden crosses the apartment and bends over me. He smells like aged paper, coffee, vetiver.
I tip my head back to smile up at him, find myself caught in a kiss instead. The words I’d been about to say fall apart, and I lean back into Aiden’s legs, smiling against his mouth.
Aiden draws back, returns my smile, and holds out one of the pastry bags.
“I’m on my lunch break,” he rumbles. “Thought I’d come spend it with you, if you weren’t busy.”
“I am busy,” I tell him firmly, turning to face my flowers. “Don’t distract me.”
“Okay, well, I did bring you a cinnamon roll, so-” Aiden breaks off, chuckles softly as my attention immediately goes back to him. “That’s what I thought. C’mon, take a break.”
“No, I can keep working. Just hand over the pastry, please.”
Aiden quirks an eyebrow, but takes the cinnamon roll from the bag and gives it to me. “Won’t you need to stop, to eat the-?”
He cuts off abruptly, his eyes widening as I shove the whole thing in my mouth and turn back to my flowers.
“Wow,” he says. “Okay. You know what? If I hadn’t fallen in love with you already, I would have right now.”
“Shut up,” I laugh, my words half-lost in the mouthful of sugary goodness I’m working through.
I try to hide my chipmunk cheeks from Aiden, but he definitely already saw. I can tell by how he’s grinning down at me. Pretending not to notice, I finish the cinnamon roll, reach for a new flower, and stop.
“Shit. I got cinnamon all over my fingers.”
“Yeah, that’s bound to happen, Keane. Kinda why it’s a good idea to take a break when you need to eat.”
“Here.” I hold up the string of flowers, offering it to Aiden. “Can you just make sure this doesn’t touch the floor while I go-?”
I let out an indignant sputter as Aiden lifts me off of the floor, directly up into his arms.
“Sure,” he says, nuzzling his nose into my neck.
I gasp out a laugh, fruitlessly struggling to free myself. “Aiden!”
“What? You said to make sure it doesn’t touch the floor. Am I not doing that?”
“Oh, my god. Can you behave for like, two seconds while I-?”
“No,” he interrupts, holding me even more tightly than he was before.
“Honestly!” I let out another burst of laughter, turning my head to look at him. “I don’t get how anyone puts up with you, Callahan!”
I must have said it with love shining out through my eyes, because Aiden looks into them and smiles.
“Yeah, okay,” he murmurs, bending his head to kiss me.
I can’t help myself, so I kiss him back. But then I twist myself free of his arms, put the string of flowers into his fingers.
Aiden watches me head to the kitchen sink to wash my hands.
“Jamie,” he says, after a moment. “You’re working too hard.”
I glance at Aiden over my shoulder, caught by surprise. “What? No, I’m not.”
“Aren’t you? Because you’ve done a lot over the last few days, and now here you are doing whatever this is.” Aiden holds up the flowers, but his eyes stay on my face. “You’re exhausted. I can tell.”
I open my mouth, all ready to argue with him. But then I close it again, thinking about what he said.
My Companion Plant does know me very well. Maybe he’s right. Sometimes when I hit a current of energy, I keep swimming with it indefinitely. Without realizing just how tired my arms are getting.
I look at Aiden over my shoulder again, resting my fingers on the sink. He sets down the flowers and comes around the counter. Locks his arms around my waist, presses a kiss onto my temple.
“Give yourself a break, Energizer Bunny,” he purrs against my skin, his deep voice soft and teasing. “Have a little fun, no thinking involved.”
“So unfair to use that voice,” I grumble. “You know you can make me do anything with that.”
Aiden exhales a quiet laugh against my skin.
“Here’s the thing,” he says. “I already asked Raj, Noah, and Ripples if they want to catch a movie with us tonight, and they all said yes. So, like. I’m just being nice by making it seem like you have a choice.”
I smile to myself, but try to hide it from Aiden when I turn to face him. I lean a hand against the countertop, looking up into his warm blue gaze.
“Ugh. Fine.” I make an irritated sound, trying to look pissed off. “If I don’t have a choice, then I guess I’m going.”
Aiden plays along, rolls his eyes at me like I’m annoying. Then he brushes past me to head for the door, bumping into me as he goes by. It was clearly supposed to be a joke, a gentle impact of his shoulder into my chest, but it sends me staggering backwards.
“Oh - shit!” Aiden catches my wrist before I can crash to the floor, his blue eyes startled. “I’m so sorry! You alright, man?”
“Bicep Boy,” I groan, but it dissolves into a laugh.
I lean up to kiss Aiden’s nose, and he gives me a relieved smile. He releases my wrist, then picks the string of flowers up from the countertop. He places it back in my hands, careful archivist fingers keeping the delicate petals intact.
“Be ready at eight,” he says, and brushes a kiss onto my lips.
~~~~
By the time we step out of the movie theater, I’m seriously happy that Aiden came up with this idea.
It felt really good to let my mind go blank for a minute. Aiden has his arm around my shoulders as we head out into the cool spring night, and that feels really good, too. I let out a happy sigh, warm and cozy against him.
I can tell that I’m not the only one having a good time. Ripley is in a very bright mood. He won’t tell us what’s going on between him and Alix, and he ignores us every time someone brings it up, but he’s all smiles.
Raj and Noah are, too. I’m still getting used to seeing the two of them both wearing their engagement rings, and I suspect that Noah feels the same way. His tattooed fingers keep going back to the little circle of gold, like he’s checking that it’s still there.
“So,” Raj says, pushing his dark curls out of his face. “What are we up to now, boys? Back to the house, fire up the Xbox? Aiden, you don’t have to play. You can snuggle Nik, give Mel a break.”
“Love that idea.” Aiden lets me go, feels around in his pockets for my car keys as we walk. “Can Mellie not just put her down when she needs a break, though?”
“Nope. Not recently.” Noah breaks into an affectionate smile. “Niki’s going through a phase, we think. All of a sudden, she just, like - needs to be snuggled. Constantly.”
“Sounds like Raj’s kid, alright,” Ripley laughs.
“It’s so good,” Raj chuckles. “Because she still looks mad, has that grouchy face the whole time we’re cuddling her. But then she doesn’t want us to stop.”
“Sounds like Noah’s kid, too,” I answer, and Noah scowls at me.
“Make jokes, Jamie,” he says threateningly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket. “See what happens.”
“I’m not making jokes! I’m just saying that you’re loved, Noah, despite your crabby face.”
“I will fuck you up, dude.”
I stick my tongue out at Noah as Raj, who is walking behind me, playfully wraps his arms around my shoulders.
“Noah won’t do anything,” he informs me. “We appreciate you, Jamie.”
“Alright, okay.” Aiden pushes Raj off of me, then pulls me back up against him, puts his own arm around my shoulders. “Point made.”
“Oh, wow,” Noah snickers, catching my eye. “And you’re talking about how I’m loved, man?”
“Seriously,” Raj laughs. “Aiden is so fucking head over heels for you, Jamie-”
“Not that we’ll ever understand why,” Noah puts in, then dodges when I reach out to smack him.
“I mean, really,” Raj continues, unfazed. “You could like - break up with Aiden at the zoo, in front of everyone, and he’d probably be down on his knees right there in front of the monkey exhibit, all please stay with me, like, begging-”
“Begging Jamie, or the monkeys?” Ripley asks.
He snickers when Aiden tries to kick him, darts out of the way just in time.
“Okay,” I say loudly, my cheeks burning. “Everyone shut up, please. I don’t want to hear anyone say even one more abysmally stupid thing tonight.”
“You’re not gonna break up with me, are you?” Aiden murmurs in my ear, suddenly troubled.
I let out a burst of laughter, then a loud groan.
“Did you not just hear me say that I don’t want to hear even one more abysmally stupid-?”
I break off mid-sentence, looking at Noah. He was laughing a second ago - all of us were - but now he’s staring over my shoulder, his expression very blank, his grey eyes narrowed. He’s stopped walking, his body suddenly rigid.
I turn to follow his line of sight, and the smile instantly drops from my face.
My car is at the far end of the parking lot. We’ve been walking that way, and the bright blue paint has only just slipped into view.
And there, leaning back against my car, his arms folded over his chest - is Ralph.
He’s watching us silently, smoking a cigarette. As I stare at him, he takes a long pull of it, briefly casting a soft orange glow over his face.
We’re still some distance away from him, but even from here, I can see that he’s got his usual icy expression in place. The real, vulnerable version of him that Aiden and I saw during his breakdown is hidden away again.
It’s like that breakdown never happened at all. He looks intimidating as hell.
“Oh, no,” I whisper, feeling Aiden’s arm tense up around my shoulders.
“Oh, my god,” Raj murmurs, his eyes widening. “Noah, isn’t that-?”
“Yeah,” Noah says, through gritted teeth. “Yeah.”
Ralph straightens up, flicks his cigarette away, and starts walking right for us.
I instinctively move closer to Noah, and only realize a few seconds later that everyone else had the same idea. We closed ranks around him without even looking at each other. Ripley at his back, me by his side, Raj and Aiden in front of him.
Noah blinks in surprise as he looks at all of us, clustered protectively around him.
Then he looks back at Ralph, touches his fingertips to the gold band on his finger, and takes a deep breath.
He pushes his way through us and stands in front of everyone. Tosses his long hair out of his face, staring down Ralph as he gets closer. Holding his head up high, his shoulders squared.
He starts walking towards Ralph, striding to meet him halfway across the parking lot.
I walk behind Noah, sticking close to him, and the others do the same.
Ralph comes to a stop before us. The hard, unfriendly expression on his face hasn’t changed at all. Noah stops, too. He folds his arms over his chest, standing tall, looking Ralph in the face.
The tense silence stretches on for a minute. I nervously press my fingers over my mouth, glancing back and forth between Noah and Ralph.
Noah is the one to break the silence.
“What are you doing here?” He says it quietly, but he’s looking directly into Ralph’s eyes, unflinching. “What do you want?”
Ralph is silent for a moment, staring back at Noah. Then he opens his mouth and says the very last thing I expected to hear.
“I need to talk to Keane.”
~~~~
There’s another lengthy silence, and then everyone turns to look at me.
I’m staring at Ralph, hugging myself, probably the most taken aback out of everyone. I have no idea why he would want to talk to me, and I’m pretty sure that it’s obvious.
“The fuck you do,” Noah says sharply, turning back to Ralph. “We’re not playing your fucking games no more, man.”
“It’s no game. I need to talk to him.”
“About what?”
Ralph gives Noah a dark look, spits on the asphalt. “None of your fucking business.”
Noah closes his eyes for a second, clearly trying not to get pissed off.
“Alright, you want to talk to Jamie?” He gestures at me with a tattooed hand. “Talk.”
Ralph shakes his head. “Alone.”
“Fuck off, then.”
Ralph rolls his eyes at Noah, the scowl on his face deepening.
“Look, I need to, alright?” he snaps. “I’m not here for fun. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is hang out with a fucking loser like Keane-”
He breaks off as Aiden suddenly surges forward, his blue eyes blazing with anger. Raj immediately grabs his arm, and Ripley seizes the other one. Aiden stops, breathing hard, and shakes them off. He turns away and runs a hand through his chestnut hair, trying to calm down. Raj and Ripley let him go, then both turn to glare at Ralph.
I just stand there, my heart sinking. I had hoped that Ralph had turned a corner after he fell apart. I hoped that he would put himself back together differently, try to build something better than he was before. But here he is, pressing on people’s weak points, just like his old self.
And for some fucking reason, he wants to talk to me.
Noah’s eyes never moved off of Ralph.
“This is not happening,” he informs him, and Ralph tips his head back, like this whole thing is a frustrating waste of his time.
“I need him for five minutes,” he says. “My car is right fucking there, we won’t go past it.”
Noah starts to shake his head no, then twists to look at me as I weave my way through everyone, heading towards Ralph. He seizes the sleeve of my flannel, his grey eyes filled with alarm.
“What the fuck - Jamie, no-”
“It’s fine,” I tell him, gently prising his fingers off of me.
The moment I get them loose, Aiden’s are there, instead.
“What are you doing?” he whispers, trying to pull me back towards him.
“It’s fine,” I insist, looking up into his anxious blue eyes. “You heard him, we’ll be right there.”
Honestly, I just want Ralph to tell me whatever he needs to tell me, so this can be over. I don’t want Noah to be around him for a second longer than he has to be, and I can see this argument spinning out of control. It almost has, already.
“I can handle myself,” I murmur to Aiden, very quietly. “And you’ll hear it if I’m in trouble, right?”
Aiden bites his lip. He definitely wants to talk me out of this, but he reluctantly lets me go.
“I’ll be right fucking here,” he tells Ralph, his deep, rumbling voice filled with warnings. “Watching you.”
Ralph lets out an irritated sigh, then wordlessly turns and starts striding towards his car. I practically have to jog to catch up to him.
His car is parked a few spaces away from mine, at the far end of the lot. The others don’t follow us, but I can feel everyone’s eyes on my back.
One thing makes sense to me, now. Why Ralph would approach us, even though we were with so many people. He was just looking for me. He must have only seen my car, assumed that I was here with just Aiden. He must not have known that we were with three people, or that one of them was Noah.
Something tells me that Ralph would have just left when he realized how big of a group he’d be facing down. But by that point, he was already in our eyeline, and I’m pretty sure that he would rather die than have it look like he was running away.
That’s one thing explained, but I’m still lost when it comes to everything else.
“What’s going on?” I ask, but Ralph only shakes his head.
I freeze up as he unlocks his car and opens the back door. He’s not about to push me into it, is he? No, it can’t be that, because that would bring the wrath of Aiden down on his head, and I know that Ralph is afraid of him, so what-?
Ralph steps back and gestures for me to look into his car. I hesitate for a second, then bend down to peer inside.
I stare in surprise, more baffled than ever.
It’s the potted plant that I gave Ralph after his breakdown, so that he could try taking care of something instead of always causing destruction. It’s carefully propped up on the backseat, leaves brushing against the seatbelt.
It’s grown a little since I gave it to him. The stems look healthier, thicker, stronger. But the leaves are tipped with brown, and curling at the edges.
I turn to look at Ralph, my eyes full of questions.
He drops his head and runs a hand over the back of his neck, avoiding my gaze.
“I’m trying,” he says, so quietly that I have to lean closer to hear him. “I’m trying, I’ve been trying, but it’s - I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
I stare at him, so startled that I don’t know what to say.
“Um - are you asking me for help, Ralph?”
“Jesus Christ,” he mutters, like he can’t believe it, either. “Yeah. Fuck’s sake. I guess I am.”
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