To The Forest - 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.
Aunt Sarah listens in rapt, wide-eyed silence as we tell her about the little Guardian family we found in Port Sitka.
At the more startling points in the story she draws her head back sharply, or flutters her long lashes with how rapidly she’s blinking, but other than that, she doesn’t respond at all until -
“What?” she finally stammers. “I - what? Are you serious?”
Aiden nods, watching her expression with searching eyes. She stares blankly at him, then silently sinks down into a chair at the kitchen table, stunned into silence.
The brewing tea is about to bubble over, but Aunt Sarah seems to have forgotten completely about it. I hurry over to finish it up, briefly crossing paths with Aiden, who goes to sit down next to his aunt. He lowers his head to try and look into her eyes, and gently pokes her hands, which she’s folded limply on the table.
“Are you alright?” comes his soft, rumbling voice.
“Yes, I just… I just can’t believe it.” Aunt Sarah slowly lifts her gaze to his, half in a daze. “I always wondered if there were any Guardians left around us. And there’s one down the road in Port Sitka!”
She lets out a soft, staggered laugh, shaking her head in amazement. Aiden casts me a relieved smile, then breathes out a deep, low laugh of his own.
“I couldn’t believe it, either.” He turns back to Aunt Sarah, anxiously tapping his fingertip on the tabletop. “I was a little afraid you might be mad that I - but I didn’t really tell them. They knew already. Leyla figured it out, and Rose sensed it pretty much as soon as we laid eyes on each other.”
Aunt Sarah pulls herself together with considerable effort, then arches an eyebrow at Aiden.
“You’re doing things your own way, aren’t you? Now even people in Port Sitka know what you are!” She makes a strained little sound, dropping her face into her hands. “Oh, Leigh would be so angry with me if she knew… if she knew even half of it, she would be furious.”
Aiden freezes, his jaw tensing up beneath his rich stubble beard. I stop where I am, too, my eyes flitting sharply to Aunt Sarah, then to Aiden. I open my mouth to jump to Aiden’s defense, but Aunt Sarah breaks the sudden silence again before I can say a word.
“But - but maybe…” She lets out a quiet, steadying sigh, looking up at Aiden again. “Maybe old rules and traditions can stand in need of updating, even in the magical world. They didn’t work for Leigh, even though she always tried to stick to them. And clearly they don’t work for you.”
Aiden’s massive shoulders sink in relief. He gives Aunt Sarah a small, tentative smile.
“Like you never did anything to break the rules,” he says, a teasing tone beneath his rumbling voice. “Sneaking me out to hang with other kids at the church fun day, for example?”
“Wh-?” Aunt Sarah gives a jolt in her chair, beyond startled, then affronted. “How on earth do you know about that? I know you were too little to remember!”
Aiden tilts his head to the side, the small smile playing around his mouth also glowing affectionately in his eyes. “The old rules don’t even work for you, Auntie.”
Aunt Sarah thinks about that for a long, silent moment. Then she breathes out a slow exhale and squeezes Aiden’s fingers, looking deep into his eyes.
“I trust you to break them wisely, sweetheart,” she says quietly, earnestly.
Aiden blinks, once, then drops his gaze to his lap, smiling to himself. Aunt Sarah tucks his hair back out of his eyes, pulls him down to kiss the top of his head. Then she comes back to the kitchen counter, which she dusts with flour before she gets to work with her rolling pin, flattening out the big mound of golden pastry dough.
“You want to come with us to Port Sitka eventually, don’t you?” Aiden turns in his chair to face her, resting his arm on the back. “Meet another Guardian for yourself?”
Aunt Sarah keeps her eyes on the dough, which she’s now cutting into small, floury circles, but Aiden breaks into a knowing grin as he gets to his feet. He picks up a bowl and starts adding a little scoop of filling to each circle Aunt Sarah cuts.
“I’ll ask Rose and Leyla if it’s cool.”
“Thank you,” Aunt Sarah says lightly, then stops suddenly, biting her lip.
She drops her head, stifling a wave of soft, excited giggles behind her floury hand. Aiden and I stare at her in surprise, both of us stopped mid-movement.
“I have so much I want to ask them!” Aunt Sarah blurts out, admitting it all in a rush.
Aiden and I exchange a startled glance, then break into matching, giant grins.
Aiden has left most of the talking to me so far, but now he eagerly begins filling Aunt Sarah in on the details we left out on our first telling. She listens closely, and this time she has a lot of follow-up questions for him. The two of them keep working as they talk, rolling up the little cakes without even looking down at what they’re doing.
I cozy up at the kitchen table with my tea and take slow sips of it. Listening to the laughter and excited talk filling the kitchen, swept out through the windows into the summer night on the breeze.
Aiden may have his own, brand new style when it comes to being a Guardian, but I’d take his way every time.
~~~~
I know that once all of the excitement of telling Aunt Sarah about Rose and Leyla settles down, Aiden is going to be mad at me. I could tell during dinner that he hadn’t made this realization yet, but I definitely have.
I didn’t back him up at all in the debate with Aunt Sarah about whether or not Father Leo should be allowed to stick around. I didn’t see it as taking Aunt Sarah’s side over his, but Aiden and his brothers are all men who put intense, ferocious loyalty above almost everything else. I’m pretty certain that by his standards, what I did constitutes a grave offense.
If I know my Companion Plant, I’m going to get an earful as soon as Aiden has a minute to think about it some more.
My sense of this imminent danger was confirmed on the drive home, during which Aiden gradually grew silent. He didn’t look at me at all when we walked inside. Went directly to feed Luna without a word. Stomped upstairs on his own. I heard him taking a shower while I put the leftover almond pastries away, but nothing after that.
I took my own shower and changed into my pajama shorts all while avoiding the bedroom, so I could give him some time to cool off. But I think maybe he’s had enough, so I gingerly approach our bedroom from a covert angle, then peek through the cracked-open door.
I catch my breath sharply. My fingers involuntarily fly up to press against my cheeks.
Aiden has flung himself back into our bed and thrown his muscled arms up over his head. He’s sprawled out in only his plum-colored jogging shorts, which have slid up his spread thighs. They’re loose, but the thin fabric may as well be clinging tightly to him. The sloped, limber forms of his powerful body are more or less all on view with him laying like this.
The firelight from the stove dances on his bronze skin, gilding it. Flickering over the muscles that run up his sides, following the graceful taper of his waist, making smoky shadows in those two hollows of muscle at the corners of his hips.
His luxuriant hair is also softly tinted by the fireglow, all tumbled from the shower. One rich, glossy lock falls forward to drape over his temple. The light breeze wafting in through the branch-window gently stirs it against his brow, which is all knotted up with a dark scowl.
He’s glaring up at the ceiling. His hands are curled into fists on the pillows, his bearded jaw working in slow, subtle movements.
He looks like a thundercloud, but also like a dream.
A hot, wild blush climbs up my cheeks as I fill my wide eyes up with the sight. I didn’t expect to find Aiden so temptingly laid out, and… god, what is it about him when he’s this furious? I’m not sure that I totally hate it when his temper gets the better of him. I’m melting right where I am in the doorway, gazing at him with besotted eyes, my heartbeat hammering in my throat.
A long-forgotten memory suddenly flashes through my mind. One from high school, surprising in its vivid clarity.
Aiden, slick with sweat and panting with exertion, his soccer uniform a rumpled mess. It was during a game against another school, one that had been rough and aggressive. One of the players on the other team tripped Aiden up. Sneakily, but on purpose. Aiden went down and landed hard right on the soccer ball, which left a vaguely rounded grass stain on the chest of his uniform. I remember the flaming glare that burned in Aiden’s eyes when he rolled to his feet.
Aiden scored right after that, sending the offending player to the ground in the process. As Aiden ran past him, he leaned over him, met his eyes, and slammed his hand into his own chest, right into where the grass print was. The guy had been getting up, but he flinched and fell right back down, like he got hit with a blast from a smelting furnace.
Oh, god. I really am hopelessly into every version of my Companion Plant, even when it’s against my better judgment.
“Come on in, Keane,” Aiden suddenly growls from the bed, without breaking his gaze away from our bedroom ceiling. “Don’t be shy.”
I forcibly drag my blushing self back into the present, giving myself a little shake. I take a deep breath, slip through our bedroom door, and close it after myself. Then I lean back against it, letting my gaze fall on the bed.
Aiden sits up on his elbows to level his burning blue glare on me. He opens his mouth to say something, and I decide to take a preemptive strike.
“Wow, babe.” I fix him with a glowing, admiring smile. “You handled that whole thing with your aunt and Father Leo so well!”
Aiden stops, clearly taken aback. “What - I did?”
“Yeah, definitely!”
I come over to stand beside the bed, making sure that Aiden gets a clear view of me in the grey knit pajama shorts he likes me to wear. His eyes briefly roam over my bare torso, then further down, then go quickly back up to my face when I keep talking.
“You were so calm about it, all things considered.” I push my damp hair out of my eyes, smiling earnestly down at him. “Even though we got taken by surprise, and you were thrown off, and you have your reservations about this, you knew to put your aunt’s happiness first. You didn’t take what was probably a really special night for her and turn it into something dramatic. It was so mature of you!”
“I - was it?” Aiden asks, surprised. “Guess I - I…”
He was straightening up, beginning to look a little proud of himself, but he stops suddenly. The faint smile that had been forming on his face collapses into a suspicious frown.
“Oh, wait a fucking minute…” He closes his eyes and gives his head a slow, side-to-side shake, gritting his teeth. “Jamie. Knock it off.”
I tilt my head to the side innocently, toying with the drawstring of my own pajama shorts. “What do you mean?”
“Fuck outta here with that, you know exactly what I mean!” Aiden snaps upright on the bed to glare icily at me. “Stop working your goddamn Jamie Keane magic on me! Don’t you - I’m trying to be mad!”
“Are you sure? Because I have some thoughts about how you look in these shorts that I wanted to share, but if you’d rather stay mad, I’ll keep them to myself.”
“Jamie.” Aiden returns my hopeful smile with a smoldering scowl. “Thank you for nothing-”
“Aw, come on, Sugar Maple.” I reach down and take his sharp, stubbled jaw into my hands, gazing pleadingly into his eyes. “What did you want me to do, lie?”
He spreads his hands indignantly. “Who the fuck asked you to lie?”
“You, if what you wanted me to do was convince Aunt Sarah that I think Father Leo is bad news. Which you came around on, by the way.”
“Okay, that’s not the point,” Aiden growls heatedly. “In fact, it’s pretty far wide of the mark! The point is that I’m your boyfriend, man! You should back me up at all times, and what happens instead? I look to you for help, and you take the opportunity to tell me I have a Mufasa voice.”
“That was a compliment, first of all-”
“May as well have asked the goddamn wall for support! Still wouldn’t get any, but at least it wouldn’t give me mouth instead!”
I pause for a moment, growing a little quieter as I gaze down into his frustrated blue eyes.
“Aiden, I’m allowed to point out when you’re not seeing things clearly.” I aim for my most soothing voice, gently stroking his cheeks with my thumbs as I speak. “I understand why you’re worried. Really, I do. But it doesn’t change the fact that Father Leo seems like a good man.”
“Of course you’d say that. You’re ready to get along with everyone. You and that girl who worked at the farmer’s market last weekend were having a grand old time chatting away together by the time I tracked you down. Anyone would have thought you and her were best friends.”
“Best friends? No, I don’t think so. She didn’t say anything about it, anyways.”
Aiden makes a sharp, furious gesture at me. “Sit down!”
I immediately drop down onto the bed, catching my lip between my teeth. I’m afraid that my unfortunate, powerful attraction to angry Aiden might reveal itself through my smitten expression or the raging blush deepening in my cheeks, but he’s too distracted to even notice.
“Listen to me.” He takes my jaw firmly in his hand and gazes deep into my eyes, making my heartbeat stumble. “I am not wrong for wanting to know who this guy is, if he wants to date my mom.”
I blink in surprise, then wait for a second for Aiden to correct his mistake. But he doesn’t seem to realize it happened, so I move past it and gently fold my hand over his.
“No one said that you are,” I answer softly. “It’s good to be careful. But I don’t think we should jump to the worst conclusions about Father Leo, either. Given that the first impression he made on us is that he’s a very compassionate, brave person, with a kind heart and good manners. Not to mention he’s also very possibly the biggest badass out of all of us. Don’t tell Noah I said that, though. Or Ralph. Or Ripley, actually. You could tell Raj, that’s fine. He’d probably agree.”
Aiden closes his eyes and slowly shakes his head, clenching his jaw, his lips twitching. Sensing I’m getting close, I walk my fingertips up his chest, leaning in towards him, then trail them down the graceful slope of his shoulder.
“God, you’re ripped,” I sigh dreamily. “It’s intolerable. That’s unrelated, but it had to be said.”
Aiden finally cracks, and lets out a burst of huffing, indignant laughter.
“Alright, man, enough,” he groans, blushing deeply. “I see right through all this shit, I just want you to know.”
“Then why is it working?” I laugh, shifting to sit a little closer to him. “It’s all true, anyways. You know I can’t lie.”
I hesitate for a moment, then quickly add - “You saw the way Father Leo was looking at Aunt Sarah, Aiden. You can tell how much he likes her, I know you can. He’s already trying to make an effort with you, too. Doesn’t that earn him at least a tiny bit of credit, in your book? And am I really not supposed to point that out?”
Aiden heaves out a deep sigh, rubbing his temples. He falls silent for a long moment, thinking about what I said.
Without warning, he moves like lightning and catches me by my waist. Before I can blink, I’ve been tossed onto my stomach, and Aiden is laying flat on top of me, his weight sinking me into the bed. He drops his head to growl directly into my ear, and the next thing he says could have come right from the mouth of high school Aiden:
“You’re so goddamn annoying, Keane!”
“Whatever!” I laugh breathlessly, a deep blush bursting across my cheeks at the heat of his mostly-bare body pressed against mine. I lift my head and snuggle the side of my cheek into his, my heart overflowing with adoration. “Just ‘cause I’m right!”
“Yes!” The deep rumble of his voice rolls through me in a slow, heavy wave, making my toes curl in the sheets as he forcibly presses me deeper into the mattress. “Quit fuckin’ doing that!”
“Okay, sounds good,” I sigh happily, pretty much ready to say anything. “I’m sorry. I’ll back you up next time and ask no questions. I’ll keep all of my opinions to myself.”
Aiden’s cheek is still pressed to mine, so I feel it when he smiles. “No, you won’t.”
“No, I won’t,” I admit.
“Awful liar,” Aiden laughs, the sweet, soft huff of it sounding helpless all of a sudden.
I turn my head to meet his eyes, and he laughs again, very softly. A crimson blush is blazing across his face.
He rolls off of me and stretches out on the bed, then tiredly rubs his eyes. I curl up on my side to watch him, and silence falls again. The balmy summer breeze drifts in and out of the window, bringing in the soft sounds of the night. The leaves in movement, the crickets chirping, the chiming of malachite leaves. A distant shower of nocturnal birdsong falls from the sky, somewhere beyond the trees, then gently fades away.
Aiden’s slow, deep, soft-spoken voice breaks the quiet spell.
“She did look happy, didn’t she? My aunt.”
I nod silently and earnestly, reaching over to trail my fingertips lightly over his thorax. His thoughtful blue eyes gaze into mine, then go back up at the ceiling.
“Then I guess… good.” He frowns again, shoots me a sidelong look. “I’m keeping an eye on him, though. Priest, whatever, I don’t care. I’m watching him.”
“Fair enough,” I laugh affectionately, moving to snuggle up closer to Aiden.
He folds his arms around me, and we lay in cozy silence for another minute or so. It’s like taking a sunbath, laying cradled in his exceptional warmth. I breathe in the gentle vetiver scent of him, mixed with the lingering fragrances of the ingredients he used when he helped Aunt Sarah cook. Almonds, honey, olive oil, flaky salt. Cardamom whipped cream.
My eyes wander slowly and appreciatively over Aiden, then come to a stop, caught on something. In the firelight, it slowly dawns on me that Aiden’s chestnut hair is streaked with copper, and soft hues of deep, rich gold. The summer sun has drawn out a shift in his colors, even deepening the bronze of his skin.
This is how he looked when we met again, I realize all at once, with a strange pang in my heart. When he came home.
It was summer when Aiden first came back to Ketterbridge. And now it’s summer again. It’s been that long.
“What are you thinking about, Linden?” he murmurs, watching my expression.
I’m thinking about what Aunt Sarah said, about Aiden being settled down with someone special. My mind wanders to thoughts of Aiden while he was away, exploring the world with total independence, seeing everything, experiencing everything…
I hesitate, gazing at him from across the pillow, fidgeting with the bedspread. He waits for an answer, the reflected firelight heightening the brilliancy of his curious eyes.
“You’re not - you’re not gonna get bored of this, are you?” I ask softly, half-heartedly trying to make it sound like a joke. “Eventually?”
Aiden freezes, then sits up on his elbow, his blue eyes going very round.
“Bored?” he repeats. “Of this?”
His deep, rumbling voice sounds incredulous, lifted slightly in disbelief.
“I mean, I won’t get bored,” I rush to answer, anxiously searching his eyes with mine. “But I’ve always been happy to be here, in Ketterbridge. You, though, you’ve been everywhere. Will you - will you end up wishing you weren’t stuck in one place? Will you wish you were out camping, or on your own, or…?”
I fade off uncertainly. There’s a long silence, during which Aiden just stares at me, his eyes very wide, his eyebrows arched all the way up. And then -
“No,” he says firmly.
I wait for a second, then let out an indignant, startled laugh when I realize that’s all he’s got.
“That’s it? Just no?”
Aiden wrinkles his nose at me affectionately, silently telling me that I’m dumb. I get the sense that he’s laughing inwardly, like I said something ridiculous. He gestures with a slight toss of his head to our bedroom, to our bed, to me.
“This, right here - this is my favorite place in the world, alright? I would know, because I’ve literally checked everywhere else. And it wouldn’t really matter, anyways. If you’re here, I’m here, and I’m happy.”
Aiden stamps a kiss onto my forehead, then sits up, leaving me blushing almost painfully hard as his words slowly sink in.
“Besides, it’s not like I can’t camp,” he adds brightly, reaching down to skim my jawline with his knuckles. “Now I get to camp with you, which is way better. We’re gonna go camping soon for Ghost Office purposes, remember?”
“Oh, right,” I groan, burying my face in the pillows. “Camping in the cursed forest. Cool. Cool cool cool.”
“You know what I think, man? I think you actually had fun the last time we went camping, but you don’t want to admit it. Because I said you would have a good time, and you said there was no way.”
I lift my head to shoot Aiden a woeful look, and he laughs again.
“Now who doesn’t want to admit that someone else was right?” he asks, all smug.
“Still concerned about the bears,” I grumble affectionately, melting inside at that stupid, adorable smirk. “And last time it wasn’t a cursed forest.”
“No, yeah. It was only the ruins of a lost cemetery.”
I think Aiden can tell I’m struggling for arguments, especially being unable to lie, but I land on - “At least it wasn’t somewhere with confirmed demon sightings!”
Aiden suddenly lets out a deep, rumbling laugh, spontaneously leaning down and nuzzling his nose into mine. “This bedroom is somewhere with confirmed demon sightings! I’ve got one in my sights right fucking now!”
I dissolve into startled laughter, wrapping my fingers around the back of his neck. Then I catch my breath audibly, falling silent as Aiden presses in closer to me. The firm grasp of his hand holds my jaw open as he sinks his parted lips against mine. He kisses me deeply and slowly, until my senses are swimming, my body burning up, my hand clinging to a tight fistful of the sheets.
I stare up at him in blissful, wide-eyed blankness when he draws back.
“After dinner snack?” Aiden suggests, then laughs when I immediately sit up in delight. “You want to play something while I watch? Take another crack at the boss you were trying to beat last night? I bet you could do it, now that you got the electrified shotgun.”
I bound to my feet, eagerly following Aiden across the room. “Sounds good to me! You’re not gonna put on a shirt, are you?”
“I won’t if you won’t,” he laughs, casting me a long, lingering glance over his shoulder.
I catch up to him, then catch his hand right as some sudden realization dawns in his eyes.
“What the f-? I was trying to be mad at you, dude!” He tries to glare at me, then gives up and lets out a helpless laugh. “What happened?”
“I don’t know, but this is better.”
Although… my mind goes back to Aiden, sexy and angry and sprawled out on the bedding, his eyes flashing.
“I might make you mad again when we come back upstairs, though,” I add.
Aiden’s eyebrows arch up in surprise. “What-? How?”
“I don’t know yet,” I answer brightly. “I’ll think of some way by then.”
Aiden lets out a baffled, indignant noise that makes me stifle a laugh behind my hand. I squeeze his fingers as I lead us down the hallway, flashing him an adoring smile over my shoulder.
“Don’t you think something about our house makes it hard to stay angry?” I ask. “It’s like it wasn’t built for that.”
Aiden breathes out a huff of deep, warm laughter.
“Like I said,” he murmurs softly, twisting a strand of my hair around his finger. “My favorite place in the world.”
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