by Flynn Eire
“Hey, we’re okay, El,” Sen murmured, and it was then I realized I’d jumped to my feet and had started yelling, the whole cafeteria staring at me. “Let’s get some of the good stuff handled. They’re digging out the foundation for the orphanage tonight.”
“Want to take an overnight shift with me?” I asked him, wanting us to have some time to do more than have issues or have sex.
Granted, the sex part was amazing, but I wanted everything with him.
“Sure, you might have to teach me, but I could use the exercise.”
“We might want to ask farmers too,” Verge muttered, playing with his gelatin, looking lost in thought. “They could have like a co-op with Ashton and not give up their livelihoods, just where they do it. I know, losing family land sucks, but so is dying. Better than getting outside food only. I mean, he’s going to have cattle, so add chicken and piggies. Oh, I couldn’t visit the baby piggies if they become bacon. Bad childhood memories.”
“I’ll bet,” I agreed, shivering at the idea of getting friendly with the food.
People talked about a few more ideas to become more self-sufficient, but then everyone had to get back to it. Nero and Verge stayed to discuss specifics for the orphanage, most of which Sen left up to me. Several times I glanced at him like a deer in headlights, thinking he was nuts to trust me with this stuff.
“You should have seen Zibon when Alastair said he was building the house for him so he had to decide it all,” Verge comforted as we were wrapping up.
“The first decision I would have made was I wasn’t making any more of them,” I grumbled.
“That’s pretty much what Zibon said, plus something about he’d decide Alastair gets his own room in another wing if he didn’t stop stressing Zibon out,” Verge confessed with a wicked grin.
“Smart man.”
Falcon and Gaius joined us for an early dinner, outlining ideas and what had already been decided for their place we’d live at and their whole plan. It was smart, and a lot of thought had gone into it already, not leaving much to even suggest, but Sen and I came up with a few things.
When we finished, I glanced around the hopping cafeteria and smiled, sliding my hand into Sen’s.
“What’s that for?” he asked when I leaned in and kissed his cheek.
“Nothing, just happy.”
“Glad to hear it.” He gave me a funny look but then took a business call as we headed to his room to change into warm clothes. Most of my limited stuff was already there since I’d felt safer there during the inquisition and I didn’t plan to ever leave him again, so there I kept my stuff.
I was still smiling as we went out into the cold night. Hell, I was minutes from whistling a happy tune as we worked with the crew digging out the foundation for the orphanage. They loaded up the trucks with the dirt, and we brought them over to the bug out tunnels that needed to be buried again.
That would be a lot of fun for the pre-trans to handle the next day. All we really did was dump huge piles spaced out for them to take care of. Dumping that much at once and from that height could have damaged even the awesome precast concrete slabs with how cold it was and… Why take the risk?
It was like a well-choreographed dance, Sen even smiling as he rode in the front of the truck with me, looking amused at doing something so out of his normal wheelhouse. Several hours later it was done, ready for the crew to lay the base in the morning and add all the steel so the precast concrete walls could be put in for the basement and go from there.
“Seriously? What’s with you?” Sen asked as we headed back to his room, my mood still good.
“Shower first,” I muttered, noting how wiped he looked. We gathered our shower stuff and headed there together, even ducking into the same stall no matter how tired we were. “Today was amazing.”
“Really? Why? I thought it was pretty boring,” he muttered as he checked the water temperature.
“Exactly,” I chuckled, hanging my shower caddy on one of the hooks.
“I don’t get it,” he admitted.
“I went through hell , Sen. I didn’t think I’d survive. I didn’t think there was anything to survive for . What did I know about what came next or that things could ever be better? And then there’s today, us having fun at breakfast, Wally covering for me so we can be normal guys who want to play hooky since we got engaged. And then look how much we got done— together . We picked out rings and got a plan for Tadzio, got so much construction stuff done.
“Fuck, we helped dig out the foundation! We did so, so much, even if it was talking and planning, having something to plan for and making sure no one else goes through that type of hell. All while being so normal and discussing flooring and windows and saving kids. It was, god, boring at times, but fuck, give me boring.”
“Lovely, you’re crying,” he whispered, wiping away my tears as he backed me into the shower once we were naked.
“I’m relieved, Sen. There might be more fights, there’s definitely a war going on, but I don’t feel hopeless anymore. We love each other, we’re building a life that—Quebec is really over, and I know the path, I want to be on the path and with you. You know?”
“I do, and trauma… It doesn’t go away overnight. You’ll have more of these sort of enlightening moments. And that’s okay. As you said, you walk the path with surer footing, and you keep walking, reassessing as you get to certain moments.”
“But not about you, you I’m completely sure about,” I promised, smiling when he looked relieved. “I want my path to always be with you, Sen.”
“Me too, El. Me too,” he murmured as he pulled my head down to his.
Words I’d always longed and loved to hear. I was finally home. Had a home and family to come back to no matter how bad anything could ever get. Then again, I was going to mate an ancient who could kick anyone’s ass who dared messed with me.
Awesome.
The End
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