“I have a son?” Elliott repeated for about the twentieth time in the last two minutes. Once again, Cadence confirmed for him that, yes, he had a son. And no, Brandon had not meant for Cassidy to get hurt.
“He’s a good kid,” Cale assured the new-found father who sat staring at the ceiling, his large hands intertwined behind his head.
“Anyway,” Cadence finally said as Elliott continued to process, “we got Giovani and Zabrina. Obviously, I was rescued,” she patted Cale on the knee since he had been one of the first familiar faces she’d seen once she’d decapitated Giovani, “and we are still working on Gibbon. But he’s been radio silent since October. We’ve had a blip now and then, but not much. So… Aaron wants to go back to Philly in the next few days and see if we can get any more info.”
Elliott just nodded, still staring at the ceiling.
Cadence couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at how quickly the tables had turned. A few moments ago, she’d been the stunned one, unable to believe he was here. Now, he was shocked, unable to grasp that he had another child. “Cale,” she said, turning to face her host, “can Elliott borrow your cell phone to call Aaron? He doesn’t have an IAC, and my phone is still in Kansas City.”
“Yeah, sure,” the doctor replied, fishing it out of his pants pocket. Though they could communicate with each other using their IACs, most of them also preferred to carry a cell for family members, social networking, and the occasional round of Angry Birds.
“Thanks,” Cadence said as she took the phone from him. She checked in with Aaron to see if now was a good time and got a “yeah” in response. “Elliott, do you want to talk to Aaron?” she asked.
It took him a moment to realize she was speaking to him. “Oh, yeah, sure,” he replied as she dialed the number. She was a little embarrassed to have to ask Aaron what his phone number actually was, but since she never called him and had it in her phone, she had seen no reason to memorize it. She didn’t bother to say anything to him, just put in the number and handed the phone over to Elliott.
He answered rather quickly, but listening to a one sided conversation was not particularly interesting, so Cadence finally turned her attention to what was left of the sushi and realized she was starving. Whatever Aaron was saying, Elliott seemed to be in good spirits, and she was happy that her fiancé at least wasn’t taking her insubordination out on his formerly dead best friend.
“I have some of that turkey left that you like if you want me to make you a sandwich,” Cale offered, leaning in closely and whispering to her so as not to disrupt Elliott’s conversation.
While she was tempted to protest, Cadence’s stomach was rumbling. “Okay,” she found herself saying, and Cale laughed at her as he went off into the kitchen to comply, patting her knee twice before he stood. She stared at her own leg for a second, wondering what was happening. Was he attempting to be comforting or taking advantage of her fight with Aaron? She really wasn’t sure, even though she knew he had a girlfriend. As he set the sandwich down in front of her, she wondered what his new girl might think to see him so touchy feely.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she thanked him and dug into her sandwich, hoping that everything would go back to normal as soon as she and Elliott returned to headquarters the next day. Of course, that also meant that Aaron would have to keep his end of the deal, and she wasn’t sure what the chances of that were. In fairness, she probably wouldn’t have been too quick to forgive him either if he’d actually found a way to prevent her from ever opening the portal in the first place.
A few seconds later, she heard Elliott say he’d see Aaron soon and disconnect the call, handing the phone back to Cale, who seemed to be sitting closer to Cadence than he had been before he left to make the sandwich—or was that just her imagination?
“Well, he doesn’t seem too mad,” Elliott said with a shrug. “Not at me, anyway.”
“Oh, well, that’s what I was concerned about,” Cadence replied, rolling her eyes.
With a laugh, he continued. “He’ll be fine in a day or two. Give or take a year.”
Cadence wanted to laugh, but she wasn’t sure exactly how accurate that statement might actually be. She was pretty sure that she’d spent more time fighting with Aaron than they’d spent as a couple, though she’d never gone back and done the math. Thoughts of how she’d felt the entire time she was out on the road trying to find herself, avoiding him at all costs, left her stomach churning, and she set the second half of her sandwich back down on the plate, dusting her hands off on a napkin.
“Finished with that?” Elliott asked, eyeing the rest of the turkey on rye.
Cadence looked at the empty sushi wrapper and the other aftermath associated with the meal Elliott had essentially devoured all by himself. “Yeah?” she said, almost as a question. He didn’t hesitate to snatch it up and put it away, too. He’d always been a big eater, but this was stunning even to her. “Didn’t they feed you on the other side?”
“I don’t remember,” he admitted, “but if they did it was probably manna or some shit like that. Besides, this stomach has been hanging out in various disposable containers for the last few months.”
“He has a point,” Cale offered with a laugh.
Cadence just looked at him, one eyebrow raised. “I think it’s time for me to get some sleep,” she said in response. “Some of us still require a few hours of shut eye.”
“Sleep is for the weak,” Elliott teased around a giant bite of turkey.
“I’ll walk you to the guest room,” Cale offered, and even though Cadence thought it was a strange offer considering she’d just been there a few days before, she picked up her backpack, kissed Elliott on the top of the head, and followed behind the Reno Leader.
As soon as he opened the door, she remembered how comfortable his guest bed was, and she was tempted to drop on top of the comforter fully clothed and go straight to sleep. But she knew being in the desert for the last few days couldn’t be doing too much for her in the fresh-smell department, so she decided she needed to take a shower first.
“Do you need anything?” Cale asked from behind her, still standing in the doorway.
Ogling the masterpiece of a mattress had made her forget he was there. “Oh, no. I know where everything is.” She turned and gave him a reassuring smile.
The doctor nodded, running a hand through his blond hair and smiling at her. “Okay, well, if there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
Cadence returned the smile, and as he turned to go, she reached out and put her hand on his arm. “Cale,” she said, as he turned to face her, “thanks for everything. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off if I didn’t know I could trust you.”
His face lit up and the grin widened. “I’ll always do whatever I can to help you, Cadence. You know that,” he said as he gently took her hand from his arm and squeezed it before releasing her and turning to go, leaving Cadence standing in the doorway looking at her hand as if it were a foreign object.
She closed the door and decided not to think about exactly what the good doctor’s intentions might be. For now, she needed to cleanse herself and get some rest. In the morning, she’d head back to Kansas City and figure out how to tell everyone Elliott was alive, introduce him to his son, and let her half-Vampire sister know her hero walked among them again. The whole thing seemed exhausting even when she didn’t factor in that her partner in crime was ready to toss her so far beneath the prison no one would ever hear from her again.
