Chapter 21

"I'm going with you,"Jethro says, setting his fork down as if he's expecting a fight.

The cavern isn't big enough for the number of people we already have planned,I point out.

It's not a large space to begin with, being person-made, but fitting all the Avatars in there plus the fathers, Bellamy, Fox, and me is already too many people. I mean, I suppose I don't need to be there. I'm not the next Avatar. I'm just the omen of change, the portent of vicissitude, the Harbinger of Fox. I don't actually need to be there, but I want to be, so I'm not going to suggest that I leave myself out.

Jethro gives me a stare that rivals Fox's when he's doing things that end in death and dismemberment. "Add me and Sterling to the list of participants because we have to be there. I told you the magic was insistent that we come north, we're here now, and it's insisting that I need to go with you."

"The magic talks to you?" Bellamy questions skeptically.

Jethro considers that question for a moment, feeding Sterling off his plate. Since Sterling decided to sit in his lap for breakfast, they've been sharing food. Honestly, I feel like I should have figured out that I could sit on Fox's lap during meals before now, but then again, Fox isn't the type to romanticize food consumption.

"No. It doesn't talk to me. It communicates, but not in words. I trust my instincts, and the magic uses them to direct me. I need to be at Arktis with you."

"I'm not going," Bellamy corrects. "The only people who need to be there—"

"You need to be there," Jethro interrupts. "I don't think those two need to be there, but you do." He points between me and Fox, which is bullshit.

I'm The Harbinger. Of course I need to be there. If anyone can skip it's Fox's fathers.

Fox reads that message and immediately stands. "I'll let them know."

And the award for most excellent Future Husband goes to Arlington Fox for making sure his soul mate gets to be in the room when we unleash the universal force of Neutrality.

"Why would I need to be there?" Bellamy demands, turning red around the ears. He suddenly jumps, bumping the table, and I look just in time to see Hennessey all too casually move his hand out from under the table to pick up his fork.

Sterling, being the most wonderful angel I've ever met in real life, says, "Is Hennessey molesting you again? You want me to ask Jethro to make him stop?"

"Why would anyone want me to stop molesting them?" Hennessey demands, completely affronted. "Men far and wide stand in lines miles long for the opportunity to beg for my attention. Why would Bellamy want me to keep my hands to myself? When you all go off to save the world, he and I are going to have a private celebration."

Bellamy's face flushes beet red, and Jethro intervenes on his behalf even though Sterling is clearly delighted with his cousin's embarrassment.

"No, you aren't. Bellamy is coming to Arktis with me and Sterling. You're going to go rescue Re from whatever torment you've left him in." There's a quality to Jethro's voice that rolls with power, and Hennessey shudders before reluctantly nodding. "Fine. He'd probably appreciate breakfast anyway."

I look at the platter of pancakes that we've demolished. There's only about five left, and Sterling reaches for another one while I'm counting, explaining, "Leftover pancakes are shit. Take him somewhere good."

Take him to the Captain.

I send that, adding the address to our favorite cafe.

"Who's the Captain?" Sterling asks, feeding Jethro a bite of pancake he dipped in syrup.

"The owner of Diner. Take Re there. There's only one rule, and that is that no one leaves leftovers. You won't be welcome back if you don't eat everything the Captain serves you," Jethro explains. "Do not make yourself unwelcome there because I will beat you if you offend the Captain."

There's a dire warning in that threat, and I get the impression that Jethro will follow through even though friends don't beat other friends unless they're beating off.

"I just won't order anything," Hennessey shrugs. "I'm not going to be hungry anyway."

I smile at that, since no one orders at Diner. I'm not going to ruin the surprise, and apparently neither is Jethro.

Fox returns and sits next to me, sliding his arm over the back of my chair. "My fathers agreed to stay with the cherubs."

Yay, we get to attend the awakening!

"Why do I need to be there?" Bellamy asks again even more insistently than the first time.

"You know as much as I do," Jethro responds.

I reach over and take Bellamy's hand, jerking him in close and then wrapping him in a side hug and kissing his temple. Fox moves his arm from around me to around Bellamy too, leans over behind me and kisses the top of our son's head.

"Why do they get to kiss you, but I can't?" Hennessey demands.

"We're his parents," Fox says, pointing at me to indicate that he's speaking for me. I didn't even think that, but my soulmate knows exactly what I would've said if I could have responded as quickly as he did.

Hennessey gives him a very skeptical expression. "I've known Bellamy since Sterling was a teenager. I've met his parents. In fact, I had lunch with them three months ago."

Fox points to me again. "We adopted him last June. Whoever his genetic donors are, we're his parents now."

"Why are you pointing at Romily?" Sterling asks, curiously.

Even Edovard didn't need this explained, but I suppose he has some extrasensory abilities that would make it obvious that Fox talks for me occasionally.

"Oppa and Papa have a telepathic connection that allows Oppa to talk for Papa. When he does that, he points to Papa to let us know who's actually talking."

Whew boy. Bellamy just deliberately drew a line in the sand about who he's claiming as family, and it is not the people who donated their genetic material. He doesn't talk about his family besides occasionally mentioning things that make me think the first part of his life was not a pleasant or easy time. He definitely doesn't consider his birth parents a part of his family.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised that he still has enough of a relationship with Sterling that he gave him our address.

Fox stirs at that thought, speaking in my head. My address is publicly available to anyone that asks the depot for it. All my contact details are.

I didn't know that.

I glance at him as Sterling raises his hand and his nubbin. "Gotcha, cuz. You're a—" He looks at me and Fox. "What's your last name?"

Bellamy sighs. "We're the Foxilys. I will officially change my name to that when they do in about a decade."

"Love that name. Foxily. It's a great ship name. So, you're a Foxily now. And these are your dads. Nice. I'm a Jones werewolf, and this guy's my sugar Daddy."

Jethro's grin is feral. "Anything you want, baby, as long as I'm the one buying it for you."

Hennessey eyes Jethro with a satisfied smirk. "I like them together," he tells us as an aside, then turns his attention back to Bellamy. "After you get done saving the world, I'll take you out and show you a good time. I won the lotto and have a little extra to spoil you with."

Sterling laughs. Jethro arches one eyebrow at Hennessey, and Bellamy shakes his head. "Nope. I'm good. Way past my party days."

He's only thirty seven (give or take a few centuries spent in Arktis), and he literally has an eternity of time ahead of him; he should not be past his party days. Actually…

I never had party days. I want party days. Where do I sign up for party days?

Bellamy's reply is as dry as the mummies found in the walls of old houses on crime TV. "Responsible parents leave their party days behind them when they have kids. You lost your chance when you started adopting."

This is bullshit. My kids are adults; I should be allowed to party once in a while.

Bellamy gives me an exaggerated shrug. "Them"s the rules."

Anyone else notice how Fox doesn't comment at all. It's almost like he doesn't want me to have party days. I mean, he would never withhold anything I want, but his silence is as suspicious as Hennessey's smirk.

"Well, being the responsible parent, you wouldn't want to leave your kids at home unattended, and since they're adults, you can just bring them with us. Better if the kids party with you than go off and do who knows what with who knows who, right?"

I nod sagely because that right there is how I'm going to have my cake and eat it too.

Does anyone know what that idiom means? I've literally learned everything I know from reading fiction and the internet, and that idiom is so weird. Like, why wouldn't you eat the cake you have? It makes no sense.

Hmm. It's worth a Google.

I type my question into my browser on my phone and the internet tells me that it comes from a letter written by Thomas the Duke of Norfolk to Thomas Cromwell (I'm just going to gayify this and believe that these two were secret lovers and not asinine politicians fighting over how much power the church should have over the monarchy in the era of the Tudors), and he was just saying that you can't have a cake and also eat it, it's one or the other, so I guess it's like saying you can't have a house and burn it down.

That makes sense I guess.

I look up from my dive into the letters of dead men to the expectant faces of my tablemates.

Ooh, they thought I was typing to them. Yeah, that's one of the downfalls of communicating primarily via phone. Sometimes typing is an internet investigation, not a part of the conversation.

Meh, they might be interested in my random facts, so I type up a brief explanation of the idiom and the original usage and send it to them. Now we all know a fun bit of useless trivia.