(no subject)

[clumsy_auror]

The first week of the year is often a bit of a let-down. In this case, however, the Tonks-Wrangle flat is filled with a sort of nervous excitement.

Could be any day now, really.

Or at least, they hope so.

But whilst they play the waiting game, they'd welcome visitors.

Comments

[flybywash]

"Ah, yes, father-daughter bonding through animal torment." A sage nod. "I'll keep that in mind. It'll be handy."

He scratches the edge of his jaw.

"So, um. You're both good friends with Crowley, right?"

[clumsy_auror]

The Tonks-Wrangles both nod. "'Course," replies Tonks, sitting down on the sofa beside Wash. "He's family, for all intents and purposes."

[flybywash]

"Okay, and that adds another dimension of painful," he mumbles to himself, then sighs, both hands wrapping around his mug.

"You know how he's still around in our 'verse, helped us out with the Academy, rah rah go demony influence?" A breath. "You have any idea why he'd maybe do something horrifically creepy like, I don't know...stalk someone?"

It had been a twitchy few days toward the end of their stay on Lavinia. Some of that's coming back.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

...


"Uh."

Bernard blinks and exchanges a confused glance with his wife.

"No, unless it was... business? And even then, it doesn't really seem like his style."

[flybywash]

Business.

Oh, that helps.

Wash's grip on the mug tightens by a fraction.

"Yeah, and you'd think he wouldn't leave all the evidence around when the stalkee's paying him a visit, either," he remarks, rather dryly, but edged in nerves. "That's just really bad form."

[clumsy_auror]

Her eyebrows fly up. "You mean you think Crowley's stalking you?"

[flybywash]

He nods.

"We stopped on Lavinia last week to, ah, get my leg checked out." Unconsciously, his eyes flick toward Bernard for an instant; he looks back to Tonks and readjusts his hold on the coffee. "Crowley let us stay over afterward for New Year's and had all these boxes crammed in his place, everywhere. I was bored, I was cranky, I accidentally knocked one over when I got home from the hospital and saw something weird, so I started going through them, right?"

Gaze drifting down to the mug now.

"He has pictures of me and my -- sister. Bunch of other relatives, too. And at the bottom there was this -- "

Quickly, he sets down the coffee.

"Family tree with a spot all ready for a certain still-unnamed unborn kid of mine."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Erk."

Bernard swallows convulsively.

Because his Crowley wouldn't do something so... weird, he thinks.

But he doesn't know that Crowley. Not really.

"There were boxes everywhere, you say? Did you go through them all?"

[flybywash]

"No."

He shakes his head.

"I went through...I don't know. Six of them? But that's only six or seven boxes and maybe twenty pictures of people I grew up with in there, plus a family tree. Odds like that? A little lacking in the being reassuring."

[clumsy_auror]

Tonks' jaw is a little slack. She looks utterly at a loss. "Um. I just..."

(I think the real question is: when does any of that matter, if you're a demon?)

Her head shakes automatically, even as the wheels are turning.

(I've been wearing kidskin gloves with you so far. If I wanted to be extreme, Tonks, I'd talk to you about Sirius. Ask you whether you felt responsible for his death.)

"No." It's a bit faint.

(Tell me, does his godson still cry about that at night?)

More firm, now. "No. I can't think he would-- no."

No.

[flybywash]

Wash spreads his hands, a little helplessly, lips pressed together as he watches Tonks.

"So, what, am I business?" he asks them. "I don't have the first clue why I'd be...." Bleakly, "He's a friend."

Supposed to be a friend, anyway. Never gave any indication otherwise. And Wash may not be as naturally inclined to distrust as Mal, but he still has a fair sense of when something might lead up to a potential backstabbing.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

Bernard's a little pale, now.

"No. I can't imagine-- no. He's gotta have a reason--" He breaks off, frustrated.

"How many generations back did the tree go?"

[flybywash]

"Just a couple. Up to my great-great-grandparents, I think, or -- wŏ bù zhī dào, I was a little more focused on the bottom than the top."

[clumsy_auror]

Her hand's resting on her belly. She can understand how he feels.

"Wash, I..." She trails off for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. "I know Crowley'll have changed at least in part by the time you know him, but I just don't-- I can't see him doing anything malicious to you or anyone else on Serenity. I know, it really is a genuinely bizarre thing, but I have to think there's an explanation."

A short breath.

"Somehow."

[flybywash]

"But none that you can think of."

It isn't accusing by any stretch. It's just...flat. Toneless.

He picks up his coffee again, to keep his hands busy.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Well. We can't know what he's like in... five centuries, Jesus."

Bernard shivers at the thought, because he'll be long gone.

"But, maybe he knew your great-grandparents somehow. I don't know."

[flybywash]

"Yeah. Maybe," he relents after a short pause, doubtful. Because what kind of interest would the CEO of a top aeronautics company have in them? Piloting doesn't exactly run in the family. Neither does engineering.

And it's still not making the whole thing any less creepy.

He takes a sip of coffee and cracks a tiny grin. It's largely humorless.

"Maybe they owed him money and he's waiting to hit me across the face with the Sudden and Inexplicable Debt Wrench."

[clumsy_auror]

Tonks chews on her lip, looking distinctly uncertain. She's shy about asking Wash, or any of his crew, for details of Aziraphael and Crowley in that time.

It's hard, because she does want to know.

It almost feels like they're not hers, there.

But maybe they still are.

"Wish I knew what to tell you Wash. Just... let us know?"

[flybywash]

"Yeah, of course."

He exhales. It hardly shakes at all.

"Thanks."

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

"Um."

Bernard hardly knows how to ask, and when he does manage, it's almost a whisper.

"How's your leg, then?"

[flybywash]

Wash's jaw twitches, and he swallows, convulsively.

"Thirty-five percent chance of a full recovery. There was some kind of major complication when they went in."

He feels a little sick as he says it, and there is obvious pain in his voice; both at what he's telling Bernard, and the fact that he has to tell him at all.

He doesn't look at either of them.

[clumsy_auror]

"--Oh."

It's said quietly, before she even has time to think, her round eyes flickering from Wash to her husband and back.

Tonks draws in a deep breath, and lightly touches Wash's hand for a brief moment. "Still a chance, then. And if not--"

She studies his profile, willing hope into him.

[flybywash]

Wash shrugs, glancing over at Tonks when she touches his hand.

"Alive," he points out with another wry smile, and shifts his gaze to Bernard.

It's the same matter-of-fact reasoning he's always given. And if it's wearing thin, especially of late...well. For their sake, he's not going to let it show.

[the-woodpecker.livejournal.com]

Bernard, for his part, is carefully schooling his features.

He's better at that than he used to be.

"Right."

He attempts a smile.

"How's Zoe feeling?"

Better to focus on the good things.

[flybywash]

Wash relaxes into a real, slightly brighter smile.

"Not too bad," he says. "A little achy, still kind of getting used to the 'hey, center of gravity, where're you going?'" -- that's said in a plaintive, forlorn voice -- "but she's shiny."

It graduates to a small grin.

"And the baby's started moving."