Immaculate

Food Prep

Part Eighty-Five

Sang's POV

He wasn't joking. I was peeling enough potatoes to feed an army. I had to peel twenty five big potatoes, six carrots, three turnips, a whole swede, five parsnips and then prepare brussel sprouts.

I was sat with a tub at the island in Mr Blackbourne's kitchen, he had put the radio on and I was singing along to the lyrics under my breath. Dr Green and Mr Blackbourne were upstairs in his office going through something that had just come in for them Academy wise. It seemed that they were running jobs individually while still working the school as a team. It spread them thin sometimes and I knew it was one of the reasons Dr Green looked so tired sometimes.

I finished the last potato with a sigh and started on the carrots. I didn't mind doing this at all. I was happy knowing that they were somewhere in the house. I knew that before long the others would be coming over and that tonight we'd be all together. I was still wondering what was the difference between Thanksgiving and any other time that we were together. Other than a mountain of food prep first that had to be done.

"Hey, Cinderella, need some help there?" came a voice from the door and when I looked up I saw Luke poking his head around the frame, long blonde hair down around his face.

"Hey, Luke, does this mean you're my fairy godmother?" I asked and grinned at him. He came into the room and straight towards me. He took the carrot and the knife from my hand and set them down.

"What's wrong?" I asked, his face was serious, the light in his eyes was there, but none of his usual humour showed either.

He gripped my chair and spun me around till I was facing him. He gripped my face in his hands and stared down at me.

"I've just got out of a meeting at Kota's that North called. You weren't there, and neither was the Doc or Mr B, as you know."

I frowned, had something happened? I wondered if maybe they wouldn't be able to make it tomorrow.

"Sang." He almost sighed my name. "Cupcake, I need you to listen to me, ok?"

I was aware of my hands being covered in potato starch and mud so I kept them away from his t-shirt and looked up at him.

"I love you," he said quietly. "I adore you. There will never be anyone for me except you. But North loves you and so do my other brothers."

The penny dropped and I realised that the meeting had been North and most probably Gabriel telling them about what I had said last night. I bit my lip, worried what I was going to hear.

"Do you mind?" I whispered and he smiled.

"At first? Yes, I minded a lot," he said. "I didn't think that they loved you nearly as much as I did. I thought that with North it was physical attraction and that once he scratched the itch he'd back off. I figured that if I hung around long enough the others would all get you out of their system and I'd be free to swoop in and sweep you away." He grinned widely at me and I saw no anger in his eyes at all, if anything the humour was starting to show again.

"Except instead of getting you out of their system you burrowed so deep it became apparent that they worship you just marginally less than I do. I have never seen North act around a girl the way he is with you. It's clear as the rather large nose on his face that he loves you. Thing is, I love him too and I'm fairly certain in that dark heart of his he loves me too. If I went up against him for you, I'm not sure that I'd even win, and if I did? And you choose me over him? It would break his heart. It would break all of their hearts if you went off with just one of us. I'd loose my brothers and I can't do that. And if he won and took you away from us? Or if Gabe won, or Victor and they took you away? I don't know what I would do, I'd have lost everything. I will share you, Sang and I will never regret it because I get you and my brothers. It's a win win situation."