Dawn of a new era

Chapter 13

It had been a year since the mission in Ecuador, 8 months since her last phone call with her brother. 6 since the last time she contacted her brother, mother or Bobbi. She ignored this by spending time with Calypso, going on missions once again, and spending time in the town a short drive from her home. The new messages every day from her family made things... more complicated. She'd never cut contact with them completely, at least not by choice. There had been missions that had gone wrong in the past few years, but nothing like this. She'd never chosen to cut them off. She'd chosen to cut her father, and by extension oldest brother Benedict off when she was younger.

She took a deep breath, fluffed out her hair and knocked on the giant oak door. It had been almost five years since seeing her brother and dad, when she was 16 and a half, and now she was newly 21. She faked a smile when the maid opened the door and walked in, sitting in the living room of what could have been her family's vacation home.

"Dawn Isolde" Her father said, walking into the room. She held back a sigh and stood up from the couch to give him the hug he was so clearly expecting. "So nice to see you, darling. Your brother should be along any minute. The kids and Sarah were giving him a bloody hard time this morning" he explained. Dawn nodded.

"Sounds good, dad." She sat back down in her seat, an arm chair so she wouldn't be subjected to sitting next to any of her estranged family. Her dad was thin, he'd always kept himself in good shape, but this was a different kind of thin. She shook the thought out of her head. The fact that she was here should be enough to make pigs fly, she doesn't need to be worrying about his health as well. "How's the uh.. What was her name? Gloria?" She asked, trying to make polite conversation about the last girlfriend she'd heard about. Judging by the look on her fathers face, Gloria wasn't around anymore.

The floorboards creaked before the sound of kids reached her ear, Her oldest brother, Benedict, walked into the room, his litter of children following tamely behind him, his wife bridging up the rear of the family train. She furrowed her eyebrows, counting the kids, there were two more than there had been last she heard. Benedict had married Sarah when he was 21, ten years ago, same age Dawn is now. "Hello, Dawn" He said, pointing to seats for his litter of children. The four kids took up the entire couch, leaving the loveseat next to Dawn to Benedict and Sarah. "How is your fancy university travelling program? It's been nine years, has it not? You're not graduated yet? I thought you were a child prodigy or something? Has that changed in the past five years?"

Dawn refrained from murdering her brother, and forced a smile on her face. "No, Benny, it hasn't changed. I'm an apprentice for the program, when the teacher retires they want me to take it over. And until then, I get to reap the rewards of the school. It's a little complicated." Dawn explained vaguely, keeping her shield life a secret from her father and brother was second nature. "Um.. I believe your spawn has doubled in numbers since I last saw you" She said stiffly, regretting every decision she'd ever made that led to her being in this room with these people.

"You know Margaret and Jonas, Everly and Marlow are the two new ones. Margaret is 10, Jonas is 8, Everly is 4, and Marlow is 2." Benedict said, gesturing to each child as he said their name and age. Benedict was ten years old than Dawn, meaning Margaret was born when he was Dawns age, Dawn found that.. Horrifying. She couldn't imagine having a kid at this age, having to be responsible enough to look after a child when she can hardly look after herself. Dawn stuck her tongue out at Everly and crossed her eyes, grinning as the child laughed. "Everly, this is adult time. Shush!" Dawns brother scolded, shaking his head.. Like he was disappointed in the four year old. Once again, reminding Dawn why she didn't want to be in this house.

"Dawn, are you still.." Her father scrunched his nose mid sentence before continuing. "Choosing women over men?" He asked. Dawn almost flinched at the complete and utter disgust in his voice. Benedict frowned and watched his children for their reactions, as if worried that mere mentions of anything gya would turn them into lumber chopping, pick up driving lesbians and drag wearing gay little kids.

"Yes, dad. Because I am a lesbian and am not attracted to men. And it's not a choice." Though she left out the fact that even if she wasn't a lesbian she'd smash her face into a tree before having sex with a man. She took a deep breath, her eyes going wide when she realised that Sarah was covering Margarets ears. Had she toodle-ooed over to their eldest because of the Gay-virus? It took a lot in Dawn for her not to scoff and walk out. Honestly, these people were horrible. Why did she decide to reach out in the first place?!

Oh right. Her very best friend that's been with her through everything, tequila.

"I think I should go" She said, standing and smoothing her dress out, her dress was abnormally family appropriate. She didnt wear the platform studded combat boots she'd picked out for it, Calypso had said that while she adored them, her stuck up family most likely would not. And judging by their faces when looking at her shaggy haircut, it was a very good thing she listened to her.

"Don't run off simply because we don't agree with a choice of yours, Dawn. You're an adult, act your bloody age for once in your life." Her dad said, she froze and turned to face him.