The Academy

Forty Nine

Rose:

Jace and I were eating breakfast in the kitchen earlier in the morning and somebody called him. Afterwards, he got all tense and asked me when Tink was going to get here.

“Not sure.” I admitted, “Why, Jace? Something wrong?” I asked and he looked at the floor. “Top secret, I can only tell Tinkerbell.” I nodded and went back to eating, I wasn’t going to try and get myself worked up, because that’s happened one too many times.

We heard their car pull up and he darted from the room without even saying goodbye. “Love you too.” I grumbled to myself, finishing the cereal and setting it in the sink.

Then I heard Jace’s motorcycle roaring and it speeding away. Out the window I saw the top of his blond hair and Tink on the back of the bike.

Peter walked in, carrying Nathan and Samantha, “I’ll take Nathan.” I told him holding out my hands and he smiled gratefully, handing me Nathan.

“You have any idea why my boyfriend and your wife sped off?” I asked him and he shrugged, “No clue, all I got was something about Bobby.”

Little Nathan held up his hands and I gently tickled him, his laugh rang out and I smiled. “You’ll be quite the Aunt.” Peter told me with a laugh and I rolled my eyes, “I don’t know, I just think Nathan likes me.” I replied.

With the passing time I found myself with growing anxiety, wondering what my sister and Jace were doing and if they were okay. If it had to do with Bobby then that may have not the best effect on Tink. She doted on that man. I’ve never met him but I’ve heard only good things about Bobby Singer.

“They’ll be fine.” Peter assured me, reading my expression like a book. I sighed, “No  guarantee about that. Just I hope they both come back in one piece.” I replied with a shrug. Looking out the window at this sure to be long day.

Logan walked in, “You have any idea where those two ran off to?” he asked crossing his arms, and I shrugged, “Confidential. Something about Bobby though.” He nodded and looked at Nathan and I smiled, “You want to hold him?”  he nodded, “Peter?” he asked his son in law and he smiled, “Sure, you can.” he said with a smile as Samantha woke up and gave her baby laugh and I could see he’d be putty in his hands when she was older.

He took little Nathan from me and smiled. I laughed, “Who knew the big bad Wolverine was such a sucker for babies?” Logan rolled his eyes and replied, “I’m almost preferring the silent treatment to this.” This time I rolled my eyes, and looked back at the window. I twisted my ring, a nervous habit I’d formed over the last couple of months.

“Rose, they’ll be fine, calm down.” Logan said, not even looking up from Nathan, and I narrowed my eyes. “How’d you-” “That’s your tell, kid. Everyone has one. Yours is when you twist that ring. They’ll come back trust me.” he told me and I sighed, “Sorry I just don’t like to be...not in the know I guess…”

Peter sighed, “We need to move this conversation along, apparently silence isn’t good for you. So random question, when’s your birthday?” “May eighteenth.” I replied, resisting the urge to twist my stupid ring.  “That’s what, in two weeks?” Logan asked and I shrugged, “Just another day in the year for me. Seriously. It’s never been a big deal.” I told them, shrugging and staring at the ground. “What do you mean?”

I  took a deep breath, because I didn’t really like talking about my childhood and this was going to force it out of me.

“Well, as it’s not very uncommon information, for the first part of my life I lived in a shitty orphanage. Your birthday is the day you got dropped off if you were a baby. Nobody ever pays you any attention, and almost always it seemed I was treated worse on my birthday. Like Wendy dropping me off there was somehow my fault and it was a crime to be another mouth to feed. Invisible practically. So I ran away when I was around eight.

“When you’re homeless, again nobody treats you like you’re there. And I didn’t have a calendar to tell me the day, much less know if it was my birthday. The first real birthday I got when when I found Nathan and Ms. Harris. It was a month before my birthday and somehow that boy got it out of me. Being that they weren’t the most financially stable household all they could get was a cake but it was still nice…” My mind wandered back to what felt like a brief time at the Harris household before it all crumbled around me. I shook my head out of those memories, “Anyhow,  yeah that’s the gist of it.”

Peter looked at me, “Geez, that’s rough.” I nodded, and shrugged, “There are probably millions of kids out there just like me though so it’s not like it’s any different. Anyway, since Nathan and Samantha are taken care of I think I’ll go to my room.”  I hugged both of them and went back to my room, consumed by those sad memories and I curled up on my bed…

Then I got an idea, I grabbed my computer and typed up a quick email to Jace. (For some reason I’ve found that using a computer isn’t as bad as a cell phone. Go figure.)

Jace

Hey, I would call you but...you know the demigod thing...anyway, could you email back or something. I guess it’s stupid to be worried but I am. That and it’s nice to talk (er email…) with you.

Rose

(P.S.  Don’t do anything stupid, I’d rather have an alive boyfriend than a dead one.)

I sighed and sent it, hoping that he’d reply soon. I waited so long that I fell asleep…

(done)