Up To Speed

Night One

It took Finn about forty five minutes to finish washing his lower body and another half hour for me to comb out his tangled hair. "Do you think I can go home now? It's almost midnight and I have to open my shop in the morning."

Finn stood from where I had him seated on the lidded toilet. "I believe so, Elijah should still be in the house to release you." His hands twitched like he wanted to reach out but refrained from doing so.

When we reached the hall he spoke up again. "What is slowpoke?"

I chuckled a little before answering. "It's a person that is moving slowly or completely at task at a slow pace." He nodded his head at my answer. "Elijah mentioned you were still learning English so feel free to stop me anytime I say something you don't understand."

"I understand more than I can speak. The pronunciation is difficult." Makes sense honestly with how little he has spoken this entire evening. "I spoke it when I was young, but was encouraged to forget it when we moved to a different land. It's been a hmm a struggle to relearn it."

"I can imagine, they say English is one of the hardest languages to learn with all of the same sounding words or similar words with different meanings. Like read, reed, read and red. Context clues play a big part understanding of our vocabulary."

Finn led me back downstairs and in the opposite direction of the library room. He opened a set of french doors to reveal a very messy art studio. In the center surrounded by the clutter was Elijah and a blonde man.

"Ah there they are now. Mindy come here." My body was yanked in Elijah's direction as I moved to do as he said. "Mindy this is my brother Niklaus. He will be providing you with everything you need to assist Finn, especially since it is his fault that our brother requires such help."

I glanced between the three brothers reading their expressions. Elijah was smug, Niklaus annoyed and Finn looked downright pissed off. He down glared at both of his brothers from his superior height. After a moment Niklaus twitched under the weight of the heavy glare before turning his attention to me.

"Have any knick names Mindy? I've a mate named Mindy that died quite recently, bad memories you see." The blonde man definitely sounded the most British out of all the siblings I've heard so far. His lisp was almost endearing.

"Well Mindy is a knick name, for Mindosia. No one has called me that in years though." I told him as I began twisting my fingers together again.

"Mindosia then. What do can I do for you?" Niklaus was definitely more charming than his brothers. His smile was less scary than Kol's but not at calming as Finn's small one had been.

I sucked in a deep breath before turning to the nightmare fuel that is Elijah. "Can I go home? I'm tired and I have to open my shop in the morning."

"Finn still has his hair. I told you to start there." The still suited man said blankly.

"We spent over three hours in the shower getting caked on dust and grime off of him. The barber shop isn't open and they wouldn't have worked with him as dirty as he was. It will have to wait until tomorrow." Thankfully the forced calm kept my voice steady, it didn't shake like I thought it would. My heart didn't speed up either though I could feel dread building in my stomach.

Elijah just stared at me with a blank expression and dead eyes. When he took a step towards me there was a shift in the air and suddenly Finn was between us, his back pressing against my chest. "Let her sleep and return tomorrow afternoon Elijah. She's done enough this night."

"Hmm. Very well, Mindy you have my permission to leave but you will return here directly after work." Elijah didn't seem pleased with this arrangement.

"What if Finn comes to my shop when I close at five so he can go to the barbers before they close up at six? It's right next door. Finn doesn't have any clothes to wear either so he needs to go shopping. Most of Kol's stuff isn't broad enough for his shoulders." Both of them looked surprised at my words.

"You've met Kol and lived to tell the tale? My my Mindosia aren't you interesting." Niklaus taunted.

"Not really I mean he let me riffle through his room to get soap and stuff for Finn since his room is completely empty. The man doesn't even have his own underwear." I risked myself sniping at them but I just couldn't help it. "Everyone I've seen in this house is clean and draped in expensive clothing while Finn was wearing Kol's too tight hand-me-downs and no one showed him how to work the shower. I don't know what kind of Amish cult you guys grew up in but that's just unacceptable. We used an entire bottle of body wash. Also he should probably see a dentist. A regular doctor too while you're at it."

The three brothers just looked at me in bewilderment for a few silent minutes. Right when I was praying for a sudden lightening strike to save me from the embarrassment, Niklaus began laughing. A deep breathy giggle that honestly sounded painful, like his lungs were rarely used and the laughter might make them stop working completely. Elijah let out a deep sigh, rolling his eyes at his brother before speaking to me. "Very well. You may be done for tonight, Finn will be at your shop as requested. Come along Mindy."

"Right bye Finn. Bye Niklaus." I tried to walk as fast as I could without running in order to keep up with Elijah's fast pace.