Generations: The Long Game

A Fallen Knight

TW: Death

The 19th of December 2027

Autumn woke to the phone ringing and Ben screaming. She tried to silence the phone but wasn't quick enough and that boy heard everything. Only a week in and he was already experiencing the five-month sleep regression. She peered at the phone. 6:36AM. She answered while nudging Winter with the other hand urging him to get their son. He rose sleepily as she answered the call. "You had better have a goddamn good reason for calling at this time of the morning on a Sunday? Yes. Yes, this is she. What? What? How? What do you mean you don't know how? Okay. Okay. We will be there. It will take some time, but we will be there. Yes. Thank you. Goodbye."

Winter tried to quiet the little boy while listening to her side of the conversation. Her faced softened from anger to something he had never seen in all these years, and he wasn't sure what it was. He watched her as she spoke and unbuttoned her night shirt at the same time gesturing for him to come closer. As she hung up, she scooped the small boy from his arms and placed him in position to latch. "He's only been asleep just over an hour. He probably isn't even all that hungry but maybe this will sooth him enough to get him back to sleep." He watched her as her face softened looking down at their son. He would never tire of the way she looked at their children. The love she had for them. "My sweet who was on the phone?"

She looked up at him. Her face had somehow gone from soft and open to ... to something he wasn't sure of. Closed off somehow. Untouchable. Guarded. It was a strange sensation that settled in his stomach. "My sweet?" He stammered on the words but was pretty sure he had meant them as a question. "What is it my love? Has something happened? Is it... Is it Marjorie?" Her gaze fell to their son and her face softened again. "My father's dead." He sat on the end of the bed nearly in slow motion. "How?" She looked up at him her countenance not changing this time. "They don't know yet. After I settle him, I will have to call Reece. We have to go to the prison. I don't know how long we will be, but there is plenty expressed milk. At least that part of my body works right." He flinched at the words. "Autumn I..."

"Wint don't. Okay? Just don't. We've been over it so many times these last few months. It wasn't an invitation to rehash a moot point. It's done. It isn't something we can change now. It's just how it is, and you just need to let me go through it." Her words stung, but he knew she was right. It was his loss too, but it was her body. It was just one more thing it had taken from her. One more thing she felt she had to bear on her own. One more thing for her to feel she had taken from him.

With Ben back down for the moment and her dressed and ready to walk out the door, she pressed a soft kiss on his lips. "I will be back as soon as I can. I love you." She descended the stairs and gathered her things to leave. She pulled her coat closer around her as she stepped into the cold winter air. Reece was already waiting outside in the Rover and to her great surprise it was already warm in the vehicle. "You warmed the car before you came?" He looked into his sister's eyes. "You rush to the dying, Aut, not to the dead. Besides why would I give him the power to make even one more moment of your life uncomfortable?" The brunette shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Reece, I..." She stopped herself. At first, she had chosen not to tell him because of Marjorie. After she came home, it didn't seem like the right time for more heavy news, and now it seemed like too much time had passed.

"Aut whatever it is, you can tell me. Honestly after the year we've had I think I would rather just deal with things head on." He watched as she fidgeted, picking at the sides of her fingers. She let out a breath she hadn't even realized she was holding. "After the c-section with Ben, there was an infection. Nobody's fault really, but... I... I can't have anymore children." The tears began to fall but she didn't look up from her own hands. "Aut are they sure? Are there maybe some procedures they can do to fix it? I could research it when we get back home today. Maybe there is something we can do. Maybe not in England. Maybe somewhere else." She looked up. "Big brother, I know you want to fix this, but there is nothing left to fix. We have done all the tests and scans imaginable. We even consulted with some doctors in Germany and America that have been doing exceptional work in fertility. It is just not a possibility for us anymore."

He peered out the side window for a moment. His heart ached for her, but knowing they had already done so much made him realize she has sat with this on her own for a good while. "Why didn't you tell me?" She looked back down at her hand. "Reece you thought...we all thought we were going to lose Marjorie." She paused a moment. "This seemed small in comparison. We weren't losing a person...someone we had already grown to know and love." He stretched his neck from one side to the other. "Aut, you lost the future you thought you would have. To me, that really is remarkably similar. I know the two of you wanted a bigger family. I just want you both to have what you want. I want you to be happy ... even if you are a goblin." He chuckled at himself as she shot him a look.

As they pulled into the prison visitor car park, he shocked her when he took her hand into his own. "Are you ready for this?" She looked into her brother's eyes. "Are you? I mean he is legally my father, but we have known for years now that he wasn't. I never really knew mine and it shocked me to find out he was dead. We grew up with yours. He was a monster, Reece. I am not going to miss him, but if you are ... if you need the funeral and the flowers than we will do that. It's your decision. I will back you whatever you decide." He looked down at her. "Aut...I know who he was. After Emery was born, I realized I could never do to him what he did to us. If anything, I am ashamed to share his DNA and apologetic that my children have to. Once we are done here, I am happy to just do direct cremation if that is what you were thinking. Aut, who would come to a funeral anyway?" Both looked down at their own laps. "Let's go get this done, Aut. We have families to go home to."