A Second Chance

Part 82 - Bon Voyage

I didn't expect it to feel like anything in particular when I booked it, but it did. It always feels so weird knowing that something big is gonna happen in a time like 10 hours, and I just, for some reason, can't describe it. 

I heard a knock on the guest room door.

"What's good?"

Dylan opened it and leaned against the frame.

"Did you eat yet?"

"Not in a while, haha. The plane had something, but yeah, nothing for a while."

"Come on then," he said. "Libber and Charlotte are still out. We've got time."

We ended up in the kitchen and Dylan made something simple: eggs, toast, and coffee.

He put a plate in front of me and sat down across with his own.

We ate for a bit without saying much.

"Are you nervous?" he asked eventually.

"About going back? Yeah, a lot," I admitted. "I've honestly been putting off meeting them again until it's like, inevitable, and all,"

"It's your old friends, yeah? Libber filled me in before we got here,"

"With my team. Former team. They're the ones who banished me." I looked at the coffee. "I don't know what I'm even gonna say. I've had so much time to think about it, but I have no idea what to say."

Dylan was quiet for a moment. "You know what I've learned from doing this job?"

"What?"

"The thing you're most afraid of is usually the one that needs to happen," he said. "You can't solve a problem by ignoring it,"

I thought about that.

"Yeah," I said. "I guess that's probably right."

"If you wanna take down those Vipers or whatever, you gotta work with them whether you want to or not. They're the strongest force in all the sixteen realms, that you were once part of. Without them, it's impossible to do anything,"

I looked at him. "Yeah, you're right... I guess I'm just scared for that conversation or whatever."

"Well, for what it's worth, I don't think you're avoiding them or anything,"

"Yeah, to me, it's just like waiting for the inevitable, you know? I'd just like to chill out while that happens,"

We finished eating and Libber and Charlotte came back not long after, carrying bags from somewhere in the city. Charlotte was already talking about whatever they'd seen before she was fully through the door. 

Libber made more food because she took one look at the two of us and correctly identified that one round of eggs wasn't going to cover it, and we all ended up around the table together for the last time.

It was loud and easy and a bit chaotic, which I was starting to understand was just what this family was like when it was actually outside the job. Dylan made a dry comment about Justin that made Libber laugh. Charlotte talked about the city opening itself up, and asked a bunch of questions. 

Libber told us a story about something that had happened at her department the week before that had Dylan shaking his head slowly the entire way through.

I didn't say much. I just sat there and let it happen around me and thought that this was what a family felt like when it was working.

After a while Charlotte looked at me across the table.

"Come with me," she said. "I want to show you something before you go."

...