The Pact (Scömìche)(completed)

13 Mi casa, su casa

A/N

Thanks for reading, voting and commenting. If this reaches 1K reads on AO3, I'll update early again!

Scott woke with a dry mouth. He squinted at late afternoon sun slanting through the windows. His sleep had been punctuated by odd dreams of falling through an endless dark sky, and then suddenly thrashing underwater, pulled down by some sinister force. 

He groped around for the water bottle he kept on the nightstand, and emptied it in one long swallow. Then he turned on his back and set an alarm for fifteen minutes. After meditating he felt able to get up and face the world.

When he went downstairs, all was silent and Esther wasn't around. He decided not to disturb her, wherever she was. Instead he changed into swim shorts, then dived into the pool. His earlier dream forgotten, he completed twenty laps and pulled himself out of the water to sit on the side. 

The breeze was a little cool on his skin, so he went over to the summerhouse and got into the hot tub. He hummed with contentment as the warm jets pummelled his back, and he lay back with eyes closed.

"Mind if I join you?" Esther had piled her dark hair on top of her head and removed her glasses, and she was swathed in a light blue pool towel.

"As long as you're not naked, sure."

"Someone's feeling better," Esther said. She dropped the towel, revealing a floral bikini, and got in next to Scott. "Oh, yes." She sighed with pleasure. "This is what I needed."

They remained in friendly silence for a while.

"How's everything at home, are the boys okay?"

"They're fine, Elijah's running around with Reuben again, Darien's due back tomorrow, it's all good," Esther replied without opening her eyes. "I actually had a nap when you did, I'm so tired." She yawned. "Sorry. I never get to chill at home."

"You call all this drama chilling?"

"At least it's adult drama."

"I suppose."

"Are you sure it's not too much, having them over again tonight? Things could get intense."

"I'm looking forward to it." He opened his eyes to find her watching him, her dark brows drawn together.

"Okay but can you cope, with everybody and Mitch and sleepovers—"

"I want them here, Est. I don't know when we'll get together again, and this house is great but it gets lonely sometimes. I just... I miss everyone."

"They miss you as well, more than you know. You work hard, but maybe you could ease off a little now the album's out and doing well. Go and see Avi, chop some wood, ride a horse. Break out of the rut, and you'll come back home refreshed, new ideas, all that."

Scott considered her words. He had been invited to stay by everyone, even Mitch back in the day. When he first went to Italy Mitch asked Scott to visit, but he was busy with his debut album, and he didn't want to be a third wheel. He found reasons not to go. And then the invitations stopped, and there was no reason to go.

These days he had a routine, and he stuck to it. He already felt guilty that he hadn't checked emails yet, and his phone was charging in the office with who knew how many unseen messages.

"I should get back to work."

"Scott Hoying, if you mention work again I will slap you. There's nothing wrong with downtime, in fact you need it more than anyone. Now, it's about time you had a shower and got ready before the guys come back. Leave me in peace for a few minutes."