Opposites Attract

Home From Home

Selene wasn't used to creeping around her own home, yet here she was, tip-toeing past Alan who was laying face down on her living room rug, the bed she had made up for him on the couch didn't even look like it had been used.

She stepped over his leg and went to the kitchen to make a start on some coffee. A quick check of the fridge and cupboards confirmed exactly what she had already known, there was nothing in there and the food fairy had yet to magically deliver.

She hadn't been planning on coming back to the flat anytime soon and wasn't in the habit of keeping food in just to let it spoil. She had nothing to feed the hungry boys that were currently living with her, she’d have to go shopping.

She poured coffee into a to-go cup for herself, doctoring it with coffee creamer and sugar as she always did, thankfully things that could live in the cupboard, and delivered a cup each to John and Scott, leaving them on the bedside tables for when they woke up.

John stirred as she placed the cup down.

“Hey, gorgeous,” she whispered, dipping her head to give him a quick kiss. “I’m just going out to grab some things for breakfast, go back to sleep, you need to catch up on your rest.”

He nodded and mumbled something about remembering to switch the gravity off when she got back and settled back into sleep, his soft snores beginning almost immediately. She brushed the hair back from his face and pulled the covers up so he wouldn't get cold, her boy was used to a temperature controlled Five or a tropical island, England was always a bit hit or miss for him.

She stopped to cover Alan over too and tucking a cushion under his head, then grabbed her bag and left the flat.

By the time she struggled home two hours later, weighed down by shopping bags the boys were all awake.

“No, it’s fine, I don’t need any help,” she called sarcastically as she struggled to place her hand against the scanner and then shoved the door open with her backside. “I’m Superwoman, I’ve got this shit.”

“Sorry,” John appeared beside her, taking the heaviest of the bags. She lifted her head for a kiss, something they would usually do automatically but he was already gone, taking the bags to the kitchen and leaving them on the floor to return to the lounge. Selene blinked, that wasn't normal.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, dumping her own bags and following him.

All three were squashed together on the couch, crowded around the holoscreen where a news report was playing.

“They’re out on a rescue,” Scott told her, his tone sounding equal parts defeated, resigned and disbelieving.

“We couldn’t expect them not to answer a call,” John sighed, although his tone said that he was anything but happy.

“What’s happened?” Selene asked, perching on the arm of the sofa beside John.

“Road collapse in Cornwall,” Scott answered.

“From what the reporters have said it looks like it’s a sinkhole. There are a lot of old tin mines in that area and it’s close to the coastline, so the old mines tend to flood which further weakens the already crumbling foundations,” John continued.