Hiraeth [GxG]

Chapter 8

"It was okay. Not the best of days, but there are still a lot of positives I can take away from today." She looked towards Emma briefly. "I'm glad I got to see my mom." She just looked down after that at her plate. Alyx still hadn't let go of her hand through all of this, and I could tell she gave another heartbeat squeeze before letting Asha's hand go. Asha gave her a weak smile in return.

"Love, what about you?" I turned my attention towards Emma now. I giggled because I found that she had a mouth full of spaghetti and was completely caught by surprise. She swallowed her bite and took a quick drink of her blood before answering.

"It was okay. Same as Asha, not the best of days, but it can also take away some positives today. Lance and I interviewed a doctor and a couple of scientists today. They have a lot of experience with pathology and virology. One scientist helped find the cure for ebola last year. The other scientist says he is very close to a breakthrough in curing cancer; he is just waiting on the approval for human trials. Then the doctor is the most renowned medical geneticist. He's found ways to target specific genes to help prevent blindness, cancer, and other variety of health issues. I think this team will do a great job on figuring out more on how the virus works and how to cure it." She had a look of relief evident on her face, and that made me happy. That gave me some hope that we will figure this out before it gets too out of hand. I reached across the table and gave her hand a heartbeat squeeze, and smiled back at her.

"What about you, amore mio? How was your day?" I smiled and looked at everyone around the table.

"I'm very grateful to be sitting here and having dinner with all of you. I'm happy to have met Asha." I looked at her with a genuine smile. "No matter what, you'll always have a place here with us. I'm sure everyone agrees with me that you're already a part of this family." Aleksey gave his signature nod as he took another bite of his spaghetti. Emma smiled at her as well, confirming what I had said.

"Momma is right. Aleksey and I will always have your back and be here for you." Asha gave Alyx a huge smile after saying that.

"Thank you, all of you." She said this very shyly. She then looked up at me. "Thank you especially for what you did for me today. It made everything I was feeling more bearable." This made me feel extremely better. That was my favorite part of being a healer, helping people. Knowing I could make a huge impact on their life in a positive way.

"Anytime. If you ever need me to do it again, just let me know." After that, the conversations died down a bit while we all finished our food.

The kids rinsed off all the dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. Emma helped pack up the little bit of food we had leftover and cleaned the counter. When I tell you they had everything done within 5 minutes, I'm not joking. I looked at all of them, shocked as they were using their abilities to zip around the kitchen. They didn't even let me help at all. When they were done, they all rushed back to the table with plates and forks in tow.

"What?" They were all staring at me with expectant looks. Alyx was squirming in her chair.

"The cheesecake, mom," Aleksey said in a monotone voice.

"Oh, right. How could I forget?" I turned around and smirked as I made my way slowly over to the fridge. I could hear a groan from Alyx. They were all so impatient. They loved my cheesecake a lot.

"Baby... Please hurry up; you're killing us here." I turned around with the cheesecake, completely amused with their behavior. Once at the table, I slowly cut slices of the cheesecake and put one on everyone's plate. Everyone looked at me and was staring again.

"Well, stop staring at me and eat your dessert." With that, they dug in. I don't know if they even tasted the cheesecake at all because they all basically inhaled their slice.