Prelude To Titanic || Book VIII ~UNDER SERIOUS EDITING

27| Two-Thousand Sixteen: Part III ~UNEDITED

Theodor Soran above.

Long after the party's over, Talia and I stick as around to help the Morgans clean the place up.

"You don't have to stick around," Catherine insists. "We can handle it from here."

"Quiet Cathy," Jameson says, "we could do with a little help, especially in our old age."

"You have me," Jackson pipes up.

"Yes, but with you, we'll more than likely be here until boxing day."

Talia, Catherine, Jameson, and I laugh at the comment, while Jackson clutches his chest and staggers back. "That really hurt," he says, pretending to cry.

A half an hour finds the five us sitting around fireplace, sipping mugs of hot cocoa and listening to a story of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan's prime days, as they call them.

"....I was a postman for years after I retired from the Marines," Jameson says. "We used to have to wear these purple and green uniforms, and when Jason and Julianna were children, they would think that I was the bloody Joker from the Batman comics!" He pauses to let our laughter die down.

"Anyways, there was this family I would deliver the chronicle to every day; the Graysons.
They had a little girl the same age as the twins, a daughter named Anna. Her father was a businesssman, but he did children's parties on the weekends. Guess who he dressed up as?"

"Batman?" Talia says.

"Exactly. Well, once the twins heard about Anna Baker's father being Batman, they set us up to a battle."

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"Oh I'm quite serious," Jameson says. "After this bit of news was discovered, the twins would always accompany me on my rounds, and force me to challenge us to fight."

"And it many times would you say that you won?"

He considers my question. "I'd say that out of all the "battles" we fought, I was victorious in about....53% of them. Quiet an achievement, wouldn't you say, boy?"

I nod. "Definitely."

"But that silly little and brought the children closer together," Catherine says, "eventually leading to the marriage of Jason and Anna, and-"

"-and the birth of my sister and I," Jackson says quietly.

Talia laughs. "So in a way," she begins, in an attempt to cheer her friend up, "if it weren't for Batman and the Joker, you wouldn't have been born?"

He smiles at her. "Exactly."

Jameson and Catherine share a knowing look while witnessing this. I however, flash a cheeky grin at the pain until they look my way.

Jackson clears his throat awkwardly, scooting away from a blushing Talia. He then looks to his grandparents. "We should probably get going if we're gonna meet Julianna at the airport."

He looks to Talia and I. "Happy Christmas, you two. We'll see you after the New Year, hopefully."

He then leaves the room, Talia disappearing after him to go and grab her cloak.

"What's their problem?" I ask Jameson and Catherine.

Jameson laughs. "Christmas jitters, perhaps. Let's just hope they discovered the bit of mistletoe we left hanging in above the entrance of the front hall!"

=/\=

I take Talia's coat as she steps into the flat, and place it in the hallway closet along with mine. We leave our shoes by the door and make our way upstairs.