The Modern Knight

A Father's Legacy

The 20th of June, 2014

Nicolette woke with sunlight streaming across her face from the window. As the young woman woke up further, she became aware of her surroundings once again. She felt Tori laying with her head on her thigh, but she also felt an arm around her waist.

Eggsy and Nicolette had a lengthy debate last night about who was sleeping where. They had both acknowledged that no one was going to be sleeping in Harry's bed, but Nicolette would not let Eggsy sleep on the couch in the sitting room. The reverse was true of Eggsy in relation to Nicolette. The two young adults then ended up sleeping in the same bed, along with Tori, after Nicolette repeatedly insisted that it was okay for Eggsy to sleep in the same bed as her.

The young woman would admit, she felt a small flutter in her stomach when she woke and realized Eggsy had an arm around her. She didn't quite understand why though. They had slept in the same bed a few times when they were younger and one would stay the night at the other's home.

Letting out a small sigh, Nicolette carefully extracted herself from under Eggsy's arm and between him and Tori. Stretching as she stood on her feet, Nicolette quietly left the room and made her way down to the kitchen. She was hardly there two minutes before Tori was trotting down to stand beside her.

"Morning, Tori. I suppose you want something to eat, yeah?" Nicolette asked the husky.

Tori sat down, as if to agree.

"Right. Let me see what Uncle Harry has in the way of food for both of us. How's that sound?"

Tori stood back up and began to wag her tail.

Nicolette had managed to find some dog food that Harry still had in the house and put some in a dish for Tori, along with some water. She then started to prepare bacon and eggs for herself and Eggsy. She also started some coffee. Not for her though; for Eggsy.

The young woman had just finished taking the bacon off the pan when another set of footsteps entered the kitchen.

"Morning, Eggsy," Nicolette said as she put the frying pan onto a cool burner on the stove top, "You woke up just in time. I just finished cooking."

"Bacon and eggs?" Eggsy asked as he stretched.

"And coffee," Nicolette said with a small chuckle.

"Seems a bit plain."

"I never said I was a master chef. And, I could've gone and made enough for only me."

"Alright, alright," Eggsy said, holding his hands up in defense.

"Just eat before I change my mind," Nicolette said with a chuckle as she sat down.

The two young adults then sat down to eat breakfast. There was small, idle chatter as they ate. When Nicolette was washing the dishes, she had anticipated that Eggsy would go back upstairs. Instead, the young man leaned up against the counter on her left.

"You know, you never told me how you ended up being a spy," Eggsy said as he lazily crossed his arms.

"I said I'd answer all your questions if you made it into Kingsman," Nicolette said, her gaze focused on the dishes.

"Nic, don't you trust me? I mean, I made it this far with Kingsman," Eggsy said, turning his body to face Nicolette.

Nicolette let out a sigh. She finished washing the last dish and placed it on the drying rack before turning to face Eggsy.

"I do trust you, Eggsy. But, I don't know if I can handle talking about everything you're going to ask about," Nicolette said, turning to face Eggsy head on, "If you want to talk, then fine. But I'm not going to talk in the kitchen."

Nicolette then dried her hands before making her way back upstairs to the room they had slept in. She heard Eggsy's footsteps behind her as well as the click of Tori's claws on the floor. The young woman sat on the unkempt bed and looked up to see Eggsy enter the room.

"Who was Lancelot?" Eggsy asked.

"He was the Kingsman agent who proposed me," Nicolette said simply, skirting any further detail.

"But who was he?"

"That's not important, Eggsy."

"Yes, it is. Because he was your dad, wasn't he?"

"How did you-?"

"Harry told me. Not directly at first, but he confirmed it."

Nicolette didn't say anything. Instead, she looked away from Eggsy.

"And I know that the last Lancelot died. You not answerin' when I asked told me that," Eggsy said, kneeling down in front of Nicolette.

Nicolette bit her lower lip.

"Talk to me, Nic," Eggsy said, carefully taking one of Nicolette's hands between his own.

Nicolette let out a sigh while looking down at her hand before speaking, "Thomas was retiring, and Merlin had convinced Arthur to establish the position of Guinevere. My father had asked both Ben and me if we wanted to go into the running for the positions. Ben turned it down, after he learned that your father had died and ours nearly did. He argued about how our mother would take it if any of us were killed. Then he tried to get me to say no. I trusted my father, and I knew that he would only ask if he thought we could handle it.

"In the end I was the one who got the position of Guinevere. My father then continued to help me fine tune my abilities in the field while Merlin and I also worked together in the tech lab. It was all going so smoothly. I was gaining a solid reputation among the Kingsmen and my father was proud of the agent I had become."

"If things were going so well, why didn't you say a thing to me all that time? I kept askin' Ben to tell you I wanted to talk," Eggsy said softly.

"I know," Nicolette said in an equally soft tone, tears starting to prick her eyes, "But I never knew what I was going to say; how I was going to explain myself.

"But then my father was killed while trying to rescue someone who had been kidnapped. That left the Kingsmen without a Lancelot, my family without my father, and a Medal of Valor in my hands, like you.

"You know," Nicolette let out a small chuckle through the tears, "When I went to give the medal to Ben, as our mother requested, he pushed for me to quit Kingsman. But, if I had listened to Ben, then I wouldn't have seen you grow into a man with the promise of being an excellent Kingsman.

"Merlin thought it was interesting how, we both displayed the promise of being excellent Kingsman agents, just like our fathers."

Saying that, Nicolette reached her breaking point in the conversation. For the first time since she learned of his death, Nicolette began to cry. However, this wasn't just a few tears like before; this was proper crying.

Seeing this, Eggsy let go of Nicolette's hand and wrapped her in a hug, allowing the young woman to cry into his shoulder. He sat beside her, still holding her, running a calm hand up and down her back, attempting to show the young woman that he was there for her.

"I lost my dad," Nicolette said through the tears into Eggsy's shoulder, clinging to the young man as she cried.

"I know, I know," Eggsy said quietly as he continued to run his hand up and down Nicolette's back.

It was as if Eggsy was attempting to return the favor for all the times Nicolette had been strong for him when they were younger.

Much like how her father had tried to repay his.