Blackbourne Investigations 02 - Consequences

Chapter 37 - Baby Steps

Dedicated to Monkey5764378turtles - who never gave up.

Sorry is short - it's a start - just a teensy baby step :)

The door swung open, Gabriel and Victor stepping inside.

"She's staying?" Gabriel threw the question toward Kota, as he strode towards me. Kota nodded as he moved toward the bench, crouching down to start picking up broken pieces of china from the floor.

"Thank f*ck that's over, now give me some sugar Sang."

I could feel the smile stretching across my face as I danced toward them, catching Victor's eyes as he stepped forward.

"Princess, enquiring minds want to know...where on earth did you learn to hotwire a car?"

~~~

"It's a long story involving an old job of mine," I stated dismissively before mentally pulling myself up. I had decided to be more open with them, to trust them more. This was where it started, sharing parts of myself, my history with them when they asked instead of avoiding answering. "I worked reception at a mechanics part-time once. They didn't need me much, just a few hours invoicing and keeping their filing, pays and mail under control."I stopped, unsure if that was more information than Victor was looking for. I didn't have much experience with this open thing.

Victor moved closer, his gaze burning with intensity. "What mechanic was this?"

I glanced around the room, everyone seemed to be occupied; Kota studiously picking up the broken pieces of china from the ground, Gabriel unpacking a bag on the bench, Silas and North had both appeared and seemed to be having an long moment perusing the pantry together, their shoulders pushing for space as they both stood there silent. Were they all listening or was that my imagination?

My hand fluttered in front of me as I picked through my thoughts, what did I tell? How much did he really want to know? I didn't want to tell them everything. I couldn't tell them everything. But what pieces of me I could give them, I would try.

Victor plucked my hand from the air and tugged me toward the couch I had just vacated. Pulling me down beside him, he settled into the corner of the couch, my fingers still tangled with his. He leaned forward until I could feel him crowding me, making me pull my attention from what everyone else was doing and focus on him.

"You did invoicing, filing, pays..." his voice trailed off as he waited for my response. His eyes had the faintest shadows under them, his collar unbuttoned and casual. My fingers fluttered nervously as I pondered his words. Why was this so hard? Victor tightened his grip on my fingers, before clasping my hand in both of his, cool fingers softly tracing up and down my own.

I sucked in a deep breath. "It was a small garage in Denver," I breathed out a relieved sigh, "Colorado." I tacked on. "It was a good business, they did a great job. They dealt more with classic cars and rebuilding them rather than the average car. Like I said, I mainly did office work but-ah- the owner was kind." I slunk back a bit in the seat, trying to describe the situation. "He didn't like that I didn't know how to drive and kind-of made it his mission to make sure I could."

"And a part of driving is learning how to hot-wire a car?" He didn't mention the location, honing in on the skill I had learned, a smile was curling his lips as he watched me struggling to explain.

"For him, yes." I smiled remembering my experience, the owner had been abrupt and surly as a wounded bear but he had been determined. "He was quite thorough. He would bring random cars in and make me try different models. Obviously the older cars are easier, it gets a big trickier when you're working with car immobilisers and having to-"

There was a sudden thud from the kitchen jerking my attention away from Victor. North pushed a canister further onto the bench muttering, "F*ck, that's hot."

Kota straightened his glasses from where he was, now at the kitchen sink, fiddling with the faucet while Gabriel leaned against the bench, chin propped in his hand as he shamelessly watched us. "Go on." He prompted.

What more did they want? I had started waxing lyrical over the different ways to hot-wire a car, there had to be better ways to be more open. I condensed the situation, "So I know how to drive and do the oil change, tyres," I shrugged, "hot-wire obviously, that sort of thing. I just don't have my license." Luke had asked me once if I knew how to drive a car. I had brushed him off then, trying to hide myself, not wanting to delve into my past. He had told me they could fix that. That he could fix that. Learn to shoot a gun, to successfully pick a lock, to drive a car, or in this case, legally be able to. I straightened a little happily. "But Luke will help me with that." He didn't know that I could drive, but he had offered to help and I had cautiously told him I would like that.

"Luke?" North grumbled, "You sure? Sang baby, I can help you with that." His dark eyes gleamed at me.

Kota twisted from his position at the sink and shot Silas domineering look, prompting Silas to reach out a long arm and flick the back of North's head.

The conversation continued, now with everyone adding a comment or question as I mentioned a little about Colorado and a few other places I had worked at previously around the country. No one asked why I travelled so much, more just drawing out details of my employments and what I had enjoyed about each city. Denver had been one of the first places I had run to, Denver being close to where I had grown up. Denver had been the last place I had actually worked and gone by my birth name, Sang. Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois - other states, other names and memories behind me.

I had stuck to the bigger cities, utilising trains and buses to travel between. The Amtrack was my go-to website, checking the usual schedule for trains just to know - just in case. I didn't know where I would go if I had to leave Charleston. I didn't want leave.

The bag Gabriel had unpacked on the bench contained a new phone for me. Everyone settled around the apartment, working in the kitchen, at laptops at the bench and some technical wire covered object was created at the coffee table. Victor showed me the different functions of my new phone as he had months before, his elegant fingers tapping over the screen, adding contacts and adjusting settings. There was satisfaction in his every movement as he swiped and tapped away, pausing to explain the different apps he had installed. I inched closer on the couch, discovering an irrational desire to be touching one of them at all times. I leaned forward slightly, my thigh and shoulder lightly brushing Victor's as I peered down at the phone. His head shot up causing me to blink in surprise. His face was very, very close to mine. I sucked in a breath, frozen, caught. His lips curved into a smile and his fingers lifted, trailing softly over my cheek before reaching and tangling into my hair. He gently tugged me forward, brushing his lips over my forehead and settling me under his arm. I settled in, one part ridiculously happy, feeling safe, warm, content. The other part was nervous, eyes darting around the room taking in everyone's relaxed expressions as they carried on.

The flat screen blared to life and Victor dropped the remote onto the arm of the couch beside him. My new phone neatly lined up beside. When had he put that there? I blinked stupidly before deciding that was a problem for another day, for now, I would relax in this moment.

With them.