Gathering Storm (5 page)

Her black hair was three
inches longer and falling around her pixie face in waves. Her blue
eyes had changed color and were going toward green. The yellow
nightgown that she’d been wearing when she went to sleep, which
cinched like a sack several inches below her feet, now gaped around
her chubby little knees and the upper body was stretched so tight
it looked like it might have to be ripped away.

The doorbell rang. Litha looked at Storm in
a panic.

"It's probably your mother. You're going to
have to make up a story. She can't see Rosie."

Storm practically leaped into a pair of
jeans and pulled a tee shirt over his head as he was jogging toward
the front door.

When he opened the door
and didn’t step aside to welcome her in, his mother looked him up
and down. "What's wrong?"

"Um. Baby's sick. We were
up with her all night."
Thank
Paddy.
Ram's ability to lie on cue must
have finally rubbed off on him.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Let me make breakfast."

"No, mom, that's wonderful of you, but we
want to find out what the doctor says before we expose her to any
more people. You understand."

"Yes. Well. You'll let me
know if I can do something?"

"Of course. Thank you.
Sorry to shuffle you off. I'll call you soon as we're cleared for
company."

"I'm not company!" She sounded offended.

"No... I... ah...."

"Never mind. I know what you meant. Take
care of Litha and Rose."

"Rosie," he corrected. "And I will. Talk to
you later." He felt like a scumbag for closing the door in his
mother's face, but he had bigger problems than a mom with hurt
feelings.

Way bigger.

He walked back to the nursery halfway hoping
that, when he arrived, he would find a six-week-old baby. No such
luck.

The next hour was a blur.
Litha estimated Rosie's age at six months. She fashioned a
makeshift diaper out of a dish towel and sat down in the rocking
chair to feed the baby. Rosie was happy enough to lie in her
mother's arms while she ate, but she promptly took the bottle away
from Litha and held it in her own two hands. Litha looked down into
green eyes that mirrored her own and said, "I wasn't ready to give
that up yet, little girl."

Rosie stopped sucking for
a minute like she was contemplating what was being said. She
smiled, but she didn't offer to relinquish the bottle. That smile
stole Litha’s breath. She was sure she’d never seen anything as
beautiful since the day the gorgeous knight had walked into the
Headquarters building in Edinburgh.

Storm returned home with clothes and diapers
to fit a six-month-old and jars of organic baby food to supplement
the formula.

"How did you know what kind of baby food to
get?"

"I Giggled it."

"Oh." Litha started
looking through the selection. "What is Tutti Fruiti?"

"Ah. Mixed fruit?" Litha
read the label, looked at Storm like he was a moron, and
unceremoniously dropped the jar in the trash. He pinched the bridge
of his nose. "I’m guessing there's a learning curve."

Elora was eager to see the
reported changes in Rosie, so she was invited to come to what had
been known for a while as Thursday Night Dinner With
Glen.

Glen arrived first. He and
the demon popped in as Litha was on the verge of giving Storm a
lecture on nutrition. She stopped when she saw that Glen had
arrived. Turning toward him with the baby straddling her hip, Litha
smiled and opened her mouth to welcome her husband’s protégé, but
the greeting was upstaged by Rosie’s delighted giggle. The baby
clapped her little hands, making up for what she lacked in
coordination with enthusiasm and squealed, "Glen!"

Deliverance, who had
dropped Glen and gone back for Elora, arrived with the auntie in
tow seconds later. They found three adults frozen and staring at
Rosie.

Elora looked around the
room. “What’d I miss?”

Sol summoned Storm to Jefferson Unit. It was
easy enough for him to get a ride with Deliverance because the
demon showed up to gush over Rosie every damn day.

"You wanted to see me?"

"Sir Storm. Come in. Should thank you for
not just barging in whenever the hell you feel like it."

"You do know I'm retired and have absolutely
no obligation whatsoever to come when you call. So. You’re
welcome.”

Sol harrumphed. "I need something from
you."

"Imagine that."

The Sovereign narrowed his eyes. "Is this
attitude new or have you been hiding a belligerent side all
along?"

Storm smiled brightly. "You'll never
know."

"The reason why I asked you here is this.
Things are kind of quiet for a change so I'm thinking I might slip
away for a few days of vacation."

Storm barked out a laugh.

"Vacation? That's how you're gonna play it?
Come on. You churned up a shit storm with your future bride and had
to promise a romantic getaway to smooth things over."

Sol's brows drew together. "How did you know
that?"

Storm plopped into a chair laughing.

"How indeed? I told you you've got a lot to
learn about women." He leaned forward with mischief written all
over his normally serious face. "And I hope this make-up interlude
costs you dearly."

"What did I ever do to you?"

Storm gaped, then looked at his watch. "You
have the rest of the day for me to get started on that list?"

Sol stared at Storm for a few beats, clearly
uncomfortable with the idea of asking for favors. "The point is
that I need somebody to cover for me. I thought maybe I could leave
you in charge with Catch acting as assistant."

"For how long?"

"Four weeks."

Storm started chuckling all over again.
"Four weeks? You really did bite it, didn't you?" Sol looked a
little beaten and confused so Storm gave him a little pity
slack.

“Neither one of us has ever done vacation.
We’ve got years of paid leave in accrual. I figure it might take a
couple of weeks just for workaholics like the two of us to figure
out how to ‘do’ vacation. There’s never going to be a better time.
Jefferson making the transition to research and training, well, you
and I both know the place doesn’t really need someone like me.”

Storm studied Sol for a minute, trying to
read between the lines. With a guy like Sol there was always more
going on that would be spoken out loud.

"Tell you what. I'll come in for half a day
and make sure the building is still standing for triple time and a
half. Glen can handle the rest for trainee allowance."

Sol pursed his lips. "Triple time and a
half. That the best I can get?"

"Final offer. I’ve learned a lot about
negotiating from my wife. And I have a kid to send to college." Sol
nodded his agreement like he couldn’t bring himself to vocalize the
word yes. "When are you leaving?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Got your speedo packed?"

"Out!"

Storm left laughing to himself, enjoying
Sol’s discomfort with stepping outside his comfort zone immensely.
He planned to get in a quick workout before heading home and was
still chuckling when he got to the elevator.

Elora was getting off. “What’s so
funny?”

“The image of Sol on a romantic
vacation.”

“Okay. Not sure I want to share your vision.
But I wanted to ask you about something else. What’s the deal with
Z Team? You have some bad history with them?”

“Not exactly. I just think that bestowing
knighthoods on them is ludicrous. It makes a laughing stock of us
all.”

“Why?”

“Because, Elora, they’re loose cannons.
Rebellious anarchists who are proud of their non-conformity, and
their first loyalty is to their teammates and not to The
Order.”

Elora laughed in his face. “Storm! You just
described B Team. It sounds like the only difference between them
and us is that we dress better, sometimes, and don’t wear ink.”

“
You know what the other
knights call them? Team Fuck Up! Say what you want, but B Team
didn’t end up in Marrakesh, the last outpost before you fall off
the Earth.”

“Okay. Okay. Calm down. You just act like
they’re a personal affront.”

“They are. That’s what I’m trying to tell
you.”

“You resent them.”

“Yes.” Elora tried to make her features as
blank as possible. “You think I’m being a self-righteous
prick.”

“I did not say that.”

“Well, you didn’t have to. I know you.”

“Not that well.”

“Really? Then tell me I’m wrong about what
you were thinking.” Elora opened her mouth to argue, but ended up
laughing because he’d nailed it. “Like I said. I. Know. You.”

“Kay. Have a good day.”

He smiled and saluted.

The next morning Storm and
Litha awoke to the sounds of a happy little girl coming from the
next room. As they lay in bed and looked into each other’s eyes,
each wondered if the other was reading their thoughts, which were a
conflicting mixture of delight and dread. They couldn’t wait to see
what changes in Rosie the morning might bring. At the same time,
they were in no hurry to see what might have happened
overnight.

When they heard the
sweetest voice in the universe say, “Momma. Daddy,” they watched
each other as they mirrored a reaction that went from slack-jaw
surprise to smiling eyes. Okay. So it wasn’t going to be an average
family living an average life. Had either of them been naïve enough
to expect that? Well, maybe. But people who were extra-human,
married to other people who were extra-human, should be smart
enough to know better. These were the thoughts that ran through the
minds of Rosie’s parents as they watched each other silently come
to terms with their unusual circumstances.

Storm pulled Litha close for a quick snuggle
and a smooch on the lips.

“We better go get our
little girl before she starts calling Child Protective
Services.”

Litha smiled. “Go ahead
and joke, but she probably knows how to use a phone.”

The two of them rolled out
on opposite sides of the bed and then raced each other to the
nursery giggling, eager to see what the day had in store for the
three of them. As they suspected, it was an adventure in parenting.
A unique adventure.

Rosie was standing up
holding onto the end of her crib, laughing at them as they came
through the door. Her dark curly hair was a tousled mess, three
inches longer than the day before and her eyes had settled into the
deep emerald gemstone color of Litha’s.

“Hey, little girl.” Litha
reached to pick her up.

Storm said, “Are you sure you should be
lifting her? I don’t think your body is healing at the same rate
she’s maturing.”

“I’m fine,” Litha said smiling at Rosie.

Rosie hummed and leaned
toward Storm. She reached a fat little dimpled hand toward his
cheek and patted. He was already a fool for the child, but that
affectionate little gesture tightened the bindings around his heart
making fatherhood feel almost painful.

“Oh. So you like the big guy, do you? Well,
who could blame you? He’s one of a kind. And you could certainly do
worse.”

He swallowed a lump that
caught in his throat while he listened to Litha massage Rosie’s
little spirit with soothing mother talk. She got the baby out of a
tight wet nightgown to ready her for a bath. While they were so
occupied, Storm called Glen and explained the situation.

“I don’t have to tell you
that this is FYI. She appears to be maturing about six months every
day. If this continues, she’ll be grown in a month.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. Exactly. Here’s the
thing. It’s priority organization time and she’s my priority. I’m
not going to miss being here while she grows up. So here’s what I’m
going to do. I’ll get Deliverance to bring me to lunch every day at
one and pick me up at two. If you need to bounce something off me,
or run it by me, you’ll get an hour a day. Can you handle
that?”

“I think so. If a decision
had to be made that I didn’t feel good about making on my own, I
could get you on the phone. Right?”

“Absolutely, but highly unlikely. You’ve got
instincts that work overtime. I should probably call you with my
parenting questions.”

Glen laughed. “No, sir.
Jefferson Unit’s not that hard to manage, but I’m not taking
responsibility for that baby.”

Litha padded into the kitchen barefoot
carrying a clean, happy toddler on her hip. Storm relayed his
decision and his conversation with Glen.

“Can we arrange her
schedule so that she’s napping then? At least for the first couple
of days? If the pattern holds true, I’m guessing she’ll be too old
for naps by the end of the week.”

The wave of sadness that came over Litha’s
face made his stomach clench.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He moved toward her with a
purposeful determination that never failed to make her glad that
Storm was her man.
Fearlessness.
Beautiful.

Putting his arms around both his girls, he
kissed Litha’s temple. “Baby, which thing do you think was the
biggest clue that we weren’t candidates for an ordinary life:

“A. The fact that you’re a
witch?

“B. The fact that you’re a
demon’s daughter?

“C. The fact that you’re a
firestarter?

“Or D. the fact that I’m a
vampire hunter who’s also part demon?’