Christmas morning

[1stmacleod]

Connor sleeps sprawled, one foot hanging out from under the covers, recovering from a late-night indulgence of spiked eggnog. It's tradition.
The bedroom door creaks open, a quiet sound of protest that would normally wake him, but it goes unregarded. A figure lingers in the doorway cautiously, assessing him, and then creeps slowly into the room to stop a few feet away. There's another pause, another quiet moment of thought, and then the gentle tugging on Connor's arm begins.
"Dad? Dad?"
He groans, and tries to shake off the touch without opening his eyes.
"Dad? It's Christmas dad! Pleeeease?"
One grey eye opens, and blearily regards the boy. Dark-haired and dusky tan from the sun, John stands by the bed with his best pleading look. He grasps his father's arm again gently, but doesn't pull. The clock reads barely past six A.M.
"I could make you coffee!"
Connor pictures John on a stool at the kitchen counter, spilling coffee beans on the floor and trying to work the grinder. He groans again. "No. Just... half an hour more?"
John says nothing, sinking down to sit beside the bed. He watches his father with a sorrowful gaze, waiting. Connor can feel it through closed eyelids.
"...Has it been half an hour yet dad?"
Connor collects himself with a sound halfway between a groan and a chuckle, rubbing his eyes. Who can be annoyed at a child for being impatient on Christmas morning? He shakes his head a little, bemused, and looks to the side of the bed again.

John isn't there.

This isn't the house in Marrakesh, it's Kairos' home in the mountains in France, and there are no children here to badger him awake, or lead him grumbling in his bathrobe out to the tree, or tear the paper impatiently off boxes of toys.

The clock still reads barely past six A.M. and it's Christmas morning, but the house is quiet, and Connor is alone in his room. He stares blankly at the place beside his bed where John would be, until it's almost half an hour, a real half hour that even the ghost of John won't let him sleep in.

He gets up, after that, because there's no way he can sleep. Regina doesn't mind an early morning walk, and then he makes tea, instead of coffee, because he can do it without letting the kettle whistle or any other noises that might wake Kairos. Then he sits in the living room, looking at Christmas, and seeing other trees and other mornings. When he hears Kairos stirring he's quick to make coffee, and seeing her makes him smile. He's got a girlfriend who loves him, and he's gradually relaxing into a more idyllic life than he ever thought he could have again. Connor is deeply grateful, but he has moments of wistfulness all through the morning and the rest of the day.
Some part of him worries about just how damn much scotch people have given him for Christmas, and part of him worries even more that he'll be drinking a lot of it, tonight.

Comments

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She wraps her arms around him. "It's been lovely. I'm so glad I could do all this for you."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"And you... really want to look for a house together?" He smiles, but a little nervously. It sounds like heaven, but some part of him is still walking on eggshells with that idea. He set out to make a perfect life with a woman before, and it ended in tragedy. Twice.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

She nods, a little nervous herself. "I .. yeah, I do. It doesn't mean that you're .. tied down, or whatever. But .. well. You're happy here, right? And I'm happy too.."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Kai... I... just because I've spent most of my life alone doesn't mean I like it." He sighs, but the truth is he's a family man at heart. unlike some men, he's never really thought of it as a ball and chain. A good home, steady work, a wife and a few kids is his dream life.

"I'm happy here, as much as I can be right now. I'm just... nervous." He looks apologetic and guilty over it, too.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"No need to be nervous. Or. Well. It's okay to be nervous. We're not rushing anything. If it makes you feel better, we can think of it as roommates moving in together."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connor gives her a little squeeze, and rests his face against her hair. "No. I want to think of it as what it is. I love you, Kai. I'm just afraid, because I've lost what I love too many times. Too soon."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"I'm here to stay. I promise. I love you too."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"The world doesn't always... keep those promises." He sighs and squeezes her close, as if he never wants to let her go again. "But thanks. Maybe... this time things will turn out right. Jacob's gone..."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"And while the threats here in Sanctuary are very real, I tend to avoid them." She squeezes back.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"You know, I've been accused of paranoia before..." He smiles weakly, but his experiences have given him good cause for it.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Well. I haven't seen Zian since Phil broke his hand, so that threat - as ridiculous as he was - isn't there anymore. And the darkness hasn't encroached any more areas..." See! No reason to panic!

((Oh, what Connor isn't familiar with in his adopted world!))

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Connr squeezes her just a little tighter, face half buried in her hair and very possessive and protective. That's not exactly reassuring. Connor has made tentative friends in Clark, April, and a couple of other people, but he's still a little lost about the people in Kai's social circle. Every time he hears about them and what they get up to, he worries.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"It's okay, you know. Sanctuary really is safer than most places outside."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"Safer than New York." He nods against her. "Or at least if there's daily muggings and... things, here, I don't hear about it."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"The police are really good. Unless the bad guys are really talented in shielding, most of the crime can be circumvented by the psychics on the force. The big draw tends to be in human trafficking." Zian had wanted her to sign a contract to basically make her an indentured servant.

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

Psychics and human trafficking... He's had experience around the latter, actually, but never approved of it. "Well... where are we moving to, this new house we'll be looking for? Are we staying in France, or...?" With the Nexus, the possibilities are endless, and that's a little overwhelming.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Well. My sister and her husband live not too far away from town. There's a couple homes out that way."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"What kind of area? Anywhere I could have a forge without bothering the neighbors?" He wouldn't mind staying in France, it's pretty clear from his accent that he's spent a lot of time there, but of course he's yearning for anyplace beside the ocean. He's also not sure what her twin would think of him living nearby. He didn't make such a great first impression.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"It's out in the middle of no where. Jake's got angelic blood, so there's always this desire to be away from people." The prayers got louder and louder. "He likes to commune with nature. So there's a huge lake, and it's heavily wooded.. only a couple of houses in the area. Most of them aren't in town, so a lot of people don't wanna live there."

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

"...Sounds a little like where I grew up..." He muses thoughtfully. Connor doesn't commune with nature so much as he goes native, but she'll probably find that out sooner or later.

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Sound like something we want to look into then?"

[1stmacleod.livejournal.com]

He nods. "It sounds beautiful. I'd still like to be on the coast, but I guess thanks to those PINpoint things, no place is ever far away."

[kairos-aether.livejournal.com]

"Leaving Sanctuary would be more dangerous than I'd like," she confesses.