[07] Mending Fences & Finding Closure - Part II

[callmeles]

Mending Fences & Finding Closure
Part Two


Twenty minutes later found the two of them sitting on the floor of his obnoxiously posh penthouse, wearing sweatpants and tank tops.

Piper brought the bottle of Jameson up to her mouth and took a drink. She wasn’t sure why, but she really hadn’t considered staying long enough to change but when he offered her the clothes (read: handed her a change of clothes without being asked) she took them and went to the guest bedroom to change. It probably said a lot about her own mental state that she didn’t put up a fight. If only for pretense's sake.

By the time she’d come back, there was ice cream, multiple bottles of liquor, the promised cigars, and chocolate. Instead of deep sadness (though it was still there) she expected the scene to bring her (sans cigars, it was everything she and Jordan would have at a girl’s night), it brought a tiny smile to her mouth.

For Adonis, it had taken this long for Piper to get to this point, he was not going to half-ass this. He watched as she took a drink then brought his own bottle up to his mouth for a swig. He was content sitting here with her like this. It had been a long time and hell, even before then they never really did this. They were always at each other’s throats and annoying one another, either intentionally or unintentionally.

For Piper, it had been a long time since she had sat down like this with just about anyone. While she had some acquaintances around the world, they weren’t friends or people she necessarily trusted. Adonis, despite everything, she trusted. It was hard, now that she was here, sitting like this with him, to start talking.

After five minutes and three pieces of chocolate later, Piper exhaled a sigh and took another drink from the bottle before setting it down. “I’m sorry,” she finally said, sliding her fingers over the label before raising her gaze to Adonis’. “You lost so much that night and,” she stopped to clear her throat. “And I just left right after the ritual… the funeral.”

“Piper –“

“No, please, let me finish. If I don’t I never will,” she said with a harsh laugh before picking up another piece of chocolate. “I felt my world collapsing that night. Jordan and I were connected through the bond and without her here, it’s like a part of me is missing. Despite how much I’ve trained it, my magic hurts because it knows that it’s missing the other half.” Piper cleared her throat. “Still,” she started again. “I have felt so guilty for so long. I felt guilty for the stupid argument that had us at each other’s throats. I felt guilty for not being on patrol with them. And, after a little while, I felt guilty that I wasn’t there for you, afterward. You lost your girlfriend and your sire that night and… I can’t imagine the pain you had to go through.”

Without her noticing, Adonis had moved in closer to her and took her hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “Piper,” he said, once she fell silent. “What you described about missing Jordan… that’s a bit how it feels missing Dom… David.” He took a moment to think over his choice of words. “I never held that against you – for running, that is,” he continued. “I didn’t exactly handle it much better. I turned back to my former self, the vampire I had been before we were David and Ben and before we obtained guardianship of Mercedes. During those days, we weren’t exactly good guys.” He couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at the few years they had spent trying to lead a ‘human’ existence.

Adonis stayed silent for a moment as he made his bottle appear in his hand then took a drink. “You know, for a few years, I felt guilty as well, for not being on that patrol instead of David. I should have been there with her, backing her up. And, we can keep going around and around like this but, ultimately, it was those bastards who got to them and overwhelmed them,” he said, looking at Piper squarely. “We got there as soon as we could, Piper. We got every single one of them back where it hurts the most as revenge.”

Honestly, he had been pretty damn proud of her and for accomplishing it.

Piper tightened her fingers around his and bit on her lip. “I miss them every single damn day and it hurts,” she said, softly.

“Me too and it’s always going to hurt, Pip,” he said. “But, you and I are going to live for a long time and knowing both of them as well as we do – you know they’re going to kick both of our asses when we eventually see them again for even letting it go on for this long without finding some kind of closure.”

She laughed and nodded. “Especially Jordan,” she said with a little smile. “You know, I told her so often that if she somehow died on me, I would find some way of bringing her ass back and… I tried several times. And, I still try when I think I've found something different.”

“I did too.”

“Fuck, we’re pathetic,” Piper said bringing the bottle back up to her mouth for another drink. She had a higher than average tolerance for alcohol, so she wasn’t exactly feeling anything yet. Which was rather annoying.

“I like to call it dedicated… loyal,” Adonis said with an amused smirk.

Piper nodded and glanced up to the canvas hanging over the mantle of the four of them. Although physically, neither of them had changed all that much, it still felt like lifetimes ago. “It really is a good portrait of the four of us,” she said, her voice softer now. “It feels like a lifetime ago.”

Adonis looked up at the portrait he’d had commissioned and nodded. “It does. Even for a vampire,” he mused, staring at David’s face with his arm around Piper then at Jordan who was leaning against himself. “It’s hard to look at it sometimes but… when you live as long as I have, death is part of the cycle. I just didn’t expect it to come so soon for them.”

“It shouldn’t have,” Piper whispered and rest her head on Adonis’ shoulder. This was a position she never thought they’d be in but now that she was here, she was glad she made the decision to come tonight.

She felt… lighter than she had in a long time.

They stayed quiet for another few minutes before Adonis spoke again. “So, tomorrow we’ll go see them,” he said. “It’s… been just as long for me since I’ve been there.” The memorial they had put together was at the house they’d all lived in when they chose to settle in England for a while. He was sure the house would not be super thrilled with either of them for having gone so long without visiting but… it was time.

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

Part III