[9] Mending Fences & Finding Closure - Part IV

[callmeles]

Mending Fences & Finding Closure
Part Four


The house was just as they had left it after the ritual ten years before. Not a speck of dust in sight and a warmth she’d always felt from her home.

Piper stood in the doorway, only barely hearing the front door shut behind Adonis, and breathed in slowly.

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and found herself leaning into Adonis’ embrace, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. “I know,” he whispered, attempting to keep it together himself.

It took a long moment before they gathered themselves and started to walk through the home. Memories of their time here with David and Jordan was almost overwhelming.

Piper had come this far, she was not going to run away from the renewed grief she felt. It’d been too long as it was and recognizing how stubborn she was, if she didn’t do it now, it could be a hundred years before she returned. She couldn’t do that.

Not again.

“This house was always my favorite,” Adonis said, after a long stretch of silence. “We went in on it together… of course he had more money than I did saved up but still, I made sure I paid my half.”

Piper turned to look at him and spotted the half smile, his gaze distant.

“We didn’t stay often. He preferred his place in Spain, the one we took you both to during those years you were learning Spanish. And I enjoyed… well, let’s just say it didn’t really matter where I was, so long as there was lively nightlife nearby, if you catch my drift,” Adonis continued, barking out a laugh.

Jordan and she had heard stories of course but not as often as perhaps both wanted. Piper didn’t interrupt, he had been more patient than she ever truly gave him credit for the night before, so it was only right that he has his moment. When he fell silent though, Piper smiled. “You? No, I would’ve never guessed.”

“I know, somethings never change,” he retorted with a laugh, rolling of his eyes.

Piper fell silent as she walked over to the large bay window located in the family room that overlooked part of the immense backyard. “Once upon a time, I would’ve said that’s especially lame considering you’re a vampire but these days… I’m kind of glad there are some things that have remained consistent.”

“It’s the small things, yeah?” Adonis watched her for a moment before walking around the room. It was where they had spent most of their time – before they’d met the girls and after. On the side table closest to David’s favorite side of the couch was a first edition of Dante’s Inferno. On the coffee table was a novel about vampires (of all things) that was just sitting and waiting for Jordan to return to.

“Yeah,” she agreed with a little smile then turns from the window and watches him for a moment before looking around the room. Piper suddenly laughed, a hand coming up to her mouth. “Jesus, we had a ton of sex in here… fuck, not just in this room, in this house,” she managed to get out before being overtaken by her laughter again. “How many times did we almost walk in on each other…”

It was nice to laugh and not hold back.

Adonis couldn’t remember the last time he had truly heard her laugh and it was nice. He grinned, thinking back on those days. “One too many times,” he said with a chuckle.

They managed to pull themselves back together and made their way out of the family room and into the kitchen. “You know, when I’m in my apartment-“

“You mean your very posh penthouse with far too many windows?”

Adonis chuckled and sent her a look. “Yeah that place. It doesn’t matter where I’m at, I think about this kitchen,” Adonis admitted, sliding his hand over the granite countertop. “We decked it out with everything.”

Piper smiled. “Yeah, we did. Chantment was just getting started as The Place To Be and a world class chef had to have a world class kitchen.”

The vampire went silent as he thought back on those days. It felt so long ago, but they felt simpler back then. In those days, all they really had to deal with was Piper and Jordan’s work schedules and if there was an unruly demon in their city. Once everything happened, Adonis had stopped cooking for a while. It wasn’t like he really needed to as a vampire, but he had found an enjoyment in it. He liked cooking for people, those he cared about.

“They were far simpler times,” Piper said quietly after a minute, having been lost in her own thoughts.

Honestly, standing there, Piper had never regretted her teenage choices as much as she did right then. They should have had all the time in the world together, to hang out, to love, be in love and to live life. Piper had been so obsessed with “having it all” and “having a big girl job” that she worked too much and pushed herself too much to do it all right away.

Jordan and she both had.

They didn’t know what this ‘rest’ word was, but Piper had always been a bit worse. She always took it a step further and pushed herself when she didn’t need to. She took on those extra jobs when she didn’t really need to. She took extra language classes that she could have done later.

She could have spent all that time with Jordan and David.

Adonis nodded. “Yeah, they were.”

“Well look at that, it only took our deaths plus some time for them to agree on more than one thing,” a female voice from the past pipped up, her tone sounding amused.

Piper froze before spinning around to face that voice. She opened her mouth then closed it. “I…”

“Or about how much they loved us. It’s a shame it took this long,” the male voice standing next to her said, watching both with amusement.

Slowly, Adonis lifted his head and stared at the two ghosts? They looked real enough but… “How…”

“We’re not exactly sure,” Jordan admitted, watching Ben – no Adonis with a warm smile. “Majestic thought it may do you both some good to see… and speak to us in a sense using the magic she’d kept stored away. This house really has benefitted from both of our magics over the years,” she said, looking at Piper with a smile.