Chapter 27: Family reunion 2 (Sophia and Samantha)

(Pov Sophia)

Her brother looked worse than he had the last time she had been here. Which was just before the war started. She really didn't like being here. She couldn't even look at him properly. She wanted to throw up every time she did.

If she just hadn't done that stupid ritual, he would have been fine. He would have spent the last few weeks with his girlfriends and not slowly rotting away in a hospital bed. 

He hated her. Of course he did; how could he not? Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction certainly hadn't brought it back. Worse than that, it almost killed her brother.

“It's not your fault, Sophia.” Her brother's voice was gentle and quiet.

Sophia's eyes snapped up, locking onto her brother's eyes for the first time in weeks. “What do you mean, not my fault?!” She seethed. “Of course it's my fault. If I hadn't done that fucking ritual, you would be home now. Not…” She desperately motioned to the room around them.

How could he not see that! Did he actually get brain damage from it all? The doctors had been worried about that after all.

Her brother's lips curled slightly at the edges. “Probably, but you didn't shoot me. And I won't have you blaming yourself for me getting shot; it's a lot more complicated than that.” He hesitated slightly, seeming to catch his breath. When he continued, his voice was shaking slightly. “ I am just so glad you weren't home. I am happy they pinned it on me instead of you. Or on mom and dad.”

Sophia blinked. This fucking dumbass. Here he was, having spent weeks on Death's perverted doorstep, and he was fucking happy that it hadn't been them. It only strengthened her desire to vomit. And on top of all that, he still admitted she did the thing that led to this entire mess. 

“Jason, I might not have shot you, but that doesn't make it not my fault. I still made them come to our house. I got us noticed. I broke the law.” Her voice grew harder as she spoke.

Her brother nodded, the motion stiff and obviously difficult. “Yeah, you did. But if Jasmine didn't have the book, you wouldn't have gotten your hands on it. She also had it illegally; she also broke the law. If Jasmine hadn't shown up, I would have been dragged off to some prison for the rest of my life.” He paused. “But I wouldn't have been shot. She came because I pushed the button for her, telling her to.”

Sophia's hands were pulling at her hair. “Jason, don't you get it?! Me doing that ritual achieved nothing positive whatsoever. I still would have gotten my apprenticeship, you wouldn't be here, and Mom and Dad would have spent the last few weeks going through hell. I did that; I stole Jasmine's book, I did the ritual,  I… I hoped to be noticed when I did.” She could taste the shame laced through her last words as she spoke them.

Jason chuckled. And despite everything, she felt some of the tension in her shoulders disappear at the sound. “Of course you did. You always were ambitious, weren't you.” He looked at her with a faint smile that could only be described as indulgent. “But that's my sister. Please don't change that because of this. You got the family brains; you gotta use them.”

Sophia wanted to screech. “Can you take this seriously?! I got you shot! I practically put you in a coma myself!”

“Sophia, I got shot because I called Jasmine for help.” 

Sophia blinked. “What?”

Jason drew a steadying breath. “Turns out the best way to prevent a pissed-off Noctian from killing an entire platoon of spec ops people is to keep her busy. The best way to do that is to severely injure, but not immediately kill, her boyfriend. It worked too. Now that isn't to say I regret calling her; I don't. But I wouldn't be here either way if I hadn't.”

What the fuck!?

“Jason… That–” Sophia's hands tightened around the duvet on the bed. “ –... It doesn't change that much. They wouldn't be there at all if I… I hadn't.” Her voice shook as she struggled to hold back her tears. 

It was stupid, so fucking stupid. he just couldn't see it. Why couldn't he see it?

A shaky, cold, and bone-thin hand fell weakly onto her own. The motion tore her eyes from where they had locked onto the bed, back to her brother's face. “Please, Sophia, don't blame yourself.”

Somehow he looked worse than he did when the conversation started, far, far worse. It took effort for her not to be consumed by the pit forming in her stomach. This conversation could have waited. Couldn't it? Was it really that important to him? Of fucking course it is. He had always been like that. He wasn't going to let this go either.

She let out a heavy, shaky sigh. “Fine. I'll try.”

“Thank you, Sophia.” Her brother hesitated before speaking slowly, though it sounded like it came more from exhaustion than anything else. “Now I would love to hear how the last part of the school year went, and hear about your apprenticeship. But I really need a nap if I can get one. And you have to go eat.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, I'll let you get your beauty sleep.” She said as she started to get up. “Sleep tight, Jason.”

She heard Jason say something in return as she left the room.

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(Pov Samantah Smallers)

“I am surprised there aren't more places to eat close to the hospital.” Her husband said, stopping briefly as he devoured his kebab. He had always said he didn't like them. She knew it was a front; the man loved the things. He simply refused to admit it. It was both infuriating and endearing. He had a lot of those, though their kids had never noticed much. But that was just how kids were. It also meant some parts of him were hers.

It was a pertinent question, though. The hospital itself was oddly placed, being relatively isolated. There wasn't much of anything of note nearby.

“Mmh.” Jasmine wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “The hospital is owned by the clans collectively. We started setting it up in secret just before the war started. It was easier to set it up here than anywhere else in the city. Well, West Star was doing it, but...” She didn't need to finish the sentence. After all, her future daughter-in-law, and what an odd thought that was, had mentioned that the clans were heavily involved in West Star; they might even outright own it. 

“Why?” Daniel said from next to her. 

“Mostly it was a corporate secrecy thing. I wasn't involved in that particular project. But it seemed to be to prevent the local hospitals from knowing they would have competition. It was also partly intended to serve the clans internally. So we needed to build parts of it in… Abnormal ways. Not all of us are noctian, or baseline human.” Jasmine said matter-of-factly. 

The conversation continued on relatively amicably as they ate.

“So anyway we… that is to say Jason and I.” Samantha smirked, hearing Chloe correct herself.

Samantha studied the somewhat awkward interactions between her future daughters-in-law. Both were far too polite, and used an odd combination of we, I, and us. They did seem to get along, though, but she suspected they weren't all that used to it yet. Not that she knew any better; she had never had to share a man with anyone. Well, except for that one night in high school, but that wasn't a long-term relationship.

A small part of her wanted to chastise them for it. But she couldn't; if it made Jason happy, that was fine. And it wasn't like the Bible wasn't filled with examples of it. Most were Old Testament, sure. But that didn't mean it didn't happen. Largely, it was because God created Adam and Eve, one for the other. Yet whatever Jasmine might or might not be, she was still one of God's creations. A more recent one, apparently, but it still counted. And from what she had read, her kind did not have a one-to-one ratio of the sexes in their kids. No, the bible told stories of polygamy. It was rarely in a favorable light; many of the stories were warnings. But that didn't mean they couldn't find ways to avoid those fates. 

She had never forbidden her son from having relationships, simply bringing back bastards, or divorcing. And he appeared to be on the path to neither. The secrecy, however… that was the worst of it. She understood why he hadn't told them about Jasmine; they would have had him admitted if he'd come talking about marrying a vampire seriously. 

She would need to chastise him for not telling them he was engaged. Once he could walk again. An uncomfortable shiver ran down her spine at the thought of having that conversation with his diminished, bedridden form now. That was not happening.

The door to the Kabab shop clattered shut, and Samantha saw her daughter walking towards them. Sophia had taken longer than she thought she would. It must have been a long…

“Sophia, dear. Are you ok?” The girl had bloodshot eyes and clear signs of tears that had dried on her cheeks.

Sophia gave her a forced smile, chuckling hoarsely. “I am fine, Mom. I am just relieved Jason's fine, and it hit me hard on the way over."

Samantha, like most mothers, had known her daughter since she was born. The tension in her voice, and the way her eyes couldn't quite hold eye contact, screamed at her that she wasn't being told the whole truth. Though it didn't seem like a complete fabrication, more like something was being… excluded. 

It was best not to push, at least right now. The girl hadn't eaten since lunch. The sun was already setting. Food would make her feel better.

As her daughter sat down next to her, she dragged her into a long hug. When she finally released the girl, her shoulders had untensed a little bit more.

“Here, it's with extra chicken.” She handed her daughter the chicken kebab lying next to her own. Sophia had never told them what she wanted from the menu. However, mother always knows.