Fandom Into the fire (1x1 MzHyde/Gallifrog)

[MzHyde]

"trust me.. It doesn't. Your love of dark chocolate and the showing off with food doesn't either" Fia smirked, replying to him. She then stretched her hand out with the packet to offer up some more to him before deciding she should probably put them away before she eats her way through the entire packet, which she would easily do if given half a chance. She would have given the packet to John to keep her from eating the whole lot, but knew he would only eat it all himself so she decided her bag would be the best place for it if she was ever gonna have a hope in hell saving any of it.

With Kay suddenly nuzzling into John out of being comfortable in her sleep, Fia noticed how John fidgeted and knew why. In her time she had bugged him several times to tell her how he got all his scars, and the neck one came up as the briefest of stories compared to everything else. It was however something else to see for herself his reaction to her mother unknowingly getting that close to it. So she played it off as something else for his own sake, "her hair tickling?" she asked, in that tone that said 'I know you moved but I'm using the classic excuse to brush it off'. As soon as Fia asked that, Kay had drooped her head back onto his shoulder where it first was a bit, making Fia smirk ever so slightly.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Fia was damn right in thinking that John would eat all the dark chocolate if given half a chance. He never could turn it down from those he trusted, and even when it came to those he didn't trust he had a hard time saying no. There had been a time (more than one if he was being honest) when he'd pick-pocked Bruce Wayne, stealing the keys to the Batmobile, the keys to Wayne mansion, the billionaire's wallet, his Justice League swipecard and a whole load of other items the billionaire carried on him as a cover for the fact that it was only the billionaire's chocolate he really wanted. Bruce had been utterly predictable and assumed that John was after his keys and not the chocolate. Though John took great pleasure in saying 'I bloody ate it didn't I mate" being called mate by John pissed off Bruce no end, which was why John kept doing it, even though they were the furthest thing possible from mates "you certainly weren't gonna and the bloody Watchtower has nothing to eat in it' before chucking the balled up empty wrapper at his head. Bruce was less than amused.

John was always cagey about explaining how a large number of his scars were from physical abuse in his childhood and teenage years. When Fia asked, she'd been particularly young and he did not want to explain what an asshole his father was just yet, Fia was barely a kid, she didn't need to know, so he gave her the barest details of what had happened, hoping it would sate her curiosity. Chas never said anything either, keeping his promise to John not to say anything, to anyone Kay and Fia included, about John's dark past, without his prior approval.

Fia would have found out about John's abusive father on one of the rare occasions John's sister Cheryl was around and she was patching up her brother, after he'd gotten himself utterly battered and bloody while dealing with a demon nest. In the process she'd made some quip about 'just like old times huh?' To which John could only roll his eyes and come back with 'that's a good thing, how exactly?' Her response (unaware that Fia was there, had she known, she wouldn't have said it) was 'well at least it wasn't dad this time' to which John nodded and responded with 'killing him was the best thing I ever did with me life' in the darkest tone Fia would ever have heard from her father. When Fia asked what that meant, it had been Cheryl who answered, in her typical blunt way (she always cut straight to the deep, dark, disgusting shit where her brother was involved) with 'our Dad, the heartless bastard that he was, damn his soul to eternal suffering in every circle of every Hell, used to beat John here senseless on a pretty much weekly basis. He'd hit me as well, but John always got it worst. He ended up in the hospital a few times" she began ticking off the things on her fingers, blatantly ignoring John's looks of 'shut up and stop talking' "internal bleeding, broken ribs, broken arm, twice, a load of concussions, even put him in a coma once, lasted four days." With the cat well and truly out of the bag, the siblings took turns explaining just what a fucking mess their childhoods had been. Cheryl may not have been beaten as badly as John, but she still bore physical scars as a result (though nowhere near the same amount that her brother did).

The explanation Fia offered as to why John had jerked sideways was believable as a cover story, but John was too stubborn to use it. "Not exactly, more itchy than anything else, long distance, all day travel messes with my skin, thought it was just because I'd be flyin' from one heavily polluted city ta another, but as neither Attil or Cliff's place are polluted, guess it must be somethin' other than pollution messing with me skin." It was true, in a way. Long distance travel always left John feeling itchy as a teenager and in his early twenties, but that had gone away. But there was no way Fia could know that if she'd never been out of London with him. When Kay's head came back to rest on exactly the same spot, John couldn't help but wonder what god(s) had it in for him today. His flinch was less noticeable this time, but something still flashed in his eyes as he carefully flipped up the collar of his shirt, the fabric covering the scar, thus making sure that Kay's head couldn't mess with that spot again. Most people would look weird with one collar point up, one collar point down, but John managed to pull it ff as it just worked with his general scruffy demeanour.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia remembered the day well despite being incredibly young at the time. She remembered going wide eyed at not only seeing her father so beat up, but at how bluntly 'Auntie Cheryl' explained what she meant by her words. She would never get that parotuclar evening out of her head because she was meant to be well and truly in bed asleep at that time, but she got thirsty and so got up to go to the kitchen which lead to the eavesdropping and explanation. When it was all explained and John was patched up, she recalled carefully climbing onto his lap and hugging him insisting that her hugs were magical and would make him feel better. It was a typical childlike thing to say and do and yet she still managed to make it sound original and greatly endearing. When people called her a daddy's girl it was a great understatement when she was much younger.

She listened as John went along with the cover story by not using it all at the same time. "makes a change, I'm used to you..well, future you complaining her hair gets everywhere and itches like mad if she falls asleep on you on the couch. Especially if it's not tied up" she replied with a fond smirk. She watched as John solved the problem by flipping up that one side of his collar as Kay's sleeping form managed to cling onto his arm with one arm looping through his. Even in her sleeping state, it was clear how comfortable Kay was with him and how she felt about him.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Cheryl's visits were extremely rare, she'd moved out of London to attend university, wanting to get as far as way from her father as possible. She'd never moved back, not even after their father's death. She'd ended up in Wales, an area near Cardiff to be precise and still lived there in both Fia and Rinaa's timeline. She spent far too much time working (in John and Chas' opinions), but her reasons were justified. She was doing it to pay for her daughter's school education, university and later PhD fees. Being a single mother meant she more often than not couldn't afford to take the days off to visit her brother as often as she wanted to. But if there was an emergency, she'd damn well drop everything and haul ass to London, there was nothing she wouldn't do for her younger brother. Even though she knew damn well that John could more than handle himself she was fiercely protective of him in a way that put the fear of death into those who dared cross John or anybody else important to her for that matter. When she first met Kay, her first words had been a threat, 'if you force my brother into something he has no interest in, or hurt him any more than he already has, I'll break your neck and drive an iron spike through your brain while you sleep' delivered with a narrowed eye stare (she had the same hard glacial eyes as her brother), her stance defensive and radiating both anger and an almost predator like aura. It didn't matter to her that Kay wasn't human, she would carry through with the threat anyway. John jokingly called her 'the competent Constantine', a compliment to her and a self depreciating jab at the same time.

John just nodded, there was little he could say to that. There had been a morning or two when he'd woken up with a mouthful (or faceful of Kay's hair) as beautiful as it was to look at, it tasted disgusting (like all hair did) and had a habit of sticking to his face as if it was sentient and trying to strangle him. He had seen creatures with such hair before, and been on the receiving end of their hair strangulation before. He couldn't help but note that Kay was being extraordinary clingy while asleep and he wasn't exactly comfortable with it, the whole situation was putting him on edge and making him feel awkward. Fia talking about it wasn't exactly helping either John wasn't a hugger or a cuddler, his sister blamed it on a lack of affection in his childhood and John suspected she had a point. But he wasn't going to remove Kay for fear dislodging her would send her into the coffee table.

Instead he threw up another chocolate ball and changed the topic of conversation, addressing Elliott. "What's got you thinkin' Ell?" He asked, recognising the look of intense pondering on Elliott's face. "Just something Moya sent on." John raised an eyebrow at that."Jay's idea to get her to send things on, not mine. The two of them found an open night, and it seems Ri couldn't resist getting up onstage and having a go."

 

[MzHyde]

In Fia's and Rinaa's timeline, Kay had assured Cheryl that hurting John or making him do something he didn't want to do was far from her plan. She just stressed to her that she loved John with all her heart as well as their daughter. The threat that was given to her did remain in mind, and still does even at Fia's current age. She always took threats of being killed with iron seriously, yet it was also the protective lecture from Cheryl that made her completely respect Cheryl instantly. The one thing Fia didn't know was how much Kay proved to Cheryl just by being her, how much she loved her brother.

Back to the scene in front of her and not in her memories, she just smirked slightly at how Kay was being in her sleep. Kay very VERY rarely got this clingy in her sleep, it was so rare it could be counted on one hand and still have fingers left. Yet Fia knew just how uncomfortable it did make her dad at the same time. If Kay was awake she wouldn't have been anywhere nearly as clingy, knowing John wasn't the type to be comfortable with it, and she wasn't fully the type either. Sure, she was more of a cuddle than John was but she wasn't the super clingy type either. There didn't even seem to be a primal reason for the clinging in her sleep, but Fia suspected it was down to her hormones going mad at the moment.

She listened to what Elliott was saying in response to John's question, "good for her" Fia simply commented, hiding away the chocolate in her bag so she would t eat any more of it. "open mic nights always seem fun in TV and films" she added.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Kay had only been able to give a small portion of her 'I love your brother, and our daughter and would never do anything to hurt him' spiel because Cheryl had cut her off with a look that said 'save it for later, right now I've got more important things to deal with'. Those important things turned out to be getting herself and John so completely and utterly rat arsed up on the roof of the apartment that not only did they have a deep and meaningful heart to heart (John wasn't the only one with both news and emotional baggage to dump, Cheryl had some serious shit going on too that she wanted to talk about with her brother, the only one she felt could truly understand), they both passed out up there surrounded by empty bottles. The copious quantities of alcohol were necessary, neither were great at talking about so called squishy things like emotions and feelings and needed the alcohol to loosen their minds and tongues. It was a strategy that had served them well over the years, and Chas always knew that when Cheryl came over, he and Renee would be taking care of Gemma for the first night (not that they minded, both had a soft spot for John's niece).

Somehow it wasn't too surprising to John that Rinaa had managed to end up on stage that night. She'd been all over the place and stuck in her own head (which they were all too aware was far from a nice place to be) after saying her final goodbyes to Cliff's siblings and parents. If getting up on stage and singing was what it took to chase those feelings away then John felt nobody in the room could judge her for doing that. Both Jay and Elliott nodded in agreement with Fa's words, knowing the teenager needed that kind of distraction at this moment in her life. "Yeah it is, it's one hell of a coping mechanism, but unlike her other methods, this one actually seems to work."

John nodded at Fia's assumption. "Yeah they are." He agreed, speaking from his own experience with London's punk scene (and a couple of other places abroad that also had a decent punk/anarchist/alternative community). "Though it really depends on the person, it takes a certain person, or group of people ta get in front of a group of strangers." "What John is actually saying is that cocky bastards like him generally have no problem getting up in front of a mob and working the spotlight, while more normal people, also known as me" he jammed a finger into his own chest to illustrate his point, making it clear he was talking about his and John's band days "are not at all comfortable with it and would rather cover as much of themselves as possible from view with their massive drum kit."

 

[MzHyde]

That night in the future, Kay knew him being up on the roof of the apartment wouldn't be an unusual thing to see happen when Cheryl ever visited and just let John do whatever it was he needed to to get anything on his mind off loaded onto his sister as she knew in her heart it would be helpful for him. She certainly saw for herself where John got a lot of his abrupt personality from and whilst he was on the roof, she spent the time looking after Fia, who wanted to stay up and wait for her dad, but Kay managed to convince Fia that wasn't going to happen and she had to go to sleep in her bed. That was one of many nights she spent staying in Fia's room and singing her kid to sleep with the traditional phoenix lullaby.

Fia just nodded at Jay's words before turning to John and listen to him say it was great fun to do, even if it took a certain type of person to be able to do it. She smirked at Chas' words, "that I don't doubt for an instant. It's not rocket science to figure out who I got my need to perform trait from. It certainly wasn't mum" she replied with a smirk, knowing that out of John and Kay, John was the more theatrical one in the sense of liking being in the spotlight on a stage and performing in front of strangers. Kay was alot more reserved despite not being shy about her talents. "mum's not shy about what she can do but she is held back with them" she added. What she didn't know was that Kay wasn't the type to be shy about some things, as she was known to sing in John's shower. She only knew the future Kay, not this Kay.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly at Chas' words, he'd heard them all before, usually in a long panicky rant before they went onstage. John had no confidence issues whatsoever, totally at home in the spotlight, and being so cocky and arrogant worked to the band's advantage when it came to the punk scene, John was scruffy and rough looking and at the same time incredible charismatic, meaning he knew exactly how to work the crowd and get them riled up and angry. Chas lacked those traits he was a more steady going guy, content not to be the centre of attention. Drums suited him perfectly. The lead vocalist led the crowd, but the drummer lead the band, providing the beat and pulse for everybody else to lock onto as well as being a permanent presence in the background of every song. In a way that was still Chas' role in John's life, to be the grounding, yet driving force.

"Stage fright is no smirking matter John. We can't all be cocky bastards like you" Chas retorted, his stage fright had been pretty crippling, and he remembered it all too well to this day. To say he was a nervous wreck before most performances would be an understatement. He was all over the place. It usually took him two or three songs to actually get comfortable on stage. He could empathise with Rinaa's complete and utter terror at the mere thought of playing in front of family and in her timeline there had been a few (albeit rare times) where they had a proper heart to heart and Rinaa had ranted about how frustrating it was to be able to play decently on stage, but as soon as she saw a family member that wasn't Jay, she'd start dropping chords and flubbing words.

"Nor do we want everybody to be. Could you imagine a whole planet of John Constantines?" Elliott smirked while Chas visible shuddered at the thought. "I don't want to. Either they'd all get along amazingly and it would be the most cohesive example of a civilisation to ever exist. But more than likely they'd wreak havock on whatever poor planet they inhabited. One per universe is enough, thank you very much. It's bad enough having to deal with the times when he and Cheryl go out deliberately getting into scraps together and looking for the biggest trouble they can find and smacking it right in the solar plexus."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew that Chas had a valid point in his retort back at him. Stage wasn't something to be laughed at and she really felt sorry for anyone who truly suffered from it. Sure, she got her nerves before she performed in front of people but those nerves never crippled her and as soon as they came to her, they vanished because she had such faith in her ability to play her violin, she used that faith to squash any nerves. So she may not have been as cocky and confident as her father, but it was close. She certainly never had the problems that Rinaa did, when it came to performing for family. She even played with Kay sometimes but those moments were rare, because not only was her relationship with Kay not long ago turbulent and complicated, it was rare she would even want to play her violin when Kay dug out her keyboard.

At Elliott's words, her thought process was broken and she had to chuckle at the comment. She found it greatly amusing because in her timeline she was accused of being a second 'John Constantine' because of how she could be at times. Whilst the remark of 'oh damn we got two of them in one house... I'm glad I moved out' was expressed by Elliott in a teasing manner plenty of times. She listened to Chas' words chuckling still, knowing they both had points, even for someone who was an utter daddy's girl, she always knew how true Chas and Elliott's words were. "Cheryl is awesome though" she piped up.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John wasn't surprised that Fia had met his sister. They may not keep to any sort of schedule when it came to talking with each other, but she was the most important person in his life, as the only blood family he had left that he got on with. Given everything that had happened- Kay entering his life, Kay learning that she was a phoenix (his sister would understand the significance of that revelation, having a far more extensive knowledge of magic than she let on to Fia), Jay and who she was to Elliott, AJ's crew, two time travelling teenagers, Kay getting pregnant, them finding out that Cal was alive, meeting Cal's adoptive father, attending Cal and Cliff's wedding and meeting Cliff's family, Elliott meeting his father for the first time since he was exiled, and so on and so forth- he was long over due a heart to heart with Cheryl (or drunken rant, either or worked with them).

"Understatement" John scoffed. "Cheryl is a bloody unstoppable force o' nature when it matters, or whenever life gives her an opportunity to kick and demolish people into next year. Never mind Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Hell hath no fury like my sister. She has either hates your guts and will happily throw you under the literal bus, never mind the metaphorical one or she doesn't give two shits and will give you the most neutral cold shoulder ever to exist OR for those rare few she'll stick by you 'til the end, no matter what." John's tone was fond, but honest. There was a part of him jealous at how competent his sister seemed on the outside, but that part was overruled by the other parts of him that knew Cheryl was, at times, as big of a fucking disaster as he was. "Sounds like my kind of person." Jay couldn't help but add, while at the same time Elliott. "Y'know thinking about it, that description fits two other people, both women."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia just smirked when he scoffed about what she said was an understatement. It wasn't surprising that he would consider what she said as an understatement as she knew how much Cheryl meant to him, even if he wouldn't regularly if at all say it out loud. She nodded fully in agreement at what he was saying, remembering how Cheryl liked Fia, but that was because she was so much like her father. She also noted the fondness in his tone despite how he delivered what he said.

She smirked more when Elliott spoke up saying how it was like two women he knew and she just knew that Jay would be one of those women. She guessed it would be either be Rinaa or Cal he was meaning for the other one but didn't want to be that person by asking who he was on about. So instead she grabbed her drink to have, having almost forgot she even had one from all the distraction of her chocolate and chatter. "to be fair, it fits a few people in this group" she countered, deciding it was the better way to go about things. She knew that pretty much none of them knew that it could even fit Kay, having only heard her one story of how her anger got the better of her in that one homophobic story.

During the chat Kay had actually moved yet again and not cling to John. She had mor eof her back onto John and facing the back of the couch with her head, but her leg was still very much hanging off the edge of the couch, making her look quite contorted in the process which wasn't the most comfortable or good position for a pregnant woman.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Jay was indeed the first person Elliott was thinking of, the second was Rinaa. Cal (and Cliff) both had a more charitable outlook on people, willing to try and at least understand why somebody was the way they were, or why they did certain things. Rinaa could psycho-analyse people, and did, but it was her inability to change her opinion of anybody that made Elliott think John's words fitted her. It had been an painfully slow and excruciating uphill struggle to get the teenager to accept that Fia and Kay were different to the ones she knew. Bonding of some sort had definitely gone on between Fia and Rinaa on the island and the flinch that appeared in Rinaa's eyes whenever Kay or Fia directed a remark at her seemed to have gone. Even now he wasn't sure if they'd actually changed her mindset or if it was just some kind of fragile truce that had been created and one wrong remark an action would bring it all crashing down and cause Rinaa to retreat back into herself again.

"And a few who aren't here right now." Chas added, extending Fia's statement, "Agreed." John nodded, taking a sip of his own drink which had been balanced on the armrest beside him for the past few minutes and Chas knew from the tone exactly who he was talking to. "And some of them should never ever meet." "And by 'some of them'." Chas made airquotes around the words 'some of them' as he spoke "you mean your sister and Nat?" John nodded, giving Chas a look that said 'you know me too well'. "Obviously. My ex-partner and my sister? Two people who have degrees in kicking the ass of anything human or otherwise, one of which has an obnoxiously large collection of weapons, both able to trash talk their way into any situation, both of who hate my guts on a regular basis." John shuddered as he took a sip of his drink. "I don't even want to imagine the chaos those two could wreak on the world. They should never meet, I don't think I'd survive it in one piece."

Cliff had been keeping an eye on Kay, and the positions she was contorting herself into. She could also see the discomfort radiating off John, he was not enjoying having Kay clinging to him like a limpet and there had been very slight flinches from him every time Kay moved. The flinches were unnoticeable to an untrained eye, she had to give John credit for masking his freak out so well, but Cliff's eyes were highly trained and she didn't miss them. She tapped the arm Cal had around her, indicating her wife should let go so she could get up. "I swear she's putting herself into those most stupid positions possible, just to annoy me. Honestly, did she just get rid of her bones or something in order to be able to assume that position?" She grumbled, her words intended to draw the attention away from John's innaction and uncomfort and towards her.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia nodded at Chas and John's remarks about it applying to even those who weren't there as it showed they were all on a mutual agreement on that topic. She had almost not noticed the stupid positions that Jay was getting herself into too much, only noting that she hadn't managed to fall off the couch yet which was the main thing Fia was concerned about. She was used to Kay getting into all kinds of weird positions if she fell asleep on a couch or in a armchair in her timeline which was why she didn't ever pay much attention to it. "you'll be pleased to know they don't ever meet in my timeline so you got at least another seventeen years of relief knowing they won't meet." she smirked.

Yet when Cliff moved, tapping Cal on the arm to get up and then commented about Kay's contorted position, Fia then looked over and pulled a face that was borderline wincing. "I always wondered where I get it from.. Now I know" she half chuckled. "I seriously don't know how she does it, especially that pregnant. I'm actually concerned and impressed, I'm not gonna lie. If she wasn't pregnant I wouldn't be nearly as surprised." she added, leaving out the next thing she was thi king which was 'mum is so skinny normally so it doesn't surprise me she can get her limbs in all kinds of positions' knowing that the very last bit of that thought would only create John's dirty mind to activate.

If Fee was awake and in control of Kay, she'd say it was a phoenix thing, where if she was in bird form curling and contorting was pretty standard, but she wasn't so couldn't explain it. Despite the weird position Kay did look utterly peaceful.

 

[_gallifrog_]

John let out a very audible sigh of relief at Fia's words, there had been a certain amount of exaggeration in his previous statement about what would happen if those two women in his life ever met, but he did have a genuine fear that if they did, they'd spend their whole time trading embarrassing stories about John, and ganging up on him at every possible opportunity. Not to mention that both very pretty badass and would make a scarily good team. "Well that's a bloody relief, I'd have to move bloody country to escape them if that happens. Or just switch planets to be on the safe side." "I don't know" Elliott smirked "those two being stone cold badasses and bossing the shit out of you would be quite entertaining for the rests of us, especially as they both like me an' Chas." They have excellent taste in people." Chas nodded in agreement with Elliott, while Jay just smirked. All this talk of annoying siblings had made her think of her own brother, and how she really wished he was here at that precise moment. Her brother could be an annoying shit of the highest order, especially where she was concerned and had been on the receiving end of him ganging up with her best friend to either annoy her, or on a few occasions, talk sense into her.

At Cliff's words John couldn't help but glance at the contorted shape Kay had managed to create with her body. He couldn't help but be reminded of corpses arranged into agonising positions by the torturers of Hell (but that was a story for another day). Instead what he said was "Is it really possible for people to just randomly lose their bones doc?" "There's a really bizarre illness among the symbiotic races that can do that. The symbiote converts the bones into fuel, killing the host in the process." "There's also a chemical that can rubberise bones" Jay added "it essentially renders a person to a floppy jelly. It's nasty and illegal in any system with sense."

Cliff took hold of Kay's legs and with a bit of help from John manoeuvred her into a more normal position lying on the couch. John used the opportunity to untangle himself from Kay's octopus like grip and pull up a chair from the kitchen to sit on instead, tucking one foot under his thigh and leaning his arms on the top of the chair back.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia couldn't resist sniggering lightly at John's sigh of relief at her words, only for the sniggering to turn into a proper chuckle at Elliott and Chas chiming in and rubbing it in that they both were liked by both women and it'd be highly entertaining for them to watch John rapped on. She knew what it was like to have siblings gang up on her, as she was the chosen one for Elliott enough times. She then looked between John, Cliff and Jay as they spoke about there being beings out there that could get rid of their bones as well as an illegal substance to turn people into jelly. "gross" was all Fia could say on the matter.

She watched on as Cliff and John put Kay into a normal position whilst John took that moment to escape the couch and go onto a kitchen chair instead that he pulled up. She had to admit, having Kay laying out on the couch did look a lot more comfortable for her, and it made her wonder if Kay would remain asleep or wake up wondering how she got into such a position. If she was honest, she thought there was an element of protectiveness and worry in the way Kay's sleeping form was previously on John. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but it did get her wondering if Kay was dreaming of anything in particular to make her cling onto John in such a manner.

 

[_gallifrog_]

When jay pronounced that she knew an illegal chemical that could get rid of somebody's bones, Elliott couldn't help but give her a look that said 'of course you do' to which Jay merely shrugged and gave an answering look of 'it's in my job description really'. Learning about illegal chemicals, poisons and drugs and their uses had been a sort of passion of Jay's as a teenager, she was fascinated in a morbid way be the variety of these kinds of substances, unable to believe that such crazy things existed. Even after being dosed up on Omega inhibitor while in prison and feeling the horrific side effects of the drug for herself, she still had a fascination with these kinds of substances, but she had far, far more respect for their power than she did as a teenager, having lost the naive 'this is like something from a comic book or movie' outlook.

The idea that Kay had been curling up against him due to some form of nightmares had crossed John's mind, but he'd dismissed the thought, thinking that if it was a nightmare there would be some kind of outer sign or something coming through their bond. He was dismissing her behaviour as hormones, the two pregnant women he'd known in his time (his sister and Renee) had done all kinds of crazy things as a result of their hormones, his sister in particular being a complete and utter emotional, irrational mess with the most dramatic mood swings John had ever witnessed.

Kay was the only one to properly fall asleep. Chas nodded off in two or three minute bursts, but he always jolted back out of it. Judging by the brightness of the sun, even at this early hour of the morning, it was shaping up to be a lovely, warm day, not a cloud was visible in the pale blue sky. The others had spent their time doing a mixture of reading, catching up on news, trawling through the new web links Matteo had sent on (a significantly smaller amount than last time, but with one lead Jay declared was very promising for finding a geo-tag site) and, in the case of Cal and Cliff, texting Deke, who'd woken at some bizarrely early hour of the morning as he usually did, discussing the kettles, and arranging a time for them to go and visit him with Jay. "If anybody wants coffee, feel free to join us on the roof." Cliff told them, swinging her legs off the couch and making for the kitchen. It wasn't just because of Kay that she was taking her coffee onto the roof (though that was certainly a major factor), it was something she always did when the weather was as lovely as it was that day.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was surprised at how quickly the night had gone by and morning to show up once again. With the invitation to join Cliff on the roof to have a cup of coffee, Fia didn't waste any time in accepting such a offer. She was up off the seat she was on and heading to the kitchen after Cliff. "best idea yet" she smirked. She figured Kay would be asleep for a little while more yet so didn't see the point in staying sat in the chair doing nothing whilst no doubt nearly everyone else would be on the roof. She certainly knew John would no doubt make the most of doing such a thing.

Kay had been dreaming as it turned out but it wasn't anything like a nightmare or night terror for once. For once it had been a calming good dream of bringing up Fia whilst cradling the baby version of her daughter. Which would be why she was clinging onto John unknowingly. She even found herself dreaming about her own past, but the good times and not the bad ones, so in one manner John was right with his assumption about hormones as it was her hormones bringing dreams of being a mother to come to her mind. By this morning in her sleep she was moving her mouth as if talking but no sound actually came out, the action being very subtle.

 

[_gallifrog_]

As soon as Cliff suggested coffee there was a nod or remark of agreement from everybody, John practically jumping out of his chair in his enthusiasm to get some decent caffeine into him. Before heading up to the roof Cliff tore a page from one of the notepads on the coffee table, deciding it best to leave a note for Kay in case she woke up while they were on the roof and she freaked out thinking they'd all vanished, or worse. Cliff's handwriting was neat, having not fallen victim to the 'doctor with illegibly messy' handwriting stereotype.

"Kay, we're not dead and haven't been abducted or anything as dramatic as that,
we're on the roof with coffee, feel free to come up (or yell at us to come down)
As your doctor, I'd also advise eating something
-Cliff​

Leaving the note carefully propped up on the table, Cliff joined Cal in the kitchen, who was getting out all the mugs they'd need, along with the jar of ground coffee beans, the sugar and the milk. Looking in the fridge Cal found a simply massive package of home made bacon on one of the shelves, her mother had given it to Deke to put in their fridge. She waved it at Cal who smirked "It's at times like this I love your mother." "She is awesome, agreed. I think this calls for a totally unhealthy round of bacon sandwiches." Cal nodded her agreement with a grin "I'll get the frying pan and some bread then."

The roof of Cal and Cliff's apartment block was actually a communal space for all the residents, the lounge chairs were a permanent feature, so much so that a tarp had been bought to keep the rain off. There was a specially constructed station for having a rooftop barbecue and there had been talk for a few years of trying to get some kind of herb garden or rooftop allotment, but nothing had come from that yet. While living in her lock-up Cal had perfected the art of making a perfect cup of coffee using only her pyro powers and she put that skill to use, making a start on the coffee, while Cliff let the grill heat up for the ridiculous quantity of bacon her mother had decided they needed.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia, as she was one of the first in the kitchen decided she would help both Cal and Cliff where she could which happened to be mostly Cal with the coffee. She put the mugs in a line when Cal heated the coffee grounds up aswell as getting out two spoons, one for mixing the milk in and one for the sugar. She knew she was a guest but for her, this was second nature if she was up at the same time as everyone else during breakfast. She would help out, even if it was setting the table for anyone who wanted to sit there or prepping everything like getting the crockery and cutlery out. It also made her feel useful to be helping out and not a typical entitled teenager. The bacon that was being fried smelled absolutely amazing to her and she was suddenly aware of how hungry she was.

With everything done, she headed up to the roof with everyone else, once again finding the view on the roof spectacular. She always enjoyed being on rooftops no matter where in the universe she proved to be. There was just some kind of peace that was brought on about being on a rooftop, high above everyone else and looking down on the world. It was strangely calming and serene for her and she wondered if any of her family ever found the same thing. She bit into her bacon sandwich happily between mouthfuls of coffee, looking out at the world. "mm... Seriously needed this" she said with a mouthful.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The group took their coffee in a variety of ways, each making it to their own preferences. Cliff took hers black for the same reason that John did (there was never any milk to be found in the break room at the hospital or in John's fridge). Chas took his coffee whatever way it was given to him, he didn't possess as sweet tooth, but he was too well mannered to complain, and, on a long shift caffeine was caffeine. Elliott took both milk and sugar, as did Cal, despite both of hem having started drinking coffee after they had been separated for one another, they ended up taking it the same way. If she was in a coffee shop Jay would general order some kind of syrup shot with her drink, but up on the rooftop she settled for just sugar (a mix of brown and white).

The smells wafting from the bacon was divine and John had to refrain from just grabbing it straight off the grill and shoving it into his mouth. Like Fia he had realised just how starving he really was. Cliff assembled the sandwiches with the ease of somebody who'd been doing it for years. Making food for a large group was second nature to her, being the second oldest she often ended up cooking for her younger siblings when her parents and Benji were unavailable. Upon taking the first bite of his sandwich John had to stifle a very large moan. "This is fuckin' delicious!" He declared, also through a mouthful of food. His remark was followed by similar comments and blissed out looks. "This is probably the best bacon sandwich I've had in my life." "Agreed. Is it possible to get an addiction to these after just one bite?" "Normally I'd say no, but these are in a league of their own, cheers Cliff."

Cliff nodded, smiling at the praise. "You should be thanking my mother, she sent like fifty slice of bacon and there's a whole pack of sausages in fridge as well." "You can never have too much bacon." Elliott smirked. "Judging by those looks of almost orgasmic bliss, clearly not." Cliff smirked. "These sandwiches and her bacon connections are the real reason I married her." Cal declared, slinging an arm around her wife's waist.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia was the only one who took milk but no sugar, just like her mother did. Though Kay could drink it black if it really came to it. Most of the time however, both girls preferred to have milk in their drinks. Kay was particularly backwards and would always have her tea black, but her coffee white, something that Fia would tease her about regularly. She agreed with everyone that the bacon was unbelievable and like nothing else she had eaten before, whilst knowing any bacon on earth would taste like crap after having eaten this. She smirked when Cal said it was these that made her want to marry Cliff, knowing it was far from the truth, but still found it amusing nonetheless. "we all know that's bullshit Cal" she commented chuckling.

Kay eventually did stir awake a good fifteen minutes after they headed up to the roof, rubbing her eyes and groaning she looked over to see the note written by Cliff on the table in front of her and no one around. She slowly sat up and leaned forward to grab the note and read it, the last bit making her smile. With a yawn, she stretched her arms up and out before relaxing them down once more and standing up to go and grab some food to eat, making something she knew she could stomach. She could still smell the coffee slightly in the air which made her swallow down the urge to feel nauseous, having not missed that feeling in the slightest.

 

[_gallifrog_]

Elliott couldn't help but smirk at the remarks of both his sisters. "Well that's one way of saying I love you." Jay added, taking another bite of the sandwich, closing her eyes in bliss. Cliff rolled her eyes and smirked in response at the remarks. "Rude!" she replied, elbowing Cal lightly in the ribs, an amused smirk on her face and a look of love in her eyes. "In fairness she has a point, if I was anybody else I'd TOTALLY marry myself for my meat connections." Cliff declared with a smirk, her words a slight throwback to the earlier conversation where John had mentioned that mate of his who'd married themselves. "I used to make a bit of cash by selling bacon to other students back in my uni days. Benji would send it on if there was any extras, and he got a cut to cover the shipping expenses." Cal smiled fondly, laughing slightly. "I remember that, you were temporarily the most popular girl on campus for those days."

By the time they'd all finished their coffee Cal was halfway through making a second round of sandwiches. The mugs were soaking in a bucket Cliff had found on the roof. There were two taps on the roof, one connected to the mains, the other connected to what was known as 'cleaning water' filtered, but not to the levels that drinking water was. The others were leaning against the roof and either chatting or watching the world go by below, there was a steady flow of military personnel leaving the apartment building and a couple of people in scrubs that Cliff knew were doctors clocking off a shift in the hospital. Jay's phone chimed and she couldn't help but snort when she saw the message. "I can smell that miracle called Cliff's family's homemade bacon from down here, there'd better be a sarnie for me too" she read out, smirking "no prizes for guessing who."

 

[MzHyde]

Fia listened to what Cliff said after hers and Cal's comments. She could easily imagine why Cliff would have been the most popular girl in school for those few days if this was the quality of food she was selling to people. "that's hardly surprising if this was the kind of quality you were selling to be honest" Fia replied, eating her way through her sandwich and having her second one. She stayed up on the roof the whole time going between talking with everyone and looking out at the view below her, when Jay read out the text she got, making it clear it was Rinaa texting. "Rinaa by any chance?" she smirked.

Kay managed to not be sick and get herself her own sandwich to eat, where she ate alone contently, deciding she wasn't going to disturb the others if they were drinking coffee. She did however just give John a text to say she was awake and Cliff doesn't need to worry about her not eating because she was. She then out her phone down and continued her breakfast, before getting herself a drink that she so desperately needed.

 

[_gallifrog_]

"Yup." Jay replied with a nod, refraining from saying that there were very few people it could actually be. She had two phones with her on Attil,her work phone and her personal phone. The one the text in question had come in on was her personal phone, which had a depressingly small amount of phone numbers saved to it when compared to what it had been like back when she was an assassin, or in the army, or running with her old crew of crooks and miscreants, the self named 'Rats'. The only numbers in her personal phone were those of the people on the roof with her, Rinaa, Moya and AJ's crew. There was a part of her that missed the easy camaraderie of her old life, the strange loyalty that connected people like her to each other. AJ's crew hadn't fully accepted her, which Jay knew was partially her fault, and although she pulled off the lone wolf act very well, Jay knew that she needed people she could trust fully in her life in order to actually be happy.

"Tell her there's definitely a sandwich for her if she can get up fast enough" Cal called over, flipping the bacon to ensure the ends became nice and crispy. Jay flashed her a thumbs up before typing out her reply. John saw the text from Kay, read it, then passed the phone over to Cliff so that she could read it. Elliot meanwhile was leaning over the edge of the roof looking down at the street below where two bikes had just pulled up. "Got it in one Fia, looks like trouble is comin' up." He remarked, taking a couple of steps back from the roof edge. Future Elliott occasionally called Leah 'trouble', but it was an inside joke between him and Jay as opposed to a serious nickname.

A few seconds later Rinaa quite literally fell out of the sky. Moya had flown her up to the roof, arms wrapped firmly around Rinaa's waist. When they were just above an empty spot on the roof, she let carefully go of her girlfriend and Rinaa fell about a metre or two to the ground, tucking her body up to minimise damage and landing in a flawless parkour roll. She came out of the roll fluidly, jumping into a standing position as she came out of the roll. Moya landed on the roof in a more normal fashion shaking out her wings before tucking them back against her back. "Mornin'. Bacon courtesy of Cliff's mother I take it?" she asked with a half grin, running a hand through her her hair, pushing it up into spikes as she spoke.

 

[MzHyde]

Fia knew it couldn't be anyone else really, she just found it was just something to say to such a comment that was said by Jay. She noticed how Elliott made a point to lean over the edge of the roof to look on the ground and see the bikes from the two girls, for him to also confirm that it was Rinaa by calling her trouble. She couldn't help but smirk at the nickname he gave Rinaa at the same time, before Rinaa quite literally fell out of the sky with a flawless tuck and roll.

She had also noticed that John checked his phone before passing it to Cliff, guessing that Kay was now awake and had seen the note, therefore being that person who has to make a point by texting that she wasn't going to skip breakfast. She smirked once more at the assumption from Rinaa about the bacon, nodding at her question, "and its sooooo good!" Fia replied in a typical teenage manner. If she was any younger she probably would have done the shrugging her shoulders up and rocking her legs out of happiness, but she wasn't and contained herself maturely.

Kay ate alone inside the apartment whilst having her morning drink, she also found herself flicking through her phone at the photos she had taken on Cliff's Island, smiling to herself.