Silver flopped back on the couch and huffed angrily. "Gabriel?" she called. "Where are you? I know you're not naked, you're fine. Just ignore Cage." She lifted her hand, outstretched toward nothing, because she couldn't see him.
Miki munched her cold pancake. "There's a lot laundry in this house, Cage. They're being good parents and taking care of us."
Cage draws his eyebrows together. “When did you get home last night???”
Ben rolls his eyes, walking to the island counter and sitting down. Violet makes him a cup of coffee.
Kissa slowly walks down the stairs. “Are you feeling better?” She shyly asks.
He takes a gulp of coffee. “I’m fine.”
Violet clenches her jaw. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think those were your favorite words.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?” Then takes a gulp of coffee.
She turns around, sliding him a scone. “But I do know better, and I happen to know your two favorite words are profanities.”
He chokes on his coffee.
Gabriel smiles at Sil, just a little, even though people calling him naked was highly embarrassing. He touches the tips of her fingers.
"He came home at like 3am." Miki said.
Silver let out a sigh of relief when she felt Gabriel and gave a small, tired smile in the direction his touch came from. She sat up and came into the kitchen, face set in a frustrated glare, and avoided looking at Ben. "So does anyone actually know what happened to him?" she asked, sort of to Violet, sort of to Ben.
“He was attacked.” Violet states as calmly as she can, setting a plate of warmed up scones on the island for everyone.
Cage goes pale and walks to Ben’s stool, sitting quietly at the feet of it.
Gabriel sits on the stool farthest from Ben, watching as he felt Silver’s frustration rise.
Calm down.
"Whoa." Silver said, finally looking at Ben, her voice a scathing level of sarcasm. "Really. Do tell." She picked up a scone and took a bite, her glare stabbing into him.
Ben can feel her glare, but avoids eye contact.
Violet turns around to give the back of Sil’s head a wide eyed glare. She turns back around and pulls out the milk, pouring herself a glass. “No one followed and we’ll all be fine.”
Kiss swallows. “But what happened?”
He opens his mouth, trying to formulate words for a moment and focusing hard on his food. “They hit me with a car.”
Silver blinked and stared at her scone instead, studying the edge of it very closely. "They?"
He swallows, “there were two of them. One came at me with a knife, the other stayed in the car.”
Cage pulls his knees to his chest and leans against the legs of the chair.
Silver turned around and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Didn't you say something, oh, less than two days ago, about 'nobody go outside there are bad guys'. I seem to remember a conversation about that."
Ben groans a little, “I know, I know, I did say that. I went out to cool off but it was stupid. It’s not going to happen again, alright?” He finally looks Silver in the eyes.
Kissa crosses her arms across her chest.
Silver held his gaze for a minute before looking down at her coffee cup and swirling it around. "Ben, do you know why I'm mad." It wasn't even a real question.
He huffs, “Because I went back on my word? Silver you’re always angry with me! How am I supposed to know?” He shoves his plate forward, frustrated.
Vi presses her eyes closed.
At least he hasn’t raised his voice yet.
Silver swallowed, still looking at her coffee, and said quietly, "Because I love you."
His eyes widen in fake surprise, “Ah, obviously. You know, that was gonna be my next guess.” He huffs and rubs his forehead.
Violet gives him a disappointed shake of her head.
Not the right response.
Silver set her cup down and fisted her hands. "Ben, I'm angry because I love you. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be upset! Look at Miki! Look at Gabriel! They don't love you like Violet or me or Cage or Kissa do. We care about you! What if you hadn't come home last night? Hmm? That's why I'm angry! Because you're so worried about us that you never stop to think about how your actions affect us!"
He stays out in his chair, trying to block her out. “Silver, I’m fine. I did come home and we're all fine.” He growls.
She has a point.
Gabriel blinks, thinking, and Kissa stares at Ben.
Tears came to Silver's eyes and she shook her head, picking up her coffee. "You don't get it." she said quietly, and headed for the stairs. "I'm tired of trying to make you understand."
Miki lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling and slowly pointed a finger-gun in the air. "Hear hear." she said under her breath.
Ben sighs, gulping down some more coffee.
Violet rubs her eyes, turning around. “She has a point, Ben. I can’t take care of the kids without you and I will not have you putting yourself in harms way again.”
He chokes a little on his coffee and looks up at her.
Wait, What?
Silver made it up the stairs and into the hall before her tears spilled over and she gasped, trying to keep her sobs quiet so no one would hear. Part of her was glad that Violet was taking a stand with her, but the other part was just so tired of caring and Ben not understanding. She climbed up into the attic and found a pile of musty blankets to bury her face in before she let go and cried.
Gabriel, invisible, heads up the stairs silently, stopping below the attic and staring up.
Stay or go?
Ben is silent, waiting for her to continue, but she doesn’t. She sighs and turns around to make herself tea.
Silver cried under her eyes were crunchy and the blanket beneath her was wet, and she had no more tears left. She sat up and wiped her face, then picked up her now-cold coffee and took a tip. Her nose ran horribly and the dust from the blanket made her want to sneeze.
Miki got up and joined them in the kitchen, giving Cage a pat as she passed him and helped herself to a scone and some coffee.
Ben stares at his plate.
Why is this such a big deal?
Violet rubs the back of her neck a little, then heads upstairs to dress.
Gabriel sits at the bottom of the ladder, pulling his knees to his chest and arching his wings up behind him so Vi wouldn’t step on them on her way to her room.
Silver sat in the dim attic and finished her coffee. Gabriel's animal friends were quiet and she only heard them scratching or moving faintly. Her throat hurt from sobbing and she wanted hotter coffee, but didn't want to go downstairs and risk seeing Ben.
Miki got out her pancakes and heated a few up. The silence in the kitchen hung between her, Cage, and Ben, awkwardly, making every noise or movement a thousand times more noticeable.
Gabriel sighs, then turns to climb the ladder and peek in. A bird lands on his invisible head and he stares at Sil.
Ben stands with a light groan and covers his cut with a hand. He cusses under his breath and stares at the stairs.
I… I really don’t want to try to climb those.
Silver glanced up when the latch moved, and smiled as she saw the bird land on seemingly nothing. "Hey," she whispered, and beckoned him to come in.
Miki split her pancakes and put half of them on another plate which she handed to Cage. "Hey. You should eat breakfast, kid."