Isaac's birthday

[bachjones]

 The first time Bach and Isaac noticed Essie in their space during their time, it made Bach a little bit nervous, because just a moment ago he had acted the fool with Isaac, put him on his shoulders so he could see all the pastries and cookies and had given a running commentary about which cookie to take, full of silliness only a kid could appreciate. But hey, he wasn't doing anything wrong, and when Isaac had finally noticed her, the three of them had behaved wonderfully.

The first time he had to say no to a visit from Isaac, because he had to go up for his swimming diploma (and what the fuck, why did he need a paper for that, wasn't it embarrassing enough already), both Essie and Isaac didn't take it too badly, and Bach made up with his son with a Pokemon cookie. Pokemon was a thing, he was learning about it.

So things were going well and Bach was almost comfortable in his place, in this life, around Essie. 

And then Isaac's sixth birthday had to happen. With a party, with other children and the parents of those children. He couldn't even remember if it was him or Essie bringing it up, or maybe Isaac hinting with singing Happy Birthday until everyone got crazy, but it happened.

It happened for five hours, but everyone was gone now, Essie's mansion empty again except for the three of them. Bach should leave soon, but Isaac was still so very happily zooming around, and after ..fuck- after Rick and Ashley, Jamie and Eve, Justin and Britney he kind of want to cling to the illusion of normal family a bit longer. All of them were little, tight, functioning units, while Bach had to shut up whenever someone asked about plans for a second kid, how Bach and Essie had met, how much Isaac looked like his mother. 

"Jesus Christ." He shuffled into the kitchen and into a fridge, two beers in hand. "We need to get Isaac down so I can go sleep. How's a kid's party that exhausting?"

Comments

[wakingwakewood]

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I think the screaming shattered an eardrum." Essie was laying flat out on the couch, looking out the large windows at the ocean, trying to let the soothing movement of the waves calm her jangling nerves. She wasn't exactly unhappy that they'd had the party, that part had been great. Seeing Isaac running around with all the other kids like any other normal boy had been one of the most awesome things she'd ever seen.

Having to make small talk with the rest of the PTA had been excruciating. She wasn't officially a member, but she'd started going to a few of the meetings just to get an idea what was going on. Frankly, most of it bored her to tears. The rest usually had her blood boiling, with all the sidelong glances that went with being the new parent. The one where the father was... not at home. The outsider from the west coast. At the party and to her face it was all smiles and passive-aggressive compliments about her lovely little not-entirely-traditional family. Some assumed Isaac was really hers. Others thought exotic adoption with the boho boyfriend, a local-rent Jolie-Pitt thing. But she knew what was said behind her back. Hell, one of her employees was the occasional baby-sitter to one some of the parents she'd just hosted and she was happy to spy for Essie and report back.

But so long as Isaac didn't hear any of it, she didn't care. Kid was over the moon. She probably should have warned Bach, though.

"Sorry about the PTA brigade. Downside of private education. Fancier the school, the more gossipy the parents, I guess. Is one of those mine? Please say yes." Reaching for one of the beers, she put on her own best puppy-dog face. Hoping he was just tired and not pissed off.

[bachjones]

If Bach was honest, he was going to need both, but he couldn't resist those eyes, and he put both bottles down next to her before returning for two more.

"At least I don't have to invite them for my birthday." His thirty-fourth birthday. He had a kid, a car, a cat, a place of his own.. only thing missing was a gut and an angry wife and he could die like an ordinary guy. He dropped himself next to her, having exactly one minute of rest before Isaac jumped upon them.

"Hi!" He was getting tall now, all legs and arms. "Let's dance!"

"Let's go to bed", Bach offered.

"Not tired." He pressed a kiss on Essie's cheek. "Dance?"

"That's because your sleep train ran past the bed station." Bach pulled him back on his lap, curling up around him until his son started to squeal. "We want to go to bed, so you should go to bed. Squirt."

"Essie!", Isaac protested. "Help!"

[wakingwakewood]

"I think maybe we can manage something a little more you for that." Although if Essie was honest, she wasn't sure what that would look like. Maybe just something quiet, with the three of them? Unless he wanted to go out with his friends and then she wouldn't intrude. Unless he wanted her to. Which she wasn't entirely sure he would. Because as well as things were going between them, there was still... something. Something she couldn't quite pin down. Or maybe she just didn't want to. The truce or whatever it was felt too good.

Like this, watching the two of them wrestling on her sofa. It felt right and comfortable in a way she, when she was being more honest with herself than she ought to be, liked. Missed even. Like part of the dream come true. But that was where all their problems had started, hadn't they? That dream, the fairy tale. It was all a lie, except for Isaac. He didn't care about her like that and never would.

Reaching for the beer on the coffee table, she shook her head, smirking. "Nope. Not getting involved. Just gonna sit here and enjoy my adult beverage and let the two of you work this out." Besides, they both knew form experience that the sugar high only lasted for so long and after all this excitement, Isaac was definitely going to crash sooner rather than later.

[bachjones]

It was with an unplanned - Bach would have heard intent - but well connecting kick to his nose that the party suddenly turned bloody. Before he could tell Isaac he was fine - hell, he had even turned his curse into "Jeremiah on the hill", and that had taken some skill, his son had turned into a crying little creature, hands fluttering over his face, only making things worse.

"Es, get him out of my face before he hurts himself." His nose wasn't broken, just turning the party a bit redder than planned. "Freaking frick. You're too big for lap cuddles, I get it." He got up as soon as Essie had the flailing kid under control, very slowly. Was it tilt your head back or forward? "I'm going to grab fifteen paper towels."

[wakingwakewood]

Everything happened so fast, Essie wasn't even sure exactly what was happening until Bach was standing with his hand over his nose, pushing a suddenly terrified Isaac into her arms. She rocked him, trying to soothe him and diagnose his father at the same time. "Ice, Bach, fill a towel with ice and hold it to your nose. Don't tilt your head back. I'll heal it after I get Isaac settled."

She didn't think it was serious, he wouldn't be replacing curses and walking around if it were. "It's okay, baby, you just accidentally bonked Dad's head harder than you thought. He'll be okay."

Issac, sniffling, looked at her with panic and worry in his face, "Promise, Essie-Mama? Daddy's okay?"

She picked him up and started heading toward the stairs and his bedroom, "Totally promise. I'll heal him right back up, but how about you get ready for bed while I do that and I'll send him up to tuck you in, deal?" Against her neck, she could feel him nod and Essie looked towards Bach, mouthing the words, be right back.

[bachjones]

It was starting to hurt now, an annoying ache that made him grab for his beers again. Ice after that, shirt off after after that. He never liked the feeling of wet clothing.

Towel with ice ..damn, maybe they should put the kid on something martial arts. He shook his head to get rid of the fog, immediately regretted, this time allowing the curse to escape him. He listened in to the two upstairs to distract him, slowly gathering ice and - wait, shirt first. He didn't wanted to know what would happen if he'd undress with an ice pack to his face.
By the sounds of it Isaac was coming down from his terror, and Bach let himself glide down the couch. Maybe he should leave some clothes here, for the next time he'd stain something.

[wakingwakewood]

It took some time to get Isaac settled down, cleaned up, and settled enough to lie in bed and wait for Bach to go up and tuck him in. She left him with Dan curled up on the floor at the end of the bed, keeping an eye on Isaac and his book while she headed back downstairs. God, she just wanted this night to end and now she had a healing to do. It had been so close to perfect. So damn close.

She half expected to see Bach still in the kitchen, but was somewhat relieved to see him on the sofa (any maybe a little distracted by the shirtlessness). He needed to be relaxed for this, it made it easier. "Gimme a sec to grab a couple things and I can heal that up. Promised Isaac I would." Just in case he had the inclination to be macho about things. "He's got Dan and his story book so he's okay for a few minutes."

[bachjones]

"You promised Isaac that you would heal me? Happy birthday to him."
Not that he needed anything magical around him, preferably not, but Isaac was still awake so he was going to go with it. "Sounds like he came down a bit, right?"

It was a good thing the dog was around, always a good how do you call it - lightning rod. "If you can just clean me up, I can go up and say good night and good bye." Bach removed the stained, wet towel. "I think I'm all out of blood by now. Sorry about the towel. Do those go to dry cleaning as well?"

[wakingwakewood]

"He knows it was an accident and that you're not mad. He was scared that he really hurt you, hence my promising to heal you." Grabbing a bottle of water, she decided to avoid adding anything to it. She could do without and Bach was jumpy enough around magic without her adding herbs and incantations on top of it.

She sat on the sofa next to him and gingerly took the towel, tossing it on the floor and crossing her legs, "I think it's bound for the dogwashing pile." Opening the water, she focused a thread of power into it, there wasn't a glow, or anything overt, but it was probably warmer than it should have been coming right from the fridge. "Drink some of that and let me get a good look. I'll need to touch, but I'll be as gentle as I can."

[bachjones]

"That's going to be a new experience." It came out softer than expected, and Bach was going to blame alcohol, exhaustion and pain on it, because it would have been a perfect way to tell her to ease up on him. He had been a good boy for a very long time around her.

"I'm going to drink something to make my nose better? I'll never understand witches." He did it though, carefully. "Next time give me a straw, yeah? Or do certain things stop working when they have to travel through plastic? Because I'm used to that."

He finished the water, gave her a sloppy wink. "Is this my best side for a good look?"

[wakingwakewood]

"The water is a carrier, allows me to get my power inside you without forcing it, or using your own power to do this. I know you like it rough, but now's not the time. Hush and let me focus." Noses were tricky. Faces in general were tricky because there were more and smaller blood vessels there than in just about any other place in the body. And Isaac's kick had done a real number on them.

Taking a deep breath, Essie centered herself, reaching for the power as she took Bach's face in her hands, cradling his cheeks and laying her thumbs alongside the swollen nose. Drawing the warm energy up and into his face, she slowly eased everything back into place, stopping the bleeding, the swelling and the pain until he was just as good as new. It left her shaking a little, although that possibly had more to do with being this close to Bach again, something that hadn't happened in a very long time, and less to do with the actual energy expenditure.

[bachjones]

Another comment Bach could work with, but he wasn't comfortable around magic enough to continue joking.

His nose turned into a tiny little stove and so another thing to comment on, but Essie was looking so intense that he was fine with just watching. It had been ages since she had been so close, and it was definitely time to start thinking about his mother before he insulted her with a hard on. When would have been the last time since she had sex? And was it with someone else but him?

"You good?" His voice was a bit huskier than usual, without him even trying to. "You're shaking. Did my nose take that much out of you?"

[wakingwakewood]

"Yes. No. It's complicated." Rubbing her hands together, Essie took a deep breath again and finally pulled back. "I'll be fine, you should finish washing up and go see Isaac." She didn't want to think too much about how it felt to be that close to Bach again. How warm his skin felt under her hands. The sound of his voice. They were fine, everything was going well, just the way it was. She wouldn't mess it up by talking about feelings Bach didn't want to hear about anyways.

Reaching for her beer, she waved him on, urging him to go. Isaac was still worried and she could use a few minutes of breathing space to reset her head. Before she did or said something she shouldn't.

[bachjones]

"Complicated." He tried to meet her eyes, but she was fluttering and moving around him like a nervous fly.

After gingerly touching his nose, shooting her a grateful grin, he got up to Isaacs room, rumbling a silly song about a bear in the sea before opening his door. Isaac launched himself out of his bed, stopping just in front of him to ask if he could hug him.
They sang three songs together before Bach remembered that bed time was a thing and he didn't want to give Essie the feeling that the cleaning was just her job. He tugged in his kid, told Dan to stay close in case of bad dreams and went downstairs again.

"Sorry 'bout that. Can I help with the cleaning stuff or do you have a maid coming over tomorrow?"

[wakingwakewood]

Essie managed to finish off one of the beers on the coffee table before Bach came back and was feeling a bit more steady. She was able to convince herself that she'd just gotten caught up in the moment and and everything was fine. "No apologies, he needed you. I was just taking a breather before... all of this."

The house wasn't wrecked. There was that at least. A couple of the mothers had actually made an effort at teaching their kids manners and how to pick up after themselves so most of the plates and cups were already in the trash. The decorations were another story. Balloons, streamers, posters (thankfully no glitter, Essie had been firm on the no glitter or confetti rule, she was indulgent, not insane), ribbons and a few scraps of peeled off wrapping paper from presents. "If you're interested, knock yourself out. I was going to clean most of it up tomorrow. I think most of the food stuff is already in the trash or the fridge I figured the rest could wait."

[bachjones]

"A breather? And you're telling me to get started? No, nah lo- mate, never mind then. You're really not getting anyone in?"

He put his wet shirt on again, pulling down streamers in the process. "I'll do some of the up highs before emptying out your fridge. That's more my kind of cleaning up." Bach found one of her environment friendly shopping bags before opening the fridge, and his third bottle of beer. "I'm almost out of the pasta you helped me made."

Trying to not be to greedy, he stopped after four containers and finished his round of cleaning up, stretching for the highest pieces. "You and Isaac worked together for those higher pieces? Or did you magic them up there?"

[wakingwakewood]

"They're called step-ladders, Bach. They're pretty much made for putting things up on high." But she laughed, hoping he took it as a joke as she forced herself off the sofa and into the kitchen where she pulled the small ladder out. "Just because I have magic and a maid that comes in doesn't mean I can't do things for myself. Besides, she's not coming in until later in the week and I refuse to leave all of this up until then."

Not to mention that despite it being the woman's entire job description, she felt bad about making her clean above and beyond and... this was a bit of that. It wouldn't kill her to do it herself, she'd gotten it all up, after all.

Looking at Bach's carry-out she raised an eyebrow. "You can take more if you need it. There's, like, half a cake left over, too."

[bachjones]

"Step-ladders", he murmured under his breath, trying to view her laugh as something to soften up the correction, not make him feel extra stupid. Why had he never seen tiny ladders before anywhere? "I'm sure Isaac wouldn't mind." That was just testing, checking how much she'd allow for the boy. And a distraction for himself, because with Isaac around at least he couldn't think about sex without feeling disgusted. One day he might be able to be around Essie without even considering it? Bach finished his third bottle.

"Cake. For all the parties I'm going to throw? Secondhand cake sounds like it's really me, don't you think?" He pulled at his shirt's collar. "You don't have any extras? Or can I wash and dry it out before leaving?"

[wakingwakewood]

"I don't have extras, but you're welcome to wash it here." She wasn't going to respond to the second-hand cake comment. It bothered her sometimes, the extent to which Bach beat himself up. He didn't deserve it. Well, he didn't deserve all of it. And most of the time it felt like it was as much to bait her into an argument as it was his own poor self-image. If he was so afraid that she was going to talk him down to his son, he should really consider not doing it himself. But that was neither here nor there and now was not the time to address his self-image issues.

"Heck, if you need to you can just stay the night. I know I'm pretty damn tired." Which wasn't entirely a lie, but if he kept drinking at the rate he was now, he wouldn't be sober enough to drive by the time the shirt finished washing and if she planted the idea now, the easier it would be to take his keys later.

[bachjones]

"You're inviting me to stay over?" Good use of stay versus sleep here, Bach was learning. He just didn't understand where the invitation was coming from. Sometimes it really felt like the woman could read his mind.
"You're inviting me to do my washing here? Because that's how some p-" Jesus, he was slipping up here.

"Thank you", he went with instead. "Direct me to your machine and the necessary guide book and I'll be out of your hair. And I'm sure Isaac will love it." Remember Isaac, that was the important thing.

He put the containers back into the fridge, folded away the bag and returned it to its place. "Which bed am I going to sleep in?"
It wasn't supposed to sound like that.

[wakingwakewood]

Essie found herself watching Bach, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. Sometimes, she almost wished she had her cousin's gift and this was becoming one of those times. Because that's how some people what? How friends who had friends with bloody shirts acted? Did he think that she - he couldn't possibly be thinking she was propositioning him, could he? But he was asking about bedrooms like he didn't already know she had perfectly serviceable guest rooms.

And yeah, sure, she wasn't going to complain all that much while he was lounging around her house shirtless and - maybe she should just stop there. Of course he would think that. It was the never-ending subtext to their entire lack of a relationship. A relationship that had been built entirely on sex, had been about sex, until it wasn't and he couldn't handle it. And she hated herself a little for missing that sometimes. It had certainly made things easier.

And more distracting which was why she found herself speaking before running the words through her internal Bach-filter. "Which bed did you think you were going to sleep in?"

[bachjones]

"Yours. With you on the couch as the perfect hostess you are." That wasn't a bad catch. Wasn't it? She was asking it for with those kind of replies.

He rubbed his face. "I'll pick the guest room closest to Isaac's room. Surprise him in the morning, leave after breakfast. Is that okay by you?"

Bach was finally acting like an adult when it came to them, which was way past time because he was the oldest between the two of them as well. Maybe that was something he had to think of instead of Isaac whenever he considered sex, how young she still was. And he had saddled her up with a kid. God, things were only getting more depressing.

He rubbed his face to clear his mind of thoughts. "Mind if I take a shower first?"

[wakingwakewood]

Essie wasn't sure if she was relieved at the lack of snarky, innuendo-laden response or disappointed. She should be relieved. It's what she'd been wanting, wasn't it? A more practical, responsible, non-bait-y Bach. What was that French term Grandy had used? Détente? An easing of hostilities and for now, she'd take it. Acting like adults. For Isaac.

"Yeah, that works for me. Not a problem. There's towels in the bathroom across from Isaac's room. It's filled with bath toys, but the shower's good." Or, the naughty part of her mind was happy to kick up, he could use her shower like he had that night they'd all passed out in her bed. Before things had completely broken down and he'd left. When she'd had a moment of extreme regret that she hadn't joined him. But that wasn't very practical or adult, was it?

Man, she hated being the adult all the time.

[bachjones]

"You sound disappointed. Like, a lot." Bach turned towards her, leaving just the appropriate amount of room between them. "Or is that because I'm staying over?"

Anything, he'd accept anything as an invitation now. "Because I can drive home. Walk home. Get a cab home, get the rich mo- lady of the house to spring for it. It's not that cold outside yet, I could walk to the beach and sleep there. Maybe even in the sea, see how that scale side of me likes that." 'Remember?', he wanted to add. There's never been anyone but you that gave me such a reaction. Bringing the worst out in me.

"Bath toys? In case I need some entertainment before bed? After all, I'm not that tired, just ..pleased." Now he wasn't even going to bother with fighting a grin. "Satisfied, you could even say."

[wakingwakewood]

Shaking her head, Essie chuckled, "I'm not disappointed, Bach. And I'm glad you're staying." And she really was, although she almost rolled her eyes at the fake offer to sleep on the beach. Mostly because she saw it for what it was. Or she was pretty sure she did. Having him move so much closer was a little unnerving and left her a little flushed, a reaction she dearly wished she could control a little better.

"But I don't think they're your kind of toys. Those I keep where Isaac can't find them." Essie mentally kicked herself. Now was not the time to be flirting. Definitely not now. Clearing her throat, she took a step back, needing just a little bit more space while she casually put her foot in her mouth. "You can, um, give me your shirt, I can start the wash if you want to take that shower now."