Forging New Paths

Any time. Even if the car wasn't there yet. It was strange, thinking he was allowed to change his mind, even if he hadn't so much as seen the water yet. It left an anxious, squirming weight in his gut if only because it changed how he made his decision, but if Garrett said it, it had to be true. Didn't it? He could say no, whenever he wanted to?

Fish and frogs and seaweed. He didn't think there was anything bad about those things, though he didn't know if he wanted to touch any of them. ". . . Okay." He said softly, fiddling anxiously with his hands, and looked over at Evelyn. "You'll be with me?" He wanted Garrett there, too, but he couldn't hold Garrett's hand because then his Shadow couldn't help him if he needed it.

Evelyn was quiet for a moment, then sighed softly, and just nodded. "Of course, Luca," she said gently. "You won't be alone. . . We'll need to go and get a swimsuit for you, and I'll have to go home and find mine. Do you want us to meet you at the office afterwards, or did you want to come shopping with us?" She could run home first, then pick up Anthony and Garrett afterwards so they didn't have to wait for so long, and they could find something for Luca together. It was likely Anthony would need a swimsuit as well, if he hadn't been able to go back and gather things from his old home.
 
"Why would we need to go to the office?" Garrett asked, raising an eyebrow. Watson was at Evelyn's house, and Garrett needed to buy a swimsuit, anyway. Even if he hadn't, his swimsuit would've been at his apartment, and he didn't think Evelyn would want Anthony along for something this important. "Anyway, I'll gladly come shopping with you. I need a new swimsuit anyway. Haven't been swimming in a while."

The detective got to his feet and offered Evelyn a hand up. "I'm glad the weather's so warm. Otherwise the outdoor lake might not work as well," he added with a smile. "Oh! Maybe we should buy a water proof camera, too! One of those ones people get for vacations and things."
 
Evelyn only blinked at him for a moment, considering how she'd miscalculated, but when he held out his hand to help her stand she accepted it without much pause. "I had thought you wanted Anthony to come along," she admitted as she got to her feet, brushing a few blades of grass that had blown over off of her shirt. "I am . . . trying not to say no every time."

She and Garrett had Luca linking them together, and she trusted him. Having Anthony around felt like an intrusion, but she was doing her best to not be so cold to him, given all he had been through. She just knew that some people could very easily weaponize their own suffering to get what they wanted from others, or to make someone let down their guard. Her Insight hadn't told her anything truly bad about the young man, but it didn't always.

It was all a long winded way to say she had trust issues, in the end.

"If you'd like." She said as she moved the cooler over next to where Luca had gotten to his feet so she could collect and fold up the blanket. "My phone is water proof, but if rather not put it in a lake, if I'm honest." She was growing rather fond of their slowly building collection of photos together.
 
Garrett eventually let go of her hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well . . . of course, it'd be nice to have Anthony along, but . . . ah - I thought it would be more comfortable for all of us if it was a smaller group," he explained softly.

Going swimming sounds like it might unlock a memory for Luca, he texted Evelyn quietly. He can't remember if he knows how to swim or not, or if he likes it. And in case it unlocks something negative -

He paused and blinked. Then again, Anthony could touch people without turning off their powers. If Luca needed someone to help him, maybe he'd feel more comfortable with Anthony than Garrett. But he did have Evelyn, so . . .

But if you think it'll be okay, I could invite Anthony along. I know he'd like to join. I'll leave it up to your discretion, Garrett decided at last.
 
Evelyn looked at the text with the folded blanket tucked loosely in her arm, parasol propped up against the cooler to free her hands, and for a moment only stood with a thoughtful look on her face. Finally, she set the blanket gently down and pocketed her phone, stepping over to Luca to hold both her hands out until he understood to give her his attention and took one hand in each of his.

"Luca," she started gently, "when we go swimming, you might like it, or it might make you feel bad, like you did at the diner. Garrett and I will be right there with you if you don't like it, so I don't want you to worry. But what do you think about inviting Anthony to come with us? Do you want him to come, or would you rather it be just the three of us?"

He was grown up - clueless about many things that the average person learned on instinct, quite obviously, but grown up - and he wasn't stupid despite being uneducated. He had a right to choose things for himself, and as much as she could Evelyn tried to let him make his own decisions. This was a hard one, and she waited patiently while he tried to figure it out, only giving his hands a gentle squeeze after a while to make sure his mind was still on the right track.

"Anthony . . . likes to swim?" He said finally after a long pause to consider, voice soft and spoken like a question, but answering just the same. "And he's nice to me . . . so he can come. . . Can he?" Was that the right choice? He wondered. Anthony didn't seem to want to hurt him, and Luca didn't think having him around would make the bad feelings he had sometimes worse. He knew they were his own feelings, but didn't always understand which outside factors influenced those yet.

"If that's what you want." Evelyn said with a little nod, not letting go just yet. "And if you don't want to swim, or you don't want to be near Anthony anymore, you just have to tell us, and you and I will just go sit in the sun for a while, like we do here, or we can go home if you want to. Okay?"

It was confusing, still, to think he could change his mind at any time, but eventually he nodded back. "Okay. . . Okay." He would remember. He would do his best to remember.
 
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It made so much sense to ask Luca himself whether he wanted Anthony to come, and the fact Evelyn thought he was ready for such a big decision made Garrett's spirits soar. Luca himself even seemed to tackle the question with far more confidence than before. The detective could hardly believe how far Luca had come.

He was beaming by the time he finally replied. "Anthony sure can come! And I know he'd love a chance to spend time with all of us, even if we end up not swimming. We can be flexible." He clapped his hands together. "So! In that case, I think we should stop by the office to collect Anthony, go swimsuit shopping, and then swing over to the lake! How does that sound, Luca?"
 
Luca looked over at Garrett when he tried to be reassuring, and nodded slowly to himself. "Okay. . . I want to go."

It was something Evelyn had been working on with him in small increments every single day, being able to figure out what he wanted and to say it out loud when he knew what it was. Some days he could, and some days he couldn't, but she always did her best to give him choices, and when he couldn't decide she would suggest a solution with the assurance that he could say no when or if he wanted to. It was a work in progress, and something she hoped the therapist would help with.

"All right," Evelyn said, giving his hands a squeeze and letting them go to pick up the cooler bag and her parasol, handing Luca the blanket to carry for her. "We'll need to stop by my place first, so why don't we split up - we'll meet you at the office and we can decide whose car we'll take from there." Whether they rode together or took both, she didn't mind. She would stop by the house to change into her own bathing suit and coverup, knowing no normal store would carry the things she usually wore, and then they could all group up and get going.
 
"Perfect," Garrett said with a smile. "In that case, we'll meet up shortly."

A short while later, the group had converged to drive to the lake in Evelyn's car. Anthony was beyond excited. But at Garrett's gentle suggestion, he tried his best to keep his energy at a relaxed state. Even so, he was all smiles when he clambered into the car. "Thank you guys so much for inviting me! This is going to be so much fun. At least, I hope it'll be."

He buckled himself in and slid down against the car seat. "Which reminds me - I had an idea earlier. What if I made like a home made carnival? One for just the group of us? Then we could all go to the fair together but there'd be none of the crowds!"
 
It didn't take Evelyn long to gather water and a few snacks - mostly for Luca, but enough to share if anyone else wanted them - and get herself changed as well as gather a change of clothes for Luca in case he needed them. As sensitive to sunlight as her skin could be, she wore a modest bikini top and capris swim leggings, with a light summer dress over them for walking around in the store. She brought a sun hat for herself, as well as her usual parasol, and a bottle of sunscreen to share. The picnic blanket she'd used at the park was still in the trunk of her car to be used again, as well as a second since there were more of them now and she didn't know if they would need room for anyone to lie down.

"I'm sure it will be very nice," she said when Anthony expressed his enthusiasm, and waited for everyone to buckle up before heading off towards the nearest store where they could find swim trunks. "Thank you for the idea."

She only glanced at Garrett when he mentioned a carnival, confusion clear in her expression. "Do you mean, setting up little games in the yard?" She wasn't sure how one would go about making their own 'carnival'. Her backyard wasn't very big, but she would let him use it if he would like to, but otherwise wasn't sure where he intended to do it. It was a sweet sentiment, at least.
 
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Garrett smiled knowingly and gave her a subtle nod.

Anthony was more than happy to explain. "Yeah, kinda! Except for what I have in mind, it'll all be indoors at the office. Garrett gave me permission to build a mini carnival there. I'd use a bigger house, but - ya know." He shrugged and grinned. "Anyway, if you're both cool with it, I'll have Garrett let you know when it's ready and you can come over! I've got so many good ideas."

He leaned towards the window and tilted his head. "Which store do you all think we should stop at? I think there are a few good ones down Main Street."

Garrett chuckled quietly. He rarely heard Anthony so chatty, but he was glad to see him relaxing with the group.

Eventually they settled on a store and headed inside to find swim trunks. It only took Anthony a few minutes before he returned with a few different sizes of swim trunks that had a star pattern. "Hey, how about one of these, Luca? You like stars, right?"
 
The conversation, to her, was a potential mine field - from Anthony's continued involvement in their lives to thoughts of his traitorous family - so Evelyn listened very quietly and held on to her calm, thinking through responses even as Anthony went on. He was so excited about it, and so far she had gotten no sense of danger from him, so it wasn't like she could have said no.

"I'm sure it will turn out great," she said with a little nod, thinking it would be a good project to occupy the young man's thoughts and time. "We're looking forward to it."

Luca didn't remember what carnivals were, really, and was more staring out the window than paying attention, so he was quiet until they reached the store. Evelyn held his hand as they went to keep him from wandering, as she usually did, and just followed after Anthony. It was almost shocking, really, that he even remembered that Luca liked stars, and for a moment surprised her into silence.

". . . I don't know," Luca said with a little shrug when she didn't answer, hesitant. He liked stars, but real stars, and he didn't know if he liked the picture stars that were on the swim trunks Anthony held out to him. He picked his own clothes to wear out of the closet and dresser in his room, but they were all things Evelyn had already chosen for him.

"It's all right," she said, giving his hand a gentle pat. "Anything will do, so there's no wrong answer. Let's hold on to the stars for now and see if there's anything you like better, okay?"

He only nodded, and when prompted walked over with them to look at the rack of brightly colored shorts. There were so many patterns next to each other he couldn't decide if he liked any of them more or less than the other, and eventually he gingerly picked up a pair that were just a bright but solid blue.

". . . This one?" He asked, uncertain, and let Evelyn take it from him when she reached for it.

"You like this one?" She reaffirmed, and just gave him a little smile. "That's just fine, Luca. Let's find one in your size."
 
Anthony, for his part, was only focused on the fact that he had a chance to make friends. He couldn't really tell if Evelyn and Luca liked him or tolerated him, but he was so hungry for healthy friendships like the one that he and Garrett had that he was ready to do just about anything to win them over. Thankfully he had enough sense to not try and overdo it. Usually.

The carnival was an exception.

He shrugged and held onto the shorts until Luca was sure what pair he wanted. "Hey, no worries. There are a lot of different suits here."

Eventually he put the shorts on the return rack once Luca had found something he liked. Anthony had no trouble picking out a pair of red and white striped shorts - they reminded him of carnival tents - and Garrett picked a pair that had a gradient from lime green to pink with bubble patterns.

The group eventually headed to the checkout, where Garrett offered to pay for anything.

"I'm thinking we can change in the public bathrooms in the office," the detective said as they all headed to the car after. "Then we can head to the lake."
 
Evelyn picked up a pair of sandals for Luca on the way out, as she hadn't thought she would need any before this day came and hadn't gotten any in advance. She knew she could have insisted on paying for his things, but it wasn't a battle she felt like picking, so she let Garrett have his way without struggle.

"If you think that will work out," she said agreeably, taking tags off of the clothes as she walked and storing everything in the trunk once they were to the car. She would have reminded Garrett to keep watch over Luca, since it wasn't as if she could go with them, but she was sure he already knew and she was doing her best not to become an overbearing mother rather than just a careful guardian. "I brought a few snacks and water, but let me know if you want to stop anywhere for food."
 
"Oh, it'll be fine. The office building is fairly quiet most days," Garrett assured her. "I think the snacks will be enough to tide us over until dinner. And thank you for bringing those, by the way!"

Like Evelyn had hoped, Garrett made sure to keep a close eye on Luca when they all went into the building to change. And luckily it was quiet as usual. Garrett had everyone pack their clothes in plastic bags with some extra towels, and then the group returned to the car before heading to the lake.

Anthony pointed it out happily. The moment the car stopped, he tumbled out and slipped out of his flip flops before setting them on top of his bag of clothes. "All right! Swimming time!" he burst out. He knew the lake very well, and without a moment's hesitation, he ran straight into the shallow waters.

Garrett chuckled and shook his head. "Well, there he goes." He glanced back to Luca and smiled gently. "How're you feeling, Luca? Still wanting to try it?"
 
Luca wasn't quite used to being away from Evelyn's side, but did fine with Garrett around. He was careful not to fall over as he changed, and wore his sandals after like she had asked him to, even though it felt strange. So much was happening, he was content to be silent and take it in slowly.

Evelyn gave a little smile when Anthony immediately ran off to the water, just shaking her head and going to the trunk to gather their things. "You don't have to go in right away," she assured. "We can sit for a little while."

Luca's brow was furrowed in the way it usually did when he was trying to think his way to a decision, and he only took the blankets she gave him to carry and hugged it to his chest as she closed the trunk and turned to find a good place to set everything down.

"I don't know. . ." He said softly as he followed them, hesitant because he knew he'd been saying it a lot and didn't want to be in trouble, or disappoint anyone. ". . . It's pretty." He liked looking at it. He just wasn't sure he wanted to touch the water yet.

Evelyn found a good place that was half shade and half sun, and set down her things to take the blankets from him and lay them out. "Why don't we sit for just a little while, and you can think about it more. We need to put sunscreen on you anyway so you don't burn."
 
Garrett smiled and nodded. "No worries, Luca. I'm glad you like the look of it, though." He held a hand up and called playfully towards the water. "Hey, Anthony! Get back here and put some sunscreen on!"

"Oh, yeah! Right!" Anthony called back, laughing. He climbed back out of the water and dried most of the way off. Then he hurriedly put some sunscreen on and ran back in.

The detective snickered and sat down on a blanket to apply his own sunscreen. "I think I might take a dip, too. The weather's warm enough." He glanced briefly at Evelyn and blushed a little, clearing his throat. "Also, I, uh - like your swimsuit, Evelyn. Looks good on you."

He'd never taken conscious notice before, at least for long periods of time, of how beautiful Evelyn was. And he hoped a compliment wasn't too out of left field.
 
Evelyn chuckled quietly under her breath at Anthony's enthusiasm and just settled in to get Luca and herself protected from the sun, taking off the dress she'd worn over her swimming clothes and setting it neatly aside in her bag. She was making sure Luca's back was protected when Garrett spoke, and glanced back at him over her shoulder.

"Oh," she said softly, a little surprised by the compliment, then gave a small smile as she urged Luca to put more sunscreen on his shoulders. "Thank you." She knew she wore a bit more for swimming than others did, but it was also a bit less than she usually wore, and while she wasn't exactly uncomfortable she was very aware of just how much skin she was showing, and around two young men she had only recently befriended. It was probably the only reason she didn't tease him back, after the small flutter the flattering comment gave her.

"Remember to protect your face," she murmured softly to Luca instead, glancing over frequently to make sure he was adequately covering his skin, and looked over at Garrett after. "You, too, Mister. You may not burn as easily as he does, but that's no reason to ask for skin cancer." She hoped Anthony didn't burn easily, as she didn't think he would consider reapplying later on and was sure to be a lobster by the time they left.
 
Luckily, Evelyn seemed to take the compliment in stride, and Garrett relaxed again. Then he chuckled when Evelyn reminded him about putting sunscreen on his face. "Yes, ma'am," he teased with a smile. "And don't worry about Anthony. He's always been on the tan side. Kid hardly burns even without sunscreen. He'll be fine."

Eventually he finished putting sunscreen on and stood up. "Luca, I'm going to head into the water. Feel free to join us if you want to later on. It's a very small lake, so we'll be able to see you the whole time. Same invitation goes for you, Evelyn.

"It's a shallow lake, too!" Anthony called out, already in the middle of the lake. "This is the deepest part and it's only ten feet here!"

Garrett waved to Luca and Evelyn, and then turned to walk into the lake after Anthony. "How did you get out there so fast?"

"I'm a strong swimmer!" Anthony replied happily.
 
Evelyn was reassured that Anthony would be all right, but couldn't help an inward sign at how easily she could be read. She supposed her concern had begun with Luca and simply bubbled over onto every one else in her vicinity.

She let Garrett run off without complaint, just staying next to Luca and holding his hand, watching the creases in his brow and waiting to see what he might do. "Do you want to go see?" She asked softly after a little while, and smiled reassuringly for him when he looked at her. "We don't even have to walk that far. We can stay in the shallows, if you'd like."

He was nervous still, she thought, his expression worried, but it was easy enough to know he wanted to follow after Garrett, to be a part of whatever was happening. To feel water outside of a bath or shower, to feel free. When he nodded, she gave his hand a squeeze and didn't let go even once they had reached the water.

Evelyn, with her appreciation for all things neat, tidy and clean, was not a huge fan of natural bodies of water and all the things that lived in and around them, but Luca didn't seem to mind. He watched his steps carefully, standing still when the water had just covered his feet and looking down at the lakebed beneath them. With a little gentle urging, he walked a little deeper, until it came up to his knees, and then his thighs, and when he let go of her hand to crouch down and reach his hand down to the mud she felt a mix of worry and reassurance. He was taking initiative, at least. They hadn't gone in very deep, but so far so good.
 
It didn't take Anthony and Garrett long to realize that Luca was making his way towards the water. Garrett swam over first, standing up to smile at Luca and meeting him where he was in the shallows. "Hey, you two! Glad you could both make it!"

Anthony swam over as well. He smiled and stayed at a nearby depth where he could still paddle a little bit. "Glad you came out here. What do you think of the water so far?" Luca seemed pretty relaxed so far, which left Anthony feeling relaxed too. "Digging in the mud, huh? Ooh! You want to look for some cool rocks together?" he offered.

It was an activity that took place mostly in the shallow water, so Anthony thought it might be a good way for them to do something together that didn't have to involve swimming. Plus, Anthony could search for rocks in the deeper water nearby and bring them back for Luca to sort through. It seemed like a foolproof plan.
 
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