Forging New Paths

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Luca was focused on Watson, soaking in Anthony's praise but not quite looking at him for a moment while Watson looked at his paper. It was when Watson walked away that he noticed Anthony's eyes closing, and he sat for a minute or two in silence, not wanting to ask if Anthony was sleeping and potentially wake him up. If he was tired, he should sleep. It was what Evelyn always told him.

It took Luca long minutes to think through the problem and dare to risk moving, but he did finally get to his feet and quietly go to his closet to find the extra blanket Evelyn had left for him in case he got cold. Anthony was on top of the other blankets, after all, but there was enough room for both of them, he thought. Or, all three of them, since Watson was sitting and soothing Anthony to sleep.

Luca did his best to be very gentle when he got onto the bed next to Anthony, moving slowly and carefully even as he pulled the extra blanket over the both of them and settled in. He'd forgotten to turn off the lamp, but rather than risk waking his friend he decided it would be okay to leave it on. With Watson and Anthony purring and breathing next to him, and their body heat warming the small space between them, Luca was able to eventually close his eyes and drift to sleep.
 
Anthony didn't stir for the rest of the night. By the time he woke up, sunlight was streaming into the room, and the blanket around him was warm and toasty. He yawned widely and stretched. Then he blinked his eyes open and froze.

He was still on Luca's bed. And it was morning. Had he slept there all night?

He sat up and glanced around, hoping Luca was at least sleeping on the bed and not on the floor. His expression relaxed when he realized he was on the bed beside him. "Oh. Okay, good. At least I didn't kick you out of bed," he murmured softly. He carefully got up and went to go get Mr. Clown, creeping across the floor even while Watson watched him carefully. Hopefully he wouldn't wake Luca up.

He made it all the way to the door before he paused and glanced over his shoulder, just in case.
 
Luca woke a few times during the night, as was normal for him, but with someone else sleeping close by and Watson tucked against him, too, he felt warm and content. It helped to know that Garrett was out in the living room, and Evelyn sleeping in her room. Having everyone together under one roof felt good, and safe.

In the morning he was close to waking by the time Anthony got up, stirring as the bed dipped slightly and then rose again with his friend's departure. He gave a little stretch of his legs under the blanket that made his feet slide out the bottom, and turned into the pillow with a soft, groggy sound like he wasn't ready for the sunlight. It was only as he turned his head to look at Watson that he saw Anthony standing at the door, frozen like he'd been caught doing something.

". . . morning?" He greeted with a bleary, almost confused tone in his just-woken-up voice. Was it time to get up?

Evelyn, for her part, had risen early enough to have already showered, and was only just making her way out to the kitchen to start thinking about breakfast. She glanced at the couch bed as she passed, and only assumed Anthony had gone off to the bathroom. She wouldn't begin to worry or wonder until he'd been gone for a while.
 
". . . Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to wake you up," Anthony murmured, smiling sheepishly and rubbing his neck. "I was trying to be quiet so you wouldn't hear me. Um - thanks for letting me share your bed," he added at last. Again he glanced towards the door, but then looked back at Luca. "You can go back to sleep, if you want. I'm not even sure who's up yet."

Meanwhile, Garrett eventually stirred as well, stretching and arching his back. He got to his feet and ambled into the kitchen with a wide yawn. The first thing he noticed was that Evelyn had already showered and put on makeup. He was starting to be convinced that she always had makeup on somehow, no matter what was going on. But she also hadn't started breakfast yet, and that meant he could spend time in the kitchen with her.

He smiled and went to the sink to wash his hands. "Morning, Evelyn. Want any help with breakfast?" he offered.
 
Luca made a soft, acknowledging sound at Anthony's apology, unsure if he was supposed to respond and groggy enough that he didn't make any attempts, at first. "It was warm," he murmured eventually, blinking sleepily still and not making any moves to get up quite yet. It had been nice, having someone sleep next to him and feeling safe, even if it had been a little cramped and he had worried about squishing Watson or having his Shadow think Anthony was a threat somehow. It was good to feel like it had been safe for Anthony too.

"Good morning," Evelyn said with a small smile when Garrett came into the kitchen to greet her, amused by the way sleep had missed up his hair even as she put an electric kettle on to make some coffee for a change of pace. "If you're ready for breakfast, I appreciate the helping hand. I haven't quite decided what to make yet."
 
Anthony smiled gently and relaxed. With just a few words, Luca managed to put him fully at ease. And he thought he understood. "Ahh. You mean like - the bed was warmer with two people, and you didn't mind sharing?" he clarified. He paused for a moment, hovering in the doorway again, before walking back to pick up Mr. Clown from the floor and pull his toy into a hug. "That was very nice of you. Do you want to come find breakfast with me, or keep sleeping?"

"That'd be great," Garrett said with a smile. "How does French toast sound? Oooh, or maybe toads in a hole! You know, those breads with a hole cut out and an egg cooked in the middle? I think that's what they're called, anyway." His stomach growled, and he giggled. "I guess I'm wanting something with bread, in any case."
 
Luca nodded a little at Anthony's explanation, appreciating the way his friend could put his thoughts into words. It had been nice having someone sleep right next to him, even if it was less comfortable in other ways compared to how much room he had on his own.

When Anthony asked he considered for a moment, then finally started to push himself up with a groggy sound. It took him longer than it might most people, pausing after he sat up and then again after he'd gotten his feet touching the ground before finally making his way all the way to standing up. After so long of waking up from a mix of mind control and deep, drug-induced sleep, he had gotten in the habit long ago of getting up in slow stages so he wouldn't get surprised by dizziness and fall over.

Finally, once he was on his feet, he rubbed his eyes a bit and ran his hands back through his hair, then nodded more to himself than to Anthony. "Breakfast." His stomach was already feeling empty, and he thought he had heard little hints of people being awake and moving around already. Even though he wanted to snuggle back into warm blankets, he wanted to be awake with everyone, too.

Evelyn gave Garrett a small, almost confused smile at his suggestions. "Toads in a hole?" She repeated, amusement clear in her voice. "I can't say I've ever heard that name before. I've never made it before either, though I know what you're talking about. We could give it a try, if you'd like. You could even make French toast out of the circles we cut out and have both." Bread and eggs were things she always kept her kitchen stocked with, so at least they weren't in danger of running out. There was no need to waste the bread cutouts if there was a different use for them.
 
Anthony tilted his head, curly dark hair flopping over his eyes slightly. Why was Luca taking so long to stand up? Was he hurt? Anthony quickly looked over his limbs and the way he put weight on them. No, that probably wasn't it. Maybe he was still just a little tired, and nothing was wrong at all. Hopefully that was the answer.

He smiled when Luca finally stood fully and spoke. "Great! Breakfast it is." He tossed his head and strolled out. "C'mon, let's go see if we can help!"

Garrett's eyes lit up in delight. "Oh! Both is a great idea! Normally I'd save the bread circles for mini sandwiches, but I like that idea more!" He hurried to the cupboard in search of the bread. Then he spent a few minutes getting out supplies, carefully but quickly setting them on the table.

At one point he put a bowl down and startled a bit when he came face to face with Anthony. "Oh! Hello. Good morning."

"Morning, Garrett!" Anthony announced. "Morning, Evelyn! Can we help make breakfast?" He assumed they'd let him stay for breakfast, but after that it'd probably be time to go. The longer he could drag breakfast out, the better.
 
There was commotion on the kitchen. Voices speaking and cabinets opening and closing. Luca followed Anthony to the sounds, waking up slowly still, and as had become a semi-regular habit for him immediately sleepily held his arms out to Garrett and settled his chin on the detective's shoulder as he was accepted.

Evelyn smiled a little at his morning clinginess and just gestured towards the cabinet she was looking through as Anthony asked. "Of course. You can help me decide which glass is a good size for cutting circles out of this bread. I may have a round cookie cutter somewhere." She didn't use it very often, but it was the only shape she had. Maybe it would be small enough to make good circles without leaving the sides of the bread too thin. "Have you ever made . . . 'Toads in a hole', Anthony?" It was such a silly name, she almost felt foolish saying it aloud.
 
Anrhony's eyes lit up. "Have I?! Me and my parents used to make that all the time when I was little! Can I crack some of the eggs into the bread holes? That's the best part!"

Garrett chuckled and nodded. "Go right ahead, assuming you save some for the rest of us! I'm sure we'd all like to take a crack at that."

Anthony groaned, but then laughed anyway. "Garrett."

"Sorry. Couldn't resist the joke," Garrett admitted. Quietly, he was grateful the memory of making breakfast with his parents was one of Anthony's good memories with them; he would've felt terrible if he accidentally triggered a bad one.

But Anthony was happier than a lark. He watched Evelyn and Garrett cut out the bread holes with cups, grinning ear to ear. Then he cracked the first egg into his bread. "Perfect fit! Here, Luca. You want to go next?" he offered, holding out a second egg.
 
Evelyn, though initially startled by Anthony's outburst, couldn't help a soft laugh at the enthusiasm. "Of course. I'm glad to have an expert around."

It hurt a little, having Insight feed her small bursts of information and images about the times when Anthony helped his parents in the kitchen. They had been happy, once upon a time. It only made it that much more heartbreaking now to see what they had become.

It was enough of a distraction that she hardly bothered to shake her head at Garrett's jokes, setting to work getting the bread prepared and handing off the circles to Garrett to make french toast. Luca, waking up slowly but surely with all the commotion around, watched Anthony with interest and hesitated when presented the eggs. He had practiced cracking eggs a lot, though, when Evelyn let him help with making his own breakfast, so he was reasonably sure he could do it.

"Okay. . ." he said softly, a bit hesitant still even when Anthony set the egg in his hand. "In the circle?"

"Right in the middle." Evelyn confirmed, shifting aside to let them have room. "The bread should keep it from escaping too much."

He nodded a little to show he'd heard, and after only one more hesitant pause gave the egg a careful rap on the counter, then gently separated it over the bread so it fell gradually into the spot cut out for it. He looked at it for a few seconds, holding the egg shells in both hands so they wouldn't drop, before Evelyn held out a bowl for him to drop them into.

"Excellent," she praised with a little smile. "Maybe you can help us flip one when it's ready, too." Little steps at a time. He was already more out of his shell now than he had been the night before.
 
Once the toads in a hole were ready, Anthony served them with a spatula onto plates and brought them to the table. Then he turned off the oven, found a chair, and sank into it with a happy sigh.

Garrett brought the rest of breakfast over shortly after - fresh cut fruit, juice, French toast circles, and some bacon to go with the eggs and toast. "Well! Now this will be a filling breakfast," he announced, sitting down with a dramatic groan. "Good thing we all like leftovers."

Anthony smiled and nodded, cutting into his toad in a hole first. "Yeah! So, uh . . . what's everybody's plans for today?" he asked. He assumed he'd probably end up back at the office after Garrett dropped him off; if that was the case, he'd probably go off on patrol afterwards, as was his job. But a small part of him was hopeful the group might invite him to join them in an activity. Anything to keep close to them.
 
It seemed like every day there were more and more voices in her home. More and more smiles. More and more laughs. As she watched Anthony work happily on the eggs and patiently help Luca learn how to flip one, and as she and Garrett worked together to get the rest of breakfast ready, Evelyn couldn't help but think of how warm it could feel. She had thought for so long that she would be just fine on her own, in her quiet house filled with things only meant for her own tastes - but now she could only think of all the things that had been added to it for others, and how empty it would feel if they were all gone. As terrifying as it had always been to think of the metaphorical strings attaching her life to others, she couldn't help but begin to see them fondly, like color slowly weaving it's way into her black and white world. Change was unpleasant. But it could be good, too.

Luca was peaceful again, warm inside after a long rest and being surrounded by the people he cared about, and who took care of him. He didn't feel so tired as he had the night before, or nearly as stressed, and buzzing in his bones was tolerable when there was so much else to pay attention to. When they were settled at the table with hot food and friendly voices, he even smiled a little to himself.

"Bold of you to assume there will be leftovers." Evelyn said with a small, amused little smile as she served herself, Luca's plate already full. They had their human garbage disposal with them, after all, and surely Anthony was also still of an age to eat a decent amount of food on his own, too. "I don't have plans until this evening, but I still haven't gotten Luca a phone. I should probably do that some time soon, if anyone wants to tag along." Then he and Anthony could text or call when they were apart, she thought, without her losing her own phone in the process. It would help Luca get more used to communicating digitally, too, even though he technically knew how already.
 
Anthony's eyes glittered. If anyone wants to tag along. That sounded like an open invitation if he'd ever heard one, and boy was he going to grab it. He waved a hand and grinned. "Me! I want to come along!" he announced.

Garrett smiled and nodded. "I'd like to come along too, if it's not too much of a crowd." He cut off another piece of French toast and popped it into his mouth. "In any case, that leaves the rest of this morning fairly open. Luca, is there anything you'd like to do, or should I offer a few suggestions?"

If Luca didn't have an answer, the detective suggested some relaxing activities to do - making a book together, reading some stories, doing some detective work practice with Luca's kit, going on a walk, or trying out a movie theater.

Anthony told the group he was more than happy to do whatever it was they decided to do - especially since they were all things he really enjoyed.
 
If she were being honest with herself, Evelyn had expected them both to want to come with her, if only because it was a new errand for Luca and they both liked to keep him company. She did not quite anticipate Anthony's level of enthusiasm, though, and found herself giving a soft, almost awkward little laugh in response.

"All right," she said softly, with an amused little shake of her head at both of their eagerness to tag along, "we can go together. I might need to talk to the salesperson alone so we don't overwhelm them, but you can still tag along." It couldn't take too horribly long to add one extra phone line to her already existing plan. At least, she hoped not.

Luca was hard pressed to come up with an answer to such an open question. A very hesitant 'drawing?' was all he managed to think of, and he was grateful for the list Garrett gave him to think about. The first time they had done detective work it had ended scarily, but after that when they had gone for a walk and 'patrolled' with Garrett it had been nice. Despite the equal chance of something unpleasant, he wanted to do more. It was what Garrett and Anthony did, and he wanted to be a part of it somehow.

"We can do. . . detective things?" He asked hesitantly as he considered it. All the ideas seemed good, but he had already done plenty of reading and walking, and he wasn't sure he would like movie theaters.

"We could go somewhere after we get the phone," Evelyn suggested once he had answered, shrugging a little and being as calm and nonchalant as she could for him. "Did you have a place you wanted to go to, Garrett?" Hopefully nowhere that would even remotely remind them of Isaac's parents.
 
The detective beamed. As terrifying as the last encounter had turned out, he was confident this one would be a pleasant experience all throughout. "As a matter of fact, I did have a place in mind. I thought we might go to the lake we like and try some observational studies, using our five senses. And, of course, as long as we're over there, we could bring along our swimsuits just in case we need a small break after," he suggested with a smile.

Anthony's eyes glittered. "Detective work and swimming? That'd be great! Could we bring Watson?"

"If Evelyn doesn't mind stopping off here to get him after the phone, sure," Garrett said with a nod. "He really seems to like water. I think he'd have a good time at the lake with us. How does that sound, Luca and Evelyn?" he added, glancing between the pair. Using the lake wasn't just for fun, though. If the group had time to swim, they could work on Luca's endurance and strength a bit, too.
 
Garrett was rather good, sometimes, at making things deliberately soft for Luca without making it seem as if he was missing out on anything or being protected. Evelyn couldn't help but feel relieved, thinking of going somewhere as simple and safe as the lake. She wasn't sure she would get in the water again, but it would be good to go and relax.

"That sounds nice." She agreed with a small smile. "I'm sure there's plenty to observe there."

Luca nodded a little, pleased with the idea of wanting to go but with something confused on his face. "Can Watson swim?" He had thought cats couldn't swim, since they hated water so much, but Watson did like bath time a lot. Were there cats around that could swim? It was such a strange thought, he'd never considered it before.
 
"Well, I'd rather like to find out," Garrett admitted. "Most cats can swim out of necessity. But since Watson enjoys bath time so much, I thought he'd like to give swimming at the lake a try. If he doesn't like it, he can have fun on the sand and grass instead. No worries."

Anthony grinned and nodded. "Sounds good! Can we all head out to get the phone now? Sooner we get the phone, sooner we can have fun at the lake!"

Garrett scoffed playfully. "Not just fun. Training! Fun training! . . . Well, okay. Mostly fun," he admitted at last, blushing lightly. The group had been through so much stress as of late. Sure, even though the lake work would be important, more important than that was the decompression it would allow.

Watson eventually made his way over, meowing and rubbing against the legs of each person in the group before hopping up to Luca's shoulders.

"See? Even Watson's ready to go," Anthony said with a grin. "Anyone know where his leash is?"
 
Evelyn shook her head with a little smile at Anthony's enthusiasm, getting to her feet to collect dishes to clean off and put in the dishwasher before they left. "All right, all right, why don't you get ready to go while I get things cleaned up in here. I don't want to leave any food out while we're gone. Luca, go pack your swim trunks in a bag, okay?"

She would get sunscreen and a few other things for them once she was done cleaning. If there was time for it she would prepare a few snacks as well, knowing Luca would get hungry later, and probably Anthony too. They would need to stop by the office or Garrett's house to get swim shorts for the others, but she didn't mind a little driving around.
 
Anthony beamed and hurried off to pack. He'd always felt welcome around Garrett - and around Shiloh and Beckett too, although they were farther away than the main group. But now he was finally starting to feel like part of Evelyn and Luca's family, too.

It only took the group a half hour or so to finish packing up and get everyone into the car. And after a quick stop at Garrett's apartment, the supply list was complete, and they made their way to the store for Luca's phone.

Garrett pulled the car to a stop in a carefully selected parking spot. It was close, so they'd have no trouble leaving fast if they needed to, but around the corner so it was more secluded. One could never be too careful.

Watson was curled up happily on the backseat between Anthony and Luca, purring and snoozing lightly. When the car stopped, he stretched and arched his back, reaching into the front seat with his tiny little paws.

"Heh. Little guy could use a nap, I think," Anthony said with a smile. "Luca, ready to get your own phone?"
 
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