Home Sweet Home - Ch.55 - Dinner & Reservations

Me (1:45 pm): Hello Miss Underwood. I know you must be very busy and I'm sorry to bother you like this, but something's come up that I believe is very important, and it involves (or maybe affects) you. It's too complicated to try and explain over a text message, so I'm wondering if there's any chance we could meet again sometime soon? Like this afternoon? Or tonight?

Me (4:15 pm): Sorry to bother you again ma'am, I know this is inappropriate of me but I really think this is something you need to be aware of. My girlfriend and I were hiking yesterday in the Hockley Nature Preserve and we encountered a strange individual in a cave there who claimed to know you. And some of the things he told us left my girlfriend and I very worried.

Kid_Chaos (4:27 pm): That does sound interesting. Are you free this evening? We've got reservations at the Harvest Restaurant on First St. Can you and your girlfriend meet us there at 6:30?

Me (4:28 pm): Yes ma'am, we'll be there! Thank you!

Kid_Chaos (4:28 pm): Excellent, looking forward to it.

"Vikki? Are you still there?"

I grimaced, "Sorry Erin! I got distracted by an important text."

Even over the phone I could tell she was giving me one of those looks, "It's Sunday afternoon, I hope you're not working over the weekend again?"

"Don't worry," I shook my head, "It's nothing to do with work. It's um, about dinner reservations for tonight."

She sounded happier about that, "Much better. I assume you're taking Jenna out somewhere special? On a Sunday though, are you celebrating something?"

I hesitated briefly, since I really didn't want to tell her we were meeting a local goddess. Or that we were meeting a customer. I finally answered, "It's not really a date as such, we're meeting someone and they suggested dinner."

"Anyways sorry for the distraction Erin," I continued before she could question me any further. Then I tried to steer the conversation away from my impending meeting with a demonic goddess of chaos, "So you said you and Emily are going home tomorrow? I want to say that seems really soon, but I realize I don't actually know much about maternal health care."

Erin replied, "That's what one of the nurses said, but she also said the doctor would make the final decision in the morning. I'm feeling a lot better now though, and Emily's perfect. Anyways I think nowadays they like to get people back home as quickly as possible, something about people healing faster in their own bed? Although that might be partially motivated by a shortage of hospital beds, I'm not sure."

"I guess as long as you and the baby are both in good shape it's fine," I responded. "And you certainly sound good! I thought you'd still be recovering, considering how tired you looked in that first picture you sent over."

My boss laughed, "Same! I don't mind saying it was an ordeal. Worth it though, absolutely one hundred percent worth it. And yeah, I'm feeling a lot better. Almost back to normal, in fact?"

"I can't help wondering if your girlfriend might be responsible," she added in a half-whisper. "As in, perhaps it's a side-effect of what she did for us, I mean. Maybe you could thank her again for me Vikki?"

I nodded, "I'll do that. And I can't wait to meet Emily in person. She looks adorable in the pictures."

"We'll figure something out," Erin replied. She sounded like she was smiling as she continued, "Maybe I'll get Sherry to bring us round the office at some point this week, so you and Jay can both meet her. Or if not, perhaps we can arrange a little get-together for next weekend."

I smiled, "That'd be nice. I'm glad all three of you are doing so well. And thanks for calling, Erin!"

She obviously got the hint, "Of course Vikki! You've probably got things to do now, so I'll let you get back to it. Enjoy your date tonight!"

"I'm sure we will," I replied with another grimace. "Tell Sherry I said hi. Bye for now!"

I pulled out the ear pods after disconnecting, then I finally turned my attention back to my girlfriend. I gave her an apologetic look, "Sorry love. I'm sure you already heard, but Erin's doing well. So's Emily, and so is Sherry. Erin thinks they might be discharged tomorrow. Oh, and she said to thank you again, for everything you did for her and her wife."

Jenna nodded slowly, but it was clear she was more interested in the texts than the phone call. "I'm glad Erin and her baby are doing so well. Were those messages from the demon goddess?"

"Yeah," I replied as I slipped an arm around my girlfriend and pulled her into another side-hug. "She wants to meet us this evening at Harvest, over on First. She has reservations for six-thirty."

Her muscles tensed slightly as she sighed, "Alright. I hope she doesn't get upset with us about what we have to tell her."

I pointed out, "We're meeting in a public place. So even if our news bothers her a bit, she probably wouldn't do anything there. Right?"

"I don't think it really matters Vikki," my girlfriend replied sadly as she shook her head. "If gods or goddesses wanted to keep their actions secret they could just wipe the minds of any witnesses."

She added, "Or their magic can be subtle enough to ensure nobody even notices it in the first place. Sort of like when I grant a wish in a public place, nobody notices anything except me and the person who made the wish."

That left me frowning, "Oh. Well I still don't think Cassandra's a threat to us. Or anyone else. She's confident and maybe a bit odd, but she doesn't strike me as being callous or cruel."

"I hope you're right," Jenna replied softly.

We continued cuddling together on the sofa for another hour or so, before I finally headed upstairs to get changed into something more appropriate for the restaurant. I didn't go all-out like I would for a proper date, but I certainly wouldn't go to dinner with a goddess in my old sweat-pants and a baggy t-shirt. I ended up in more of a business-casual look, with some dark slacks and a nice blouse and jacket.

When the time came the two of us got in my car and I drove us over to the restaurant, which only took a few minutes since it was just up the street from my office. And despite arriving a little early I immediately spotted our local chaos goddess. She was already there waiting for us, seated in a booth at the back corner of the dining room.

Jenna held my hand as the two of us made our way over to Miss Underwood's table, and when we got closer I was a little surprised to discover the goddess wasn't alone. I was even more surprised when I got a better look at the young woman seated next to her.

I immediately recognized the small red-haired kitsune as the girl I'd seen Cassandra pull from that car crash some eighteen months earlier. Except she seemed even smaller in person, and I ended up staring at her for a few moments. She had two tall pointed fuzzy red fox ears standing up above her head, while five large floofy fox tails were spread out behind her back.

Meanwhile my girlfriend was nervously watching the demonic goddess, while Cassandra and her friend were looking back at Jenna and I. Or more specifically the two of them both ended up almost studying my girlfriend, until the young goddess finally broke the silence.

"Hello again Miss Lawrence," she greeted me with a polite smile. Then she turned her attention back to Jenna and continued, "And hello to you as well. I've seen you around the local college campus, but we've never properly met."

Before either of us could respond Cassandra added, "Please allow me to introduce my girlfriend, Kaylee Holt. And Kaylee, this is Vikki Lawrence. She's the real estate agent who helped me buy our house two years ago."

"Hello Kaylee, it's a pleasure to meet you," I responded almost automatically. "And this is my girlfriend, Jenna Jenkins. Jenna, this is my client Cassandra Underwood. And her girlfriend Kaylee."

Jenna replied awkwardly, "It's nice to meet you both, Cassandra and Kaylee."

At that point we finally slipped into the booth across from the goddess and her girlfriend. Jenna took the spot opposite the kitsune, while I was facing the goddess of chaos. As soon as we were both comfortable the waitress was at our table, to get our drinks order and ask if anyone wanted appetizers. I noticed she didn't seem the least bit surprised about her tiny kitsune customer, which made me wonder if they were used to having non-human diners here. Or maybe Cassandra and Kaylee were regulars.

We ended up having a quick look at the menus, then placed our dinner and drinks orders at the same time. A minute or two later there was a basket of fresh-baked bread rolls on the table. And Jenna and I were sharing a bottle of wine while Kaylee had a glass of orange soda. Cassandra stuck with water though.

After a sip of her drink the young deity addressed me, "You said in your texts that you experienced something unusual yesterday afternoon? Involving a cave in the Hockley Nature Preserve?"

"You didn't go inside the cave did you?" Kaylee asked, while her tails all slowly swished around between her back and the back of the booth.

I shook my head, "No, we stayed outside the cave. Jenna made sure to keep us a meter or two away. Apparently neither he or his powers can extend beyond the cave entrance?"

Cassandra set her glass down then replied in a calm level tone, "More or less. Although they can see things well beyond the limits of their domain."

"I hope you don't mind my prying," she continued as she turned her attention towards my girlfriend again, "But I'm fairly confident they wouldn't reveal themself to just anyone. And I know Miss Lawrence is a normal human, just as I know you're not. I don't know what you are though, I don't recognize you. I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell us about yourself? And why our friend in the cave was interested enough in you to reveal themself?"

Jenna was obviously still very uneasy, so I reached over and took her hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. She squeezed back, then grimaced as she answered the goddess's question.

"I'm a genie," she mumbled softly. "He claimed to have created me, and all the other genies. He said he's been doing it for thousands of years, that we were supposed to keep the humans and demons and gods on their toes."

Kaylee grinned while her ears angled forward and her tails all twitched, "You're a real live genie? Like with the magic lantern and the three wishes and everything?"

My girlfriend shrugged and responded in another half-whisper, "Close enough. There's a lot more variety though. It's not always lanterns, and it's not always three wishes. And none of that applies to me anymore, since Vikki freed me."

"That's so cool!" the kitsune enthused.

At that point I added quietly, "I hope you'll keep this to yourselves? The person in the cave was very clear that Jenna was not to reveal herself to the public. Both yesterday when we were there in person, and in the card he sent her two years ago. He said something about a 'status quo', and hinted that something bad would happen to her if too many people found out."

There was a thoughtful look on the young goddess's face as she seemed to consider everything my girlfriend and I just told her.

After a couple seconds she addressed Jenna with another question, "Has our cave-dwelling friend recruited you to work with them? Or did they suggest you should work with me? Is that why you wanted to meet me today, after doing your best to avoid me for the last two years?"

"He asked," Jenna stated softly. Then she shook her head, "But I'm not going to work with him. And I don't think you should either."

Cassandra's eyebrows crept up in mild surprise at that answer, but her girlfriend was a lot more direct.

Kaylee's ears and tails all perked up as she asked, "Why not?! You know they want to get rid of the status-quo, right? They want to make the world more magical again. Won't that make it a better place for genies? It'll be a lot better for all the other supernaturals too. We're going to make sure it's a nicer, fairer place for everyone."

My girlfriend and I exchanged a little glance, and I gave her hand another gentle squeeze for support.

Jenna looked at the chaos goddess and explained, "He told us something similar, but I'm not sure I believe him. I think his real goal is to free himself, and to make the world like it was back before he was stuck living in caves."

"The world was a very different place seventy thousand years ago," I added. "So were humans. That was long before civilization, before writing, even before agriculture. Jenna thinks that's what he really wants."

From the look on her face I got a sinking feeling that the teenage goddess didn't believe us. Or if she did, she certainly didn't look like she shared Jenna's and my concerns about any of this.

Sure enough she shrugged, "They've already told us they want to see magic restored to the world as it was in their time. They also promised they weren't trying to end civilization, they don't want to bring about any sort of world-changing cataclysm."

"Even if he's not specifically looking to end civilization he might still be willing to risk its destruction, if that gets him what he wants," I pointed out.

Cassandra still didn't seem convinced. She shook her head, "I suppose anything's possible, but I don't think that's the sort of thing either of you need to worry about."

"The thing is all of this is going to take time," she continued. "My friends and I are focused on dismantling the status-quo, and even that's going to take years. Our subterranean friend's goals are going to take a lot longer. They even said so themself, when we first started working with them. My goals would take years, theirs could take centuries."

"He's already been working on these goals for centuries," Jenna replied in a soft but serious tone.

I added, "He told us yesterday he um, he claimed that he helped create you. And that he started working on this stuff two hundred years ago. He also admitted to manipulating people. He said some people like to do their rituals in caves, which meant he could influence them and interfere with their magical workings."

My girlfriend nodded, "He bragged about how little nudges here and there could have big results centuries later. And that he knew just what to do, to get the results he wanted."

Cassandra and Kaylee exchanged what I took to be a worried look, and with that it seemed like my girlfriend and I had finally gotten through to them. Or at least I hoped that they were going to take us and our warnings seriously.

Except a moment later the young deity shook her head, "I know their methods might seem a bit suspect, but I'm sure their intentions are good. And for now at least, their goals and mine are in alignment."

"You said they created all genies?" she added, changing the subject before either of us could respond. "Do you know how many more of your kind there are out there?"

Jenna sighed and shook her head, "No. I know I'm the only one who's free though. He said two others were freed before me, but they both got caught by the status-quo."

"Ah," Cassandra frowned slightly. "I suppose they must be keeping track of all of you then, if they know those sorts of details? As I mentioned earlier, they're able to see things well beyond the confines of their own domain."

I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice as I replied, "He said he's been watching Jenna, so I assume he monitors all of them. Why?"

Rather than answering me the chaos goddess responded, "Here comes our dinner. Why don't we let this subject go for now? The food here is excellent, we should try and enjoy it."

That felt to me like a dismissal, and I could tell from Jenna's slumped shoulders that she noticed it too. And with the waitress at our table a moment later neither of us had a chance to argue our point any further.

** This chapter is brought to you courtesy of Meg, who commissioned it! **

** Note: Just a reminder about timelines, this chapter takes place in April 2024. That puts it a few months before the Mara epilogues and extras, and before the conclusion of Missed Connections. It's about six months before Team Chaos and the DLP meet at the end of RSS, and a full year before the events of Beyond the Veil. **