Fates Hands//Closed - Kay

[Ashton Wentworth]

“No, no - look.” Ashton’s hand moved over that much smaller one, pulling that smooth stone from his hands and taking a step back. “From the elbow to the wrist - like this,” He moved slowly, showing the structure that he was going to take before moving it. Then whipping that stone out against the choppy waters until it skipped twice before falling silently into the depths. That boy next to him exclaimed something loudly in what Ashton could assume was english adjacent before taking off running down the shoreline. Good kid. Didn’t excuse the fact that Ashton had found him here, alone. Shouldn’t have been alone when a storm was coming. He shouldn’t have been out here alone at all. If one of his kids had been out here - fending for their damn selves...somebody would be dead. Absolutely not. He wasn’t old enough to be out on his own - didn’t matter his age. The kid had said as much that he wasn’t even from here. Liked to talk a fair amount this one did. Little kid named Lukas. Hopefully, somebody, somewhere was out looking for him. As much as Ashton knew that the kid was safe with him - others wouldn’t It was going to look real bad should somebody come up on them. A while ago, he could have just pulled out his Auror badge and made everybody feel a whole lot better about the situation. However, he no longer had his badge. So, that was right on out of the door.

“Ash! Ash!” Tiny feet came careening down, kicking up sand as they went. Stumbling over the dips in the ground and catching himself with surprising grace as he came back, opening up the way that the front of his shirt was folded over his chest to show all of the various little rocks that he had found. “No, not this one it’s shit.” Ashton commented, laughing as he plucked a stone from the boy’s shirt and chucked it off to the side. The boy was staring very intently as Ashton sorted through the contents of that shirt basket and nodded, picking up on in particular and nodding. “This one - this is the one.” Transferring some of the other rocks from the shirt basket into the boys pockets and his own he nodded, guiding the boy by the shoulders until he was standing close enough to the waves and nodding. “Well. Go on then. Like I showed you.” Ashton’s arms folded across his chest as he took a half step backward to watch him. He wasn’t sure why he felt like this kid was so damned familiar to him. He was absolutely positive that he had never, ever seen this child before. He wasn’t from here, so he could belong to absolutely anybody. It wasn’t like Ashton could walk into an Auror outpost and just turn him in - he was going to have to wait for a parent to show up or until the kid felt comfortable enough in finding his way back to wherever it was that he had been staying up until now. Still, he couldn’t deny that he looked - so damned familiar. Was a pretty cool little kid, those clothes he had on were expensive, so clearly his parents were staying here on the island itself. He did admire the way that he didn’t seem to care either way that they were getting ruined by all of the sand and muck from the salty air either. Lukas rolled up his sleeves carefully, lining up his feet the way that Ash had told him to - was so damned focus on skipping a rock properly. Admirable little man. Like the rest of the world faded away whenever he lined up that shot - and glanced over his shoulder with a brow waggle in Ash’s direction. ”Witness me.” They had only known each other for all of an hour and he was already starting to speak like Ashton did. “Alright, alright - you’re witnessed - get it over with.” Couldn’t stop the way he was smiling despite it all as the kid slung that rock like a champ - skipped three times and fell down beneath the foam.

Lukas’ satisfaction was instant. Jumping up and down in place - arms pumping up in the air with an ‘oh yeah’ before he noticed that Ashton was watching him - and quickly calmed himself back down again. . Clearly, his parents were also of a rather high society setting to have a child so young that acted like that so quickly. “See? Told you.” Ashton spoke casually as if addressing one of his own children. Wishing for a moment that they were here with him too to be a part of it. Couldn’t help but to think they would be trying to show this kid up every chance they got. Ashton would have been having to chase tiny feet up and down this sand until he was exhausted. He was exhausted enough as it was. Noah wasn’t back yet - his trip was taking longer than it should have been. Ashton knew that was something that was a possibility of course, but he wished that there was some sort of way to at least check in. To at least have some knowledge of what direction Ashton was needing to go himself with his end of the deal. Sure, he could have checked up with Mikkhal but he didn’t want to raise any red flags if he didn’t need to. Above all, Ashton just wanted to be done with this job. He wanted it to be over more than anything else. He shouldn’t have risked coming back to the island as it was...and it was stupid to lie to himself about the reasons why he had. At least this was the only time he had actually come here despite the number of times since the night that Noah had left. Ashton had wanted to - had wanted to gate crash that condo a fair few times but that would have fucked everything up more than it already was. He needed to stay on course. Couldn’t derail anything further. Luckily, his being here was turning out to have a purpose. Ashton’s hands crossed in front of his body, holding to the outsides of his biceps against the midday breeze. Clear day and not a cloud in sight, he really couldn’t ask for more. Nothing more than the gentle tides washing the water up onto the shoreline. Lukas’ frame quickly staunched the overwhelming excitement his small body was containing. Attempting to squash that bright smile down into something more subtle, more socially acceptable but the little arm pump of gratification wasn’t lost on him. “Next time - we’ll get you to do a couple more skips there.” Ashton breezed, rolling his eyes for effect. He learned quickly, this little one did. Ash could appreciate that.

Lukas took off running again, still easily within reaching distance should something happen down on this beachfront and Ashton followed him with a easy gaze. Lukas was stopping to inspect rock after rock for as perfect size when a shrill, panicked voice broke the otherwise peaceful air. A figure careening down the steps from the boardwalk - yelling the child's name. Heavily coated with emotions that he couldn’t easily place....and an all too familiar tone.

[Kaydence Morgan]

Everything was starting to blur together. The binder, which had been considerably less full only a few weeks ago, was filled to the brim now with pages stock full of patterns, colors and pictures. Lines upon lines of the wedding planners neat, cursive little scribbles covered whatever spaces were left on the page. Kaydence had still found it difficult to believe that all this was necessary for the tiny little wedding she and Noah had planned. Even by her standards, it almost seemed a bit much given the miniscule guest list. Yet the tiny woman had insisted that every detail needed to be perfect. ”Small wedding or not Miss. Nash. It’s going to be the only wedding you ever had. You deserve to have everything you and your soon to be husband want for a day that’s celebrating you two!” It was a mantra she repeated every single time she had seen her as if saying it was going to make it reality. On paper, it certainly was going to be. It had only been a little over a month since their first meeting but everything seemed to have been meticulously right on schedule. Vendors had been scheduled. The food had been ordered. The invitations, what few there were, had been sent out and almost promptly responded to. Everything was so far going exactly according to plan. Everything but the reappearance of the groom.

Noah had been gone for almost two weeks. To where though still remained a mystery. Since the last time she had left the condo, on that very fateful night, she hadn’t heard from him. Mikkhal assured her that he was fine. Simply following through with a business dealing that had hit some unexpected bumps. Wouldn’t give her any other information other than that. Kaydence had a hankering that this was part of whatever it was that he had going on with Ashton. The same man he had just foolishly upped and left her with to care for her after a very unforeseen present he left her with before departing. A present that triggered a chain of events that seemed destined to happen, which they absolutely did, and leaving a very heavy of resentment in its wake. She had time to process everything that had happened that night. While she had thoroughly enjoyed her evening with him, it had been completely irresponsible on her part. Not only for allowing herself so much time to be away from Lukas but for allowing herself to so easy fall back into a place that was dangerous territory, not only for her but for Ashton as well. He had been at the forefront of her mind since that night yet she had made no effort to reach out to him again. It wasn’t safe. Mikkhal had been waiting for her that night. Wasn’t sure what he had seen or what he had reported back to Noah, but with so much uncertainty in the air, staying put and keeping to herself was what needed to be done and so she did that.

Burying herself in the wedding planning had proved to be quite the distraction. Although Ashton still found his way into her thoughts, there were times Kaydence was able to forget him long enough to pick the color scheme she wanted or narrow down the floral arrangement for the bouquet she wanted in her hands. Another welcome distraction had been Lukas. She wasn’t sure if it was because he missed his father, but she was slowly starting to see old traces of her son come back to life. He had actually begun speaking to her at meals and joining her on the patio to show her the new wizarding cards he had collected from his chocolate frogs. Overall, things were peaceful…a welcome change to the misery that had befallen her since the family had arrived in Austria. They weren’t perfect but Kaydence was at least content when she kept herself busy. As she had for the past three hours, mindlessly flipping through the pages of her wedding binder to jot down little notes of questions that came to mind as they did. Unfortunately for her, she had been staring long enough her body was beginning to tire. Had woken up early, as she normally did, and had immediately gone to planning after breakfast with Lukas. He had been in a strangely pleasant mood, asking her how long she planned on looking at wedding stuff because he wanted to spend time with her later on. She had smiled, promising him not to take too long so she could do what was asked of her but would handle what she needed to do for the day and then give him her time afterwards. It was so nice to feel like she was back in his graces again.

What she hadn’t expected though was to fall asleep on top of that very same binder. Had been reading and writing so much that it drained the very energy from her. What she also hadn’t expected was to be awoken by the very loud knocks coming from the makeshift office door. Kaydence’s eyes shot open as the knocks reached her ears. She blinked a few times, attempting to make the blurriness of her vision dissipate. ”Miss. Nash!” Mikkhal’s voice. Yawning, she lifted herself up from the binder. That was the last person she wanted to speak to. After their tense exchange the night she came home with Ashton, she had wanted nothing to do with the man. ”Miss. Nash!” Groaning, she rolled her eyes and stretched her arms above her heard. “What Mikkhal? I’m busy.” The knocking stopped. ”Miss. Nash its urgent. Lukas…he’s missing.” It took a few seconds for his words to register. She stared vacantly at the wall, unable to process what Noah’s assistant had yelled through the door. ”Miss. Nash?” Raising from her chair, she moved towards the door to open it and was instantly greeted with a worried expression on Mikkhal’s face. ”Lukas is gone Miss. Nash. We’ve been searching everywhere and he has yet to turn up.” Kaydence’s eyes narrowed, still having difficulty comprehending the seriousness in the man’s tone. “What do you mean he’s gone?” Mikkhal blinked. ”Lukas is not in the condo Miss. Nash. I went to check on him a few minutes ago to make sure he was still doing his studies but when I went into the library he was gone. I checked the living room, his bedroom, the kitchen, everywhere. The guards have rechecked and confirmed he’s not here.” She could feel her eyes widening. Mikkhal was still speaking but his words went deaf on her ears. Lukas, her son, was missing. The same boy who she had been sworn would be safe was gone.

There was no one on this planet that Kaydence loved more than her son. Even in the time he had been upset with her, she would have done anything for that little boy. His existence gave her reason to push on through even the toughest of days. From the minute he had been born, she had sworn to protect him with every fiber of her being. He was the most precious thing in the world to her and the thought that he was gone…words couldn’t even begin to describe how that made her feel. “HE’S GONE?” she exclaimed, reality finally catching up to her. Pushing the man out of her way, she ran from the room. “YOU HAD ONE FUCKING JOB MIKKHAL! KEEP AN EYE ON LUKAS! ONE FUCKING JOB!” She said nothing else as she began to go from room to room, desperately calling out the boy’s name to no avail. Panic begin settling in as the minutes passed. “WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?” Tears threatening to spill over, Kaydence didn’t stop moving until she had seen with her own two eyes that her son was nowhere in sight. Stopping once she had reached the kitchen, her hands went to cover her mouth as her body shook. Where could he be? Had somebody taken him? Was he merely playing a really good game of hide and seek? Noah’s security moved frantically around her yet not one was able to find him. ”Miss. Nash? Do you have any idea of where he could have gone?” She couldn’t answer. Couldn’t process everything that was going on around her. Where could he have been? She heard Mikkhal’s voice in the background, barking orders to a few of the men to begin looking outside. As she overheard him mention outside, something clicked within her. Outside. Lukas loved being outside.

Running to the door, she ignored the calls from Mikkhal as she opened it and ran through it. Kaydence stopped long enough to look out in the distance. Her eyes landing on the water from the beach. Although the clouds were beginning to roll in, the sparkle from the last of the sun’s rays were still evident on the rippling waves below. That’s when it hit her. “The beach,” she mumbled to herself. The one place Lukas wanted to go that he had been insistent on since they had arrived in Ilfracombe. Without another word, she took off down the driveway. If one of the men wanted to follow her they could but at this point nothing else mattered. If someone had her son, she had enough defensive and dark magic spells to fend them off. Fortunately, she always kept her wand in her back pocket. Kaydence got to the apparition spot within minutes and instantly closed her eyes as she did, picturing the Boardwalk in her mind.

She practically lost her footing once her feet hit solid ground. Stumbling briefly, Kaydence took off towards the waterfront once she righted herself. Pushing back confused bodies as she found the first flight of steps leading down to the sand. “LUKAS!” she began calling, taking the steps as fast she could without falling. “LUKAS!” Couldn’t see him yet. He had been wearing a light blue shirt with quarter sleeves and white shorts. She had been so proud of him for picking it out himself today. He was growing into being quite the mini male fashionista despite how unruly his hair was constantly growing out to be. “LUKAS!” The sand was making it difficult to run but she was grateful for the intense cardio sessions she typically trained for. Stopping to catch her breath for only a moment, Kaydence looked around before finally catching a glimpse of that blue shirt she was so desperately looking for. “LUKAS!” She took off again in the direction of the boy, who had finally turned his head in her direction. Even from this distance she could see his widened eyes. She closed the distance between them quickly, ignoring all the other confused eyes staring at her as she dropped to her knees and engulfed the boy in a tight hug. ”Moooom.” He groaned. Tears pouring from her eyes, she sobbed into him as relief washed over her. After a minute or two, she finally pulled away and brought her hands to either side of his face. “Lukas, are you okay? What happened? Why are you out here? Are you hurt?” Her son looked at her. ”Mom, you’re crushing my face.” She eased the grip on his cheeks, bringing one hand up to his head and running her fingers through his hair. “Are you okay?” Lukas rolled his eyes as if he were embarrassed. ”Yes, I’m learning how to throw rocks. I’ve thrown eleven so far.” He always had such a strange affinity with numbers.

[Ashton Wentworth]

The woman screaming his name didn’t seem to take long to find them. She should be worried, and Ashton was of a total mind to give her, whoever she was, the lecture of a lifetime. Lukas’ frame sagged beside him. It appeared that he wasn’t at all sorry for having left, but much more sorry that he had been caught. Didn’t seem to care too much about the consequences of it though. Which, was amusing. The closer the woman came, her franticness seemed to be punishment of it’s own. Perhaps he wouldn’t need to lecture. Good. It took only a moment to recognize that body that nearly flew down those final steps to come crush that small frame into her body. Ashton felt like he had been slapped. Like ice water had been dumped over his entire body. The shock of who he had just been talking to for this long. The body that was now joining Lukas - crazed with worry and her hair all out of place, the wind shoving it every which direction. The most stupid, shocked look plastered right over his features. Ashton was stuck - watching the exchange like there was something holding his head locked on the sight of him. Lead bottomed into his gut, he couldn’t help but to think that he had just encroached on something so unforgivable and he couldn’t place the specific reason as to why. This was Kaydence’s son. This was Noah’s son. This was the body that he had seen leaving the train that day with them. It was a whole picture and the weight of what he and Kaydence had done the other night settled on him so heavy it almost toppled him. This was why he was never fucking sober.

”Moooom.” Lukas was clearly annoyed at the way that she was hugging him and Ashton couldn’t even think about it long enough to close his mouth. Felt like his heart was jackhammering inside of his chest. Oxygen wasn’t coming easily enough and with shaking hands he groped around for the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Needing to distance himself from the situation both mentally and physically, so he moved away. Turning his back against the wind and lighting his cigarette, Ashton’s eyes stayed scrunched shut until he could get a better hold on himself. This was too much. Crossing Noah was one thing. The child aspect of it? That was something else entirely. He could hear her crying. On reflex, Ashton wanted to move to her. He wanted to tell her that it was alright that the boy was just fine. That she should have been watching him better. He wanted to yell a hundred different things at her in that moment and with their current audience - he could do nothing. All he could do - was stand here. “Lukas, are you okay? What happened? Why are you out here? Are you hurt?” Hard to breathe, hearing her speak like that. Had known that she was a mother now. He knew that. He had seen it before. Wasn’t something that either one of them had brought up because Ashton wasn’t supposed to know. Her being here, her now knowing that he had been around her son was supposed to be shocking for him and he was going to have to lie. He didn’t want to fucking lie to her. Now, if Noah found out that Ashton had been the one to find Lukas - Noah was going to find that suspicious. This was going to be, a much bigger fucking deal than he had anticipated. Served him fucking right for coming here. Served him fucking right for being sober today. ”Mom, you’re crushing my face.” Nothing about any of this was going to end well. He should fuck right off. She had the kid - he had been found. Ashton needed to get the fuck out of here.

”Yes, I’m learning how to throw rocks. I’ve thrown eleven so far.” “Nine.” Ashton gruffed, his mouth getting the better of him. It was a wrong number - he hadn’t actually managed to get the others. “Single bounce don’t count kid, I told you that.” Trying to play it off now that apparently his mouth was run away with him. Another reason he needed a fucking drink. Needed one so bad that his throat was burning. Blowing a cloud of smoke around his head Ashton exhaled roughly. He wasn’t - entirely certain just what it was that he was supposed to do here. Pretend like he didn’t know Emmeline? Fuck. This child didn’t even know his mothers name. No, he couldn’t go there. He absolutely fucking couldn’t because this was none of his business. Absolutely none of his fucking business. Moving to the pair he ruffled Lukas’ hair with one hand passively. “Stay home safe kid - running away is a bad idea.” He tried to make it casual - tried to make it be something that he could just walk away from. Giving both himself and easy out as well as giving Kaydence...Emmeline, whoever the fuck she was today a reason to thank the kind ‘stranger’ that he was and move on with their days.

Lukas however apparently had other idea. ”NO YOU CAN’T!” Lukas’ body wrenched away from his mothers vice grip. How he managed that, Ashton wouldn’t know. ”Mom. You have to skip rocks. We’re already here.” The boy leaned close, easy to see now from the way he was speaking to her why it was that he hadn’t been afraid of getting his ass handed to him whenever she had shown up. ”He’s the guy from my CARDS mom! The ones that Dad got me in Budapest? You remember? C’mon mom he’s FAMOUS.” He was whispering so excitedly at Kaydence it was hard not to get wrapped up in it. He was trying to whisper, but apparently that wasn’t a skill that Lukas possessed. Subtle he was not. ”Remember? The one who used to be an Auror before…” Lukas’ brows lifted as if attempting to convey some sort of big secret that he wasn’t at all supposed to talk about. ”You know. C’mon you know.” Lukas’ gaze lifted from his mother over to Ashton again, once again stuffing all of those large emotions down inside of himself and standing just a touch smaller. ”You can show her how to skip rocks too!” Ashton’s knee jerk reflex was to refuse. “Ah kid - I dunno, the wind’s changing. Sure your - ah - Ma, wants to get you back home.”

[Kaydence Morgan]

Even with the annoyed look on Lukas face, Kaydence couldn’t bring herself to let go of him. He never done anything like this before. Never been out of her, Noah or the help’s sight. She wasn’t sure the amount of time he had been missing but since she had found out, it felt like he had been gone for ages. She truly had no love for anyone like she did the little boy in her grasp. Never had understood what a parent’s love had meant. Never thought she would be able to. Had almost experienced it, once. She had carried what could have been Lukas’ older sibling almost to full-term when she was only nineteen. Things were much more unsafe then. Had just recently been exiled from her family. The McBain’s had taken her in without question but as part of the arrangement she was required to stay within their home. Months went by and she had grown stir crazy. Mellanie had dropped the news that a Masquerade was being held for former Minister Raghnall’s birthday one day and she had been desperate to go. Anything to get out of the McBain prison. Yet Evan had been insistent. Wasn’t safe for her to go. He wouldn’t tell her why, causing her to assume that he was just wanted to keep her under lock and key and they had an awful fight because of it. Deep down, Kaydence knew she shouldn’t have gone, but she had just been so goddamn spiteful. So, she went. She went and within the course of a very short amount of time, found herself and her ever growing bump at the receiving end of a very nasty spell.

Kaydence had been devastated. It had been the first time she fled Austria. Spent many months of coping with alcohol and men. Couldn’t find the pieces to put herself back together again. Eventually, when she did come back, she was merely a shadow of her former self. More resentful. More hell bent on revenge. It wasn’t just her life she needed to avenge, but that of her unborn child. After the loss, she wasn’t even sure she would be able to have children again with the extent of the damage that spell had caused. By some miracle though, Lukas was conceived. The timing had been awful. She had just fled Austria, again, and had a one-night stand with a man she had only known for a few hours. However, whether it was Merlin himself looking down on her, or just two very lonely people looking to love something other than themselves for once, it seemed as if it were meant to be. Although Kaydence had endured a very serious case of post-partum after Lukas’ birth, one that lasted for almost half a year, when she was finally able to unconditionally love that little boy, she made a promise to herself, and him, that she would never let anything happen to him. She would keep him safe at all costs. She had spent the past eight years learning every spell she could to protect him. Endured rigorous gym sessions to gain the necessarily muscle and stamina she believed she needed to properly defend him if the occasion ever called for it. She hadn’t even devoted herself as much to her DeathEater training back in the day. She was good but had she given the amount of effort she had to learning how to protect that little boy, maybe she could have taken over for Darren one day.

The tears continued to fall from Kaydence’s eyes as she smiled at her son. Merlin she was so glad he was safe. His face was a little dirty. Somehow had specks of sand clinging to his chin but he was still bright-eyed as when she had left him earlier. “Eleven?” she laughed, releasing her grip from his face and using the back of her hand to wipe at her eyes. “That’s all?” Then she heard the voice from the other body she had no idea was by them. ”Nine.” Didn’t even need to venture a guess at who it was. The smile dropped from her face instantly, replaced by a frown. The brief warm feeling of relief vanished immediately, replaced with an intensified feeling of the same dread when she had been frantically looking for Lukas. ”Single bounce don’t count kid, I told you that.” Could feel her heart begin to race, which, had she been in the right state of mind, would have been worrisome considering how elevated it already was with panic. Could smell the smoke from those cigarettes he could never rid himself of. Clenching her fists to her side, Kaydence finally allowed herself to look at the man approaching both of them. Fate really had a way of fucking her life up over and over. As her gaze landed on Ashton, she said nothing as he stopped next to her son. ”Stay home safe kid – running away is a bad idea.” Her eyes widened as she watched his hand go to the same spot hers had only been seconds earlier. How dare he touch him. She could feel her blood boiling as he brought his arm back to her side. Instinctively, Kaydence’s arms went back around her son, making it very evident to Ashton that did not respond well to what he thought was a kind gesture.

She wanted to yell. Wanted to scream. Wanted to curse Ashton into oblivion for having contact with her son. Granted, he probably had no idea who Lukas was. Whom he belonged to. Her and Noah had made sure that no one knew of his existence who shouldn’t. At least she thought he had. Before she could do any of that, she watched as he began to walk away. She could tell by his demeanor that he knew he shouldn’t be here. Could also tell the revelation of who Lukas’ mother was something he was not at all prepared to deal with. Good. Kaydence felt she didn’t owe him a fucking thing. ”NO YOU CAN’T.” Lukas yelled, wriggling out of her grasp and leaving her on her knees in the sand. ”Mom. You have to skip rocks. We’re already here.” He had only moved a few inches away but the space that was created still left a longing for the little boy. ”He’s the guy from my CARDS mom! The ones that Dad got me in Budapest? You remember? C’mon mom. He’s FAMOUS.” Still couldn’t say a fucking thing as she stared wide-eyed between her son and Ashton. She remembered that quite well actually. Remembered how Lukas had been so excited to show her Ashton’s card. Remember how she took one look at his face and freaked out. Remembered how she grabbed the card from his hand, yelled about how the creators of those things really needed to do their research on who they put on those cards and then threw it away. Lukas had been upset with her, but she had refused to take it out of the trashcan. Kaydence had also given Noah quite a bit of her mind when he had left his office that night for a good hour or so. Neither of the men in her life could understand why she had been so upset but she had never given them an explanation.

Lukas leaned back over towards her. ”Remember? The one who used to be an Auror before…? Kaydence glanced at her son, furrowing her brows while he lifted his. ”You know. C’mon you know.” Actually she didn’t. What did he know that she didn’t? She had thrown that card away the minute she saw his face. Judging by the excitement in his voice, the little boy had clearly gone back into the trash later on to retrieve his beloved card. Forcing a chuckle, she feigned a grin. “I can’t say I do Lukas.” She was certainly intrigued now though. What had he done? ”You can show her how to skip rocks too!” Brows raising again, she was dumbfounded with how excited Lukas was to be around Ashton. ”Ah kid – I dunno, the wind’s changing. Sure your -ah – Ma, wants to get you back home.” How strange that sounded coming from him. Never thought she’d here Ashton reference her as being a mom. He wasn’t ever supposed to. “That’s right,” Kaydence interjected, finally finding her voice. Pushing herself from the sand, she wiped off her knees. “It’s getting cloudy and a storm is coming.” Keeping her eyes on Ashton, she strategically positioned herself in front of Lukas. “I think you’ve had enough adventure for one day.” Placing her hand on Lukas’ chest, her lips formed a tight line as she looked at Ashton with an expression that told him that he needed to keep his distance between them. ”Mom I can’t see. I don’t want to go yet. I haven’t curved my elbow the way I need to. I think its supposed to be like 35 degrees or something.” Furrowing her brow again, Kaydence looked down at him. “You and your numbers.” The boy looked up at her, his bright blue eyes glistening up at her. Merlin her and Noah had made such a handsome kid.

Turning her attention back to Ashton, she kept her stance in front of Lukas. “Thank you for teaching him how to skip rocks,” she said, voice full of ice. “Someone has to get back to his studies.”

[Ashton Wentworth]

It was never an easy thing for him. Saying no to a kid. It was a very lucky thing indeed that he wasn’t often in a situation in which that he was the one who had to do that. Let their mother take care of that all of the times that he was possibly able to do so. If he didn’t have to be that guy, then he didn’t want to be. His custody arrangements worked better for the both of them that way. Seeing her here like this - just made him whole thing over just that much more. He wanted to be able to go back into his own home. He wanted to see his own kids. He wanted to have his freedom back, he wanted his job to be returned to him. He wanted a lot of things. All of which, meant that he was going to have to get the hell out of here right the hell now. Another word. Anything else. Was going to end badly. Didn’t want to crush the kids hopes and dreams or anything - but he couldn’t stay. He never should have been here in the first place. That look Kaydence had given him, like he was going to just up and abduct her child the next breath he took. Like somehow he was going to taint the little shit by just touching him that little bit.

She was the one who had let him get away. With all of their fancy ass private security. With Mikkhal’s big ass watching over them like a hawk this little one had gotten out of her grasp. Had been out here at least an hour, perhaps longer and it had taken them that long to know that he was missing? A twinge of bitterness bit the inside of him, and he was almost tempted to say something to the effect. Almost to the point where he wanted to remark about how it was no wonder why he had gotten away, she had built his entire existence on a lie. Needed a drink. He needed a couple drinks. He needed a whole fucking bottle.

He had forgotten that he had been on any of those damned cards in the first place. That stupid, Auror special edition bullshit they had run some handful of years back. Should have been paying a might more attention to how many of them had been published or put out or whatever. “That’s right,” Good. She could deal with the fallout of whatever it was that would be coming later. He would let her figure out how the child had gotten out. He would put this behind him and forget that it had ever existed. This child, wasn’t his issue. He wanted to have nothing to do with the child or them as a family unit. “It’s getting cloudy and a storm is coming.” Ashton’s gaze shifted to the sky for just a moment. Clear as far as he could see. Not that he was going to say anything about that to the contrary. She was physically blocking him from sight. The hell did she think he was going to do exactly? “I think you’ve had enough adventure for one day.” While that was probably true, Ashton was already putting that smoke further into his lungs and moving to walk backward slowly from the pairing. He was really getting sick of the way that she was glaring at him. Like somehow, he was unworthy to breathe the same air as her child. Where did she get off? ”Mom I can’t see. I don’t want to go yet. I haven’t curved my elbow the way I need to. I think it’s supposed to be like 35 degrees or something.” “You and your numbers.” More things that he didn’t properly understand. Ashton’s eyes narrowed, meeting her icy glare with one just as cold. “Thank you for teaching him how to skip rocks, Someone has to get back to his studies.” It was pure spite for that assumption on her part that made him speak again. “Next time kid.” Forcing a smile onto his features that in no way met his eyes, not that Lukas would know that. “We’ll get you to eleven the real way.”

[Kaydence Morgan]

Her and Lukas hadn’t been on many public excursions in his short lifetime. Kaydence had always been too afraid of taking him out, exposing him to the cruel world and all of its evils. Had always been too afraid that the wrong person would just so happen to be at the wrong place. The reasons were obvious. The first being her own identity. Although she had gone through all of the proper protocols to make Emmeline Nash very much a real person with a birth certificate and ID card, her picture had been plastered all over various newspapers in her youth as fallout from Darren making his identity public knowledge. She couldn’t even begin to try to count the times she had seen her school pictures out on display for the world to see. Kaydence had been fortunate to evade the cameras after the Battle of Gringotts. Something that had been very surprising given her short time in Azkaban. She had assumed that awful mugshot would have been on the front page. It never saw the light of day though. She had always assumed the man standing across from her had something to do with that one. Wasn’t sure how he could have pulled the strings with vultures like Erich Griesser working for the national paper but she had been safe nonetheless. The other reason for keeping Lukas out of the public eye was Noah. Kaydence had always had a sneaking suspicion that he was involved in much heavier stuff other than “antique dealing”. Again, the man reciprocating her glare only confirmed that. Ashton had never been a saint and even though he worked for the government, in their time together he had made it evident that he did things that were ultimately best for him.

She had always felt guilty for keeping the world from Lukas. Being able to take him out and about in Sweden was one thing. It was generally a neutral country for all things Good and Evil. Taking him somewhere exotic for vacation though, absolutely had to keep him on the premise of wherever they were staying at all times. Took an extra squad of security warlocks with them for extra protection. There was always the likelihood that all of these safety precautions were unnecessary. That Noah kept his professional life bound so tight that attempts to trace him were all but impossible. That the world had simply forgotten about Kaydence Morgan given the inactivity of her brother. Hadn’t heard anything about her family for as long as she could remember. For all she knew they could have died. Unlikely, but possible. The Morgans had always been resilient. Perhaps Darren had gotten himself into trouble and he no longer was the infamous Dark Lord. Had to flee and go into hiding himself. It was likely the family followed him. More concerned for their own well-being then they ever were with hers. She could only imagine the lies they had spewed about her to her baby sister. With so much uncertainty, Kaydence simply couldn’t risk just assuming that everything was going to be okay. The last time she had done that, well, she had caused the downward spiral that had very nearly consumed her. Despite the recent growing protests of her son, this was all necessary to keep him safe. One day he would understand. Maybe one day she could finally be honest with him when he was old enough to comprehend the seriousness of the danger he faced simply being alive. Everything she and Noah were doing were to keep him safe.

Ashton had all but confirmed that her skepticism of the world was a valid one. Kaydence had no idea how Lukas had gotten out here or for how long. He was obviously too young to apparate. Mikkhal, and their security, sure as hell knew better than to take him out here without her permission. Not only would they suffer her wrath but Noah’s as well whenever he came back. Noah was fiercely protective of his only son and wouldn’t bat an eye if even his assistant had turned a blind eye for only a second. With any luck he would the minute he came home. She would have to pick the young boy’s brain soon but not here. Not in front of Ashton. He had already seen too much of Lukas. Had probably taken a picture of the boy as blackmail. The thought terrified her and Kaydence instinctively found her free hand moving towards the side pocket of her red dress. She could catch him off guard with the element of surprise. Knew an effective curse or two to knock him off his ass or worse. He knew damn well she could stand her ground if she felt threatened. She was pretty sure his face had been swollen for practically a week after. He also didn’t know that she had plenty more years of experience with a wand underneath her belt. Could absolutely give Mr. Glorious Auror a run for his money. Wouldn’t care if she exposed herself in front of all the beachgoers. Anything to keep Lukas safe from all of the connections she knew Ashton had. Merlin this was the worst fucking scenario.

”Next time kid. We’ll get you to eleven the real way.” Kaydence could feel Lukas’ body shift to the side of her. ”Really? You promise?!” Rage. Wanted so badly to lay into him. Wanted so badly to pull that wand from her side pocket and curse him into oblivion. How dare he imply that there was going to be a next time. That he was going to have the privilege of seeing her son again. How dare he get that little boys hopes up that he’d be allowed to come back down to the beach in harms way? It was one thing for Ashton to fuck with her. But with her son? Utterly unacceptable. He had no idea the impact words could have on a child. No idea what she was going to have to go through when she explained that he wasn’t going to see his “new friend” again. The fallout that was going to come from it. Kaydence wanted to lunge and strangle him until that smile on his face was replaced with a look of fear as his body was deprived of oxygen. She had to remain calm and collected though. As best as she could. Old reactions would have done nothing but make Lukas fearful of her. She had only just started getting back his trust. She felt she was anyway. No, the best course of action was just to turn around and leave. Ignore Ashton’s comment, take Lukas back to the apparition spot and go home. However, before she could make any movement to do so, a familiar voice broke the air around them. ”Emmeline! Lukas!” Rolling her eyes, she scoffed as she turned to the direction of it. Her eyes quickly landed on Mikkhal along with two security warlocks. ”Are you both alright?” Sounded a lot worse for the wear with the wheezing she could hear in his chest. “We’re fine Mikkhal. It appears Noah’s friend Mr. Wentworth just so happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Her glare moved back to Ashton.

The three men stopped once they were a few feet away from the group. Mikkhal placed his hands on his hips as he continued to breathe heavily. ”You gave us quite a scare there Lukas.” Kaydence looked down to her son who shrugged. ”You kept talking about how cool it was at the beach and I wanted to go. Mom and Dad didn’t want to take me.” She could feel her face getting red. Her family’s dirty laundry being aired out so freely in front of Ashton. That and the fact that Lukas had made it a point to mention how Noah’s beloved assistant kept mentioning the beach. What was that about? Surely her fiancé’s most trusted confidant wouldn’t be teasing their child. If he had…Merlin was she going to have some more choice words for him when they returned back to the condo. As if sensing her ire, Mikkhal chuckled but made it a point to avoid her gaze. ”You misunderstood Lukas. I was telling you how cool it was going to be once you got to see this every day. When you all leave.” Her eyes were so fucking wide she was sure they were going to pop out any minute. “Mikkhal,” she said rather sternly, turning her head back to face the man. “It’s time. For us. To Go.” At the mention of leaving, Kaydence felt Lukas wrap his arms around her waist. The kid was so tall for his age. ”But moooooom. I don’t want to go back yet. I didn’t even get to go to the Boardwalk. I’m hungry!” Lukas had never been one to whine so she wasn’t sure how to handle this. She could feel the eyes of every single male watching, waiting for her to answer. Didn’t really like this pressure.

”Mooooom please. Can I just go get something?” At this point, Mikkhal found it necessary to jump in. ”Let me take him up to get a treat Emmeline. Might as well since we’re all down here after all. Perhaps you’d like to thank Mr. Wentworth for also graciously taking care of another Eklund while the head of the household is away.” There was something in Mikkhal’s tone that Kaydence didn’t like. Her lips formed into a straight line as she met the man’s gaze. Something in his eyes she couldn’t place. Wanted to smack that smirk off of his face. ”Come on mom Mikkhal is right! I’ll go get you something. And Ashton too! He helped me skip the rocks and all. Please just real quick. I promise I won’t run off again.” Her arm couldn’t have been bent behind her back anymore if she tried. Taking a deep breath, she turned and looked down at those bright blue eyes of her son. Forcing a very pained smile, she nodded, bringing her hand up to Lukas’ head and running her fingers through his hair. “Only for a few minutes darling and then we have got to go. Bring me back whatever you think I’ll like.” Swallowing, she forced the smile even bigger. “And I’m sure Mr. Wentworth will enjoy the same.” The boy gave her legs a tight squeeze before releasing and doing an awkward little hop. ”Oh man thanks mom! We’ll be quick I promise. Maybe we can get some taffy. I bet they have strawberry! If not maybe strawberry ice cream huh? Don’t worry mom I’ll get you something good. Ashton, do you like strawberry? It’s the best flavor.”

[Ashton Wentworth]

”Emmeline! Lukas!” Shit. That was exactly what he fucking needed. Ashton’s eyes closed - thankful for the moment that his back was toward the quickly approaching security wizard. This one was going to be fun to fucking explain. Oh hey, no big deal or anything, I’m totally creeping on your family. No issues. No, this is just totally because Noah had said to watch over him. Was so distracted by the whole thing happening in front of him that his brain was almost sluggish in coming up with a reason as to him being here, because Mikkhal was going to ask. Of course he was going to ask. ”Are you both alright?” Old man didn’t need to be running around in the way that he was. Didn’t seem to be in shape enough for the job or perhaps he was just worried about what his esteemed boss was going to do to him if the child was not found. Nevermind that the golden Emmeline had slipped their grasp as well. “We’re fine Mikkhal. It appears Noah’s friend Mr. Wentworth just so happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Well. That helped at least. More for him to build off of should he need it. Merlin knew that she didn’t have to cover for him - but naturally it wouldn’t have suited her own best interest to out him either. ”You gave us quite a scare there Lukas.” ”You kept talking about how cool it was at the beach and I wanted to go. Mom and Dad didn’t want to take me.” Even better. Push come to shove, then he could just use that against Mikkhal. ”You misunderstood Lukas. I was telling you how cool it was going to be once you got to see this every day. When you all leave.” Ah yes, the retirement plan. Noah had touched on it a couple times but never in any sort of real detail. No matter how intoxicated he became he was rather tight lipped. “Mikkhal, It’s time. For us. To Go.” Ash shouldn’t have felt as self satisfied at the anger in her voice for her precious ‘secrets’ being outed but he did. Didn't she know that Noah had even pointed out that he was ‘trusted’ in front of Mikkhal? Ashton had been declared not a threat.

”But moooooom. I don’t want to go back yet. I didn’t even get to go to the Boardwalk. I’m hungry!” She should at least feed the damned child. Wasn’t his business. The only thing that was currently his business was getting home where there would be drinks. Nothing else. ”Mooooom please. Can I just go get something?” ”Let me take him up to get a treat Emmeline. Might as well since we’re all down here after all. Perhaps you’d like to thank Mr. Wentworth for also graciously taking care of another Eklund while the head of the household is away.” Intruding. Ashton just needed a small reason to leave, that was all. The hell was that supposed to mean, ‘thank him’. He needed no gratitude. Certainly not from her when he wasn’t even going to be getting any in the first place. She was going to bite his head off. No way in the seven hells did he want to be alone with her right now. Would be a maiming sentence at least when he hadn’t even done anything wrong but keep her damn child safe. She was lucky that he had been the one to find him instead of somebody else. Nevermind the implication that Mikkhal was making. Ashton’s eyes narrowed in curiosity as he regarded the man. It was fully improper to suggest that he spend time alone with the boss’ wife. What was he playing at? Wanted to smack that smirk right off of Mikkhal’s face. ”Come on mom Mikkhal is right! I’ll go get you something. And Ashton too! He helped me skip the rocks and all. Please just real quick. I promise I won’t run off again.” Absolutely fucking not kid. Not now. Not with everything else already an issue.

She nodded. She fucking nodded. Who the hell was she. The hell was she playing at? “Only for a few minutes darling and then we have got to go. Bring me back whatever you think I’ll like.” There was somebody living in her body. That wasn’t Kaydence. All tail tucked and moving like she had to people please. Ashton felt like his skin no longer fit on his body properly. The hell did she just do. Set them both right the hell up for failure. “And I’m sure Mr. Wentworth will enjoy the same.” Lukas hugged his mother tightly before running hopping off to join Mikkhal - already spouting off stories about his morning and the whole experience with the beach but that Ashton wouldn’t let him go swimming so they had skipped rocks instead. Excited voice and happy smile lines all over that lanky frame. ”Oh man thanks mom! We’ll be quick I promise. Maybe we can get some taffy. I bet they have strawberry! If not maybe strawberry ice cream huh? Don’t worry mom I’ll get you something good. Ashton, do you like strawberry? It’s the best flavor.” Ashton’s brows rose on his face, taking another inhale from his cigarette. “Couldn’t agree more kid, it’s the only good flavor.” His personal favorite anyway. Always had been. Shooting a wink in his direction as Lukas spun around backward to speak to Ashton as they walked away. “Definitely ice cream, taffy SUCKS!” Ashton added, attempting to keep up appearances. Knowing that the second that he turned back around to face Kaydence - those daggers were going to shoot right through his whole chest for whatever reason she was feeling fucking slighted. It was uncomfortable even more how familiar that felt in this moment. Knowing that she was upset and already positioning himself to deal with whatever came out of her mouth.

Sure enough. Those security bodies disappeared over the ridge. Why had they been left here alone? Not even a single body stayed behind to keep her safe? Something was wrong here. Something that he didn’t know what was happening...and he didn’t like that at all. He must have missed something. Some sort of slipup that he hadn’t caught. Unless of course, Kaydence had been the one to throw him under the bus in the first place. That just didn’t suit her any because it would have made her look bad too. Somehow he didn’t think that Noah would have been one to keep her around if he had known what had happened between the two of them.
“At least the kid has good taste.” he muttered, and steeled himself before turning back around to face her.

[Kaydence Morgan]

Submissive. A word that could never have been used to describe Kaydence Morgan unless activity in the bedroom was being discussed. That was until she had undergone the Emmeline Nash persona. Although there were some traits of her old self still very much alive in her every day life, more often than not the males in her life had a control that she didn’t care to admit to. Noah and Mikkhal withholding information from her. Noah buying her dresses he thought she would like but also wanted her to wear. Mikkhal dictating a schedule for her to adhere to in Noah’s absence. What had always infuriated her to no end was having no choice but to abide by what her fiancé’s asinine assistant told her to do whenever he wasn’t around. Mikkhal and her had always had an interesting dynamic to their relationship. Kaydence constantly felt scrutinized by the man ever since day one. Always felt that she wasn’t worthy to be the one Noah was committing his life to. Mikkhal had never said anything to directly imply those thoughts but not a day went by where she didn’t get weird vibes from him. Sometimes she caught him just staring at her. Not in the way that would suggest he was secretly in love with her or something, but almost like he was trying to figure her out. There were even times he would randomly ask questions about her history, kind of as if he wanted to catch her off guard about answering something incorrectly. Kaydence knew she had nothing to worry about since the connect who had gotten her new identity had made sure all of the keys to her past had been locked and thrown away, but she couldn’t deny the fact that he made her feel uneasy.

Lately, that feeling of uneasiness had been more frequent. It all started the night after she had arrived from her late night out with Ashton. There had been that awkward exchange when she arrived home but then another after Lukas had gone to bed for the night. She had been sitting in her and Noah’s bedroom at her vanity, cleaning her face and preparing for bed when he had appeared at her door. It had been strange given that Mikkhal typically didn’t go to their wing of the condo so she had assumed he had some news of Noah. Come to find out he hadn’t, but instead had questioned her about her night out. Casually asked where she and Ashton had run off to after dinner. Asked if Tripp could confirm they had been there when she explained Noah had asked Ashton to take her dancing as he knew that’s what she liked to do when she was rolling. Also pressed her as to what the pair had done afterwards, given that she had come home two hours after the club had closed. Kaydence had grown more and more irritated as the questions continued before finally snapping, “If you’re trying to get at something here Mikkhal at least be a man, stop playing games and ask whatever is really on your mind.” He had smiled, held his hands up at the side before he slowly began to leave the door. ”I’m simply doing my due diligence of making sure Mr. Wentworth was doing what Mr. Eklund had asked of him before he left the restaurant so I can report back that you were, indeed, taken care of.” It had been a strange conversation that she had thought about daily. Fortunately, the man hadn’t revisited the subject, until now that was. Yet he had made Kaydence feel like he was watching her more.

It pained her to see Lukas so quickly leave her grasp to run over to Mikkhal. Her son would be safe with him. At least she fucking hoped so. Kaydence hadn’t forgotten that Noah’s assistant was supposed to be the one keeping an eye on the boy. She had specifically asked him to make sure he was studying while she tended to the homework of her own that the wedding planner had given her. He had assured her he would. Mikkhal knew damn well the pedestal that Noah and her placed Lukas on so it would have been foolish to think that the small boy would have found some way to slip out undetected. Apparently, it wasn’t. It was something she was going to make sure to thoroughly question him about when they returned to the condo. She knew it wasn’t appropriate here. Not in front of Ashton. She’d see how the man liked getting a taste of his own medicine with her own invasive questions. Kaydence would make sure to throw in a couple of insults for good measures. Make sure he knew that Noah would be hearing about this from her personally when he came home, whenever that was. Perhaps that was what was causing the unsettling feeling now coursing through her veins. If he could so carelessly allow the boy to run away from home, what was to say the same couldn’t happen on the Boardwalk? Where hundreds of people were working or spectating? Sure, he had two other security warlocks with him but who was to say Lukas couldn’t find someway to just lose himself in the crowd again?

Kaydence wasn’t able to dwell too long on those questions as Lukas’ parting comment began to sink in. Strawberry. He had always, always had an affinity for the flavor. Never had really thought too much about it until now. Especially after Ashton had confirmed how significant it was to him as well. ”Couldn’t agree more kid, it’s the only good flavor.” She folded her arms to her chest. He had always liked strawberries as well. Whenever he went over to her apartment, his first stop would be her refrigerator to see if she had picked up a carton for him. Could recall one instance in which he had a bad day at work, per usual, came to her apartment and berated her for a good ten minutes about only caring for herself when shopping. She had tried to explain that raspberries were the only option as strawberries had been out of season and he had proceeded to take the carton of berries from the fridge, dump them in her garbage disposal and turn the thing on, all while looking at her as he did so. Ashton had always been so fucking dramatic regardless of how much he tried to tell Kaydence she was. ”Definitely ice cream, taffy SUCKS!” Scoffing, she rolled her eyes. Really didn’t know how much more of him pretending to be nice to her kid that she could take. Her gaze didn’t leave Mikkhal, Lukas and the other guards until they were completely out of sight. As they did, her eyes turned into slits as her head very, very slowly started moving towards where Ashton was standing. Kaydence had so many questions for him. So many that it was hard to pick out which one she wanted to start off with first. ”At least the kid has good taste.” She squeezed her arms closer to her chest as a slight breeze blew past her, hitting the bare skin of her exposed cleavage and legs. “Of course, he does,” she responded as they finally looked at each other. “He’s my son. Good taste is genetic.” Made sure not to further press at the whole strawberry thing. Made her feel incredibly anxious.

Instead, Kaydence opted to go for the obvious. “Ashton, how the fuck did you find Lukas? What the fuck are you doing on Ilfracombe again?” She stepped closer to him. “I know you know damn well Noah isn’t here.

[Ashton Wentworth]

Kaydence was the harbinger of death.

Perhaps not actual, physical death but close enough. Of course Ashton had seen her use that same wrath on more than one person before. He was comfortable with her wrath. Even when it was directed at himself, he was comfortable in knowing that it was pure. He was content knowing that it was based out of passion. This - deflated human in front of him wasn’t at all who he knew. Quiet. Allowing her child to just leave her like that? He had more than a few questions to ask on the subject. Starting with what the hell Mikkhal was implying, and also why the hell was she allowing for him to not only speak to her that way but also to get away with it. It was so deeply unsettling that he was no longer worried about turning around to her right hook coming at his face. He was fairly certain that she was..subdued. The hell had Noah done to her? Everything about this was leaving a foul, bitter taste in his mouth. Ashton wasn’t the best man. Ashton wasn’t even an easy man to be around. He knew that. He knew that the two of them fought. Kaydence inserting herself into his business or otherwise just generally being underfoot but he liked to think, at least as far as his own personal memory extended - that he had never attempted to change her. Accepted the family that she was from to the best of his ability. Never told her not to do things, other than to stop buying rum. That shit was disgusting and he wouldn’t have it in his house. Not once had he considered that there could have been any reason related to that aspect of things as to what would have made her leave. At least he didn’t think so.

It wasn’t easy, watching that small frame leave with those bodies that Ashton trusted just about as far as he could thrown. Perhaps it was becoming a parent himself that had made him soft, but he felt like he needed to make sure that kid got home. Couldn’t explain it, but something felt wrong about how the kid was leaving with those security guards. He would have been far safer here with Kaydence, or himself. Either one and though he had no rights to the child, hell he hardly even knew him. He knew that Mikkhal wasn’t the best option. Just felt it in his bones. However. He wasn’t the one with a say here - and Kaydence, Emmeline, just let them go - so he stood here. Still feeling very much the intrusive outsider that needed to find a way out of here and quickly. He was certain that he was going to be asked questions about why he had been here, whether it was Noah, or MIkkhal, or who knew who else but it was coming and he would drink himself into a better mindframe to come up with a dazzling excuse.

“Of course, he does,” Ashton couldn’t have rolled his eyes any harder to that comment than he did. It actually hurt with the force in which they attempted to reach the back of his head because he knew the rest of her comment was coming. “He’s my son. Good taste is genetic.” There it was. Making a clearly disgusted face at how god damned vain that sounded. Ashton turned the rest of the way toward her, finishing off his cigarette and flicking it out into the wind. Very interested in why she felt the need to be glaring at him in the first place. Should be thanking him. “Ashton, how the fuck did you find Lukas? What the fuck are you doing on Ilfracombe again?” Already was missing his cigarette. He wasn’t entirely certain that they weren’t still being watched - so he was going to need to choose his words far more carefully. Nevermind that it looked like they alone. Ashton just couldn’t trust it. Certainly not with how far it was that Mikkhal had come down onto the beach. He needed to wait just long enough to ensure that they were out of ear range before it was that he could block out their voices magically until it sounded like the wind was just blowing them out of range. Had to be careful. Sober. Daylight. IN the present company that he was - needed to make sure that it was taken care of. “I know you know damn well Noah isn’t here.” Well no shit, he knew that. He wasn’t here for Noah, she had to know that. There wasn’t anything that he could think of as a reason to give her that wasn’t going to be incriminating to himself. “The kid found me.” Which was true. He had been down here first. It wasn’t like he had gone off looking for the kid he had been loose and after awhile when nobody had come to collect him - Ashton had been waiting. Would have brought him home. Obviously he wasn’t going to fucking kidnap the child. He was a little offended that she didn’t know that. That she was thinking anything else would have even possibly happened. He wasn’t going to offer up anything else on the subject because it wouldn’t suit his purposes. He didn’t want to admit to anything that might have related him to having been here to see her. “Why don’t you go and catch up with them?” Ashton nodded toward the stairs. That was where they needed to be anyway. If he kept talking, he was going to run the risk of snapping at her for allowing the child to get away from her in the first place.

[Kaydence Morgan]

Kaydence could hear the sounds of the waves crashing growing louder around them. A quick glance off to the side confirmed that they were rolling in closer to shore now. Given the time of day, it was far too early for high tide. Still had a couple of hours to go before the sun was supposed to set and the moon started its gravitational pull. Looking up, the skies were still clear but off into the distance one could easily see the masses of grey billowing. A storm was evident. The coast was always subjected to more inclement weather than the inland. She could personally recall cursing herself on occasion when she lived at the outdated Ilfracombe condominiums for moving to the beach. She always been a fan of water. Always felt completely at ease being able to go to the waterfront and aimlessly wander for an hour or two. Loved the smell of salt in the air. Hated what it did to her hair but was able to keep that preference on the low. When she was younger, her family always picked the right time of year to vacation. Kaydence hadn’t known anything about the increased likelihood of rain due to its geographical nature. She figured the sun shone year-round and that the moon was always full and the stars cast a beautiful layer of white sparkles amongst the waves at night. Learned very quickly that was indeed not the case about a month here on her own. She had been so distraught that it rained for four days in a row that she had actually called her realtor and demanded she started looking for something different. Just another thing to set her off over not having any control over.

In Sweden, they had lived by a lake. Not so strangely similar to Morgan Manor back in the day. Since she wasn’t going to be able to get the ocean, Kaydence had demanded Noah build their estate as close to water, with privacy of course, as he could. Naturally he had and life had been peaceful. Whenever they had their precious morning coffee time together, she swore her days started off so peacefully simply by being able to look out from the back veranda and watch the sunrise above the lake. Could never quite understand why something so simple could be so comforting. Perhaps it had been a small reason for why she had allowed Lukas and herself to travel with Noah back to Austria. Maybe it had been a miniscule amount of optimism that by travelling with him, she would be that much closer to their end goal of the island. Wherever the fuck it was that he had selected. They would be closer to Kaydence sharing her love of water with her son and praying that he would find just as much solace in it as she always had. Seemed to like spending time at the lake enough. Although she had been hesitant on taking him to the beach while she was here, she desperately wanted to. Wanted to have that bonding moment with him sooner rather than later. Wanted to be gifted the first seashell he found. Wanted to watch the excitement on his face as a wave washed over his legs and the squeal of joy that typically resulted from it in younger children. However, fate seemed to have different plans for that. Instead, it had chosen Ashton to be the one to experience Lukas’ first time at the beach. The thought alone caused a very strange feeling of jealousy to begin creeping its way to the forefront of her mind. Ashton, of anyone, took that from her. Never mind the fact that he had no idea who her son had been. Who he belonged to. He had been in the right place at the right time.

Merlin, she was so fucking tired of men being able to interject themselves into her life any way they so wished. Kaydence closed her eyes tightly, pulling her arms even further into her chest as she felt the rage bubbling to the surface. She had to calm down. Times were not like they had been back in the day. Had to attempt to remain calm and cordial given how exposed they were. Mikkhal and the security warlocks were gone but that in no way meant that her and Ashton were alone. Noah had a team of hired guards. Mikkhal could have easily left any one, or two, of them hiding off to keep an eye on the pair of them. He had been acting so strange lately Kaydence wouldn’t have at all put it past him. He had so easily just taken Lukas and left the pair of them there by themselves. Her naturally suspicious nature wouldn’t allow her to think it was just coincidence. There was no such thing. This was going to make it extraordinarily difficult to have any sort of conversation with Ashton. Easiest thing would be to leave him here and go find wherever Lukas had dragged the group off to. That way, there were no unnecessary questions that needed to be asked or answered. Staying here would potentially be doing exactly what Mikkhal wanted. She had enough of being tested around him. Still, being in such close proximity to Ashton, despite how fucking angry she was at him, provided an odd sense of relief. Out of all the males in her life, besides Lukas, somehow he still had the ability to make her feel, dare she say, safe. Had Darren himself magically appeared out of thin air; Kaydence just knew that he wouldn’t be able to throw her to the wolf. Not before he had a parting shot anyway.

”The kid found me.” Her eyes shot open, line of sight once again resting on Ashton’s equally irritated features. Couldn’t imagine what was going on in that head of his. The look in his eyes proved to Kaydence that he wasn’t lying. She gave him a few moments but he had still yet to answer the second question. ”Why don’t you go and catch up with them? Her chest began raising heavily. Again, another man trying to tell her what she needed to do. It didn’t matter that she had already been thinking it. “I’m really getting tired of people telling me what the fuck to do,” she replied with a dangerous tone to her voice, clenching her firsts underneath her arms. “Why don’t you come with me? My son did offer to get you something with your favorite flavor after all. Do you really want to devastate him when he comes back with your gift and you’re not here? Sure, let his mother deal with the ensuing disappointment. Let’s let him deal with two males just so quickly disappearing out of his life instead of one. Because that’s so fair.” Truthfully, Kaydence knew that Ashton owed nothing to sticking around for Lukas. Besides her, he was in no way connected to the little boy. Was completely inconsiderate to throw that burden on him. Didn’t really give a damn at this point. “You either go with me or we’re going to stay right here and wait for them to come back.” She could feel her nails digging into the palm of her hand. “Besides, you still haven’t answered my question.”

[Ashton Wentworth]

“I’m really getting tired of people telling me what the fuck to do,” Her eyes looked like they were about to carve holes into his skin and yet, it was still strangely endearing. It was a fond smile that pushed over his features as he turned to face her properly. All venom and anger just stilling under her skin. He couldn’t squelch that familiar feeling. All of those times that he would do something in the house during that brief time that they had been together. All fire and brimstone as his boots were left out on the carpet or clothes were just dumped anywhere. Light things that would irritate her. Her voice all shrill as she would find wherever he was and throw the offending items at him, demanding that he stop being such a pig. Generally all of his domestic habits had offended her - to the point where they had escalated to him doing it on purpose until she would snap and physically attack him. Had shut off the hot water to the house once when he was showering. Had waited till he came downstairs with soap covering his person and screaming about the pettiness of her...but of course he had stopped to light a cigarette first and when she came back inside all smug and self satisfied - seen the cigarette and lost whatever point she had been trying to make. Screaming at him about how insane his priorities were as he clutched that towel around his waist. She had thrown her wrench square at his head - nearly took a chunk right out of his ear and it was absolutely insane. Everything about them was crazy, and dramatic and almost always based on no communication on his part. He could remember pulling the blood off his ear and into his hand - and pulling that towel from around his waist and laughing. Could remember almost splitting a rib as he stood there attempting to get his head to stop bleeding. She had accused him of attempting to seduce her at a moment like this. Because he had been wet and half covered in soap - standing naked and bleeding and that was what had come out of her mouth. Naturally, a mutual end to the argument was had and when they were done, he had tricked her happy ass into that freezing cold shower and started all over.

It was probably disturbed that her anger brought up positive memories. Ashton’s hand lifting to touch the side of his ear without thinking as he watched her expressions change - and dropped it just as quickly. Merlin only knew how many of those covered scars were sitting there under her magically charmed skin. “Why don’t you come with me? My son did offer to get you something with your favorite flavor after all. Do you really want to devastate him when he comes back with your gift and you’re not here? Sure, let his mother deal with the ensuing disappointment. Let’s let him deal with two males just so quickly disappearing out of his life instead of one. Because that’s so fair.” No. He didn’t. None of this was the kids fault. Still, that was a whole lot of words out of her mouth in one single breath. She was going to freaking turn blue. It wasn’t like she couldn’t come up with any number of reasons as to why he couldn’t have been there whenever it was that Lukas arrived. He could have been working. Could have been called out. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t be used to that already with Noah as his father. Ashton had been taking up enough of Noah’s time as it was that he knew for a fact he wouldn’t have been able to be home each and every night to be as much of a father to that child as he would have otherwise liked. Her parenting and the choices that she had to make, the things that she had to deal with were absolutely none of his business. He had enough of that on his own. Midnight phone calls and tutor conferences. Private dance lessons and who knew how many other things in their very, very few years on this planet. Twins. Freaking twins. Couldn’t touch that subject - couldn’t mention it whatsoever because it would have put himself in the fragile situation that Kaydence was currently in and he wouldn’t allow himself to be manipulated on that level. He couldn’t. Was the whole reason he had taken this job. Sadly, it was the same for Noah and only one of them was going to be getting their dream out of this deal.

“You either go with me or we’re going to stay right here and wait for them to come back.” Kay had to realize that the two of them staying here wasn’t going to look good on either one of them. Waiting for them to come back was a bad idea. They were likely going to be watched in the first place. At least if they went - Ashton could be watching right back. “Besides, you still haven’t answered my question.” It was careful, the way that Ashton slipped his wand from the inside of his pocket and flicked it between the two of them. Something that she could see but not anybody behind them - because as much as he shouldn’t trust her - he had at least enough trust in her to know that if it suited her best interests as well, then she was going to keep it to herself. “I don’t have to answer anything, Emmeline.” Just spitting the word at her felt wrong. Didn’t like the way that name tasted in his mouth. It was all wrong. “You just let them take your kid? How did he get out in the FIRST place?” Stood almost too still, as if they were negotiating a finders fee or something for his help in the first place. “But sure - let’s go play nice, and eat fucking bon bons and pretend everything is fucking sunshine and rainbows so your kid doesn’t get uncomfortable.” Which - was crossing a line he was certain. He was also certain that he just didn’t care. If they were going to play twenty questions here, he was going to start with just who the hell she was pretending to be.

[Kaydence Morgan]

That smile of his. Had of way of setting off a multitude of different emotions within Kaydence. That hadn’t changed with the way she was feeling now. It generally tended to wind up resulting one of two ways. The first being pure, seething anger. He always loved smiling at her when he knew she was upset. Knew how bad it would trigger her even further. He tended just to smile at her that way because he was amused with how overdramatic her reactions were. She couldn’t recall a time she ever truly had been able to ignore her temper when it came to him. Seemed only fair due to the fact that he never did. Although her episodes were typically warranted, his were about half and half. Laid into her just for sitting on the couch, watching tv and minding her own business when he had been slaving away at work all day. Never brought up the fact that she constantly kept her his house tidy and smelling clean, the latter a new thing to him due to the copious amounts of cigarettes he had smoked in his house to stain the walls with that horrid smell. Or the fact that he never had dirty laundry or made sure his bottles of whiskey were full despite the monster he could turn into when he had one too many. Never seemed to realize he never had a want for anything when he was in need. Couldn’t fathom why she was be so damn upset when he found it humorous to mess up things she had so meticulously worked on to make his house a home.

That smile of his also tended to be a source of comfort. Kaydence could have been so hostile towards him and when he knew he had pushed her too far over the edge, he’d use it to slowly bring her back down to reality. A brief reminder that her world wasn’t about to cave in all around her and that he was still going to be right there to help her pick up the pieces, but then likely throw them back at her when he felt the timing was right. Or those very, very rare moments when they would be cuddled up, he thought she was sleeping and she’d catch a glimpse of a content smile as he was zoned out. Those ones always made her feel some type of way. Couldn’t really share it with him because he’d have none of those conversations but it did bring a sense of relief that it seemed like he truly did enjoy having her around. Enjoyed whatever it was they had.

The current situation they found themselves in did not make Kaydence feel comforted with his smile. It very much only intensified the anger bubbling within, begging her to just let it out and do whatever it felt it needed to do. Didn’t know why he was smiling like that. Hadn’t said anything that was funny. Son of a bitch was probably just entertained with how mad she was. Ashton always had a twisted sense of humor. An extremely painful memory quickly flashed in front of her eyes when she had come home to her apartment one day and he was already there waiting for her. Happy to see him, this was only after she had just started accepting the stalkerish ways he managed to get into her apartment, she had just put her groceries on the counter when he had appeared behind her. ”I did something.” Dropping the bags that were in her hands, Kaydence turned around sharply and brought her arms to her chest. “What did you do?” Sheepishly, she could see him refraining from the laugh that was itching to come out as he slowly began to reveal something from behind his back. When he had, she felt like the air suck itself out of her lungs. In his hands had been her beloved white and rose-gold bordered Gucci purse with a handle completely torn from its sewing. She hadn’t been able to say anything as he held it to his chest like a small child who knew he was in trouble. Kept rubbing his lips together like he was trying to keep from saying something. Eventually the urge was too much to resist and he grinned at her. ”Guess things aren’t so Gucci anymore?” Had instantly regretted arguing with him over the word’s proper pronunciation. Kaydence had been so angry that with widened eyes, all she could do was stare at him for a good five minutes before finally storming off to her bedroom and locking the door behind her. Completely ignoring all of these groceries she had just bought home. Still didn’t know how the hell he had destroyed it.

Never had been able to keep the past in the past when it came to her anger. Kaydence had never been able to focus fully on the situation at hand without thinking about something else that had made her feel the same in times past. It was a terrible habit that she had tried to work on but to no avail. There wasn’t a single soul that could hold a grudge as well as she could. Still waiting for the answers to her questions, her chest was heaving. Wasn’t sure how some people were able to control their anger with deep breathing techniques. The last few times she had tried, her anxiety had gotten the best of her from the weird change in breathing pattern and she had hyperventilated only exasperating things. Movement from the side of Ashton caught her eyes and her brow arched as she watched him expose his wand quick enough for a flick of the wrist before pocketing it again. He loved discretely casting charms. ”I don’t have to answer anything, Emmeline.” How foreign Kaydence’s new name sounded coming from his tongue. Could hear every ounce of bitterness he felt as he spat it out. Didn’t have to answer anything? Of course he didn’t. He never did. It was totally fine if he was the one doing the question asking, but her? Completely unacceptable. She had never been able to figure out why it was okay for him to want to know the truth but why she had to constantly be shut down to his. For a woman with so many secrets and a sordid past, what good would it have done to expose his? To make her feel better? Perhaps, but things always had a way of being much worse for her when certain people discovered the events in her life that shaped Kaydence Morgan into the woman she was today.

”You just let them take your kid? How did he get out in the FIRST place?” The judgmental tone in his voice was nauseating. Where did he get off thinking he had any right to pry into her personal life? ”But sure – let’s go play nice, and eat fucking bon bons and pretend everything is fucking sunshine and rainbows so your kid doesn’t get uncomfortable.” So fucking ignorant he was. Yes, he really didn’t owe her or Lukas a thing. However, Ashton had made the decision to interact with him. He had decided to continue staying around him. Didn’t matter if it was out of the “goodness of his heart”. For whatever reason, that little boy had attached himself to him. Would have been completely crushed if he came back and Ashton wasn’t there. Didn’t matter if it was for “work”. Merlin forbid Kaydence tried to tell Lukas that. She could already see the crestfallen look on his face as he held both his and Ashton’s ice cream in his hands. Knew the impact that excuse would have on him given that she had to tell it to him so many times during the week while his actual father was gone because of that exact reason. No. She was not going to tell her son again that work had interrupted his happiness. Ashton was going to go with her and he was going to deal with the consequences of his actions like an adult. He was going to spend time with her child as much as it fucking infuriated her. Closing her eyes only momentarily as she tried to collect her thoughts, she soon realized it wasn’t going to happen. Once they opened, a large group of drunk teenagers with various beach items began to move past them. An ungodly amount actually. So absorbed with themselves and what they had going on that they were in no way aware of the two of them. Also unaware that they provided some cover.

Without much thinking, Kaydence quickly grabbed her wand from her own pocket and poked at Ashton’s adam apple with it. “It is none of your fucking business how we handle things so don’t come at me all high and mighty like things should have been done differently,” she responded, fairly certain her voice had gone down an octave. “I’m getting to the bottom of that. In the meantime, don’t you dare try to act like you have no more involvement in this then you do. Whether you like it or not, YOU found Lukas. YOU chose to spend time with him regardless of whether or not you didn’t want to leave him. I know this is hard for you to process, but when you spend time with a child and they are enjoying that time, you just can’t fucking leave like oh, all done!” The end of her wand pushed harder into his throat. “So yes, we are going to pretend that everything is fucking sunshine and rainbows until we get to a point where it is appropriate for you to leave without the ensuing backlash I’m going to have to deal with and you tell me why the fuck you were here in the first place!” Noticing the end of the group approaching, Kaydence gave Ashton one final glare before quickly jabbing at his throat and placing her wand back into her pocket. He wasn’t going to like that but she really didn’t care. She wasn’t going to allow him to be so irresponsible with her child’s feelings like he was with her all the damn time. Turning on her heel, she began to stomp towards the stairs Lukas and Mikkhal had left from. “Let’s go!”

[Ashton Wentworth]

Bitch moved freaky fast. Coming at him like that with her wand drawn out of nowhere. The hell did she think that was in any way acceptable. Never once had Ashton pointed a wand at her. Not the actual physical thing. A metaphorical one as a euphemism for his dick, sure - but never the actual one. Turned all of that fondness that had been bubbling inside of him flat. Just that fast as his eyes narrowed and his child lifted a fraction of an inch in respect of the threat he knew she was about to make. Didn’t fucking like it one fucking second. Their little seclusion of space here rapidly infringed on by the group of youths heading to no doubt build some bonfire and drink until they physically passed out in the sand. Was the same annoying shit that he would have done as a teenager once upon a time. It would have been so much simpler to focus on them. To use that as a cover to get himself the fuck out of here. He really shouldn’t have left his fucking house. He should have drunk his breakfast and passed the fuck out on the cheap-ass bed that was his home for the foreseeable future. “It is none of your fucking business how we handle things so don’t come at me all high and mighty like things should have been done differently,” Using that business ass tone of hers. He wanted to yank that wand out of her hand and snap it in fucking half. Wanted nothing more in that moment. “I’m getting to the bottom of that. In the meantime, don’t you dare try to act like you have no more involvement in this then you do. Whether you like it or not, YOU found Lukas. YOU chose to spend time with him regardless of whether or not you didn’t want to leave him. I know this is hard for you to process, but when you spend time with a child and they are enjoying that time, you just can’t fucking leave like oh, all done!” Like hell he couldn’t. Any missing child is returned to their parent, and then the person who found them - fucking left. He didn’t need to stay around. He had done what he had absolutely needed to in order to keep Lukas from feeling scared or from getting into any more trouble than he had already gotten into. He was a fucking missing person. That was the decent thing to do. Sure, Kaydence would have just loved for him to have yanked Lukas up by the arm and dropped him off at the nearest authority port then? That would have been better? To fucking traumatize him?

An actual hiss of anger slipped through his clenched teeth when she pushed her wand further into his skin. Careful to keep himself still lest he trigger her irrational temper. “So yes, we are going to pretend that everything is fucking sunshine and rainbows until we get to a point where it is appropriate for you to leave without the ensuing backlash I’m going to have to deal with and you tell me why the fuck you were here in the first place!” Truth or lie. That was the game that this was all going to come right back to. Just like it had to every single time before now. Whether he should lie to her, or give her just a hint of the truth. Whether it was easier for himself to put his own needs first and to say whatever he needed that would result in this job closing and them both going their separate ways, or if he gave her just enough of the truth to lure her right back into his life full time. Honestly, he wasn’t certain which would be worse at this moment. Thankfully, a final jab was her parting remark before that wand was ripped from his body and she turned heel to the stairs. She didn’t even have fucking shoes on. Ashton’s hand lifted to rub at the tender spot on his throat from her assault and willed for his jaw to unclench. Wanted to hit something. Wanted to hit something real fucking bad. “Let’s go!” Ashton didn’t want to follow her. Didn’t want for his feet to carry him in the direction that she was leading but really he didn’t have a choice. Until he had handled this situation with them he was stuck. If he didn’t handle the Mikkhal situation now, then the oaf was just going to come and find him later to ask all of his annoying little questions. Perhaps he could hit Mikkhal. The man needed to be taken down a fucking peg or two. Bitterly, Ashton’s feet started to move over the uneven sand. Following the path that was asked of him until he was climbing the stairs.

Pettily, he narrowly avoided bumping shoulders with her as he passed Kaydence on the stairs. Making full use of his longer legs and longer stride until he reached the top a whole three steps ahead of her. Petty ass victory, and he didn’t care in the slightest. Ashton didn’t look back as he turned down the road to the old fashioned soda shop he had seen on the way in. no doubt that was where they had gone for whatever sugar needs that Lukas was currently having. Didn’t give any regard for the woman trailing behind him until the moment that they were about to walk in front of the glass. Ashton’s shoulders squared and he rose himself to his proper height, standing in a way more ‘properly fitting’ for the role of the current Ashton Wentworth that he was playing. He was hardly even aware that he did it anymore. Pulling open the glass door he held it open for Kaydence to come through in time to see Lukas standing at the counter with Mikkhal right behind him. There wasn’t a single other body inside of the joint. Just a table full of Noah’s security team. Arrogant twat had probably forced all of the other people out before he allowed Lukas inside. Buying the time of the whole lobby area just for their own purposes. Fucking rich bastards. Lifting a brow in greeting to Mikkal, Ashton was about to move for a seat at the table whenever Lukas spun to see who the bell had rung for. Probably wasn’t expecting anybody else either. Was no doubt used to this, this was his fucking normal.
”ASHTON!” He went to run to him - and stopped himself. Motioning instead to the space next to him like a tiny little adult. ”Sorry,” Lukas’ bright eyes cut to Mikkhal. ”Mr. Wentworth - they had two kinds of strawberry, see?” Small hands waved him closer and pointed directly on the glass to the two different kinds. ”And you can even get extra strawberries over there and they mix it all in...and I get cookies too. It’s better that way. Plus then Mom can’t say that I can’t have too many cookies...because there’s fruit see. Shh, but don’t tell her. It’s a secret.” He grinned, and it was easier to see which teeth had just finished growing into his face when he did so. Perfect little example of good breeding, or whatever.

“Strawberry syrup too. If you wanna go all crazy with it.” Ashton agreed. Normally he didn’t go the cookie route, but it wasn’t like he had any plans on eating it whatsoever. Ashton couldn’t even remember the last time that he had actually had ice cream. Years ago probably - had thrown away so much of it from his freezer whenever he had emptied out the kitchen before his move out. Mika was obsessed with the stuff. Didn’t even have a sweet tooth, it was all sherbert and other such nonsense. Lukas laughed softly at Ashton’s comment and nodded. His hands lifting to his face to cover the overt excitement from having simply so many choices in front of him.

”Mom, can I have two scoops? Or three?!” Adding on the second request as an afterthought.

[Kaydence Morgan]

She’d be lying if her wand prodding of Ashton’s throat hadn’t felt good. Harming Ashton had always had that affect on her. Made her feel better. She was glad that hadn’t changed. Couldn’t hide the satisfied smirk on her face as she continued to trudge through the sand. Only took a few minutes of solitude to realize she had forgotten to put her shoes on in the chaos of Lukas’ disappearance. Ashton was sure to have noticed. Wondered if he at least admired her for not thinking of herself but putting her son completely ahead of anything else within the past fifteen minutes. It wasn’t going to be fun once she got on the Boardwalk though. Despite the old wooden planks being replaced by that glistening material, Kaydence was still going to be embarrassed once they entered whatever shop the group had wandered into. Barefoot on the Boardwalk was one thing. Being shoeless in a public establishment was another thing. It was probably safe to assume that the shop would be nice, cleanly and pristine. With the amount of money they had put into the Ilfracombe remodel it had no choice to be. It was also probably safe to assume that there may be some beach-goers who had just gotten out of the ocean themselves to enjoy a quick treat before heading back to wherever they belonged. Yet neither did anything to alleviate the annoyance of Kaydence’s sudden shoeless discovery. The things she did for that little boy.

Once they reached the stairs, Kaydence began the ascent up the stairs. Ashton proceeded to take the opportunity to take lead and move past her. She rolled her eyes as he increased the distance between the two, making it a point to get to the top way before her and not stop while he was at it. As soon as she stepped on the top flight, she stopped long enough to wipe away any stray sand particles from her hem. Satisfied, she continued after Ashton who now had a considerable lead on her though not far away for him to lose her. Made her feel a tiny bit better that he was still in line of sight. If they were being watched, which by this point she was fairly certain of, hopefully whomever was doing the spying was pleased that the pair weren’t in close proximity of each other. A small chill ran down her spine as a breeze whipped past her. Kaydence gazed out in the direction of where they had come to see the clouds were still continuing to steadily roll in. Hopefully they’d be done down here before the storm started. Really didn’t want to risk getting caught out in the rain. Also didn’t want to risk Lukas getting a cold from getting drenched. The rain showers on the island tended to come hard and fast. Plus, there was still the fact that she didn’t have any damn shoes. She wanted to avoid stepping around in mud on the way back to the condo. Bringing her eyes back forward, the shop where Ashton had finally stopped was only a couple of feet away from where she stood now. His eyes were honed in on the scene in front of him but she still made it a point to glare at him before entering the door herself. Only a fucking gentleman when others eyes were on him. Stupid prick.

Kaydence wasn’t at all surprised to see the shop empty for all other than the security team, Lukas and Mikkhal. Felt like Mikkhal was trying to prove a point. What that point was she wasn’t sure. Relief washed over her as Lukas turned to face her. Opened her mouth to greet him before he interrupted her. ”ASHTON!” Had to keep a forced smile on her face as her son attempted to run towards the man behind her before he stopped. Literally had only been gone for a few minutes and the boy was acting like they had been gone for ages. She couldn’t believe how excited he was to see him. Again, couldn’t help feeling jealous that he was more enthused to see Ashton then her. Merlin she just wanted to go home. ”Mr. Wentworth – they had two kinds of strawberry, see?” Kaydence was grateful Lukas had manners but hearing him called Ashton Mr. Wentworth was disgusting. She stopped as she approached Mikkhal, watching as her counterpart headed over to her son to examine whatever it was that he was so excited about. ”You two have fun?” This time, she did nothing to hide the eye roll at Mikkhal’s question. “You tell me,” she muttered, keeping her eyes solely focused on her son and Ashton. “Don’t act like you weren’t keeping watch.” Mikkhal chuckled from next to her. ”Don’t know what you’re talking about Miss. Nash. If Mr. Eklund trusts you, I should have no reason not to, correct?” Wanted to slap him right in the face. Would only be too easy. “Precisely,” she responded through clenched teeth. “So take a cue from your master.” The animosity between the two had to be apparent to anybody who looked.

As the man stepped away from her back to the security table, Kaydence remained silent as she observed the interaction between Ashton and Lukas. The way he was perched over her son. How excited Lukas was at something behind the glass, pointing at it and looking up at him hoping he saw the same. It was…doing something very strange in her chest. Couldn’t explain it. Was very reminiscent of when Noah and her had taken Lukas out shopping and Noah was helping him scour the shelves for the best toy. She had always treasured those father and son bonding moments. The two loved each other so much. Exactly how a parent and child relationship should be. Forcing herself to look away, Kaydence’s line of sight landed on the security trio also seemingly watching Ashton and Lukas. Now that made her extremely uncomfortable. Could see Mikkhal looking intently. Eyes narrowed as if trying to understand something. What was he trying to understand? She was suddenly starting to feel a deep pit in her stomach. A sense of anxiety that she hadn’t felt in quite a long time. She moved her eyes back to the pair at the counter, completely oblivious to how closely they were being watched. Then, as if on cue, Lukas finally called to her. ”Mom, can I have two scoops? Or three?!” Had the occasion been a normal one, she would have allowed him the three. Her mother may have been strict on her diet but Kaydence granted leniency to Lukas more often than not. Taking the few steps over to him, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned over enough to rest her chin on his head. Given how tall the boy was she didn’t need to bend over far. “Two,” she said, moving her lips to the top of his head for a kiss. “You’re still in trouble remember?”

Lukas settled in against her legs. Replacing her chin on top of his head, Kaydence gave him a small squeeze. “So what are you getting for me? Did you decide on a flavor?”

[Ashton Wentworth]

Not once in all of Ashton’s childhood had he ever been taken out for ice cream. He had been bounced around various prospective adoptive parents for years before landing back up in Mama O’s house for good. None of them had ever taken. He was a problem child. His file was inches thick. Police records. Report cards, personality assessments. Nothing had lead to him having that bright shiny childhood that all children deserved to have. Those were all things that he had gotten for himself as a young adult. It wasn’t a skill set that he had just been given. This, standing here with a parent - was the sort of thing that shaped a childhood. Something that brought forth happy memories to look back on as an actual adult. He had nothing like that. It was all angry and things that a person his age never should have been into in the first place. A mess, Ashton had always been a mess. He wasn’t even self-aware enough to know that it was something that he might have wanted. Had never based his parenting on anything, because for the most part, he didn’t have anything to base it off of. Nothing but Mama O, but she had been a good sixty-something years old even then. Playing mother and warden when she should have been allowed to simply be a doting grandmother figure.

Ashton could feel eyes on him, but it wasn’t something that he was aware enough of to filter anything to sound a certain type of way. He likely should have been, but he was still waiting for Kaydence to answer. Kaydence joining them instead was something he wasn’t ready for. The way her arms wrapped around Lukas again was hard to look at. Couldn’t face those emotions. Couldn’t dwell too heavily on it because if he did - no. Mentally shutting down that process once more he turned to the counter as she spoke, forcing all of his attention there. It was too intimate. Made that flighty feeling spike in his stomach all over again. They were both tall people and still, Lukas was easy for her to hold. Came up to a decent height for such a young person. He couldn’t be more than what - seven or eight from the way he acted. His own son was tall, but he was four. So judging off of that to how tall Lukas was, made sense. Jealousy reared its ugly head with a vengeance. She hadn’t waited long then had she? Teeth closing down on the inside of his cheek and his hands tightening on reflex where they were rested on the edge of the counter outside of the display case. Had just run right off, hadn’t she? No doubt had needed something to lock Noah down with. Something so suddenly or another equally shit reason that she had gone and justified to herself.

“Two, You’re still in trouble remember?” Right. Trouble. This is what trouble looked like to her. Ashton said nothing, pretending like he was looking over the various flavors available to him. “So what are you getting for me? Did you decide on a flavor?””Mmmm, nope. It’s a surprise.” Wasn’t sure what all that was supposed to mean and he wasn’t going to question it either. Honestly, it sounded almost like Lukas was stalling. He was trying to come up with something to say. Like he didn’t know what her favorite flavor was. “She looks like a rocky road kinda girl to me, what do you think?” Ashton paused, turning to look at her more carefully. “Little stracciatella? Coconut?” Ashton’s nose wrinkled for effect. “Doesn’t have the good taste for Strawberry maybe?” Lukas’ chin lifted until he could see his mother up over his head. His hands lifting to circle over hers and hold them in place. Not shy about his affection toward her. ” No she’s sweet. Needs cherries too!” Ashton nodded. “So it is. Cherries, coconut and stracciatella.” He couldn’t chance a second look at her, he didn’t want to see her face. He didn’t want to admit that it was crossing a line, no matter how casually it was that he had said it. The person behind the counter already moving to make the two requested items. “Just one for me, please. Strawberry - the one with the chunks in it?” Ashton would have winked, he just didn’t feel up to it. Spared the poor soul of his fake charms. Ashton nodded his thanks, already moving to pull coins out of his pocket to pay for the treats. No doubt Kaydence hadn’t thought to grab them when she didn’t even have shoes. Moving to the front of their little line Ashton slid over the coins to the lady. ”Such a cute family.” They spoke with a bright smile. No doubt thinking that was exactly what was happening - and Ashton was brought up short. Dumbstruck for too long of a moment. His eyes open too wide and his hand paused in the acceptance of his cup. Just half a moment. Just was still a moment too long. “Not a family, but thanks.” Brief and enough to the point he hoped to get the message across not to pry. Would never be a family. Was never something that was going to happen. This wasn’t the unit that was supposed to pass.