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Rubbing at the back of his neck, Ignacio grimaced at the door in front of him. He probably should have called first, he thought. He didn't know if Antony was home. He didn't even know if the other boy was going to be okay with him coming back. In retrospect, he felt bad that he hadn't told Antony where he was going but it all happened so fast that he didn't get a chance to tell him.

At least his great aunt was okay. He had never seen his dad so worried before. It scared him.

Sighing, he knocked on the door and shifted his weight as he waited. Luckily, the door opened before he could lose his nerve. The familiar face of Antony's psuedo-uncle, the magic-using Brit, greeted him with a wide smile. "Hey, there," he said. "Haven't seen you in a while." Jack absently adjusted the small baby in his arms to prop the boy's head against his shoulder. "Lookin' for Antony?"

"Uh huh." Iggy returned the smile brightly. "Is he home?" He craned his neck as if trying to see around the tall man.

"Yeah. Come on in." Jack stepped back to allow Ignacio's entrance. Then he turned his head and hollered, "Antony? Company."

With a faint smile, Jack politely withdrew from the foyer and disappeared into the kitchen. Iggy, on the other hand, stepped closer and almost bounced on the balls of his feet. Antony's reaction had immediately relaxed him and he grinned so widely that his pointed canines showed. "Well, it sucked but..." He fidgeted and put his hands behind his head. "Tia Esme got sick and we had to go to make sure she was gonna be okay. Dad was really, really worried. She was in the hospital and everything. I should've told you but we had to go fast."

The way Iggy's eyes lit up at the offer, though, showed that his own father lacked any kind of culinary skills as well. "That'd be so cool. I've missed you. I missed everyone." He huffed, sighing. "Dad's family's cool. Well, my family. But things were so quiet. There was nothing to do." He followed Antony to the kitchen, hands in his pockets. "And the hospital smelled so bad that my nose burned."

Suddenly, he tilted his head up and sniffed. "Hey, is someone makin' oatmeal?"

Sure enough, Jack looked up from the bowl he had just removed from the microwave oven. The bowl was an improbable neon green, clearly it was for the baby. "Whoops. Sorry, mate," he murmured to Antony. "I'll be out of your hair now."

Iggy shook his head and his nose wrinkled as if in memory. "No but there was blood everywhere. I smelled it, anyway." He offered a melodramatic shudder. "Dad kept sending me to the cafeteria 'cause I kept getting hungry. I don't know why. He didn't smell the blood, though. Maybe that's what it was."

"You smell different, too." Ignacio moved to lean against the counter and watched Antony work. If what he had just said sounded weird to him, he gave no indication. "So what have you been up to? Seeing the others a lot?"

Obedient as a dog (his tail was even wagging a bit), Iggy followed his friend. He smiled to see the familiar blue walls. "I've missed this," he announced as they entered the room. He flopped down on the floor, absently arranging himself Indian style.

Iggy promptly looked down at his hands and grimaced. "Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, I was. That was right before everything kinda went ker-blooey. Man. I can't believe it and that was ages ago and I was there, y'know? He was just a kid. You're only supposed to die when you're, like, really old. Like Tia Esme." He blinked and flushed beneath his tanned skin, looking up with a sheepish grin. "Not that I wanted her to die or anything. Death is probably really boring."

"Nah. You should never feel things you don't feel normally." Ignacio reached out to pick up a s'mores. He was careful to keep his other hand under it in case of drips. "If you don't feel guilty, don't. It's not the thing you're supposed to be feeling. I mean, I know you weren't really friends with him. I liked him but..." Ignacio shrugged and grinned. "Dad's right about me. I like everyone."