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"For God's sake Lucien, stop moving, you'll cause an accident."

Grace would later find it ironic that those were the last words she spoke before a deer darted out in front of the vehicle, causing Grace to swear and slam on the brakes. The vehicle swerved, hydroplaning on the wet pavement and despite Grace's best efforts, skidded off the road and slammed into an oak tree. Lucien, who had continued to shift uncomfortably against his seat belt, found himself propelling towards the windshield and jerking backwards towards his seat by strong hands that grasped at the back of his shirt. Grace pulled the boy awkwardly to her thighs, trembling with shock and adrenaline and holy s**t what happened?; she stretched her legs carefully and rotated each arm, one hand reaching down to curl around Lucien's wrists.

"You okay, kid?"

Lucien nodded against her chest, clearly shaken and miserable by what had so suddenly happened. Grace grabbed the door handle and shoved it open, lifting Lucien into her arms and squinting against the rain. Well wasn't this the cherry on top of her s**t-filled day. The headlights were flickering on and off and the wipers were still scraping obnoxiously against the windshield, but the vehicle was otherwise very much out-of-action. Grace swore under her breath, shrugging Lucien under her jacket to shield him from the rain that was quickly picking up around her, echoing through the deserted road and against the metal roof of the car.

"Hey buddy, we're going to have to walk for a little while, okay? Just until I find somewhere to call for help and get us-- get us both warm."

Lucien looked up, noting the way Grace's eyebrows had drawn themselves together and the way her eyes were half-hooded in what was either fear or biting coldness or both before nodding. Grace began trudging along the wet road, shivering and sniffing against the bitter rain. She had been walking for what felt like hours before a small off-beat store, barely visible against the heavy rain came into view, its sign swinging violently against the wind. Grace picked up her speed, too relieved to glance up at the store name before throwing herself through the door.

Grace glanced up at the two store occupants gruffly, quickly coming to the conclusion that one was the owner and the other was a clearly disgruntled customer.

"How tragic it must be for you," Grace began humorlessly, shrugging her drenched coat from her shoulder and hugging the boy closer to her chest. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the world not caring. Now while you b***h and whine and tuck that feminine tail of yours between your legs, I have a little boy in my arms who could maybe, just possibly die of hypothermia laced with pneumonia after having to walk God knows how many miles through "this weather" after crashing into a tree. But go ahead, complain about how you're going to take what I'm sure are very, ve-hery important papers home while my son gasps for that one last breath of air before moving towards the light. Heaven forbid we get in your way."

Lucien shivered in Grace's arms, causing her frown to shift into an inscrutable, but undoubtedly concerned expression.

"Look, do you-- do you have a towel or something?"

Grace crouched down on her knees and placed Lucien on the floor; she smoothed down his hair, wiped at his nose and lifted his arms and legs to peel away the wet clothes, her mouth pulled into a tight line. She took the black sweater the second time it was offered with a louche expression, slipping it over the raven-haired boy who easily disappeared within the fabric.

"Unfortunately you can't put a price on life," Grace mumbled, mostly to herself. She shivered against her own very cold, very wet clothes, lifting the boy back to burrow comfortably into her arms before giving the shop the once over. She ignored Mara, too preoccupied in locating a phone to call for someone to tow her car and get her home and far too edgy to care about what she had to say.

"Is there any sort of communication device in here? Hell, I'd settle for a telegram."

Grace took the phone from Alice, her fingers jabbing shakily against the dials. She explained how a deer had darted out in front of her car, causing her to slam down repeatedly on the breaks and swerve into a tree; how she and her son had walked hours to a small pressed paper store through a storm; how her son was feverish borderline ill. After drumming her fingers impatiently and loudly explaining the event for what felt like hours, Grace swore into the mouthpiece and let slammed the phone down onto its receiver, her hands pulled into trembling fists and her cheeks flushed -- nothing they could do at this moment her a**. ********. She bent down to sit carefully next to Lucien and pulled his head onto her knee, her hand running distractedly through his hair.

"Looks like we're going to have to wait out the storm, Luci-boy," she mumbled, her fingers curling in between his tresses. Lucien made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat before nudging deeper into Mara's sweater, his cheek rubbing against Grace's thigh. Grace turned to look at Mara with a conflicting expression, her eyebrows drawn but her eyes soft.

"Thank you," she said as gently and as sincerely as she could, motioning towards the dozing child before placing a hand against his forehead; he's broken into a light sweat -- finally things were looking up.

"He's starting to cool, so I can only hope so."

Grace stood, her arms curling around the under-side of the boy in her arms and her head nodding "yes" -- a taxi was a more than comforting thought; it would get them home quick and warm and safe, and the rain didn't look to be easing any time soon. It was then that Grace noticed the green vegetable settled cozily between the folds of a sweater in Mara's bag, and it was then that Grace felt her heart seize. Surely that wasn't what she thought it was? Frowning, Grace took a step forward to peer closely into Mara's bag, her grip on Lucien tightening.

"Is that a-- is that a cabbage?"

Grace watched the offensive plant cautiously, her mouth thinning.

"Why are you carrying it around? Is there something special about it?" she asked carefully, her eyes narrowing. Maybe this woman was just insane and this was some ordinary, run-of-the-mill coincidence that she'd laugh about in a few years. Cabbages were common enough and it wasn't as if she was carrying around a stick of asparagus or an eggplant. She probably stopped at the corner store and thought hey, I'd like a cabbage today and carried it around in case she got hungry. She'd seen stranger things in her lifetime than cabbage-carrying citizens.

Suddenly, Lucien stirred in her arms, his eyes opening in a squint.

"Didin' I come from a cabbage?" he mumbled into her arm.

Look after the cabbage or you might be charged with murder.
Look after the cabbage or you might be charged with murder.
Look after the cabbage or you might be charged with murder.

Grace looked sharply up at Mara, her expression hardening. That was impossible. That was just Lucien being Lucien and letting his imagination run away with him. Granted she was drunk when she picked him up, in fact, she didn't even remember how she had ended up with him. When she'd called Doctor Akawhatever she'd simply said that Lucien was now in her care for whatever reason blah blah the end. Why hadn't she thought of asking where he came from? Granted, a cabbage was at the bottom of her list -- if there at all -- but still. Grace growled and ran a finger through Lucien's hair, her jaw tightening.

"Please tell that there is not a kid in there."

"Angus, you ********."

Lucien blinked up at Grace and made a disapproving noise in that back of his throat. Grace's expression had become livid and red-faced, and if she hadn't have been holding a small child in her arms she would probably would have thrown something. He sent her a child? A living, breathing, drooling human being? Who would knowingly put someone's life in her hands? What the hell was he playing at? Lucien raised a hand and placed it gently against Grace's jaw, his mouth pulled into a worried frown. Grace's mind began to race forward as she wrapped her arms tighter around the boy in her arms, coming up with far more questions than answers.

"So there's a kid in that cabbage -- in that vegetable. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I can barely look after one." Grace let out a frustrated groan and scrubbed a hand against her face, her throat becoming peculiarly tight at the thought of having to raise another child.

"A-- a drink, yeah. Yeah I could go for one of those."

Grace looked to the bundle in her arms and quickly evaluated the situation; it wasn't as if Lucien hadn't been to a bar, and he'd certainly seen her hammered before -- hell, he'd probably makes best friends with the barman or fall asleep anyway. Still, it was irresponsible of her to go out drinking with her son and an expecting mother (even if she was "with cabbage" as apposed to "with child") -- then again, it was irresponsible to send her a goddamn ******** child. Grace looked over at Mara with a forced smile, ignoring the increasing pain in her arms from carrying Lucien for lord knows how many hours.

"First we need to get out of this hell-hole. Know any "taxis" -- take that as you will -- that will take us to a decent bar?" Grace shrugged Lucien's arms up over her shoulders to hold onto her neck, her shoulders slumping in exhaustion.