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It was a lovely Monday evening. The first Monday evening of a new year, in fact. And.... well, it was as lovely as Monday evenings went when you were stuck in your study balancing your checkbook. She'd used the wrong account for one of her purchases, and one of her receipts was missing, and it wouldn't have been a problem if there wasn't a comma involved in the numbers that she was staring at. Nothing had bounced, but her math wasn't adding, and her eyes were crossing. The kids were gone, having been taken to the store by the chef, who was trying to finalize food prep for the week. She didn't mind double-trouble staring over her shoulder, and she could actually do what Jada could not.

Cook decent, nutritious meals. Perhaps not shocking, given her profession, but still... Jada had employed the woman only a little more than a week, and she had been no less than a lifesaver. Whoever Jada had stolen her from, it was a victory.

The chill air at her back felt lovely, blowing in from the open window, carrying the sweet scent of snow and the trees out back; the fire at the front of the room kept her from freezing- a loose wrap was all she needed for extra protection against a cold. Her pen scraped against the hard wood as she wrote, and Jada paused, chewing on the end as she thought. What had she bought around that amount? It had come out... ugh. She needed to steal an accountant next, and not another one that worked for her father. This tallying her own pocketbook thing was getting irritating.

But she'd chosen responsibility, when she decided to move back here full time, and bring her wards with her. She'd known it would come with a few months of minor inconveniences while everyone settled back in. Too many members of the staff in New York were unwilling to return to Destiny City in a permanent fashion. It was, after all, almost a war zone. But Lucian Montgomery's mansion remained sturdy and stubborn, just like his three resident descendants could be.

Groaning and letting her head fall forward to thump loudly on the desk, Jada cracked her neck, shrugging her shoulders briefly to try and relax the tension in her neck. Tension from what felt like everything, pooling in her gut like acid. Just.... so much. It was crushing weight, and a wondering on why she was doing all of this, that even her conversation with Caedus the night before hadn't cured.

Still, the lingering taste of the first affection she'd allowed herself in years on her tongue, and the whispering words of what the fight was really for in her mind.

The first buzz startled her, and Jada gave a disconcerted grumble, not lifting her head from the desk. There had to be.... oh. Blegh. There was no one home with her. Maybe it wasn't important? It could be a delayed package or something. There were almost always gifts that came late, and Jada was quite content to let them sit outside the ornate door.

But then the doorbell buzzed again, and she lifted her head, baleful rage on her face. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Jada couldn't even scream for them to knock it off, from up here. Whoever was going to town on her doorbell was in a hurry, and Jada's brow furrowed in concern. Who could be in that much of a- had something happened to one of the twins? No- they would have called.

She shoved to her feet, not bothering to close the window to her study, since she'd be coming back up soon enough, and hurried through the house on bare feet, setting her wrap on the table before peering down the stairs. There was a figure outside that was vaguely familiar, and her purple eyes narrowed, then widened. What -

"ELZO!" her shriek was loud, and then Jada was flying down the stairs, front door slamming wide, and 110 pounds of hair leaping at him. It had been way too long since she'd actually laid eyes on him, even though she had been back in town since November, and she was very happy to see an old friend.

See, this was the benefit of having friends who were taller than you. Jada managed to leap the almost-foot it would take to wrap her arms around his neck, squeezing as he gave her a light twirl. "It's been way too long," she told him with a wry smile, beaming up at him. Even the fact his voice had been exasperated didn't dim her smile, and she stepped back, eyes warm. She wasn't the girl he remembered, probably, but it had been a while since they'd exchanged more than texts.

She pushed back an edge of hair- grown out long again, no longer cropped short... that had been how long it was? probably?- and gestured to the house. "Come on in," she said with a wry smile. "Yeah, I'm back. The twins are going to school here now, so unless I need a trip for work, I'm not making any plans to leave again. I'm tired of running alone." Jada gave Elzo a smile that didn't reach the small circles under her eyes. "There just wasn't anything out there good for me except for shoes, and most of the circles I ran with weren't very good friends."

The door was already open wide and her feet were ******** cold out here on the front porch, so she moved back into the house and waved him in before closing the door behind him. Her office was probably an ice cube with a fire, but it would still probably be a more comfortable place to talk than the rest of the mostly half-furnished house. "Sorry it is still a bit of a mess around here. Post-Christmas, and I'm moving fairly slow on making the place my own. Do you want to talk in my study?"

Jada was very curious as to why he had come to talk to her. "I'll confess I'm a bit sad there's a reason involved. Here I thought you'd just missed my face, and I find out you've got ulterior motives. Can't trust anyone these days." Jada felt her heart clench at how true it was- her people without ulterior motives when it came to their friendships and relationships with her were few and far between. The worry of Elzo joining their numbers was a bit gut-wrenching, but he was a businessman too.

Seeing him brought around a lot of guilt as well, poorly masked in her bright eyes, and she could only be glad he was visiting alone.

The study it was, and Jada grabbed her thin wrap as they reached the top of the stairs. It was more a comfort object than actual warmth, which was made all the more obvious when she gave a small, quiet shiver as she resumed her place by the window, leaving the warmer chair by the fire free for her guest.

The holidays gave everyone free reign on a mess, hmm? Well, then every day was a holiday, henceforth and forever.

Elzo stretched out his long legs and Jada watched, feeling a small knot in her gut relax at the presence of a friend. "My life is full of manipulative Xanis'," Jada mittered under her breath, and then her lips quirked.

"I'm always open to consider a marriage proposal," she told Elzo sweetly, something wicked flaring in her eyes. "As I at least like you, I'd be much more inclined to say yes. And as the only other man I know of who wants me as his wife is six years old, I'm going with you being a shoe-in for the better husband position."

His face cracked into a shupid smile, and then the laughter started, and Jada relaxed, some unrealized tension sliding out of her shoulders as she gave him a fondly faux-aggravated look. "I get to only pick half? I suppose you'll want half of everything else, too- half my closet, half the garage space, half the bed." her sigh was fluttering, dramatic, and utterly silly.

"I mean, if you want to give people a heart attack, I am thoroughly down with digging out the biggest rock I have and dancing into City Hall with you arm in arm." This time her smile made it to her eyes, crinkling the corners, but still not warming them. "I only know good pizza if it's pointed out to me," she assured him, "So that title is completely yours. No halvsies until it comes time to actually eat said pizza."

She stretched out her legs, considering. "Your son," she informed him, "is a troublemaker. Just like his father- Castor! Come here baby." calling for the cat, giving the other Castor a tongue-in-teeth grin, she was pleased to see the toyger poke his head in, trotting across the room- until he noticed Elzo. At which point, with a loud cry, he flung himself into the human, pouncing against him and meowing for attention. "You're still one of about four men he tolerates," she informed Elzo over the brief din, which was settling into a purr.

"I missed you too," she said finally. "Texts don't really satisfy that need for human contact, you know? I know I kind of blasted everyone useless pictures. Hope it wasn't too much a bother." Hope. Her face fell for a moment, pained, but she grit her teeth and pushed through it. Hope was a word, not just her child. Another name may have hurt less, but would not have been such an ever-present reminder of why to try and stay sober.

Castor and Cat-stor, sitting on a chair and cuddling, and Jada leaned over, grabbing her cell phone and snapping a picture. It was the little things, she decided. It had to be the little things. The feline was leaning his head into the white-haired man's hand, purring so hard he was practically vibrating, and when Elzo smiled at her- click! Who she had left of her old friends were rare and precious. She'd snatch what she could when she could.

A board member's meeting in Rome.It was a terrible idea. If she pissed off the wrong people, Giovanni could make another push for the paternity tests on Giulia and Aidan. After four years, even her lawyers were running out of excuses. Jada huffed a dry laugh, and yet still found herself considering it. "Funny I just so happen to be free until the 9th. That's when New York fashion week starts, but I'm available for all sorts of mischief until then." And if she very quietly took the opportunity to visit her daughter's grave... "Let me know if you're serious." otherwise, she'd have to sneak a few days during Milan's Fashion Week.

She turned her attention down to her phone, skimming through the pictures she had just taken and sending a few to her email. Texted a very cute one to him- he could pass it to anyone who might like a picture of him and his "fur"st-born. Only purring, and the quiet heaviness of her own thoughts filled the room, before Elzo spoke again, and her head lifted. "Who we are or what we are?" she clarified curiously. "Well, I thought we were a couple of friends having an impromptu get-together. Unless you're here to ask for joint custody of my cat." red mouth quirked in a smile. "But I suppose we can work both into the conversation. The twins will be home soon, though, so maybe we should start with the what."

Jada leaned back, pressing her hand against the cold windowsill, considering. How much did Elzo know about the issues surrounding the twins paternity? She'd kept no one in the dark about anything except the test results. And that was because she had to. One person, slipping up, saying the wrong thing- Well.

"Then I suppose I'll be paying a visit to Roma. I'll pencil it in and you can let me know the trouble we'll be getting up to." Jada shook her head at his apology, dark curls shifting. "Please, you're livening up my life a little by getting me into trouble. Besides, it is always a pleasure to help you stick a metaphorical knife in his back and twist." her smile was not full of humor, but it was close. Not quite as dark as Elzo's smile, but she'd not as many reasons to hate- yet. "Never feel bad to ask me a favor like that, Elzo. There are very few favors you could ask that I might reject."

Elzo was one of a handful of people she still had that she trusted to care for Jada, and not her wallet. That alone earned him more leeway than she might give to others.

She choked when he called her sister-mother; it wasn't an invalid term, but it was still so weird to have it so blatantly put. "They're almost seven," she told Elzo with a wry smile. "And diapers is about right." she bit into her lower lip, considering when she had been given custody of the twins, and when she had finally taken hold of them. "It wasn't easy, but I didn't have to handle it alone. Not before I was ready." Not before she was out of rehab, and on a new track with her life.

Her head shook. "Not caring enough," she told him carefully, and moved off the window sill to come closer, dropping down onto the seat next to him, not asking permission. "You know far too many of my mistakes. And you-" she considered him. Jada didn't know what had happened, but she knew pain when she saw it, and his words- I just need to be more careful is all.

I just need to be more careful is all.

Oh, Elzo. What had happened to him while she was off daydreaming? In how many ways had she failed him as a friend? In how many ways would he understand her own pain, if she confessed that sin to him? Or would he be unable to forgive her, because of how dear it would be to his own heart? Jada reached out, pressing a half-frozen hand to his cheek. "When the time is right, Elzo, you'll be all the better a father for having survived yours." Whatever had happened... she curved her fingers against his cheekbone.

"No pin-ups. I am a mother, you know." Probably more than he knew. She'd worked hard to keep her secrets. "I can't have the twins wondering what exactly their sister-mother is wearing, after all. I've gotten a bit pickier about my work."

Cat-stor's loud purr of reply and the headbutt to Elzo's chest was surely sign of his enthusiasm for... whatever the mouth-noises meant. They weren't angry mouth-noises, so...

"I still want a huge family," she said simply, "I just had to start sooner than I expected." and she had already had to lose... "I may have to expand it, one day, and I don't know what our child will think." the cat was so fond of Giulia and Aidan, little people who gave him pets and kisses, she couldn't imagine him being anything but delighted. But Elzo didn't know her family might not be adopted. Her hand shook against his face before she stilled it, sucking in a breath of icy air.

She. Two men, two brothers, both with two daughters they would never know. "Fathers protect their children," she corrected him firmly, "Royals protect their people. How many old kings and queens called themselves mothers and fathers to their countries? It isn't all that different, just a smaller scale. Your children get uppity, sometimes you have to put them in time out. Sometimes, you have to do things to keep them safe you don't want to, or that they don't understand."

Elzo shifted from pain to teasing, however, and she accepted the shift, brushing her thumb over his cheek before dropping her hand. "I didn't know I had a fan club," she said cheerily, "just thought I had some overly supportive friends. You mean some of those sales were actually legitimate? I'd attributed half of them to my friend's older sibling buying foldouts of me for 'spank material.'" she made a sound that was half-snort, half mock-resigned despair.

"I pity whoever tries to actually domesticate you." she said wryly. "They'll have an uphill battle, a downhill battle, and a sideways one for good measure." she leaned back. "What about your cook? If you're looking to loan yours out, I just found a nice one who has been working for us part time for the last week. Makes amazing macaroni and cheese."

Through the open window and the open office door, Jada could hear the sound of a car; a slamming door, then more slamming doors and feet stomping loudly. Someone was home; idly, Jada wondered how long it would take before the twins found their way upstairs.