Eric paced back and forth in the emergency room family/guest room. Adjacent to the room where Seren was now sleeping peacefully.

“Eric!” Clark stormed in, escorted by a nurse who quickly ducked back out of the room.

“Shh! Serenity’s sleeping.” Eric whispered harshly.

“What did you do!” Clark strained to whisper. “Is Seren okay?”

“They’re fine. Just slight bruising,” Eric said. Stopping his pacing to stand behind a provided chair and wringing his hands on the cheap upholstery.

“They were covered in blood!” Clark snapped, his voice rose in volume.

“They aren’t injured.” Eric said and stared tellingly at Clark. After a second of blank staring, realization came over Clark’s face. Eric picked up the coat from the seat of the chair. Fishing around in the pockets.

“I found these in their pockets.” He said, pulling the caestus rings out and holding them out for Clark to see.

“Where did they get those?” Clark hissed accusingly.

“I don’t know, I didn’t give them the things.” Eric sighed as he slipped them back into the coat pocket. “Serenity must have picked them up somewhere.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“Did they use them?” Clark asked, wincing and covering his face.

“The bruising is consistent and the rings were covered in blood when I found them.” Eric said. Clark sank down to his knees, covering his face fully. “Do we know if the other person is okay?”

“I have Mrs. Houper making inquiries. So far nothing,” Eric said. “Serenity’s never struck me as violent.”

“They aren’t! They’ve never been in the past! What did you do to them?” Clark stood up rapidly, taking two steps before wobbling. Eric rounded the chair and slid Clark’s weight onto his shoulder.

“Sit down before you have another stroke.” Eric said as he plopped Clark onto the provided sofa.

“You are going to give me one. You are going to be the death of me.” Clark snapped, and laid back on the sofa, holding his head. “I thought you would take care of them.”

“And I have been.” Eric snapped, sitting on the edge of the sofa. Leaving a small gap between the two of them. “I didn’t know they’d find a weapon and hurt someone,”

“How could you not know that? That is nine tenths of the job?!” Clark sat up nearly yelling,

“You aren’t wrong.” Eric mused, ignoring Clark’s tone. “Assuming no one’s died, then this isn’t that bad-”

“Not that bad?!” Clark’s jaw hung in shock.

“No, think of it for a second.”

“I am thinking of it! I’m thinking you’ve lost the plot!” Clark pushed himself off the sofa heavily. “I’m taking them back. You clearly can’t handle having a kid and I can’t even believe I trusted you with this.”

“Hold on a second,” Eric jumped to his feet and cut off Clark’s retreat. “You really think that’s a good idea?”

“I don’t know!” Clark tried to duck around but Eric easily caught him by the arm and swung him back onto the sofa, making his head spin. “My mother’s been talking to me and she-”

“Hold on.” Eric sat next to him and looked at him intensely. “Your mother’s been here?”

“Nearly the whole day.” Clark nodded, covering his eyes to stop the spinning of the world. “She’s made a lot of good points. You-”

“Stop. Stop that right now.” Eric said, harsh as a slap. “Your mother doesn’t care. Look at me. You know that. All she wants is Serenity. This is nothing but a power grab for her. Once she has what she wants she’ll toss you both to the side like she has all her meaningless trophies.” Clark quickly looked away from Eric’s intense stare, biting the inside of his lip hard. Glaring at Eric’s sudden snicker.

“You know, Serenity does that when they’re mad too.” he said, “probably something you didn’t even realize you taught them.” Clark stopped and looked down at his hands. Fiddling with them and thinking about the random things he did and if Seren picked them up too.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Maybe” Eric started and paused to glare at the door on the opposing side of the room. “Maybe I have accidentally, unintentionally, taught Serenity some things too.” Clark sighed, at least the pounding in his head was starting to fade away. He looked at the floor and let the pent up frustration subside.

“Really though, your mother is a proud magpie that wants to collect shiny things to reinforce her ego.” Eric continued. “Serenity’s only been with me for a day and I’ve been fending off your mother’s lawyers and child services and every other kind of authority figure you can imagine.”

“It feels impossible.” Clark said, sitting forward and holding his head in his hands. “I just wanted Seren to have a good childhood. That’s all. Why is that so hard?”

“Life’s hard,” Eric offered unhelpfully.

“Wasn’t nearly this hard before you showed up.” Clark leaned back and rested against the back of the couch.

“I have one small comfort for you, though it might be offensive instead.” Eric offered, Clark hesitated but shrugged.

“All right, what is it?”

“Your parents are old and this might drive them into their graves.” Eric said callously, Clark stared blankly at the ceiling, caught off-guard by the statement.

“Wow,” Clark managed to say. “Just wow.”

“I did warn you,” Eric said. Silence fell over the room as they both drifted back into their own thoughts.

“You think Seren’s having trouble settling in?” Clark asked, “maybe that has something to do with this.”

“Very likely, it’s a lot of big changes and from the papers I’ve read and Mrs. Houper's anecdotes, it sounds like that can be a stressor.” Eric mused, Clark sat up again and glared at him.

“So you put them in another stressful situation?” He asked.

“Not exactly,” Eric said calmly, unaffected by the glare. “I was trying to keep things the same. Instill a routine.”

“Well, that worked.” Clark scoffed and crossed his arms.

“And what would you do?” Eric took off his glasses and raised them to the light to find where they needed cleaning. Taking a cloth from his breast pocket.

“Give them a few days to themselves. Seren needs the room to find their own rhythm.” Clark said.

“That isn’t realistic.” Eric rolled his eyes as he cleaned his glasses. “Life doesn’t come to a screeching halt because things change. Serenity needs to learn now, while they’re safe, how to accept change.”

“Now who’s being unrealistic?” Clark raised his voice again.

“Still you,” Eric snapped back. “They aren’t a baby!”

“And they aren’t nearly as grown up as you treat them!”

“Is everything okay in here?” A nurse peeked into the room.

“Fine!” the two men snapped without breaking eye contact with each other.

“Oh,” The nurse said awkwardly. “Well the doctor says that Serenity is in good health and can return home at any time.”

“Thank you.” Eric said, placing his glasses back on and standing up. The nurse ducked back out of the door, Clark stared at the ground with a sigh.

“How much longer are you stuck here?” Eric asked, grabbing his coat.

“Not sure, but I think they’re getting ready to discharge me.” Clark said, uneasily.

“That’s good to hear,” Eric said idly. “Do you want me to help you back to your room?”

“No, I can manage.” Clark rolled his eyes. “I don’t need everything done for me.”

“You sound like Serenity.” Eric chuckled, Clark was betrayed by a small smile. “You can never deny that kid, they are every bit yours.”

“Yeah,” Clark said softly before frowning. “I just wish they weren’t picking up so much of you.” Eric paused.

“Like what?” He asked.

“They’ve started mimicking that look you give people.” Clark shook his head, “that blank look of disappointment? They replicate it perfectly.” Eric leveled a look over his glasses and Clark looked over and burst into laughter.

“Yeah, that one.” He said. “Just say something ridiculous to them, you’ll see it.” Eric adjusted his glasses, and sighed. Helping Clark up to his feet and walking with him to the door.

‘I wonder if Mrs. Houper’s noticed it too. She probably has.” Clark said opening the door, he exited and Eric followed.

“Mrs. Houper notices everything.” Eric said, “I actually wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh?”

“Can Serenity do any fae magic?” Eric asked.

“Oh sure, we’ve had issues once or twice with Seren’s powers going out of control.” Clark shrugged, “Nothing recently, Seren’s pretty good about keeping their abilities under control.”

“What kind of powers?” Eric asked

“Usual fae-touched things. Breaking glass, phantom noises, making things glitter, temperature changes,” Clark thought back in case he missed something.

“Apparitions?” Eric asked.

“Like what? Ghosts?” Clark asked

“It’s a theory,”

“Nah, Seren’s never done anything like that.” Clark shook his head. “The closest thing I can think of is the phantom noises but those are always just repeated noises. Like the sound of a bell echoing a few times after it rings.”

“It’s possible their powers have grown, isn’t it?” Eric asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“I suppose,” Clark said, turning his head side to side. “You think Seren has been up to something?”

“Maybe,” Eric said slowly, thinking hard. “I can’t see how it would make sense.”

“You really are the worst.” Clark said suddenly.

“What did I do wrong now?” Eric snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at Clark’s facade of annoyance.

“You didn’t have to walk me to my door.” He said, though the annoyance on his face didn’t translate in his voice.

“I know I didn’t have to. I wanted to.”