All Too Well

It had been a long night, morning and afternoon.
He had been called up around one in the morning by an employee that had seen a mistake in their malware. After getting out of bed and driving to the office, only to realize that someone was trying to hack their system. The whole team had been called in, and now that he had been in the office, he had started working instead of just driving home. Which was also why he was wearing sunglasses as he parked his Porsha in the closed of garage. Just as he put the key in the lock, he realized that he had forgot all about milk. He had run out yesterday, and all he really craved right now was a good cup of coffee. Well, lucky there was a really good barista just around the corner. So he walked back and waited around twenty minutes and walked back to his house, just to almost walk into a person.

“Shit, I’m sorry” he mumbled, with a tired voice and finally looked up and locked eyes with the person. It was like someone punched him in the stomach and then ripped the carpet from out under him. It was looking straight into the mirror.
And then an American accent. What the hell was this? “Hello” he finally got out and removed his sunglasses and put them in his pocket “Cassian” he said, and put out his hand and a small smile formed on his lips “Well, I’ll be damned it’s like looking straight into a mirror – do you live here?” he asked, trying to contain the immense panic that was bobbling under the surface. A voice screamed in his head, that this boy was not about to tell him that he was Ash son. Because then Jez had some serious explaining to do.

Sebastian. His name started to ring in his mind as a word you just couldn’t let go. The more he looked at him, his mannerisms it was indeed like looking into the mirror, but it reminded him of someone else that filled him with dread. He had never meant to hurt anyone when he had taken Jezebel to bed, but with her powers it had been like being teleported back in time. Back to Rome when they had been sitting together watching how Rome was build been to parties by some of the highest gods that didn’t mind Jez being a fallen angel, because that wasn’t something the Greek gods did, they were more about power, ego and who had the biggest -. Yes well, times had been different then, and after he had lost his wife meeting Jez again, had been more than his heart god bear. Now something was standing in front of him, that might very well be his son. A son he never wanted, never wished for and a constant reminder to Ash that his wife had cheated on him with Cassian. What a cruel world.

The dread only became bigger as Bastian signaled with his head were his father lived. “Ah, Ash Mitchell” fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck “And that would make your mom Jezebel” his voice was but a whisper as he said that, “yes warlock, witch what you want to call it, I’m sorry I have to call someone” he didn’t want to be rude but he just had to know, and he had to know now. His fingers fumbled around as he finally found her contact and pushed down waiting for either her answering machine or her picking up.

Cassian looked over his shoulders as Sebastian said he would wait, it had been rather rude of him just to assume that he would just stick around a rather confused but grateful smile appeared on Cassian’s lips as he nodded “Thank you, I, just need to confirm something then we’ll talk” – “We definitely need to talk” he added in a slight whisper as he waited for Jezebel to take the call. And she did, which was both nerve-racking and what he would have wanted. Because he needed answers quickly, but on the other hand he wasn’t really ready for this to be the confirmation that he indeed had a son, hidden away from him what, twenty-three, twenty-five years?

”Cass, hey what’s up?” Cassian had always praised himself for being a very mild tempered man, there had to take a lot to get him angry, screaming or in worst case slashing out. It had happened a couple of times, one of those had resulted in his wife’s death because he had hit her with one of his spells killing her on the spot. He didn’t even want to go over the formalities or pleasantries “You need to tell me right now, if you gave birth to our son over twenty years ago” he said with a low simmering voice, that didn’t wanted to be pulled around in the arena. He needed answers, and he needed them now.

I did.
She did, she had given birth and not told him. It had only been a call telling him that she couldn’t do this her husband anymore and they should stop seeing each other. Which he had understood, and he had traveled back to Gaia. There would have been taken test while she had been pregnant! How could she had just waited when there could have been even the slightest chance. He was vivid, and it could only be seen on how he pulled his hand into a fist. But someone had felt how angry Cassian had gotten and not a few minutes after an owl was sitting on his shoulder. Archimedes wasn’t saying anything but the weight that he gave Cass was more than enough to make him calm down. “Yes, I’ve met him, or more like walked straight into him!” he raised is voice and then took a deep breath “Fine we can met, tomorrow, I need time because this, this is anything but okay Jez, and as of right now I don’t understand why Ash never took it upon himself to end me, because” he shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose like he always did when he got either upset or stressed out. “I’ll text you later, I need to talk with him – bye” he ended the call without hearing her goodbyes he could, if he was being honest quite frankly scream at this point. He was tried and spend, and he so ready to just jump into bed. Deep breaths Jones.
He walked over to Sebastian and scratched his head “So –“ he sighed, and gestured to his house “I really don’t want to start another feud with your father, as he never deserved any of what happened back then, but would you like to come in and talk?”

Cassian gave the boy a small smile and nodded. He stood there for a while his tired brain still trying to figure out what had just transpired. How did one just, acknowledge that they suddenly had a son? And not only a son, but a twenty something that had been living his whole life with another man as his father? It was hard not just to withdraw into oneself and try to process this alone. But after a few seconds, that almost felt like hours of standing and looking at the person that looked so much like himself. He finally nodded again and with a sigh he started walking towards his house. Looking like just any of the others, only difference was the lock that was powered by his very unique magic imprint. He snapped his fingers and a light simmer danced around his hand as he pressed it towards the hand panel that had come out after he had pushed in a four-digit code. “Sorry, I have a lot of my unfinished work here at home, and I can’t risk someone getting their hands on it, so it’s a little elaborate locking system” he explained with an apologetic smile.

The house was very modern, almost futuristic meeting minimalism. There was the furniture that was needed. A couch, a table some chairs and a fully stocked kitchen that was never used. Everything was on one plan, but every ‘room’ was in different height level, the living room being lower than the kitchen.
“Cup of tea maybe?” he asked, as he placed his car keys on the small table by the entrance. As he walked toward the kitchen to get himself a glass of cold water. Having an American fridge made it so quick. He put the cup of coffee on the kitchen island facing the living room. Making it very easy to watch tv from the 55-inch screen. It was clear that this man had a lot of money, even as it was so sparce in the house. The only room in the entire space that was more personal was locked away from prying eyes as it was his work room. If one needed to see who he was by looking at how he lived, they needed to visit his small cabin by Oakheart.
“Or maybe a glass of water?” Cassian asked as he pulled down a glass from one of the overhead cabinets.

“One cup of tea coming up”
Cassian started making preparations for the tea as Sebastian’s voice rang out to him. Maybe he should have asked about him. And for a split-second Cassian felt overwhelmed once again, because he didn’t know how to act or talk to this person. They had such a deep connection without even knowing each other. What if he had hated him? What if this young boy had found out he wasn’t Ash’s, and then resented the fact that his biological father hadn’t been there, or had done this to his family? There was many thoughts going through the man, that had been a father to so many children, but never anyone that he had shared blood with.

“A trauma psychologist, that’s really impressive” Cassian’s voice finally found it’s sound and he turned towards his son standing leaning up the doorframe looking at the place that Cassian had. “You might now me, or my family, we own The Jones corporation” he took in a deep breath, even though they sold guns they also did a lot of other stuff. Like new high-end machines for hospitals and so on. He had become very good at talking himself out of meetings with Aston Hospital, after that one time where he had run into Ash. Not really how he wanted to start his day. Which was funny given that they now lived beside each other.
“My father actually lives next door with my youngest siblings” he took the kettle off as he heard the water was done boiling and started to poor it over the leaves in a small restrainer. He never had tea in bags. All loose and he always bought them in special shops. When you could remember a time when tea and coffee was the worst possible thing you could drink, then you came to appreciate these times when it was so easy to get good tea.

“Yeah well, it’s not really my style to be honest. I have a small cabin in Oakheart I like more, but this is close to my father, my sister and their grandmother that isn’t feeling super well at the moment” he walked over with the tea “Here you are” he said with a smile and walked back to get his own cup. Walking the few steps down to the seating area and sat down on the couch. “Is there anything you would like to know?” he then asked, looking at Sebastian. If he had been him, there would have been tons of question. The first one, what the hell happened?

ht brown eyes back to his father. He could see it though, this place was very secure, close to family, closer to family than he had realized. "I get it, being close to family. I live with my younger brother closer to the city center," he took a sharper breath, then smiled politely when he was handed the cup of tea. "Thank you." Bash followed Cassian to the sitting area and sat down in a chair across from him. Is there anything you would like to know? It was like a wind blowing over him, with so many questions and yet it was like nothing really found it ways to his mouth. Bash knew the whole story getting to him was unlikely a good story, because he had seen how it had broken up every single chance of anything between her mother and his father. Aleks had been the only one who had really spoken to their mother after. "What's the story? Your story on all this -" He asked a little curious, wanting to know with words from him what had happened.
 
Cassian had to draw in a sharp breath as Sebastian asked him what the story was in all of this. It was a fair question, and not a story he was very proud of. Cassian narrowed his eyes a little and looked towards his, son. It was still weird even accepting that voice in his head telling him that his son was sitting right in front of him. But he was a stranger.
“I’ve known your mother for a very long time” he took a sip of his tea and looked towards the black tv screen. “We met back when Rome was being established” a soft smile formed on his lips as it was a memory he would always appreciate. A fond memory, which also had made it so hard when they had met again. “We were together for a long time, but as everything else coming with being a warlock, she wasn’t my mate and time ran out for us, so we just parted ways. No hard feelings, just time that pulled us apart” a soft chuckle left him as it was still weird telling the story, the next part of the story made a shadow glide over his face. “I was on a business in New York, and as chance would have it, I met your mother again” he pressed his brows together and let his hand glide from the nose bridge up his forehead and then grabbed the many curls that spilled over his head. “With your mothers’ ability, we were hit with all the memories of what had happened, and we fell back in touch in a way we shouldn’t have – and when I realized that she was married I took off thinking... that, that was it – and now we are here” he let his blue eyes find Sebastian’s dark Hazel



Cassian sitting in the couch reading the news paper with a steaming cup of tea in front of him, had one of his rare evenings off. He looked up as he heard someone ring the bell. He folded the paper put it neatly on the table before getting up and walked towards the door and opened it. Seeing his son standing on the other side. He furrowed his brows “Sebastian” he said, before a soft smile formed on his lips, wearing a pair of sweats and his robe he looked towards Ash house. “Sorry, come in, come in” he laughed and moved to the side so Sebastian could walk past him. “Tea?” he asked as he closed the door and walked towards the kitchen without even waiting for a reply.

“Don’t worry about it” Cassian quickly added as Sebastian told him that he was sorry he had showed up like this. “I’m just happy I was home; things are a little crazy at work” he said with a big smile and then put the kettle on to make some hot water for their tea. He went for some of his home blended tea and grabbed two silver metal strainers to put some of the leaves into. “So” he looked towards Sebastian and raised a brow with a knowing smile. He could easily deduct that it wasn’t because he had been in the neighbourhood to see him. He knew that Ash was home, so it had to be to see him. But why had he come over here, and then looking like That.

“Why are you here? Not that I’m happy, and not because its unannounced” he teased and looked towards the kettle as you could hear how the water boiled before he looked back. “Because you look like you saw something you rather just erase from your mind again” he chuckled and then grabbed around handle and poured the water into the cups.

Cassian pulled in his lips as Sebastian explained that he had walked in on his father with someone. Now, if that wasn’t funny Cassian didn’t really know what was. “He forgot to put a sock on the doorknob?” he asked teasingly. He then walked over and placed the cup of tea in Sebastian hand and walked over and opened his record player. Real vintage that could play his old LP’s, which he loved. “An artist you liked more than another? I reckon that I at this point have every collection that is worth something out there” he said with a smile, music had always been a passion of Cassian even though he didn’t really play any instruments anymore. Time just wasn’t there anymore, at least not if he wanted to have a full night sleep. And doing like his father did, pretending that he got sleep, when you could see he was under the influence of herbs and concoctions that helped him stay away longer sometimes days without end.

He picked a record and then turned to the sofa area and gave Sebastian a smile as he sat down. “Well I’m glad that your fathers escapades made you come over tonight, how have you been doing since last I saw you?” he asked and took a sip of his tea giving his son a soft smile.