Spell Break: Part 13

This is it.  The final installment of our tale.  The story comes to a close right here.

I was going to be a bit evil and not post the epilogue until Friday, because it's almost an entire ep on it's own, but I couldn't do it.  I couldn't do that to you or me.  So it's tacked on to the end.  And I had to have an epilogue because the fact of the matter is, I'm one of those people that needs the bow.   

You can read the whole story, of course, by clicking the label in the side bar.  You know that.  But also, I'll be putting the story, in it's entirety, into it's own tab at the top (edit: it's up!).  That'll go live at some point today, whenever I have a moment to do so.

I'm seriously nervous.  Like, I think I'm going to be anxious all day.  This is what the characters were telling me, this is how they wanted it to end.  But I worry anyway.  I hope it's a satisfactory ending.


And I really hope you enjoyed Jason and Kelly's journey.

If you tune in tomorrow, I'll give you a teaser about our next journey.

13

            It took Jason a couple of hours to even begin to process what he had seen.  To say it had been intense was an understatement.  To use the words downright terrifying would be more accurate. The whole thing had been just…Jason shook his head.  If he lived to be a hundred, he would never forget the sight of Kelly being forced to fight for his life.  Or watching his boyfriend snuff out another person’s existence.  He had no doubt that she deserved it, callous as that thought was.  Obviously, she had done something heinous enough to suck the life from her familiar and to warrant her death.  He was just shocked to watch Kelly deliver the blow.

            As his rational mind started to process the events of the evening, he started to get pissed.  And before too long, he was downright angry.  Where the hell was Kelly?  He should be here, checking on Jason, taking care of him.  That’s what Kelly had always wanted wasn’t it?  To take care of Jason?  But he was nowhere to be seen and by the next morning, Jason was starting to get really angry.  He gave Kelly time and the benefit of the doubt, expecting him to turn up at any moment as soon as he got things sorted.  But it had been three days and now, Jason was so beyond angry he couldn’t see straight

            The man had kept a vital piece of information from him and now he was avoiding him?!  No.  Hell no.  Kelly didn’t get to do that.  They were in a relationship for fuck’s sake! That meant that when shit happened they leaned on each other.  Avoidance was not an option. 

            Mary had closed down Beans for a week for “renovations”, which was really a hell of strong cleansing spell, and Jason was left to his own devices, but mostly he was just stewing.  Finally he couldn’t stand it anymore.  Ignoring Strix’s thoughts of caution, Jason stormed out of the house and his anger fueled each step toward Kelly’s.  The twenty block walk did nothing to cool his temper and by the time he got to Kelly’s front door, his nostrils were flaring, his chest was heaving, and there was a red haze of anger coloring his vision.

            And then Kelly opened the door to his furious pounding and almost all of Jason’s anger evaporated like a puddle in the sun.

            Kelly was a hot mess.  His bruises were still evident and he looked like he hadn’t bothered to shower or eat at all in the last three days.  His pallid complexion gave away  his state even more than his unkempt hair and unshaven face.  He looked awful and in desperate need of a hug.

            Jason deflated with a sharp exhalation. He’d been so pissed at Kelly and really, he should have been angry at himself.  Why hadn’t he checked on Kelly?  He felt like a horrid jerk.  Kelly had been the one forced to do battle, Kelly had been the one who hadn’t wanted to engage the enemy, and he’d had no choice.  Kelly wasn’t that man anymore, Jason knew that in his bones.  Jason was the bastard for not taking care of Kelly when the man had so obviously needed it.

            “Go get cleaned up, Kel,” Jason said softly, forcing his way over the threshold.  “I’ll make something to eat.”

            Kelly didn’t budge from the entryway.  His voice was devoid of emotion and he said, “I’d rather you just tell me you’re leaving than drag this out.”

            God, he’d been so stupid.  How could Jason not have seen how badly this would affect the man?  Jason shook his head. 

            “I’m not leaving,” Jason said softly, soothingly.  At Kelly’s skeptical look, Jason was quick to reassure.  “I promise, I’m not going anywhere.  Go shower, shave, I’ll make some soup.  And then we’ll talk.”

            Kelly stood still for another long moment and just stared.  Jason let him look, trying his damnedest to show Kelly whatever he needed to see.  Finally, Kelly released a heavy sigh and turned to shuffle off in the direction of the bathroom.  Jason watched him go until he disappeared around the doorjamb and the door shut softly.  Then he released a shaky breath and padded into the kitchen.

            Nola was waiting for him.  She was perched on the counter, her green eyes narrowed in displeasure.  She gave a soft hiss and Jason held up his hands, chagrinned. 

            “I know, baby girl.  I’m sorry.  I just didn’t think.  I didn’t realize…” Jason trailed off and shook his head.  “I know I didn’t take care of him but I promise you, it won’t happen again.”

            Nola stared for a moment longer before she stretched and jumped off the counter.  She wound her way around his ankles and made that peculiar chirruping noise she reserved for talking to him and Jason knew he was mostly forgiven.  He quickly set about opening a tin of tomato soup and popped a couple pieces of bread in the toaster.  It was something that would be light and easy on Kelly’s stomach.  He probably couldn’t take much heavy food at the moment.

            He was just setting everything on the table when Kelly emerged.  He looked clean at least, and the scruff was gone from his chin and cheeks.  Normally, Jason wasn’t opposed to a little scruff on his men, but Kelly had gone past that into scraggly.  He looked much better clean shaven.  Jason gestured to the meager fair he’d laid out and Kelly shuffled toward the table.  He sat, picked up his spoon, but didn’t eat.

            “Jay, I’m sorry—“

            “Hush,” Jason interrupted.  He put a hand in Kelly’s hair, pushing the damp locks back from where they fell over his forehead, before dropping a kiss there.  “Food first.  Then talk.”

            Kelly just kept staring, his hazel eyes wide.

            “I’m not leaving,” Jason repeated.

            That did the trick.  Kelly munched on his toast and ate his soup and kept staring at Jason.  Jason looked right back.  The dark circles under Kelly’s eyes could be from lack of sleep or could be the result of him not recharging properly after the fight.  Probably a bit of both.  There was more purple and red bruising on his throat and arms.  It was inexcusable.  Kelly knew he had to take care of his magic.  He’d been the one to instill that lesson in Jason. 

            Kelly made short work of the food and before too long, his plate and bowl were empty.  He sat back and stared at Jason, seemingly unsure of what should happen next.  Without a word, Jason stood and put the empty dishes in the sink.  Then he took Kelly’s hand and led the bigger man through the side door and to the backyard.  He gave Kelly a gentle nudge so that he would sit down at the base of the alder.  Then Jason joined him, sitting close to his side and wrapping his arms around Kelly’s shoulder.  Kelly heaved a huge sigh that sounded very much like relief and leaned into Jason.

            Jason, for his part, opened himself up to the magic the tree provided and did everything he knew how to channel that magic into Kelly.  Before Jason’s eyes, the bruises began to fade.  Satisfied that it was working, Jason smiled to himself.

            “I didn’t have a choice.”

            Kelly’s voice was hardly more than a whisper, but Jason heard.  He dropped a kiss onto Kelly’s hair.  “I know.”

            “If I refused the assignment, they would have taken Nola from me and locked me up.  I would have withered to a shell of a human.”

            That news came as a shock, but somehow, Jason wasn’t surprised.  He hugged Kelly tighter and tried to show his reassurance that way.  It wasn’t that he was no longer upset, just that Kelly’s turmoil need to be soothed first.  They could get to the thorn in their relationship after Kelly was feeling better.

            They sat in silence for a while longer, soaking in the peace of the alder.  The bruises had faded completely and Kelly’s breathing was stronger.  Suddenly, the man in his arms shifted and before Jason realized what happened, their positions were reversed.  This felt more natural.  How many hours had they spent sitting beneath this tree with Jason in Kelly’s lap and Kelly’s arms wrapped around him?  Now, it was time to talk.

            “You didn’t come after me or check on me,” Jason murmured, still a little wounded by that.  True, he hadn’t either and that may have been worse.

            “I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

            Jason leaned back and cocked his head to the side so he could see Kelly’s profile.  Kelly stared straight ahead.  “Why would you think that?”

            “I tried to touch you and you flinched,” Kelly’s voice was wounded.  “You didn’t want my hands on you.”

            Jason winced.  “What happened was intense.  I had no idea…” Jason trailed off and shook his head.  Then he sighed, “I didn’t mean to.  But I couldn’t process it right in that moment.”

            “God, Jason.  I never wanted you to see that.  If I could have kept you out of it, if I had had any other choice, you know I would have taken it.  But I couldn’t let her walk out of there alive.  It would have meant near death and torture for me. Worse, it would have meant she was free to continue what she was doing.  She was sucking the magic from children, Jason.  She was robbing them.  I couldn’t let that continue.”

            Jason absorbed that.  He had known that, for Kelly to kill her, it had to be more than just an order.  The Kelly he knew would have sacrificed himself if he didn’t believe that it was the right thing to do.  Jason was absolutely certain of that or he would have run for the hills the moment he regained his thoughts.  But to hear it?  Jason needed to let it all sink in. 

            Finally, he spoke, “Next time, just grab me anyway.  Hold me tight even if I don’t seem like I want you to.”

            God, next time?  And there would be a next time, wouldn’t there?  Because Kelly was apparently beholden to the Tribunal still, even though he’d made it sound as if the association with them had ended ten years ago.  He kept that from Jason on purpose.  Kelly didn’t get to get away with that.

            Jason pulled out of Kelly’s arms so that he could turn around and face the man properly, but he didn’t go far.  Still in between Kelly’s legs, he took one of the man’s hands in between his own.  He didn’t want Kelly to think he was going.  But despite the fact that Jason could forgive Kelly for what had happened at Beans, if they couldn’t get past this roadblock, then they didn’t have a future.

            “There’s going to be a next time, isn’t there, Kelly?”

            The man looked pitiful but at least he answered honestly, “I don’t know.  But yeah, probably.”

            Some of Jason’s anger returned and it was obvious in his tone.  “You never told me you could be called into service again.  How do you justify keeping something that big from me?!” His voice rose and he had to take a deep breath.  Yelling never solved anything.  Honest communication did.  He just didn’t know if there was a way past it.

            “I don’t have any excuses,” Kelly was quick to answer, trying to placate.  “It’s just that it had been ten years and I hadn’t heard anything from the Tribunal.  Not a single peep.  I thought it was over, that that part of my life was in the past, and that it wouldn’t come up.  I didn’t want you to worry over something that wasn’t going to affect us.”

            “That worked out well for you, didn’t it?”

            Kelly managed sheepish very well.  “I’m sorry.  I’m so very sorry.  Even though I wasn’t doing it to be malicious, it was still wrong.  And I promise you, here and now, that it will never happen again.”

            He did earnest very well, too.  Jason sighed and tried not to be swayed.  “Are you keeping anything else from me?  Because this seems to be a bit of a pattern with you.”

              “No,” Kelly quickly denied with an emphatic shake of his head.  “I swear to you, there’s nothing else.”

            Jason narrowed his eyes.  “Are you sure?”

            “Well,” Kelly hedged.  Jason gut clenched.  But the man blushed and kept talking, “I’ve always wanted to learn to knit but I think a gay man who knits is a bit too cliché so I never have.”

            Jason’s mouth opened in shock.  “I’m serious here, Kelly.”

            “So am I.  I swear, that’s my last big secret. Everything else you already know.”

            Jason squinted again but then sighed.  Kelly was being absolutely truthful.  That much was evident.  There was none of that avoiding eye contact or changing subject thing that Kelly did when he didn’t want to talk about something.  Sure, the knitting comment had thrown Jason for a moment, but he could tell that Kelly really did feel like it was a secret.  He just didn’t know what to do or say next.

            “Can you ever forgive me?” Kelly’s voice was quiet but a bit desperate and pleading.

            “I want to.  God, I want to.  But I just don’t…”  Jason couldn’t say the words.  He stopped, gathered his thoughts, and started again.  “I love you.  I mean, I’m really over the moon in love with you.  But this is a big thing.  And it’s not the first time you’ve kept things from me.  How can I really trust that you aren’t going to do it again?”

            “You can give me time.  You can let me prove it to you.  I promise you, Jay.  I will never again keep anything from you.  I will tell you everything.  But the only way that I can prove that to you is if you give me a chance.”

            Strix swooped down from his perch on a high branch and landed on Jason’s shoulder.  He snugged his feathered body in tight to Jason’s ear, trying to be comforting.  The owl thought Kelly deserved that chance.  He thought that Kelly was, on the whole, completely trustworthy.  The only things that Kelly had kept from Jason were personal.  And now he knew, in no uncertain terms, that that wouldn’t be tolerated.  Strix felt that Jason should give him the chance to prove himself.  But he also thought that if Kelly failed this test, then Jason should leave his ass in the dust. 

            Jason gave that the proper amount of thought and found that he agreed.

            “All right, Kelly.  You can have this chance.  You can prove it to me.  But I swear to you, I will leave for good if there’s anything else.  You hear me?”

            “Thank you,” Kelly breathed and then he reached and pulled Jason in.  Squeezing him tightly, Kelly practically wrapped his body around Jason.  Jason sighed.  It had always felt so good, so right, to have his body tight to Kelly’s.  They just fit together. 

            Kelly kissed the shell of his ear and left his lips there to whisper, “Just so you know, I’m crazy in love with you, too.  And I promise you, you will not regret giving us this chance.”

            Deep down, Jason knew that Kelly wouldn’t let him down again. 

Epilogue

            Six months later, Jason was whole heartedly regretting his full disclosure policy. Kelly, determined to prove that he could be trusted, was brutally honest.  About everything.  Jason knew, in explicit and excruciating detail, every aspect of Kelly’s life.  He talked about the old days, sure, and filled Jason in on his travels when he’d worked for the Tribunal before.  But he also gave minute details about his day, his activities, and who he talked to.  Jason was treated to a nightly rundown of everything.  At first he thought it was endearing.  After a while, though, it began to annoy.  They’d had to have a talk about it.  Kelly insisted he’d rather tell everything than leave out something that may turn out to be important later.  Jason appreciated the man’s dedication, at least.

            It hadn’t always been easy, of course.  But their honesty policy had helped their relationship to flourish.  After a few months, they had settled into something even more wonderful than Jason had ever expected.  Yes, Kelly continued to over share sometimes.  And a few minor miscommunications had led to arguments.  But they always worked it out in the end. 

            Jason continued to grow into his magic with Kelly’s mentoring.  He was turning out to be a fairly strong practitioner.  He was feeling more at home in his body than he ever had.  More alive than he remembered feeling in all of his years on this earth. 

            And he felt loved.  All Kelly had to do was look at him and Jason knew, without a doubt, how much he was loved.  That kind of feeling was enough to overlook the little things Kelly did that annoyed him. Or his tendency to over share.  As long Kelly held him in his arms at night.  As long as Kelly kept looking at him like that, Jason could even forget for a time that the Tribunal could call at any moment and press Kelly into service.

            Fortunately, that had not happened yet.  Kelly was convinced that Morgan had been working some agenda by sending Cora to Kelly with her own death order.  It worried Jason, when he allowed himself to think about it, that this Morgan woman was using his love.  Kelly tried to reassure him that wasn’t the case.  That he trusted Morgan completely.  But Jason couldn’t be so trusting. 

            But none of that mattered right this moment because it was Christmas Eve, he was snuggled up on the couch with the man he loved, the tree was lit with sparkling white lights, and they each had a present to open.  Tomorrow there would be a big dinner with all the members of the coven and lots of presents.  Tonight was just for them.

            “Open mine first, Kelly,” Jason said anxiously.  He bit his lip, hoping the present would be received in the vein it was intended.

            Kelly grinned and slowly, excruciatingly slowly, removed the paper from the box.  He carefully peeled back each piece that was stuck with tape, then gently pulled away the paper, and folded it up before he turned back to the box in his lap.  Carefully, slowly, he lifted the lid.  And gasped.  Jason’s eyes flicked back and forth from Kelly’s face to the contents of the box.  A ball of deep, vibrant purple yarn lay nestled in the bottom along with a set of rosewood knitting needles.  The woman at the local yarn store had assured him they were a perfect size for a beginning knitter and would be cherished.  The yarn was some blend of extra soft fiber.  Jason had fallen love with the color for obvious reason but the texture had made it a must buy.  Kelly reached out with just one finger to pet the yarn. 

            “You were serious, weren’t you?  About learning how?” Jason asked anxiously when several tense moment had gone by and Kelly still hadn’t said anything.

            Kelly nodded slowly and turned to face Jason.  His face lit up with a smile that would make the sun pale in comparison.  Only then did Jason breathe a sigh of relief.  Then set about kissing the smile right off Kelly’s face.

            Panting and breathless, Kelly pulled back.  His smile was a little feral.  “Open yours and then I’m taking you to bed and fucking the cum out of you.”

            Jason groaned and ripped the paper off his smaller present without any of the care Kelly had shown. Once the last bit of shiny paper was removed, Jason was left with a jeweler’s box.  His breath caught as he lifted the hinged lid.

            The rings were simple; wide platinum bands without any extra adornment, one just slightly smaller than the other.  They were perfect.  And like a little girl, Jason started to cry.

            “Does this mean—“ Jason had to stop and control the shaking in his voice.  He drew a stuttering breath.  “Does this mean I can stop pretending to live at Mary’s?”

            “Yeah, sweetheart.  That’s what it means,” Kelly’s voice was filled with amusement and Jason scowled at him.  Kelly just laughed, took Jason’s ring from the box, and took hold of his left hand.  “We can’t get married here in Colorado.  At least not yet.  We could go somewhere else, if you want.  But I want you as my husband, Jason.  If you’ll have me.”

            “God, yes!” Jason shouted, laughing and crying at the same time. 

            Kelly’s grin widened and he slipped the ring on Jason’s finger.  Fumbling a little, Jason quickly got the other ring on Kelly’s finger.  Then he launched himself into Kelly’s arms and hugged him as tight as he possibly could.  The kiss they shared was as tender as it was consuming, and they were both worked up and panting by the time they had to pull back and drag air into their lungs. 

            “I want the biggest, fanciest ceremony we can manage.  But we’ll do it here, with the coven in attendance.  That’s enough for me.  And when Colorado gets with the times, and we can have more than just a civil union, you’re marrying me all over again.”

            “Yes, sweetheart,” Kelly said indulgently.

            “Now,” Jason said, doing his best to make his voice as seductive as possible.  “I believe you said something about fucking?”

            Kelly stood with Jason in his arms and carried him to the bedroom.  Well, Jason thought, at least he carried me over a threshold.

 
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