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7 - Missed Messages

“I’m not going to live this down, am I?” Henry laughed, easing back into his chair.

Rose nibbled at the food on her plate, “I mean, if you’re going to be a nerd, you have to do it properly.” She laughed, patting his hand. “What’s your favorite comic?”

“X-Men.” His golden eyes met Rose’s, all the anxiety that was there when Brittany showed up was gone. “I’ve never had a woman ask me that before.”

“Yeah? Little Miss, I know how to nerd. What’s your favorite comic?” Jace grinned. Rose could tell by looking at him that he didn’t think she was really interested in comics. She would have to put him in his place.

“Honestly, if I were to pick now, I would say that the Fable comics are my favorite. But the one that got me into comics when I was a kid was Black Canary. I liked the vigilante idea. A cop who goes out on her own for her own purposes to right the wrongs of the world.”

“I don’t own any Black Canary comics, but I do have Green Arrow.” Henry pursed his lips. “Maybe I’ll have to start looking to get my collection going again.”

“Are we really a bunch of adults sitting at a fancy dinner talking about comic books?” Darla cringed a bit as she looked between them all.

“We are.” Rose giggled. “One more comment and we can change the topic. If you decide you need to get the whole collection of Black Canary, I can tell you, it’ll be hard and pricey. They weren’t very popular and finding them is hard. I have the whole collection, and after the Arrow show came out, I had one person offer me ten thousand for mine. Since I have them all.”

“Aren’t they still coming out?” Henry asked, looking at her in surprise.

“Yeah? So? I have a child. I take him up to the shop once a week and we usually pick out a few new comics. Speaking of, we’re probably getting to a point where I need to have him go through his collection and thin it out. We have way too many boxes in the basement right now.” Rose sighed.

“You keep them all in boxes?” Henry asked as he put a large piece of steak in his mouth. Rose watched as his tongue licked at the corner of his mouth. He had the most perfectly shaped lips. She felt her heart skitter in her chest as she wondered if he might try to kiss her at the end of the date. She really hoped that he would.

“I do. I don’t really have anywhere else to put them. I have an awful lot. Books too. My poor basement is full of them. Much to my mother’s dismay.” She laughed, holding up one of her crab rangoons. “I’ll trade you one of these if you let me take a bite of your stake and bisque. I just want to try it.”

Henry leaned over, taking the crab rangoon from her fingers with his mouth. The movement caught her off guard. “Did I surprise you? Your eyes are like saucers. I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.” He said around the food.

Clearing her throat she shook her head, “Yeah, I guess I wasn’t really expecting you to do that.” A blush rose up her cheeks as he cut a nice-sized piece of meat and stuck his fork in it, holding it out to her. Rose leaned in, locking her gaze with his as she wrapped her lips around the juicy meat. “It’s delicious!”

“So is the rangoon.” Henry smiled.

“Jeez, are you guys are you sure you two aren’t the ones that need the honeymoon suite tonight?” Jace and Darla were looking at them incredulously. Jace even had his chin in both of his palms like he was enraptured by their conversation.

“I own the honeymoon suite, soooo….” Rose shrugged it off, trying to make it look like it wasn’t a big deal, however, the thought of getting to stay with Henry in that room sounded lovely. Especially if he was like this all the time. She wondered how much of this was just first date syndrome, or if he was showing her his true colors. If she was being honest with herself, she guessed it was the first, but really wanted him to be this romantic.

Henry handed her the bowl of bisque. He was just too cute. It was almost unfair. “Ha.” Jace looked amused, “I knew the two of you would get along.”

“And, honestly, with how little you are compared to Henry, who’s huge, the two of you are adorable.” Darla elbowed Jace, who nodded in agreement. “You did good, babe.” She leaned over, kissing his cheek.

Jace was obviously proud of himself. The rest of dinner went well, the conversation often came back to her and Henry’s first date. Jace and Darla were enjoying teasing them. By the time they made it to the bar after, Rose had already had five drinks. Ranging from wine to a glass of rum. “We reserved the back room for the night.” Henry walked up to the bar and spoke with the bartender.

“Oh, yeah, we’ve already cleared it out. You wanted the one with the pool table and the darts, not the TV lounge, right?”

“Correct.”

“We locked it, that way no one would be able to sneak in and try to steal your spot.” The bartender slipped the key over the bar. “Just leave it in the lock and I’ll take care of it later.”

“Sounds like a plan. Can I buy a bottle of wine, and a bottle of whiskey, top shelf please?” The kid behind the bar grabbed a bottle from under the counter and placed it in front of Henry, bringing up five glasses. “Rose, what kind of wine would you like?”

“Um, I think I would prefer to do a few more mixed drinks, then I should probably stop.” Rose came up to stand beside him. His hand came out like it was completely natural, and he wrapped it around her waist holding her against his side. Having him hold her close felt amazing. He was warm and solid. It had been so long since she was skin to skin with a man. She had never had sex with anyone on the first date, well, if she were honest, she only had sex with Carlyle, and that was before Kai had been born. But tonight, she was seriously considering it. If he invited her home, she would very likely agree.

Figuring she should warn Kai, she pulled her phone out of her purse. When she clicked it on, there were five messages and a number of calls, the first four messages from Kai.

KAI: Mom. Something is outside and howling. It’s making the guests nervous. What should I do?

KAI: Mom?

KAI: I think there’s something wrong. I don’t feel right. I’m really sorry, can you come home?

KAI: Mom, I think I might need to go to the hospital. Something seriously wrong. My whole body hurts and I feel like I’m going to pass out. Mom, please call me.

MOM: Where are you? I’ve tried calling you a thousand times. You need to come home. Something’s wrong with K. He fainted. I’m calling emergency.

“Oh my god, I need to go,” Rose said, pressing the call button on her phone. Henry’s attention was on her a second later, as he watched her run out the door.

“Everything okay?” Jace asked as she ran past him, but she didn’t answer.

A moment later she was outside, and her mother answered the phone. “Well, there you are. We’ve been worried sick. Something outside is howling like they’re going to attack the house!”

“Mom! Is Kai okay?” Rose screamed into the phone. Why did he have to have an episode tonight, of all nights?

“Yeah. After he passed out, I called emergency. They said that he should lay down and drink water. They figured he stood up too soon or something like that. Blamed it on his teenage hormones.”

“We both know that’s not true.” Rose chided. “Is he home and doing better then?”

“Yeah, they didn’t think he needed the hospital. They checked all his vitals and everything, and since he has a history of rough growing pains, they said he should be fine. How’s your date going though? That little boy toy you’re with was just scrumptious.”

“He’s not a boy toy, ma. His name is Henry. Is Kai awake? Can I talk to him?” When a hand landed on her shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Looking up, Henry was watching her with concern.

“Everything okay?” The words weren’t really spoken aloud, but he clearly picked up that there was an issue at home.

Rose shrugged, and she could hear her mother shuffling through the Inn as she made her way up to Kai’s room. “Hey kiddo, mom’s on the phone.” Evelyn said. There was some noise in the back, and she could hear Kia sniffling. He blew his nose before getting on the line.

Kai’s voice was hoarse when he answered, and that told her he was trying not to make a big deal of it. “Hey, mom. Sorry. I just… I guess I had an episode. I’m sorry. I didn’t worry you, did I?”

“Are you sure you’re okay, baby?” Rose clung to the phone. “Do you want me to come home?”

“No. You don’t have to do that. Are you having fun?” Her poor little boy sounded so tired. “That’s really what’s important, right?”

“Baby… I can come home. How much fun I’m having has nothing to do with if you’re alright. I can be there in just a bit. I think I should just come home.”

“No!” Kai yelled into the phone. “You never go out. You’ve dated like, five guys my whole life. And I like Henry too. I don’t want to ruin your night. You keep having fun. I’m just going to go to bed. Gram said she would stay up and help the guests tonight.”

Great. Her mom would likely fall asleep on the couch and never know if someone was letting themselves in. “I’m really sorry, Kia. Are you sure you don’t need me?”

“No. I’m fine mom. Really. Stay out. Keep having fun. I’m cool.” The sigh at the end of that statement didn’t help her feel more comfortable staying out. When she looked up at Henry, he just seemed to be listening to what she was saying. Despite everything, he didn’t seem upset at all. His hand was still warm on her shoulder.

“Alright. I’ll have one more drink and then head home, ‘kay?”

“Really, mom. You don’t have to rush home. I’m fine. Gram told me to leave you be, I guess, I’m just used to having you here when this happens. I think I panicked. I’m really fine. It’s the same as every other time. There’s really nothing you can do.”

“But we’d both feel better if I was home with you.”

“No. You’ll feel better. It really won’t make a difference. Please mom, I really didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Can I say something?” Henry asked, squeezing her shoulder. Rose looked up at him nervously. Did she kill the date? It wouldn’t be the first time. She looked up at him, waiting for the moment he would tell her that he couldn’t do this. “I’m going to go in, an will tell Jace and Darla we have to go. We can head home. You’ll clearly feel better considering. Do you want me to buy anything to go? We can make a drink at your place and keep talking if you want. We don’t have to be here to keep the date going.”

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