187. See You Later, Alligator!

Warning: craptastic shots

Bridgeport, present day...

Eloise didn’t come to the airport to see K-Infinity off. And Leigh was disappointed.

Watching Krisis leave was one of the hardest things she’d ever gone through and having Eloise there would have made the separation a little more bearable. But as Krisis pointed out, her best friend was going through her own stuff.

“Promise me you won’t rush her,” Krisis pleaded with her as he held her close to him.

“I promise. But I just wish she’d tell me already so I can help her,” Leigh looked up, searching his face for any clues, any hint of what could possibly be wrong with her best friend. But her husband’s face remained unreadable; he wasn’t giving anything away.

“She’ll tell you in her own time,” Krisis tapped her nose gently.

They turned to watch their kids play with the rest of their entourage.

Kristian was sitting quietly with his aunt and uncle, he looked very subdued, and Leigh could tell that any second now he’d start bawling his eyes out when his daddy jetted off.

His littler sisters on the other hand, were not the least bit worried about Krisis leaving, they merrily kept the band members of Half & Half entertained.

Lily was with Katie, Devon and Blake, watching airplanes jet in and out of the airport.

The first boarding call came on over the PA system and Krisis’ arms tightened around her.

“I’ll fly home as often as I can,” he lowered his head and kissed her temple.

Leigh just nodded, tears brimming in her eyes.

“Look at me,” Krisis cupped her face. “I’ll video call you every night, I promise, it will be like I’m right here with you and the kids.”

Leigh forced a cheerful smile on her face. But he could see right through it. He gave her a long kiss and held her tightly to him until Krimsyn and J.D. interrupted their moment; they really had to go.

Krisis shook hands with Devon and asked him to check in one Leigh from time to time.

He hugged Blake and ruffled his hair before turning to his kids. 

The girls handled the goodbyes surprisingly well. 

But Kristian screamed like his whole world had ended when Krisis walked away. And Leigh had to restrain him when he tried to run after him, crying “Daddy!” over and over.

His tearful screams broke Krisis’ heart, making it hard for him to leave.

“We’ll call them when we land and they can fly out one of the days,” J.D. consoled him as he led him to the boarding gate.

Krisis didn’t reply. He didn’t want to worry his band mates, but for the first time in the history of K-Infinity he really didn’t feel like touring, not without Leigh and his kids.

Minutes after Krisis disappeared through the boarding gate, Kristian was still crying and Leigh wailed along with him as she held him tightly to her.

“He’ll be home soon,” she kissed the soft tufts of red hair on his head. Kristian looked up and fixed his daddy’s eyes on her and her heart broke anew; there was so much of Krisis in him.

“Baby!” Azalea teased her brother from the floor.

Her sister joined in. They both clapped their hands, jumping up and down, screaming “Baby! Baby! Baby!” the whole time.

Their taunts caused Kristian to cry harder on Leigh’s chest and only Devon’s stern voice hushed them up when he threatened not to get them ice cream if they kept up with their antics.

Leigh asked Nick and Tony to stop off at Marina Field on their way home from the airport.

Devon bought the kids ice cream and settled them in the playground before he and Leigh took a walk around the park.

“How’s Eloise?” Leigh asked as she looked up at the full moon obscured by the darkening clouds. It looked like rain was on the way, and they’d have to head home soon.

“She’s fine. Why do you ask?” Devon replied. He stopped walking; forcing Leigh to stop too.

“Nothing. It’s just that-” Leigh began, but then she shook her head, she didn’t know how to explain it to him, no idea what to say.

“It’s just what?” Devon prodded as he took her hand and led her to a nearby bench.

From where they sat they could see their kids playing merrily in the playpen. Kristian looked much calmer now as he and Lily joined Blake for a game of hopscotch.

“She’s different, Dev. Distant. I don’t know how to explain it. Michaela saw it too,” Leigh replied after some time. “Why didn’t she come to see the band off today?” she added as an afterthought.

Devon stared at his feet, releasing a long breath in the process. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the changes in Eloise.

At first he’d thought it was her grief, but they’d worked through that with Dr. Reddy. It was obvious now to those around them that Eloise had changed. On the outside she still looked the same but on the inside she wasn’t quite the woman he knew and loved. He’d tried to tell her this, but their talk had ended in a fit of rage from her. He had no idea how to get through to her anymore.

“They are approaching the end of the financial year at work so auditors are up in their faces. She had to fly out to Twinbrook this morning, the suits there called her in,” Devon explained Eloise’s absence. 

“Maybe it’s work then she’s stressed about,” Leigh gave him a faint smile, but she didn’t look convinced. In fact she was surprised Eloise had agreed to fly out to Twinbrook, she never travelled anywhere for work, she’d added the clause in her contract when Blake was born.

“Yeah, I think it is.” Devon agreed and squeezed her hand…

_____

The Grand Hotel, 18:55pm

Eloise checked into a three star hotel under a false name not too far from Marina Field where her best friend and fiancé were discussing her.

She quietly slipped up to her room on the first floor and locked the door behind her, thinking about her deception, wondering when the lying would stop. She was exhausted from living a double life, tired of trying to hang on to a false sense of normalcy.

With a heavy sigh she pushed away from the door and approached the table. It looked pretty and inviting, perfect for a couple. Perfect for her and Devon.

“Oh Dev,” she whispered softly as she poured herself a glass of wine, but she didn’t touch it until about an hour later after she’d showered and wrapped a clean towel around herself.

As she slowly sipped the chilled wine she kept glancing out of the window, watching the day fade into night and mentally prepared herself for the change. It was coming; she could feel it in her blood stream, her body temperature had risen dramatically over the past few hours.

Though she could transform at will throughout the month, she’d learned from the previous month that when there’s a full moon she wouldn’t have control over her body. Her transformation was bound to happen tonight, whether she wanted to or not. That’s why she’d lied to Devon about going on a business trip. For his and Blake’s safety she’d thought it would be best if she went through her full moon transformation alone, as far from them as possible where she couldn’t harm them in any way…

______

Thornton’s residence, 4:30am

To Thornton’s disappointment, the moon waned without incident.  He finally went to his bedroom at dawn after he talked to the trackers.

He was just nodding off to sleep in his arm chair when the e-mail alert on his Tablet went off.

It was an email from Katie; she’d just wanted to let him know they’d arrived safely in Sunset Valley.

For a long time he sat there, with a vague smile tugging at his lips, thinking about her. He’d wanted to see them off, but circumstances beyond his control at the VC had kept him away.

 A little while later, he was roused from sleep again when his phone went off. This time it was a call from Zahara. She wanted a status update.

“Negative,” he grunted into the phone.

Zahara breathed in sharply on her end and Thornton couldn’t tell if she was disappointed or relieved at his announcement.

“Maybe he’s moved on. Maybe Bridgeport was just a short stop,” he suggested as he got up from the bed and strolled to the window.

“Or maybe he’s in hiding. Maybe he heard we are looking for him,” Zahara countered.

Their argument went on for some time, both not willing to support the other’s reasoning.  But they did agree on one thing at least; if the wolf was as smart as they thought it was, finding it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“How do you want to proceed?” Thornton asked at last.

“Stay on it!” Zahara reiterated her orders before she hung up…