(Untitled)

[m_pinocchio]

Mornings are quiet. He likes mornings. He likes the quiet in mornings because he's quiet more lately, quiet in a way he doesn't think he ever has been. It's a cliché, to think of calm after storms, but that's still what he finds himself thinking of, when he thinks about it at all

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[moraldyslexic]

"Whatcha reading, man?" Lennox asked, scrubbing a hand over his face as he approached Mike with the dogs trailing behind him. He was stoned already, spent most of his time stoned lately, but he figured that wasn't anything new. He figured it wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone.

None of the people who'd worried about how much pot he smoked were left on the island and he hated it.

"Anything good?" he asked, flopping down beside Mike.

[m_pinocchio]

"Yeah, it's good," he says, shooting Lennox a faint smile, letting his gaze linger for a moment or two. He's not going to show that he's concerned, not just now, but it would be pretty cold to not be, a little.

But what the hell. Life.

He glances down at the book, open face-down over his knee. "It's about the end of the world."

[moraldyslexic]

"Cool," Lennox answered honestly. "I mean, not that I want the world to end of anything, just... cool. Especially if it's done well. I guess there's a way to ruin anything, right?"

But if Mike said it was good, then it was probably good. Lennox trusted him.

"Where are the girls? You leave 'em at home to get some quiet book time that I am hereby interrupting?"

[m_pinocchio]

"Yeah," he says, shrugging and setting down his mug. "I just got up early. Guess I'm doing that a lot more lately." He glances down at the book again, faintly bemused. "Far as the book goes... I dunno. It's not totally clear. But it seems like maybe it was the best thing, for the world."

He shrugs again, smiles. "You're not interrupting anything, though."

[weary_head]

Dean wasn't jealous of the sleeping child on his hip. That would be petty, not to mention un-brotherly, but when the Compound rounded into view in front of him he couldn't suppress a yawn.

Noting Pinocchio by the door, Dean put a hand over his mouth to cover another one and muttered, "Oh man, tell me there's coffee in there."

[m_pinocchio]

He smiles, doesn't quite laugh. "Yeah. Pretty fresh." Dean's look isn't entirely unfamiliar and he feels a mixture of amusement and sympathy. "Rough night?"

[weary_head]

"What night?" Dean grunted. He'd gotten home well past two after his shift at the Club, waking up with Cori at what must've been only dawn. "Feels like there's not even time to close my eyes anymore."

[m_pinocchio]

He frowns slightly, laying the book aside. "Shit, I know the feeling. You need any help?" Which he imagines Dean isn't short of, and anyway he'd probably ask if he did need it... but he remembers all the times he'd insisted on biting off more than he could chew. And thank God, people had been there.

[little_moons]

Before we can sneak up on him, Mack chirps out a loud, "Hi, Daddy!" prying her little hand out of mine and hurrying toward him. Flo's a little more polite about it, looking up at me to make sure it's okay to let go, and I flash her a crooked smile, ruffling a hand over her hair and nudging her gently forward.

They've graduated from matching, frilly dresses into t-shirts and tiny cargo shorts and the occasional sundress, mismatched socks and shoes and tutus and tiny combat boots on the days they insist on dressing themselves. Today, Mack's got on a miniature Aladdin Sane t-shirt she picked out just because it matches the one I've got buried in the bottom of my drawer, and probably because of all the bright colors. Flo's worn a t-shirt with butterflies on it three times in the last week already.

I never had so many discussions about clothes until they started taking an interest in their own.

Following along lazily behind them, I flash him a lazy smirk and echo, "Hi, Daddy," mostly because I know it pisses him off.

[m_pinocchio]

"Hey, sweethearts," he says, setting down his mug and opening his arms, and when Mack runs into them he shoots Neil a Look over the top of her blond head. Because he can't not.

"You're all looking gorgeous this morning."

[little_moons]

"Neil's mean," Mack says, matter of fact, like she doesn't even really believe it, but she likes the sound of the words.

Barking out a laugh and plopping down on the steps beside him, I say, "How am I mean?" She shrugs, says, "I dunno," and apparently that's the end of it. Flo's already down on the ground in front of me, untying and trying to retie my shoes. She's been trying to learn. It's slow going.

"Your daughters are weird," I say to him, dropping a kiss to his shoulder and turning the book in his hands so I can see the cover.

[m_pinocchio]

"They've got weird genes." He lets go of the book, curling an arm around Mack's waist and hoisting her up to sit on his knee. "Yeah, honey, he's really mean. He's so mean to me I don't even know why I put up with it."

Mack nods sagely, and bursts into a flurry of giggles. A second later and Flo is joining in, though she may or may not even know exactly why.

[sir_samuel]

"Never would have taken you for a book sort of fellow," Vimes said as he paused on the Compound's front stoop, his morning cup of coffee in his hand. For Vimes, early mornings were nothing new. Early mornings and late nights; moon rises and sun rises, those still felt more real to him than noonday sun, or paperwork, or even - though he'd never say it aloud - his family. Now the island was coming to life, and he would return to being Sir Samuel Vimes: father, husband, IPD chief, former commander, councilman. And he didn't mind being that Vimes. But for those few hours before everyone else awoke, he had been plain Sam Vimes, nightwatchman.

[m_pinocchio]

"Been doing more of that lately," he says, looking back and up and half smiling. He lifts a hand, points to his blind eye, and his smile turns very slightly rueful. "No ITF, and I can't garden all the damn time." And no one ever really had taken him for much of a reader, which in some respects might have been for the best.

[sir_samuel]

Vimes huffed something between a laugh and a snort. "Don't tell me the girls aren't keeping you plenty busy. Or have they reached that point where they insist on doing everything themselves?"

[m_pinocchio]

"I got two co-husbands and Abby," he says, shrugging and still half-smiling. "It's a team thing."

He shifts slightly to the side. "Wanna sit? Or do you have official shit to do?"

[abbysciuto]

Abby kept up with her yoga even after Will left, although she admitted she didn't always do it every day like they used to. Still, more mornings than not, she was out greeting the sun and mentally preparing for the day ahead, whatever it happened to involve.

When she was done, she went up to the compound to grab some breakfast and more importantly some coffee. She spotted Mike sitting outside the compound and detoured. Friends trumped coffee, even if she was in yoga pants and a sports bra. It wasn't like Mike hadn't seen every inch of her anyway.

"Morning" she greeted him quietly.

[m_pinocchio]

"'Morning, yourself," he says, everything snapping from diffuse back into focus again. He smiles faintly. "Nice one, too."

About as sedate as anything around here ever gets.

[abbysciuto]

"It is," she agreed. "I think fall's probably coming, or as much of fall as we ever get here. There's a little bit of a crispness to the air, like a really good ripe apple. Don't you think?"

Without being invited, she sat down on his good side so he could see her without turning his head.

[m_pinocchio]

"Could be." He slides over a little to make room and closes his eyes briefly, takes a breath. "Halloween, then. Mack and Flo are really old enough to get it now, too."