Happy birthday Belle

[with_aprice]

He knew that Belle didn't make a fuss about her birthday, so when she mentioned going out to dinner with her dad on Sunday night he just nodded and told her to have fun, and offered to take her patrol that night.  She, of course, told him she'd do a sweep when she got home; she didn't like him being out at night alone

Comments

[onceaheroine]

"Not a thing," Belle smiled, climbing the stairs to his house slowly, keeping pace with him. She'd graduated high school less than a month prior and had elected to take a year off to save money and work on training up to be a better slayer.

They'd walked the short distance to his house, even though it was still light out. Her birthday had changed things -- they didn't have to sneak around for much longer. That was a chat she planned on having with him within the month. "Mrs. Lucas has her big barbecue on Wednesday -- are you going to come?"

[onceaheroine]

Belle watches him for a long, silent moment. Everything smells so good and he's being truly wonderful. For any other reason, at any other time, she'd be ecstatic over this.

"Yesterday wasn't just my birthday, Nick. It would've been Mom's too."

She owes him the explanation, especially after behaving so oddly.

[with_aprice]

His face fell, and he called himself a hundred names in the space of a minute. Why had he stupidly, stubbornly insisted on something she hadn't wanted to celebrate? Why had he hurt her?

"I'm so sorry, Belle." His damn knee kept him from kneeling beside her and holding her to him. He squeezed her shoulder, and hoped it was something. "

[onceaheroine]

He looked absolutely devastated and Belle felt terrible for coming clean. Perhaps, she thought, honesty isn't always the best policy? Maybe just shutting up would have been kinder?

Her smile was apologetic and she stood, moving the chair out of the way and drawing him into a hug. "Nick, truthfully, I'm okay. I'll be okay. I only said so you'd understand why I'm... reticent."

[with_aprice]

His cane clatters against he table as he lets it go, wrapping his arms both around her. For a minute he just holds her.

"There's some things we're never just okay with, no matter how many years have passed." Even now he finds a reason to not be around anyone, even her, on Bailey's birthday. It makes him twice as stupid for not seeing the same trait in her. "I wish I had known her. She must have been remarkable, to have a daughter like you."

[onceaheroine]

"She was kind. The kindest person I've known and wickedly funny -- she and my dad could have each other in absolute stitches over the dinner table, even after being married for fifteen years." Belle had been ten when her mother died, and she still misses her fiercely. "Perceptive, too. We'd never have gotten away with sneaking around if Mama was alive," she muses.

[with_aprice]

"You're the kindness person I know." It's strange, to mourn a person he's never known, but he does. He mourns her for Belle, who should have had a mother to talk to, should have had a father that laughed with his wife instead of one who looked at his daughter with sad eyes. He mourned, too, for his own relationship with a woman who'd died six years before he'd even come to town. he didn't know how she'd take to her daughter's employer, and could only imagine the reticence she'd feel at a more intimate relationship, but he could easily imagine sharing tea with her, and conversation, bonding over their love and fears for the same amazing young woman.

"I think you carry all the best parts of your mother with you."

[onceaheroine]

"I try," Belle admits softly. "I do my damnedest to remember how she was, her values, and I try to find -- not ways to emulate, per say, but to honor her, I guess?"

It's not something she's ever talked about out loud.

[with_aprice]

"It would make her happy, knowing that you still remembered, and that you used that memory to live. I think that's what she'd want, more than anything. You, living and happy." He kisses her forehead, then the tip of her nose.

[onceaheroine]

"I miss her so much," she closes her eyes, forbidding her tears. She's not about to break down. She won't permit herself to.

"And the worst part is that it's been so long that... my memories are fading a bit, Nick. I don't -- I don't remember her hands properly anymore. I remember that she had these bracelets she used to wear a lot -- from India, colorful bangles, I've got them in my jewelry box -- but I don't remember her hands. Or quite how she used to carry herself. Kids don't pay attention to things like that. Not properly. Not enough to remember."

[with_aprice]

"You remember the love, both that she had for you and you still have for her." How he wished he had something other than words to give her. He kisses her, gently, trying to pour out all of his love and concern.

[onceaheroine]

When Belle breaks the kiss, she looks back over at his pot and then over to Nick with a game smile. "What's for dinner, Watcher Mine?"

It's an obvious subject change, but she needs it.

[with_aprice]

He's more than happy for the subject change if it's what she needs, and deliberately makes his tone light. "Salmon in a lemon butter sauce, risotto with shaved asparagus, spinach salad with fresh strawberries, and a berry cobbler for dessert."

It's a menu he's spent a week planning, and woke up early this morning to prep so he could pull it together quickly this evening.

[onceaheroine]

Belle marvels slightly -- he's really been paying attention for the last few years, hasn't he? So many of her favorite foods all in one meal -- salmon, lemon, asparagus, strawberries. She grins and hugs him. "That sounds delicious."

[with_aprice]

He pays attention to everything about her. Even before, when he was trying to tell himself that she was his Slayer and the idea of anything more was wrong, he memorized every detail about her, filing it away for gods only knows what reason.

"Just a special meal for my special girl. That's all it have to be." Hie kisses the top of her head, relieved that she sounds a little happier now. "Did you want to go change into something more comfortable or anything? You've got about twenty minutes before food is ready."

[onceaheroine]

'My special girl', Belle thinks, sounds like something out of Nabokov. She hides the faintest wry smile in another kiss. "I'm fairly comfortable, but I could start laying in a fire in the library for after dinner, if you'd like?"