Suite in the Arms, Saturday Morning

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Kathy knew that she was probably one of the very few who thought this way, but the weekend after prom was pretty much her favorite time of year. Certainly her favorite of all the weird tricks the island pulled.

So late last night, she and Dante had decamped from Limbo City to the hotel; Anders had an important surgery that was expected to last hours, but he'd promised to come along if he could. But for now, it was just the two of them and...well, however many happened to show up.

"Wonder who we'll get this year," Kathy murmured, looking out the window towards the park.

Comments

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"I'm real scared," Dante said, as he yanked the shirt over his head.

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"I heard that," Kathy whispered into Evie's ear with a chuckle and a kiss for the top of her head. But she didn't try to chastise or scold. A little bit of bad language - and damn barely counted - was hardly something to get huffy over, especially just for a weekend.

"I dunno," she said, raising her head to look at Dante. "I bet this one runs rings around us back home."

A mix of Li and Sparda genes? Dear lord.

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"Literally," Evie said, detaching herself from Kathy. Slowly. What? Tiny mom was nice and warm. "I'm faster than both of you now!"

... or they let her win.

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"Yeah? You at least leaving enough pizza for everybody in the house, Usain Bolt?" Dante asked, grinning.

He looked relaxed. Wasn't like he hadn't seen it coming this time, and Evie was a good kid.

He held his arms out for her.

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"I go after yours specifically," Evie said, speeding over to throw herself into Dante's arms. Unlike Kathy, she didn't have to worry about her dad toppling backwards if she ran too fast. "Mom's slices all have too many vegetables."

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"I repeat, you are too Korean to not appreciate vegetables," Kathy announced, watching them with a smile.

This weekend did such good things for her heart.

At least until Monday.

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"Yeah, but not all of them at once," Evie declared.

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"One whole vegetable a day is more than enough," Dante agreed.

He hugged her tightly, like it was natural, like he didn't particularly relish letting her go.

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"Sometimes I eat two, so I totally deserve ice cream for breakfast," Evie said, smiling up at her father. She wasn't quite ready to let go either.

Her parents gave the best hugs.

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"Yeah, that can wait until I've actually seen you eat these two vegetables," Kathy said, coming over to sit on the bed next to them both. "Green candies don't count as veggies no matter what Dante says."

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Dante looked at her over the top of Evie's head, eyes big with shock. "They've got vitamin C!" he exclaimed.

The not-so-little girl in his arms agreed with a loud, "Uh huh!"

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"Other vitamins exist," Kathy reminded both of them. "And nutrients of all varieties."

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"Dad, make her stop," Evie said, burying her face into Dante's shirt. "She's scaring me."

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"That's a lie," Dante said firmly. "Stop lying to our kid, Kat!"

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"You both are impossible and the only one getting ice cream for breakfast is me," Kathy declared. "You're both getting rickets."

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"Oooooh," Evie said. "She's been studying. Usually it's just threats of scurvy."

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"'Course," Dante said practically, "She kinda forgot there that I got money too."

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"As if I didn't go around town last night, handing your picture over to every poor server I could find, explicitly instructing them to not serve you anything but vegetables and whole wheat bread unless I was there with you," Kathy declared.

...Ignore the part where you knew exactly where she had been all night, Dante, and that it absolutely hadn't been 'wandering the town.'

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Dante looked at her. And then burst out into snickers. "Oh, I know where you were last night," he said, "And it wasn't going door to door around town--"

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"Ew."

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"It was here in the room, saying my prayers and getting a good night's sleep," Kathy said quickly.

Because sure. Any kid raised in your house would believe that.

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"Prayers to who?" She sounded... skeptical.

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"...Jesus, for Easter?"

Way to sell that one, Kathy.

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"Great-grandpa and grandma were Buddhists 'n dad thinks Christianity is for suckers," Evie pointed out, leaning away from Dante to cross her arms.

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"Technically, your bio grandpa was Christian," Kathy said with a half-grin. "He just didn't really care, so your grandma raised us Buddhist, the way her family had been raised."

Not that Kathy had been all that devout of a Buddhist, either. She'd been too busy believing in people to worry about metaphysics. Even now, knowing Hell and angels were real hadn't actually made her believe in them.

"That was one of the reasons my grandparents had been against the match and why we, eventually, ended up in America."

Huh. She wondered if Evie knew any of this stuff. She was pretty sure Dante didn't.