Love II

Chapter 9

Epilogue

It is now four months later

Kate came home from work and unlocked the front door with her key. They had used part of the money they had earned from that art work escort four months ago to install a good lock on their front door along with a new frame and a new door. They'd also had the roof stripped off and a new one installed. The door was about three months old. The roof was only a month old.

The dining room and kitchen were on this floor and since no one was in the dining room she headed for the kitchen and found no one in the kitchen, either. However a quick look outside showed that everyone was out on the back patio.

"Mom, what brings you over?" K'honowena, Rick, and her son were out there.

"I was out of town for my grandson's birthday that I was sure I was never going to have." K'honowena gleefully rubbed it in.

"Thanks, Mom." Kate was not impressed. She had never really talked to her mother about children before she had been killed. In fact she refused to take babysitting jobs. But she didn't ever remember saying no to having children. Then her mother had been killed and children were out of the question.

"So I brought his birthday present over for him to enjoy. It's up in his bedroom. And Rick offered some wine so here I am." K'honowena spread her arms wide. "How was work?" K'honowena knew she had gotten a job doing just what she had been doing back on the prime material plane. Which meant she was a homicide detective.

"I got my second case today since I started. I still miss my white board that I had. I'm stuck using a black board and chalk. Then one of the guys picked up a piece and scratched it across the board making that horrible noise. I was ready to shoot him for that. He actually thought it was funny." Kate rolled her eyes.

"I did warn you that yes, this plane is good but that doesn't mean people don't crack and do the unthinkable. You'll get him." K'honowena had faith in her daughter.

"So what did you get him?" Kate was curious.

"I got him a big boy bed even if he isn't ready for one yet but he'll grow into it. Boys grow fast initially," K'honowena said.

"Oh, that's good, thanks, Mom. Since we're drinking wine I'm going to need one." Kate went back inside to get her own glass.

"So how has my young man been today?" Kate kissed his head and watched him raise his arms indicating he wanted to be picked up. She put her glass down so she could pick him up and then started getting whacked by his tail. "Don't hit Mommy." Kate grabbed at his tail.

"We need to decide what to do with him today," Rick warned his wife.

"Right, you start your job tomorrow. We need to come up with a plan for Thomas. Who ever watches him will immediately know that he's a Tiefling." What Kate wasn't sure about was if that would cause him to be ignored or even worse…, beaten. Tieflings weren't necessarily well liked here, either.

"That's easy; bring him to the Temple. So long as you're willing to have him be taught to be a follower of Helm," K'honowena offered which meant he wouldn't be allowed to choose for himself who he wanted to be a believer of.

"You don't have to do that, Mom. We can think of something." She didn't know what but something.

"I don't mind watching over my grandson. Besides I have an entire Temple filled with people to help me and if he gets hurt, and little boys will get hurt, there are Priestesses all over to help him," K'honowena reminded her.

Kate looked at her husband and she saw a yes on his face. "Thanks. One of us will bring him over in the morning."

"I look forward to spoiling him rotten." She saw the daggers her daughter was sending her way. "It's my job. I'm his grandmother. I'm supposed to spoil him. When he grows up and gets married and has kids you can spoil his. It'll be your job."

"How's the house?" K'honowena asked before her daughter decided not to bring her son over and leave him with her and the Temple or start a fight.

"At the moment the only challenge is the stairs. Our bedrooms are on the third floor. I don't need Thomas deciding that the stairs are his new playground and tumbling down them. He's fine for now but when he starts crawling with purpose and then walking? Thankfully the door to the basement is always closed." Kate moaned. She didn't remember stairs when she was growing up.

"Child barrier just like back on the prime material plane. You'll figure it out. What about the rest of the place?" K'honowena asked again.

"I like the patio and the tree," Rick told her. He had grown up in the Abyss. It didn't have trees like these. Certainly not a fruit tree like this one. He couldn't wait for the fruit to be ripe. He could come out and pick one and just eat it.

"I like the second floor, personally. The entire floor is our living room and it has two decks, both of which are half filled with potted plants. Now we just need some furniture to put into it and out onto the deck." It was a house or maybe more apartment since certain walls were also their neighbor's wall, but not a home just yet.

"Well I'll leave you to it." K'honowena drank the rest of her wine and got up. "You be nice to Mommy and stop hitting people with that tail of yours." K'honowena stroked his head, kissed it, and left them.

Since Kate had Thomas, Rick got up to follow her and thank her then locked the door behind her and came back to Kate and his son.

"You ready for your job? We really need for your illusion to work." If he got spotted as being a Demon they would be in big trouble. A good Demon was unheard of. "Here, take Thomas. I have an idea. I'm going to be taking some of our gold with me." She had no intention of taking it all so if what she wanted was too expensive they would just have to risk it.

Rick didn't even get a chance to say anything at all. He was getting used to it, though. His wife was a force to be reckoned with all on her own.

.x[O]x.=.o{X}o.=.x[O]x.=.o{X}o.=.x[O]x.

Kate ran part way since it was getting late and found a place that was still open. Thirty minutes later she was leaving with something that might help.

She had snatched it up at only 1,800 gold. Hat of Disguise. As part of the magic the hat can appear as a comb, ribbon, headband, cap, coif, hood, helmet, and so on. Rick could decide what he wanted it to look like while at work.

Kate found him in the kitchen working on dinner even though he only knew how to make very few dishes. "Here, babe. It's called a Hat of Disguise. The hat itself can look like anything that's normally found on your head. I was thinking maybe a head band. Try it, let's see if it works."

She watched him put it on. "Have it look like you want people to see you as." Kate was thinking that if it worked for her it would work for everyone else.

Kate was standing there repeating, "Please let this work, please let this work." She held her hands over her mouth and spoke into them softly. They could really use the money he was going to be making to be added to hers.

Then suddenly she saw what she used to see before he willingly let his illusion drop so she could see what he really looked like. "It worked!" Kate raised her arms and then stepped up to kiss him. "You're as handsome as ever." He didn't look like a Demon to her any longer. He looked normal. "Just don't lose that thing, so no swimming in the river." His own illusion might work but she didn't want to risk it. She loved him far too much for something bad to happen to him. Besides, their son needed a father.

Kate took over the cooking and decided it was too hot so she tapped the top. "Less heat, please, Hot Stuff." Kate waited and it started to cool down a little. "Thank you, you're the best." Much like Little Drip he responded to her better than he did Rick. Even if it was Rick that fed him.

"How long before you need to feed these two?" Kate didn't want him to forget. Hot Stuff and Little Drip were valuable members of their household.

"About three weeks so they should be fine for now," Rick replied. The endless decanter of water meant they never actually ran out of water, just like on the ship. They had two things no other home in this city had. At least as far as they knew. It did mean of course that Rick had to go to that plane and find a replacement for Little Drip for the fountain at the Temple.

Thanks to Kate's job she was able to see how other people lived and worked. She had the authority to go anywhere she pleased in her search of a killer.

Kate took everything off the cooktop and got Hot Stuff to stop. "What do you think?" Kate asked him even though she hadn't dished out dinner yet.

"Do you mean the part where I answered your call? That we fell in love with each other? That you're not sorry I'm a Demon? That we got married? That we left the Astral Plane and my beloved ship? That we had a son? That I abandoned my Master? That you found your dead mother was actually alive?" Rick asked her.

Kate put her arms around his neck. "Yes to all of it." She kissed him with great passion. "Though I'm still angry with you for agreeing not to take me back so I can arrest Bracken." But she wasn't all that angry any longer. She was happy here and her mother was right. She didn't want to be killed by Bracken's hired killers and leave her son here without a mother.

"Good. Ready for another child, maybe?" Rick smiled at her, knowing that they were still working on having another child pretty much daily.

"Let me think about that first. You can still make love to me tonight, though." Kate kissed him again. "What do you think, sweetheart? You want a baby brother or sister?" she cooed at him. All she got was him slapping his little table since he was hungry.

"I think that was a yes. I understand baby talk," Rick grinned.

"Do you now?" Kate didn't believe him for a second. However, that wouldn't stop her from loving him, making love to him, and risk getting pregnant again.

Maybe it was a home after all and not just a house. Though she was sure it was going to be filled with love.