A Piece of History: Closer and Closer

     "Is that a screw?’

     "No, the nails go in the supports. The screws go into the legs."

     Jonas Foster blinked sweat from his eyes, shifting the wood leaning against his shoulder. He glanced at the vast array of paper fluttering in the draft from the open windows and snorted. The blonde demon looked up, a bent metal joint in his hands. "What?"

     "This could be a lot easier if we read the instructions," Jonas said wryly.

     Ax grinned, straightening the metal with a single jerk of his arms. "Our way will work better."

     "We hope," the former mage said, holding the delicate white and gilt wood panel up for Ax to inspect.

     The crib was nearly assembled, teetering on four elaborately carved legs. The white and gilt-edges gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight, sparkling on the brass corners. The two men were busily arranging the headboard, utterly incongruous on the sea of pale pink carpet. The room itself was a haven of femininity, with walls painted white, brushed with pastel rainbows. A rocking chair stood by the broad French doors, draped with an airy afghan the colour of daffodils. Bathinette, bureau, bookcase and dressing table were all shining, white and gilt edges. Beautifully framed photographs of waterfalls, rainbows, forests and meadows were clustered on the walls. A vast collection of books were stacked neatly on shelves, and soft fluffy toys were settled in white nets strung in the corners. It was a beautiful room, with the French doors opening onto the deck, carefully fenced by white trellis. Jonas looked around the room and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth (so easy now.) The former mage turned when Ax made a noise, and helped the man slide the crib across the room, settling it amidst the gauzy drapes hanging from a ceiling hook. It was amusing to Jonas to watch the heavy-handed demon try to delicately arrange the filmy cloth over the crib, and he found himself smiling broadly.

     "I think babies like this kind of thing," Ax said, frowning as he moved a drape of the cloth, examined it, frowned and moved it again. "Don’t they?"

     Jonas made a sound dangerously close to a laugh. "You know about as well as I do." He looked around, plucking at a folded towel on the bathinette. "I had to go ask about this."

     Ax blinked, eyeing the room before looking back at Jonas. "Who did you ask?"

     The former mage looked a little puzzled as he examined the room with fresh eyes. "…my…friend Brad." There was a note of vague puzzlement in his voice now. "You know, looking at it, this does kind of surprise me." He thought for a moment, running his fingers over the soft towel, and then something glimmered in his eyes. "But when I look at it, I think it’ll…suit her." Ax didn’t need it clarified, the implied ‘who’ of that sentence. Betre’s search had been long and arduous, but he was closer than ever. It was only a week ago that the demon had informed Jonas that the infant was six months old and somewhere in Europe. It was that very day Jonas had left the penthouse and returned hours later bearing cans of paint and a vague sketch of a room outlay.

     "Betre said it won’t take him much longer to find her," Ax said confidently, a smile brightening his face as he adjusted the crib a few inches.

     "…good," Jonas mumbled, looking at the tiny sock he now held. Both men looked for a moment at that: a tiny sock, miniscule in fact, lying in the man’s roughened palm. Jonas tensed, and his voice was low when he spoke, his eyes locked on the sock. "…Ax…do… Do you think I can do this?"

     Had anyone else heard that, a person who had known Jonas before this, they would have been floored. Perhaps even struck ill by the fact that the former death mage was voicing doubt about his own abilities. Ax had no such knowledge, and to him, this was merely a moment of sharing. He’d given the former mage much of himself in the last few weeks, and this was, if not expected, at least unsurprising. "Do what? Take care of a baby? I don’t think it’s very hard. They’re like pets."

     Jonas nearly laughed at the simplistic explanation, and rewarded Ax with a smile. "Not exactly like pets, but I think the idea when they’re really small is about the same." He sighed faintly, rubbing his thumb over the sock, noting wryly that his fingers far outsized the tiny thing. "I mean…raising her. It’s… Everyone who talks about kids says raising them is like hell. I don’t know how…well equipped I am for…for that."

     The demon shrugged, taking the sock and looking at it for a moment. "I don’t think anyone’s well equipped for anything they do. Humans think they either can or can’t do something, and they surprise themselves sometimes with which one it is." He looked at Jonas, his stone-grey eyes utterly honest. "You’ll probably do better than someone else would. I mean, you already love her."

     The man frowned, turning away from the bathinette. "Yeah…I guess." A vague tingle nagged in his mind, had done so for quite some time now, and he couldn’t help giving it a bit of his attention. (It is her soul you loved. Isn’t it?) Jonas ran a hand through his hair

, and turned when he felt the heavy hand on his shoulder.

     "I think all fathers aren’t sure before the babies come," Ax said gently, that sweet, so sweet smile on his face. "But when they get here, you can actually see them and find out if you love them for them." Jonas paused, listening to that, and laughed softly, patting Ax’s hand.

     "Maybe we should get you a parenting hotline, or a self-help publisher, huh?" The former mage smiled at the demon’s confusion, and squeezed the rough hand hard. "Don’t worry about it, Ax."

     As if the words were magic, the demon’s face cleared and he smiled brilliantly. "Should we put sheets on the bed?" He motioned to the crib, already walking towards the bureau.

     "Let’s wait," Jonas said, surprisingly brightly. "We’d need to change them before she got here, if we put them on now."

     The demon smiled, opening the bureau drawer and looking in. "I don’t think we’ll need to wait too long."

     Jonas found an answering smile somewhere, watching the demon examine the tiny flowers embroidered on the sheets. "I hope you’re right, Ax." He sighed, looking at the room, the quiet room which seemed to beg for the vibrancy of an occupant.

     "I really hope you’re right."