Jacob awoke with a groan. He wasn't sure when he went to bed, but he was no less sore. His eyes were red and dry, the early morning light making them sting, and his throat felt like sandpaper. He straightened a bit to try and stretch, only to feel a small shape at his back. Craning his neck, popping it in three places, and saw Lance lying on the cot beside him. He started to reach out and give him a shake, only for a glowing hand to touch his own. Nina entered his field of vision, a smile on her face.
"You were talking in your sleep." she whispered softly. "Crying, actually. Lance found you in the middle of the night and just crawled in. The moment his back touched yours, you went still. It was adorable."
Jacob allowed himself a small grin, and very carefully he slid off the cot without disturbing the sleeping boy. For added measure, Jacob took the blanket and draped it over Lance. He gently pat the boy's shoulder in a show of thanks, and he turned about. Once again, he saw Nina, whom was beaming with pride. Jacob rolled his eyes.
"Oh shut up." he muttered.
The teen made his way out of the dormitory and towards the kitchen. He was expecting a bowl of cold cereal in lieu of Lance's trademark omelette masterpiece, but to his surprise he could hear the crackle of eggs and smelled the salty tang of bacon. There was also music coming from a radio playing salsa music with a woman's voice cheering along. As he stepped inside, he found Deborah dancing to the beat while flipping flapjacks in one hand and scrambling eggs with the other. Manning the juicer on the other side of the counter was Howard, dressed in a "kiss the cook" apron and likewise shaking his hips to the music. The two moved in perfect sync like a married couple, often times switching positions and working on other things. Nina gushed as she watched the two work, and Jacob got the hunch she was sensing more than he could see. As the song ended, so too did the cooking with stacks of flapjacks landing in a row on a plate along with a bowl of scrambled eggs topped with chopped up pieces of bacon and molten cheese set off to the side. Howard also filled a pitcher with freshly blended juice. Nina cheered like she had just witnessed a theatrical display, which in turn broke the two from their stupor as they turned towards them.
"Oh, Jacob!" Deborah squeaked, all but skipping over to him. "Good morning. Sleep well?"
Jacob was at a loss, but he managed a wry smile.
"Kind of, I guess." he replied groggily. "What's all this?"
"A couple of friends can't stop by and make breakfast?" Howard chirped as he undid his apron. "It's not like the two of us have anything better to do at the moment, both of our jobs being limbo as it were. So we decided to come down and check on you. Will Lance be down soon?"
Jacob shrugged.
"I left him sleeping up top."
That made Howard's eyes jump.
"Really? Since I've known him, I've never seen that boy so much as nap. Much less sleep."
Jacob would have asked about that, but his stomach suddenly rumbled vigorously. He hadn't eaten much of anything yesterday, and he was quite hungry indeed. Deborah, having heard, took him by the hand and brought him to the table. Howard masterfully gathered the food and ferried it to the table, dealing out plates like a casino dealer before pouring three glasses instantly in a line. It was such a practiced finesse, and that married couple vibe was getting more and more powerful. As he accepted his plate, he watched the two adults take their seats on the other side of the table, and breakfast carried on. Jacob studied Howard and Deborah, and on a dare he stretched out his senses, his hair turning a faint sheen of silver. Sure enough, he could sense the duo's good cheer and kindness coming off of them in waves. It was an almost sickly, and somewhat unearthly sight that Jacob had trouble translating. His suspicions of the detective were officially dead as of the encounter with Velvet, but he was still left with a jaw breaking question. Such questions, he came to realize, needed to be asked presently rather than later. So, he pushed his plate aside, sat up straight, and he fixed them both with a shrewd look.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked bluntly.
The duo looked up at him, Jacob's tone breaking the harmony between the two.
"I'm sorry?" Deborah asked, curiously.
Jacob went quiet a moment, digging around for his words and piecing them together in a way he could express his point.
"You...don't owe me anything." he said at last. "I mean, yeah, Deborah, you were doing your job when you first found me, but the minute I became a suspect in the bombing situation your prerogative should have been to arrest me. Nevermind the fact you're probably about to lose your job and you made a deal with the devil for my sake."
Deborah nibbled her lip a bit, but she didn't reply.
"Then there's you, doc." Jacob went on, looking to Howard. "You make the least amount of sense to me. Make no mistake, you're a sweet guy and I appreciate your kindness, but taking care of an eight year old that lives alone in a decrepit old building, taking in a wanted fugitive with next to no questions, nearly getting strangled by one of your clients because said fugitive might've been in your apartment, and finally nearly being murdered by a street gang? Either you're some sort of masochist, or there's something else going on here."
He looked between the two.
"Serisouly, what's the deal with you two? Why would you both risk life and livelihood for a complete and total stranger like me?"
Howard and Deborah exchanged glances, silently conversing between one another, and they grinned as they came to a united conclusion.
"Porque puedo."
Jacob's face sagged, and he clapped a hand over his mouth to hide a groan. He looked up again, his gaze now much harder and his eyes narrowed.
"Ok, with Lance I'll accept that, but it's really annoying if anyone else says it."
That brought a laugh out of Howard and Deborah, further agitating the teen, but then Howard spoke up.
"Well, it is the truth." he said. "We could help you, so we decided to do just that. However, rather than just flat out empathy as Abuela once taught, I suppose you could say there's a smidgeon more between us."
He leaned back in his chair, and he made a motion for Jacob to relax before continuing.
"Ever been to Chicago?" he asked.
Jacob shook his head.
"Laramie was originally from Chicago," he replied. "Or so he said, and he had been a professor at Roosevelt University.
"Well, I was born there, specifically the street called Englewood. I was homeless then, and for the largest part of my life, frankly. So you could say Lance and I have a lot in common."
That shot a bolt through Jacob. Howard was certainly modest, but his apartment might as well have been a palace. Not to mention he was very well educated to as a psychiatrist, and he had seen the doctor in action to prove it.
"I'm sure I don't have to explain in such detail what life on the streets is like, especially in a part of town where those with the heaviest souls go quickly to their graves. I watched a lot of people, good people that just needed a chance to reach their potential, fall into utter depravity just to become another statistic. I ceratinly didn't want that for myself, and I wanted it less for the people around me. I had to console too many grieving mothers in my time, and I had to let go of too many dear friends."
There was a misting in the man's glasses from tears not shed, and the man removed them to clean them with his shirt tail.
"I can't say it's been easy. Actually, it's been pretty darn difficult. Lots of roadblocks for someone that didn't fit a certain societal block, and many more weren't too keen on my advice. But, for my hundreds of failures, I favor those I manage to save. So, when I found you that day lying on the floor, it wasn't even a question. I didn't even think about it. I took you into my life, and, son, I've not regretted it for a moment. Ten out of ten, would do it again, as I think the kids say."
To hear such an eloquent speaker attempt what might've been something hip finally broke the ice in Jacob's face and made him laugh. He then turned to Deborah, her own smile bright though it belied a deep melancholy.
"My reasoning isn't much different from Howard's." she confessed. "Though, and I mean you no insult Howie, my reasons are a bit more...personal."
She pushed back from the table, stood, and walked over to a window. Curious, Jacob rose and followed. The kitchen had a wrap around window which, while filthy from years of dirt and grime, allowed one to see the city outside. Thank's to Paradiso being set all but in the center of town, from this position you cold see most of the city going up and down the trolley line. Deborah's gaze in particular was locked in on the skeleton of the ferris wheel on the old, ruined boardwalk. Looking up at her, Jacob vaguely recalled that Deborah had said her family ran the ferris wheel.
"I was there when it burned." she said, answering the question Jacob didn't ask. "It was an ordinary day like any other. I can still hear the popcorn poppers and smell the hot dogs, but more than anything I can still feel the rush of excitement as my pop barked out his pride over the ferris wheel and the joy it brought our town. To this day, I still don't know how it happened; the little thing that turned into a blaze that destroyed everything. But I was there to see it as the flames swallowed my mom and pop, and Peter left my side to go in after them."
Jacob's stomach lurched and his heart squeezed. He stared up to Deborah, his heightened senses confirming that she was indeed telling the truth. Deborah clutched at her chest, the ancient ache still tugging at her heart.
"Nobody ever came forward, and any and all leads went dry all but over night." she went on. "I had no family besides those I had lost, and I wound up in the care of a terrible person. For years, I was told it would be easier to just let go. That this was how the world was."
Jacob empathized. He had nearly succumbed to such despair just the other morning.
"There were times I almost accepted it," Deborah admitted. "Almost gave in and became a much different person. Fortunately, someone helped me find the light in the end."
Deborah turned back to where Howard was sitting, and he raised his glass in a toast.
"I was just a newbie in a big city." he said nonchalantly. "We both needed a friend that day."
Deborah nodded in agreement before turning back to Jacob.
"I saw a lot of myself in you when I first stepped into the diner that day." she said. "The fear, the abandonment, the question of what to do: yeah, that was me for a great many years. I guess, in a way, I wanted to bring the light to your life Howard brought into mine."
Jacob felt a squeeze in his throat, and something wet was trialing down the sides of his face. Without warning, he buried his face in Deborah's abdomen and twined his arms around her. Deborah didn't refuse, instead drawing the boy in and gently stroking his back with one hand while the other held his head.
"I can't promise things will get better, but you do have my word that I will be with you every step of the way. No matter what happens, there will be justice for you and your uncle. One way or another, we're going to make this right."
With that, she parted from Jacob, and she guided him back to the table where they could resume breakfast. By now, Lance had arrived, and Jacob noticed that the dark circles around the boy's eyes had faded. They were still there, but he looked much more refreshed than usual. Together they dined, making small talk and laughing now and again, and even the Luminos joined in the mirth. For perhaps the first time since coming to the city, Jacob felt completely relaxed and, dare he believe it, happy. He was still far from safe knowing there was a price on his head, but Paradiso was a shelter first and foremost. It was a sacred and hallowed place where people were supposed to leave their worries and troubles, as Lance had put it. So long as he was here, Jacob felt in his heart that he could truly just be himself. But with that sense of calm came a mote of melancholy. He recalled that he still hadn't repaid Lance's kindness, nor had he done anything to show his appreciation for Howard and Deborah. He leaned back in his chair, washing in the afterglow of a full belly, wondering on something he could do, when a light caught his eye. He sat up and peered through the cracked kitchen door to see movement in the gymnasium beyond. Jacob was immediately on his feet, and his sudden movement caused the other denizens to snap to attention.
Jacob was the first to the door, Deborah behind him and reaching for the pistol she kept in her boot. But, as the two stepped out, they were surprised to find the invaders weren't Serpents seeking revenge or some other thug looking to make a name, but rather it was a consortium of people stepping inside. Several of them were armed with suitcases and plastic bags full of sundries while others had nothing but the clothes on their backs. A quick count told Jacob there were approximately fifteen people comprising largely of adults in their forties, a few elders, and the remainder being their children. As Jacob continued to study them, Deborah stepped forward to greet them.
"Good morning." she called warmly. "Can we help you?"
The assorted folks exchanged glances, and then a leader was elected among them. To Jacob's shock, it was the shop owner from yesterday.
"I hope we are not trespassing," he said. "But our homes..." he struggled with his words. "We have nowhere to go. Most of us remember when Abuela opened her doors to those in need of a place to rest, and we were hoping...."
He cast his gaze around the ruined gymnasium. Lance was certainly trying his best and working with whatever he could find, but he hadn't the time or the man power to properly fix up the busted maple flooring or touch up the chipping paint. Even now, Jacob could hear a rusty pipe somewhere bursting followed by Lance's little feet rushing to find it. In a word, it was rough. Still, these people looked rougher. He had to assume these were folks that had lived in the burning building from yesterday and perhaps the bombings. He definitely recognized the florist from the bazaar in the back.
"Maybe this was a mistake." the shop owner said, and he turned to guide everyone out. "Sorry for the bother, we'll just..."
"Wait!"
The word left Jacob's mouth before he could think. The man turned back to him, and their eyes met. Jacob could sense that the man recognized him even without his armor, glowing eyes, and silver hair. That shared understanding of one another had remained, and it gave Jacob the boldness to speak up.
"I admit this place is a bit of a fixer-upper, but I've been living here a little over a week or so now. It's not fancy, nor is it really the cleanest. But you'll be safe here, at least until you can get back on your feet."
"Absolutely!" exclaimed Lance as he came sliding in, soaked to the bone but smiling. "I'll show you all to the dormitory! I just got some new blankets and mended a lot of the sheets. I even found some pillows that are...mostly still fluffy."
Though with trepidation, the crowd followed after the excitable little boy as he all but skipped his way up the stairs. Deborah pursed her lips while Howard folded his arms. However, it was Merrick that vocalized their thoughts in his own, unique way.
"Are you an idiot, boy?"
Jacob shot the luminous man a hot look, as did Nina.
"I believe," she said through gritted teeth, "that my colleague is conveying that this might be a mistake. The whole reason Paradiso worked was that it is roughly out of the way and ignored. Putting more people under this roof will attract attention."
"Kind of crossed and burned that bridge already, don't you think?" Gloria chimed in. "What with the gang leader and his band of ruffians that Jacob bashed right righteously?"
She shot Jacob a look.
"And then, as the children say, yeeted through a window in an arc that no doubt plunged him into the ocean?"
Jacob flinched. Yeah, that had been overboard, he could confess. Frankly, he was amazed he managed to do it, and quietly hoped he hadn't killed the man.
"Actually, this could work in our favor." Deborah mused. "The whole idea is to make people think Midknight wasn't the instigator in the bazaar incident, right? Well, what better PR is there than helping the homeless."
"A bit of low hanging fruit, but I'm inclined to agree." Howard affirmed.
"It's nothing like that." Jacob insisted. "I just...I dunno. I recognized one or two of them, and I wanted to help. I mean, my house burned down too, and I was lucky Lance gave me a place to sleep. So, I want to do the same for them. Is that so wrong?"
The three luminos exchanged glances, and it was Gloria who nodded in agreement.
"Not wrong whatsoever. Actually, my dear child, I'm rather proud of you."
"Not like I did anything that big." Jacob said, though his cheeks were now red.
"Ah! I don't think I've seen you blush before." Deborah cooed as she leaned in for a look. "How cute."
"Stop that! And I'm not cute."
"Yes you are."
"No, I am not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Oh, I just wanna give you a hug."
"Get away from me, you crazy woman!"
Howard had to bite his tongue hard as he watched Jacob take off like a shot, Deborah hot on his heels with arms outstretched for a long, affectionate hug. The luminos were giving chase as well, Merrick encouraging Jacob to run faster while Nina cheered on Deborah. Gloria, however, hung back, smiling to herself as she stood next to Howard.
"It only gets harder from here, you know." she said to him.
"Yep." Howard said, popping the p.
"I can feel the scales of power tilting. Something has been stirred, and our boy is in the center of it all. I am pleased that he will not have to face them alone, though. Whether by fate or fortune, I am sure that my grandson is right where he needs to me."
"Let go of me!" Jacob wailed as he Deborah wrestled him into a loving bearhug.