Chapter Text
Ever since he had woken up this morning Jayce had felt weird. At first he thought it was because he hadn’t slept particularly well today, but he assumed it was just grogginess and it would eventually go away.
But it didn’t. He dropped his daughter off at his mothers house and made his way to the academy. Arriving early, he began to write down today's notes for his students to copy once they arrived.
After that everything seemed relatively normal. It was only when the class was ending that he felt the strange sensation again. He felt someone was watching him. He froze in the middle of his lecture to look at one of the windows of the classroom. But there was nothing there.
“Professor Talis?” One of his students asked when froze in the middle of writing something down.
The voice was able to bring him out of his musings. He began to address the class. “Remember everyone, next week is your midterm. I expect you all to come prepared” He underlined the date on the chalkboard. “And drop off last week’s assignment on my desk before you all leave. Class dismissed.”
He waited for all of his students to turn in their assignments and leave the classroom, many of them saying their goodbyes, before packing all of his things and leaving. He wanted to get home as soon as possible. Arriving as quickly as he could to his mother’s home. He walked up the trail that led to her home. Before he could even knock on the door it had opened.
“Papá! You’re back!” His daughter greeted him at the door. Her arms raised, expecting a hug.
“Of course I am!” He kneeled down to give her a big hug. “Did you have a good day at Abuela’s.” He kissed her forehead.
“Yes! We made cookies! I helped decorate.” She puffed out her chest, seemingly very proud of assisting her grandmother.
“That’s great, Lucy! You can tell me all about it on the way home. I hope you saved some for me.”
“Of course she did. Your daughter made these especially for you.” Ximena then appeared at the door, holding a container with said cookies.
“Thanks, Ma. I would love to stay and chat but I have a lot of assignments to grade.” He and Lucia said their goodbyes before heading home. Technically he wasn’t lying about the assignments. He did feel bad about having to cut the time with his mom so short, but he really needed to get home now.
He hoped that whatever had been bugging him all day would eventually go away. It was probably nothing, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
–
After a very entertaining dinner where they also got to enjoy the cookies she and his mother had made. Lucia told him everything she did with her grandma, she eventually tired herself out by just following him around the house as he cleaned up. He deemed it time for her to get some rest. Once Lucia had been tucked into bed, he went into his office. There he took out the stack of papers he had to grade. He was half of the way finished when he heard a knock at the door.
He was a bit confused; it was pretty late at night and he wasn’t expecting any visitors. He walked over to the main entrance to see who it was. Peeking through the peephole he saw it was Mel; he opened the door.
“Mel? It’s late. What are you doing here?”
“May I come in? I need to speak with you about something. Urgently.” Her usually calm demeanor seemed frazzled. Something truly unexpected happened. In all of the years he had known her, it was very difficult to catch her off guard.
“Yeah, sure, come in.” He opened the door wider so she could enter.
They quickly relocated to his office for their conversation.
“What’s so urgent that you had come so late at night to tell me?”
“I’m sorry for the late intrusion, but I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t something serious.”
“Well now I’m getting nervous.”
“It’s about Viktor. My contacts have informed me that a man with his characteristics was seen roaming around in Zaun.”
Jayce pinched the bridge of his nose. “Unbelievable. He disappeared for four years and now he shows his face again? Why now? No wonder I felt weird all day.”
The way he reacted to the news was not how Mel was expecting. “Why didn’t you say anything to me or Caitlyn if you felt something was off? What if–”
The door to his office squeaked open. Both of the people in the room froze, waiting to see who was on the other side of the door.
“Papá?” Lucia peeked through the door.
They both let out a sigh of relief. “Lucy, it’s late, you should be in bed.” Jayce crouched down when his daughter entered the office.
She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “But I heard you talking. And Auntie Mel is here.”
It was then Mel’s turn to crouch down and speak to the young girl. “Hello, darling. It’s good to see you, but you should really be in bed.”
“Besides, tomorrow’s the weekend. So maybe Mel can pop by tomorrow and you can show her the cookies that you made.” He looked at Mel as she as he made the statement and she agreed.
Lucia stood there for a moment, as if thinking about it. And then she nodded. “Ok. Goodnight Papá. Goodnight Auntie Mel.” She waved goodbye to Mel as he ushered her back to her bed.
Mel waved back. “Sweet dreams, dear.”
Once Jayce came back, he closed the door to his office. Leaving both him and Mel in the room. They waited a couple of minutes for her to go back to sleep before they spoke again.
“So Viktor’s back. What now?” This was just his luck. Just when he was finally starting to get over him. He decides to stroll back in after years of not hearing from him.
“This might be a stretch, but perhaps he is here to see you.”
He couldn’t but scoff at the idea. “I doubt it. You remember what happened the last time I saw him. He wanted nothing to do with me. What makes you think he wants to see me now?”
“It has been a few years. Perhaps something has changed?”
“I-I don’t know what to think, Mel. Why is this happening? Why now?” He ran his fingers through his hair. He sat down at his desk, this was becoming too much.
He felt Mel placing a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to face this alone.”
“I know, but what you told me is starting to weigh on me.” He returned the gesture by placing his own hand on top of hers.
“Jayce.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t do anything foolish.” The concern in her face was evident.
“I won’t. There’s too much at stake.” It was the truth, he had a daughter now and he had to think about her now. He told her but as much but as he looked at Mel she didn’t look convinced. “How about this? You can stay in the guest room if you want. I’m sure there are still some of your spare clothes in there. That way you can keep an eye on me. And Lucy will be so happy to see you when she wakes up.”
Mel accepted the invitation. Before leaving to the guest room, she glanced back at him. “At least try to get some rest tonight. You’re probably going to need it.” Mel left the office bidding him goodnight.
Jayce decided to stay awake for a couple of more hours before heading to bed. He laid in bed tossing and turning, trying to get some sleep but it had become difficult. Millions of thoughts ran through his head as he thought of all the possibilities.
Eventually he fell asleep from exhaustion. He hoped that tomorrow would be a better day, but he doubted it.
–
Perhaps he had been wrong. Today had been turning out better than he had expected. He woke up Lucia without any fuss, dressed her up, seated her in the dining room and started making breakfast.
The smell of breakfast must’ve woken Mel up because she was walking into the kitchen a couple minutes later.
“Auntie Mel! You and Papá had a sleepover without me?” Lucia pouted at the thought that they had done anything without her.
Mel sat down next to her. “Nothing of the sort, darling. It was just getting late and your father suggested it would be better for me to stay for the night. If we were to have a slumber party, you would be the first to know.”
That seemed to brighten her spirits again. “Okay!”
He finished making breakfast and placed it on the table. “Breakfast is served.”
“Thank you, Jayce. It looks wonderful.”
“Thank you!” Lucia said with food already in her mouth.
Jayce also sat down at the dining room. He liked the domesticity of the scene. Seeing Lucia talk with her mouth full while Mel tried to correct her manners was always a delight. He loved how animated his daughter was when talking. He liked it when Mel came over, his daughter also liked having Mel over. It was nice having her around. Most days, it was just him and Lucy eating together. Sometimes Caitlyn and Vi would come over. Sometimes his mother would come visit, but they preferred to go to her rather than have her be in his home.
But having Mel over was a treat. It was nice to have some help with his daughter, even if it was for a little while.
Since it was the weekend, Jayce didn’t have much to do. So most weekends he would end up going to the park to let Lucia play with other kids. So today would be the same as the other weekends.
–
“Papá, look! Ice cream! Can I have some?” She pointed towards a man farther down at the park selling the cold treats to those who would stop by.
He paused to think about it. “It’s a bit early, isn’t it?” They had only been there for an hour and the only reason was sitting down instead of playing was because she was taking a break. He worried about having to deal with sugar rush if whatever he bought her ended up being too sweet.
“Pleeeeease?” She used her puppy dog eyes on him. It was weird to be on the receiving side of that now. It was pretty convincing.
And the trick seemed to work on Mel, as she stood up from the bench. “I’ll be back in a moment. What would you like?”
Lucia yelled her answer as Jayce spoke. “Mel, you don’t have to do this.”
“You’re right, I don’t have to. But I want to do this. Don’t worry, I’ll get you something as well.”
He relented after that. “Fine, thank you.”
She just nodded. “Of course.” And she left to wait in the line for the ice cream.
Jayce watched her go. Lucia got bored of sitting on his lap, getting off to go play again at the park. While he watched her play, all of a sudden he felt a looming presence. He tried to ignore it. Keeping his just on his daughter. But that voice broke him out of his concentration.
“Jayce.” He recognized that voice. That accent. He didn’t want to look at first, but he couldn’t just ignore him. Even though he really wanted to.
He didn’t bother standing up from the bench. He just turned to where Viktor’s voice was coming from. “Viktor, You’re here.” Jayce eyed him up and down.
He looked the same from the last time he had seen Viktor. His hair was longer, with some blonde highlights in the back. Even with the change of clothes he could no longer see the metal markings that had once covered his entire body, now his body appearing to be human skin as it had been before, there was a familiar blue cloak that he had wrapped around his shoulders. Viktor was still as handsome as he remembered.
“It’s good to see you.” Viktor’s eyes roamed over Jayce’s figure. The staring made him a bit self-conscious. It had been a long time since they had seen each other. He must’ve looked very different from before, especially now that he had a beard.
Lucia must’ve seen him talking with Viktor and decided to come over to meet this new stranger. She came scurrying over, wrapping her tiny arms over his leg, asking who the stranger was.
Viktor’s eyes turned to look at the child that was now hugging Jayce’s leg. The similarities between Viktor and the child were very noticeable.
Jayce sighed, he had feared that this day would come. He had always imagined what he would say but now his mind was blank, leading him to stay quiet for a moment as collected his thoughts. It was quiet for what might've been a brief moment, but for him felt like an eternity. He broke the silence. “You’ve missed a lot since you left.”