~After Break..Aja at the Outback~
Aja walked back to the Outback, the pain was mind numbing. She couldn't think anymore. The only mantra she repeated was that she was doing the right thing. That made her scoff at herself. Right thing. How come it felt like she was ripped a piece of her heart out' Possibly more.
She got to the doors, taking a deep breath and wiped away any tears that had fallen. She slipped the ring that she had been clutching hard enough to leave marks in her palm, into her pocket and then stepped back into the Outback. No cheery greeting this time. She made a beeline for the bar, retaking her spot quietly. A moment or two to remember how to talk went by before she called for Shay who was behind the bar.
"Shay?" she couldn't manage a normal volume. "Get me a shot please?"
"What ya want hun?"
"Tequila." Shay seemed to sense that Aja wasn't going to say much more than that and ran her fingers along the bottles snatching up the tequila bottle, then poured Aja a double shot. While she did, Aja spied the roses that Padriq had brought her earlier that night. Before she exploded her world apart. She pressed her lips together, fighting another round of tears, till Shay's voice broke into her thoughts.
"Lime and salt?" Shay asked trying to seem normal for her friend. Aja pushed the roses lightly aside, not being able to take that right now. She knew it was all her fault.
"Straight."
"Hug?" Shay offered to the gypsy pirate, Aja slowly shook her head at the offer.
"I'll lose it for sure." She nodded to the bottle. "Just give me the shots. And keep them coming." Maybe enough tequila, she could burn the pain out. Her hand shook as she reached out for the first shot, she managed to slam it back, letting it burn its way through her. She fiddled with the glass then, staring at it, but she could feel Shay looking at her. "I told him. About Tru. That I loved him." Shay, bless her, lined up five more double shots and nodded at the information. So wrapped up in her own pain, she didn't noticed the looks she was getting. She stared at the bar, closing her eyes as she remembered every painful detail.
"I..." she started, then paused. "I told him I'd understand if he hated me." She looked at Shay then, one tear falling quietly down her cheek unheeded. "He said he couldn't hate the woman he loved." She closed her eyes, turning her head slightly trying to control herself, then picked up another shot, staring at it. "He deserves better than me, Shay. Maybe it's best this way." She stared at the shot still, not finding any answers in the amber but she'd try. "He wouldn't take back the ring."
"I'm sure he saw it as a gift he wanted you to have, no matter what the outcome." Shay said in response the the ring, Aja nodded slowly then slammed back the second shot, letting it burn down. Next she spoke, it was slowly and quietly.
"I hurt him, Shay. And that's killing me right now." A soft exhale. "I never meant to.."
"It will get better hun. You did what you had to do." Shay offered, she raised her eyes to look at Shay then.
"Yeah. I know. Better to tell him what was going on then go behind his back. Till I get it figured it out. It wasn't fair to hang on." She needed to explain it to someone, maybe in doing so, it would make sense to her. "He might never forgive me." She sighed again, wiping at her eyes. "And I'll live with that. I earned it."
Shay shook her head in disagreement, as good friends and sisters were suppose to do.
"You're right it wasn't fair to anyone to hang on. If you had waited any longer it just would have hurt him more. At least now you have a chance at friendship." Aja nodded, sniffling a little.
"Maybe." She stared at the third shot, the pain in her chest getting worse, not better with every passing moment. That's when the horrible thought started to sink in, "What if she had made a mistake?" "Gods..what if I wake up tomorrow and realize the whole thing is a horrible mistake?" She spoke the thought out loud, it not sounding any better that way.
"Then you can own that mistake and telling him as such."
"Blame it on my crazy, stupid head" Or my very stupid heart' Which one is to blame here...I couldn't tell you." She wasn't really asking, just giving the options. She closed her eyes and gave in to one thought that was banging around in her head then. "Why did I come back to RhyDin" I should've just stayed gone."
"You came back because your friends and family are here. This is where you belong." Shay argued back, Aja just slowly nodded again as she picked up the third shot.
"I do love him. He's a good man." Now she looked for reasons. Why couldn't she have done that before" "Maybe I just got too scared...too freaked out...clung to something else...as a way to avoid facing that....I honestly don't know."
"Neither your head or your heart are to blame. You care for him but sometimes that just isn't enough." Shay offered and Aja looked at her.
"Yer just being nice ta me, Sister. I deserve a boot to the head." Aja said still staring at the shot.
"No you don't. And I'm not just being nice to you. I always tell the people I love exactly what?s going through my head." Shay countered then added. "I'm the one that deserves a boot to the head! Maybe, hell I don't even know what I deserve." She laughed, Aja just shook her head slowly not knowing what to think anymore.
"A bib for when you see Rico." Anya said to Shay as she walked up, then looked at Aja. "Would you be happy rushing into marriage, and all that entails?" Aja looked up at Anya.
"Yea yea yea." Shay said to Anya, Aja could hear the smile in her voice.
"No." Aja answered Anya then, it was an easy enough answer.
"Then there is your answer." Anya made it seem easy somehow, she always did know how to boil things down to the simplicity of the moment. Aja wasn't all that sure the pain she felt was all that simple.
"And you did all of this on an impulse that you hadn't weighed the options on right?"
People were leaving, and Aja waved absently to them, then looks at her sisters.
"I pulled back from Padriq till I figure this mess out!" the nightmare scenario in her head played out over and over again, making her sigh inwards. "And it's a mess, like me, from top to bottom. I knew how Tru felt...and I didn't stay away...Maybe I should've?"
"No you should've done what was right for you." Shay was saying. "If Pad was already pushing the marriage thing what else would he push' Children of his own" Or other things that don't fit into the life that you have made for yourself?"
"You know, there's a rule of thumb I try to go by. If you try to change the person you love, then they are not the person you fell in love with." Aja looked up at Shay and then to Anya to see what she thought. True enough she felt pushed, but she did love Padriq for his impulses...just not always that one. Rapid fired questions and tequila did not mix well, and most went unanswered.
"I'm not saying Pads a bad guy at all, but it doesn't look like he was the guy for you sweet heart." Shay said, adding another nail in the coffin of the relationship, but they didn't know about the recent conversation at Teas.
"He said he'd wait." Aja rubbed at her head, trying to remember and still staring at that third shot. "I told him....I wanted to be his partner...and then...I let my crazy heart get all messed up.." she sighed heavily and let her head fall to the bar then. "Anya...I need a brain scan."
"Stop by tomorrow, and Oliver can give you one." Anya said making her smile slightly.
"Then if you realize it was all a mistake and that it is him you really want he will be waiting." Shay started. "Though I really don't see you coming to that decision. Right now you feel bad because you hurt someone you care about. Give yourself a few days to get your head straight and then if you feel like you still deserve blame, give it to yourself then." Shay was making sense, she knew, but that just sent pain shooting through her again.
"Good...cause I think it's broken." Aja answered Anya, thinking over what Shay was saying.
"Or else Algie is in SweeTart deprivation mode." Anya added making Aja look up at her then at Shay.
"You think he'll forgive me if I figure out that I am just being stupid?" She sighed and knew the improbability of Padriq ever forgiving her. "Seriously' If I was him, I wouldn't."
And the gods conspired then to toss something else at her. Mira came through the door with her tray. Greeting everyone as normal and Aja cringed internally. Mira's attitude lately had been grating at her, especially when it came to Tru. She knew ex girlfriends were suppose to be angry, but Mira devoted more time to it than most. Bringing it up when no one had even asked about him.
"Would anyone like any ice cream before I turn in the tray for the evening?" She called as she was still on job.
"Tequila doesn't mix with ice cream, but thank you, Mira." Aja tried to be polite, maybe if she was, Mira wouldn't ask what the heck was going on. She toasted Mira with the shot she had been staring at and slammed it back.
"He may, or he may not." Anya answered her earlier query then and Shay picked up the thought.
"I think if you've truly made a mistake then yes he will forgive you, but personally I don't think you did. You'll start seeing more straight in a couple of days. Get your priorities back in line." She looked at Anya and Shay and then nodded a little.
"Yer right...Prettier heads are right."
"And definitely after you recover from drinking that." Anya said as she pointed at the now empty shot glass.
"Oh don't start that again, or ill sic the beast on you!" Aja grinned up at Anya then.
"It's called Ta-kill-ya....and about now...I'm hoping it will.." Aja thought about the night, and the look on Padriq's face scoffing at herself. "Cause wow..I mess up huge."
"Aja Bird." Anya started in mother-tone. "Don't talk like that. Without you....well, remember the other night." Anay reminded Aja of their own conversation, not a reverse situation or anything. Just one similar in the pain it caused Anya and Aja had been there. She was right, Aja sighed in her head. She usually always was, which is why Aja valued her opinion most.
"I think you've had enough sweets. I don't know if I could carry you home and I'd hate to call Rico to do it."
"Sure you'd hate to call Rico." Anya teased Shay then, who laughed, taking the rest of the shots from Aja.
"You still love me?" Aja asked Anya as she leaned against her, making Anya laugh lightly.
"You know I do, you goofburger with extra silly sauce." Aja cracked a smile at that then looked at the bar, seeing her shots were gone.
"Hey...give back." She pouted.
"The man is a relentless flirt." Shay was saying missing what Aja had said. Aja blinked at Shay.
"Give back..pretty shots that make me not think anymore." She gave the Shay a look and then looked at the bar where her shot had previously been sitting.
"Just one more, got it"!"
"Mm, so are my fianc's. And I won't break them of it either." Anya replied to Shay and then looked at Aja. "You will think in the morning, and curse the deities when you are hung over, Aja"
"How are you all doing this evening?" Mira asked moving around them to get a soda. Aja sighed seeing her and then gave the puppy dog eyes to Shay.
"Yes, but it will detract from the pain in my chest, which I have earned but don't look forward to anymore than the one that will be in my head tomorrow." She said it but wasn't sure it made any kind of sense.
"What's wrong, Aja?" Of course Mira would have to ask her. This wasn't going to be at all pretty.
"Temporarily. If drowning was the answer, I'd have done it the other night." Anya reminded Aja as Shay relented and gave the shots back, then pulled out her phone, looking through the menu.
"I broke up with Padriq." Aja finally answered Mira.
"Why?" That seemed to surprise her and of course she had to ask. And then came to hug her, any other time or situation, Aja might have hugged her back, but she knew Mira wasn't going to like the truth.
"He was pushing things too fast for her." Shay tried to answer for Aja, bless her for wanting to spare the fall out that come from telling Mira. But Aja knew she couldn't lie. She pulled back a little.
"You might not want to do that." She said to Mira who paused then looking at her.
"Why not?" Mira asked looking at her curiously. This is what she didn't want to do. Tell Mira, she knew the venom would start to fly.
"I broke it off with Padriq, cause Tru's in love with me..." then she paused, before adding. "And I love him."
"That louse?" Mira's voice was nothing but venom. Mira, who had been previously been the sweetest person in the world, had suddenly become a very snippy since the attack, Aja and the rest figured it was post traumatic stress or something. But that remark set Aja on edge anyway.
Hochi's small voice caught Aja then and reminded her to try to behave, no matter how much she wanted to strangle the girl at the moment, Hochi had seen enough violence in his young life, Aja would try to protect him from anymore.
"Aja sad?" he quietly asked Anya who was hugging him close. The kid was very lovable.
"You can think what you like about him, but it doesn't change that I love him, Mira." Aja replied tiredly.
"You'd throw away a decent guy for ....eww, you need your head examined." Mira shot another snide venomous remark, and that pushed the button.
"Very sad. Hugs help, though." Anya told Hochi.
"Not helping Mira.." Shay added just as Aja turned to look at her.
"Mira....Love ya...but shut the hell up." At that, she grabbed the other shot. "You might not care about him, but I do. And you don't get to talk about people I love like that."
"No, I guess I'm not helping, but why let a friend make such a mistake and not say so?" Mira snidely remarked to Shay, then looked at Aja. "You're of course welcome to him...and how do some people say....."One person's trash is another's treasure?" that comment made Shay look up from her phone, and had Aja gripping the glass tightly in her hand. "You'll not like hear me say anything good about that louse ever again. The best I can do is not say anything at all."
"Whatever, Mira. You asked." Aja sighed heavily, not wanting to go rounds with her right now. She was in no mood for it.
"At this point Mira, it may be best if you do exactly that." Shay said trying to keep things calm.
"I'm very sorry for you, Aja. I guess that explains a few things, though." Another snide remark. Aja's loss of sympathy for her was gaining momentum. Aja no longer cared what she had been through, she knew Aja didn't like people talking bad about people that Aja loved, but she kept right at it anyway.
"Mm. Point taken. I got the plans for the house we're building on the Palazzo grounds today. Mister Hall seems to be doing quite well, these days." Anya said, making Aja internally grin as she mentioned Mira's ex, who she talked bad about after they broke up too. Shay went back to searching through her phone for a number, while Hochi moved slowly over to Aja. She spied him, and grabbed the little boy up in a hug. She really had a soft spot a mile wide for that kid.
"Hey Kiddo." She snuggled the small boy close and took a deep breath.
"In that case, Aja, you being the head honcho of BCU, I resign. It would be totally awkward otherwise." Mira tossed that out there, which seemed to be her fallback position any time she got upset with a member of the BCU, since she had done it before. In a disagreement with Anya. The previous time, Aja had been upset with the drawback, this time, however, she was grateful. The BCU was suppose to be fun, with fun, loving, spirited, caring people. Mira was no longer fitting those qualities, and Aja thought she was getting worse by the day.
"Do what you feel you have to do, Mira." Aja replied, making Hochi hug her a little tighter, sensing that the lady who had taken to looking after him could use it. Aja herself, held on to Hochi for dear life, the pain of letting Padriq go was getting worse by the second. She stared at the shot glass, wondering if one more would make the pain stop.
"I always do that, Aja." Would be Mira's last snippy comment before heading out of the Outback.
Aja had stopped paying attention anyway, she was back to thinking about the look on Padriq's face and it was ripping her apart all over again. She couldn't hold it back, she had the Hochi hug going and it reminded her how much she had changed since coming home. She counted these people as family, her family and she couldn't hide in a closet anymore, keeping all emotions and feelings bottled up. That broke her, and she started to cry full sobs, but she remembered this was a small child, and she couldn't place that burden on him.
"Hochi..I don't wanna .." she took a breath then. "I don't wanna get you wet hon." She said in between sobs to Hochi, who patted her back gently. Bless his little heart.
"It okay if Hochi get wet."
"Aja, like I told Hochi last night, let the owies out." Anya said softly in that tone that was gonna be her the perfect mother one day hopefully soon.
"I can't..." was all Aja managed to get out then, rocking back and forth with Hochi. She heard the door but never looked up to see who it was. She held on to Hochi like he was a teddy bear. "Hochi..I hurt someone...I'm so sorry." She didn't know why but felt that she needed to apologize to Hochi.
"Aja no hurt anyone...Aja best person Hochi know." He said in his bright little voice, as he tried to cheer her up. "Aja Nice, funny, smart."
"Too late, the callers left." Anya said to whoever had walked in, whoever it was, they were a friend, the tone of Anya's voice told her that. Aja was so preoccupied, she didn't notice Shay drinking her shots. She pulled back enough to look at Hochi then.
"Aw, honey...I am so honored you think all those things.." she tousled his hair gently. "But I really did hurt someone...not like hit them...but a different kind."
"Fair warnin' tae ye all I better nae 'ear any whinnin' 'ere." Stephen's voice made her cringe. Crap. The grumpy eldest Kidd brother, and she had hurt one of them. She felt Hochi hug her tighter.
"It okay Aja." He said with the same comforting voice.
"Are you always such a unfeeling pud" There will be whining here tonight and probably a lot of it." Shay snapped at Stephen then for Aja.
"It okay momma-er Aja.." Hochi said and then planted his cute little head against her shoulder with his eyes squeezed shut. Aja gained a slow smile for the first time that night since she pulled the curtain of pain down on her head and heart, and kissed his head.
"I'd be so honored if you'd call me that, Kiddo." That made him smile and hug her tighter.
"Yer such a female." Stephen said to Shay.
"Last time I checked anyway." Shay shot back.
"What is wrong with being female, Stephen?" Anya inquired, seems Stephen was digging a hole.
"See Hochi your hugs are magic, they make everyone feel better." Shay said to Hochi with a smile.
"Hochi have momma." Hochi whispered with a smile that melted some of the pain she had been feeling.
"Hochi has a mama." Aja repeated and hugged him, torn now between really happy and extreme sadness. "Gods...I'm getting confused."
"As for whining....the one who needs a wheel of cheese to go with it, just left." Anya said and that almost made Aja laugh.
"I jus' left Paddy a' the Dragon an' I thin' 'e be makin' 'is own vintage." Stephen said then, swinging her back to the reason she felt so much pain, and as if he sensed her slipping back into despair, Hochi hugged Aja tightly.
"Hochi have mama." He said happily, and Shay piped up then.
"And a bunch of Aunts." Giving him a wide grin.
"Exactly so, Hochi." Anya added in. "Speaking of which....what moniker should our newest Brat Aunt go by, Aja?" referring of course to the BCU and its newest member, Shay. Aja couldn't think that happy right at the moment, Stephen's presence needed to be acknowledged, no hiding. She hugged Hochi to her for a moment longer, then set him on the stool next to hers.
"Hang on one minute, please, Baby." She said to Hochi and then stood up, a little wobbly but up. She took a step to Stephen then. "Go ahead and whack me one. I deserve it." She said looking him in the eyes.
"You lay a hand on her head Stephen and I'll go all PMS on you!" Shay interjected and reached out for Hochi, who had a question for Anya.
"Aunty Anya then?"
"No no...I hurt his brother...and I deserve it." Aja held her hand out towards Shay.
"Exactly so." Anya answered Hochi, Aja would've smiled but she figured she had it coming from Stephen.
"Shut up Shay." Stephen glanced to Shay and then looked at Aja like she was out of her mind. In her present state, she thought he could possibly be right about that right. "I dun thin' ye need any more tae drin'."
"You're a very special little boy, did you know that?" Shay was saying to Hochi, at least her son was being looked after while she took care of what she needed to.
"Stephen...I'm sorry." She kept her eyes on Stephen, still a bit wobbly. "I really am. I never meant to hurt him."
"Hochi not special." She heard her son say, which made her heart hurt even worse.
"Hochi is very special." Anya insisted first followed closely by Shay's insistence. God, she loved her family.
"Hochi is very special!" Shay pulled away from the hug and tapped Hochi's nose with her finger tip softly.
"Aja luv yer adults it 'appens." Stephen said to her. "Nae li'e i 'ave nae known me share o' 'urtin'"
"You are so special that your Momma picked you special to be her little boy." Shay was telling Hochi, making him smile.
"Now wha' be 'er problem?" Stephen jerked his thumb to Shay, that Aja had no answer on. She she just nodded to Stephen for what he said to her and went back to her bar stool.
Sivanna wandered in then, looking chic as always. Possibly coming from work, Aja thought. Sivanna joined them at the bar then.
"Now we all get to keep you forever and love you every day. See how special that makes you?" Shay was telling Hochi who was smiling and nodding.
"Evenin' Sivanna." Stephen greeted her.
"'Quel undome, melloneamin. What is the news?" Sivanna queried as she pulled up a seat.
"Do you think it makes you special enough for a couple cookies and some milk?" Shay grinned at Hochi.
"Yes!" Hochi answered enthusiastically making Shay smile as she went about finding cookies for Hochi.
"Wha's yer problem tonigh'?" Stephen asked Shay as he went back for a bottle of something.
"The news....mm." Anya pondered Sivanna's question. "I won in fists tonight."
"Call it over protectivness." Shay answered Stephen, and in Aja's usual fashion, she blurted out the following.
"I broke up with Padriq." She looked at Sivanna. "And Hochi's my son...and I am an idiot...but that's not new...not really."
Aja watched Shay absently as she got cookies and milk for Hochi.
"And Mira whined her way out of BCU." Anya added for Aja.
Sivanna was going to more than likely congratulate Anya but the other news had her simply staring at them
"Ye can whine yer way out?" Stephen asked curiously, Hochi, was unconcerned with the world of the adults. He had cookies. Aja smiled at the simple joy he found in things. She had gotten so lost in her musings now, that she missed what Sivanna was saying on some level.
"I'm gone for a few hours, and the world as I know it falls apart," Sivanna mused in bewilderment, then redirected to Aja. "Why to the former, and how to the latter?"
"Obviously when the head is in love with your ex that you despise, you can." Shay sat the milk down beside the cookies as she added her own bits about Mira's exit from the BCU.
"Exactly so." Anya agreed with Shay's assesment.
"Hold it," Sivanna said, then looked at Aja. "In what?"
"Mira whined, then resigned. Frankly....it saves me calling a Tribunal to oust her." Anya recounted for Sivanna's benefit then.
"Wait ....Mira be single now?" Stephen asked looking at the ladies.
"Yes the whiney little ball of candy and ice cream is single."
"Single and, for the safety of all the men out there, should stay that way." Another add from Anya that any other time, would have Aja laughing, but she was still watching Hochi dunking his cookies in the milk, lost in her own thoughts.
"Robert used tae 'ave a crush on 'er. I will 'ave tae torment 'im about it." Stephen was grinning.
"Robert has a crush on anything that has both of her legs. Wait is both legs really a requirement?" Shay shrugged then. "Anyway.."
Aja blinked to the present moment, having missed what was going on around her. The mind numbing pain still gnawing away at her, twisting her stomach into knots.
"Actually once," Stephen started with a grin. "In India Robert fell in love wit' a woman cause she did nae 'ave any legs"
"See...real winner there." Shay said with a wry grin.
"Well, they say legs is the word. Spread it." Anya's wicked sense of humor would have had Aja laughing, but she sat and let people talk around her tonight. Even if it was about her. She saw Shay lean towards Sivanna to nutshell the events of the evening that lead to Mira leaving the BCU.
"Aja is in love with Tru, but she also cared for Pad. In the end she decided that her feelings were stronger romantically for Tru so she broke up with Pad. There now you're all up to speed." Shay tried filling in Sivanna, Aja heard her get it a little wrong, but it didn't matter. End result was the same.
"'Eads up Aja." Stephen tossed something towards her then. "Paddy says a cabin boy will be by tae pick up 'is stuff."
"Rather than lead Padriq along. Which Aja knows is wrong to do." Anya filled in the rest, but those keys hit her lap and Aja started at them for a very long moment. The stopped the world from turning just long enough for her to get a clear thought.
Those were his keys. The ones she presented to him that day at the inn, when she had a very romantic dinner setting there, and proposed that he move in with her. On one knee and all. It was a little bit of a joke, due to how much he liked to throw her for loops with his grand romantic gestures, but it was also the closest she'd ever let herself get to committing at that moment. Those keys were grabbed up and she stood slowly.
"No." she managed to stand without wobbling too much and said it again more clearly. "No."
"No wha'" I am jus' the messenger ....frankly I dun give a crap." Stephen said to her then, she bite back the retort that came to mind. Drunk or not, she didn't want to really get on his bad side just now.
"Just no...it's all wrong." Aja felt wobbly and grabbed onto the bar, the haze of alcohol hadn't killed her sense of what felt right or wrong. This, with Padriq, leaving...felt more shades of wrong than she could take. She didn't have to see her friends faces to know that they worried about her making this decision while drunk.
"Aja, remember, a few days to clear your head and think straight. If you decide it was a mistake he can always bring his things back. For now though his stuff being out of your house will help you think more clearly." Shay cautioned her friend, but didn't realize that once Aja set her head to something, hell or high water couldn't stop her. Shay slid the remaining 2 shots away from Aja now. Moving behind the bar she poured them down the drain, figuring her friend had had enough to drink.
"Tarzan Brat has a point." Anya referred to Shay by her new BCU nickname, who seemed to not take to it right away.
"Me not Tarzan! Me Jane! Jane was much prettier than Tarzan!"
"Definitely do not make any life altering decisions while under the influence." She told Aja, who was still running it over in her head what she had to do. Gods, this was going to be so much harder. Anya then told Shay. "You're Tarzan, and your rump proves it, Shay."
"And obviously much less adept on swinging from ropes. Aja is the real Tarzan here. She managed to hold on."
Hochi looked at Aja then, and she snapped out of her reverie to look at him.
"I messed up kid."
"Aja, ye know wha' ye need?" Stephen asked, which propelled her on the decision she had made.
"Yes I do! I have to fix it!" She took off for the door, she thought she was going in a straight line, but a sober observer would tell her she wasn't.
"I doubt ye do, considerin' ye look drunker than I feel mos' days." Stephen said as she weaved past him.
"Oh no, drunken running not good." Shay exclaimed and slipped out from behind the bar.
"Shut up Pud Boy!" She yelled back to Stephen. "I have to fix it!"
"Ye need tae see naked men. Seein' naked men makes e'erythin' better." Stephen called at her making her laugh and turn putting her back to the door.
"Strip." she said feeling a bit of her sassiness come back then, and then Stephen made moves like he planned on doing exactly that.
"Bozhe moi." Anya exclaimed watching Aja run off. "If she is going to find Padriq, someone sober should accompany her."
"Remember. Give me 3 days. He isn't going anywhere in 3 days." Shay said trying to talk Aja out of the decision.
"I screwed up...I know that right now." She looked at her family hoping they would understand.
"Anya can you keep an eye on Hochi" I think Aja and I should take a walk." Shay was thinking ...Hochi shouldn't be alone.
"Hochi..come with Mama!" She called out happily.
"You hush on drunken one."
"Stephen Kidd. Keep your clothes on," Sivanna chided swiftly.
"Stephen Kidd, you keep your clothes on, or by the Beyond, I'll cut off what dangles." Anya followed that up.
"The world might be a better place if you did Anya" Shay retorted, but Aja was in a different place just then.
"I have to go fix it." She smiled at Hochi as he ran up. "Good idea?"
But Aja told me tae strip. Dun ye wan' Aja in a better mood"
"Ok Aja, Hochi can come, but I carry him ok?"
"Hochi's tough. Aren't ya kiddo!?" Aja grinned brightly and ruffled Hochi's hair.
"And your drunk."
"I have ta fix something." She said pulling the door.
"And I as second in command, veto the order, since I am sober and she is not." Anya vetoed Hochi walking with them wanting Shay to carry him but Hochi just smiled up at Aja with that adorable broad smile.
"Hochi tough."
"Motion carries." Sivanna voted too.
"Sivanna as Master at Arms—exactly so." Anya nodded not that Aja was listening anymore, she had turned for the door and was headed out on her mission.
"I'll go with her, Anya. Keep her from doing anything stupid." Shay said as she followed Hochi as he asked.
"Where we going mama?? Following Aja out the door and to the inn.
