Jack Monday

They’re just getting ready to respond, about the girl with the tape, when an enthusiastic man interrupts the two of then, making his way over, shaking their hands, introducing himself. They mayor from the case file, the one trying to capitalize on the Christmas-time incident by connecting it to jolly old St. Nick and all that.

      “Well hey there, Bud. We did, we did. Here to see your special town indeed. And, in fact, you’re just the man we’re looking for. See, my partner Thursday here and I, we’re thinking about working on an article for our magazine, about your little town here.” They fish through their pockets for a second, finding the little ID badge Rory had provided for them and setting it down on the diner table in between themself and Yancy, a little picture and their name on it. 

Yancy grins, peering down at River O’Callaghan’s ID badge, the made up magazine name printed below it in official-looking lettering. They doubt he’s going to have much in the way of useful information for them, thinks they probably won’t get much more than the Christmas Town spiel from him, but it’ll be good to get an idea of what kind of stories people are using to explain away the actual cause of the lights, and even more than that, it’ll be funny as hell to talk to a guy who wants to make it Christmas year-round just to get pump more sweet tourist money into the local economy.

     “An article, huh?” Yancy says, and Marleigh scoots to make room in the booth for him in case he wants to sit down and join them for a few minutes. “About our humble little town? Well, between you and me, if you’re looking for a story, you certainly came to the right place.” 

      “Couldn’t be happier to hear that,” they answer, spying the bag of Santa hats he’s holding and pointing them out. “So, you think the lights were Santa and, you know, Vixen and Comet and Cupid or whoever? Seems like most of the other people here are thinking aliens, we’re hoping for something that’ll really capture our reader’s attention, you know? Something like this can really put a town on the map with the right angle.” 

“Mayor Bud” would make a good turn of jolly St. Nick himself, Jack thinks as the older man slips into the booth across from him. The addition to their booth means he’s lost Marleigh’s foot resting beside his leg, and he has to fight himself from pouting at the small loss of contact. The two of them were going to have to act semi professional from there on out, unfortunately- or at least as professional as River O’Callaghan and Bobby Thursday would be. 

“The lights sure have brought in a whole new group of colorful folk- that’s the truth,” Bud responds, letting out a quiet whistle as he briefly looks around at the “colorful folk” in question who were sitting around the diner. 

“But hat’s the best thing about the lights, ain’t it? Everyone interprets them the way that comforts them the most. For some that’s green little men and flying saucers, coming to visit our sleepy town on Christmas. Then you got others who take one look up at the sky on Christmas Eve and can’t help but think it’s good ol’ Saint Nick. No matter what way you see it though, they’re definitely a blessing, they’ve brought a smile to the face of just about everyone I’ve met.” 

Jack had been expecting the mayor to do a hard sell on the whole Christmas thing, considering he was the one pushing for the town to be renamed. Instead though, the man seemed to have a fairly opened-minded, rose-colored glasses viewpoint on it all. Or at it least is seemed like it to Jack anyway. 

“But you’re of the big guy in red mind, right? Last we heard you were hoping to get the town renamed from Cherokee to Christmastown?” He asks, as he takes another bite of his food. 

“Yeah, I think so, too, no offense to you, or Snow,” Ignatius lets out a laugh, shaking his head at the memory of that double date from hell. There’s nothing funny about it to him still, even now, and he still feels awful for even letting the situation get that far without just being honest with Athena, but now that they’ve all moved past it, it feels easier to bring up without the heaviness that has been attached to it since it happened. It feels like a lifetime ago, anyway, feels like he was a different person then, and honestly he probably was. Everything that happened in Scotland had changed him. Coming back, he had worried that it changed him for the worst, the violence of it, the rage that was so hard to control, but he thinks it’s actually taught him something. It makes the double date from hell feel much smaller in perspective, like what Athena had said, the thought of leaving things like that, going to Scotland, not knowing if they would all come back.

So it makes him more inclined, in a way, to move past things and move on, makes him more ready to genuinely enjoy things, too, not in a way that’s a deflection of pain, like it has been since he came to America, either. No, just something good. Like this, this is good. 

He’s glad Emerson is so enthusiastic about Athena, and sharing that, and he’s just as glad that she’s seemed to be doing well so far with the little pieces of magic they’ve all be introducing to her. It makes him feel like today will go just as well, when the broach the subject of April’s magic.

“She tried to teach me how to do it, but my flower came out looking more like a pile of raked leaves,” Ignatius laughs, as he hands Emmy a paint brush, and scoots the green paint her way, so she can reach it better. 

“It still tasted good,” Emerson insists, and it feels for a second like he’s the six year old, as she’s assuring him his shite candy flower was good. It makes him laugh fondly, as he reaches over and gives her hair a ruffle she shrugs off with a laugh.

Ignaitus can infer the context of Hades coming up with April before, and he thinks he can sense how it was probably taken, too, knowing April, and seeing the small smile Jack offers her, at bringing it up herself.

“HQ is great. Much cooler than me or your dad. Maybe one day once it gets a little warmer, we can have a barbecue, you can meet him and Athena, too,” he offers, giving her a smile. “There’s plenty of time. But first, painting.”

.

He had little doubt that Emerson wouldn’t immediately love Athena, but he’s glad to hear just how well the interaction did go. Knowing from his own experience with introducing children to romantic interests, he’s sure Iggy must have been a complete wreck beforehand. Whatever worries he no doubt held over the first meeting, seemed to have washed away though as Jack looks over towards the other auror, smiling as he recalls his own attempt at making a sugar flower. 

“If you’re throwing a barbecue I call doing the grilling,” he teases, “the last thing we need to do is scare Athena away with how poorly you Brits know how to cook a proper hamburger or braut.” The barbecue is a great idea though, he thinks to himself while he finishes getting his paint tray loaded up. The lot of them needed a good break from Scotland and everything that followed afterwards. He knows the whole trip to Morgana’s was supposed to serve as such, but even Morgana’s still felt somewhat tainted by everything. 

“Dad, do you see any lime green?” April asks suddenly from across from him, her thoughts now clearly focused on the task at hand. Looking down at the small t-rex in front of her, then back to the array of paint bottles of around him, his brows furrow. 

“No, they must be out,” he says, only managing to spot the standard green bottle of paint Emerson had used moments before. “You could just mix it with white- won’t be ‘lime’ green but it’ll be lighter?” 

When he looks back up to April, he can see she’s clearly disappointed, likely having already mapped out her color palette in her head for it now to be thrown off. Chewing her lip, she looks across the various bottles, until an idea seems to hit her. Reaching back down to her pocket, she taps the handle of her wand for the second time that afternoon, shooting him yet another questioning look as she does so. 

“Okay, but don’t do the whole bottle,” he warns, “just pour out what you think you’ll use and charm that.” He’s still not sure if Emerson was fully ready to get exposed to April’s own magic yet, but figured this may be as good of an opportunity as they were going to get. 

With her dad’s approval, April smiles as she grabs the green paint bottle, and pours out a small helping of it onto her own paint tray. Grabbing her wand, she looks back up to Jack one last time, seemingly to make sure she was still good to continue, before taking a deep breath and casting a small transfiguration spell on the blob of paint. Within seconds, the dark green hue of the paint undergoes a mini transformation, turning into a brilliantly bright lime green, complete with glitter inside it. 

“A lime green t-rex with glitter, it definitely screams Max,” he chuckles as he looks down towards her side of the paint tray.

He can tell that he’s amused Jack, even with the whole new face laid over him. Pretty, with that same old Jack energy. The huff of laughter makes Hades smile, makes him beam out in that way it always does when people smile and laugh at him, especially people like Jack, who always seemed like they could charm anyone. It was like when he’d first won over Marleigh, with their wide smiles and bright laughs, and it had felt like the biggest victory in the world, like HQ had found some kind of place in the world, like once again he had managed to make one of the cool kids like him. 

“Hey, I’ve been keeping my distance.” He says, with a low kind of teasing in his voice, in case his instincts are right about what’s going on around Jack and Marleigh. “They are a pretty sight, but I’ve got this hot new boyfriend, don’t know if you noticed. I’d hate to make him jealous over an old flame like Marls.” He shakes his head, voice fond as it always is when he talks about Cypress. 

And then he sighs a little bit, glancing around to the store. “Just give me a minute, I’ll get my concealment on. I hate the bloody things, you know?” He rolls his eyes, shakes his head, and gestures to a cafe just a couple of doors down. “They have a bathroom, I’ll just be back before you can say Piggly Wiggly.” Wth a wink, he heads that way, and after some careful work his already back on his way. He really does hate concealments, as fun as they can be sometimes. He likes his own face, his own body. He worked hard for it, and he’s strangely clingy even about himself. He hates not looking like Hades Falconer-Quinn, he hates not looking a little bit like Athena in all of the best ways. 

He makes his way back to Jack, with his bright smile still in place. “Okay, okay. Ready to go make first contact with some aliens? I don’t care what you say, man. I’m holding out hope.” 

.

His smirk widens at the mention of Cypress. Jack was far from an exceptionally observant person, but one would have to be blind not to see something had clearly transpired between HQ and the squad’s resident ghost whisperer in the last couple months. He’s happy that they found each other, and even though HQ’s and April’s abilities weren’t exactly the same, but shared a common trait, it gives him some hope for her too. That her path in life didn’t have to necessarily follow the same one his mother took, but something much more happier in the form of HQ’s. 

“I usually do too, but Rory has been weirdly pretty kind with the ones they’ve given me lately,” he replies as he takes a second to look down at his new body. It was pretty hard to beat “Bobby Thursday”, the reporter he played with Marleigh back in Oklahoma, but this “Sam Friday” character Rory had manufactured for him was a pretty close second to the best concealments he’d had. 

When HQ leaves to briefly change into his own concealment, Jack stays behind to get a better lay of the land. The Piggly Wiggly looked about the same as every other low budget supermarket he’d ever seen. The store’s windows were plastered with signs displaying that week’s steals and deals, and the motorized pony that sat out front, promising children a ride for the price of a dime, had a cardboard sign on it that looked about two weeks old, informing those nearby it was out of order. 

When HQ does return, sporting a new body that vibe wise seemed so drastically different than his own, Jack can’t help but let out another small laugh. “So I guess I’m still the brawn of this duo then,” he teases, “don’t worry, if any mean teenagers show up to steal your lunch money, I’ll kick their asses for you.” 

Going by the whole alien thing HQ had started out with, and his new look in general, Jack quickly assumes that between the two of them, Sam Friday was probably the skeptic. Which sure, he could definitely do. If he had to guess from the case file alone, these hauntings seemed more human caused than actual poltergeist derived, but he figured that was the whole point of this investigation anyway. To see just where the truth lied despite the fiction. 

Ignatius can’t help the grin that splits over his face at Jack’s reaction to the news that things were going well with Athena. It’s a fair reaction, after all, he had thought that there was just as little hope as Jack seems to have thought after everything. He’s still pretty in awe, to be honest, that things hadn’t been beyond repair, but he’s grateful that he stuck to giving her space and time to consider things, grateful that she accepted his apologies, and made the choice to try again, both completely open and honest. And it is nice to tell Jack, too, especially since he’s been holding off on telling too many people, for both of their sake’s, not wanting there to be too much pressure from too many people watching. But he’s glad that they’re both being honest now, too, like maybe things’ll all be easier again now that life seems to be shifting into a new normal for both of them.

“Cheers, mate,” he says, giving him a rough pat on the back, as they start towards the table the kids have taken up residence at. “Don’t hold your breath on any double dates in the foreseeable future, though, we’re gonna have to cleanse our palates with some more gentle double dates first, after that last one. Hades gets first dibs, anyway.”

He lets out a small breath of laughter at the looks exchanged between April and Jack. But he’s glad that she spilled the proverbial beans on this one, it makes it feel like the universe is breathing a sigh of relief around him, to have that particular worry off of his shoulders now. Now he could think about why they were here in the first place. Ignatius sits down at the table next to Jack, putting his teapot out in front of him.

“Now that the grown up talk is done, are we––” he starts, but Emerson cuts him off before he can even try to get on on task.

“You were talking about Athena! I heard you, your voice is loud, daddy,” she says wiggling a little in her seat, thrilled to hear mention of her new favorite person, just narrowly edging out Kisky, and Abel.

“You’re loud, too, Emmy, it runs in the family. Yes, I was talking about Athena, and also Jack’s special friend,” he teases, giving April a joking look. He starts opening some of the paints, getting things organized for her as he tries to redirect focus. “You wanna tell April and Jack about the spell Athena showed you the other night?”

And that works, at least, as she looks at them excitedly. “She made a candy flower out of sugar! It was pink, and purple, and green, and it tasted like cotton candy!”

He takes no offense at all when Iggy mentions that another double date was far into the future for the two of them. After the last one, he’s pretty sure he’d sworn off the things entirely, even though it felt like every night at Marleigh’s place seemed like a weird double date between the two of them and Nomi and Bishop- a pairing that still didn’t make sense to him. 

“Hades is more than welcome to it,” he chuckles as he settles into his seat, placing the flamingo just in front of him. “I’m sure he and Cypress will make far better of a pair than Snow or I ever did.” Merlin, he still hadn’t even spoken to Snow since that night, preferring to keep his distance for both of their sakes. Given the fact they were nearing the two month mark now since the date from hell, he figures he probably should make some type of attempt at reconciliation there, even though he really didn’t want to. 

When the talk shifts back to Athena, he smiles warmly, watching Emerson get so excited about the witch. It seems that while he may have been getting Marleigh and his own kids accustomed to one another, Iggy was doing the same. The fact that Emerson seemed to attach herself so quickly to Athena wasn’t a surprise in the slightest, he’s not sure he’d met anyone Emerson didn’t immediately want to become friends with, being as young and personable as she was. April being almost the exact opposite of the chatty six year old, was still getting used to Marleigh in her own way, and making far better progress in it all than he’d even expected from her. 

Picking up a couple paint bottles, he begins squirting them into the paint tray he and April looked to be sharing, as Emerson continued on about her visit with the older witch. 

“Wow that’s pretty cool, Emmy,” he smiles as he looks over to her,  “I’ll have to have her make me one the next time I get a sweet tooth.” 

“Athena is HQ’s sister, right?” April asks as she looks up to him, “the auror you and Marleigh told me about?” 

“Yeah, sweetie, she is,” he replies, giving her a small smile. Even when he’d talked to her about HQ and his abilities that were somewhat close to her own, she still wasn’t on board with it, but he was hoping that eventually she might warm up to the idea. 

He grins, and they grin back, nudging him again with the foot they’ve got up on the booth next to him and then, a moment later, they scoop their file back up and set it to the side as the waitress brings over their food, huge plates with truly ridiculous portions of food on both of them and god, they may be a New Yorker at heart but they fucking love working in places like this.

     “Bold of you to assume a task force needs a purpose. MACUSA hears task force and they let you do whatever the fuck you want,” they say, between bites of food, their stomach growling at the smell of it alone. “Hell, we could start a task force to figure out how far up Camden Savage’s ass that stick goes and they’d let us take over an entire motel for it, throw aurors our way. God, whatever the fuck this ends up being, I hope they change the town name to Christmas Town. How sick would that be? Imagine Christmas Town in July. I’d never vacation anywhere else ever again.” 

And then Jack makes his suggestion of getting a room, wiggles his eyebrows like he’s a teenager whose parents are out of town for the weekend, and Marleigh can’t help but laugh. Because, yeah, okay, this isn’t exactly a high stakes case seeing as MACUSA has let it fester on the back burner since Christmas and well into March, they can probably afford to take a little break for their own amusement later, once they’ve checked in with the damn task force and everything. They try not to let themself get distracted by anything like that on cases, usually make a rule of it, but between the fact that this case is already a joke and between how badly they need a goddamn break right now, it feels like it would be a waste not to break that rule at least a little. 

     “Oh, of course, purely for the sake of the task force,” they agree, and then glance over at the case file again, a little curious. “Actually, I do want to go talk to the girl with the video at some point soon. I know she’s supposed to be trouble but hey, who can critique her entrepreneurial spirit, am I right?” 

When the waitress returns with their food, he’s pleased to see this particular diner stuck to the tried and true Midwestern method of quantity over quality when it came to breakfast food. He’s sure he’ll need to take a few antacid tablets afterwards, but he couldn’t care less as the smell of crisp bacon reaches his nostrils. Grabbing a strip, he takes a bite out of it as he listens to Marleigh go on about this task force the Oklahoma division had formed. With how long this case had stretched out, this task force hadn’t accomplished all that much, which was clearly why this case got handed over to them now as spring was just on the horizon. He’s glad Fonseca seems so willing to hand the reigns over to them, although is a bit nervous about how eager the captain seemed to be to do it. 

“Hell, I heard them no-majs that filmed the lights back in Phoenix made beaucoup bucks selling that grainy ass footage to every news station eager for it,” he replies, “I’d have probably done the same thing if I was in her position.” 

He is glad though that MACUSA managed to get a hold of the footage before it had grown to Phoenix Lights infamy, if footage of those lights leaked they’d have plenty more eyes on this case, and probably a tight schedule, unlike the one they were working with now. 

“The reporter angle will work well with her at least,” he offers before taking a large bite of his scrambled eggs. “We could pique her interest with the offer of buying the tape ourselves, see what else she could tell us.” 

Before he could get a chance to see what Marleigh thought of the idea though, a loud voice booms behind him, nearly making him jump in his seat as it does so. 

“Why, you two certainly look like a pair of newcomers,” the stranger greets, turning in his seat, Jack is soon met with a jolly looking older gentleman, who smiles widely between both him and Marleigh has he nears them. 

“You two here to visit our special town?” 

outside the Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. early morning / @aurormonday​

It’s a little baffling to HQ that they so rarely get pared up to work together. He hasn’t thought about it much before now, but its strange in general how out of each others orbits its seemed that him and Jack are lately –– HQ has always been more concerned with joking around with Marleigh than anything else, and now HQ has a real work boyfriend instead of a fake work spouse. And Marleigh and Jack… HQ doesn’t know for sure, but if the vibes he’s been getting around the office are legit… it seems like Marleigh has a hot new real work boyfriend too. 

Regardless of anything else, HQ has always kind of thought that Jack was great. That idea had been dented a little bit when Athena told him about the date from hell with Ignatius and Jack, but it hadn’t been damaged beyond repair. From what HQ has seen, Jack is charming and strangely sweet, and he loves his friends. 

So Hades is excited to be here today, to be stepping out and working a case with Jack, so they can get to know each other in the ways that they haven’t before. He isn’t really sure what to make of this case, but it seems like one of the ones where you just have to get out there and explore, get a good grip on all of the different ideas and theories and see what sticks to the wall. HQ was sure that if they got in there and talked to the witnesses, talked to all of the people who knew this place better than they did, they would be able to figure it out in no time at all. 

He grins when he hears the pop of an apparition, and turns to see Jack. It’s a wide smile, welcoming. HQ feels light and relaxed, ready for the day, chewing bubble-gum that’s just about losing its flavour. He gives a wave, and takes a step closer. “So I’ve been thinking, okay? And I wanna put a theory out there before we go inside, before we see anything else. Aliens. Shadowy figures, small towns in Arkansas. It seems like it fits, right? So like, at the end of this, when we’re on the brink of solving this big case. Remember: Aliens.” 

.

The case file that hits his desk that morning is another clear softball, one that practically screamed his name in the absurdity of it all, which of course is probably why Langer gave it to him in the first place, especially with someone like HQ. He and HQ hadn’t worked all that much with each other in the past, maybe Kato didn’t think the pairing would be a productive one, or they just simply were always missing one another in case rotations, but he’s glad to finally get the chance to work alongside the wizard again after so long. 

Before he heads out to Piggly Wiggly, he picks up Rory’s concealment notes and heads to the bathroom beforehand. It’d been months since he had to do a concealment, and suddenly he now had two in the span of a couple weeks. After all the fun he had with his last face, he’s eager to see just what Rory cooked up for him this time around, and when the features finally take shape in the mirror the face is every bit as fantastic as he hoped. 

When he gets to Arkansas he isn’t all that surprised to see HQ hadn’t thrown on his concealment yet, concealments didn’t take all that long to do up in the long run, and maybe HQ wanted to wait to put it on when he got to Arkansas instead of beforehand. Either way, Jack isn’t thrown off by it, what he is thrown off by though is the auror’s next words. 

“You and Marleigh really need to start spending some time apart,” he huffs a laugh as he draws closer, liking the way this new body moved, “I mean I get it, they’re nice to look at, and the whole conspiracy theory shit is fun to listen to for a laugh. But you gotta take that shit with a grain of salt, before it starts frying your brain.” 

Of all the things he had thought, in his anxiety, could’ve been the reason for Jack acting so bizarrely around him, this wasn’t even on the bloody list. Things in both of their lives have been royally fucked up for the past few months, and with so much going on, Ignatius had assumed that maybe too much had changed for both of them for Jack to want to stick around, which he would have understood, even if it hurt, considering how close they were. And sure, maybe there had been some of that, some of those big changes bleeding over, making it hard to know how to interact when their friendship by and large had been a light thing, not many serious matters discussed. But knowing it was actually because Jack’s on the rebound with Marleigh is a wild development.

And since the Valentine’s Ball. So while he was sulking, and then getting hit with something that not only changed him, but apparently the government at large, Jack had been off snogging Marleigh. It does sting a little, to know that was why he had been left on his own, but there’s no use in being bitter about it now, when it’s long gone.

“Yeah, yeah, you are shite at talking about this sort of stuff apparently,” Ignatius rolls his eyes, but with a certain amount of fondness. 

It’s bizarre and it seems out of the blue, to him, but then this isn’t the sort of thing they talk about usually, so maybe there had been something beyond just shagging for a while, and he hadn’t known. Either way, at least he knows what’s been up now, at least his anxiety doesn’t have to latch onto Jack maybe hating his guts anymore.

“You’re lucky I’ve got a big heart, mate. I’ve got room for forgiveness, but you own me like a whole night of drinks,” he says, raising an eyebrow. He watches Jack take the flamingo, and looks vaguely over the little figurines himself, eyes landing on a set of owls. “Guess it’s only fair I tell you that the Valentine’s mess didn’t ruin everything. It was an absolute shite night, but well, Athena and I are good now. Very good.”

.

He was expecting for Iggy to forgive him, his mind refusing to acknowledge any other alternative, but that didn’t make the relief that hits him after Iggy voices the sentiment any less impacting. Things had been disjointed between the two of them for a while now, their friendship had began as an easy and casual thing, and largely remained as such over the years. Which is probably why it seemed to get thrown for such a loop when things finally did begin getting serious around them. He was not the kind of person most leaned on during hard times, which was largely by design, so he certainly didn’t blame Iggy for not doing so with him. Especially when a good deal of the hard times Iggy had faced in the last month or so Jack had a hand in creating in some shape or form. 

But that such guilt is swept to the side when Iggy speaks again, and shockingly Athena’s name escapes his lips- not in a way that reflected any kind of remorse like it had before, but quite the opposite entirely. He’d been avoiding the topic of the date from hell with both Iggy and Athena for weeks now, figuring what damage he’d done could not be erased. Even after his talk with Athena he saw little hope in the pair reestablishing what’d been budding between them before Jack had royally fucked things up again, but he’s glad they somehow managed to despite it all. 

“You’re fu-freaking pulling my leg, really?” He asks, censoring himself as he looks over to see the two young set of ears still in fairly close proximity to them. Letting out a breathless laugh, he shakes his head before slapping Iggy across the back, “Well congrats, man, really, you deserve it, that’s for sure.” 

Taking one last look at Iggy to reaffirm that no, he wasn’t joking, Jack shakes his head as he leads the two of them back to the table with the girls. Taking up a seat across from April, who was sitting next to Emerson. 

Nomi listens carefully to every word that Gold says, keeping track of every statement. Nomi thought the very idea of Miss Melody was kind of awesome, an interesting person to be taught by and with an intensely interesting history. Nomi has never seen her, but she can see why the staff and students of the school would like her if she was as happy and pleasent as they made it sound. And compared to Gold, she must have been the brightest damn spirit in the school. They could understand how someone raised by Jack Monday would be so invested in solving the mystery

They make a soft and thoughtful sound. Starts asking a quick question to be sure. “She never mentioned feeling threatened by anything or anyone?” They ask, because if there are any hints towards what could have done this, they want to know.

“As I said before, Mx. Everhart. She seemed quite happy.” 

Nomi nods her head, already kind of fed up with even talking to Gold. They just didn’t like her, is what’s happening here, they just didn’t like the tone of her voice or the way that she looked at Jack, the way that she looked at them, the way that she looked at the both of them together. 

Nomi would like this case to go well. They would like them to solve it quickly and easily, with an efficency that couldn’t be anything other than impressive. There was a pleasure that came with solving a case and solving it well. And they hoped that in the end, Miss. Melody could come back. If she had been scared away by something, maybe they could solve that problem and get her back from where she had run off to. 

“Well, good. In that case,” Nomi starts, and spares a glance toward Jack to see how he feels. “We’d like to take a look around the school and talk to a few people, get a better feel for what might have happened here. I assume we have your permission to take a look around wherever is needed?” 

.

The interview with Gold wasn’t going any better than he expected, and he’s thankful that it’s nearly at its finish as Nomi steers them in that direction. Somehow he and Gold were going to have to find a way to get along in the next several years, before Max was old enough to get into Ilvermorny, but that clearly wasn’t a bridge either one of them were going to cross that day. 

“Yes, yes of course,” Gold nods, “finding Miss Melody and figuring out what caused her disappearance is among our highest priorities here. My staff has been instructed to help you in any way they can.” 

“Great,” Jack replies, slapping his knees as he does so, ready to finally get out of that office. Standing up, he extends his hand for Gold to shake. “We’ll keep you updated on everything that we can for now.” 

Having nothing left to say, he bids Gold farewell, giving Nomi a moment to do the same before leading the them back out of Gold’s office and into the hallway outside of it. Once they’re finally free from the principal’s earshot, he lets out an annoyed groan, one he’d been barely holding in for the last several minutes. 

“I don’t know how Max is going to make it another five years here,” he says before looking over to Nomi. “You did great in there by the way, way better than me.” 

With Gold now checked off their list, he figures they now had a few other employees they could interview, such as the custodians. And before they begin walking again he nearly proposes that they’d be the next on their list before a loud and excited voice blasts from the other end of the hallway. 

“DAD!” Before Jack can even look in the direction of the voice, he’s soon hit square in the legs by almost fifty pounds of force as Max clings onto him, having run off from the line of first graders down the hall all heading out the door for recess. 

“Hey buddy,” Jack chuckles before kneeling down to pull his son into a proper hug. He’d been hoping to put off this little reunion for later, since it was unlikely he’d be able to get rid of Max now. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t grateful for the chance to hang around Max for the day either. 

“I told all my friends you were coming! And that we were going to solve a case together and find Miss Melody and...” Max trails off as his gaze look over then up at Nomi standing only a couple feet away. 

They order a sausage and egg sandwich with a side of hash browns, when the waitress comes over, and then slide the cup of water she leaves behind over to themself, pulling out their file and finally opening up at the table, a quick tap of their wand so that anyone who looks over at the table will think they’re reading a newspaper and not a case file that says anything about MACUSA or anything like that, a little quick and dirty illusion so they don’t feel weird reading over the file while they wait for their food.

And then Jack answers, and they don’t even bother to hide their eye roll. They pick up the plastic straw the waitress left for them, rip the end of the little paper sleeve off with their teeth and then blow the rest of it so it hits Jack square in the forehead, right in the middle of his smug expression, all of one step away from sticking his tongue out at them like a petulant child. They’ll have to thank Rory later: something about this concealment feels like it gives them permission to be easy, and a little ridiculous, even more so than usual, and the excuse is already seeping some of the stress out of their shoulders, making it easier to focus on this instead of on Appius. 

      “You know what I mean, genius,” they sigh, and then they lean back, picking the case file up so they can read it without having to lean over the table, skimming through it again, taking in a little more detail than they had in the office: some kind of unexplainable lights hanging over the town on Christmas Eve, and damn, if it had taken this long for the case to come across their desk—practically the end of March, and MACUSA’s bureaucracy bullshit can be slow, but this is even slower than they’d usually expect—maybe they really can afford to take it easy for a day or two here. 

     “Oooh, a task force,” they read out loud, a little delighted as they hit that part of the file. “That sounds fun. Hey Thursday, how come you and me never started a task force for anything? I feel like we’re missing out here.” 

His smirk blossoms into a wide grin as the bit of paper hits him square in the forehead. So much of their relationship had taken place during stressful circumstances, what between Scotland and everything that followed. It felt like forever since they were able to just be easy and a bit silly with one another, even if the faces they each wore weren’t their’s to begin with. 

Sipping at his coffee, he rests his head in his hands as he peers over at the case file in front of Marleigh, eager to see their reaction to it all. It was an absolute ridiculous case, easily one of the most ridiculous ones they handled in the last couple months, with the cursed arcade game being its only rival. Whatever was actually going on here was anyone’s guess, but he had a feeling that the process of figuring it out would be almost as fun, if not more so, than closing the thing. 

“And what kind of task force would we even start?” He chuckles. “Finally getting Nomi’s mug back from Iggy’s sticky fingers?” That certainly would be an interesting one, even though the mystery had already long been solved and Nomi seemed to have more fun complaining about the theft than doing anything about it. 

“We could probably hit up the task force next, maybe get us a room in that motel it’s operating out of,” he adds, wriggling his eyebrows as he does so. There was no telling just how long it’d take for the two of them to in fact solve this case, but he certainly saw no reason to not get a room, especially with the gift Rory had given them in these concealments. 

“Purely for the fact that we get ourselves our own workspace in this task force of course,” he adds in mock sincerity.

He gives Emerson’s hair a little ruffle as April hands her the cup, and she looks at it in awe already, clearly imagining her vision for the perfect paint job. With Emerson satisfied quickly enough he looks around for what he should paint. Maybe something that Emmy can put in her room, he thinks that could be sweet. A cow, while cows still hold lingering relevance to her, maybe, he considers as April and Jack look around as well. 

Full of the tact of someone years beyond her age, April pauses before pulling her wand out, checking to see if it was the right time, and he’s silently glad that Jack silently tells her to hold off for now, wanting to make sure himself that Emerson was settled in things, before jumping into the big topic at hand here.

“You can paint a teapot, daddy! Then we can have a teapot for our tea!” Emerson suggests enthusiastically, and it is a cute idea.

“Good idea, Em, we can finally have a complete set,” he grins, reaching up to claim one of the unpainted teapots. Before he can get any further, though, April points to a little flamingo figurine, and mentions Marleigh. And it takes a second, takes Jack’s wide-eyed look for it to really hit, what it means that April is suggesting Jack paint a fucking flamingo for Marleigh.

“Marleigh… oh. Oh,” he mutters, looking between April and Jack, speechless for a split second, for once in his life. As it starts hitting, he looks at April. “Thank you, April, I appreciate your honesty, it’s an admirable trait.”

And then he looks at Jack, shaking his head, utterly surprised by this development, not a word to have suggested that was happening before this moment. It makes him wonder how much else he missed in the week he was gone. But also if this is the reason that Jack’s been acting weird, apologizing a lot, well it makes him roll his eyes, to realize he had been not telling him they’re, what, dating or some shite, and not like hating his guts quietly.

“Are you kidding? That’s what you’ve been keeping from me, you old slag. Don’t repeat that word, girls. I thought you were gonna drop me, or something, because I’ve been off since Scotland. I cannot believe it, I cannot believe that. There are a lot of words I wanna say, but there are young ears present. How long? How long have you two been a real thing, and conveniently omitting information around me? April knew, and I didn’t? And here I was, thinking we had something special.”

.

His face twists into a small cringe, that mirrored the one that marked April’s features only moments before when Iggy seems to realize what exactly was going on. He knows he should have told him earlier, and he honestly wishes he had instead of Iggy finding out through April of all people. He’d been telling himself before that it was better for the right moment, but after Scotland, “right moments” clearly didn’t exist any more, especially when it came to something like this. 

As April flashes him one last look of apology she leads Emerson away to a nearby table. Part of Jack is grateful for the drop of audience, although the other half of him wonders if he just lost whatever shield he just had to the full extent of Iggy’s annoyance in all of this. 

“Since the Valentine’s Ball,” he replies, the cringe on his features only growing, “which is why I couldn’t tell you at first, what with everything that happened with Athena. And then after Scotland, it just seemed mean to.” He does feel bad that Iggy had somehow caught on to the fact that something was up with Jack, especially when he hears the other man’s thoughts had jumped to such drastic of conclusions. 

“I was going to tell you eventually?” He tries to offer as some way to make up for the slight, which he quickly realizes wasn’t all that better. “Look, I am sorry, really. You’re still one of my best friends. I’m just fuckin’ shit at talking about this kind of stuff, and wasn’t sure how to tell you is all.” 

It seems hard for Rory to have made up a face for Jack that would be more hot than Jack’s real face, but something about this one’s pretty damn good, too. They definitely won’t mind looking at it for however long they’re gonna be in Oklahoma for, that’s for sure. 

     “Okay, well, you don’t know that, like, for sure,” they counter, as the two of them head out of the office. It feels like the beginning of a conversation they’re gonna have more than once over the course of this case, so they might as well start off strong. “The universe is infinite and all that shit. If magic can be real, I dunno where you get off harping on about aliens, but go off I guess.”

The diner’s a sight for sore eyes, nothing like their beloved deli but close enough, anywhere with greasy food, shitty decor, and a no-fucks-given attitude was the kind of place Marleigh felt right at home. They slide right into the booth across from Jack, giving the menu a quick scan, grinning when he says it’s on him. Two minutes. Two minutes of enjoying the atmosphere and the hundred options on the menu in front of them and dreaming of coffee and over-cooked eggs and hash browns before they pull out the case file and actually read what the fuck they’re here in Oklahoma for. Two minutes and they’ll get their head on straight, move from office Marleigh into case Marleigh, put on their serious face.

Well, not too serious, with this face on their face. It’s going to be wild for Jack to be the one keeping them in check this time, or at least appearing to. 

     “You’re gonna regret saying that, Bobby,” they grin, flipping back to the breakfast page. They kick their feet up on the booth on the other side of the table, one leg crossed over the other, tap his leg with the toe of one of their boots. “Anyway, give me your take on the case while I demolish some waffles or something. I’m fuckin’ starving.” 

He simply grins and rolls his eyes at their alien comment as they head out the door. He certainly wasn’t of the mind that aliens didn’t exist anywhere, but he definitely didn’t think they’d found their way to earth. The fact that this argument might come up more than just this once during the case is wild to even think about, but he’s certain it will as he leaves it at that before they apparate to Oklahoma. 

After they slide into their booth, he shoots them another small smirk at their comment, before looking over the menu himself. If he had it his way, and cholesterol was not a thing that existed, he’d have breakfast for every meal of the day. Having it at 11 o’clock just before a case though is the next best thing, and when their waitress arrives looking like she was in the last hour or two of her shift, he orders something called the “where the wind comes sweepin' down the breakfast platter” which was a mouthful to say, and by the looks of its menu description, a mouthful to eat too fortunately. 

“My take?” He repeats over the waitress’s arm as she fills up their coffee mugs. “I thought you already had this thing figured out. You know the little green men did it with a ufo in the night sky,” he teases. 

Watching April alone with Jack is truly something special. It makes him both look forward to and dread when Emerson is her age, so smart, and really coming into her own person. April’s an absolute saint, and it’s clear she takes after her mother in so many regards, which he can only hope for Emerson, too, even without her influence. He has to stop himself from laughing as April begs Jack not to get them banned, going over her grand plans for presents.

“I promise to keep your father on his best behavior,” Ignatius says to April, with a solemn nod, as she starts towards the front door holding Emmy’s hand.

It’s a cute sight, and he already thinks this wad a very good idea, no matter how the whole magic discussion goes over. But he’s optimistic. He knows how much Emerson loves April, and looks up to her, she’ll want to listen to anything she’s got to say. His only worry is just how much she looks up to her, that she might be sad that she might not have something April does, that she can’t be what April is, without magic of her own. Ignatius tries to push that worry to the back of his mind, though, no sense in thinking of that until it happens. 

“Cheers, mate,” he nods, giving Jack a grateful smile. “I think it’ll do Emmy some real good, getting to talk to April about all of it. I talked with her a bit, too, introduced her to the idea that some kids have a bit of magic, and some don’t. So hopefully it’ll all go well. And if not, the pottery will at least be a nice distraction.”

Once they’re inside, Emerson’s immediately taken with the wall of unpainted pottery to choose from, dragging April over to look at all the options, Ignatius following behind.

“I wanna paint a teacup!” she declares, after only looking at one shelf, pointing at the blank rows of cups too high for her to reach.

“You sure, Em? They’ve got, like, little animals. Look, there’s a dragon over there, there’s a teddy bear. A teacup is very practical for a six year old,” he says with a little laugh.

“You have a teacup, daddy, I want one to match! Green with stars that twinkle!”

“That’s sweet, Em. I’m sure between all of us we can help you make something close to my cup,” he nods, with a soft smile at the thought that she had noticed the cup from his own childhood that Kisky had brought back from Scotland for him.

.

Jack looks on fondly as April guides Emerson into the store, continuing to hold her hand as she navigates the two of them towards the wall of unpainted pottery just ahead. At one point she bends down to whisper something into the younger child’s ear, and gets a very serious nod in response from Emerson. He’s not quite sure what it was that she whispered until moments later, after Emerson had fallen absolutely in love with the tea cup that was clearly out of her reach. Instead of trying to reach for a teacup though, April points to one before giving Emerson a questioning look. 

“This one?” She asks, and when she gets the confirmation she needs from the six year old she reaches up and grabs it delicately before handing it to Emerson. 

“You still going with two mugs and a t-rex?” He asks her as he steps ahead, looking over the shelves himself to see what on earth he was going to paint. 

“You mean one mug and a t-rex?” She corrects him, shooting him another little smirk before she spots the t-rex in question, on a shelf that was even too high up for her gangling arms to reach. Looking back at him, she points to her wand in her pocket, the same one they’d gotten from Shikoba Wolfe’s last summer with the barn owl carved into the handle. She’s asking him silently if she can use it to retrieve the figurine is what she’s doing. Looking over to Emerson, then Iggy, he shakes his head before grabbing it for her. The point of this little trip was to introduce Emerson to April’s magic, but using it now in such a way might make Emerson feel left out. 

“Do you know what you’re going to paint?” She asks after he hands her the t-rex. 

“Nope, no clue,” he shakes his head, casting another glance in Iggy’s and Emerson’s direction to see what the other auror was going to do. 

“You should pick that one,” April cuts in and points up to a figurine of a flamingo sipping a cocktail as it rests against a palm tree, “I bet Marleigh would like that one.” 

They take a pair of curse-proof gloves out of their bag and slip them on as Fox takes each of the items out of the bag and lays them out on the table, as well as the list Mansouri had given them when they’d met with him earlier that morning, so they can cross-check the two and make sure everything actually is here and he hasn’t sold any of it, or kept any of it hidden somewhere else. 

And sure enough, each piece is there, and they’re relieved, both because it means they don’t have anything left to follow up on, trying to track any last missing items down, and because it means it’ll probably make all of this significantly easier for Fox. Who they don’t like, but they’ve never been the kind who wants to see people behind bars unless they actually deserve it. He’s an asshole , and possibly a bigot, that part’s hard to say, and they can’t imagine he’ll be working in this shop again when all is said and done, but he’s not really a criminal. 

     “Alright, let’s get this wrapped up,” they say, once they have each item safely sealed in a curse-proof bag and stowed away in their own shoulder bag, ready to take back to MACUSA to have them catalogued and examined before they can be returned to their rightful place in the shop, and head for the door.

But they hesitate, for just a second, once they’ve reached the door the door, and then turn back to Jack waiting a moment until he’s looking them in the eye and actually paying attention to them.

Nomi shoots Jack a grin, feeling emboldened and warm at the sight of him rolling his eyes before they step inside. It’s kind of good that Jack is the star in this situation, the one that Gold is going to want to pay the most attention to. When they walk into the room, Gold sighs as she looks at him, and it’s pretty clear that Mr. Monday isn’t her favourite person in this world. Nomi doesn’t really know where she gets off, judging Jack like this, clearly not liking him. They guess that she’s allowed but she should at least try to sound less weary about it. 

Nomi can tell that Jack is trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice as he speaks to her, but Nomi can definitely hear it. Either that means he’s doing a bad job, or they’re just well attuned to the sund of Jack Monday being kind of a sarcastic ass. 

“We’re both real invested in little Max’s learning environment.” They agree, with a small little wave and a small little grin, feeling the cool gaze of Gold as it skims over them. “Children are our future, and all that.”

“Your enthusiasm is noted.” She says, and it gives Nomi the impression that Gold has noted several different things about the both of them, the awesome team standing in front of her and coming to solve all of her many problems when it came to ghosts and ghouls. “Do you have a plan in place for where you would like to begin this… investigation of yours?” 

“We usually like to start with questioning the witnesses.” Nomi says. “That’s a solid part of every good investigation.”

Nomi smiles, looking at Gold with a bubbly kind of happiness and warmth. “What can you tell us about our missing Ghost, Principal Gold?” 

He’s grateful when Nomi steps in, because as much as he knew he shouldn’t be getting lippy with Principal Gold, he was finding it more and more difficult not to. Easing back into his chair, he listens to the exchange quietly, although getting a little annoyed by just how quickly Gold seems to judge Nomi. Then again, that did seem to be Gold’s specialty- rapid fire judgments that took quite a bit of hard work to make her change her mind on. He’s fairly certain she disliked Max since day one, and sure, the kid certainly got sent her way enough times throughout the year, but he wasn’t a cruel child. 

“Miss Melody is her name,” Gold begins, already looking far too annoyed with this conversation than Jack felt was warranted. “She’s been teaching here since the school was first established. The grounds of the school were once home to a nightclub in the 1920s. I don’t know the exact nature of her death, she’s fairly tight-lipped about it herself, but I know there have been several rumors some more ludicrous than others.” 

"Max has said she’s always seemed to be a rather happy spirit. Would you say the same?” He asks, as curious as he was about Miss Melody’s death he figures it had little to do with the case at hand. Whatever happened to Miss Melody it occurred seventy years ago, before the school had even been built. 

“Oh certainly,” Gold replies, “she is just as well beloved by the staff as she is the students. She’s a very pleasant person to be around. Which is why all of this seems so odd. I don’t know who would want to frighten her in this way- so much so she’d run off, but it is quite disturbing.” 

“And you think that’s what has happened? That she got scared and is hiding somewhere?” He hoped as much himself. The last thing he wanted to be doing today was tell Max that something awful happened to one of his favorite teachers. 

“It’s the only explanation I can think of- that is unless she chose to move on to the ‘other side’ as it were. But I honestly don’t see why she’d do that. She seemed quite happy with her life here.” 

It’s a relief, to hear that he hasn’t sold any of the items yet, that it’s still in the shop somewhere, that they hadn’t been too late, that they won’t have to track down a death necklace and some vampire hair or whatever else had been on the list. Something like that would have been a nearly unbearable chore. And, they have to say, they’re a little relieved that there didn’t seem to be a motive behind this other than petty vengeance and, apparently, somehow, wildly, boredom. They weren’t exactly going to let Fox off the hook, here, but him being the only one involved made it much easier to deal with.

     “And what did you think was going to happen?” they ask, skeptically, because it seems like an awfully risky move to make just because some centaur is stealing your spotlight, or because you’re bored. He had to have known that Mansouri would call the aurors, had to have known that—well, okay, maybe he didn’t think that aurors would be smart enough to rapidly realize Alexi had nothing to do with it. Maybe he really did underestimate them enough to believe that they’d take the easy solution here, given his general disposition about the entire situation.

     “Fuck, I dunno,” he says, “something something would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling aurors, something like that. I didn’t realize the doll would give it away.” He sounds deeply resigned to the situation, and Tide would almost feel bad for him except for the part where they’d overheard what he’d said about them when he didn’t know they were listening.

     “If you didn’t want anything giving you away, maybe you shouldn’t have charmed something to talk,” they say, and then, glancing over at the talking doll in question, they add, “No offense, Lottie.”

     “None taken,” she replies, blithely, clearly amused by the entire situation. 

     “Well, first we’re going to need you to show us where the stolen items are, so we can confirm that everything’s there.” 

He’s relieved that it seems like the items had never gotten further than the store, although he still can’t quite believe Fox had gone to such lengths just to screw Alexi over. He’d certainly had his fair share of boredom in the office, and decided that his time was better spent pranking a Savage, but this was far beyond a simple prank. If he and Tide hadn’t done their job right, Alexi could have easily been going to jail for years, and not what will likely be the slap on the wrist Fox will get since he hadn’t sold anything yet. 

“Yeah, here, come on,” Fox groans, waving them to follow him, as he leads them back to the back of the store again, and into an area that looked to be his workbench. Items were strewn about, but none of the items were the ones on the list. After Fox bends down though to pull out what looked to be a woman’s purse taped under his desk, Jack begins to realize just where he’d hid all the items. 

Opening up the purse that clearly had some kind of extra storage charm on it, something similar to what Miranda had on that clutch she always carried around, Fox carefully removes each item contained within it. Once all was said and done, each of the missing items were spread out across Fox’s workbench, the cursebreaker swooping open his arms in a ‘ta-da’ motion after he’s done. 

“Well I think that’s everything we’ll probably need from here,” Jack sighs as he looks between Tide and Fox. One of them were going to have to collect the items, while the other cuffed Fox, and he feels like it’s fairly clear just which of those two he should be doing. 

Slipping the warded cuffs from his pocket he steps towards Fox and begins reading the cursebreaker his rights. Once he’s finished he looks over to Tide to see if they had anything left to do before they all three went back to MACUSA and officially wrapped this case up. 

“We’re ready whenever you are, partner,” he adds as he gives Fox’s cuffs a light tug to ensure they’re on tight enough. He’s sure he was the last person Tide wanted on a case like this, but he hopes it wasn’t all that bad for the other auror, it certainly was’t for him, surprisingly. 

They beam back at him, pretty fuckin’ pleased with themself. An excuse to act like a dumbass, an excuse to act like the effortless and uncaring person they’d pretended to be, let themself be, for so many years, the person they’d finally found themself unable to keep being. They take the press badge he tosses them and looks down at it, and it’s their turn to laugh, at the name Thursday printed in big letters across it. A familiar old nickname, probably the most common one of the six they’d rotated through in the months they and Jack had been just fucking, just friends, people who knew every inch of each other and still knew barely anything about each other at all. They’ve kind of missed the wry little nickname, even if they like the way the name Jack fits in their mouth these days.

     “Bobby Thursday, damn. You know, it suits you. Got a ring to it, doesn’t it? If you’re not careful, it might stick. I might decide I like Bobby Thursday better, make you dress up like this every time you come over.” 

They wink, tossing the badge back to him. In all honesty, they’ve barely read the case file. They’ll need some time, before they can lead this case, time to sit down and go through it. And breakfast sounds good, Jack somehow knowing exactly what they want to do without them having to say it. They are hungry, too, their usual breakfast on the go plan interrupted not once but twice this morning, by the dog and then by fucking Appius, but their stomach has finally settled enough to be feeling hungry. And maybe it’ll help, that and this face and Jack, help them feel normal enough to focus on actually solving a case instead of on the way their life feels like it’s falling apart very suddenly after one blessed month of something approaching stability. 

     “I’ve gotta get some food in me,” they say, grabbing their jacket. “But we can head down, find a diner somewhere while I actually read this shit. The page I read sounded like aliens, but I dunno, you kind of distracted me halfway through. Is it aliens?” 

His smile widens as he watches Marleigh read over his press badge. It feels like he’s seeing a flash of the old Marleigh again with this little bit of banter and teasing they picked up. Ever since Scotland, he’s been finding it a little more difficult to get that silly streak to come out in the other auror, and while he certainly understands why, it only makes it more pleasant to see now. 

“Bobby Thursday does have a certain look about him, right?” He chuckles as he lightly pats either side of his jaw, “I mean, I thought I had the whole dilf thing down, but this guy is just nailing it in ways I never knew possible.” 

Catching the press badge he clips it back onto his jacket, figuring he might as well keep the thing out considering what they were about to be heading into next. The case sounded like a blast if he was being honest, not just because Marleigh was on it with him, but the whole “crime” in general. He’d heard about the Phoenix fiasco last year. He’s not sure if a group of drunken wixes flying around in the middle of the night could be the same thing going on here, but it certainly would be fun to try to figure out. 

“You do know aliens aren’t a thing, right?” He asks with a wry grin before leading them out of the squad’s offices and in the direction of the building’s perimeter to apparate. 

Once they do get to Cherokee’s town limits, they quickly find a no-maj road side diner, where half the customers inside where truckers and the other half- well, based on the little green men on their shirts he figured they were in town in hopes to find a few real ones themselves. 

“Breakfast is on me,” he speaks up as they slide into a nearby booth, “don’t let anyone ever say Bobby Thursday didn’t know how to treat a date.”