3 wishes

“To be fair Jonathan was not the one that brought Jeremiah back,” If they wanted to be a family then she was going to call everyone by their given name and not the one that they had just made up and picked up. That was not how this was going to work. Her fingers traced the backbone of the books as she stopped turning around to look at him, they were just going to have to figure out how to survive this conversation with just the truth spilling into the air. “If I said otherwise your brother would be telling me not to do it myself, so for now this is the best thing that works for everyone and my marriage,” If Jeremiah or Everett were going to die it was going to be by her. The world did owe her that much in all the giant mess that there was. The brunette walked forward as she pulled the chair in front of the desk before sitting down as she listened to his honest explanation of things, did she enjoying taking advantage of the spell not at all but the clock on her was running, of course she had heard about the Sam mishap and what not. The tea in this town had a way of always making its rounds, “So you’re saying if shit blows up then a losing a baby just gets looked over? Should’ve just left Ezri there then.” The kid would’ve died but she doubted they would’ve killed Ezri, the whole reasoning that she had done was to save the baby because it meant something, “Mellie is gone. Think that might affect your friend Felicity.”

Her fingers turned the page on the menu. Most of the time she would just get her partner to order her something from UberEats and she would eat it. The woman had never truly been a picky eater, how could she? Majority of her childhood she had been on foot most of the time, and that meant that half of the things she eat she killed and prep herself or would take whatever her brother managed to bring that night. “That was not the last time. That was the last time we got fucked over.” She pointed out as she placed the menu down, “Aiden and Arya both left last week. Aiden sends his best, kind wished you would’ve popped by and ate but he knows you have an entire coven on your shoulders. Mateo kind of knows you but he calls you Boo – so I guess you are just going to have to wear that name proudly if we get to see them again,” Unless you know they died and then this entire conversation was rather moot, but why even bring that up? Ben was already at the anger and bittersweet emotions end of the emotional ruler so she was not going to push that. Once her french fries got placed in front of her she picked on up and used it to tap her husband’s nose, “Ah Benjamin Miller – absolutes you take – but only when it works out for you. And before you say Everett hurting you is a lie just know that – A – he did and B – lying really is below you. If you keep pushing him down then you never have to forgive him and give him an actual chance. No judgement here, I forgive Singer but I am never going to try and rebuild that relationship but I admit that, whereas you don’t. And I know in that big brain of yours you can reasoned it out. But people surprise you – it’s the beauty of humankind. Who knew you would stop running and lead a coven? Who knew I would walk away from my birthright and become a simple housewife? Who knew Juliette would fight for Miller and Miller would accept? Who knew Christal would owe up to the coward she was with Robert and come back? Who Knew. So I will enjoy my bask ignorant naivety or whatever you want to call it and tell you that this will not play out who you think. And the only people to start a coven war will be decided between you and Juliette.” She ended as she popped the delightful snack into her mouth, “If I was you – which I am not – but if I was – I would use all my resources and stop holding the past against them. Be smart but don’t be blind. Maybe when you have time we can have a date – I’ll be here or at the station so you do what you must I’ll be behind you. But those are my two cents.”

Ben had been anticipating her telling him to let Jeremiah live. It wasn’t a surprise to hear her utter the words. Hell he couldn’t even say it was entirely a disappointment. If she gave him the okay it would have meant she learned her lesson, but clearly they weren’t there yet. “I mean that’s where I thought you’d stand anyway,” Ben said, leaning against the desk, “if you fight me you fight Callum’s family and I’d at least trust you not to put him in that position more than he already is.” The spell was certainly going to make things awkward. They would just have to get through it he supposed. He didn’t want to commit to one side or the other on the Jeremiah front. He couldn’t. Besides Jeremiah was a symptom, if he killed him chances were he would just come back. Ben knew he’d have to be smarter than that. “If I was going to go after Jeremiah I’d have to go after your cousin too,” he said simply, “as long as one of them is alive the other is coming back. I think we’ve established that by now.” Her next question caught him off guard. He and Ezri didn’t talk about that time. It just kind of sat there unspoken between them. “Our relationship was already broken when she lost the kid,” he said, “that’s why I didn’t know until everything happened,” he folded his arms, “everything else had a bigger impact. Me dying, the whole Sam thing, the kid was inconsequential compared to the rest of it.” It had never seemed real to him, maybe because he had been so removed from everything. He didn’t even have time to think about being a dad before the kid was gone. “It was a shit time for everyone. You included. We all just dealt with it in shit ways. Or not at all.”

Going to Ben Miller was the last action she had ever thought that she would take and here she was waiting for Ben to come back from wherever he was. She figured that she could’ve stopped at their house but it was a business call for one and there was no need to start getting too attach to whatever they had – a friendship with Miller was at best always going to be on shaken ground and easily terminated; apparently just like her pregnancy. As she waited for his arrival she started to pick up books, god she had loved studying magic – loved everything about it which was more than she could say for her siblings. The only reason she had stopped excelling was for the fear that she would become the monster everyone whispered about. As she heard the door open the book was placed softly down, “There is a truth spell going – so you can take my word,” not that she had ever been a huge fan of lying, how could she explain the fuck feast that had been dinner? “What are you planning on doing about Jeremiah?” He must have a couple thoughts about the aspect, Jeremiah had said under the honest spell that he was not here to take the coven from her nor to start something – but was Ben going to stand down? She couldn’t blame him for not wanting to.

They didn’t know anything, which meant that this was just going to be a ride that she was going to have to take if she wants to or not. She ran her fingers through her hair as she sighed knowing how frustrating the situation was. Blowing air against her left cheek she looked down at the counter. “Right,” Though she doubted that was true, unlike everyone in town she had not given up hope on Everett and she knew Landon was in town as well so she knew that she had more people in check that would make sure that she was safe considering Landon’s power statue, but who knew. Maybe Ben had some reason in all this and all of her hunting experience was wasted on her. Which had been what Aiden had mentioned a couple of months ago, her parents had taken their time to teach her and make her the best in her craft and now she had no pack and was a typical housewife, she wondered what her parents would say about her right now. Though she imagined her father would be happy with her as long as she was happy with the choices she had. Which she was, how could she not? Looking into his blues she knew he was her other half – even if that meant having to compromise her career and talents. “You could try using them as well. Just saying hunters aren’t the enemy here. I am sure they’re all going to be fine. Landon is here and he helps with Everett so everything will be civil till Jeremiah shows hint of his agenda.” Leaning onto the table she reached over and grab a menu to see what she could order for dinner and stay longer here with him, “I wish this town had a taco truck or something like that. We could make it interesting and play 21 questions – that way you can drink and get your mind off this even if it’s just for one night?” 

The banshee remain silent as she let the the moment end. Ben was not going to change his perspective and she knew better than to keep pushing. Sometimes it was bet to just let Ben figure things out with his coven and she would do her best to protect who she could on her end. “Ok – Jeremiah fucking me isn’t high on his list after coming back to alive. Second I can take care of myself and it’s not like I got anything to lose,” She wasn’t pregnant like Juliette and she didn’t have powers that she didn’t know how to control like Justus nor was she an outsider like Thea. She could actually get this done. “It’s up to you. If you get desperate enough that you think your wife can help then you know I will be at the station doing paperwork and bailing Sam out of jail again,” The Winchester brothers had a tenancy of always being in town when shit was terrible. Not that it should surprise her since that was the line of work that they did, she just wished that there were less teams playing in this. Or that they would at least talk to each other but she knew better than to bring that up to Ben right now. Perhaps Dean and Sam would move to the next town after she bailed him, he had called her last night but there were more important things to take care of first, besides she had seen the jails in town, they were not too bad “Maybe she will run into Everett and just blow him up and half the problems will be solved for you.” It was something that could happen – you know in a far far away world. “Can I do anything for you? – to help or make it a bit better?” 

“Everett isn’t going to do jack shit to protect you, we both know that,” Ben shot back, “Jeremiah wants to fuck you and he’s going to let that happen because maybe it will make Jeremiah good again. You realize that don’t you?” Everett had been perfectly willing to let it happen the last time Jeremiah had wanted alone time with Ezri. And then there had been some shred maybe of caring about someone other than himself and Jeremiah. Now it was clear the man didn’t give a shit about anyone but them. “If you go in there you’re on your own. I know you can handle yourself but banking on Everett’s compassion is a really dumb idea.” That was how you died alone. Or got spirited off into another dimension. Or turned into a hybrid. Ben was not going to bet anything on Everett’s compassion for anyone but Jeremiah himself. “I think if going in there is something you need to do,  I’ll support you. But it’s going to be trouble. And I’m not betting anything on Everett caring for someone else.” He wasn’t even surprised that he had lied to Juliette. He’d been more than happy to let her get possessed and to syphon off her powers. Maybe it was the innocence of him just straight up lying that made this a new low in Ben’s eyes. “Not yet. She’s on a war path and rightfully so. I think it’s best if we divide and conquer our respective Covens at the moment.” Ben shook his head, “Same with Felicity but she’s on an ‘I don’t care’ path which is just--” he made a sound of disgust, “it’s infuriating. Wish she’d just kill someone so we could move on to more productive things.” 

Ezri didn’t think this would actually happen, call her naive but she had held out hope that Everett wouldn’t let this happen. The woman hated seeing her husband like this and she knew that this meant that things were just about to get complicated. As she made her way past the crowd she walked over to him and sat beside him, “I think I should go talk to Jeremiah,” He had always had a soft spot for her and Jeremiah always managed to at least give her ten minutes which was more than he gave anyone else. Maybe this didn’t have to end up in a shit storm and it could be avoided. If her childhood had taught her anything was that violence was not always the answer to every single threat, hell she had learned that from the Winchesters as well as her parents. Not to mention that Aiden had taught her too, diplomacy got things done just as violence did but was more effective and less bloody. “Maybe Jeremiah can be reasoned with. We both know he will talk to me. – also murdering people probably wouldn’t look great coming from you.” she reached out as she squeezed his hand gently, she was here for him. 

Ezri rolled her lips inward as she tentative decided whether she would stay silent another year on a subject that she was terrified to open. “Have you forgiven me?” The words dropped like a nail in a quiet room, after the first seconds of the drop she could still hear the sound between them. The thing was that Ezri was not bringing this out of spite but because she had a real genuine feeling about all these emotions that were bottling inside of her. The problem – or the obstacle was that the woman herself had never really been one to talk about her emotions, her childhood had taught her to keep those things to herself and to just keep moving forward. That was what she had done, had just kept moving forward and hoping that the pieces would come together all on their own. Everett had done his share of mistakes but she felt that Ben’s entire hung up on Everett and his lack of ability to even talk to the man about the issue and pass judgement was not something that was just reserved for the witch. “I don’t think that Everett has ever stood and said that this was everyone else problems and yet you believe that. I guess I just want to know what the narrative in your heard is about us.” Everyone was allowed to feel what they felt, and she didn’t want to be someone to tell people what their emotions were, especially since Ezri herself lacked the ability to actually voice them. “You already passed judgement without giving the man a fair trial. If you really should be harsh on anyone to this degree the person is standing right in front of you…” Not like she was asking for the wrath of Ben to be subjected on her but, but she had left him when she needed him to be there for and had hidden the fact that she had lost their baby – not to mention she had kissed Sam. It had taken a kiss from Sam to wake her up to how wrong she had been about everything and she hadn’t even ever said it had been Sam that had kissed her, no she had taken the blame because she knew that she had been blind to the warning signs and that she had done various errors that led her there. “It is different to see them becoming parents to be honest. Juliette would be the last woman I would suspect to be a mother but she looks like she is warming up to the idea. Your brother is going to be a fantastic father if he looks after the child just one half that he does with Juliette,” It was a small observation but she knew that Callum would never let anyone do any harm to Juliette – or any other family members. “I’m doing alright. I guess if Juliette and Callum can figure out having a kid then maybe one day we will too.”

“I think the best of us tend to fuck up. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be expanded some grace,” At least that was what she had been taught by her parents, but Ezri knew how that was not something that was expanded throughout everyone else. Not that she was going judge how the supernatural raised their own children, who was she to pass judgement? Not like she was a mother or anything close to it. “He faked his death twice with you around. I think you shouldn’t take it personal. I mean look how many times Singer fucked up and I still wouldn’t close the door if he needed help or looked like things were going wrong with him – and yeah there is a 99.9% chance that he would probably fuck me over but it doesn’t matter because I can just control me – and I guess I want to be someone that doesn’t give up on people. But I get why you won’t. I am not saying trust Everett. I guess I am just saying stop being so hard on him but at the end of the day I will respect whatever choice you decide to go with, sorry for pushing the topic,” Which she genuine was, she knew that Ben knew what he was doing more often than not, she didn’t want it to appear that she was doubting his leadership because she wasn’t. “That is true. I am hoping that perhaps this Christmas – or this holiday will be an exception because I want to actually be able to do something with Arya and Aiden not to mention James. I have heard that he is lately in firemans and have gotten some buddies of mine down the station to let me borrow the fire truck and take him into it,” Being a cop still had it’s benefits aside of being out of the coven and being able to be among peers that judged her for what she brought to the table and not the mistakes of her past or who he husband was. “Maybe – when is juliette due? Perhaps by Christmas you will be uncle – how are you dealing with your future new title?” She had been able to hang out with Juliette the past few days, the two had been redecorating the living room as they also talked about the baby’s bedroom. Though there wasn’t much to base it off since Juliette wanted the gender to be a surprise.

“You know this isn’t about the supernatural,” Ben said, “what’s more human than not wanting to deal with your problems or take responsibility for your actions?” The Clarks aside from Juliette seemed determined to make this as difficult as possible. It would bug him less if they all didn’t treat him like a kid still. Especially Everett. As far as Ben was concerned he’d lost the right to hold anything over anyone a long time ago, but it was impossible for the witch to see that. “I did that,” Ben said finally, “I left all expectations at the door. You know what that gets me? Looking like an idiot since every time it’s ended with him vanishing and/or faking his death.” No, Ben had not forgotten being read the riot act from Everett’s ‘cousin’. How anyone could be egotistical enough to do that was beyond him. And he had actually died. Maybe that was what stung the most. Everett had faked his death and Ben had actually died. But Everett was the one who expected sympathy and he was just supposed to walk it off. Much like his son and his childhood, there were things Ben didn’t expect to get over. But he refused to run away from them either. Ben shook his head, “we haven’t had a holiday where someone hasn’t tried to murder someone. My family holidays are incredibly dramatic. I don’t blame you for missing anything else.” Ben had run away at thirteen and for the next couple of years holidays were nothing to him. Not while he was living with the witch hunters betraying his species. Mathias had never exactly stressed the warm and happy part of having a family. Not that Ben would have had any idea what to do with that. Before then his holidays were always centered around being paraded around like the freak he was. The weirdest and most comforting part was that he and Callum were equally at a loss with nice holidays. It was like trying to emulate a movie, so mostly he just tried to follow what Ezri said whenever they could. “Of course we’re gonna be around the kid’s life,” he said, “we’re gonna have a house crawling with kids that get to go home to their parents at the end of the day.” God that sounded nice. The pressure of being responsible for a living, breathing thing 24/7 was just--more than he thought he could ever bare. 

“I don’t think anyone asked for this war. On top of that I don’t think anyone wants another war.” Sure she wasn’t a hunter any more, and as a banshee she was deemed the least useful one and her opinion was never brought up; which man was that a whole new adjustment. Going from being the head of an entire group to being just another number and much less one that everyone looked differently and undermined. And as much as she knew they could back and forth she didn’t want to; at least not right now when her brother was home, her own blood and flesh and the last thing she had remaining to the Wright name that she could. After everything said and done she did belong to the clan, even if Singer had any DNA in the matter, Aiden didn’t treat her like half sibling, in fact very little did actually change in their relationship. “The last thing I will say is that perhaps if you had a real conversation with Everett; one where you both stopped trying to come on top and thinking typical of each other you would get something productive out of it, but again I know not much about magic so those are my two cents,” That were probably deemed as useless as pennies. “I would hope so she did marry my brother and I know he loves her so not looking to see Aiden heartbroken. The first time wasn’t well,” his first – their first heartache had been when their parents had been murdered. When their childhoods came to an end and Ezri lost every innocence she had once clung onto and Aiden had tried to shield her. “Not much to repair. Aiden fell in love with a werewolf who took the cure and now is human. I married a witch and he’s fine with that.” He was, Aiden only ever wanted Ezri to be safe and happy; the brief moment he had been worried had been cause of Singer’s influence. “I think he would like to see you two. You and I are a package deal, Ben. You are my family just like he is – probably more since you are my world and I want him to enjoy it and see you.” Her parents were dead, Singer was someone she had forgiven but didn’t want to shake hands with and she didn’t even want to start with Ellen. “It would mean a lot for you two to see and act like family.”