Go forth, good king.

“Nah, but she’s great. Really helpful, which is what you’ll need,” Walt said as they walked down the street, “And yeah, it’s pretty specific, but they can get you pretty close to her size or you could send her a text and ask. I can ask Sadie to ask her if you’d rather. Both are pretty obvious that you forgot. Also, don’t freak out about how expensive all this shit is gonna be.” As they descended down to the subway and swiped their metro cards, Walt took Carter’s hand to not lose him as they rushed to jump onto one of the subway cars. 

“Uh,” Walt headed out of the doors to the Nome and onto the streets of Brooklyn, putting on his sunglasses, “I don’t need to go anywhere, but you should probably also spend some time in Victoria’s Secret. Maybe Vi is working today,” Walt explained, walking towards the mall, “But don’t worry, we can also go other places in the mall too. Is there anywhere else you need to go?”

Walt nodded and drank his coffee, staring at the table before putting the almond milk back into the fridge. After he finished his mug and set it in the sink for it to clean itself, he headed back into his room to get changed.

He opened the door slowly and creeped past the miraculously still-sleeping Sadie to get clothes out of the drawer, quickly changing. Grabbing his wallet off the side table, he pulled the curtains shut to keep sunlight from coming into the room and headed back out into the Great Room with shoes in hand. Sitting on the couch, Walt pulled his shoes and then sat back to call the sushi restaurant to change the name of the reservation from ‘Stone’ to ‘Kane’ for Carter.

Once Walt had changed the reservation name he sat back on the couch, scrolling through his phone as he waited for Carter to finish getting ready. Once he reappeared, Walt glanced up from his phone, “You ready to go?”

Carter did the same, but he wasn’t quite as stealthy as Walt while getting ready. A closet door thumping against the glass balcony door was what did it, right at the last second as he was already fully dressed, but nearly forgot to grab a jacket. He was already apologizing as soon as Zia’s head lifted from her pillow, quickly telling her to go back to bed, that he and Walt were going out and they’d be back later. He kissed her cheek before heading out, taking extra care in closing the door quietly behind him.

Walt raised an eyebrow at Carter, “You have two weeks, that’s not ‘quite a bit of time,’” He said, using air quotes before shaking his head and looking at the coffee pot and then back to Carter, “But we can go to Lush today. I have a list of the good stuff and the bad stuff on my phone, but we can’t go until after coffee.” Walt set his mug down next to him on the counter, one that Shelby had made for him in art class when she was in second grade. It had a rendition of one of Keith Haring’s untitled pieces from 1982 that sparked quite a controversy in the class.

“Oh yeah, dinner’s gonna be great. I got us reservations at this new restaurant nearby that took forever to book and they just got finalized today,” Walt said, before he quickly looked over at Carter, eyes widening, “Oh shit, I have back up reservations if you need some. I didn’t know if mine would go through so if you want them, they’re yours. They’re for the sushi place Bushi that Sadie likes. I dunno if Zia’s into it. Also, you can hide your gifts in my room if you need to. Or shove it in the Duat, that’s where I’m keeping my stuff,” Walt offered.

Once the coffee maker beeped to notify them it was done, Walt pulled the almond milk out of the fridge that had his name written on it in big, block letters. He took the coffee pot out and poured himself and Carter mugs, adding almond milk to his and offering the carton to Carter, “Want some? After this and I get dressed we can head out to the mall.”

“No no, I meant quite a bit of time to come up with something different for her birthday since I’ll just use it what I was gonna do then for now.” It wasn’t all he had planned on doing, just the final bit of icing on the cake, nothing too challenging to replace. “And don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere until after coffee, either.” He was barely even alive until after coffee.

“Really? Dude yeah, that would be awesome.” He had taken Zia out for sushi once, and she had originally doubted him when he said raw fish could be good, it was one of the few moments that Carter could proudly say he was right. The only reason Carter hadn’t gone back yet was because of how quickly it could empty his wallet. He also just enjoyed exploring the variety New York City had to offer; while he and his dad had traveled around a lot, it was unsurprisingly hard to find good Italian or Thai food when they spent weeks at a time on dig sites that were, more often that not, in the middle of nowhere. “That’s actually a really smart idea. I doubt she’d think to look there, and she wouldn’t know what to look for, anyway.”

“Cause couples massages are boring. I don’t see the hype around them, and that’s also that’s other people touching my body which is weird.” Walt finished his cereal and drank the milk, watching as Carter stood up and headed into the kitchen. Once he had finished all of the milk, Walt stood up and headed into the kitchen, setting his bowl in the sink to have it clean itself. 

“If you’re making coffee I’ll take some,” Walt said, getting a mug down from the cabinet and examining the inside of it to make sure there was nothing in it. “Are you talking about Lush? Cause I know Sadie loves it but it’s super overwhelming and before you know it you’ve bought the whole damn store and sold your soul or something.” 

Smiling at the opportunity to talk about his own plans, Walt leaned against the counter, “My one problem is that we have brunch at one and Sadie hates getting up. But, all girls love brunch. I don’t know why, but they do. And it’s food. So, after brunch we’re going to come back here and do gifts and … Stuff. And at five we have one of those wine and painting classes before dinner at eight. And then we come home at around ten probably and not come out of our room for the next twenty four hours. I don’t think I really one upped myself from last year, it’s all basically the same things only my gifts are better. I have other ideas but I can’t peak just yet. But I provably will within the next five years or something.” Walt cleared his throat, “Uh, do you want to get get stuff for Zia today? Cause everything is probably backlogged online.”

     “Yeah, it kinda was. I had originally thought about getting some massage oils or something to make up for it for her birthday, but I could probably just do that now. I still have quite a bit of time to come up with something new.” He started a fresh pot of coffee, turning and relaxing back against the counter as they waited for it to drip. “Yeah, that place. I’ve never gone in one but I’ve walked by them in malls and it always smells nice. And frankly, if it’s as good as Sadie makes it sound, then selling my soul might be on the table.”

     Carter wasn’t dumb. He had long since learned not to question what ‘stuff’ involving Walt and his sister meant. While he was happy for them and glad they together, he didn’t want to hear anything about his younger sister’s sex life. “Makes sense; you want to do good, but not too good. I bet Sadie’s gonna love that, though. The more food and wine the better.” He almost wished he hadn’t used going to the Mall of America where they’d had their first real date for Valentine’s two years ago. Nothing about the setting had been particularly romantic, but it was the memories that went along with it that counted. They got good food, went to the aquarium, and the theme park. That had definitely been one of his better Valentine’s day plans.

“Oh shit, man,” Walt said, shaking his head, taking another bite of cereal, “February first. Love is in the air, chocolates are in stores, the fridge is about to be filled with school projects from the anklebiters on love and all that.”

It should have been to no surprise that Carter had forgotten. Walt had been planning since November, though. He didn’t personally like freaking out about Hallmark’s holiday, but Carter found fun in some weird shit. Once Walt had set an expectation that went beyond weed, Cookout and not having to leave bed all day, he was stuck in trying to out do himself every year.

“I would personally just go to college again. I doubt there are any open too. If there are, you know they jack up those prices because of how desperate the buyer is. You guys should just do one of those paint your own pottery things or something. Those are easy. Flowers? Breakfast? Nice dinner? Nice lunch if you’re desperate. Ask Amos to come here for the night and you two can go to the First Nome or something. There’s gotta be some kind of Pharaoh-y thing you can pull.”  

Pointing at Carter’s coffee with his spoon, Walt looked over at his best friend, “You might need five more of those, man.”

     “Thank god, that’s still two weeks.” That was plenty of time. He had planned some pretty decent Valentine’s days in far less than that. “And trust me, I would too, but I think last year was a little lackluster. The couples massages were great and all, but kind of boring. I could probably try asking the seventy-sixth nome in Kauai if they had a spare room and tell them I’d owe them one.” The whole idea of pulling rank because he hadn’t thought ahead enough for Valentine’s day felt like an abuse of power. Then again, being in that kind of position of power and owing a nome a favor probably wasn’t a good position to be in either. He could also just be entirely overthinking the situation, which was usually the case.

“You shouldn’t take it too personally; she doesn’t like much of anyone.” She shouldn’t get him wrong, Carter did care for his grandparents; they sometimes told stories about his mom that he couldn’t remember, or talked about what she was like when she was his age, but they weren’t always especially welcoming to others.

Zia’s standing in an exam room with Amarah and Iskander when Carter comes in. Amarah is still unconscious but she’s laying on a bed with an IV drip in her arm and healers working around her. “Carter.” Zia says when he enter’s the room, she’s got Iskander on her hip and the diaper bag still on her shoulder. She looks him over for a second, noting the more then disheveled look about him, but at least he’s dressed. Zia’s still wearing her Pajamas, and her hair is unbrushed.

“Iskander,” she begins “Ummu has to stay with Amarah, you’re going to go with Carter okay?” She kisses his forehead.

“Okay Ummu…” He mutters sucking his thumb and turns to look at Carter, the boy’s big dark eyes search Carter’s face, he too is in his Pajamas, Pokemon pajamas in blue and yellow.

“Carter, Iskander is a good boy, but he’s a little bit clingy and tired tonight, so it’s best to give him a cup of tea and put him to bed on the couch, he’s fine as he is, and he really should go right down. I’ll come to your rooms as soon as I can leave Amarah. Thank you, thank you so much.” She says. “The best I can guess is that she had a night mare and that’s what triggered the smoking sheets and the knives. The door was closed -thankfully or the knives would’ve gone into the room.”

“Hey.” He had gotten there as quickly as he was able. “How’s she doing? Have they looked at Iskandar yet? He didn’t breathe in too much smoke, did he?” He was still a little winded from the run over here, but he was just glad there weren’t any people awake to be in his way.

Zia looked as tired as he did. “Do you want me to stay here for a while? I can keep an eye on them and you can run home and get a change of clothes or something.” He wasn’t sure she would even want to leave, but he thought she at least deserved the chance. She may want to get extra things she hadn’t had the time to grab for Amarah or Iskandar in the morning; they would all be welcome to have breakfast at his house, but she may want normal clothes or whatever she thought the twins may need.

“We’re going to the first Nome hospital, can you meet me there and take him?” She stops at the corner to wait to cross the road, adjusts the way Amarah is sitting in her arms and tightens her grip on Iskander.

“I-I woke up to the smoke alarm like, 15 minutes ago maybe? Th-there were kitchen knives imbedded in their door and Iskander was screaming, She um, she’s  breathing but isn’t responsive to my attempts to wake her.” The light turns green and she pulls her son across the street. “Don’t call anyone, the healers at the first nome are best equipped to handle her, besides, Jaz might frighten her.”

Aside from Amarah’s fright Zia was not going to be able to explain to anyone else what happened the last 5 years of her life at the moment, she’d had about 2 hours of sleep, she was still wearing her pajama’s and she still had to explain to her children about their father.

“I’m about to get on the train, meet me in 5 minutes, in the hospital lobby.” She says hanging up the phone.

“Yeah, I’m getting dressed and I’ll be on my way in a minute.” He had the phone squished between his ear and shoulder as he pulled pants on still holding his shirt and hopping towards the door. He briefly considered stopping to brush his teeth, but his morning breath was the least of his concerns at the moment. 

He had to pull the phone away from his ear for a second to pull his shirt on, but was talking again as soon as it was back. “Is he okay? Did he get cut or breathe in too much smoke?” It took him a moment to realize that she had already hung up the phone. He cursed under his breath, sliding Birkenstocks on over his socks and grabbing his keys before hurrying out of the house.