we're just a box of souvenirs

Victor looked at the stranger and at his words he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standup. Still, he remained calm “I take it this is about the story, but you’re not here to give me anything useful” he added “aside from the tough guy act” Taking a sip of his tea he wrote down something on his notepad “Since I assume you work for the Featherstone family I’m about to get the ‘stop now if you know what’s best for you’ spiel.

“Sounds like you know everything then.” he took a sip from his coffee, “what’s it like? being a know it all? Did that get you a lot of black eyes coming up?” he laughed, “look at you, just throwing that name around like you’re in some sort of movie. You having fun, yet?”

“The first blizzard of the year is usually one of the worst” Edmund said “the ground hasn’t frozen over yet so there is no real protection for wheels” Putting the papers in his bag he looked at Buck “If I’m being conservative maybe 4 days? But more than likely about a week, by then they should have most of the roads back into the city cleared. Some Professors rent a hotel in the city for a week so if sounds good to you I don’t think anyone would hold that against you”

“Yeah. most of the kids think of it as a Winter Break, but a handful usually stay behind so I’m usually one of the staff that stays here too. You’re going to be bored and need some comfort foods so any favorite snacks? Beer? Now’s the time” Chuckling, he nodded “Good. Let me grab my coat and I’ll meet you at the entrance”

“Four days?!” his eyes went as wide as they could, “and you live like this? Knowing that you’ll be locked in more than a few times per year? That’s a lot of commitment to the craft.” He wrapped his scarf around his neck, “no need for a hotel. Not much different than my place on campus, neither would be my permanent home so at least this one has a full kitchen.” 

Locking up behind himself he walked down with the other professor, “well definitely should get some liquor, being on locked down for a week without a drink sounds miserable.” They stepped out, the snow was covering most of the ground already and the cold hit his face like an ice cold bath. “Frigid.”

Lincoln looked up at the guy who had just walked in the door and gave him a warm smile “Good Afternoon, welcome to the Chelsea Hotel” he said as he offered his hand with a smile “You must be Mr. Federico, pleasure to have you here” 

Gesturing for the bellhop to grab his bags the man took them and began leading them to the elevator “You’ll be on the 11th floor and  rest assured everything is taken care of so no need to worry about ordering or anything, it’s all paid for”

Hitting his back hard on the floor the man looked up and gave a hard knee to Thomas’ side before standing “Name’s Caleb, the first son….the real one” he said “and I got pulled into this bullshit because you and whatever version of my father you call dad have issues to workout” Taking the sword he pushed it into Thomas’ foot “So fucking work it out, because believe me, you don’t figure it out and I’ll be the nice one”

Victor looking up from the ground could feel the wolf coming to the surface as his eyes flashed gold and he got to his feet. Turning his head Caleb chuckled “Damn, why couldn’t I get the werewolf father” he told him before disappearing into a bright void.

Already healing Victor went to the cabinet and pulled out a small wooden box and handed it over to Thomas “Take it” he told him “I don’t know what’s going on, but clearly you will need protection. That gun is filled with solver bullets, should kill human or beasts” He could hear Romeo coming “Go. Now!” he said “Romeo sees you and he won’t care who you are, he’ll tear you to pieces” The void was closing fast “Stay safe”

This was a rush, Thomas was fighting, listening, talking, healing, hurting, every emotion all at once. This Caleb character was here and while he heard him, h head was also swimming back and forth checking on Victor and he felt himself slip between memories. 

“I mean, I hope not” Victor responded and then put his hands up “Fair point” he relented “I guess I was just curious, but we have bigger things to worry about now” He was about to stand when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and he looked down to see what looked to be a large knife sticking out  and he coughed up blood before the knife was pulled out and he was kicked to the ground.

A hooded man standing where Victor had just stood he lifted the knife and slashed it across Thomas’ cheek “Get in the game you stupid bastard. Time is running out and I’m not about to lose everything because of your laziness”

Victor chuckled “Evil?” he asked “I mean I’m sure I’ve probably been called that once or twice in my life. Come on” he lead Thomas into the kitchen and gestured for him to sit at the kitchen Island “Is this another displacement thing?” he questioned “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you, but I’m still having a hard time explaining the multiverse thing” Handing over his drink Victor sat down “Can I ask….did you and Miguel figure things out?”

Victor could feel his twins’ fear and confusion and throwing the towel onto the table he rushed into the Livingroom, but stopped when he recognized who it was “Thomas?” he smiled and when Nathan turned to him Victor ruffled the boy’s head “It’s okay, this is a friend of Daddy’s, why don’t you and your brother go get washed up for lunch. As the boys went off, a bit cautiously, Victor turned back to Thomas “Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again” He went over and hugged the taller man “How’d you get here?”

Victor looked at Thomas and laughed “Clearly you aren’t Spiderman, you could never pull off that suit, but for now, how about you try to figure out which one of us are short-circuiting and take it from there” A snap of his fingers and Thomas was taken to a livingroom, food cooking on the stove and two pairs of feet running down the stairs. Stopping short two 5 year old boys looked at Thomas and their eyes glowed yellow before they sneered.

Victor rolled his eyes “We don’t really have time to do the whole multiple universes exists thing, so just trust me, it does” He brought up one of the images that showed Victor in the midst of transforming from a wolf back to a human. “You actually know this Victor. He stayed with you for a couple days when you and Miguel were sleeping behind his fiancé’ back? You actually liked him”

“Prank” Victor chuckled “you really think your dad would put this much effort into you” He stood up “Mitch, maybe, but he’s the sensitive one so he probably wouldn’t” He took off the make-up protector “Listen up, because I don’t have all day” He snapped his fingers and a wall of images came up behind him. All with different images of Thomas’ father. 

Some young…some older 

“I guess fate or whatever felt it was time for you to step up” He walked across the studio and it slowly fell away as Victor passed it “Something is wrong with dear old dad, or one of them at least and it’s fucking up the rest of us so you need to figure it out and stop it or all of this…all of your life is gone” He balled his fist up and blew out a puff of glitter right in Thomas’ face “Just like that” He sighed “I mean I would have probably chosen Cass, but I guess they have to be blood related”

Victor looked at Thomas and chuckled “Oh relax” he told him “It’s 1935, how do you think people talk?” He smiled at his make-up artist “Besides, I’d lower that voice if I was you. Romeo and I ain’t your daddies here and the one you do have is pissed you got Miguel knocked up and married him” Standing up, Victor brushed his shirt off “I don’t think having a potty mouth will help matters much. You ready?”

“You shouldn’t be” Victor said “I think we’re filming your scene today. Most of the day is Martin and I’s scenes. Romeo once to get some early dailies out for the negro market” He lifted his head back “Speaking of, I think the studio wants to see if they can bring Miguel into the fold. Expand that market”

“Of course” Miguel smiled and kissed his cheek “you’re my husband, where else would I and our baby be” he told Thomas as he picked up the boy in the stroller just as Victor walked up to sit beside Thomas “Hey Miguel, how’s Eli doing?” he asked as he prepared for make-up.

“Great Mr. Federico” Miguel nodded “Good luck today” and with that Miguel walked off with the small boy “You’re a lucky man Thomas” Victor said “I hope you know that…did you get the revamped Script from development?”