Home Again

Home no longer felt like home. In fact, nothing quite felt right after coming back. The city in which he lived and had grown up no longer held any familiarity. The streets he knew, the shops he used to visit, the various places he used to frequent, and even the home and business he’d made for himself were all now so foreign.

Eddus felt as though he had come back to a place he’d once known in another life. And in a way, he had. He was a different man than the one who had stepped into the pixie ring.

He had only been away for three months in the faerie realm, but being back was so strange. Time, he knew, moved differently there, but he was not exactly sure in what way the present had been affected due to it.

While everything still looked like what he knew and may very well have been similar to what he’d left, somehow it had all changed. His entire world was now different.

It was late in the morning, perhaps midday, when Eddus and Issabella stepped out of the lift onto the third floor of his building. Eddus paused, tightening his grip on Issabella’s hand, as the elevator’s door slid closed behind them.

The paint was still peeling off the walls of the small foyer. Not much here had changed, it seemed, in his absence. They entered the communal lounge and kitchen area. It seemed so familiar, and yet he felt as though he were a stranger in his own home.

Eddus noted the closed doors to both his flat and studio as they walked past them toward the kitchen.

A pizza box sat on the table’s surface. Beside it, a half-finished glass of chocolate milk and a square container of chocolate powder, with a spoon resting across the top of it. Condensation had run down the glass onto the table.

Using a finger, Eddus lifted the lid of the box. Its contents, about a third of a pizza, was still slightly warm. He closed the box and turned his head, looking at Isabella.

“Ed?”

Both Eddus and Isabella looked toward where the voice had come from.

In the furthest corner of the room, coming out of her at, Stiles didn’t bother closing her door. She crossed the area as fast as she could, coming to an abrupt halt a few paces away from the opposite side of the table, staring in disbelief.

“Hey, girlie,” Eddus said after a few moments.

“Don’t you ‘hey girlie’ me, Eddus Brandt! What the fuck! Where the fuck have you been?” Stiles turned her gaze to Isabella. “Has- Has he been with you? What the fuck?”

“Where are Mo and Jay?”

“They’re at work. They –” Stiles shook her head. “Don’t change the subject, damn it!”

“Calm down,” Eddus chuckled. “I know I’ve been gone longer than expected, but it’s only been a few-”

“Years, Ed!” Stiles approached the table, pulling out one of the chairs. She sat down, shaking her head, still looking at him wide-eyed. She looked as though she’d seen a ghost. “It’s been almost three years!”

“What?” Glancing at Issabella, Eddus felt his stomach lurch. He put his hand on the table to steady himself, his legs suddenly weak. Beside him, Isabella turned a chair for him to sit in, which he almost fell onto.

“Where have you been, Ed? The last time I saw you was- ” Stiles looked back and forth between the two on the opposite side of the table. “Two years, Ed! That was like, two years and... eight months ago, I think. What the actual fuck!”

Eddus caught his breath. He knew that he’d been in the faerie realm for at least three months, from what he could gather. It had taken almost that amount of time for his legs, hip, and ribs to heal, as well as for the birthing pod that Issabella produced to come to term. He was aware that there were a few days beyond that to be counted as well, but not knowing exactly how much faster time moved in the faerie realm, he had no idea that so much time had passed in his absence.

“I didn’t realize,” he said, unable to think of any way to answer.

“You didn’t realize you’d been gone for two and a half years? Where the hell were you?”

“I-I can’t...”

“Ed, Mo and Janet filed a missing persons case.” Stiles shook her head, her brows knitted. “We were all questioned about your disappearance. We all thought- we thought you were dead.”

Isabella placed a hand on Eddus’s shoulder, and he looked up at her. She could feel his confusion.

“Abbi, was he- has he been with you?” Accusation was thick in Stiles’s question.

Isabella looked from Eddus to Stiles. She nodded, biting her lip.

“Where the fuck have you guys been?” Stiles’s voice rose slightly as she spoke to both of them. “We looked everywhere for you!”

Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths. Her lips thinned, and she clenched her jaw as a tear rolled down her cheek. She shook her head and wiped it away angrily before looking at Eddus.

“Couldn’t you have at least called us? Couldn’t you let us know that you weren’t going to be back for a while? Let us fucking know that you were alive!” Although Stiles’ words were reprimanding in nature, her tone was one of exasperation. The emotions she fought not to show came through in her speech as well. Her voice broke, and she wiped her eyes as she spoke, as though determined not to let them see.

“Ed, the police gave up looking for you over a year after the missing person case was opened. They said it’s now an unsolved cold case.”

“I’m- I don’t know what to say.” Eddus felt terrible watching the Stiles struggling with a barrage of thoughts and emotions

“Where the hell were you? How hard could it have been to let us know where you were?” Stiles looked from Eddus to Issabella, not wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “It didn’t occur to either of you?”

“It’s my fault,” Isabella said. She touched Eddus’s elbow.

Stiles shook her head. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut short.

“You’re right, Stiles,” Eddus told her. “There is no excuse. Has it really been two years?”

“Yes, Ed,” Stiles told him angrily, “and it’s closer to three years. You disappeared off the face of the planet for almost three years. Nothing, Ed! Nothing! For all we knew...”

Her lips pursed as another tear rolled down her cheek.

Eddus nodded. He glanced at Isabella with a serious look, then back to his Stiles.

“As I said, there is no excuse, Stiles. I’m- I’m sorry,” he said. He could sense Issabella’s discomfort, and not just because her grip tightened slightly on his arm. There was a flutter in his chest as he spoke, and he had to make an effort not to show how uneasy it made him. Even months after forming their mate-bond, he wasn’t used to being able to feel the emotions she felt.

“Fuck sorry, Ed! You’re damn right, there’s no excuse.” Stiles got to her feet.

Isabella nudged Eddus forward, who stood motionless. He took a few steps around the end of the table, stopping in front of his roommate.

Anger in her eyes, Stiles glared at him for a moment before she slapped him. Eddus blinked in surprise, his cheek burning. He glanced at Issabella, who lowered her gaze, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Now get over here!” Stiles threw her arms around him, tears streaming down her face. Stunned, Eddus didn’t make a move for a moment before returning her embrace. He turned again to look at Isabella.

“I missed you so much,” Stiles said, not releasing him from the hug. “You’re such an asshole! And Mo is so going to kill you when he gets back...”