Homecoming

Brit stood by Ethan on another rooftop.  She watched silently as he did to the city around them.  With the approach of summer, Ethan suggested returning to the city where they had first met.  It was the city where they married and started their lives together.  "Perhaps I can endure the sunrise in the darkness, Brit."  Ethan resented the summer with its short nights and long days.  The loss of time with Brit was frustrating and the thought of another summer was simply unacceptable.

Nodding to his comment, she paused looking to her husband.  "Oui, tres bon," Brit replied with a giggle causing him to smile.  Since their trip to France, Brit delighted in using words she had learned from her new friends during their lengthy stay.  Her giggles faded as she gazed up and down the streets of the city.  

Ethan quirked an eyebrow when he heard her soft sigh.  Walking toward her, he pulled her back against him wrapping his arms around her.  Her thoughts were confused.  She pressed back against him and he sensed a bit of fear.  Frowning, he whispered against her ear, "What troubles you, baby?"  

Licking her lower lip, she shook her head briefly more to clear her thoughts so she could answer.  "It's all changed," Brit whispered.  Tilting his head, Ethan watched the side of her face.  "This is not the town we know, Ethan."  

It was true that the town had changed.  Buildings had crumbled and more were erected out of the remains of those before.  Ethan gave a bit of a shrug, "Such is the way with all civilizations, Brit.  Everything has its season and time.  With change, the old goes and the new arrives."  

Brit said nothing for a time as she processed his thoughts.  She shifted slightly from one foot to the other and back again.  Resting her head on his chest, she lisped, "Where are the people?"  Bikers rode by toward a small crowd on a corner of the street.  Ethan nodded toward them.  Shaking her head, she emphasized, "No, Ethan....the people.  Our people."  

Ethan looked perplexed and repeated, "Our people, Brit?"  Brit nodded and he continued, "I do not believe I understand, baby."

Pulling from him, she went to the ledge to look down the side of the building.  He followed as she looked up and down the street.  "Where is Denny?  Nikita?  Joah?  Grr?  Where is everyone?"  

For the first time, Ethan sounded oddly like Brit as he replied, "Oh."  He recomposed and gave her a comforting squeeze.  "Brit, people come and go, but..."

For the first time in their marriage, Brit cut him off mid-sentence.  "Have they perished?  There was no one in the library!  Or the church!  There is no one in the pit, and I cannot find the Voodoo Shop from here, I do not think!"  Her heartbeat had increased and she sounded genuinely alarmed.

Turning her toward him, he brushed her cheek with his fingers as he thought of how to reply.  Truth be told, Ethan had not kept up as well as he once did regarding who lived and died in this city.  "Denny, I am sure, will turn up."  Bad pennies often do, he thought wryly and immediately wiped the thought from his mind when Brit's eyes darted toward his.  He was almost sure that she had not caught the thought.  "Nikita, well, you know she travels....I am certain that I would know if she met with danger."  Ethan did not go into the bond he had.  

Nodding to him, she felt his words calm her a bit.  Ethan brushed her hair back and said, "Some others left prior to our trip, baby."  His hand stroked her cheek again.  "Remember, he asked gently.  

Brit nodded.  "I thought it would be like...like..."  Her voice trailed as she thought of what else she might say.  "Coming here would be...different by being the same."  He listened to her words.  "Everything has changed.  It's all different.  I do not know this place or these people."  It was an odd feeling to her.

"You did not know the place when you first came here, Baby," he reminded her.  It was an odd feeling to Ethan that Brit would feel concern and he was unsure what exactly caused her to be unsettled.

"This city was a scary place then, Ethan....but...I did not have you then."  Ethan smiled as he felt her start to relax.  "But this is not our home anymore, I do not think."

Ethan gazed at the city and the people he did not know.  "Home is wherever we are, Brit.  People will come and go as will buildings.  Changes will happen, but home is right here."  His fingers tapped her chest over her heart playfully.  "Home is wherever we are as long as it is together."

Brit smiled to him nodding.  It all made sense to her.