“You can put your coat and stuff anywhere you like,” Fitz told me, oblivious to my discomfort.  “You can keep your gloves on if you’d rather, or we might have some latex ones around if that would be easier in the house?  The housekeeper isn’t in today, or I’d introduce you and ask her, but I’m pretty sure we can find some.”  He sounded awfully confident as he led the way to the massive kitchen with shiny appliances.

Whoa.  Kat finally voiced her opinion.  This place looks like something out of a magazine.  No, maybe something futuristic?  Wait is that the refrigerator?  I thought it was the wall!

I barely listened as Fitz kept chatting, explaining stuff about the kitchen as he got out some tea and then searched around for cleaning supplies.  I accepted them, almost in a trance, when he did find them, and then wiped down everything I thought we would use for good measure, although I actually doubted I needed to because it all looked so sparkling clean that it wasn’t triggering my anxieties.

“What would you like?  Or maybe you should just check out what we have in the fridge,” he suggested.  “Um, we do eat vegetarian.  If you’re in the mood for something more, I can maybe get someone to deliver something – wait, that kind of defeats the purpose,” he muttered to himself.

“Vegetarian is fine,” I interrupted.  I took a moment to look over the ingredients and figure out what to make.  “Anything you particularly want?”

While we discussed what to eat, Kat grumbled in my head.

Vegetarian?  I know that’s a fairy thing, but uggh, I’d hate that.  I like my meats.  I guess fairies can’t handle it and it’s fine, but that would drive me nuts if I lived with one.

I nearly raised an eyebrow.  You’ve been bugging me to flirt with him, and you do realize if anything came of that, not that it would, not when the difference in our lifestyles was so glaringly obvious now, that you’d be involved in the relationship, too?  The same way I have been with your girlfriends?

I know, I know.  I just forgot about the vegetarian thing.  And he wouldn’t expect me to eat vegetarian, would he?  She muttered to herself.

Fitz went to check on his mom, leaving me alone to cook for a few minutes.  I hesitated, not sure about this question, but feeling like it had to be brought up.

Kat…are you really bi?  Because it feels like you like girls.  Everyone you’ve dated is either female or female-presenting.  And that’s fine if so – of course – it’s just…it complicates things as far as either of us ever dating.

She let out a long, frustrated sigh.  I am.  A bit.  I feel like 90% attracted to women, to be honest, but there is some attraction to men.  It’s not a ton, but there’s some.  And sometimes I wonder if I’m more demi when it comes to men, because sometimes I feel a bit more attracted when it’s someone I know and feel like they’re cool.  I’m not making up being bi or making myself be bi just to make things possible for us, honestly, but I guess I’m not much attracted to men – but definitely some!  She was quiet for a moment.  I suppose that makes things extra complicated, huh?  The small percentage I’m attracted to overlapping with who you’re attracted to, and them being bi or pan and okay with a poly relationship.  She sighed again, now sounding discouraged.  I wonder if most chimera don’t actually ever date someone?  Or if they do, if it’s only the same gendered ones?

I wasn’t sure how to answer that, but I had to agree that dating for us was complicated.  At least Kat was attracted to some men, and I did have to hope that if I ever were to date a guy, that it would be someone Kat was interested in, too.

Speaking off, Fitz returned, looking a bit tired, but happy, too.

“Mom’s doing a bit better today,” he informed me.  “If you’d like to meet her, I think she’d be up for guests today.  My aunt thinks so, at least.  She doesn’t get many new visitors, but you don’t have to if you’re not comfortable with it.”

I hesitated, several thoughts going through my head at once.  This was the former fairy queen, only she’d almost gone dark and now was suffering from memory and cognitive loss.  She was also Fitz’s mom.  And I had no idea how to act with someone like her, or whether seeing her would remind me of Dad while he was sick.

But I also wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to meet her.  It seemed polite to at least say hi if I was hanging out in her house for a bit.

“Have she and your aunt eaten?”  I asked tentatively.  “Should I make enough for all four of us and we can eat together?”

He seemed very surprised by this suggestion, but immediately on board.  “Yeah, sure!  That would be nice, actually.  I bet my aunt would enjoy the company as well.  We can drive each other nuts,” he explained with a bit of a laugh.  “After living together as long as we have, I’m sure you can imagine why we sometimes need a break from each other.”

Huh.  I wonder if we’ll feel like that in a couple hundred years.  I could almost feel Kat shrug.  Oh well, not like we actually have that option.  Sorry, Ezzie, you’re stuck with me!  She sounded cheerful about that, though, and honestly, I was kind of happy with it, too.  It was nice to know that we were permanently bonded together so no one could ever force us apart.  Even if we might end up getting on each other’s nerves sometimes.

I had opted for cheesy lasagna rolls, which I knew how to make quickly, and Fitz insisted on helping by making a cucumber salad, so before long we had everything ready and carried the plates off to meet Fitz’s mom and aunt.

I felt a burst of nerves as we stepped into the room.  There was one woman sitting in what appeared to be maybe some kind of fancy hospital bed, with another woman – who looked similar to her – sitting next to her, holding a book.  They seemed a bit surprised when we entered.

“Mom, Lyla, this is Ezra.  Ezra, this is my mom, Lorna, and my aunt, Lyla.  Ezra made lunch!  I helped,” he added proudly.  He pulled up a couple of folding tables and some spare chairs, handing each of the women a plate with silverware before running back to the kitchen for the pitcher of tea and the glasses.

I felt mildly abandoned, standing there awkwardly with my plate and the fairies I didn’t know.

The one in the bed looked at me, her eyes not seeming to quite focus on me.  “Is that the maid?  Tell them they shouldn’t just stand there,” she ordered her sister.  “It’s rude to stare.”

“No, Lorna,” the other fairy told her gently.  “It’s a guest, a friend of FitzJames’s.”  She gave me a kind smile.  “This smells delicious, by the way.  Do you cook professionally?”

I immediately shook my head, sinking down into the seat I presumed was for me and setting my plate down on the foldaway table.  “No, I’ve just been cooking since I was young.  It’s a hobby, I guess.”

“Cook?”  The former fairy queen frowned.  “Did you say that’s the cook?  What are they doing here?  And why are they sitting?  The lack of etiquette!  I need to speak to the household manager immediately,” she demanded.

Lyla patted her arm.  “Lorna, he’s just a friend, and you can’t fire him, he doesn’t work here.”  Her eyes were twinkling as she glanced back at me, and despite feeling awkward, I suddenly felt a burst of amusement, too, as the hilariousness of the situation struck me.

Fitz’s mom wanted to fire me for sitting down in her presence.  Of all the possible reasons to get fired, that would not have been one I’d have anticipated – or the idea of getting fired from a job I didn’t even have.

Fitz returned and seemed confused when Lyla and I were both fighting back laughter.  He poured us all tea, informing me that he’d only touched the bottom of my freshly-washed glass, then when he sat down he leaned over to whisper to me.

“What’d I miss?”

“Your mom wants to fire me, the cook, for sitting down on the job,” I whispered in return.  “Well, sitting in her presence.  I’ve never gotten fired from a job I didn’t have before.”

He looked alarmed for a moment, but once he realized I genuinely wasn’t offended, relaxed a bit.

It was an interesting lunch, to be honest.  Lorna had a few moments when she seemed lucid and present, even giving me a nod and a “nice to meet you” after my third introduction to her – because Fitz had to keep reintroducing me – and talking some about the Christmas party, which she was apparently looking forward to.  She did have other moments when it was clear she was confused about where –and when – exactly she was, but Lyla largely smoothed those over and she and Fitz seemed pretty used to them, though Fitz did look a bit pained when she not-so-subtly asked Lyla – in what she likely thought was a whisper but definitely wasn’t – who he was.

When she finished her food, Lorna nodded once in approval.  “Excellent decision today by the cook.  Send them my regards,” she told Lyla.  “And now I think it is time for a nap before bird-watching.”

That seemed to be our cue to gather up the dishes and leave, but Lyla followed us as we were putting the dishes in the fancy dishwasher.

“Thank you, really,” she told me, with a bit more seriousness.  “For the food, of course, but also for taking the time to stay and not get offended.  She doesn’t mean poorly, but sometimes she doesn’t interact well with others and,” she sighed, then seemed to kind of muster herself up a bit into a smile.  “It can be amusing, and we try to look at that side of things.”  She gave Fitz a glance, then returned her attention to me.  “Not that we’re laughing at her, more like…sometimes you just have to look at the brightest spot in the situation that you can find.  And sometimes appreciating the unintentional humor of what she says is enough to make it not feel quite so bad.”

Had I been a hugger, I would have offered her one.  “It’s hard,” I agreed, “watching someone you care about not be all there.  I dealt with that with my dad, but it was only for a few years.  I can’t imagine dealing with it for as long as you have.”

“Ezra knows about supernaturals,” Fitz interjected.  “Even though he’s chosen not to be protected.  He knows how long this has really been going on and, um, the implications of what Mom was saying are and what she meant.”

Lyla nodded, tucked her hair behind her ears, giving Fitz a smile before she answered me.  “It has been a long time, but it helps to have someone else there to share the burden and we do take breaks sometimes.  FitzJames often hires another nurse to help when I need a break, another fairy if he can.  And sometimes I urge him to take a vacation, too.  Caregiving can be emotionally draining so having a chance to get away is important, even if we do both love her dearly despite everything.”

A pity you couldn’t have had family like that, Kat murmured.  Well, us.  But you mostly dealt with them.  Maybe if we’d had family like them, then I’d have been able to officially exist amongst them, too.

I wanted that for her.  For both of us, really.  I wanted a family that acknowledged both of us equally.  It was unfortunate that it seemed so far out of reach, but we both still dreamed of that possibility.

Lyla had to get back to her sister, but did tell me thanks and that it was nice to meet me before she left, leaving me alone with Fitz to try to figure out what I was supposed to do now.  Just go back to work, probably?  Or should I let him show me whatever it was back in the office he wanted to show me before I left?

Fitz seemed to be on the same page, because he glanced at his watch.  “I suppose you will be needing to get back to work.”  He actually sounded a bit regretful.  “Thanks for coming, and for lunch – you’re a great cook.”

I wasn’t actually used to cooking for people much anymore, so I squirmed a little.  “Um, thanks for not getting mad when I wrongly accused you.”

He waved me off, actually looking a bit amused.  “It was a reasonable assumption and you backed down as soon as you realized.”

I still shouldn’t have come in yelling at him, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d have been brave enough to ask him what was going on if I wasn’t angry enough to just voice my frustration, and then instead I’d have just let it stew and always assumed the wrong thing.  Kat had been right to caution me, but I was kind of glad I’d learned the truth, too.

“Well, thank you anyway,” I told him.  “And, uh, for not getting too weird about the germ stuff.”  Here he was, literal royalty, willing to make adjustments to help me, a simple clerk.

“Everyone’s allowed to have their own quirks.”  He gave me a smile as we started walking towards the door.