Copyrighted Kristen Banet 2019
Brought from original Facebook upload
“What am I looking at?” Sawyer walked into the dining room with a frown. She had just put James to bed and now she was looking at her lovers sitting around the table. She hadn’t left them here. She was positive of that. She was certain they said they were all going to do their own things after dinner and game time with James, so why were they here?
“We’re here to stage an intervention,” Vincent said gently, pulling her chair out. “It’s time.”
“Intervention for what?” She snorted in offense at the chair and the guys. Elijah and Zander started chuckling in unison. Quinn wouldn’t look at her, and Jasper just looked exhausted. His long days were taking a toll on him, even if the work made him happy. Being a Councilman wasn’t an easy job.
“You’ve been avoiding practicing for your interview with Time Magazine next week. It’s time you got started so we’re all forcing you to sit down now and give this a shot.” Jasper yawned. “Because you haven’t given an interview about you in years. You’ve done one about all of us, but this interview is about you and your life, something we all know you don’t like talking about.”
She sighed. “That.” Dutifully, she took her seat. “How do we want to do this?”
“That was easier than I thought,” Vincent mumbled. Slowly, she turned on him, an eyebrow going up. It was the look she gave them when she didn’t want to cuss in front of James. He seemed unfazed. “You’ve been avoiding us for weeks whenever we bring up the topic.”
“Yeah but then you reminded me it’s a week away.” He had a point. “Now tell me how this is going to work.”
“Well, in the real interview you’ll be with one person, but we’re going to interview you as a team. They sent us some preliminary example questions and we’re going to add in a few of our own.” Elijah grinned, and she knew that couldn’t be good.
“He googled some weird fan groups you have to find questions they’ve all been dying to have answered. Obviously we aren’t going to send them the answers but they’ll be good questions to throw you off.” Zander grinned as well. “I helped with those.”
“Oh joy,” she mumbled. “Let’s get this started then.” She waved them on, hoping they would just get started. There was no real way in her opinion to prepare for this. The questions Time Magazine was going to ask her were going to be hard hitters, personal, and she knew she probably wouldn’t be answer some. Whatever they sent ahead of time was only the tip of the iceberg. Vincent picked up the piece of paper in front of him and cleared his voice. He squinted for a moment then sighed, grabbing his new reading glasses from his front pocket and put them on.
“Sawyer Cambrie Matthews, also known by Shadow when you were better known as a criminal. It was discovered later that you had taken on vigilante work after you let the world believe you were dead. From other interviews, you said doing it made you feel like you were finally doing some good in the world. My question is, would you ever go back to it? Do you ever want to?”
“That can’t all be on the paper,” she pointed out.
“No, I tried to be the interviewer, now answer the question.”
“No. I wouldn’t ever go back, nor do I want to.” She kept it sweet and simple but when Vincent didn’t say anything, she realized he was expecting more of an answer. “As to why… It was something I did when I wasn’t mentally in a good place. I was still working outside the law and in the end, the help I gave was violence. The people I saved were better off but I couldn’t take monsters off the streets. They could move to a different city and find new victims and there was nothing I could do about that. I didn’t want to kill anyone, and I couldn’t arrest them. I saved some, trying to do good, but it didn’t really fix the problem. With my business with Vincent Castello, we really fix the problem. The bad guys get put away and that’s more satisfying to me.”
“Good job,” Vincent said with a small smile. “Would you ever go back to the IMPO? Would any of your family?”
“No. We don’t want to work for someone like that. Jasper is a Councilman as well now, which complicated things. He also protects me, though. He keeps anyone from trying to drag us back into messes we have no part in. We maintain a distant working relationship with them, only assisting them on certain cases involving children or asking them for a favor if we’re in desperate need.”
“And finally—”
“Speaking of one of your five lovers,” Elijah cut in grinning. “Women everywhere want to know… who has the biggest dick? Have you ever been with more than two of us at once? How is it living with a child while being in such an unconventional relationship?”
“What the fuck?” Sawyer’s mouth dropped open. “Elijah!”
“Got to keep it surprising. Answer.”
“No!”
“Please?” He gave her the big hazel sad eyes.
“Elijah, everyone here knows you have the biggest dick. You all also know that I’ve been with three of you at once but never everyone. Vincent and Jasper don’t like it like you three.” She jerked her head at the guilty cowboy, Zander, and Quinn. “Finally, we’re not stupid. James knows what we all are to each other, but we’re never vulgar in front of him and there’s one of him, six of us and three animals. It’s really easy to keep him out of a part of the house when it’s needed.”
“Good answers but maybe don’t cuss at the interviewer.” Elijah winked.
“If the interviewer asks me any of those, I won’t cuss him out. I’ll knock him out.” Sawyer smiled innocently, not betraying the fact that she was completely serious.
“Let’s move on…” Jasper mumbled, shaking his head. “You have a big presence right now with mothers all around the world thanks to your vicious over protectiveness of your adopted son, James. Let’s take the topic to him—”
“No,” she hissed. “Jasper, they are not allowed to ask about James.”
“They’re going to and you need reasonable responses to it, even if it’s deflection,” he retorted. “I deal with it all the time and I keep his secrets and life very private. Luckily, many of the questions will be more focused on you than him. Just keep listening.”
“Fine.” She huffed, shaking her head.
“Do you think you’ll ever give your son a sibling? Biological or adopted?”
“No,” she answered immediately. Slower, considering the question further, she continued. “Having one child was a dream of mine. Just the one. I was always going to adopt, because biological children aren’t for me. One more children out there in the world gets a home he or she deserved. They wouldn’t be orphaned like me, having lost their family. I don’t want anymore. He’s mine, and I don’t want to share him or have him share me with someone else. Maybe, though, people can see him and think that maybe adoption is the right answer for them. Maybe someone can reach out and find another child that needs someone and be that parent for them.”
“Hm.” Vincent leaned back in his seat, smiling. Jasper was too. None of them had ever asked for children. She had told them she wanted to adopt and they supported her every step of the way. James ended up being perfect for their family. There was no need for anymore, not for them. “That was perfect, I think.”
“Agreed,” Jasper whispered. Zander was nodding next to him. “What’s next? This where you jump in, right?” Jasper looked at Zander with a pleading expression, as if the wanted to change the topic quickly before the room got too emotional.
“Ah… yeah, now I feel bad for this one. How was it losing your virginity to me? Am I better now than I was as a teenager? Should I get more piercings?”
“Amazing,” she answered dryly. “And I’ve had fifteen years to make sure you know how I like it, so yes, much better, not that you were inexperienced or bad to begin with. Also, please don’t get anymore. You already set off metal detectors and everyone looks at me when that happens. Next.”
“Good idea…” Zander sank in his seat. “What about talking about your new project in New York? We’re launching that soon, aren’t we?”
“That’s a very good idea!” Vincent snapped his fingers like it was an epiphany. “Grab a chance during an awkward question to move into something different. ‘Well, I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you..’”
Sawyer nodded and began to frame the answer that would segway perfectly. “Well, Mister whoever, I won’t answer that but I’ll take the chance to tell you about my new program in New York called Light In The Dark. We launched with the help of the very famous Doctor Charles because his gym in the Bronx is our hub. Instead of the old vigilante work I did out of his gym, we’ve started teaching children self defense, doing after school programs to keep them out of trouble and help them with troubling school or home lives. We’ve worked closely with the IMPO and the local non-Magi law enforcement to make sure children and parents know that the resource is available. It’s quickly becoming the haven for the down trodden I’ve always seen it as. I’m there once a week, teaching my own classes and Zander Wade, in addition to be an official trainer for the IMPO, teaches teenagers in more advanced classes. The teenagers, in turn, as certified Big Brothers and Big Sisters, looking after the younger ones and helping them succeed.”
“Perfect!” Elijah started to clap. “Now it’s just Quinn.”
“Uh…” Quinn looked out of place. “What’s the greatest adventure you’ve been on since you left your life of crime and the IMPO after that with your pardon?”
“When I took my entire family to the Amazon to visit friends,” she answered, smiling gently at him. There was a waterfall she and Quinn had wanted to see again, and show the other guys. “It was wonderful. We’re planning another trip in the next year to take our son.”
It continued on, the questions from Jasper and Vincent remaining serious. They asked about all sorts of technical details about her work now and how she feels with the small fame she still had from her youth. Jasper went to sleep first, leaving because he had to be up early. After him, Quinn couldn’t sit any longer, heading outside to be with his wolves. He spent most nights in the summer out there, because somethings would never change. Elijah went next, but only because he had an art project he wanted to work on. He had that happen frequently, getting hit with sudden inspiration. Zander was after him, leaving her with Vincent.
“See? That wasn’t do bad,” he whispered, running a hand over her cheek and pushing her hair behind her ear. “I’ve got one more question.”
“Let me have it,” she replied, smiling at him.
“Do you have a favorite? James doesn’t count.”
“No. There’s never been a favorite in my household or in my heart. Every single one of you are perfect in different ways and I couldn’t imagine a life where I was missing a single one of you,” she reminded him. “Do you think they’ll ask?”
“Someone always does,” he reminded her. “Do you wish we ever did things differently?”
“About what?” She shook her head. “No. There’s nothing I would change, even the dark parts. There’s some regrets. I wish we bought the house in Georgia back from the IMPO when we had the chance. It would have been nice to have a summer home.”
“That’s a very mild regret.”
“It is.” She shrugged. “I have a wonderful life, interviewer. I have five wonderful men who took on the darkest parts of lives with me, and stood by me as I struggled through it all. They stayed with each other when things were hard, completely loyal not just to their hearts and love but also to their brotherhood. Together, we’ve raised a great son and continue to raise him into a great man. Together, we’ve built a life that even makes the most wild animals comfortable and happy.” She looked pointed at Sombra, as the big cat walked in. The feline wondered if it was nearly sleep time and wanted Sawyer to open her bedroom door so she could lay in her pile of stolen things. “I love my life and everything in it. There’s nothing I would change. Not any of the important stuff. Good, bad, or ugly.”
“I think you’ll do fine,” he said, smiling again. “We all love you.”
“And I love all of you, tomorrow and every day after it.”