DeLorean House in the Morning

It was still early and cold fog shrouded Daut, while foul winds blew in from the swamps. Ethan still didn't have any cigarets and he was standing glumly at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the house half hidden in mist.

He hadn't slept. In the past hours his mind had been too full of thoughts and past regrets. Seeing Julianne had been so unexpected and couldn't get her out of his mind. Finally the sun had risen weak and pale behind a blanket of thick clouds and Ethan had made his way back to the white house, with the silly gate and the cheap garden.

His hands were buried in his deep pockets and a stray dog was sitting loyally at his heels. He stood there a long while, indecisive. A flock of wrens landed on the fence, hopping closer to get a good look at him. Soon they were joined by a few pigeons and when one actually fluttered towards his hat, Ethan jerked out of his still stance and waved it off with a curse. Grumbling slightly, he kicked the little gate open and walked around the house, looking for a side entrance or a servants' door. He doubted the kid would be up so early, but he might as well try.

Finding a door leading into the kitchen, Ethan tried to get a look through a dirty window and then knocked.

It was a minute, but someone was definitely stirring inside, and a shadow could be seen moving closer towards the dirty window. The locks were unbolted, and the door opened slowly with a whining creak.

A shawl wrapped around her shoulders and still in the dress she wore the night before, Julianne leaned against the frame and looked out at Ethan. She wasn't smiling. In the dim light, her expression worn and hollow, it was like the beauty had been drained from her dark face.

Her hazel eyes leveled a dull look on him. "Hey, Cap..." pausing, she stepped back and opened the door wider. "...Yuh gonna come in?"

She looked different, but maybe she just wasn't a morning person. After so many years, it was hard to really know for sure. Silently, he stepped through the door, his brown eyes watching her face. "Sorry, if I woke you," he muttered, after a moment and glanced around the dim, empty kitchen.

""S fine," she said, closing the door, and crossing her arms as she turned to face him again. "So. Yuh wanted to see me? Kinda late for apologies if that's what you're thinking."

She stood apart from him, her stance stiff and cold. A bitter frown creased her brow, though maybe she was just grumpy about being up so early. Biting her lip, she looked away from him, her voice chilling slightly.

"So where have you been?"

"Spent 'few years locked up," he admitted, not really wanting to talk about himself. "Only got out little over a month ago. Not a captain anymore." He finally looked at her. "Yer all grown up I see. How long since yeh left Audum?"

"'Bout three years," she muttered. She fell quiet a moment, and then sniffed, looking directly up at him. "You know, she kept saying you'd come back. She was just fine with waiting. One day I looked right at her, and I said, "You're full of it. He ain't never coming back'..." her breath came to a pause, she wiped the palm of her hand across her cheek, sniffing.

Her voice sounded more tired than anything when she spoke again. "It was just a few weeks after that, I got my savings together and left on the next ship out." She let out a short scoff, "Thought I'd follow the captain's example, yuh know."

Wrapping the shawl more securely about her shoulders, she dropped her gaze from him, letting the silence between them grow colder.

A sence of guiltiness pressed harder upon Ethan and he began to regret coming. When she didn't break the silence, he finally said, "Listen Kid, uh Julianne, Miri and I... Things are different between us than... between well normal couples. I know she was waiting for me, I know... I just. Things were getting hot for me in Audum. I had to leave. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Forget it," Julianne said, and sighed, "I know how tuh deal with my own problems now, so...is that all you came tuh say?"

"I wanted to see yeh," Ethan said, "Make you were okay. And I thought you could tell me something 'bout Miri."

He leaned against the wall and looked around the house, avoiding her gaze. "So what's the deal with the Viscountess?" he asked, changing subjects "Why did yeh tell me to leave last night?"

Julianne didn't answer, but her shoulders tensed under the shawl.

"...haven't seen Miri in a year," she said. Seeing Ethan's face, she yielded, her voice warming up a degree. "She still writes though."

Ethan looked up, "Does she? Well of course she would. She still lives on Helas and works as a midwife?"

Julianne just shook her head, letting out a sigh, "Last she wrote she told me she was leaving. Told me she'd write me again to tell me more. That was a couple o'months ago."

"Oh." Ethan tried to ignore sudden worry that threatened to overcome him. "Did she say why, or where she was planning on going?"

It seemed strange that Miri would leave a place where she was settled, where she had her home. She'd always loved home. When she and Ethan had been together, there'd never been a question about who's house it was. It was Miri's home through and through. Ethan sometimes stayed there, but it was Miri's home and she had chosen to share it with him. But now she'd left her home? It didn't sound like her, though he supposed he couldn't expect her to stay in one place forever.

"Said sometin about havin business tuh settle in Shelby," Julianne said. "That's all I know." She walked to the door, "It's time yuh left. I got work this morning, yuh know."

"Shelby?" Ethan asked startled, "Like the Shelby University Shelby?"

A chill ran through Ethan. This couldn't be a coincidence could it? Had she somehow found out about the agreement he'd made? He couldn't think how, but Miri was uncanny, especially when it came to sensing that the people she loved were in danger.

"Yeeaaah," Julianne gave him a weird look, "Why, something wrong?" She rolled her eyes, "Nevuhmind. I don't wanna know. Just get out of here already, will you?" She opened the door for him.

Ethan hesitated, took a couple steps out the door and then turned around. "You said you haven't heard from her and a couple months? No letters or anything?"

She leaned in the doorway, looking hard at him, "Nothin."

Then her voice lowered, soft of a sudden. "You're worried 'bout her, huh."

Ethan leaned on the door post and ran a hand through his hair, which still hadn't completely grown out from his stay in Highfield. "Kid... I," he hesitated, "When I said I spent a while locked up, I was really..." He turned his gaze to a knothole in the kitchen door and was quite a few moments. "Is it usual for her to go this long without writing?"

"I usually get something from her every few weeks, but I'd figured she was busy, and I got my own stuff goin on anyway," Julianne muttered, shifting uncomfortably.

He frowned slightly, thinking about Miri, then noticed the look on her face. "Yeh need any help?" he asked, "What's wrong Kid?"

"Nothing," she said a little forced, and not looking at him, "Now why don't you go, find Miri, she's been waiting on you long enough, hasn't she?"

He looked past her into the house, "Why did yeh warn me last night? What's going on with Evaleen?"

"I've got it under control," the maid snapped, instinctively standing in the doorway with her hands on either side of the frame, keeping him out. "Just leave it alone, okay? You gettin involved ain't gonna help anyone."

He looked back down at her. She was probably right. After eight years it wasn't his responsibility to protect her, or butt into her affairs. If she was handling things herself then he should just back off and let her.

"Alright," he said, "But if yeh ever need help, I'll probably be in town fer another week o' so. I'm working fer the captain of the Heat.Or if yeh just want to share a beer o catch up any... I'd like teh see yeh 'gain Kid."