After lunch, everyone in Grande was cleaning up in the kitchen, except for the lazy Alpha and the old Hank who had always done housework.
It was like this at first, but when Alice came to her senses, she found that she and Zach were alone in the kitchen.
"I'm fine." Alice nervously took the dry rag, wiped the wet plate back and forth, and then put it in the cupboard.
Zach ran his rubber-gloved fingers over the foam-covered dinner plate, "I haven't asked anything yet."
Alice stopped talking and quickly wiped one plate after another.
Zach barely hid his actions, he took out clean dishes from the cupboard, put them into the swaying pool full of foam, wiped them casually twice, and handed them to Alice.
It didn't take long for Alice to find that the rag on her hand was soaked and she couldn't dry it anymore. "I, I'll get a new one." Alice lowered her head and squatted in front of the cabinet, rummaging through it. stand up.
The succubus, who was clearly not paying attention, didn't even realize that the vampire had already soaked all of Grande's dishes! Is this okay? hehe.
Zach didn't stop him and continued to take out clean dishes from the cupboard and threw them into the sink, "Alice?"
Alice grumbled, holding a new rag, lowering her head to take the wet plate and continue wiping it.
"No matter what decision you make, we will support it..." Zach was interrupted midway through his words with a comforting tone.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Alice clutched the plate tightly with both hands, raised her head, and stared at the vampire.
"Then..." Zach tilted his head slightly and his expression became serious, "No one can take you away." Seeing Alice's relaxed expression, Zach smiled and took the plate and dishcloth from her hand. "You are Grande's sister, and no one can touch Grande's sister."
Alice's tense face softened and she threw herself into Zach's arms, "This is my home! I am Grande's sister! No one else's sister!"
Zach held up a wet plate, and now that Alice couldn't see the vampire's face, Zach had a strange expression on his face. He seemed unconvinced by what he just said.
Because the person who will come to pick up Alice is not the person who abandoned her in the first place, but her brother who abandoned the Firefly name in anger for her. Before this brother, whom everyone was unfamiliar with, actually appeared, no one knew what kind of person he was.
If it's someone everyone hates, a self-righteous idiot like Ryan, then forget it. What if, what if he is a great person
It was obviously just a kitchen, but Louise still knocked on the door frame gently and looked at the rare warm embrace in the Grand House. He gestured, 'James is here. '
Zach curled his lips. Alice in her arms obviously heard the soft noise and stepped away embarrassedly. She took the plate in Zach's hand, put on her gloves, stood by the sink, and smiled at Zach. "Go ahead, I'm fine."
Zach could only nod. He took off his gloves and walked outside.
Not sure if it was intentional or something, James stood in the center of the backyard, his whole body shrouded in the hot and dazzling sunlight. His eyes were unfocused and he turned his head left and right, not knowing what he was looking at.
Zach stood behind the stairwell door for a while, then opened the door with his lips curled up. Kankan stood in the shadow under the eaves of the back porch and waved, "Do you want to come in or not."
James' eyes moved to Zach, looking at the vampire with the toe of his shoe level with the shadow, and frowned. Stepping towards the back porch.
Zach no longer had any expectations for James' arrival. With Sibera's phone call and Bishop's request, the vampire already had a lot of things to deal with. James' psychological counseling became less interesting. .
The two entered the office. Zach poured himself wine as usual, but James was more agile and took out a document and pushed it to Zach.
"What is this?" Zach looked at the Patton Police Department print on the cover and was a little confused. It was not that he had never gotten police documents from James before, but this was the first time that the originals were put directly in front of him. In the past, James had hand-copied or copied spare parts with his bad handwriting.
"Investigation report on Georgina's family." James had no expression on his face, and his eyes only glanced at Zach's wine glass, and he began to look at the entire office casually.
Zach twitched his lips, opened the document, and scanned it quickly.
"It's useless. Crowley hasn't checked it in detail yet." James' eyes no longer looked at Zach, but stopped at the bookcase on the side. His tone suddenly changed, "These books, you really Have you seen it?”
The vampire raised his eyebrows, raised his head, glanced at James, and then followed his gaze to the bookcase. He didn't know what the young detective was thinking. "I've seen it." Zach replied, and continued to look back at the documents in front of him. , “Life in Grande is usually boring.”
James nodded and looked away again, looking to the other side. Beside the door of the office, a branch and leaf of the potted plant that Louise had surrounded in the corner of the showroom was exposed. James raised his chin, "Do you usually take care of it?"
This young police detective's thinking is really confusing now. The corner of his mouth twitched inexplicably and he shook his head, "I won't put plants indoors. It's summer again and it attracts bugs."
Zach started with the filing of documents again, looked at James doubtfully, and then at the branches and leaves hanging out of the door. They were growing very well because of the summer, "No, I rarely take care of them. Louise is taking care of them." Zach paused and raised his eyebrows, "If the bugs you are talking about refer to mosquitoes, they never come close to me."
James nodded again and shifted his gaze again, looking behind Zach and staring at the floor-to-ceiling curtains that blocked the sunlight. "Curtains, do you know how to clean them? You know that curtains are the dirtiest thing in the room besides carpets..."
"James." Zach looked at James' face and did not let the somewhat baffled detective continue to ask, "What do you want to ask?"
James' eyes finally fell on Zach, he paused, shook his head, "I'm just chatting with you about daily things."
Zach closed the document in front of him. As James said, it was indeed of no use. He just labeled some things for classification and evidence collection. Now for the vampire, the abnormal James in front of him is more valuable to explore than Georgina's case.
"James." Zach looked into James' eyes, "You have lived here, more than once. You know our daily life is just a funeral home with poor business, and everyone is just looking for something to do. What exactly do you want to ask?"
James shifted his gaze, moved on the chair in front of the desk, and changed into a more comfortable position, "This is the weird thing, don't you notice? You, you guys." James nestled in the chair On the body, the whole body seemed to be extremely loose, "It's just a funeral home with poor business."
The vampire's brows furrowed, "Okay, James, you have aroused my curiosity." He waved his hand, "Tell me what you are thinking, and I will try my best to answer it."
"Actually, there's nothing to answer." James suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly, "I just..." He moved in his chair again, showing a weird smile, "I just found out." He bent down and started to look at himself. The chair under me, "Your chair is really comfortable. Did Hank make it? Or did you buy it?"
Zach's fingers slid around the rim of the wine glass a few times, and he shrugged, "It's made by Old Grande." Zach drew a circle in front of him with his hand, "Most of the furniture in the Grande House is made by Old Grande. Grande and Hank made it. It's newer and rougher in workmanship." The vampire pointed to the workbench in front of the bookcase, "Benjamin and I made it." He curled his lips, "It seems that leisure is Grande's tradition. "
"Yeah." James raised his head and looked around again, "I've never noticed it before."
Zach's eyes stayed on James, and he understood that Zach had touched James' mind. Sipping his wine, he smiled and said, "You only thought these were props before, right?"
James nodded unabashedly, "I thought these were props for you to pretend to live ordinary people's lives."
There was nothing to mind, Zach knew very well that when James first met him and Benjamin, he was evaluating everything about these two inhumans.
"There is nothing wrong with you." Zach tilted his head and shook the wine glass in his hand. "Our abilities do not require these things that ordinary people need in life. It is normal for them to be treated as props."
James never regarded Grand House as a funeral home that accommodated aliens, but as a funeral home used by aliens to hide their identity. There is a difference between the two, a big difference. At this moment, Zach discovered that James' understanding was switching from the latter to the former.
This is a good thing.
James nodded, "When I lived here before, I never relaxed. All my attention was on the two monsters hidden under this building."
"These." James raised his hand and slid a circle in the air, "They are all decorations. Your life is just a performance. Let's hide your true colors under this. I must be more vigilant."
Zach made a gesture to himself, "Don't worry, I'm not offended."
"Now." James shook his head, "I found... I was wrong." The young police detective shrugged, "You are just living here like ordinary people. Human life." James looked at him again Losing focus, as if saying to himself, "It's just the life of ordinary 'people'."
Zach was silent for a while, and the atmosphere was a bit strange, "James, tell me, what made you finally discover this? I'm very curious, and I don't think you will be mature enough to understand this on your own."
We can testify that Zach has tried and used various guidance to make James realize that aliens are also members of this world. There is no need to understand why they exist. Their existence is already a fact. Just treat them fairly. .
"Harrison." James' voice was calm, "He will have a girlfriend like that who loves him, worries about him, and is reluctant to leave him. He must be a good 'person', right. It must be like this Yes, right. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense.”
Zach was stunned for a moment, then shook his head helplessly. Forget it, childish people have childish ways of thinking, Zach doesn’t want to pursue it anymore. Hey, the good thing is, James finally realized this, enough is enough. (..)