To Everything There Is A Season

~ A Report~

                "She's asleep upstairs. Sean the big lazy bones is sound asleep in a chair." Luke told North as he bounced back into the kitchen. The morning had been hard work, but the men had had fun. Gabe had found songs that worked to keep them moving, it was a gift of his many overlooked. Kota and Owen had discussed ways to make the whole process more efficient while the rest of them had just tried to keep up with Silas.

North grunted in acknowledgment and kept working. He'd had a wonderful morning babying a finicky machine. There was something satisfying about working with ancient engines. The challenge of finding fixes made his blood sing. They also raised his blood pressure and tested his vocabulary.

"Did you see the office and hidden room we found a couple nights ago?" Luke asked his brother as he sliced bread. North grunted.

"Yeah we saw it. Silas and I checked it out last night after the family meeting. We wanted to see exactly what had made Sang faint. That room was chilling. Jed was a sick bastard. There is nothing Sang could have done to deserve stalking her. What kind of sick fuck stalks a child? The first pictures of her are when she was a little girl."

"Do you think his parents knew? Gabe was telling me how Sang's favourite instructor was Jed's mom, and Sean told Gabe and I that the outfit the mannequin is wearing was one Sang made when she was eleven. His mom was the one supervising Sang during the entire process of making that outfit." Luke asked looking up. He'd been thinking on this for the last day. If Jed's parents knew and liked Sang had they pushed their son into his obsession?

"I think they may have bragged about what she had mastered each summer or commented on what a perfect wife she would be, but that doesn't explain the pictures from her first year at camp. I think he saw her and wanted her long before his parents could have said anything. I get the desire to have her for my own. I know we've only known her four days, but I feel like I've known her a lot longer. I want her smile in my life. I want to protect her from the world. I might be convinced to let the rest of you help but I'm not sure yet."

Luke grinned, he understood exactly where his brother was coming from. "Her laugh warms my heart. I feel like I'm finally waking up after the last six months. I miss Uncle and I probably always will, but since we've been here, I feel like the grief is lessening a bit. I want to stay in this bubble, other than the needs of the farm and us, no one is expecting anything from us. Sang needs us and we need her. I know things will end soon as we need to report back to the elders, but I don't want to leave forever."

"Owen at the very least will need to go back to report, he is our liaison. Sean will want to stay here but should go back as well if for no other reason than to collect more medical supplies. Vic wants his usb wallet and other tools. Come to think on it we all have things we want to retrieve from base." North gave voice to his thoughts. "Luke! Stop eating the honeycomb. It's almost lunchtime."

Luke just grinned his mouth full of sticky honey. He always enjoyed tweaking his brother's nose in regard to how much sugar and sweets he ate. The teasing had lost its fun in recent months, grief had taken the joy out of eating. Luke was slowly starting to find his love of food again, which included trying to eat food that North objected too. The last couple days had been the first time in six months North had said anything about the food any of them ate. For Luke watching his brother starting to complain about his eating habits again was a sign of North dealing with his grief.

Swallowing his mouthful Luke shot North a cheeky smile and went back to preparing food for lunch. "I'm not sure if it is the quality of the food or the hard work or both but Sang's cooking is so good. I want her to teach me more about how to cook on the woodstove and over the fire. I want to learn how to bake bread in the woodstove and try to make different cheeses. Think we can find some recipe books for different cheese types? I think there were old army transport trucks at the base. Think the elders would give us permission to take a scavenging trip to Charleston?"

"I don't know but I wouldn't mind taking a trip like that and seeing what we can scavenge in dry goods and other supplies. I remember hearing that Brandon planned to check them over and see if he could get at least one back up and running. If we can get clearance to do a run, I want to have a list of possible supplies we need to replenish here. I also think Owen needs to bring up the idea of filling the farms between here and base with Academy families. On our way here we passed multiple sown fields and empty farms, that is a lot of resources going to waste." North replied. "I hear movement. I think Sang is up as I didn't hear a step, but I did hear a door open and close."

Luke nodded, "We'll discuss our return to base with the rest after supper. I think we should include Sang in the discussion."

"Agreed. She's coming down now. Are we almost done?" North asked just as Sang appeared in the doorway.

"I can do that." Her soft voice said.

"We're good Cupcake. I checked on you earlier and saw you were asleep. North and I worked for our uncle at his diner, so we do know how to cook." Luke told Sang with a cheeky grin. "Besides we're nearly done, go wake Dr. Lazybones and we'll get set up to eat."