Chapter Text
Ethan woke up slowly.
It was freezing, and he tried to curl up a little before his head hit the floor with a loud thump. Snarling in surprise (and no small amount of pain), he scrambled to his feet, tripping on the blankets. Finally, he managed to stand upright, and he was greeted with Eveline giggling at him from the foot of the bed.
“Good morning, Daddy!”
“Good morning.” Ethan grumbled back, noticing that Mia had already gotten out of bed at some point before he woke up. Eveline scrambled away from the bedroom as Ethan slowly made his way out, rubbing his head tiredly.
He grabbed a cup of coffee and downed it immediately, moving to the table where Mia had already set up breakfast.
“How did you sleep?” Mia asked, though when Eveline joined him at the table he watched Mia flinch a little.
“Like sh--” Ethan cut himself off before he could swear. “Like crap.”
Eveline giggled softly next to him as he grabbed some eggs and bacon, letting her steal some of his breakfast.
“Don’t use your hands.” Mia hesitantly chastised from the other side of the table, and Eveline grumbled a little while Ethan took another sip of his coffee.
Just another morning.
After the three of them ate, Ethan gave Eveline her stabilizer; it required a little bit of fighting, as usual, but eventually he managed to wrangle in the kid enough to use the syringe without hurting her.
Ethan spent the rest of his morning supervising Eveline to make sure she didn’t try anything murderous, which was largely a success. Really, the worst it got was when Eveline decided to do a bit of drawing and ended up accidentally recreating a murder scene with the paint.
Internally, Ethan cursed himself for suggesting to get the paint in the first place.
Eveline eventually dragged him outside to play a thankfully less destructive game of hide-and-seek; Eveline undoubtedly won every round. At some point, Mia walked out to sit on the porch and watch them while reading a book, and Eveline had taken to pestering her into joining them.
Lunch came and went, and with it Eveline had her second shot of the day. Mia opted to stay back inside while Ethan continued to watch Eveline outside; this time, she seemed interested in poking around in the grass and the garden to see what she could find.
Several times, Ethan had to convince her to not torment the little insects she found, and she seemed to take an interest in all of the mushrooms on the Winters property.
“Why do they grow like that?” Eveline asked him as she knelt by a ring of mushrooms. Ethan shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
Eveline seemed to think about that for a moment before looking back down at the mushrooms, this time with greater intensity. Ethan was confused at first, but he quickly realized what was happening when he saw her veins begin to darken.
“Evie--!” He lunged over and pulled her away from the fairy ring; immediately, Eveline went limp, her nose bleeding black.
“You can’t do that.” He said, holding her delicately. Black mold-blood continued to seep down her face, and she wiped it away with a hand.
“I just wanted to talk.” She whined, albeit a little faintly.
Ethan didn’t know what to say in response to that, so he opted to keep silent for now.
Mia settled down in bed next to Ethan.
“She’s doing better, I think.” He muttered to her. “She’s learning that hurting people isn’t okay.”
“I hope so. I don’t want... I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
“Me neither.” Ethan kissed her on the cheek, and Mia sighed heavily. Reaching over to the nightstand, she turned the lights out with a click, grumbling a little as she settled back in bed.
“Sweet dreams, for both of our sakes.” She chuckled a little, and Ethan found himself laughing softly with her.
“Good night.” He murmured back, closing his eyes and letting himself be swept into slumber.