Chapter Text
Besides one vaguely supportive call from Elastigirl, at least Winston thought it was supportive-ish his exhaustion was making it hard for him to read people as he normally could, the world had left them to relative peace. Their lawyers assured them that peace was their doing and it would crack at any time, there was only so much a swarm of lawyers could do to placate the media. Winston appreciated the warning and he soaked up every moment of the reprieve, he managed to get five full nights of sleep which was a record those days.
Evelyn kept to herself, moping around her lab that had been ridden of any tech deemed dangerous by the government, which was almost half of her entire labs, both the ones at their estate and DevTech. She was mad about that, mostly at Winston for letting them take her stuff but it had to be done and while he would never tell her, some of her inventions were safely tucked away around the house, out of sight out of mind, the government was a powerful but corrupt force and Evelyn was brilliant, those two things just didn’t go hand in hand.
Still, she blamed him and Winston saw her even less because of it. Sometimes it was like living in an empty house, the maids and butler moved like clockwork he was so used to their behavior that it was almost artificial and was hard to count as company. Breakfast was served at six am on the dot, Evelyn was either moping at the end of the table or not there at all. She was still progressively getting smaller, Winston was going to have to figure out a way to make sure she was eating, another item on the to-do list.
That morning she was there, sitting at the middle of the table scowling at her pancakes when she spotted him she pulled the plate closer defensively and looked at the wall. He remembered when they were younger they used to pray over their food together and eagerly wait for the next meal to plop itself in front of them like they were starving, how the times had changed.
“Good morning,” Winston said pulling up a chair across from her. After his trip with Dicker, Winston felt a renewed commitment to get his sister back to her old self, that was the biggest personal problem on his plate if he could get that under control he would feel a lot better.
Evelyn nodded in his direction, that was the closest thing to acknowledgment he’d gotten since she found out about the lab, that was a good sign.
“I think we should go to the pool today,” Winston said, Evelyn looked at him like he suggested they pour acid on themselves, Winston smiled a little and added. “Our pool.”
“Why?” Evelyn asked drawing out the question and narrowing her eyes to slits.
Winston was taken aback by that response he’d expected a snort, maybe an eye roll or worse for her to get up and leave but not to be met with an accusation he couldn’t make sense of.
“Because you haven’t been outside for eons,” Winston said. “That’s not healthy.”
“I hate pools,” Evelyn said.
Winston stared at her in shock. “Since when?”
Evelyn didn’t respond but stabbed a hole in one of her pancakes with her spoon.
Winston shook his head, he was patient, very, very patient but Evelyn was grating on one of his last nerves. Winston forced himself to take a deep breath and try again.
“That settles it then,” Winston said with false cheer. “We’re going to the garden after breakfast.”
Evelyn just looked at him and said nothing.
That was better than a complaint and Winston took what he could get. “This will be lovely,”
Garden was an understatement about what was in their family manor’s backyard, “jungle” was a more accurate term. Enclosed in a several thousand acre wide greenhouse was an assortment of plants, flowers and trees their parents had collected from all over the world, after they had died Winston and his sister had decided to add the birds, they had thrived in the artificial jungle and now birds let out long warbles and sharp chirps as they made their way to the center of the greenhouse where a massive pond was fixed in the floor. Large lily pads drifted along the surface a thick cloud emitted from its surface and added to the garden’s humidity. There was a boardwalk that encircled the pond and Winston quickly skipped up it, Evelyn followed slowly, coming to a stop midway and bracing herself against the railing she stared into the murky pond.
“Did you see the new fish?” Winston asked curiously, they were truly nothing to look at but he didn’t want her moping around when they were supposed to be enjoying their last few days of freedom.
“No,” Evelyn sighed.
“Well come here,” Winston said, he was surprised at how easy it was for him to act like everything was fine.
Evelyn sighed again and trudged over to the end of the boardwalk where Winston was standing, quickly he pointed to the school of large fish swimming in a broad circle. Evelyn didn’t seem impressed in the slightest, she propped her head up with her hand and looked at him tiredly.
“Those are koi you know,” she said.
Winston giggled nervously, they already had plenty of Koi they were nothing special, not really.
“Yes, but they’re different from the rest,” Winston said.
“Uh huh,” Evelyn snorted. “How?”
“These are all orange, the others are orange and white,”
“Pretty small difference there,”
“They also have mustaches,”
Evelyn let out a laugh that was quickly strangled by a snort.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll give you that.”
Winston felt proud of himself and some of the tension he’d been carrying eased.
They stayed with the koi for an hour watching them swim in zigzagged circles, when rain began to slam against the panes Evelyn jumped and rose to her feet, she was about to leave him but somehow Winston convinced her to look at another part of the garden, the large flytrap he’d gotten flown over from South America, the plant was impressive, smelly and kept Evelyn interested long enough for Winston to think up another safe conversational piece.
“When did you get this thing?” Evelyn asked prodding at the plant’s pitchered upper portion.
“A few weeks ago,” Winston said monitoring his tone carefully he didn’t want Evelyn thinking he’d been out shopping while she was in prison or at least not out joy shopping. “It’s yours.”
Evelyn stroked the plant’s pitcher and glanced at him, for the first time since she arrived she gave him a small smile. “Thanks,”
“Not a problem,” Winston said. “So Eve, I was thinking…”
“Yes?” Evelyn asked her tone held a warning and Winston latched onto it quickly, he was never going to ignore the signs his sister gave him again.
“What do you want for dinner? I was thinking we could order pizza,” Winston said clasping his hands at his waist.
Evelyn paled and she took a step back from him.
“I’m not hungry,” she said.
Winston’s face dropped. Evelyn looked at her shoes and was quiet for a moment.
“But maybe that’ll change. We could make them later on tonight,” Evelyn said hesitantly. “Maybe.”
“Yes!” Winston said excitedly. “That’s a good idea, better than ordering out!”
Evelyn put her hands up defensively like she was afraid he would run at her, but Winston knew better than to try and hug her the last time he’d tried that she’d given him a shove for his trouble, instead he clapped his hands together and started running for the doors.
“Where are you going, Winston?” Evelyn asked sounding exasperated.
“I have to pick something up!” Winston called over his shoulder. “I’ll be right back!”
Winston heard Evelyn grumble something but it barely registered with him, this was the most they’d talked in weeks. A meal was a perfect bonding experience and the idea of making it together sounded like a fantasy, his joy at the prospect made him feel like he was walking on clouds. Or maybe that was the lack of sleep.