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Damian has received the news five hours ago. He's been pacing around the room for three.
His parents were in town, as Demetrius had warned him. He had no idea what were their intent and he wasn't interested in the slightest. He would be relieved to know that neither Melinda or Donovan gave zero damns about the news of his marriage and adoption of his stepchild, but to consider they cared on some degree just sent shivers down his spine.
There was no reason for panic, but he would be just a lot more in peace when Loid and Anya were both at home and under his watch, safe and sound.
They were both late by one hour and a half.
It has started to rain and the somber atmosphere didn't make it any better for Damian's mood. He had called Eden to check on Loid and found out he had left at the usual time. But no one saw who had picked him up.
He then called Anya's work, as the paranoid psycho he was, only to find out she had left early. So where the hell was both of them?
Damian almost started to hyperventilate as a hundred dark scenarios whispered in his head. What if his parents had met Anya or Loid? What if his mother, always the smooth talker, told Anya about the shady connections he had and painted him as the terrible person that, to a degree, he actually was? Or worse, what if they did something to harm any of them?
He was one minute away from sending his men to search up the whole city to find them. Save them. Retrieve them. Make sure they weren't tainted by his dreadful family and...
"Master Damian?" Jeeves knocked on the door of his office before opening the door. "The Madam and the young master are home..."
He barely registered what the butler had to say before storming out of the room on his way to check on the currently most important people in his life.
A drenched from head to toes Anya was at the front door debating on how to take off both of their coats without making a mess on the floor. Loid was the first to notice Damian's presence and ran out to him.
"Papa!"
The man went down on one knee and checked for anything out of the normal. An injury, a bump, anything, but he only found a slightly wet blonde hair and a mild anxious face that didn't fit his usual cheerful personality when seeing his father.
"Are you okay, Loid?" He asked holding his shoulder. "Did anything strange happened today?"
Loid opened his mouth to answer, then turned to see his mother and then went back to his father cupping his hands and whispered in his ears.
"There was a witch following our car." He said serious. "She was very weird."
One could treat this as mere kid's play, but considering Loid's personality and how messed up his family was, Damiam truly believed something like this happened. If the witch was his own mother or another of her goons, he wasn't sure, but what mattered was that they were both at home now.
He nodded and hugged him tightly, letting out a sigh of relief for finally having him in the safety of his arms.
"Damian?" Anya called unsure. "Is everything all right?"
He opened his eyes to look up at his beautiful, kinda tired, safe wife and wished he had a double of himself to hug her and maybe try for a kiss, without having to let go of Loid. He stood up while holding Loid and came closer to her while also looking for any sign of wrongness.
"What happened?" He ended up asking. "Why are you late?"
Anya sighed, internally debating how much she should talk about.
"There was... A lot of traffic and..."
"There was a witch following us." Loid repeated what he had said earlier, now for everyone to hear.
"Loid!"
"It's okay." Damian assured. "I believe him and I'm not surprised. Please, keep going."
"...Well, so I was with the car and they were following us and it made me uneasy, so I returned to the hospital after picking up Loid at school and stayed there until I didn't see them around." That last part was a lie, as she was actually trying to lose the stalkers while driving past speed limits and at some point had to go on foot, partially explaining why they were so wet because of the rain. It also wouldn't do well to tell Damian she was armed the whole time. "I tried to call you but the lines were cut because of the storm. I'm sorry."
"Please, don't be. You did right." He said holding her hand. It was comforting to draw circles on the back of her palm after all the stress he had been through today. "These people... They were probably with my parents. My mother, if I had to be more specific."
"Your mother? Melinda Desmond?"
"Yes." He frowned, almost in pain at the sound of her name. "I was so worried after hearing they were back. I... I don't have the best relationship with my parents, Anya. Actually, this is an understatement, they just weren't parents at all. And I'm so used to having them taking away things from me that when I didn't know where you were... I was... I was-"
I was afraid of losing you both, he thought but couldn't bring himself to say it. Loid still flinched when reading his mind and hid his face into his shoulder.
Damian blinked and felt his cheeks flush.
"Sorry, this was too much..."
"It's okay, dearest." Anya said softly, playing with his hair. One could see he wasn't his usual composed self and it made her heart ache, thinking on how much that family hurt him. "We're fine. They can't hurt us and they can't hurt you. If needed, we'll face them together, okay? You don't need to take this burden alone."
Damian wasn't sure on how much Anya knew about his situation or if she had any idea of what her words implied. He still felt so unexplainably relieved and grateful he had someome like her by his side. He wished she had her all those years before when the Desmonds were making a mess of him.
He had much to say, but for now he contented himself with a faint smile and a whisper:
"Okay."