A Man For All Seasons (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

20. The Elephant in the Room

John

I wake up early this Monday, as I have for the past five or six days. I had set an alarm for seven, but here I am, opening my eyes a whole hour and a half before my phone pours canned, lifeless tones into my ear. But, so much the better; the sooner I get up, the less I'm going to miss.

With a grunt, I snatch my device off the nightstand to check if anyone tried to contact me during the night. I find only a text from Ron with a simple request: "Good morning, dear. Please call me when you see this."

I flick on the bedside lamp, causing the four dull walls of the master bedroom to materialize around me. Automatically I indulge in a bit of guilt for taking up the only other real bed besides Danny's, scolding myself for not fighting back harder when Julia insisted that I do so. Not that there's anything I can do about it now of course, but still.

Before I give my wife a ring, there's something I've got make sure of first. I creep downstairs, using the phone's screen to light my way. At first I don't see anything, or anyone. But once I peek over the back of the sofa I can't help but grin like the old fool I am. The two of them lay nose to nose under layers and layers of blankets. I can barely see much else besides the tops of their heads, they're burrowed so deep into the nest. It's unclear just from this sight that they've completely made up, but Julia's obviously not so upset to make him sleep alone- which is huge.

Does he really have to leave so soon? I ask myself, my amusement wilting somewhat. Didn't he just get here?

It certainly feels like he did- for me. But that's only because I ended up so late to the party. Then again, Freddie could hang around another month, another year, another ten years, and it wouldn't matter one bit. With Freddie, it's always too soon for goodbyes.

And on that much, I know the others would agree. Well- Roger would, I'd think. I'm not so sure about Brian.

My teeth grind, having accidentally reminded myself of what Julia expects me to do. The crafty thing made me promise, made me give my word, that I would tell Freddie what I myself have been keeping secret about Queen's quest for the "doppelganger"- a quest that, for one of the two anyway, came to a fundamental end last night. Despite Julia's doubts, I personally don't see how else Roger could have found us if Wes hadn't told him we would be at that exact place, at that exact moment. The blasted busybody, he's ruined everything.

To be nice, and also to get my mind off such tricky subjects, I head to the kitchen to start some tea. Julia's an early bird usually, like myself; Freddie, not so much, being more of a nighttime creature for whom sleep is more an option than a necessity (excepting the present circumstances, naturally). But at least something hot and perky will be available regardless of when they open their eyes.

After turning the heat under the kettle to its highest level, I finally dial my home number. Two buzzes later, Ron's voice warmly greets me, "Good morning, dear."

"Morning," I smile. "Doing all right?"

"Oh yes. Things got a bit nippy last night, it even snowed."

"A lot?"

"Not really, but there's a few patches of it in the garden, and there's a lovely frost on the windows. They say we'll get some more closer to Christmas."

"Oo, that is nice," I hum.

"Meanwhile the kids are trickling in with questions, asking where you are."

Funny how they keep going to her to ask about me, and don't contact me directly. I wonder why- unless it's because I haven't spilled anything of use when they do. Yes, perhaps that's it. "Are you telling them?"