White Sheets - 12. A Storm is Approaching

Harlaney House seemed as if it were still in a deep sleep when Remy went down early that morning. He took a quick glance at the party room, which didn't look like anyone had made any effort to clean it up, and then went to the kitchen. He almost expected to find Cain there already, but instead it was Bella standing in front of the fridge, all looking like she was asleep standing up.

"Bella?" he asked therefore very quietly, but a fine smile crept onto his lips.

She winced and half-turned, eyes wide with shock, then sighed. "Remy..."

"Good morning, miss." His smile widened as she snuggled into his arms. "Can't sleep anymore?"

She sighed against his chest. "I was going to get a soda..." she mumbled and was interrupted by a yawn, then rubbed her face on him.

Warm affection flooded through him, making him forget for a moment the quiet ache in his butt Anduin had caused with his dry intrusion. He stroked her back and leaned his cheek against her head, whereupon her embrace tightened for a moment.

But then she leaned back, lifted her face and kissed him sleepily, sliding a hand into his neck to make sure he wouldn't stop until she was done. "Good morning, Remy." she then whispered with a smile, which he returned. "Are you coming over tonight?"

"If the mistresses don't need me..." he replied, willingly letting her steal another kiss.

She broke away from the embrace, which he found almost regretful, and nodded at him with a smile that was unusually seductive by her standards before turning to leave. The fact that she had wanted to get something to drink was forgotten. "Morning, Anduin."

Remy, who had been about to open his mouth to remind her of that very drink, paused.

"Good morning, miss.", Anduin mumbled a polite but audibly tired reply.

Remy listened to the approaching sound of Anduin's bare feet on the tiles and was almost proud of himself for not flinching when Anduin placed a hand in his back.

"Morning, Riri."

"Morning." He looked up at Anduin and just had time to notice an almost annoyed expression on his face before he was kissed hard. Caught off guard, he allowed Anduin to shove his tongue into his mouth before pushing him off. "Don't!" he protested with a frown.

Anduin returned the frown and seemed to want to say something, but let it go. Instead, he stroked Remy's lower lip with his thumb before placing a second kiss on it, this time very gentle.

"Anduin..." Remy admonished, pushing him away once more.

"Oh, but little miss gets to kiss you good morning?"

Jealousy was not exactly what Remy had expected, and he blinked in surprise. "My service to the girls has priority," he said with a strange, indefinable feeling in his chest. He immediately threw away the thought of answering Anduin dismissively.

Anduin made an almost contemptuous sound and turned away. "At least you've learned." He opened the fridge with a hard jerk. "Your kind of sensuality yesterday was new."

A certain anger flared in Remy. "Of course I'm learning. What do you think I've been doing for the last thirteen years? Washing only sheets?"

"Knowing you-"

"Thirteen years is a long time to change," Cain suddenly interjected.

Remy turned and nodded to Cain- both as a greeting and approvingly. And grateful, for the interruption.

"I am-" Anduin began, but then interrupted himself.

Remy saw Cain's slightly critical glance, heard Anduin expel his breath harshly, and suddenly got goosebumps.

~
 

"Riri..."

Remy pretended not to hear Anduin over the sound of the vacuum cleaner. He didn't want to talk now. At least not to Anduin. Something seemed to be in the air- except a suffocating sultriness outside- and whatever it was, it made Remy a little nervous. Marc hadn't shown up for breakfast and had put on a very dismissive face at lunch, and Cain was walking around with a permanent frown.

"Remy!"

Remy winced in all honesty when Anduin finally grabbed him by the shoulder, and he turned off the vacuum cleaner. "What?"

Anduin sighed. "Do you have any idea what's going on with Marc? He's been acting pretty weird."

"No, I don't." Remy brushed a strand out of his forehead. "He has some grumpy days sometimes, but this... is admittedly different. Has he said anything?"

"No, but he's been cleaning up the party room with Joy and seems to be avoiding all of us." Anduin's face was adorned with a surprisingly deep frown which confused Remy a bit, because he couldn't imagine Anduin being honestly interested in Marc's mood, opinion, or well-being.

Emphatically slow, Remy shrugged.

"Hmm.", Anduin then made a disgruntled sound, before making a face. "Sorry. About this morning. I haven't quite gotten used to you willingly and happily serving the girls here."

"Um..." Taken off guard by the apology, Remy blinked at him. "It's okay..." What Anduin had just said could be interpreted in a number of ways, but the keyword jealousy still stuck in his mind. He tried a smile, which was almost tentatively returned by Anduin.

"Hey, Remy, you done here?" Flavius suddenly wanted to know, and Remy turned his head towards him, only to shake it.

"Not really."

"Then leave it to Anduin, Mistress Therese wants to talk to you."

Remy nodded. "Okay." By Flavius' tone, it was urgent, and so he pressed the handle of the vacuum cleaner into Anduin's hand. It wasn't hard to guess what it would be about.

"Sit down, Remy." Mistress Therese nodded at him and he obeyed, a certain nervousness now rising in him indeed, for Mistress Ellen was sitting next to her wife behind the large desk. "How did you feel about the atmosphere yesterday at the girls' night?"

"Fine." replied Remy honestly, but his nervousness was growing, for Mistress Therese looked decidedly serious. "It was very relaxed the whole time, and I thought Claire did a good job as hostess."

"And Joy?" Mistress Ellen wanted to know. An amused smile played around her lips.

"Joy kept a low profile and was... busy from a certain point on." Remy returned the smile for a moment, then turned back to seriousness. "However, I don't know how the matter ended." He looked to Mistress Therese, who nodded curtly.

"Did you volunteer to contribute to the evening's entertainment?"

"Yes." The expressions on his mistresses' faces made him add carefully: "Why?"

Mistress Ellen took an audible breath. "Marc told us that you didn't want to participate beforehand, and that you had a conversation with Claire right before you joined Anduin's performance. He was under the impression Claire had pushed you into it."

Remy frowned. "True, I did talk to Claire, but she asked me to do it and didn't push me in any way." Had it really seemed that way to others- in this case, Marc?

"Why did you agree?", Mistress Ellen wanted to know further, a certain curiosity in her voice.

He shrugged. "Anduin and I make a good team."

Both mistresses raised their brows.

"We... we grew up together." Now this little trumped up lie would be put directly to the test. He tried to stay calm, but he still had to swallow.

"Anduin grew up in a children's home," Mistress Therese remarked in a questioning undertone, and Remy nodded weakly before lowering his gaze to his fingers.

"My mother worked there."

There was silence for a moment, then Mistress Ellen sighed and he raised his eyes.

"You know, Remy, Marc actually sounded concerned. Not just about Claire but also about Anduin. Well, about Anduin and you." The words hung strangely in the air.

Remy felt his lips twitch, then looked past Mistress Therese at the picture hanging on the wall behind her. "Anduin and I haven't seen each other in thirteen years. For him, the concept of Harlaney House is new. I don't think either of those things is easy for him to take in."

"I take it you two were very close?" Mistress Therese looked at Remy questioningly and he nodded. She continued on for more words but then paused, instead Mistress Ellen said:

"I talked to him. He said he knew your limits and would not cross them. Is that right?" Serious and perhaps a little concerned.

Involuntarily, Remy had to smile, even if it contained a hint of bitterness that frightened himself. "That's what I meant. A lot of time has passed and he doesn't quite want to admit it. But either way- you always have to say no twice with him."

This didn't really seem to please either woman on the other side of the desk.

Finally, Mistress Therese sighed. "All right." Her spread hands rested on the desk in a way as if she was about to say something else of importance, but again she seemed to swallow her words. It worried Remy a little to see her like this, because normally Mistress Therese knew no hesitation or uncertainty.

"You should talk to Marc," Mistress Ellen said as the pause dragged on. "He was really worried." To her words, she stood up and nodded to Remy, who rose as well.

"He's in a decidedly bad mood today," Remy returned skeptically.

"That may be a side effect." Mistress Ellen furrowed her brow in concern, but smiled fondly. "The four of you have been a good team the last few years, and as you've already noted, not everyone handles change well."

He didn't have a suitable answer to that, so he merely nodded. Then, however, something occurred to him. "Mistress Therese, you said you wanted to talk to me about a few things...?"

"Yes, that's right. But I'd like to put that off for a bit." She adjusted her glasses. "I have a little much on my plate right now, and some of it is urgent."

"Of course, mistress." He inclined his head in understanding and after Mistress Ellen gave him a nod and a smile, he left the office.

In the hallway, he took a deep breath. That his mistresses were worried about Anduin, whom after all they had not chosen and brought into the house themselves, he understood. But in his eyes, it didn't make much sense for Marc to first worry and then throw in a bad mood. With a soft sigh, he ran his hand through his hair. Talk to him he would anyway.

~
 

"I tried, Remy, but Marc is stubborn," Cain grumbled, stirring in the dinner's sauce.

Remy sighed and got the plates out of the cupboard. "How long do you think he can keep this up?"

"Not talking to you? I don't know. But in the meantime, Sarah and Keira have asked me what's going on, and Flavius and Anduin don't seem like they want to look at it much longer, either." Cain paused and they exchanged a look. "I mean, I don't want to watch this much longer myself as well."

Remy nodded. After talking to the mistresses, he had tried to talk to Marc, but Marc effectively avoided him. Today was even worse than yesterday, and last night at least he'd had Bella to take his mind off things entirely. And when even Cain, with whom he had already spoken in the morning, was at a loss, it was bad.

"Maybe threatening to take it to Mistress Ellen will help," Cain finally said, nodding for Remy to take care of the rice and vegetables.

"That doesn't seem quite fair to me," Remy muttered, keeping his face out of the hot steam as he strained the vegetables.

"Why? We're a team. We have to function. And you can't say you didn't try," Cain returned. "It's Marc who's running out of shape here right now."

Remy sighed softly. He was aware that Cain was right, but it still seemed excessive to him to directly threaten to snitch.

"Otherwise..." Cain then began as they prepared the plates for the women, "...try again later, and then leave him alone and we'll just see what happens. If there's trouble, I'm on your side."

"Thanks, Cain."

Remy heard the soft sucking sound of the washing machine being opened- his timing was perfect. With a full laundry basket in hand, he entered the laundry room in the basement and stepped over to the baskets where they were presorting the clothes.

Marc pulled the freshly washed clothes out of the washing machine, ignoring Remy.

"Marc...", Remy finally started quietly as Marc stepped to the side of the room to hang the laundry on the clothesline there.

Marc grumbled sullenly- a sign of life, after all.

"I realize you have some kind of problem, but I'd like to understand which kind of problem." Remy glanced over at him, saw his broad shoulders tense, and held a faint hope. Automatically, his hands continued to sort through T-shirts and underwear.

But when Marc half-turned to Remy, there was something wild in his face, his hands which held a pair of jeans trembled. "You are my problem."