everyonelives | the ground could open, he could still say please

[It's strange how in such a big house, you still wind up in the same space as people you might be trying to avoid - is what he'd point out if he'd actually been trying to avoid his wife. He's not trying to avoid her. She might be trying to avoid him, which he deserves, but he misses his wife.

So when he comes across her in the gardens, he can't really bring himself to be disappointed.

He's sitting on a bench, just enjoying the fresh air and trying to get his head on straight. He's never done well with real walls - likely a consequence of always being on the road, on the move all his life. When he looks up and sees her, her offers her a small, tentative smile, before gesturing to the bench next to him.]

Were you looking to sit?

( No, she isn't trying to avoid him. She's fighting the urge to hit up her hunter contacts to find a job. It would be easier to cut and run, to leave a loving voicemail, or an even more personal, loving note. But, she knows better. Maybe it can't be fixed, but if there's a possibility, running won't do it. She may have bludgeoned her way in, but damn it, she's in now.

The grounds are massive. It's in her nature to case the place, to understand the entrances, the exits, where someone from off property can infiltrate. For a celebrity home there is a surprisingly low amount of activity.

It's how she likes it. The wide open space is her bread and butter. The luxury she could take or leave. She likes her finer things when the job calls for it, but she was never happier than when they shared an entirely too small two bedroom home for the four of them, before the boys group up and they grew into hunting.

Before the road was all they knew. But even sharing a motel with her husband and a beer at whatever local watering hole at the end of the day, that was the life.

What happened to that life?

She comes face to face in the gardens, industrial lace up boots coming to a stop along the path a few feet away. She wasn't looking to sit. She wasn't looking for anything. Maybe she was. She joins him when he gives her room on the bench. )

It's old habits. A house so big -- I need to know everything. Someone could come from the south, there's an old access road. The north is straight on, but there's hardly any light. Their security system is state of the art, but their junction box is outside. It's likely there's a generator inside but I haven't gotten that far.

( Old habits, Sullivan. )

It's an old house. I'm sure there were some things they didn't have much of a choice on.

[When you move into a family estate, you were often left with the previous generation's choices. And this, at least, is a comfortable area with the two of them. Casing the problem and figuring out the pros and cons.]

And given who owns the house now, I wouldn't be surprised if things like the junction box were more ruses than actually functioning.

And his son. You're right. It's too easy. Which means, it's the opposite.

( They always were a good team. )

How's your room?

Bed's nice. I'm pretty sure we've lived in apartments smaller than the entire room.

[People with money have always disoriented him, wondering how they can bare to take up so much space in such a limited area. It seems like the world isn't big enough for all the people in it, and people keep building mansions like this for so few people.]

It'll do until I figure out where I'm going next.

So, Cooper is staying.

( She doesn't want to fight. She's asking. Have he and their son discussed this, is this all assumption. What is the plan? There's always a plan. )

I think that is what he and William discussed.

[Not that he particularly knows when that started but given that their son had been undercover working for Allison Argent, he has to assume that the answer is "a while."]

And more importantly, I think that's what he needs right now.

Is he dealing? I just don't want him to bury his head. We lost Lucas.

( It happened. And it's not easy. )

I don't think that's what he's doing.

[Burying his head, that is. Definitely a danger when it comes to Cooper, especially when he's not able to sit still and really absorb it, but he doesn't think this is one of those circumstances.]

He just spent months undercover for Allison Argent, and before that he lost Lucas. I think he just needs some space to only have himself to worry about.

Allison Argent?

( When you take yourself out of the narrative, there's nothing like coming back in too many chapters behind. )

What, under Monroe? He spent months undercover in an organization he first championed and maligned me for declining? He could've reached out. Did you know?

( Was he still under Monroe's spell? )

I think maligned is a strong word.

[Because Cooper wasn't that adversarial. He was just confused, because usually his parents were pretty same page. He was also raised to respect his mother.]

But no, I didn't find out until New Orleans, where he got caught.

( Granted, he was undercover and to be completely fair, she didn't make the effort.

She's trying with all her might to not let her dramatic side take off. She has that tendency, but everything she learns makes her feel so behind. )

He got caught undercover. ( She recenters herself, trying to sort through what she actually wants to ask. ) When was your turning point? New Orleans? When he was caught? I'm just trying to keep up. ( Catch up, even. ) What changed? Was it the wonderful influence of William?

( Did anything they taught him matter? )

No. Lucas is what changed.

[Lucas was both of their reasons, Michael digging in his heels so that the thing his son died for is worth something and for Cooper it drove him away, so that what happened to him didn't happen to someone else. William helped, giving him something to run to and a way to help other people but Michael has a feeling that even if William wasn't there, he would have found another more reckless way.]

I don't know when it happened, exactly. Sometime between London and New Orleans.

[But that's not the question that she really wants an answer to.]

I don't know if I really had a "turning point" as you call it. I don't have a good answer. I was given a choice between walking away and winding up dead and I convinced some people to come with me. It's probably the most good I did through this whole clusterfuck.

You did good, Sull. Just because something happened along the way. ( London. The witch massacre. In Prague. The hunter massacre.

Old habits never die when it comes to tracking your loved ones, the loved ones who are easier tracked. Michael didn't believe he needed to play a part because he believed in the part he was given. Cooper on the otherhand. )

Cooper was impossible, working overtime at not wanting to be found. Now I know why. We taught him well.

( But her husband didn't ruin himself. Or them. Or do something that he couldn't take back. )

I didn't believe in her.

You were right.

[And he's willing to admit that because how could he not? History will have her on the right side of it.]

I should have listened to you.

I should have been there.

( For you. Not her. )

You married a stubborn woman, Michael Sullivan.

Yeah, but I knew that when I married her.

[He's never been blind about Evelyn one way or another. She's always been the frustrating, infuriating kind of woman that lesser men would seek to tame or think might fade once they've wedded or bedded her, but Michael's always loved the challenge of Evelyn. He didn't want a wife that would bend to his will, he wanted a partner who wasn't afraid to challenge him, and she's always had that in spades.]

Some might even say it's why I married her.

What a gamble that was.

( She smiles, the effortlessness recaptured as she lets herself linger closer. )

I shouldn't have stayed away.

[He shakes his head.]

Probably was better. I know you weren't completely safe, given the job we do, but at least you were safer.

[He doesn't know what he would have done if he had lost his wife and his son.]

I don't know about safer. But, no, our lives don't grant us a lot of safety.

( The choices they make are a part of it, but their lives are inherently dangerous. She knows that. She knows what she signed up for. What they signed up for together when they became real. )

But, we chose this life and until then, I respected and honored every choice you made. I think I let losing Lucas... I think it's the first choice I ever resented and, that's not fair. We are not psychics. ( They save psychics. ) It could've been you. Or, Cooper. Or, me back here.

( Something she really thinks? )

If I had been in New Orleans...

( Monroe's death spread through the hunter network, both the legitimate one for true hunters and hers. )

I was thinking there were innocent people involved who did want to help, ones who probably feel like they have nowhere to turn. What to do next. What does it all mean. Not that you and I can answer such high-minded questions, but maybe we can help them out. Maybe even going so far as to deprogram. If it's needed.

( She breathes him in. )

We've always made a great team, Michael.

I convinced some of them to leave. Odds are I could convince that same some to work together.

[They raised two teenage boys with more impulse than common sense, they could probably handle Monroe's cast-offs.]

A lot of 'em were pretty green. Came right out of the military like Mickey or something similar. Might take a lot of work to whip 'em into shape.

( She'd bet more than probably, but she wants it to be his idea, too. )

We've worked with less.

( Garth once upon a time, and look at him and his cute werewolf family. )

We'll say goodbye, first. Maybe stay one more night. But. He doesn't need to go with us. He never did.

( Cooper had gone off alone before, back when he insisted on taking his own hunts. But this is more than that. )

You know better than I do, is this love? Is... he in love?

I don't know if he knows it yet.

[Which could take a minute. He's not sure Cooper's ever been in love before in a real way beyond infatuated teenage puppy love. But he can see the signs.]

But they've been through a hell of a thing together. If that didn't break them, I'd say he's pretty close.

I want that for him.

( She wanted it for both of her boys. )

I do too. But he's got to figure it out on his own.

[They can't push him into it or sway them by giving too much of a blessing. He's got to choose it for himself.]

But I think he will. William's a good kid. Think he's a little scared of me, but I think I'll let that keep going for a little while longer.

[His prerogative as a parent.]

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