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Rose doesn’t expect to ever see Morpheus again after he doesn’t kill her. She doesn’t need to see him again. She’s happy now, and no longer a dream vortex. She lives with Jed, and Lyta and Daniel are nearby. Hal and Carl are almost always on hand when she needs them.
Rose is happy, something she hasn’t been in a very long while.
So she doesn’t expect to answer the awkward knock on the door to see Morpheus standing there, looking awkward.
“Hey?”
“Hello, Rose Walker. May I come in?” Morpheus looks behind her into the apartment, and Rose nods. She knows she looks a little awkward. She feels a little awkward.
“Depends on why you’re here. Does Lyta still have Daniel?”
“I have not taken your friend’s child, nor do I plan to. May I come in?” Rose steps aside, letting him into the apartment. Morpheus gives her a half smile. “How have you been faring?”
“I’m fine, I guess. Published my book. Jed’s in school, and I’m just waiting for him to get into high school before I go back to college.” Rose gestures at the table, and Morpheus takes a seat. “Do you eat?”
“Technically. Don’t trouble yourself.”
Rose sighs, sitting down from across him. Her fingers tap nervously against the table. “What are you doing here?”
“I learned a few things, after our encounter. Namely who the father of Unity’s child was.”
Rose blinks. “I had assumed she was raped during her sleep and the dreams shifted to cover her trauma.” Morpheus grimaces.
“Nothing like that.”
“Huh.”
“My sibling, Desire, they snuck into Unity’s dreams. I was away for the time, as you know, and I had no way to stop them. They impregnated Unity, passed the vortex down to you. Their wish was for me to spill my own blood.”
Confusion clouds Rose’s face. “So… you’re my great-uncle?”
“That’s what you’ve chosen to focus on?”
“The rest is weirdly par for the course for everything else I’ve been dealing with for all this time.” Rose leans back in her chair. “So, is that why you’re here? Just to tell me?” Morpheus remains silent. “Do you want to do uncle bonding? Is that it?”
Morpheus continues being silent. Rose isn’t an idiot, and unfortunately she can read the King of Dreams very well.
You do!” Rose grins, but a soft knock on the door interrupts her. “Oh, Jed’s back from school.” She gets up, Morpheus watching each and every one of her moves carefully. The door swings open. “Hey! How was school?”
Jed grins up at her. “School.” he steps into the apartment and looks at Morpheus. “He’s here?”
Morpheus smiles awkwardly. Rose doesn’t think he’s ever been in an actual family situation.
“Yeah, he is. What do you think about putting your backpack down and we go out for some ice cream? You can bring your homework, I’ll help you. And Morpheus’ will try.”
Jed nods, running off to his room to set his backpack down. “He’s a nice kid.” Morpheus says, and Rose smiles fondly.
“Yeah, he is.” Rose grabs a jacket, tossing her keys and phone into her pockets. “I got full custody. Managed to prove his foster parents were abusive. Blamed their murders and the murder of Ms. Rubio on one of the many dead serial killers from the cereal convention.”
Morpheus raises an eyebrow. “Impressive.”
“I’ve gotten really good at a lot of stuff.” Rose grins. “Jeddy! You coming?”
Jed jogs out of his bedroom, holding a notebook. He smiles at Rose before turning to Morpheus. “Hi!”
“Hello, Jed. Or should I say Sandman?” Morpheus smiles. Jed grins back.
“What should I call you?” Jed asks Morpheus, who looks over to Rose in a panic. She shrugs. Morpheus stresses his panicked look.
“This is your Uncle Dream, Jeddy. We’ll talk more over ice cream, okay?”
The walk to the ice cream shop is short, and the sun is hot in the sky. Morpheus walks along next to Rose and Jed, glancing over at them every few seconds.
“So, is Uncle Dream related to Unity?” Jed finally asks as they get in line for ice cream. Rose already knows what flavor she wants, and Jed always knows without even looking at the options.
Morpheus looks at Rose again, letting her take the lead in the situation.
“Remember how I said there were some things about when I found you that we’re not going to talk about till you're a bit older? Uncle Dream is one of those. When you’re fifteen, I promise.”
Morpheus expects Jed to be sad, but he just shrugs. “Okay! Can I get two scoops?”
“Sure. What do you want, Dream?” Rose asks.
Morpheus stares down at the ice cream flavors. “I don’t know.”
“Okay. Have you had ice cream before?”
“I am not a child, Rose Walker.” Morpheus snaps, before deflating slightly. “No, I have not.”
Rose grins, turning to Jed. “Hey, Jeddy, he hasn’t had ice cream before. What flavor should he get?”
Jed beams like he’s been entrusted with the best job he could have been given. He grabs Morpheus’ hand and drags him over to the different flavors of ice cream. Rose smiles after them. The line is long enough that Jed should be able to prattle one until Morpheus has chosen one.
She pulls out her phone and shoots a quick and confused text to Lyta, which boils down more or less to “Morpheus is my uncle? And he wants to do family bonding now”.
Morpheus and Jed return, Jed still holding Morpheus’ hand. “We’ve decided on chocolate!” Jed announces happily.
“Why?”
“He said it would match my outfit.” Morpheus says, and Rose snorts.
“Nah, it’s too pale compared to that jacket.” Rose says. “You can try some of mine if you don’t like it, since you’ve somehow managed to never have ice cream.”
Morpheus huffs as they reach the front of the line, and Rose orders quickly, swiping her card as the worker gets their ice creams. It doesn’t take very long before they’re walking over to a park and sitting at a picnic table.
“Here.” Morpheus says, handing Rose something. She looks down at it.
“What is this?”
“It’s money for the ice cream.”
Rose holds it up. “This is a gold coin that hasn’t been in use for years.” Morpheus shrugs, and she tosses it in her pocket. “That’s worth so much more than ice cream.”
Jed spreads out his homework on the table, trying not to get ice cream on it. He speeds through it with his pencil. “He’s good at math.” Rose explains to Morpheus.
“Oh. Then why would you have to help?”
“I like helping. Don’t forget to carry the one there, Jeddy.” Jed nods and carries the one. “So, how’s Lucienne doing?”
“Well. She’s helping me around the Dreaming. She enjoyed your book.”
“Did you?”
“Did you have to write about the king like that?” Morpheus looks pathetic, and Rose laughs.
“Yeah, I did. You enjoying the ice cream?”
Morpheus sticks out his tongue, licking the ice cream tentatively. “Yes,” he decides. “I am.”