Chapter 39: Special Delivery

The next morning when Castian had a change of clothes ready to go Harmony realized with a slight jolt that he must have been anticipating the possibility of staying over from the beginning. He was certainly efficient.

But she put that out of mind as best she could because of her excitement about what they were doing today. They went to go pick up Piper from the coven and she was obviously surprised to see Castian but didn't ask her about it until they were out on the water and everyone else was far enough away that they wouldn't be overheard.

"Why'd you bring your elf?"

"Brennan wanted to talk to him about what he's studying. He's getting a master's degree in sustainable business," Harmony said with a shrug.

Piper raised an eyebrow. "When did Brennan meet him?"

"Last week. He was interested in my merfolk research so he hung out with us for a while before he had a meeting to go to. It didn't come up until shortly before he had to leave so they didn't get the chance to talk then."

"I didn't think elves cared about things like that."

"Neither did I," Harmony admitted. "But there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. He's pretty quiet but he's not bad company one-on-one."

"If you say so. My elf is blander than a baked potato without any toppings. It's a good thing he's handsome because that's all he has going for him," Piper said as she rolled her eyes. "Not a spark of imagination in a single one of them as far as I've seen."

She generally agreed with her companion's view of elves but she still felt unsettled for some reason. Castian really wasn't that bad. She had misunderstood him all this time.

Harmony let the subject drop and switched to talking about the kind of research they were going to perform today. She had so much fun once Talori did her thing that she didn't realize her boyfriend was in distress until after it was all over. She immediately panicked and went over to help him but she was too short and weak to move him on her own so she had to enlist Brennan's help.

She rushed around getting a cool cloth for his head and a drink of water and anything else he might need to stop feeling seasick. She had never experienced seasickness or knew anyone who had so she didn't know what to do to fix it.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't notice you were dying back there."

"I will be," Castian said weakly as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Don't worry about it. I know you get excited about things and don't blame you for it."

Harmony sat down on the ground in front of where he lay on the couch and squeezed his hand. That was awfully generous of him. It was strange that he was being so understanding when he had suffered because of her negligence.

"Where do you feel sick? Is it your stomach? Your head? Are you dizzy?"

"Dizzy and slightly nauseous. I'm sure it will go away soon enough. It was just because of how the boat was moving earlier. Merfolk are a lot stronger than I would have guessed. Are their powers solely limited to manipulating water?" Castian asked, still not sounding great.

If he was trying to talk to distract himself from how terrible he felt, she wasn't about to let him down. She could distract him.

"Saltwater," Harmony explained. "We did some experiments where I tried to get her to manipulate water from the sink and it didn't work. Their powers seem to extend primarily to the ocean but we got around that by using saltwater from her tank in my office."

"That makes sense considering most merfolk never leave the ocean."

"I thought so too."

Harmony did her best to keep him distracted until they got back to shore and didn't let go of his hand since handholding was generally regarded as a comforting gesture. Some of what little color his face normally had came back by the time they arrived at shore but he still needed help getting to his feet and swayed a little.

At least this time he was stable enough that she was enough to support him on her on. He was fine having an arm around her shoulders while she had one around his waist.

"Are you really going to be okay going to your meeting later like this?" Harmony asked before biting her lip.

"It's not for another two hours. If I eat something, I should be fine," Castian reassured her. "I still need to talk to Brennan anyway. I can do that at lunch."

"If you're sure…"

They ended up going to an Italian restaurant for lunch and she kept an eye on him as he talked to Brennan even as she participated in a conversation with Talori and Piper about what the former did with her powers earlier. He did seem to be doing a little better after he ate something but she still felt guilty.

Why did it feel like she was always trying to make things up to him lately? This wouldn't do. She had to do better than this. Owing others was not the witch way.

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After lunch Harmony ended up driving him back to her place to pick up his car so he could make it to his meeting on time and in the process she came up with an idea. "What is your favorite type of food?"

Castian seemed surprised by the question but answered it anyway. "Steak and mashed potatoes. Why do you ask?"

"I want to bring you lunch sometime next week to make up for today. You only got sick because of me, after all. Unless that would be bothering you too much."

He shook his head. "That wouldn't be bothering me at all. Don't feel obligated though. I know you're busy with Talori and my getting sick really wasn't that big of a deal. You don't always have to make things up to me, Harmony."

"Yes I do! And I can get Piper to watch her for me for a little while. What day works best?"

"Probably Tuesday since I don't have any appointments right after lunch then."

"Perfect! Don't pack a lunch on Tuesday. I'll see you then!" Harmony said cheerfully since they had arrived at the parking lot of her complex.

"See you then," Castian confirmed with a slight smile before grabbing his briefcase and going to his own car.

She felt much better knowing they would be square come Tuesday. In the meantime she needed to get back to work. She had a lot to do regarding those mermaid tears she had collected but she needed to record all the data she had taken earlier on her laptop too.

She was so into it that eventually she forgot that Brennan and Talori were there so they broke her focus solely to say they were leaving and that they would see her on Monday. She barely registered that they said they were planning on having a marathon of some of the earlier comic book movies in that franchise Talori was so excited about and that she would have time to work that way. She was too in the zone.

Harmony remained in the zone, hardly remembering to eat or sleep, until Monday when Brennan dropped Talori off on his way to work. She was quite curious how the research had gone in her absence and Harmony was happy to tell her about it.

It was nice having a mermaid's opinion on the potential application of mermaid tears too. Conducting experiments with Talori around was an interesting experience.

She was in an excellent mood by the time she went to bring Castian his lunch on Tuesday because of all the progress she had made. She had gotten them takeout from The Cheesecake Factory. She figured throwing something extra in wouldn't hurt in trying to assuage her guilt.

The secretary recognized her this time. She called back immediately. "Cas, your girlfriend is here." A moment later she shot Harmony a professional smile. "Go right on back. Do you remember which office it is?"

"Yeah. Thanks!"

It was easy to find considering a shortened version of his name was on the door. She had noticed this was a common practice with elves or other fae that had long, old-fashioned, or difficult to pronounce names.

Cas didn't suit him the way his full name did. Probably because he was so serious all the time.

Harmony had never once seen him laugh and he almost never smiled. They weren't real smiles either. They were barely there. Polite business smiles rather than ones brought on by genuine enjoyment.

At least that was what she thought until she opened the door to his office and set the food on his desk. "Special delivery!"

Castian still didn't smile with his teeth but it was definitely a real smile. What was that about? Because she brought him his favorite food? Was that really enough to make this block of wood crack?

"Thanks, Harmony. That smells really good."

"I didn't only bring you steak," she said in a conspiratorial whisper. "I brought cheesecake."

When Castian opened the bag and saw an entire cheesecake in a box beneath the takeout containers his eyes widened. "An entire cheesecake?! I can't eat all of this!"

"Then share it with your coworkers. I'm sure someone will be willing to help you finish it. I can have a slice while I'm here too."

"…you really don't like owing people, do you?"

"Nope."

Castian mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "I'll have to remember that" but said nothing else because he was too busy digging into his food. Harmony sat in the chair across from his desk and joined him. Steak had sounded good to her too.

She purposely showed up at the beginning of his lunch break so they would have a little time to chat and they did once they had finished their cheesecake. She couldn't stick around for long though.. They both had work to do.

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