Chapter Text
Every time Jann heard that a nanny job was more likely to choose a person itself rather than a person choosing it, he found mere half truth in it. Not being the most obvious choice of part-time job that could be combined with university studies for a twenty-two year old guy, it only took one particular princess to make him incapable of envisioning three days a week without it. He honestly admitted that it wasn't all cute and fun all the time, and he had to struggle to find an approach and deal with the crankiness and tantrums that popped up here and there, giving absolutely no chance to provide any warning of their appearance beforehand. It just happened, whether they were in the living room on the soft carpet, in her nursery surrounded by dolls and Lego cubes, or in the middle of the playground, and Jann had to know exactly what words to say and what to do to make young five-year-old Elizabeth Salter sympathize with him and stop throwing sand at other kids. Sometimes one had to act out of desperation and go to the ultimate extremes.
“Alright," he sighed heavily, leaning back on his elbows and looking at the child's unwavering face. "As responsible young people, we must come to an agreement."
Elizabeth looked at him in utter disbelief at his success. Which was nothing new, but this time Jann didn't even think of giving up.
"You see, you really do need to eat some soup."
His reassurance was met with the curved corners of her mouth and the flared wings of her nose that screamed out in opposition.
"You know why you need to eat it, don't you?" receiving a silent nod in response, he began to list it slowly so the girl could carry on with him. "There are vegetables in there that are good for your metabolism, for your bones, for your physical development. Chicken broth that your mom makes, and she's-”
“Gonna be really upset if I don't eat it, because I need all these..."
She squinted, trying to remember the tricky word, and Jann smiled softly at her, snapping his fingers in the air and encouraging her to try.
"Vitamins, protein, and it helps your intestines work properly."
Mardenborough holds his breath in nervous anticipation, presses his knuckles to the chin, and lets out his best pleading look, big warm brown eyes framed by lashes, lips bitten down in waiting, he plays foul and at full blast, sure it will secure him a win.
"No," Elizabeth states simply and confidently, heading back to her dollhouse.
Jann sighs, dropping his head on his bent arms, and when he looks at her again, the girl smiles widely. He knows that she knows that she definitely gets whatever she wants for her consent already.
“Two cookies. Chocolate chip, powdered sugar, huh? And you can put as many hairpins in my hair as you want."
To triumphant squeals and bouncing jumps, they take hands, which makes Jann hunched over with his height, and head down the stairs to the kitchen. It gnaws at him still, telling Elizabeth that her mother makes the soup, when Mrs. Salter doesn't really find the energy for anything like household chores and the broth is usually made by her helper or even Jann himself. It's not in his employment contract, like a lot of other things, like staying overnight when Jane goes out of town unplanned and calls late in the evening, begging him to help her out and put Elie to bed. There were plenty of occasions in which Mardenborough should have said 'no' because it was supposed to be his job for a few hours thrice a week, but having built up such a strong emotional bond with the girl, he didn't imagine being able to leave her alone. Sometimes frightened at the thought he couldn't imagine leaving her at all, ever. The thing his friends and family had warned him about, and which was bound to happen inevitably anyway, he had become attached to Elie and saw no way back for himself.
“Here you go," he hums, holding out a bowl of hot soup at the long kitchen island to Elizabeth sitting in her chair. "Veggie and steamy, just the way you like it."
She doesn't let his teasing smile slip out of her sight, and is sure to pin extra hairpins to his curls when the time comes. But for now, like a young lady loyal to her word, she obediently picks up her spoon and begins to scrupulously fish out the vegetables in the broth. Jann grabs an apple from the fruit basket and sits down beside her, crunching in slow chews with her, for the girl did not like to eat alone, she was always cheered up by some company at the table.
"So," he says, swallowing a bite. "What do you want to do today? Your mom will be back later this evening, we have a few hours and a whole beauty lab with which you can turn me into Shirley Temple or something."
"Who's Shirley Temple?"
Sinking his teeth into the fleshy crust of the fruit, Mardenborough ponders for a few seconds before giving a suitable counterpart.
“Elsa, someone like Elsa."
"I'll have to dye you blond for that."
Jann can't help but laugh, and the sound echoes through the empty house where it was just them, ringing in the emptiness of the antique vases arranged on the interior designer's advice in a strict gradation of sizes and colors. He knows for certain that Elizabeth likes to see him laugh, and she repeats after him, opening her mouth wide in an ear tickling gust of ringing childish laughter, accidentally letting out a drip of soup that runs swiftly down her chin. When she feels it, she clenches her teeth close sharply, and Jann's hands automatically grab a napkin and catch the sneaky drops, wiping her chin dry.
“It's okay, it's all good," he mumbles, letting her go back to her food. "The joke was too good."
"You wouldn't look good with blond hair. Also, Daddy doesn't like blondes, Mommy keeps saying that."
Eyebrows creeping upward in surprise, Jann was not at all prepared for such unexpected revelations, which Elizabeth seemed to just hold back for a good chance and spew out without a backward thought, a set of random facts about her family coming out of her mother's mouth. And, yes. One Mr. Salter, more of a ghostly shadow in the house than a permanent resident. Jack was a forty-five year old American who had settled in England seemingly quite by accident, since it just so happened that his wife was from here. He himself had a job that Jann was willing to listen to about all the time that they had the rare opportunity to spend together - Jack Salter was the team leader of the Nissan racing team, and that was the reason for his constant travel and the resulting tense relationship with Mrs. Salter at times. He could be away for two weeks, then come home for a few days and then fly off again to the other side of the globe for another week. It was frustrating, no doubt, but every time he came back to Wales, all his attention was devoted to the little princess, Elizabeth blooming in the warm glow of his unconditional love. Despite the fact that Jack was a rather famous, rich, and busy man, they'd never had any trouble communicating. No age gap, no difference in position, nothing prevented them from catching a few spare moments to chat about anything, and Salter wasn't ashamed to show that he genuinely enjoyed their conversations. The curve of his smile, the few visible wrinkles in the corners of his eyes, the husky warm sound that escaped his mouth when he found Jann's words amusing, all suggested that he was genuinely interested in Mardenborough's comments. And that he was a married man with a baby daughter.
“The Dragon House," she utters in surprise, and Jann blinks, trying to catch her thought. "We have to rebuild it."
It was an impressively sizable construct, probably not meant for her age, but she had dreamed of it so much that it had been a gift from her father on his last homecoming. The structure was nearly her height, large and complex enough that even Jann had racked his brain over the instructions for long hours of assembling them. And now, when it is only a few days since they finished this hellish castle, Elie decides that they just have to reassemble it. Mardenborough is literally crying inside.
"Are you sure? Where's the dragon going to live while we're busy renovating his only home?"
It was a weak attempt, but worth a try.
"We'll relocate him to the dinosaurs.”
Judging by her lighthearted tone, there was no changing her mind.
"What a roommate it's going to be."
When she finishes the soup down to the last spoonful and deservedly gets two chocolate chip cookies, they lay on the living room rug for a while, watching the rainy weather outside the windows. A moment of meditation, that's what the girl calls it, not having the faintest idea what meditation means, because it's definitely absent right now - they're talking, laughing, neither of them focused on their thoughts, everything is just pouring around in a series of assumptions and remarks about what the coming day will bring them. Jann picks at the long curly pile of the rug, stealthily getting closer and closer to Elizabeth, and when she is engrossed in her story, Mardenborough pokes a finger under her ribs, and a loud squeal interrupts the brief idyll. She screams and laughs and tries to protest, but her breath isn't enough for all of it, and Elie just jerks her legs and arms in various directions as Jann tickles her and lifts her up in his arms, letting her get the lead and crawl onto his back. Resting his hands on the floor, he makes it look like he's trying to throw her off his back, but the girl holds on tight to the edges of his sweatshirt, and laughs loudly as he creeps towards the stairs.
"That's it, princess, you're on your own here," he grunts slightly exaggeratedly as Elie climbs off his back and they head upstairs to her room to disassemble the castle.
It's taking all of Jann's willpower, cube by cube to take apart a construction he's barely gotten over, and now, as with every Lego she has, Elizabeth wants to do everything out of the manual for a second time, assembling something that her imagination suggests from a different set of items from multiple sets. They already have a weird version of the Hogwarts Express, set on rails from a modern high-speed train box, traveling towards the Astronomy Tower attached to Elsa's castle. And he is delighted by it, by what the girl's fantasy can plant, and by her courage to pursue it doggedly, no matter how strange the eventual result looks.
"How do you want to build it this time?" asks Jann, disengaging the sharp roof cones from the castle towers.
"Higher."
"Higher still? How on earth are you going to get to the top?"
"That's the whole point," she explains with all the knowledge of the idea. "He's a dragon. He has to sit so high up in the tower that no one can get him."
"And what if he gets lonely up there?"
Elie turns to him with the most unimpressed look a five-year-old can muster.
"A dragon? Lonely?"
"Maybe we have a friendly one.”
“Oy vay," she sighed, unhooking the dragon figure from the platform on the lower floor. "You are so, so naive, Jann."
Mardenborough smiles, shaking his head.
"It feels good to be like that sometimes."
"Don't worry, it doesn't take away from your charm."
"How do you even know I have one?"
"I'm five, I can see people."
"Yes, you can, Princess.”
He knows for sure that by the middle of the sorting out she'll be too bored to do anything, but stubbornly continues on to see it through, and when they're done taking the castle to the ground, her gaze slides uncertainly to the mounds of details that were now to be put together.
"You know," Elie spoke, plopping down on the floor beside him. "I got my cookies, but I haven't braided your hair yet."
"You want to interrupt this fun for the sake of it?"
Jann giggles when she rewards him with an angry look and gets up to pull out a box of her rubber bands, hairbrushes and hairpins. Every possible color and pattern, and he's sure that at least half of that impressive contents will end up on his hair.
“Just don't pull too hard."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, not like the last time."
"Last time was terrible."
"You twirled your head too much."
With nothing to say in his defense, Jann sits down on the edge of her bed and Elizabeth climbs onto it with her legs balancing on the soft mattress behind his back. He feels her lose her coordination slightly and catches her arms just in time, dropping her onto his shoulders.
"Hold on tight, Princess."
When the comb touches the curls on the crown of his head, Jann breathes in patiently, preparing for a long self-sacrifice as his hair is pulled in all directions, though she carefully avoids moving it too sharply. Elie liked his hair, had noticed it before even noticing himself the first day he'd appeared in the doorway of her room, confused and shy, uncertain if he was cut out for this kind of work. That was about eight months ago, an eternity at her age, and here they were, in the same room, enjoying their time as they had every day since the very start.
“Do you prefer navy blue or light blue?"
A serious question to ask, and Jann knows he should take a few seconds to think about it.
"Which one do you like better? Which one do you think would suit me more?"
She twirls the two hairpins in her hands, doubting, pondering, and finally leaves the light blue one, satisfied with her choice.
"This one. Like Daddy's eyes."
Mardenborough tries not to breathe. She misses him, deeply and unconsciously at times, mentioning him in conversation at any moment that suddenly reminds the girl remotely of her father. Jann's heart always skips a restless few beats on such occasions, those rare moments when he doesn't know what to say, because just jumping to another topic and cheering her up seems wrong, like forbidding her to mention Jack when he's away. So Jann is respectfully silent, playing with his fingers while Elie hums a Disney theme song to herself, engrossed in rummaging through his curls.
“Now look at you!" she jumps behind him and rushes to get the mirror.
Elizabeth nearly falls down, stumbling over a piece of construction equipment, and proudly holds out to Jann a green-rimmed mirror, decorated with stickers of dinosaurs, butterflies and bunnies. He looks at his head, a true springboard for all her hairpins and rubber bands, it seems as if every naughty strand has gotten its own bauble, and now his hair is a haven for butterflies, princesses, dragons, and every possible fictional cartoon character she likes. Mardenborough can't hold back a smile, shaking his head and watching the whole predominantly animal kingdom sway with each slight motion. Elie giggles and claps her hands, completely content with her work, and Jann picks her up in his arms, settling her on his hips so she can reach up and touch his hair herself. Instead, the girl wraps her arms around him and her laughter lurks in the spot on his shoulder where he feels her light grip.
"You're the best nanny I've ever had," she says easily, and Jann stiffens.
It's the oddest feeling in the world - he's torn by pride and warmth into a million pieces, but at the same time his heart aches, knowing that someday it will be time to leave. He reminds himself of this at least once a week. The day will come and he will see her for the last time, play Lego with her or read a book for one last time, and maybe Jann won't even be aware that this is the sacred moment when things will end, but at least now he allows himself to gratefully nuzzle his nose into the top of her head with two short ponytails sticking out and breathe in the scent of her shampoo. As if in time with his slow thoughts, she yawns widely and Jann glances at the wall clock - not a wonder, as her lunchtime nap is just about to come.
“Ooh, who's falling asleep in here?"
After putting the box off the bed on the nightstand, Mardenborough pulls back the edge of the blanket so that Elizabeth crawls under it almost instantly, overjoyed and incredibly sleepy, but still demanding to follow their rituals. Jann doesn't have to ask, he makes just one small clarification.
"Which one today?"
"About space!"
Even if her brain couldn't comprehend the full depth of the physics of the mysterious universe they lived in, her imagination made up for it in full, filling in the gaps in her lack of knowledge with vividly doodled coils of magic. She settled comfortably on the pillow, waiting patiently, and Jann perched on the edge of the bed by the headboard, opening the book in the last bookmarked spot. Clearing his throat, he began to slowly and quietly read aloud the theory of Saturn's rings origin that he himself could barely explain, but his soft low voice and the thrilling travels of her mind far beyond her home planet were enough to plunge them both into slumber. Jann had fallen asleep in an awkward position, balancing on the edge of the mattress, his head pressed against one of the many animal-shaped pillows, a scene too cute and amusing, considering the grace with which he fit his height on the child's bed, for an unexpected guest who had opened the nursery door hoping to surprise the young Princess to stand stunned by the scene for a few moments and leave quietly, treading silently on the soft carpet.
A sunbeam traveling along the room as the luminary moved away from its zenith point stung his closed eyelids insistently, and Jann opened his eyes, plucked from the sweet illusion of his dream. He blinked frequently, the first thing that occurred to him was that a guy of his build wasn't meant for beds like this. His back and legs were stiff from the uncomfortable pose, his body screaming in objection, and he cautiously climbed out from under Elizabeth's still-sleeping side, kneading his aching limbs. As a few joints crackled from the sharp warm-up, he opened his mouth in a silent groan, timely stopping himself, and hurried out of the room to do something useful before the girl woke up. He thought about cutting fruit for her, making cocoa, tea and reading a book, ideas and plans slipping lazily through his foggy brain as he made his way down the stairs. The first thing he did was make his way to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, and just as he took a few sips, a soft cough behind him nearly sent his heart into one last dance before it struck. Startled and spilling some water over the kitchen countertop, Jann turned around at the noise and almost choked again - Jack was standing, leaning over the kitchen island, resting his hands on the edge and smiling too brightly and without regret for someone who had just scared Jann to death.
"Mr. Salter," he mumbles in greeting, wiping his chin with the back of his palm. "You scared me."
"Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that," the grin still plays on his lips as he straightens up and rounds the island. "And Jack, please. We did discuss this."
"'Course. Jack," Jann tries to even out his breathing, eyeing the now travel bags and suitcases in the living room that he hadn't noticed before. "You're back early, Jane said your plane wasn't until the next two days."
"Wanted to surprise Elie.”
“Oh, she's still asleep, should wake up in about half an hour."
"Yeah, I saw that. Both of you," the man squinted in a smile, looking at his nanny with teasing twinkles in his blue eyes. "That was kind of charming. As well as-"
He waves his hand, circling Jann's hair, and that's when the guy only remembers that his head is still adorned with hairpins, and blushes helplessly, barely realizing how ridiculous he looks in Salter's eyes. His embarrassment only encourages Jack and he laughs for real, shaking his head.
"I can't imagine how she talked you into going for it."
"She didn't even have to try hard," Jann chuckles, hiding his eyes, cheeks glowing every shade of pink, from delicate peach to top notes of burgundy.
"How is she?" was his usual first question upon arrival always, and would be it today if the whole zoo in all the colors of the rainbow in Jann's hair hadn't distracted him.
“Good. Planning on renovating Dragon castle."
Jack snorts, stepping around Mardenborough and taking a glass from the top shelf above his head.
"And what did poor Dragon do to deserve this?"
"Hiding not high enough," Jann states confidently and with all importance, hearing the tinkling sound as he turns his head toward the man.
"That's the thing," Jack fills a glass of water and holds it out to Jann. "Wherever he decides to hide, there's definitely no escaping the Princess."
"Thanks," he mutters, taking the glass from his hands.
"Any idea where her mother is?"
This time he waits until Jann finishes his glass to ask, and the bitterness in addition to the slight tinge of disapproval is impossible to misplace in his tone.
"She should be back by this evening, something to do with a broken chair and an exploding hairdryer.”
Jane Salter owned a beauty salon downtown, a gift from her husband as a way to keep her busy during his long absences. Sometimes it was an escape from loneliness, but more often lately it seemed like an excuse for her own absence from home. Jack didn't approve of it, Jann knew, having been an unwitting witness to their fights a few times, sitting in the very next room with Elie, reading a story loud enough to block out the noise, and gesturing so actively that she wasn't paying attention to anything else. Another unspoken clause in his employment contract.
"Beauty catastrophe," Jack sighed, running a hand over his face. "Mind sitting here with me until Elie wakes up?"
"No," he answers a little too quickly for his taste, and bites his lip, searching his gaze for something to occupy himself with for at least a little while. "Would you like some tea?"
"Only if you make one for yourself too.”
Turning on the kettle and reaching for cups, Jann spins around by the kitchen worktops too comfortable in his house, a thought that always aggressively attacks Jack's brain when he comes back from long trips. He repeats to himself that this feeling only occurs because he rarely observes it himself, and it's worth being two weeks a hell of a lot of miles away from home, and there he is - sitting on his couch, in a living room furnished to his wife's taste, or rather her designer's, too contemporary and cold, and he can't take his eyes off the back of the guy who's babysitting his daughter.
"How did your racers perform?" asks Jann, pouring boiling water into the cups.
"Not bad. I expected more though, Nick backs up on some corners, like he's afraid the car won't hold up and flies into the guardrail. Kind of like the old fear from his accident.”
One steaming cup goes down on the glass coffee table, the other in the tight grip of Jann's fingers, and he sits in the chair to Jack's left, not brave enough to take the seat next to him on the couch. He nods thoughtfully at his words, and they both know they're enjoying these conversations about cars, racing, and Jack's work overall far more than they should.
"It must be traumatizing, going through something like that once and still getting back behind the wheel."
"He's a tough fighter. Just loses motivation sometimes and succumbs to flashbacks. Hopefully this break will bring him back to his senses."
"You're on a break now?"
"End of the season. I'll be a model family man and father for about a month until the next practice."
"Elie will be thrilled.”
The mention of his daughter somehow brings his attention back to Jann's hair and Jack smiles wider, taking a sip of hot tea.
"Care to take them off?"
"No," Mardenborough shrugged assuredly. "She has to take them off. By herself. Otherwise she'll be upset."
"You're a real treasure," Salter says sooner than he thinks about how it sounds. "What would we do without you?"
"Found a more qualified nanny who wouldn't indulge her every whim."
That makes the man laugh, and Jann can't hold back a smile himself, looking at the dimples at the corners of his mouth.
“Think we'll spoil her?"
"No, I think she's pretty humble. I mean, there are occasional curiosities, of course, she's five years old. But from my experience, she's the most conscientious five-year-old I've ever seen."
"Do you babysit other kids?"
"No," Jann feels awkward answering that question. "Not that I have the energy for university and anyone else besides Elie."
Jack nods at him, studying his face thoughtfully for any other emotion not written along his face as bare little feet sink to the marble floor by the steps.
"Daddy?"
They both turn at her voice, and Salter does not hesitate to rise from his seat and hurry toward her. Elizabeth runs to him, laughing heartily and shrieking loud and joyful as he picks her up in his arms and spins her over his head, letting out a hoarse growl like some kind of monster, stealing the Princess. Jann settles his chin on his hands and watches the picture that can be seen in those rare moments when Jack comes home. A smile lights up his face without his consent and he tilts his head to the side, giggling at the startled girl.
"Did you miss me?" the man asks, settling her in his arms as she pokes her fingers into his beard.
“Very much so!"
"And what were you doing while daddy was away? Torturing Jann, playing with his hair?"
"That's not true, he wasn't suffering."
Two pairs of eyes stare at him questioningly, and Jann has no other choice, but to throw his hands up conciliatingly, surrendering to the girl's insistence.
"Why don't you free him from those hairpins? He refused to take them off without you."
"You did?!"
Jack leaves a resounding kiss on her cheek before he lets go of Elie and she could run toward Jann, jumping onto the arm of the chair.
"Let's see.”
Mardenborough assumed that they would head back to her room and this sacred process would be hidden from view, but Elizabeth starts rummaging through his curls right there in the living room, under the stare of Salter, who takes his place back on the sofa and proceeds to drink tea, watching the many stages of despair and embarrassment on Jann's face. It looked as if taking off all that finery was as much fun for the girl as putting it on, and Jann could only try not to wince at the way his strands were abruptly yanked out of their grip by the hairpins and rubber bands, while Jack hid his smile not securely enough behind his teacup.
"You seem to be enjoying it a little too much," he complained, and Salter laughed quietly, looking at him implicitly.
"That's a really nice picture.”
“Glad you're having fun."
Underneath Jann's apparent frustration, Jack really only gets more fun out of what seems so typical of Mardenborough's relationship with his daughter. He couldn't be happier knowing that she has someone like Jann to take care of her and be some sort of friend.
When Elizabeth finishes with his hair, she lets out a sigh of relief like she's the one being tortured for a good ten minutes and jumps to the floor, raking all her trinkets into a jumble. Jann was just about to ask what she wanted to do when the front doors open, banging thunderously against the adjoining wall, letting Mrs. Salter's figure inside. Something about her ragged breathing and quick walk made Jann think he and Elie had better leave her parents alone.
"Jack," the woman didn't look the least bit surprised, but said nonetheless. "You're home."
"Yep. Back two days early.”
“What a surprise," she smiles strainedly, placing her bag on the couch next to him. "And when are you leaving again?"
"You want to talk about it as soon as I got here?"
"Knowing you, I'm sure it won't be long."
"Actually, I'm going to be home for about a month."
Her eyebrows creep upward, now that's real surprise. Jann takes Elizabeth's hand and whispers to her: "How about some cocoa?"
"Can I get an extra cookie?"
"I'm sure one won't hurt."
As he leads the girl away towards the kitchen, Jack is the one who casts an appreciative glance their way, and Jann just nods, because probably keeping Elie safe from her parents' adult conversations is almost a tradition in his job. The couple takes their chat upstairs, Jane's heels clattering across the floor all the way to their bedroom door, and only then can Mardenborough exhale quietly, letting the girl go back to her hairpins to sort them while he heats the milk. Just as things begin to return to their routine pace and it's once again the two of them, spending time with each other as they always do, Elizabeth asks a question that Jann never even thought to prepare for.
"Jann," she calls out from the living room, her height barely revealing her ponytails beyond the back of the couch. "What's 'D-I-V-O-R-C-E'?"
He spills liquid on the kitchen countertop for the second time that day, confused even more than by Jack's appearance earlier. His breath gets stuck in the middle of his throat, his hands shaking as he rips a few pieces off a roll of paper towels, cleaning up the mess. He hurries to get back to Elie and see where she read that word. His heart almost sinks when he finds her with a sheet of paper in her hands, pulled from her mother's bag. This can't be true.
"I think it's some of your mom's work papers, let's put it back together. It's not nice, reading other people's papers.”
“It's a weird word. What does it mean?"
Jann is lost, baffled, and can't find enough courage to tell the truth, so for the first time he chooses to willfully lie to her. She didn't read the word, far less the entire phrase in full, something impossible at her age, just a set of familiar letters folded into something incomprehensible to her.
"Something to do with a beauty shop. You know I'm not the best person to ask about something like that."
"Hmm," she shrugs. "I'll ask my mom later."
"No!" he shrieks, drawing more suspicion on himself. "You know, let's just get back to the cocoa, and we have big doings today, right? The dragon needs his new home."
"Yes!" Elizabeth lets go of the paper and returns to her hairpins. "Shall we take everything upstairs?"
"Sure, Princess, just one second.”
She happily runs toward the stairs, being reminded not to run on the marble floor like that to avoid slipping, and Jann decides to look at the document himself, still convinced that it's some stupid mistake. Just a cursory glance is enough to convince him otherwise - these are the actual divorce papers, all printed and laid out clearly and plainly, awaiting only the signatures of the couple. He bites the inside of his cheek, reasoning why this happened in the first place, but then another thought hits him like a sledgehammer. Does Jack even know about all of this?
As the door closes on the second floor and quiet footsteps approach the stairs, Jann quickly tucks the sheet back into the bag, careful not to crumple it, and practically runs to get a glass of cocoa so he can hide in the nursery sooner. Salter walks down, deep in his thoughts, and inhales sharply when he notices Jann before he can slip past on the stairs.
“Hey," he holds him gently by the elbow, Jann shivering like he's seen a ghost. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," he replies, tangling his feet and stepping over one step after another. "Have to deal with the castle before I leave."
He almost runs upstairs, afraid to run into Jane as well when she leaves the room. Slamming the door behind his back, he crosses the carpet in several wide strides and places the cup with the green dinosaur on the table. Elie watches him silently, leaning over the pile of toys and wrinkling her nose in suspicion.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. Nothing, I'm just going to step away to the bathroom for a minute, okay? In the meantime, you think about what tower you want to build first.”
Jann escapes into the adjoining bathroom like the ultimate coward. His heart pounding in his chest, thoughts running so fast that he eventually fails to grasp any of them, and he wraps his arms around the edge of the sink, staring at his trembling reflection in the mirror. He wasn't supposed to see this, and especially wasn't Elie, and even having witnessed many of their fights, Jann never thought things would come to this conclusion. Now he had to somehow miraculously control himself, pull himself together, and get back to the girl to act like he hadn't just found out that her parents were getting a divorce, and it would definitely break her heart when they tell her. Crossing the threshold of the nursery again, he shoved as far away as possible the thought that his heart ached just as much for Jack, who was about to find out his wife's decision and must be devastated by the news.