Ben Explains It All
Chapter 10: Ben Explains It All (Subtitle: I Apologise In Advance If The Big Blocks Of Text Eat You All)
Dean steeled herself as she walked into Wilde at Heart. She’d been able to come and go as jobs popped up before, but without Cody…
“Hey, Ben, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Ben looked up from his work, took in her nervous stance and the duffel bag by her feet. “Got a case?”
“Possible haunting in Portland. Either that or some really fucking effective thieves,” Dean explained.
“I know people in Portland, I wouldn’t be so sarcastic about the thieves,” Ben said with a smile. “Call when you get there, call if you need help, and be safe.”
Dean shuffled her feet. “It’s not…”
Ben put down his pen. “Dean, go. Save people, gank the bad guys, do that voodoo that you do so well. It’s not like we’re awash with customers anyway.”
“How do you manage? Financially,” Dean clarified, the words falling unbidden from her mouth when she should have turned and left. She knew the number of sales made and with all of them moving heaven and earth for Cody, the figures didn’t add up. There’s no way the store could be thriving and she didn’t want Ben to pretend there wasn’t a problem if there was. It felt like caring, but Dean didn’t want to go too far down that line of thought. She’d had a family before and lost every one of them. She liked the Madisons and Karl and Taylor well enough, but she couldn’t get too invested.
Ben stared hard at Dean for a long time, as if trying to read her like one of his books. “My late partner was a great architect. I mean, famous and everything. So, when I… when he started working with me… at Torchwood, he took out a huge life insurance policy in himself. Said he wanted to make sure that Cody and I would be taken care of should the worst happen.”
“Which it did,” Dean added, not having heard the story, but knowing the gist.
Ben nodded. “Which it did. He didn’t even work in a dangerous area, you know? His job was designing homes for the aliens who stayed on Earth, making sure that whatever atmosphere they were used to was included, while making the building look normal to any visitors. He was brilliant, he really was. Once,” Ben huffed a laugh, “he managed to rig up an underwater home for an aquatic species, but kept a regular house in front of it so the aliens could host dinner parties with their human neighbours. To this day, they’re still the hit of the neighbourhood and no one’s any the wiser.” Ben grinned as he remembered, before quickly sobering up. “When Will died, the money from his life insurance was a lot more than he’d told me it would be. Even after moving to America and raising a second child, we’re set for life. Technically, we could live in a mansion, I could have sent Cody to Harvard or something instead of Texas Tech, his choice not mine, and none of us would ever have to work. But,” Ben continued, “I wanted my kids to be kids. To go to public high school, even if it’s an arts school, and learn what working hard is. So I opened this place.”
“For hunters and gays?” Dean asked.
Ben laughed. “It’s what I knew. Well, not hunting, but that came up quickly. Hence the Singer discount. Bobby was tracking a demon that made its way here. I was still finding my feet then. It possessed my neighbour and came for Cody, for reasons I never want to know. I fought it off, barely survived even with all my training and Bobby swoops in and sends it back to hell. When he realised I’d witnessed the exorcism Bobby, for reasons I don’t know to this day, took me under his wing. I was fascinated to learn that there were people who, without the help of a government agency like Torchwood, spent their lives thanklessly moving around trying to help people who never paid them or probably knew they were ever there.”
“Hence the day job,” Dean added.
The older man nodded. “I’d always loved books and taught my boy and later my girl, to love them too. So I opened a bookstore. I wanted to help these hunters, so I started collecting those old tomes,” he pointed to the Folklore and Mythology section where Cody first spoke to Dean. “Also, being a gayer myself, I decided to serve another ostracised group and stocked all the GLBT books I could get my hands on. Subversive enough to keep many civilians away, yet able to help those who might need some hope they aren’t alone.”
Dean smiled. “Good motto to have.” She hefted her bag. “I’ll… I’ll be back soon as I can, yeah?”
“Better say goodbye to Sally first,” Ben advised.
Dean nodded. “Sally, I’m heading out!”
The teenage came from the back room, still clutching a measuring cup full of biscuit mix, and hugged the older girl. “Be safe, Dean.”
“Do my best, kiddo,” Dean replied, hugging back. ‘Ah fuck it,’ she thought to herself, ‘it’s too late for the whole not caring too much bit.’
Dean steeled herself as she walked into Wilde at Heart. She’d been able to come and go as jobs popped up before, but without Cody…
“Hey, Ben, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Ben looked up from his work, took in her nervous stance and the duffel bag by her feet. “Got a case?”
“Possible haunting in Portland. Either that or some really fucking effective thieves,” Dean explained.
“I know people in Portland, I wouldn’t be so sarcastic about the thieves,” Ben said with a smile. “Call when you get there, call if you need help, and be safe.”
Dean shuffled her feet. “It’s not…”
Ben put down his pen. “Dean, go. Save people, gank the bad guys, do that voodoo that you do so well. It’s not like we’re awash with customers anyway.”
“How do you manage? Financially,” Dean clarified, the words falling unbidden from her mouth when she should have turned and left. She knew the number of sales made and with all of them moving heaven and earth for Cody, the figures didn’t add up. There’s no way the store could be thriving and she didn’t want Ben to pretend there wasn’t a problem if there was. It felt like caring, but Dean didn’t want to go too far down that line of thought. She’d had a family before and lost every one of them. She liked the Madisons and Karl and Taylor well enough, but she couldn’t get too invested.
Ben stared hard at Dean for a long time, as if trying to read her like one of his books. “My late partner was a great architect. I mean, famous and everything. So, when I… when he started working with me… at Torchwood, he took out a huge life insurance policy in himself. Said he wanted to make sure that Cody and I would be taken care of should the worst happen.”
“Which it did,” Dean added, not having heard the story, but knowing the gist.
Ben nodded. “Which it did. He didn’t even work in a dangerous area, you know? His job was designing homes for the aliens who stayed on Earth, making sure that whatever atmosphere they were used to was included, while making the building look normal to any visitors. He was brilliant, he really was. Once,” Ben huffed a laugh, “he managed to rig up an underwater home for an aquatic species, but kept a regular house in front of it so the aliens could host dinner parties with their human neighbours. To this day, they’re still the hit of the neighbourhood and no one’s any the wiser.” Ben grinned as he remembered, before quickly sobering up. “When Will died, the money from his life insurance was a lot more than he’d told me it would be. Even after moving to America and raising a second child, we’re set for life. Technically, we could live in a mansion, I could have sent Cody to Harvard or something instead of Texas Tech, his choice not mine, and none of us would ever have to work. But,” Ben continued, “I wanted my kids to be kids. To go to public high school, even if it’s an arts school, and learn what working hard is. So I opened this place.”
“For hunters and gays?” Dean asked.
Ben laughed. “It’s what I knew. Well, not hunting, but that came up quickly. Hence the Singer discount. Bobby was tracking a demon that made its way here. I was still finding my feet then. It possessed my neighbour and came for Cody, for reasons I never want to know. I fought it off, barely survived even with all my training and Bobby swoops in and sends it back to hell. When he realised I’d witnessed the exorcism Bobby, for reasons I don’t know to this day, took me under his wing. I was fascinated to learn that there were people who, without the help of a government agency like Torchwood, spent their lives thanklessly moving around trying to help people who never paid them or probably knew they were ever there.”
“Hence the day job,” Dean added.
The older man nodded. “I’d always loved books and taught my boy and later my girl, to love them too. So I opened a bookstore. I wanted to help these hunters, so I started collecting those old tomes,” he pointed to the Folklore and Mythology section where Cody first spoke to Dean. “Also, being a gayer myself, I decided to serve another ostracised group and stocked all the GLBT books I could get my hands on. Subversive enough to keep many civilians away, yet able to help those who might need some hope they aren’t alone.”
Dean smiled. “Good motto to have.” She hefted her bag. “I’ll… I’ll be back soon as I can, yeah?”
“Better say goodbye to Sally first,” Ben advised.
Dean nodded. “Sally, I’m heading out!”
The teenage came from the back room, still clutching a measuring cup full of biscuit mix, and hugged the older girl. “Be safe, Dean.”
“Do my best, kiddo,” Dean replied, hugging back. ‘Ah fuck it,’ she thought to herself, ‘it’s too late for the whole not caring too much bit.’