Judah James Bassir had made a total ass of himself at work today. It started when he yelled 'timber!' at Maya Elliot as she wiped out on level four and spilled coffee everywhere. From then on, his foot-in-mouth disease decided to make a recurrance, and he just kept making it worse. And worse. And worse. At some point, she had actually sprained her ankle. And what did he do? He accused her of swooning over Adon Eleor.

But then again, all girls swooned over Adon Eleor. He had that accent and wicked face scar going for him. It wasn't anything unusual. Surely, Maya understood that by now.

With a box of day old pastries from the nearest bakery tucked under his arm, JJ knocked on Maya's front door. Or, at least he hoped it was her's. It was the address listed for sending mail...

And she answered. With a kid on her hip. A little mini-Maya with curly black hair.

JJ looked from the child, to Maya, and back again. Holy shit, she was a mum. Was he old enough yet? Old enough for his peers to be producing spawn?! This meant that Miranda Elliot, Satan herself, was a grandmother. That thought disturbed him more than the concept of Maya being a mother.

"Uh....." He held his free hand up in a half-assed wave. "How's your ankle?"

The evening had been an average evening just like any other. Maya had left work, heading straight to her grandparents to collect Katrina and head home. They’d played, eaten and now both were in pyjamas. Katrine was in her little dragon pyjamas, slippers with dragons on her little feet while Maya had a pair of baggy cotton trousers on and a thin t-shirt that almost drained her. Her long dark hair was scraped back into a messy ponytail and she was barefoot as she moved down the small hallway with Katrine on her hip.

“Ma! Bang bang bang!” Katrine trilled, excited by the door knocking. Maya was less excited at the disruption to the bedtime routine. They’d just been curled up on the sofa in the living room reading a bedtime book.

“Bang bang bang bang” The little girl who’d once more found her voice continued as Maya pulled the door open to be faced with JJ Bassir.

He stared between mother and daughter and Maya pursed her lips in dismay as Katrine finished her chorus of Bang bang bang and instead stared at JJ with dark wide eyes and parted lips.

How Maya’s ankle was didn’t matter now that her former boyfriend and current colleague was stood on her doorstep with no previous knowledge that she was a mum.
“It’s fine.” Thanks to him. Maya frowned, considering her approach to the situation. He’d come to check on her, it would be pretty rude to send him away. So she stood back from the front door to allow him entry. She bent down, lowering Katrine to the floor before muttering something to her in Norwegian. The little girl nodded and ran down the hallway into the living room.

“What are you doing here, JJ?”

Maya seemed less than happy about JJ's spontaneous appearance. He should've owled instead-- clearly, they had been in the middle of some sort of nighttime routine. And here he was, interrupting it with a lousy excuse. Well, since he was here, he was going to commit. Once let into the entryway, he lingered-- not wanting to go further into the house than necessary. It seemed he'd already invaded her privacy in some way. As far as JJ knew, nobody on level 2 knew that Maya was a parent.

"I wanted to check on you, after today." He held out the box of pastries, "Brought this for you."

JJ waited until the little girl was well and clearly out of earshot before he mentioned the giant elephant in the room. "You're a mum."  Maya's features were etched all over the little girl's, there was no denying it. Maya had given him the impression that she was currently single-- which meant that whoever the father was, wasn't around anymore. It could've been Bug-- it could've been somebody else.

"Why hide it?" He raised his eyebrows. There were plenty of single mothers out there. All hiding her daughter did was indicate there was something shameful about her. No kid should be perceived like that.

"Brought this for you." JJ held up the box of something that smelled rather delicious and despite herself, Maya smiled. She’d dated JJ for the majority of their seventh year at Hogwarts and one of the clearest things she remembered about him was his love of food. Now that she worked with him and saw him on a daily basis, it was clear to see how little he’d changed. Unlike her.

The elephant in the room was addressed as Katrine vanished out of sight into the living room and Maya gave a shrug. It hasn’t been a question, more a statement that he acknowledged the presence of the small child in the house. The resemblance between mother and daughter was clear. The strong genes of the dark hair and eyes had filtered down from Maya’s grandmother, through Miranda and finally down to little Katrine.

"Why hide it?"
The question stumped Maya and she frowned at her former boyfriend. When it was phrased so bluntly it seemed ridiculous that she hadn’t been honest and told him. It wasn’t embarrassment for her daughter. It was embarrassment for having fallen for a wizard who dumped her and their daughter without a second’s thought.

“People judge.” Was all Maya said as she took the box from JJ and walked through to the kitchen with them, expecting him to follow. Behind them, Katrine started zooming along the corridor, dragging her teddy bear at her feet by his arm.

“Ma!” The little girl trilled, running headlong into Maya’s legs as the witch put the box on the counter. “Bang bang bang.”

Maya grinned down at her little girl and bent down to haul her up into the air.
“I know!” She told her daughter. “We’ve got a guest, Katrine.” Katrine was balanced on her hip, the little girl still holding the bear which dangled down in the air, Maya put her attention on JJ.
“JJ came to see you right before bed. Aren’t you lucky? Are you going to say hello?”

“Bang bang bang!”

Maya rolled her eyes and sat the little girl on the counter, keeping her hands on either side of her torso.
“She’s not an eloquent conversationalist yet.”

If people judged, then maybe Maya needed to surround herself with different people. JJ was about to make a comment to that effect when the little girl made a reappearance. Katrine. That was her name. It sounded like something Maya would name a kid-- whoever the father was likely had little say in the matter.  He did his best to commit it to memory-- he was horrible at remembering names.

Apparently, 'bang' was her favorite word.

"Hello Katrine, I'm JJ!" He stooped slightly to lower to her eye level, propped up on the counter. "Your bear--" He pointed to the toy, smiling, "What's his name?" JJ spoke to her just like he would have an adult. The baby voice that some people used on children was annoying as hell, and it just sounded condescending. Nobody liked to be spoken to like a child, even if they were a child. JJ liked kids-- he had seven little sisters, the youngest being just a couple years older than Katrine. He was used to children-- he knew how smart and observant they could be, even if they weren't expressing it.

He looked from the box of pastries, made eye contact with Maya, and then looked back at the box. He was trying, subtley to ask if it was okay for her to have some. Some parents-- like his mother-- were very particular about desserts being eaten late at night. Katrine seemed high energy enough as it was.

Rather hoping Katrine didn’t tell JJ that her teddy bear was called ‘Bang’, Maya lifted the bear to sit next to the little girl on the worksurface.
Instead of replying to JJ about her bear’s name, Katrine simply stared at her with wide inquisitive eyes. Yet it was evident she was now battling the tiredness as it was time for bed. Maya was trying not to make her irritation at having the evening routine disturbed too obvious, but she did watch with pursed lips as Katrine yawned and turned slightly away from the wizard speaking to her.

“He’s called Bamse.” Maya’s hand rested on Katrine’s leg as she nodded to the bear. “Bam” for short. “Teddybear in Norwegian.” JJ knew she’d grown up in Norway before Hogwarts. In an effort to hold onto her roots, she tended to speak to Katrine in the language of her grandparents and upbringing.

With JJ glancing between the pastries and Katrine, Maya gave a slight shake of her head after stopping her eyes from widening. There was no way that she was plying a 15 month old with sugar right before bed time.

Maya wanted to ask JJ why he’d just shown up at her door and surprised her but she knew how much little ears now picked up on what was going on. Katrine would be put to bed and then Maya would find out why her ex-boyfriend turned colleague that laughed at her had shown up unannounced at her front door.

“It’s bedtime for you, skatt.” Her accent changed as she spoke to the little girl and lifted her back onto her hip with a heave. “Give me five minutes, JJ. Make yourself comfortable.” But not too comfortable… she thought as she left the room and headed up the stairs.

Judah shrugged. Fine then, no sugar. Some children would be kept up all night by it-- Katrine was probably one of those.

Of course, Katrine also seemed to be one of those children who were high energy up until the moment they were asked a direct question. Perhaps it was because it was her bedtime and she was tired, but maybe it was just a quirk. Whatever. Kids were weird. He loved them, but that didn't change the fact that they were tiny little sociopaths whose brains were too small and undeveloped for empathy.

"Goodnight Katrine." JJ grinned, and then glanced at the bear, "And goodnight, Bamse."

As Maya took her daughter up to bed, the panic began to settle in.

Why was he here, interrupting her nightly routine. She was a mother with motherly responsibilities, and he hadn't noticed! He had dated her once upon a time and didn't notice. Instead of getting settled, JJ wandered aimlessly around the kitchen, found a glass and poured himself some water.

"It's okay, J-Bear." He muttered to himself, "You can handle this. You got this."

It took longer than five minutes to settle a now somewhat alert Katrine in her bed. Maya had sat with her, the little girl babbling away in her mum’s arms until her eyes had become a little too heavy and her tongue a little loose. She had finally drifted off, suddenly dead to the world like usual. Maya flicked her wand at the little wireless 2 way radio next to the child’s bed and sneaked back downstairs.

When Maya did finally rejoin JJ, he’d helped himself to a drink and was looking dictinctly out of place in the well-presented cottage.

“Where are those pastries?” the young witch questioned, knowing exactly where they’d been put. The giant 15 month old elephant in the room could wait to be addressed until she’d been satisfactorily plied with sugar and yumminess. Then JJ could judge and question all he wanted. Well, until she saw it fit to tell him to get stuffed and leave her alone. That wouldn’t take long. Maya didn’t have a high tolerance for being questioned or judged.

“Maybe,” with the bag of pastries safely in her grasp, Maya pulled one out and took a bite, still speaking as she did, “you missed your calling as a healer. But…” a smirk twisted her lips, “you’re supposed to kiss an injury better. You’d look good kissing my feet, Judah Bassir.”

Very few people could get away with calling him 'Judah.' Maya was apparently one of those few.

"I had no idea you were into weird foot stuff, Maya."  JJ replied, doing his very best to keep his features serious. Still, the slight movement of his lips and the impish look in his eyes betrayed his amusement. "Now I know it's dangerous to go without shoes in your presence. Is that what drew you to Eleor then? Does he have feet to your liking?" His voice cracked a bit as a short laugh broke through.

He leaned against the counter and took a sip of his water. He wasn't sure if he should completely ignore the fact that she had a kid, or what.

"I won't tell anyone about her." JJ finally said, "Not until you're ready. But..." He shook his head, "I think you care more than anybody else that there's no dad."

Despite herself, Maya felt herself immediately growing comfortable in JJ’s company. He’d always made her comfortable at school; they’d been friends before anything else. But he’d been young and silly and Bug had been older, serious and dangerous. Immature and comfortable had been ditched for mature and intimidating and several years later she was a single mother working as a personal assistant to a rude man she couldn’t really stand.

Now at work, JJ frustrated her. He was a reminder of what she could have done had she not been led wayward by a tattooed wizard with a sexy stare and big biceps. So Maya wasn’t very nice to JJ at work. She kept her distance. But he’d shown up on her doorstep and immediately accepted her little curly haired secret.

Whether or not it was his intention, JJ mentioning Eleor made Maya feel slightly ridiculous. This morning he had been half right. She wouldn’t call it ‘swooning’, but she did fancy Adon Eleor. Not that he’d ever be interested. She knew that.

"I won't tell anyone about her." An expression previous mildly amused changed. The witch sobered and frowned slightly, frustrated again. He misunderstood.

“She’s not a secret, JJ.” She corrected, lowering the pastry. “I just…” she paused. Was she going to be honest? She decided that this needed alcohol, so she headed to the cupboard, pulling out a bottle of firewhiskey and two glasses. As she poured, she began to speak again. “I have a crap job. I rent this house off my mum and I am a single mum at 23. My daughter’s dad left me because he couldn’t hack it.” She looked up at JJ, passing him a tumbler of whiskey. “One of those things is enough to scare anyone off. I’m a walking deterrent.”

"She's not a secret, but no one in the office knows she exists?" JJ pointed out, "That sounds like a secret to me." Still, he listened as she talked about how Bug was a complete failure as a father. No surprise there. She was also worried that being a single mum would somehow make her a walking deterrent. He nearly laughed at that, but knew it would be impolite-- so JJ let out a small cough instead.

"You do know that your personality makes you more of a deterrent than Katrine does, right?" JJ knew that the comment would potentially cost him some firewhiskey. He didn't care. "If anything, Katrine's existence shows the world that you aren't, you know." He paused for a moment, "Emotionally defective." That came out harsher than intended, but she had always been harsher to him than she intended. Or maybe it was on purpose. The auror had never been able to tell.

"Bug leaving you two doesn't mean something's wrong with you." He hoped he could salvage this, "It means there's something wrong with him." JJ relaxed his shoulders, his dark eyes meeting Maya's. "Fuck 'im. I don't care if things weren't good between you two. It's still no excuse to ditch your kid."

"Emotionally defective." Maya had most certainly taken a sip of her firewhiskey at th wrong time. She nearly choked and spat it all over the kitchen and JJ when he called her emotionally defective. Fortunately for the countertops and her ex-boyfriend, she managed to hold the drink and gulp it down. Her focus on that, however, didn’t lessen the glare levelled at the wizard.

Despite trying to save his neck and back track, stating how much Bug had let her down by doing to a runner, Maya continued to glare at him, having lowered the tumbler down to rest on the workbench.

“You think I’m emotionally defective?” She barely blinked as dark eyes bore into his. They could momentarily ignore the comments about Bug ditching his girlfriend and daughter and focus on how Maya apparently had emotional issues. “Explain.”

"Well, you're mean." JJ knew there was no talking his way out of that one, "And you hid news of your daughter from work, for some really convoluted reasons that don't really apply to.... Any sort of logic. Ever." The auror was honest, even if his words weren't necessarily something that a pretty woman like Maya would like to hear.

"I mean, it makes sense though. Your mum. She's..." He cringed, "She's Satan. Maya, you were raised by the devil herself." He did his best to put humor in the tone, "You're a little cold sometimes. That's mostly okay. You don't NEED to be friendly to everybody. You speak your mind but you don't speak your mind in a way that's not offensive." Neither did he.  "You think you're a walking deterrent because of being a single mum, but it's more because you're harsh and condescending."

This was not going well.  Yet the word vomit kept coming.

"Some people like that. Some people are okay with that. But not everybody is, Maya."  Maaaybe it was time to shut up now.

"Well, you're mean."

Maya’s scowl undoubtedly confirmed the statement. “I didn’t hide-” she tried to defend herself but JJ continued, digging his hole deeper and wider. The boy didn’t know when to stop. At school it had always irritated her about him. Unless he was digging the whole with someone else; then it was just amusing.
Damn…she was mean.

The more JJ dug, the darker Maya’s glare grew. Not only had she been raised by Satan (something she didn’t completely disagree with), but she was condescending and offensive. Cold; she agreed with. It was better to be cold than to be hurt and vulnerable. That, however, didn’t stop JJ’s words from hurting somewhat.

“Piss off.” The witch finally snapped, waving her hand towards the hallway and ultimately, the front door. “I didn’t hide my daughter because I’m embarrassed, you dick. I didn’t tell anyone because people always have something to say.” Despite herself, her eyes began to tear. “I don’t want to hear other people’s opinions on me or my life. You barely know me anymore and you just show up uninvited to insult me?”

What he’d said had really cut quite deep. She felt a tear falling down her cheek and hurriedly wiped it away with the sleeve of her jumper.
“Get out.”

JJ's first mistake had been pointing out Maya's emotional defectiveness.

His second mistake was then calling her a mean child of satan. Even if it was true.

Still, he was totally going to validate all of that to himself by reminding himself that Maya had asked for honesty. She had asked for him to elaborate. And here she was, crying about it. Shit. He hated it when girls cried. Scratch that-- he was used to it. He had seven sisters! He grew up making girls cry! It was different when they weren't related to you, though. He sent Maya an apologetic look.

"Didn't mean to upset you-- to offend." He hesitated, "Want to punch me?" JJ offered as he began to back out of the kitchen, glass of water still in his hand.