They had left Adon and the children alone in the office.  After the events of the day, he hadn't entirely wanted to let either of them out of his sight, but as the Auror had pointed out, Gwenna and Artie were likely far safer in the Israeli's presence than they'd ever be outside of it.  Jonas had accepted that; he'd accepted that this was his responsibility; and he had almost and nearly accepted that the entire drama had to specifically play out tonight, before Katsaros or whoever had possessed Dreogan Eleor had time to regain his senses, regroup, and launch a counterattack against the men who had foiled him.

Anna had not been particularly happy about leaving the children behind.  She had watched Adon with a sense of wary suspicion, which was probably appropriate considering that she had last seen him breaking into her parlour dressed in a Santa suit.  Jonas had pulled her aside after their arrival and quietly explained.  Eleor could be trusted - he was, for lack of a better word, currently his partner.  The two men were working together on something that had gone a bit further than they had been expecting.  A possible issue had come up as a result, and now they needed to talk.

Normally, he would have expected her to say no, but the recent month of December had brought with it an easy truce.  The past holiday season had been a blessed relief compared to the previous year, and his good behavior had apparently bought him enough goodwill to buy tolerance for his current eccentricity.  Anna had agreed and had reluctantly left the children with Adon, joining her ex-husband as he led them on a circuitous path that didn't have a firm destination but would, Jonas hoped, eventually get them both to where he needed them to be.

He walked slowly, taking his time.  The streets of Muggle London weren't the best place to have this sort of conversation, but then, once he started thinking about it, nowhere was really best.  Over the years, he'd run through what he needed to say a thousand times over in his mind.  Rehearsed it.  Practiced.  Decided on the best way to phrase things, the best anecdotes to use, reasoned through the nuances of magical culture and how to explain them, which questions she was most likely to ask, which answers she'd most want to believe.  Should he be direct?  Make it political?  Use an analogy?  Tell his life's story?  Go all the way back to the founding of Hogwarts and give her a history lesson?  There were so many possible choices, and the problem was that once he got going, it wasn't as if he could just back up and begin again.  No, it was important that he managed to get this right the first time.  Important for her, too, because the shock at discovering a magical world right in the midsts of London was more than enough to -

"There couldn't be something on your mind, could there?"

Jonas jumped, and then forced a smile as he broke away from his thoughts.  "Can't imagine why you'd possibly wonder that," he replied, dropping his hands into his pockets as he eased his pace.  The banter came easily; he'd missed it.  He wondered if she had too.  "I was just contemplating the fact that this year, judging by the way Gwenna was telling it to Adon, you somehow managed to select a tree that is both taller and wider than every available entryway into the house.  Must have had to bend time and space to get it inside to begin with, yeah?"

He knew what was coming now, knew that he was just putting off the inevitable, but every instinct in him rebelled against it.  The thing needed to be done well.  Planned out.  Thought through.  Not spontaneous.  Not like this.  He needed more time to think.

Anna laughed, which was what always let him know that he'd won the point, and he relaxed slightly.  Destiny had been momentarily staved off.  "Yes, well, I didn't think we'd manage, but then this fellow in a telephone box showed up," she replied, smiling back at him.  "He said it was nothing after the Daleks, so he didn't mind giving us a hand."

The private investigator smiled back at her, and then glanced away, his gaze drifting back to the street.  He hadn't thought of that, he realized with a frown.  They'd obviously had a tree for the holidays this year.  Normally, the evergreens were too unwieldy for Anna to easily manage, so the responsibility of maneuvering them into place had always fallen to him.  How had they gotten it inside to begin with?  The fact that Anna had been so willing to let him take the kids along to Cornwall for Christmas suddenly set something piercing through his stomach.

The hand on his arm, carefully placed, nearly made him jerk back.

"Jonas," Anna said quietly.  She was watching him, her expression troubled.  They'd stopped walking and he hadn't noticed.  "What's the matter?"

Ten years flashed before his eyes, or nearly did.  He avoided her gaze as he took a deep breath, managing not to look anywhere near her, which was quite a feat considering that she was standing right in front of him.  "Ahh, actually, it's nothing.  Look, you don't think we could make plans for supper sometime later this week, do you?" he asked, suddenly and quickly. "Just us.  Not the kids.  Maybe Kim could watch 'em, yeah?"

A frown crept onto her face.  "I thought Adon was watching them now," she said warily.  "Jonas, what exactly is going on?  You've made me come all the way out here.  There's no one around," she reminded him, beginning to sound a bit impatient.  "And I don't want to leave the children for too long.  What exactly is all this about?"

Reaching the exact moment of the discussion that he had been waiting ten years to have felt suffocating.  Jonas could feel the pressure against his chest.  He couldn't breath.  It was if he was left gulping for air, fighting for it, as Anna waited for him, her quizzical expression quickly degrading into annoyance.

To hell with it.  It was like ripping off a bandage.

"A wizard," he forced out quickly.

The relief was incredible.  It was amazing how suddenly he could breath again.  Unfortunately, the one word confession, which represented everything that he'd fought and lied and pretended for, had apparently done nothing to clarify things for his ex-wife.  Anna was still staring at him, creases forming between her brows. 

"A what?" she asked perplexedly.

Now that he'd gotten the first words out, it was if gravity had released its hold on him.  Jonas steadied himself.  He'd said it once and she'd neither murdered him nor insisted he was a nutter and run.  Momentum was now on his side; it was too late to stop.  Best to gather himself and soldier on.

"Look," he said, almost apologetically.  "I'm a wizard."

Anna blinked, creases forming between her brows.  "A what?" she asked again.

Confusion.  Possibly denial.  That was more or less what he had expected.  At least she wasn't shouting anything at him yet, though that was likely to be inevitable once the meaning of his words sunk in.  Jonas hooked his thumbs in his coat pockets, rocked back on his good heel, and prepared for the assault.

"I'm a wizard," he repeated, and then plunged onwards.  "And I'm sorry I hadn't told you before.  It's a bit complicated, actually, and I would've, except -"

"I'm sorry, a what?"  Now Anna was definitely frowning at him; confusion was evident on her face.  "Is that some sort of slang word for it?"

That was not, even after all the times he'd run through this conversation in his head, practiced and rehearsed and dreaded it, how he expected the confession to go.  Jonas stopped, frowning at her.  He opened his mouth and then slowly closed it again.

"No, I think that's the actual word for it," he said, shifting uncomfortably.  She didn't seem to be getting it.  Maybe the direct approach hadn't been best after all.  He wondered if he should back up, apologize, try to begin again.  Maybe a history lesson...  "A wizard.  With magic?" he tried tentatively.  "Only I can't do much of - well, any of it.  I'm a little out of practice."

"Jonas, you've been living on your own for a year."  Anna spoke slowly, carefully, if she were reasoning the words out before she said them.  "And I'm not really sure when you were in practice, if you want to call it that, unless it was back before we were married -"

"Yeah," he interrupted, relief flooding through him.  At least she was getting it.  "Yeah, it was back then.  I went to school for it.  Only there was a war, so I had to leave, and I --"

He stopped, seeing her expression.  She was clearly not getting it.

"Ahh, I'm sorry," Jonas said, frowning, as he took a deep breath.  "Am I explaining too quickly?"

Anna matched him, deep breath for deep breath.  "N-no," she said, reaching out to steady herself, and then withdrawing her hand again before making contact.  "I mean, I get it, Jonas.  It all makes sense.  And there's not - I mean, there's nothing wrong with that sort of thing.  It explains quite a lot," she added thoughtfully.  "The secret keeping.  Sneaking about.  Only...you went to school for it?" she asked, squinting at him a bit incredulously.  "And a war?  I mean, I'm certain the bigotry must be awful, but I don't really think that that's the best analogy to use, do you?"

It was as if they were speaking two entirely different languages.  Jonas opened his mouth, shut it again, and then decided to try a second time.  "I'm sorry?" he asked, feeling entirely lost.  "It was a war, Anna.  Against You-Know-Who," he said with a frown as he tried to follow her thought process.  "Except you wouldn't have heard of him.  He's definitely a wizard bloke, I don't think that Muggles -"

Jonas froze. 

Suddenly, it clicked.  Secret keeping.  The long hours, probably.  Refusing to answer his phone.  Eleor lurking about, and then throwing a fit when he wasn't there.  Calling him his partner. 

A wizard.

He couldn't help it.  He burst out laughing.

It took a good few minutes before he could even manage a straight face again.  Anna was still staring at him, looking patiently confused, as if she weren't sure whether she should take this as confirmation of her suspicions or just the early signs of madness.  Jonas finally straightened, wiping the tears from his eyes, though he couldn't quite swallow the smile threatening to split his face as he attempted to speak again.

"No.  I'm, ahh.  I'm not.  That," he managed, before nearly being overwhelmed by laughter again.  It wasn't funny, he knew.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of people probably struggled to have this very conversation every day with family members for whom they cared dearly.  It was a perfectly valid confession; it just wasn't the one he was trying to make.  Suddenly, the fears he'd been struggling with for over ten years had been shoved into perspective.

"No, though that would be a very clever way of putting it," he attempted again, running his hands over his face.  Merlin.  This was better than Raynor's tea cups.  He wasn't going to be able to maintain a straight face for at least a week.  "I meant exactly what you'd think the word means, Anna.  Only, ahh, the literal meaning, not the other one.  A wizard," he stated, biting his tongue so that he wouldn't laugh.  "Except with a wand instead of a staff.  There's a whole secret community of us, right here in London, and we're -"

He broke off, closing his eyes.  He wanted to cry.  It was hilarious.  None of the television shows or comic books ever got into this aspect of having a secret identity.  He could just picture it, one of the super heroes sitting his ex-wife down to explain.  Well, ahh, you know that bloke who's always running around all over the news in nothing but his skivvies?  Yeah.  That's me, it is.

"Look," he said.  He was grinning like an idiot, he knew.  It was probably not adding to his credibility.  Taking a deep breath, Jonas opened his eyes and risked a look at Anna.  She was smiling too, although she still had a wary edge to her. 

He relaxed.  If she were smiling, she wasn't going to murder him. 

"I know it sounds ridiculous when I try to explain it.  Well, actually," he amended thoughtfully, "it never occurred to me how absolutely ridiculous it would sound, but I have realized now that there is a valid and irreconcilable obstacle in explaining this, which is that the paradigm of any normal individual simply does not allow for things.  Such as wizards.  Except in that -"  He broke off.  He was going to start laughing again. 

"Look.  D'you reckon maybe I can show you?" he managed, swallowing back the humor as he met her eyes for the first time.  "There's a place - Diagon Alley's not too far from here.  It might be easier to understand if you see it."

Anna regarded him for a moment, and then arched an eyebrow.  "Are you sure this talk of wands and staves isn't a metaphor for something else?" she asked, tilting her head as if to say, 'Yes, go ahead.'

Jonas smiled, honest and relieved, and then ran both hands over his face again.  A wizard.  "Wondered that meself plenty of times," he replied, offering her his arm.  "They insist it's not, but you're better at reading into that sort of thing than I am.  You'll have to tell me afterwards.  Shall we?" he asked, sobering drastically, as he gave her a worried look.  "You might want to kill me after all of this.  But it's probably best if that waits until we're back at the office."

His ex-wife smiled, and then rested her hand lightly on his arm.  "I suppose I can restrain any murderous tendencies until then," she agreed in a conversational tone.  "So what sort of partner is Eleor, then, if he isn't that sort?"

The red-haired man broke into a lopsided grin.  "Oh, he's also a wizard," he said cheerfully, as they began to walk again.

Fin.