Sadik watched Nikola like a hawk. Nikola didn’t eat. His explanation about that was that he didn’t have to, anymore. He had traded his life for Eric’s and had given him a good chunk of his power.

Now, the two were practicing. Nikola had told Sadik that he had long since regenerated everything he had given. Which was good. Nikola needed to keep the doors of Purgatory locked to everyone, bar the people who were supposed to end up in here.

Now, Eric was no longer human. Nikola had broken his rule that he wouldn’t let an angel in Purgatory only for Uriel. Who had confirmed that Nikola had made the boy his son in truth? Making him like himself.

That both saddened and gladdened Sadik. Eric could learn to protect himself. His powers weren’t tied to this place. Life was normal, now that Purgatory was on a lockdown. Or, as normal as it was going to get when your husband and your son spend their spare time setting trees on fire.

“Don’t you two need a break?” Called out Sadik. Two sets of eyes locked on him, and his family members came to him. He took out some sandwiches and handed one to Nikola, who gave it back.

“You know that there is no need for me to eat,” he said, and Sadik looked at the ham sandwich.

“It will bring some normalcy in our life. Just a bite?” He pleaded, and Nikola began eating for the first time since he had died. Sadik smiled and dug in his sandwich.

“Dad, do I need to go to school tomorrow?” Nikola had taken to homeschooling Eric again in the afternoons. Which, Sadik supposed, was, so he could spend as much time as he could with the boy.

“Yes. Won’t you miss your friends if you skip?” Sadik didn’t want for his son to end up in the whiteness. He had gone there, once, when he overslept. It had been maddening, and he had wondered the entire time if he would ever see his family again.

“Papa, why do you punish the people? School is nice, but, why do you force people to go?” Nikola wondered the same. He had been down right self-righteous.

“I’ll end the practice,” he said. The people who wanted to work would work, and the ones who didn’t would still get everything they needed. Nikola made the necessary changes and felt how people were quitting school and their jobs.

“I won’t be going back to the university, either. I can watch the lectures at home,” said Sadik, and Nikola nodded. Yes, he wouldn’t force anyone and keep them safe. That was the best course of action.

“So, this, is it then? We get to live comfortably from now on?” Nikola dared to hope as he uttered these words.

“Why not, Niki. We are a family. No one can control your power, bar you. And Eric is even more special than he was before you gave him superpowers. So, I dare say that we can be happy,” Nikola nodded. He looked at the scorched trees around him and smiled sheepishly as he made them whole again.

“Do you think we are overdoing it? With the training?” Sadik shook his head.

“No, lamb. Eric needs to have some bite to him. To be a wolf. Since I am not on the level of either of you, and you are a lamb. There is no telling when he will have to protect himself. And, we can’t keep brining him back since…” Sadik left the words to hang in the air. Eric looked at the ground with guilt written all over his face.

Just because he had wanted to see some animals, he had endangered his family. His papa was still here, but he was now dead. Even if he still ruled over this place.

“I won’t need saving ever again,” said the little boy, determined. “I will protect the both of you and Purgatory, too.”

Sadik ruffled Eric’s hair and turned to stare in Nikola’s eyes.

“Hear that, lamb? We will be just fine,” Nikola grinned, and he reached out for another sandwich. Sadik watched him, happy that Nikola was indulging himself.

“They are excellent,” clarified Nikola when he saw both Sadik and Eric stare at him pointedly. “Eric, your dad is the best chef from among us. Is he not?”

“He is!” Agreed Eric as he, too, reached for a sandwich.

“And he will make us Pides tomorrow?” Eric’s eyes glinted mischievously, catching onto what Nikola was saying.

“And a pie. A blueberry one,” both Eric and Nikola turned their big, pleading, eyes at Sadik.

“So, I quit school, and suddenly, I am expected to slave away in the kitchen?” Huffed Sadik as both giggled.

“If you do this, I will promise that you get to do anything you want to me tonight,” said Nikola suggestively. “No restrictions. But, we keep the safe word.”

Sadik grinned. This, he could work with. Eric went and hugged him.

“You will get three additional hugs per day,” said the boy. Which, seeing as Sadik had the right to an unlimited supply of hugs per day from both the boy and Nikola, was simply paying him with a false currency.

“Pinky swear on it. That is quite the prize you offer,” said Sadik as Eric let go of him, and they did the pinky swear.

Sadik would miss this, when Eric grew too old for pinky swears and hugs. Although, Sadik would stills steal as many hugs as he wanted. Eric was his son, and it was a father’s duty to embarrass their children.

The Turk hugged Eric again and extended one of his arms wide. Nikola joined the hug, and Sadik wrapped his arms securely around his two precious people.

When he had gone to Nikola after his money were stolen, all that time ago, he hadn’t expected that all of this would have happened. But he was glad that things were ok. And they would remain so. For all eternity.

The end.