Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 7

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Michael doing the talking didn't go as well as they hoped, and Our Heroes are now in jail, charged with disturbing the peace and about half a dozen other crimes that amount to "freaking everyone right the hell out". Harry, individually, is also looking at a solid handful of traffic violations, enough that he's worried about losing his license, although I don't think this possibility ever gets any real follow-up. Harry's feeling validly bitter and cranky about having fought the good fight, et cetera, no one even knowing the work they do exists, and now getting arrested for it. He's also anxious because, while they now have some idea what's getting the ghosts all worked up, they still don't know who's doing it, and they kinda need to figure that out before something even worse happens. 

Michael isn't worried about that, or feeling so resentful, and he points out to Harry that they saved about a dozen babies from the forces of darkness, which is pretty much the dictionary definition of "worth it". What he's worried about is how mad Charity is gonna be when she comes to bail them out. When Harry quotes his own "have faith, it'll work out" rhetoric back to him, he says he'll say a prayer to St. Jude. So that's two jokes he makes in this book. 

True to Michael's prediction, when Charity arrives, she is not happy. She's also like eight months pregnant, and that doesn't make her even a little bit less intimidating. Harry makes an effort to greet her politely, but she's not having it. She doesn't approve of Harry. She doesn't like Harry. And it's her assertion that he's bad for Michael, because only when the two of them team up does Michael come home covered in blood. (Or, y'know, get arrested). This is fascinating. I'd love to know whether she's right, for one thing, or whether she's just doing a confirmation bias. This option might require that she actually have another reason to dislike him, but it's possible that she just arbitrarily latched onto him because he's a size and shape she can theoretically control. If Harry is what's putting Michael in danger, all she has to do to keep him safe is keep Harry away from him, and that's far more achievable than keeping every danger in the entire supernatural world away. It's not exactly a productive way to think, but it's pretty normal. If she's right, and this only happens when Michael and Harry work together, I see three possibilities. It could be that jobs serious enough to need both of these two very powerful and capable people are on the extreme upper end of the dangerous situations Michael gets into, and are thus the ones where he ends up covered in blood. Since some of Michael's work without Harry includes fighting Denarians, this doesn't seem super likely, but it's possible. More provably, Michael's work takes him all over the world, and when he's not actually in Chicago, he takes the time to wash up, do laundry or change his clothes, and bandage his wounds before Charity has a chance to see him. So there's no correlation between Harry being involved and Michael getting covered in blood, but they only work together locally, so there is a correlation between Harry's involvement and Charity finding out about it, and naturally Michael isn't super inclined to say "actually, my job is always like this, you just don't see it." Or hell, maybe he did, and she just didn't internalize it. The third option, more likely, in my opinion, than the first, but less likely than the second, is that Harry's general lack of regard for his own safety, combined with Michael's unwillingness to let friends do stupid things alone, puts Michael into situations when he's working with Harry that he would otherwise be able to avoid. And if that's the case? Then Charity kind of has a point. No matter how important the work they're doing it, it's hardly unreasonable to resent someone whose low-key suicidality keeps getting your husband hurt. 

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Michael and Charity leave, and Harry stands there for a minute, thinking about "the married thing" and his own terrible relationship history, until Susan gets close enough for him to sense her presence, which is apparently a thing he can do. She asks about Michael's backstory, including Charity, and after insisting that it remain off the record, he fills her in on how Michael saved Charity from a dragon, and the basics of the whole "Knight of the Cross" situation, although at this point he's not entirely sure if they're real holy artifacts containing actual nails from the Cross, or just pieces of metal that Michael believe in real hard. 

Susan is a little annoyed that they won't be having their date tonight - Harry is tired and injured, and she gets that, but when pressed, says she wishes she were as important to Harry as his work is. Harry makes a couple attempts to say how much he cares about her, but nothing he says is sounding right, and he figures now is a pretty good time to tell her he loves her, but he physically can't make himself say the words. Everyone he's ever said them to has died. Which is honestly kinda fair. He came by this baggage honestly. Since talking isn't working out for him, he just kisses her and hopes she gets it. Then he lets her drive him home. 

Mister isn't there when they get back to Harry's place, and Harry's pretty concerned. Susan brushes it off, on the basis that cats pretty much keep their own hours, which is sorta valid, but also very much evidence that Susan isn't a cat owner. Cats get into a rhythm with their humans, and if the human notices a break in a known routine, it's often a sign that something is up. And indeed, a moment later, two vampires emerge from around the side of the building in a wave of spooky energy. Harry tells Susan to get her keys out so they can escape. 

Hope you're having a good time with these. We'll have somewhere between three and ten more of these before the end of the month, probably, and I've got a shorter non-Dresden post ready to go in a day or two. Until then, be Gay, do Crimes, and read All The Things!