Jack hadn't been ready to have four children, but he was even less ready to see them go.
That preference made little difference.
At the appointed hour, a trio of telepaths assembled their parents and began a brisk walk toward the park, bemused stepbrother in their wake. It's time, they all kept saying, and jack was not about to argue.
Emma glanced over at him, picking up the train of his thought and brushed her fingers over his wrist in support.
"I would tell you all to go right home," she said dryly, "but I think we all know that's not going to happen, since at least one young lady thinks she's going to scamper off to Aruba anyway..."
"Can they take us with them?" Jack asked, though he supposed that wasn't the point. "Right. I should be telling you to get back to your lessons and try not to give your parents too many headaches."
She couldn't do this. Dany had lost her son once; it seemed entirely unfair to actively send him away from her. She was stalling, and she knew it -- she'd told Chuck she'd meet him and Ella to say goodbye once she'd sent Rhaego off, and she couldn't keep them waiting. That would keep her from just trying to flee into the portal with him, or run away.
She was quiet as they walked, just watching him. She tried to memorize the way he moved, the color of his skin. The scent of his oil-slicked braid.
Rhaego was growing mildly concerned about his mother's silence. He recognized the glowing purple mass from before, when he had traveled through it to here. It had been at his insistence that they go to it again, today.
He did not wish to cause her unhappiness, this tiny version of his mother. But he could not stay here longer.
Peter had lost both of his girls to their respective co-parents, and he... missed them.
The part that startled him most about that was that he wasn't even so put off by it; he felt a little sad, and a little confused, and a lot proud.
He still had one of them, though. And so when the time came, he led Aindric back to the park, talking to him all the while about things that actually mattered to him, like political theory and the foolishness of world powers in times of war.
Karla came forward slowly, unsure how to say goodbye to this child that she had barely seen and the father that she couldn't stand. She knew what she wanted to do, to say. She wanted to tell him that his mother loved him very much, had chosen to carry him and bear him and raise him up. Wanted to apologize for her distance and her reaction and anything else she might have done that had caused him pain.
But he was a Wiggin. If she said any of those, did any of those things, would he simply be amused by her over-emotional outbursts? Would he give her a long-suffering sigh and point out that he knew all that already? Be embarrassed by her?
And what of Peter? Would he take that moment of vulnerability and use it against her?
She didn't know. Couldn't tell. And so it was a very quiet and subdued Karla who separated herself and walked over to them both.
Oh, grand. Peter looked up at the new arrival, and bit back a snarky comment. He had no real interest in getting into a fight with Karla over this, though the cynical part of him wondered if that was what she wanted.
You know. Let's play 'upstage the other parent'.
He didn't say that either.
"Karla," he said instead, acknowledging her with a brief nod of his head. "Glad you could make it."
Okay, that was a terrible lie, but at least he was trying.
Aindric looked up from past his father's leg. She wasn't getting any snarky remarks from him, either: he could recognize the that wan smile as something unusual from his mother.
Percy wouldn't be too sorry to see his kids go but he was...a little sad about it. Just a little. He'd get over it though. At least he'd avoided getting his shins kicked by Aritaseus. That kid was a menace.
"Time for you guys to go," Percy said, glancing at the portal.
Luke's shins were sore as hell and he still was a little sad about this. He didn't really understand the mechanics of all this so he was unsure if he'd ever see these two again. "Yeah, you're probably giving other versions of us heart attacks right now, disappearing like that."
"Then they're gonna think you have a concussion or something," Anna said. Since she had been away at school she wasn't too worried about worrying her dads.
Unsurprisingly, especially after this morning, Natalie and Sam had agreed to say their goodbyes to Ada together, but she was seeing Lilith off on her own. Seemed more right that way.
Walking to the park with the girl was harder than she'd expected. But then, this whole thing had been like that. They talked as they were walking, in mild tones and low voices, about things specific to their kind of view of the world.
Comments 401
That preference made little difference.
At the appointed hour, a trio of telepaths assembled their parents and began a brisk walk toward the park, bemused stepbrother in their wake. It's time, they all kept saying, and jack was not about to argue.
Reply
"I would tell you all to go right home," she said dryly, "but I think we all know that's not going to happen, since at least one young lady thinks she's going to scamper off to Aruba anyway..."
Reply
Reply
Reply
She was quiet as they walked, just watching him. She tried to memorize the way he moved, the color of his skin. The scent of his oil-slicked braid.
It was too soon.
Reply
He did not wish to cause her unhappiness, this tiny version of his mother. But he could not stay here longer.
/"Why are you sad?"/
Reply
She may as well be honest.
Reply
Reply
The part that startled him most about that was that he wasn't even so put off by it; he felt a little sad, and a little confused, and a lot proud.
He still had one of them, though. And so when the time came, he led Aindric back to the park, talking to him all the while about things that actually mattered to him, like political theory and the foolishness of world powers in times of war.
Reply
But he was a Wiggin. If she said any of those, did any of those things, would he simply be amused by her over-emotional outbursts? Would he give her a long-suffering sigh and point out that he knew all that already? Be embarrassed by her?
And what of Peter? Would he take that moment of vulnerability and use it against her?
She didn't know. Couldn't tell. And so it was a very quiet and subdued Karla who separated herself and walked over to them both.
"Hi," she said quietly, giving them a wan smile.
Reply
You know. Let's play 'upstage the other parent'.
He didn't say that either.
"Karla," he said instead, acknowledging her with a brief nod of his head. "Glad you could make it."
Okay, that was a terrible lie, but at least he was trying.
Reply
So he returned it.
"Hey, mom."
Reply
"Time for you guys to go," Percy said, glancing at the portal.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Walking to the park with the girl was harder than she'd expected. But then, this whole thing had been like that. They talked as they were walking, in mild tones and low voices, about things specific to their kind of view of the world.
Natalie supposed this was going to hurt.
Reply
Leave a comment