Chocolate 21 [Divide and Rule]
Title: Daydream
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution (Divide and Rule)
Flavor(s): Chocolate #21 (luck)
Toppings/Extras: Malt - Easter Egg (May I have the next dream with you, dear?/ Just a dream between us two/ Who'd think that someday, somewhere, in some way/ I'd meet a dream like you - May I Have The Next Dream With You, by Malcolm Roberts)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 612
Notes: spring 1950, Edward Iveson/Julia Iveson. (Fluff, basically.)
Summary: Sometimes Julia likes to pretend to herself that things could have been different.
***
Julia sometimes liked to imagine that she and Edward had met another way; that there were no deaths in their past, no spying and secrets in their present. It could have been another way, she thought, if only they’d known to go looking for one another. At any rate, it was a nice enough daydream. The problem was that on one lazy Sunday afternoon, she tried to explain it to Edward while curled up next to him on the sofa.
He first gave her a wary look she was becoming much too familiar with, and said, “But we didn’t.”
“The point is that we could have met in London,” said Julia. “If I hadn’t been determined to avoid my relatives - if I’d gone to stay with my uncle -”
“Is this the same uncle you keep telling me you would have to murder if you had to spend more than half an hour in his company?”
Julia frowned. “Yes, but that isn’t the point -”
“Well, I should think it might be - or am I supposed to be visiting you in prison?”
Julia tried glaring this time. “No, but think about it, Ned. Your family knew my family at least vaguely, and my father was acquainted with Lord Howe, and you know him too. There were connections we had in common, therefore we could have met. It’s a nice idea, that’s all.”
“Very well,” said Edward, evidently deciding to make an effort to humour her. “I concede there’s a possibility, but it doesn’t alter the fact that, despite that, we didn’t meet. Besides, if we had, why should we ever have done anything more than exchange a few polite words at a dinner party, or whatever imaginary occasion you had in mind?”
Julia thought that since he seemed to have taken a liking to her during a brief, uncomfortable interview in an office, that was really rather hypocritical, and she could only see one thing he could mean by it. “Oh,” she said, poking him, “you think that I wouldn’t have noticed you if I hadn’t been asked to talk to you.”
“Well, you must admit it seems unlikely.”
Julia saw no reason why she should admit any such thing. “There’s no telling what I might have done if we hadn’t - I mean, had we met in better circumstances.” She caught her breath a little; this was too frivolous a conversation to bring her brother’s death into it, which was, really, her entire point.
“Oh,” said Edward, turning his head towards her. “That’s what this is about?”
Julia waved a hand vaguely. It was, and it was also about wanting everything to be more straight-forward, instead of the stupid way they’d managed to tangle everything between them. “A little,” she said. “But I just thought it was a nice thing to think about. I didn’t think you’d be completely objectionable and sit there picking my innocent little cloud castle to pieces. I suppose I should have known.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, giving her a rueful grin, and then kissing her on the cheek. “It’s merely - if it had been otherwise, I can only imagine things being worse. If you’d died out there - if I hadn’t gone back to speak to you that night - if I’d lost the nerve to go and see you again - if you’d turned me down -” He shrugged. “It seems to me enough of a miracle that it happened once.”
Julia pressed herself in closer to him. “Which is all very pretty,” she said, “but all it really boils down to is that you don’t have much faith in me.”
“Perhaps,” said Edward, “you should tell me again.”
***
Author: lost_spook
Story: Heroes of the Revolution (Divide and Rule)
Flavor(s): Chocolate #21 (luck)
Toppings/Extras: Malt - Easter Egg (May I have the next dream with you, dear?/ Just a dream between us two/ Who'd think that someday, somewhere, in some way/ I'd meet a dream like you - May I Have The Next Dream With You, by Malcolm Roberts)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 612
Notes: spring 1950, Edward Iveson/Julia Iveson. (Fluff, basically.)
Summary: Sometimes Julia likes to pretend to herself that things could have been different.
***
Julia sometimes liked to imagine that she and Edward had met another way; that there were no deaths in their past, no spying and secrets in their present. It could have been another way, she thought, if only they’d known to go looking for one another. At any rate, it was a nice enough daydream. The problem was that on one lazy Sunday afternoon, she tried to explain it to Edward while curled up next to him on the sofa.
He first gave her a wary look she was becoming much too familiar with, and said, “But we didn’t.”
“The point is that we could have met in London,” said Julia. “If I hadn’t been determined to avoid my relatives - if I’d gone to stay with my uncle -”
“Is this the same uncle you keep telling me you would have to murder if you had to spend more than half an hour in his company?”
Julia frowned. “Yes, but that isn’t the point -”
“Well, I should think it might be - or am I supposed to be visiting you in prison?”
Julia tried glaring this time. “No, but think about it, Ned. Your family knew my family at least vaguely, and my father was acquainted with Lord Howe, and you know him too. There were connections we had in common, therefore we could have met. It’s a nice idea, that’s all.”
“Very well,” said Edward, evidently deciding to make an effort to humour her. “I concede there’s a possibility, but it doesn’t alter the fact that, despite that, we didn’t meet. Besides, if we had, why should we ever have done anything more than exchange a few polite words at a dinner party, or whatever imaginary occasion you had in mind?”
Julia thought that since he seemed to have taken a liking to her during a brief, uncomfortable interview in an office, that was really rather hypocritical, and she could only see one thing he could mean by it. “Oh,” she said, poking him, “you think that I wouldn’t have noticed you if I hadn’t been asked to talk to you.”
“Well, you must admit it seems unlikely.”
Julia saw no reason why she should admit any such thing. “There’s no telling what I might have done if we hadn’t - I mean, had we met in better circumstances.” She caught her breath a little; this was too frivolous a conversation to bring her brother’s death into it, which was, really, her entire point.
“Oh,” said Edward, turning his head towards her. “That’s what this is about?”
Julia waved a hand vaguely. It was, and it was also about wanting everything to be more straight-forward, instead of the stupid way they’d managed to tangle everything between them. “A little,” she said. “But I just thought it was a nice thing to think about. I didn’t think you’d be completely objectionable and sit there picking my innocent little cloud castle to pieces. I suppose I should have known.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, giving her a rueful grin, and then kissing her on the cheek. “It’s merely - if it had been otherwise, I can only imagine things being worse. If you’d died out there - if I hadn’t gone back to speak to you that night - if I’d lost the nerve to go and see you again - if you’d turned me down -” He shrugged. “It seems to me enough of a miracle that it happened once.”
Julia pressed herself in closer to him. “Which is all very pretty,” she said, “but all it really boils down to is that you don’t have much faith in me.”
“Perhaps,” said Edward, “you should tell me again.”
***