"He-ey! There's my favorite girls!" Danny announces loudly when he sees Mack and Flo on the path in front of him. True, he's not exactly their BFF and he's not arranging tea parties or anything, but he'd like to think that's he's not an enemy or anything. He flashes a smirk up at Neil and tips his head in acknowledgment. "And the prettiest of them all, hey, Neil, how's it going, babe?"
"Hi-iiiiiii, I can't remember your na-aaaaaame!" Mack sing-songs happily, running a circle around him before continuing her path toward the boardwalk. Flo's busy chasing after Dexter, who's playing along, staying just out of her reach.
Snorting out a laugh, I drop an arm around his shoulder, steering him in the direction we were heading and saying, "Oh, so I'm babe now?"
"You can't remember my name?" Danny reacts with exaggerated offense, huffing and puffing and hand to his heart and then his head as he shakes it. "Kids these days, never remembering anything," he says, grinning as he watches her go. Soon enough, he's got other things to focus on and he walks idly with Neil. "It is a compliment. Why, you want to be 'honey'?"
"She probably does, she's just bein' a little bitch," I say, voice pitched low so only he can hear, a crooked grin on my face.
"Mack, hey, not so far!" I call to her when she runs up ahead, then, when she doesn't fuckin' listen, I lean away from Danny so I'm not yelling in his ear when I say, "Did you hear me?"
She spins back around to face us, her eyes narrowed, like she's trying to decide if she's in the mood to test me. Flo, who's got an arm looped around Max's neck, looks back to make sure she's not in trouble, too.
"Stick close," I remind them, relaxing when they both slow down. "Jesus," I murmur, rolling my eyes and briefly slumping against him with a snort of laughter.
There might be a reasonable explanation for this. That's what I have to keep on telling myself today. There's a folder in my hands, heavy, the surface of the paper smooth under my fingers, but the corner's already dog-eared from all the times I had to open it and rifle through the contents. People on the island receive little gifts from home pretty often, usually something that makes them stop and think. Something to remind them that the island hasn't always been home. But, you know, it's not the kind of thing you expect until it comes. And mine arrived in a neat little folder next to my pillow, Bill's neat script on the notes inside. It's all... a collection of memories, I guess. Clipped articles from when I was a kid and competed in all the spelling bees, pictures of me during my shifts at Merlotte's. Family tree with some people marked, including myself. Even the contact information for the Rattrays
( ... )
It's Flo, who sees her first. Her face lights up, splits open in a grin, two rows of tiny, baby teeth and dimples. Then Mack sees her and runs forward, shouting happily, "Sookie!"
I look to her then, and immediately know something's wrong. But I don't say anything, at first. I just wait for the girls to say their hellos. It's best to just let 'em get it out of their systems.
Honestly, I'm expecting it when I hear Mack's voice calling out from a distance, and I crouch on down and watch as the two run on over, fairy wings bouncing and flapping with the movement. I can't help but laugh, really, even though my mind's so dang full of thoughts that I can't keep any of them straight. Still, I'm nothing but glad to see them. Hopefully they realize that.
"Mack! Flo!" I greet, hoping that I've remembered the order of their names right. I try to switch off, now and again. Probably me just overthinking things, but I don't want one of them to think that I'm playing favorites, or that I can't tell the difference between the two of them. Mack reaches me first today, so I let myself relax a little- even if I've got the order off, at least I can say that she got to me first. "I swear, you two just get prettier and prettier every time I see you. C'mon, give Sookie a kiss and show me those lovely wings you've got."
Haven't looked Neil in the eye yet. Maybe because I know that he'll see right through me when I do.
They both kiss her at the same time, sloppily on each cheek, and then Mack spins around so Sookie can get a better look at the wings she's wearing, green with a swirling pattern on them in glitter.
"They're not butterfly wings. They're fairy wings. But we're catching butterflies," Mack says, then her sister adds, "The fairies aren't big enough to catch with a net."
I snort out a laugh, 'cause that's not something I've told them, but I did say that there are all types of people here, aliens and witches and ghosts and there's no way of knowing there aren't fairies, too.
"I don't know what they think they're gonna do with 'em, when they catch 'em, but they haven't quit talkin' 'bout it for days," I say, and I notice she hasn't looked at me yet. That alone speaks as loudly as anything else she might've done.
There was peace on the ocean. Savannah could sit astride her board and bob on the waves, catch a few and ride them in, paddle back out- all the while letting her mind go blank. When she surfed she didn't think of John or the moon, she didn't think of Tim or Alan, didn't think of momma and daddy or home at all
( ... )
"Look, I gotta keep 'em occupied, somehow, or I'll never get any sleep," I say, grinning at both girls hurrying over to her, showing off their fairy wings and chattering about the flowers and the butterflies and the weird caterpillar they saw on the way out here.
"You're lookin' like you're about to pop," I tell Savannah with a huff of laughter, even though I know that's not true. She's got a little while to go, but still. It's always kinda crazy how big they get, especially when they were tiny to start out with. Eostre was so short, so damn low to the ground, she always kind of looked like she might tip over at any moment.
"I feel like I'm about to pop," she agreed, laughing lightly as she said it. Flo sat down with her and Savannah immediately began to braid her hair. She did it so much for all the little girls in the Children's Office that it was just a reflex. At least Mack and Flo held still better than Abby did.
"But I only started my third trimester. I guess it's the home stretch. Gives me a reason to really look forward to New Year's when it'll be over. Hold still, now, honey. It better be over, I mean. I'll be glad to be able to do things again. Funny that I'm jealous of you for being able to pick the girls up."
"Yeah, I remember, it was really rough on their mom, the last couple months," I say, smiling a little sadly at the complete lack of recognition on the girls' faces. They don't remember Eostre, really at all anymore. Pictures and little video clips aren't the same.
"But things oughta get back to normal pretty quick," I say, quirking a faint smirk, "At least as far as that goes." Even if she's giving the baby to Jack and Logan, I kinda doubt things'll ever be like it was, for her. Not completely.
Sometimes in the early mornings, when Sam is still asleep and Mathias knows Lucy will be there for her when she wakes up, he leaves a note and goes out for a swim, either in the ocean or one of the waterfalls. Though he doesn't think of it as an escape, there's a part of him that relishes the time alone, enjoying it more than he might have once.
When he sees Neil, though, near the waterfall, he smiles and lifts his hand in a wave. The swim can wait, he has no problem with that.
"Good morning," he says when they near and he drapes his towel over his arm. "Where are you going so early?" He's asking the girls more than Neil, but he isn't sure who will give him the full answer.
"Mathias," Flo says when she catches sight of him, smiling a little shyly and walking over toward him, her hand on Max's collar and leading him along.
"We're going to catch butterflies!" Mack says, a lot less quiet, the little heels of her tennis shoes flashing as she hurries over to him. "Look!" she says, shrugging her shoulders so the wings on her back twitch. "I'm a fairy! Flo, too."
"And you're both very pretty fairies," Mathias says with a smile, looking up at Neil for a moment before he looks back down to the girls as crouches down to their level to fully inspect their wings. Sam, if she ever sees these, is going to want a pair, he thinks. Or several pairs, probably for the dogs.
"Where are you going to catch butterflies?" he asks, and this time he looks at Neil, rising to his feet again. "The garden?" He knows it's there, but he's never actually been inside, never done much more than simply pass by on his way somewhere else.
"Yeah," I say, walking closer, my hand resting on the top of Flo's head. "It's not really kept up anymore, but I had a look around, yesterday. There's still enough to keep 'em occupied."
Things grow so fast out here in the jungle, though, there's really no way to know if those flowers are the ones that were planted, or wild ones that have crept in.
"Easy does it now," Amy said with a laugh, grinning broadly at the sight of the little girls and the small menagerie that followed after them. Stepping a bit to the side so that she didn't get trampled, she couldn't help but feel a bit giddy as a side-effect. It was hard not too. Enthusiasm had a way of being contagious.
"I hope you're going somewhere fabulous. Can't have enough fabulous, can we ladies?" Just as she said that she caught sight of the man following after them. "And gent."
"Fabulous," Mack repeats, like she's trying the word out, and apparently she likes it, 'cause she squirms happily and confirms, "We're going to look at butterflies." There is nothing, apparently, more fabulous than that.
"Hey," I say with a smirk, "This is their game. I'm just along for the ride."
The repetition of the word made Amy laugh, finding it to be a truly adorable thing. This was quit the set of little girls, just the sort that she would like to have eventually. Not now, of course, but sometime.
"Butterflies. Very cool. Definitely fabulous." Even when they had six foot wingspans and sort of reminded her of pterodactyls. But there was no need to bring it up. Looking at the bloke, she nodded. "Being along for the ride is good. A lot of fun to be had there."
"You can come, too," Mack says, perfectly comfortable inviting people to join the fun. Turning to me, Flo asks, "What's her name?" Like I'm some kind of fuckin' endless source of knowledge.
"I don't know, why don't we ask?" I say, looking up at the redhead with an expectant smirk.
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Snorting out a laugh, I drop an arm around his shoulder, steering him in the direction we were heading and saying, "Oh, so I'm babe now?"
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"Mack, hey, not so far!" I call to her when she runs up ahead, then, when she doesn't fuckin' listen, I lean away from Danny so I'm not yelling in his ear when I say, "Did you hear me?"
She spins back around to face us, her eyes narrowed, like she's trying to decide if she's in the mood to test me. Flo, who's got an arm looped around Max's neck, looks back to make sure she's not in trouble, too.
"Stick close," I remind them, relaxing when they both slow down. "Jesus," I murmur, rolling my eyes and briefly slumping against him with a snort of laughter.
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I look to her then, and immediately know something's wrong. But I don't say anything, at first. I just wait for the girls to say their hellos. It's best to just let 'em get it out of their systems.
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"Mack! Flo!" I greet, hoping that I've remembered the order of their names right. I try to switch off, now and again. Probably me just overthinking things, but I don't want one of them to think that I'm playing favorites, or that I can't tell the difference between the two of them. Mack reaches me first today, so I let myself relax a little- even if I've got the order off, at least I can say that she got to me first. "I swear, you two just get prettier and prettier every time I see you. C'mon, give Sookie a kiss and show me those lovely wings you've got."
Haven't looked Neil in the eye yet. Maybe because I know that he'll see right through me when I do.
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"They're not butterfly wings. They're fairy wings. But we're catching butterflies," Mack says, then her sister adds, "The fairies aren't big enough to catch with a net."
I snort out a laugh, 'cause that's not something I've told them, but I did say that there are all types of people here, aliens and witches and ghosts and there's no way of knowing there aren't fairies, too.
"I don't know what they think they're gonna do with 'em, when they catch 'em, but they haven't quit talkin' 'bout it for days," I say, and I notice she hasn't looked at me yet. That alone speaks as loudly as anything else she might've done.
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"You're lookin' like you're about to pop," I tell Savannah with a huff of laughter, even though I know that's not true. She's got a little while to go, but still. It's always kinda crazy how big they get, especially when they were tiny to start out with. Eostre was so short, so damn low to the ground, she always kind of looked like she might tip over at any moment.
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"But I only started my third trimester. I guess it's the home stretch. Gives me a reason to really look forward to New Year's when it'll be over. Hold still, now, honey. It better be over, I mean. I'll be glad to be able to do things again. Funny that I'm jealous of you for being able to pick the girls up."
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"But things oughta get back to normal pretty quick," I say, quirking a faint smirk, "At least as far as that goes." Even if she's giving the baby to Jack and Logan, I kinda doubt things'll ever be like it was, for her. Not completely.
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When he sees Neil, though, near the waterfall, he smiles and lifts his hand in a wave. The swim can wait, he has no problem with that.
"Good morning," he says when they near and he drapes his towel over his arm. "Where are you going so early?" He's asking the girls more than Neil, but he isn't sure who will give him the full answer.
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"We're going to catch butterflies!" Mack says, a lot less quiet, the little heels of her tennis shoes flashing as she hurries over to him. "Look!" she says, shrugging her shoulders so the wings on her back twitch. "I'm a fairy! Flo, too."
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"Where are you going to catch butterflies?" he asks, and this time he looks at Neil, rising to his feet again. "The garden?" He knows it's there, but he's never actually been inside, never done much more than simply pass by on his way somewhere else.
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Things grow so fast out here in the jungle, though, there's really no way to know if those flowers are the ones that were planted, or wild ones that have crept in.
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"I hope you're going somewhere fabulous. Can't have enough fabulous, can we ladies?" Just as she said that she caught sight of the man following after them. "And gent."
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"Hey," I say with a smirk, "This is their game. I'm just along for the ride."
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"Butterflies. Very cool. Definitely fabulous." Even when they had six foot wingspans and sort of reminded her of pterodactyls. But there was no need to bring it up. Looking at the bloke, she nodded. "Being along for the ride is good. A lot of fun to be had there."
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"I don't know, why don't we ask?" I say, looking up at the redhead with an expectant smirk.
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