Parenting, Aurelian Style (open to osborn_heir)

[tm_darla]

Angel's phone call had come near the end of her lunch hour with Ynez, so Darla, after taking leave of Ynez, went straight home. A few phone calls later she had one of the Immortal's limousines with glasses dark enough for mid-day vampire transportation at her service. Darla would have angrily refuted any accusations about being a mother hen, but

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[osborn_heir]

Harry was in and out of consciousness through out the day. He thought he saw Kara and Connor, but it was hard to tell what was real anymore. The drugs were taking their toll on him and he found himself having a hard time even knowing when he was in his safe place and when he was in reality.

When he opens his eyes and sees her standing by his bed for a moment he's brought back to the time she visited him in his dreams. Once again his instinct is to say, "Mom?"

He blinks and tries to sit up, head heavy from the effects of the meds, and the restraints keep him from getting too comfortable. His vision clears and he realizes who it is. "Darla."

[tm_darla]

You're a mess, Hal,

Darla says, matter-of-factly.

Frankly, if you needed to be tied up and drugged, you could have come to Boston. I'm really good at that kind of thing. And it would have spared Kara another New York expedition.

She could get herself a chair, but instead she sits down at his bedside and clicks with her tongue, disapprovingly, looking at his restraints.

Amateurs.

Then she puts her hand on his forehead, briefly, and there is a bit of compassion in her voice.

My boy really knows how to pick them. Hal, sometimes I think you won't leave us any other option but to sire you after all.

[osborn_heir]

"He took them off," Harry mumbles because he remembers taking them off. The doctor didn't see. "I told him they had to go back or he wouldn't be allowed to come back."

The comment about siring reminds him of his dream. His safe place because it wasn't exactly a dream. His voice is barely above a whisper when he says matter of factly, "Angel isn't here to drain me so you can be the one to let me drink. Fathers give death and mothers give life."

That was the way things worked as far as Harry was concerned. There was a method to his madness and even in his most insane thoughts and daydreams it was the father who took the life away and the mother who made it all better.

[tm_darla]

So Connor had been here already. If they were lucky, this wasn't long ago, and he was still close enough for Angel to find him, but Darla doubts it. They hadn't exactly been lucky so far. She still has to find out about Kara. What Harry says, though, reminds her of no one as much as Drusilla. A part of her, not the former vampire, but the human, wonders whether killing him now wouldn't be a mercy, for him as much as everyone. Certainly it would have been a mercy for that human girl who became Dru. And she could do it quite easily right now; supernatural powers need not apply.

Don't be so sure, Hal,

she says softly, while knowing she won't kill him. Life is so difficult when one is souled. He is protected in the same way Justine was, or the Wells boy is. Still, her fingers circle his neck. So easy to break, if you know how. You don't need vampire strength. Just two hands. Then she sighs.

I'm not in a position to hand out immortality just now,

she says.But if you and Connor and Kara keep this up, I'll be soon, I swear. Was she here