A Glimpse (6/?)
Title: A Glimpse (6/?)
Author: dtsguru
Fandom: original
Rating: PG
Genre: urban fantasy
Spoiler Warnings: none
Word Count: 1174
This is set in ‘The Family’ ‘verse. Self beta’d so all mistakes most definitely are mine.
Maureen blinked and suddenly there was an image of herself sitting on the park bench across the street watching a little girl playing in the park. Shaking her head she dropped the bills into the blue mailbox. That little girl had haunted her for years. The girl had stayed the same, but the version of Maureen in it…Maureen had aged considerably since the first time she had seen the vision.
If her fool son had known how to focus his amorous interests on the right woman she would have that granddaughter already. She wouldn’t have such deep wrinkles on her face in her vision. She would have a chance to enjoy her future with the child. But no. Those idiot youngsters had to waste Maureen’s golden years.
And when the girl stopped appearing altogether…well, Maureen nearly had a fit. The boy spent his time brooding at home instead of working to fix his stupid mistakes. What good did his pity party do when Maureen didn’t have her granddaughter? She had tried to convince him to go to her, to apologize. But her son was nothing if not stubborn.
Maureen had nearly danced for joy right there in the street when she saw that Cassandra was heading back. She’d been walking toward the library when the vision hit her. Scattering all of her books in that puddle had been a small price to pay for the knowledge that her son’s future may not be barren. He might not spend it a lonely, drunken wreck.
And then he had gone and shoved his foot in his mouth, dashing all of her hopes. He just could not let his pride take a back seat when it came to Cassandra. With anyone else he could be reasonable. He could be a gentleman. With her though, he became an ass.
Maureen had even gone so far as to slap him following a vision of one of the encounters between Gregory and Cassandra. Considering he had stopped by to eat Sunday dinner and the slap came out of nowhere for him, he was a bit surprised. She couldn’t explain though. She refused to repeat the insulting words he would utter to his wife. She certainly wouldn’t get into a discussion regarding his justification for them. Maureen sided heavily on Cassandra’s side on this one. He deserved to experience the pain she had for all those years, at a much younger age no less. And Maureen couldn’t fault the girl for seeking out love wherever she could find it. Not with the reception she had received from Gregory years earlier.
Something must have started going right though, for the young girl to begin appearing again. Maureen smiled as she stepped away from the mailbox. Perhaps she could stop punishing the boy for that asinine interstate comment. Really, the things that came out of his mouth when he was upset. His father had been the same, he was always one to speak without thinking when he was upset, always one to hurt the other before he could be hurt.
She’d just about given up on the whole situation. Another six months and she would have clued that nice young Joe into the benefits of a certain little blue pill. The man had loved Cassandra since they were in preschool. It wouldn’t have taken much for her affections to be transferred from that jerk down in Texas to a real man like Joe. If Greg hadn’t been willing to pull his head out of his rear end then his two friends had deserved to be happy, didn’t they?
But thank goodness she wasn’t going to have to resort to that. That conversation would have been awkward. And she would have never gotten to meet that beautiful little girl with the light brown curls and her daddy’s dark blue eyes. She would have her mother’s bright smile, when she chose to use it. She would be a serious child. Maureen’s heart twisted at the thought.
Damn Greg for stealing the years. Years she should have had to teach the girl how to handle her gift. Knowing the future could be a painful burden, especially when it involved any unpleasantness for a loved one. But then, joyful visions could be just as difficult to bear. Maureen couldn’t share the information too early, for fear of changing the future or just ruining the organic experience of a happy surprise.
It was a very difficult road she walked, deciding how much information to keep to herself. Where was the line? Did she save one person from death, but let another pass on knowing that they would otherwise endure a torturous battle with cancer, which they would lose, just a handful of years later? What about a person who was going to be robbed? Did she warn them in an attempt to prevent the theft only for that person to be shot by the burglar?
Should Maureen tell Mary Sue that she would indeed marry that wonderful young man she had just started dating and have two children with him? But that he would have a short affair during the second pregnancy and she would never find out? That she would get hooked on painkillers after a car accident shortly after their tenth anniversary? That twenty years down the road they would have grown so far apart they couldn’t hold a conversation together through dinner?
Did she tell the passing woman on the street that the queasiness she felt was not a stomach virus but an embryo? The woman may not believe her. If she did, then that woman may be happy to know. But she would have missed the whole experience of wondering, buying the test and waiting anxiously for the results. She wouldn’t have that story to tell of suspecting, of confirming her suspicions, of the joy she felt when she realized that she did indeed carry life. Instead, she would have a story of some random stranger grabbing her off the street to tell her that her life had just drastically changed, ready or not. Or if the woman did know her, she would have a memory of Maureen butting in where not invited with knowledge that she had no right to know.
These were the decisions that the little girl needed to know how to deal with. And her parents’ pride and idiocy had stolen precious time from Maureen. She would have to begin while the girl was young. Perhaps too young to fully grasp the lessons. Certainly not yet mature enough. But it was a necessity. These things must be learned and Maureen was the only one who could teach them.
And something about that vision…it had felt more solid, more firm than any of the others. That girl was coming. Gregory wasn’t going to screw things up again. Maureen didn’t care if she had to move in with the man and start tailing him. She was going to make sure he treated Cassandra with respect.
Maureen was going to meet her granddaughter.
Author: dtsguru
Fandom: original
Rating: PG
Genre: urban fantasy
Spoiler Warnings: none
Word Count: 1174
This is set in ‘The Family’ ‘verse. Self beta’d so all mistakes most definitely are mine.
Maureen blinked and suddenly there was an image of herself sitting on the park bench across the street watching a little girl playing in the park. Shaking her head she dropped the bills into the blue mailbox. That little girl had haunted her for years. The girl had stayed the same, but the version of Maureen in it…Maureen had aged considerably since the first time she had seen the vision.
If her fool son had known how to focus his amorous interests on the right woman she would have that granddaughter already. She wouldn’t have such deep wrinkles on her face in her vision. She would have a chance to enjoy her future with the child. But no. Those idiot youngsters had to waste Maureen’s golden years.
And when the girl stopped appearing altogether…well, Maureen nearly had a fit. The boy spent his time brooding at home instead of working to fix his stupid mistakes. What good did his pity party do when Maureen didn’t have her granddaughter? She had tried to convince him to go to her, to apologize. But her son was nothing if not stubborn.
Maureen had nearly danced for joy right there in the street when she saw that Cassandra was heading back. She’d been walking toward the library when the vision hit her. Scattering all of her books in that puddle had been a small price to pay for the knowledge that her son’s future may not be barren. He might not spend it a lonely, drunken wreck.
And then he had gone and shoved his foot in his mouth, dashing all of her hopes. He just could not let his pride take a back seat when it came to Cassandra. With anyone else he could be reasonable. He could be a gentleman. With her though, he became an ass.
Maureen had even gone so far as to slap him following a vision of one of the encounters between Gregory and Cassandra. Considering he had stopped by to eat Sunday dinner and the slap came out of nowhere for him, he was a bit surprised. She couldn’t explain though. She refused to repeat the insulting words he would utter to his wife. She certainly wouldn’t get into a discussion regarding his justification for them. Maureen sided heavily on Cassandra’s side on this one. He deserved to experience the pain she had for all those years, at a much younger age no less. And Maureen couldn’t fault the girl for seeking out love wherever she could find it. Not with the reception she had received from Gregory years earlier.
Something must have started going right though, for the young girl to begin appearing again. Maureen smiled as she stepped away from the mailbox. Perhaps she could stop punishing the boy for that asinine interstate comment. Really, the things that came out of his mouth when he was upset. His father had been the same, he was always one to speak without thinking when he was upset, always one to hurt the other before he could be hurt.
She’d just about given up on the whole situation. Another six months and she would have clued that nice young Joe into the benefits of a certain little blue pill. The man had loved Cassandra since they were in preschool. It wouldn’t have taken much for her affections to be transferred from that jerk down in Texas to a real man like Joe. If Greg hadn’t been willing to pull his head out of his rear end then his two friends had deserved to be happy, didn’t they?
But thank goodness she wasn’t going to have to resort to that. That conversation would have been awkward. And she would have never gotten to meet that beautiful little girl with the light brown curls and her daddy’s dark blue eyes. She would have her mother’s bright smile, when she chose to use it. She would be a serious child. Maureen’s heart twisted at the thought.
Damn Greg for stealing the years. Years she should have had to teach the girl how to handle her gift. Knowing the future could be a painful burden, especially when it involved any unpleasantness for a loved one. But then, joyful visions could be just as difficult to bear. Maureen couldn’t share the information too early, for fear of changing the future or just ruining the organic experience of a happy surprise.
It was a very difficult road she walked, deciding how much information to keep to herself. Where was the line? Did she save one person from death, but let another pass on knowing that they would otherwise endure a torturous battle with cancer, which they would lose, just a handful of years later? What about a person who was going to be robbed? Did she warn them in an attempt to prevent the theft only for that person to be shot by the burglar?
Should Maureen tell Mary Sue that she would indeed marry that wonderful young man she had just started dating and have two children with him? But that he would have a short affair during the second pregnancy and she would never find out? That she would get hooked on painkillers after a car accident shortly after their tenth anniversary? That twenty years down the road they would have grown so far apart they couldn’t hold a conversation together through dinner?
Did she tell the passing woman on the street that the queasiness she felt was not a stomach virus but an embryo? The woman may not believe her. If she did, then that woman may be happy to know. But she would have missed the whole experience of wondering, buying the test and waiting anxiously for the results. She wouldn’t have that story to tell of suspecting, of confirming her suspicions, of the joy she felt when she realized that she did indeed carry life. Instead, she would have a story of some random stranger grabbing her off the street to tell her that her life had just drastically changed, ready or not. Or if the woman did know her, she would have a memory of Maureen butting in where not invited with knowledge that she had no right to know.
These were the decisions that the little girl needed to know how to deal with. And her parents’ pride and idiocy had stolen precious time from Maureen. She would have to begin while the girl was young. Perhaps too young to fully grasp the lessons. Certainly not yet mature enough. But it was a necessity. These things must be learned and Maureen was the only one who could teach them.
And something about that vision…it had felt more solid, more firm than any of the others. That girl was coming. Gregory wasn’t going to screw things up again. Maureen didn’t care if she had to move in with the man and start tailing him. She was going to make sure he treated Cassandra with respect.
Maureen was going to meet her granddaughter.