Cherry Vanilla 13 + FOTD
Author: Marina
Story: Shifts universe (post-Shifts)
Challenge: Cherry Vanilla 13 (deus ex machina), FOTD (incunabulum)
Toppings/Extras: Caramel
Word Count: 542
Rating: G
Summary: Lynne can’t understand how she missed the signs.
Notes: Earlier this same day, Drew and Tyler got in a car accident, Lynne found out Tyler had active magic, and Tyler saved his dad’s life with Rupert’s help.
“Lynne, wake up.”
I opened my eyes and looked up my sister-in-law draped over the back of the couch, peering down at me in amusement. “You fell asleep,” she informed me.
“Guess I did.” I attempted to shift, but the weight of my youngest daughter reminded me why I had fallen asleep on the couch in the first place. Getting Adrian to settle down after the excitement of the day had not been an easy task. I’d finally had to agree to let her watch TV with me after the other two had gone to bed. “More importantly, so did this one.”
“Do you want me to take her to her bed?” Ellen asked.
“Would you? If you’re headed that way anyway, that is.”
“Of course.” She straightened, carefully lifting Adrian into her arms. “You should go to bed soon, too. You look wiped.”
Relieved of my burden, I sat up and reached for the remote. “Yeah, I will in a minute. I might be gone before you wake up, by the way, since I need to finish that design for the firm and then get to the hospital. I’ll leave you a list.”
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Ellen said seriously. “We’ll be okay here.”
“Thanks.”
With the two of them gone and the TV off, the house abruptly felt hollow. I knew I should follow Ellen’s example, but my whole body seemed weighed down, so I just stayed where I was.
I knew that I had better things to do than dwell on past trauma. It was coming up on twenty years since the whole mess had happened, and I had moved on to a completely different life. I had a fantastic job at an amazing architecture firm. I had my unexpectedly large, crazy family, and other people usually dealt with anything magic-related, so I didn’t have to. In addition to that, as Abraham had reminded me, those people had made the magic community better. There were talented, responsible users who could help Tyler adjust.
At the same time, I couldn’t help feeling like I had somehow let him down, like the fact that he had active magic was something I could have prevented.
“I touched ‘em and they got better. I do it all the time.”
“Why didn’t I see it?” I whispered, letting my head drop into my hands. The signs had been there. My children were active, imaginative, and liked to play rough on occasion, but they never suffered the scrapes and bruises their peers did. Chloe and Adrian gravitated around Tyler, sometimes seeming to need him more than they needed me or Drew. I could have investigated instead of writing those things off.
Numerous people had tried to tell me that everything would be okay, but I just wanted to talk to Drew. I knew he would say just the right thing to make me stop feeling like such a bad mother, and maybe help me feel even a little okay with this. I could only hope he would wake up by the time I made it to the hospital the next day.
There was nothing I could do about that at near-midnight, though, so I made myself get off the couch and go to bed.
Story: Shifts universe (post-Shifts)
Challenge: Cherry Vanilla 13 (deus ex machina), FOTD (incunabulum)
Toppings/Extras: Caramel
Word Count: 542
Rating: G
Summary: Lynne can’t understand how she missed the signs.
Notes: Earlier this same day, Drew and Tyler got in a car accident, Lynne found out Tyler had active magic, and Tyler saved his dad’s life with Rupert’s help.
“Lynne, wake up.”
I opened my eyes and looked up my sister-in-law draped over the back of the couch, peering down at me in amusement. “You fell asleep,” she informed me.
“Guess I did.” I attempted to shift, but the weight of my youngest daughter reminded me why I had fallen asleep on the couch in the first place. Getting Adrian to settle down after the excitement of the day had not been an easy task. I’d finally had to agree to let her watch TV with me after the other two had gone to bed. “More importantly, so did this one.”
“Do you want me to take her to her bed?” Ellen asked.
“Would you? If you’re headed that way anyway, that is.”
“Of course.” She straightened, carefully lifting Adrian into her arms. “You should go to bed soon, too. You look wiped.”
Relieved of my burden, I sat up and reached for the remote. “Yeah, I will in a minute. I might be gone before you wake up, by the way, since I need to finish that design for the firm and then get to the hospital. I’ll leave you a list.”
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Ellen said seriously. “We’ll be okay here.”
“Thanks.”
With the two of them gone and the TV off, the house abruptly felt hollow. I knew I should follow Ellen’s example, but my whole body seemed weighed down, so I just stayed where I was.
I knew that I had better things to do than dwell on past trauma. It was coming up on twenty years since the whole mess had happened, and I had moved on to a completely different life. I had a fantastic job at an amazing architecture firm. I had my unexpectedly large, crazy family, and other people usually dealt with anything magic-related, so I didn’t have to. In addition to that, as Abraham had reminded me, those people had made the magic community better. There were talented, responsible users who could help Tyler adjust.
At the same time, I couldn’t help feeling like I had somehow let him down, like the fact that he had active magic was something I could have prevented.
“I touched ‘em and they got better. I do it all the time.”
“Why didn’t I see it?” I whispered, letting my head drop into my hands. The signs had been there. My children were active, imaginative, and liked to play rough on occasion, but they never suffered the scrapes and bruises their peers did. Chloe and Adrian gravitated around Tyler, sometimes seeming to need him more than they needed me or Drew. I could have investigated instead of writing those things off.
Numerous people had tried to tell me that everything would be okay, but I just wanted to talk to Drew. I knew he would say just the right thing to make me stop feeling like such a bad mother, and maybe help me feel even a little okay with this. I could only hope he would wake up by the time I made it to the hospital the next day.
There was nothing I could do about that at near-midnight, though, so I made myself get off the couch and go to bed.