Ask Charity

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went. 

She knew her mother was disappointed, not that she could rightly blame her for being so. Ever since Harry’s “death”, she’d been more or less avoiding her parents’ home. At first, it was because there ere a couple of Wardens doing a half assed job of trying to find her, and to be very real, if she’d been in their shoes, she’d have been watching her parents’ place like a hawk. Again, they had really only been working half assedly, as they probably could have found her if they’d really wanted to. 

It was Carlos, though. And Bill. Both of whom she’d been on fairly good terms with, and who had known Harry well enough to know that he wouldn’t have led her the wrong direction. And she had been doing good work, regardless of what the rest of the Senior Council had thought. 

It didn’t hurt that Molly had also had the Leanansidhe looking out for her and helping her along in Harry’s absence. The fancy party that had resulted in her becoming the svartalves’ favorite wizard had also not really been a thing to bring to Sunday dinner. The rest? Well… that was something that needed moral support if nothing else, and she damned well wasn’t about to break the news of what else had changed without someone to just be there. He didn’t even have to say anything. Just to be there when her parents yelled, or cried, or declared her damned to hell, or whatever it was they were going to do. 

“I know,” she replied softly, sighing gently. “There will be a time, sometime soon-ish, when I’ll be able to share. I just…. can’t right now.” Well, in theory, she could, but the details couldn’t be shared, she kind of couldn’t at the same time. “I love you guys, too. Soon though, I promise. You need to know.” Then they could decide exactly how they wanted to proceed with everything else. 

Charity smiled, the little lines at the edges of her eyes crinkling. She pet Molly’s cheek, then finally let her go. “Thank you. The promise is enough for now. We’d love if you visited more often, but... if your job permits.”

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went. 

In some ways, it was like a dream that she was standing in the kitchen of her family home. And if it felt that way to Molly, it definitely had to feel that way to Charity. Having her mother choose to keep contact via hands on shoulders was far better than the usual reaction to testing for being awake or for dreaming. Getting pinched, anywhere, was never really very fun, and tended to hurt depending on how hard to the other person pinched. It may have been a while, but she remembered the strength in her mother’s hands quite well, and felt it for the best that the pinching was given a miss. 

Of course, had it been a dream, she’d have been able to just say what she was doing, with no worry whatsoever, because it wouldn’t have been real. Perhaps in her dream, Charity would say something offhanded, like, “Oh, that’s nice. Say hi to Lea for me.” Molly found herself really really hoping that her mother had no idea who Auntie Lea was, even as she struggled to find a vague enough description of what she actually did that wouldn’t raise too many questions. 

Harry was a wizard. And a Warden. Okay. They technically still worked together, even if her missions tended to be more solo. Again, not unusual in wizard circles. This could be used. Just because the Doom had never officially been lifted didn’t mean jack at this point. 

“I, uh… tend to be a little more subtle than Harry.” That was an understatement! “So, I have been off to various, extremely unexotic locations, doing a little of this and a little of that. Some reconnaissance here, a little gathering of the forces there, sometimes even a daring rescue or two.” She smiled a little at that, remembering how she first came into contact with the svartalves. “Mostly just things that need to be done, that really no one else can do.” She shrugged lightly, trying to play it off as being casual. “Things are getting really weird out there, and someone has to do it.” 

Charity’s eyebrows furrowed. She and Michael knew there was something Molly wasn’t telling them. Charity had hoped this might have broken the secrecy a little bit. It hadn’t, and Charity sighed softly. She rubbed Molly’s shoulders. 

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went. 

If Michael had been in the kitchen, watching his wife and daughter talk during the cleanup that followed dinner, he probably would have smiled. Or said something annoyingly accurate like “everything in its own time”. It almost made Molly laugh to think of that, but she was able to keep that under wraps. Probably a good thing too, because Charity would have felt the laughter, then wanted to know why she was laughing, and it would have been too strange to try to explain. 

It was the tightness of the hug that surprised her more than anything. She’d half expected one of the awkward half hugs with the pats on the back that two people shared when their pasts had been filled with tension and mutual misunderstanding. Her mother’s hug was nothing of the sort. It felt good. Nice even. Sort of made her feel like herself again. 

“Well, I mean….” there was teasing in her voice, even as she tried to blink back the sudden hot sting of tears in her eyes. “You probably could have pushed a little less hard, but I guess it turned out mostly okay.” Mostly okay. That was probably the best way to describe it. The butting heads, the potential death at the hands of the Merlin, the continued potential death at the hands of any Wardens who happened upon her - not that the ones assigned had really tried very hard - and then her new ties with the Winter Court. 

Oh, she wasn’t avoiding home because Charity was mad. She was avoiding home because Charity would be mad! “Oh no…. I haven’t been avoiding here because I thought you were mad. Honestly, I haven’t been in Chicago much at all, lately. My assignments have been taking me other places. I kind of travel. A lot.” Leaving it nice and vague. All things considered, it would probably be assumed that the Council kept her busy. Which was better for all involved. The time for revelations of anything else hadn’t yet come. 

Even when Charity pulled herself away from the hug, she couldn’t bear to let go of Molly’s shoulders. Having her daughter home meant a lot, but being able to touch her, tangibly feel her presence, meant more.

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went. 

Very carefully, Molly avoided looking directly into her mother’s eyes for too long a period of time. Things had changed for her, true, but that didn’t mean a Soul Gaze might not be triggered from the look. Charity would undoubtedly remember enough to know the dangers of direct eye contact and Molly didn’t really want her mother to see what was lurking there now. Part of being grown up was being selective with the disclosure of certain information. 

“Whoever would have thought, right?” She half laughed at that, trying to take some of the awkwardness out of the moment. As close as she’d been to her father in the past, the same could never have been said about her relationship with her mother. The praise was unexpected, and brought a strange sense of warmth to her insides. “I mean, things weren’t exactly certain there for a while. Pretty sure everyone thought I wouldn’t make it to see twenty-one.” Sometimes, herself included. 

As if realizing how that sounded, she pulled Charity into a quick hug. “Thank you. For having faith.” 

She knew what Molly was doing. She remembered. And she didn’t want a Soulgaze, either. The last person she’d ever done that with was Michael, years and years and years ago, before Molly was born. And then Charity had given up her magic, and never done it again. She didn’t want to start now. 

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went. 

Her mother’s comment caused her breath to stop for a moment as she tried to wrap her mind around what exactly had been meant by that comment. There was no real way that Charity could possibly know that one of their neighbors from down the street was actually a small army of Winter keeping watch on the home. Unless, by some freak and random decision, her mother had decided to pick back up her magical ability, which Molly didn’t think was possible after so much time. 

Long and short of it was that she really really doubted her mother actually saw her. She was seeing precisely what Molly wanted her to see, which was exactly the way it should be. At least until such a time as she wasn’t alone to break the news. Harry had promised, after all. 

She shrugged a little, trying to be casual about it. “I’m just trying to do the right thing. I don’t succeed all of the time,” definitely didn’t, “but I’m doing the best I can. That’s all that can really be asked, right?” 

Her daughter seemed confused. Charity set down the dish towel she held and walked over to Molly. They were the same height these days. Charity reached up to put her hands gently on Molly’s cheeks. 

Molly looked over at her mother in surprise, unsure for a moment how to respond. It had been a while, more than a while, since she’d been to her family’s home, but at Harry’s insistence and request, she’d made her way over for dinner. She was afraid that somehow,her parents would  just know. And she couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes when they found out. To that end, she’d made sure nothing seemed too terribly amiss. A light glamour to cover the fact that her hair was far more white than it was blonde, and nothing that would scream “Faerie Queen” at them as far as her manner of dress went.