Prompt#227 - Impetus - Firelight cont. - Tekia - Original

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Firelight cont.
Fandom: Original
Prompt: Impetus
Warnings: none
Rating: PG
Summary: Julia’s magic gets her in an unsavory situation.

Meri became a stay at home dad and Julia could never get enough of watching him interact with his daughter. She quickly learned to love his attention and wrapped him around her little finger. As befitting a daughter, Julia thought.
Julia had loved her father and she dearly wished that Meria would have that chance as well. Julia kept up with her work schedule, glad that she hadn’t told anybody there that she had been expecting what, to them, was only two or so days ago. Their lives were so different here and they seemed to be slower, more relaxed for Meri, if not for her.
Money always had been a stress for her and when she explained the problem to Meri, he easily gave over a few pieces of his gold to sell. Dumbfounded that she hadn’t thought of it herself, Julia sold the pieces and received enough money to live off of, easily.
Then came the time to tell her mother that she had magic.
She put it off for as long as she thought possible, but at this time her mother was sure to be looking for a swollen stomach and ankles. When Julia proved to be not pregnant, things were going to have to be explained.
So she scheduled another lunch with her mother, out in the open where the woman wasn’t going to be able to make a scene, and brought Meri and Meria with her.
She didn’t introduce them, but let Meri take their daughter to the playground and sat with her mother and sister by herself.
“I have something I want to tell you.”
“Have you decided to go back to school?”
She shook her head. When was her mother going to understand that college was never going to be the impetus of her life? She had had a good life before she went to the other world, and now, with Meri’s help, her livelihood was going to improve by leaps and bounds. “No, its something else,” she said, picking at her salad. She could hear children laughing and giggling and carrying on and couldn’t wait until she heard Meria’s voice joining in.
“I had the baby already,” Julia started with.
She heard her mother snort into her cup. She set aside her drink and arched one finely curved brow. “Really? You were, what, five months along?” Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “Did you have an abortion? I’ll never forgive you, Julia, if you have.”
She shook her head wildly, “No! How could you think I’d do that? Mother, I had the baby.”
Worry clouded her mother’s dark eyes. “Did you miscarry, then?”
“No, I carried her to full term,” Julia muttered. This wasn’t turning out very well, she thought. She had no idea what she was doing. “Mother, I had the baby over six months ago.”
Bridgette slammed her hand down on the table and Lucy jumped at the clamor. “Really, Julia, this is in bad taste.”
“Mother, what do you know about magic?”
She waved her hand, dismissing the very idea. “Don’t change the subject. Why are you acting like this? Did you lose the baby?”
Julia made a face and turned in her seat. “Meri, can you bring her over here?” She asked in Latin. Meri looked up from where he had been holding a rattle before Meria’s face in the stroller. He nodded once and stood, wheeling the little carrier over.
“What language was that?” Lucy asked, eyes on the baby in the carriage.
“Latin.”
“Where did you learn Latin?” their mother inquired. Julia looked back at her.
“The same place I learned magic. Mother, Lucy, I want you to meet my daughter, Meria.” She lifted the baby from the carriage and held her in her arms. Meria smiled up at Julia, showing off her twin dimples. She had Meri’s black hair and his blue eyes, but she had Bridgette’s face, Julia’s face.
Bridgette looked on in with a mixture of horror and surprise on her face. She looked from the baby, to her oldest daughter, to the strange man towering over them. Julia finally said,
“And this is Meri, my husband.”
Meri recognized his name and gave a quick bow. Julia watched her mother carefully. Bridgette stared at Meri a long moment before returning her eyes to Julia.
“He doesn’t speak English?”
“No.”
“But Latin? A dead language?”
“He’s not from Earth. He’s from a world in a different dimension.”
“Julia, really!”
Julia quickly explained everything she knew of the two worlds and of magic and shook her head as she realized her mother was never going to believe any of this. She stood and handed Meria to her father.
“This is my life, Mother. I’ve lived this live and this is the truth I’m telling you. Do with it what you want.”
She gave Lucy a small wave and walked away with Meri. She didn’t care about what her mother thought. She had to tell her about the baby, and she did so. That was enough for now, then.
They returned home and Meri set Meria in her crib and quickly shushed her to sleep. Julia began cooking a light meal, as she didn’t eat much wit the meeting with her mother. She was just finishing dishing out the food when Meri returned and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pressed soft kisses to her neck.
“Your mother doesn’t like much.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
“You’re upset about this, knowing that.”
She shook her head and relaxed in his arms. She looked up at him. “You’re different here. In the other world, you have no qualms about leaving Meria and I to our own devices, but here, here you’re a loving father.” She turned in his arms and pressed up against him. “I hate you in that other world.”
He cleared his throat. “In my world, I’m so much more than I am in this world. You and I, we are built for our own worlds, and not other worlds.”
“We’re not compatible. We shouldn’t be together.”
His hold on her tightened. He shook his head. “We are together. You are my wife and you’re not leaving me. Come gods or split worlds, you’re always going to be my wife.”
He pressed a kiss to her brow and released her. She sighed and sat at the kitchen table. How she wished she could see the world as simply as he did.
“What about the Night Terrors?”
“People have lived with the Night Terrors for hundreds of years. Meria can live with them too.”
“They’ll hunt her down.”
“I’ll stop them.”
She shook her head and began to eat. He was an idiot.