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Features of a Human Face; -Elliott-
Topic Started: Oct 9 2013, 07:20:38 AM (231 Views)
Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
12 September 2040
Wednesday
3:00 PM

He pocketed his wand after dimming the sunlight streaming through the storm cloud-colored curtains that covered the nursery's windows. Ruby's eyes were heavy, but her left hand, which was clutching Kevin's blue t-shirt, didn't relax its grip. Kevin brought his own hand down to cover his daughter's curls, as bright as his hair had been when he was her age. Absently, he swept his thumb across her forehead and wondered, not for the first time, when she'd gotten so big. Jesus- the simple fact that she was sleeping in a bed now (albeit a bed with rails) was enough to make his chest tighten with anxiety. Babies grew up into little girls quickly enough- seeing Ruby only once or twice a week made every change that much more pronounced. And that was heartbreaking. For as well as he'd been able to set it aside in the name of amicability, Kevin was fiercely jealous of Elliott, at this point for reasons that were no longer Briar-related.

He waited until Ruby rolled over and buried her face in Kryptonite's fur before reluctantly standing up and running his hand through his too-long hair. He hadn't had time to worry about personal appearances much lately, as evidenced by the amber stubble that was a week closer to becoming a full-blown beard. Things had been absolutely mad at work. Seeing his daughter was really the only thing keeping him afloat. Judging from the tired eyes of the woman leaning against the doorframe, he wasn't the only one who was running on empty.

Briar offered him a shadow of her formerly easy smile as he crossed the room silently. Her long hair was in a braid, and inexplicably covered by a green knit hat. The air conditioning might have been working (for once), but it was struggling against the unseasonable London heat and it couldn't keep the old house cool. She was sick, and she looked it, swimming in her husband's old Oxford hoodie- she'd lost more weight than she cared to think about. It was all she could do to force herself to eat a few bites of something when she took her medicine. More than that though, her spirit was all but broken. Early on, she'd been angry enough (and stupid enough) to think that with this, as with the occasional cough or cold she picked up, it was really just mind over matter. But she still wasn't getting better, which by all accounts she ought to have been by now, and she was feeling very nearly out of fight at this point.

Kevin let his hand fall heavy on her shoulder, where she immediately covered it with her own. "Briar," he began, shaking his head. There were plenty of things he wanted to say, but he figured that the last thing she needed was another person's well-intentioned advice. He stopped himself before he sighed, which he was sure would also not be appreciated. "Come on, then," he said at last, "I'll make you some tea." For the briefest second, she looked so overwhelmed by the simple offer that she might actually cry. She'd been doing that a lot lately. Then she nodded gratefully and let him lead her to the kitchen.

Briar folded herself into a chair at the table and watched him pull two mugs out of the cabinet. "What did you two do today?" she asked, finally breaking the silence. Kevin tapped both mugs with his wand, "It was a pretty lazy day. Went to the park for a while, but mostly we just played at home." She nodded and tugged her sleeves down over her hands. "What about you?" he returned, stirring milk and sugar into her mug without having to ask. "I, um," she shrugged slowly, "Not too much." She'd actually only dragged herself out of bed fifteen minutes before he got there. Anymore, it felt like an accomplishment when she made it to the couch, but he didn't need to know that.

She cupped her hands appreciatively around the warm mug. He sat down next to her at the table and studied her carefully. "Good," he responded decisively, "Good. You do too much, Bri. I'm glad you're not running around trying to make ... souffles or ...whatever, on your day off." She smiled unconvincingly, "Yeah." She wasn't doing much running around, that was true. And it was her day off, technically, but it was also the third day in a row she'd stayed home; over the weekend, she'd dragged herself into work and slept on the couch in her office. She didn't want Elliott to be more worried about her than he already was, so yes, she was maybe lying a little about how much time she was spending at the restaurant. "You've got your whole life to cook," he added. "I know," she replied, although she didn't sound like she meant it. Another silence. She looked ready to fall asleep right there.

"You look like you could use a nap, too," he offered gently. She started, momentarily wide-eyed. "I can't..." she began, but he interrupted. "You can, Ruby'll be down for an hour, you're allowed to rest." She looked down at her tea. "If I fall asleep, I won't hear her if she needs me. I'm just ... too tired." Her voice had an edge of panic to it. He reached out and took her hand. "Hey-" But she shook her head, tearing up again. She was terrified to sleep because she was so desperate for it; she really did think she could sleep through anything at the moment- she'd set three alarms to make sure she was up when Kevin came to drop off Ruby. "No, I really can't," she insisted, closing her eyes so she wouldn't start crying. Kevin stared at her for a second, then set down his tea and gently pried Briar's mug out of her hands. He sighed quietly when she shook her head, "Come on, you stubborn git." She shook her head again, and he stood up, pulling her up with him. "I'll stay in case Ruby wakes up," he explained.

"What? Are you sure? Don't you have, like, important ... wizard cop ... stuff?" Kevin rolled his eyes, "They'll survive without me for a few hours." She rubbed her eyes, "Yeah, alright. Thank you, Kevin. Really."
Edited by Briar Fix, Oct 9 2013, 03:33:26 PM.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
20 September 2040
Thursday
5:40 PM

"Mumma now?" Ruby had her hands on either side of Kevin's face. He inflated his cheeks again and she giggled and slapped them with gusto. "Not just yet, Ruby love. Mummy needs to sleep so she can feel better." This had become the routine. Drop Ruby off, give Briar a couple extra hours of sleep and himself a couple extra hours with his daughter. At first, he'd assumed she was working short hours, which would have made sense given that she hadn't asked him to bring Ruby to the restaurant lately. But he'd stopped in for lunch that Monday and she hadn't been there then, either. According to Noah, she hadn't actually stepped foot in the kitchen in weeks.

Kevin had been worried about her before, it was impossible not to be. But now, well. She'd gone into labor in that kitchen. He couldn't even imagine how bad this would have to be to keep her away. And he was even more worried about her because it appeared that she was keeping Elliott in the dark. Or at least she had been changing from pajamas to real clothes after she emerged from her naps. As completely ludicrous as it was that she would be trying to hide her inability to work from her own husband, the vast wealth of Briar-related knowledge Kevin had attained told him that ... actually, this wouldn't be all that out of character for her. She made it damn near impossible for anyone to take care of her, especially when, like now, she obviously needed them to.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he had been a sort of accomplice in this, albeit an unwitting one. He wasn't going to tell on Briar, but he did feel like he owed it to Elliott to at least let him know that he really needed to have a talk with his wife. So instead of waking Briar up at five like he usually did, he'd let her sleep and waited for Elliott to come home.

A second before even the dog could raise his head, Ruby scrambled off of Kevin's lap and rushed to the door as it opened. She had already wrapped herself around Elliott's leg by the time Kevin came to stand awkwardly in the kitchen. He shoved one hand into his pocket and ran the other over the back of this head a few times. He nodded once in greeting, "Fix." Ruby was talking a mile a minute, but Kevin could only pick out the occasional word or phrase. She'd get the hang of it soon enough, and then she was going to be a even more of a handful. "Sorry to... you know... er ...." He grimaced, feeling way more uncomfortable than he'd anticipated. "...be here."
Edited by Briar Fix, Oct 9 2013, 04:14:47 PM.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott gave Kevin a quick, "Oh, hello," and then grinned at Ruby and pulled her from his leg and up into his arms. "Yes, you had lots of fun with Papa today, I see," Elliott told her happily, assuming she was telling him about her day. It took a minute for his brain to kick into nearly-two-years-old translation mode.

Elliott had promised to get along with Kevin well before Ruby was even born, and the older Ruby got, the easier it was to keep that promise. He hardly minded him at all, now. And with Briar being sick, well, he downright appreciated him. He turned his attention away from Ruby and onto Kevin. He shook his head at his apology for being around- he didn't care about that. Just... "Please tell me Briar is not at The Restaurant."
Edited by Elliott Fix, Oct 9 2013, 04:16:55 PM.
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
His shoulders relaxed in relief. If Elliott was expecting Briar to be at home, maybe he knew after all. But then he remembered that she would have been home by this time anyway, and he sighed. "Er, no. No, she's in bed." He shoved his other hand into his pocket, too, and cleared his throat, wondering why he'd thought this was a good idea. Damn his noble intentions.

"Look, I know it's really none of my business," he began. Except that it kind of was, now that he was saying it out loud. Because he was involved, he'd spent a good deal of his free time at their house recently. "But she's- uh ... I think you guys might need to talk." He shook his head, "I can take Ruby if you want some time alone." Yes, he was definitely regretting putting himself in the middle of this. He was really hoping Elliott would just take him up on his offer without asking questions; he wasn't sure he could handle the awkwardness of knowing something he didn't for much longer. He wondered briefly if this had been how Elliott had felt when- but he pushed the thought out of his head.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott bounced Ruby on his hip and nodded as Kevin told him Briar was in bed. That was good; he would have gone to Perpetual Wednesday and physically removed her if she had been there. "Mumma needs sleep," Ruby parroted what Kevin had told her a few moments ago.

"Thats right," Elliott told her as she squirmed to be put down. He set Ruby down and she held onto his hand and tugged instead. He let her tug while Kevin kept talking.

Kevin was acting strange. In any other circumstances it would have seemed like Elliott had caught them in the act of cheating; coming home to another man in his house telling him is wife is in bed and that they need to talk... but Elliott knew better than that.

He knew better than Kevin thought he did, too. Briar always acted like she felt better than she really did. It sort of stung that she was hiding it from him and not Kevin, but then... he just really didn't have the energy to be upset about it at the moment.

Ruby was being persistent, so he let himself be pulled a few steps as a reward for her effort and also for a reason to delay responding to Kevin right away. He ended up right next to Kevin, and Ruby grinned like she was the cleverest girl in the universe when she grabbed onto Kevin's hand with her left hand and kept holding onto Elliott's with her right. "Dada, Papa, Papa, Dada, Dada, Dada, Papa, Papa..." she sang/chanted to herself happily, swinging both their arms.

"Was she asleep when you arrived or did she ask you to stay?" Elliott asked his careful question. "I won't be upset," he quickly assured Kevin. "I just need to know how much..." he took a deep breath and bit his lip for half a moment. "She hides how sick she feels, you know?" Or maybe he didn't know because she wasn't hiding it from him.

Elliott felt defeated by the whole thing. It was awful when they thought she had cancer, but magic is pretty great at getting rid of cancer. Which is how they found out she didn't have cancer. Turns out nothing is really good at treating sarcoidosis. You just have to wait and it gets better on its own. Usually. Or it gets worse...
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
Kevin smiled down at his daughter distractedly, then looked back to Elliott and nodded. He did know. He'd only found out what was really going on by complete accident. And he wasn't really that concerned about Elliott being upset, it was Briar's wrath he was more worried about. "Well, both- I've been watching Ruby while she sleeps for ... maybe the past couple weeks. I offered, but...."

He glanced down at Ruby who was now using their hands to swing on. He knew what it was like to grow up with an absent mother, and it was something he had always desperately hoped his children wouldn't have to experience. But this, he reminded himself, was different. Briar was, she would be fine, she had to be. And in the meantime, Ruby had more people around to love her than he ever had.

"I didn't know, I really didn't, or I would've ... but she didn't tell me." he shook his head. Would've what? Something, at least. Something more than just letting it continue. "She doesn't want to need anyone, Elliott. And I'm at a loss here, I don't know what to do anymore," his voice was starting to sound a little hoarse, "I'm sorry. I just- Merlin, I haven't felt this helpless since I was a kid, you know?" Since the last time anyone he'd loved had been really sick. "Anyway," he added, reigning his emotions back in, "I'm glad she's got you. And I think you need to talk."
Edited by Briar Fix, Oct 10 2013, 12:29:10 AM.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott felt like Kevin felt, but decided to be a politician about it and not break down into a fit around a man he'd only recently begun to really get along with. He nodded along as Kevin spoke. "I know," he agreed with Kevin about feeling helpless. "Thanks for telling me, and for helping," he added when Kevin finished.

He knelt down beside Ruby and squeezed her hand gently for attention. "Hey, Ruby Girl, looks like you're going to Papa's house for supper tonight. Won't that be fun?"

Ruby nodded enthusiastically. "Dada come?" she asked, looking up at Kevin. She was apparently enjoying this newfound togetherness. She looked back to Elliott "Mumma too?"

"No, just you and Papa tonight. But we'll all be together on your birthday. That's five days from now! So soon and you'll be two whole years old!"

"I two!" she said, grinning.

"Soon," Elliott agreed, and leaned in and gave her a goodbye kiss on the cheek. "Have fun with Papa."

"Byebye, Dada," she gave Elliott a smacking kiss and then let go of his hand to hold on to Kevin's with both of her's. "Papa, come," she started tugging Kevin toward the fireplace.

"Thanks again," he told Kevin. He watched them for a moment, but started making his way towards the bedroom he and Briar shared before they left.

He opened the door quietly and just as quietly shut it behind him. He stood by the door while his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room. He didn't actually want to wake her up. She needed to sleep. Sleep fought disease. He decided to get in bed with her, instead. If she woke up, fine. If she didn't, also fine. They could talk after Ruby was back home in bed, if need be. He undressed down to his plain white t-shirt and boxers and got into bed as gently as he could. He couldn't really help himself, though; he spooned himself behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close. He sighed into her hair and tried to calm his mind, but all he could think about was how pronounced her hip bone felt...
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
"Any time." He meant it. Yes, he had a date, but this was important. Kevin scooped Ruby up into his arms and headed for the fireplace. "How about pizza?" he suggested. She beamed in assent and they disappeared.

---

Briar was curled up under the down comforter and a quilt, but she was still cold. And yes she was asleep, but it wasn't as restful as it could have been for that reason. So when Elliott added his body heat to the mix, she relaxed immediately. There was probably nothing that could have woken her up at that point.

---

8:20 PM

She finally emerged from under the covers to turn off the alarm that signaled it was time for another round of medicine. She coughed once, and then she found that she couldn't stop for a few seconds. She gulped down the second half of the cup of water on the bedside table, and noticed how dark it was. Which mean that Elliott was home. She rolled out of bed and wrapped the quilt around herself like a cape before padding out to the living room wearing several pairs of PJ-Christmas-socks, the outermost pair bright orange and decorated with tiny whisks.

She arrived just in time to see Kevin disappear into the fireplace. Which was decidedly not-good. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and blinked slowly a few times. Jesus. Briar went to the kitchen and shook a few pills out into her hand and stared at the contents of her pantry for a long moment before reaching for a banana. She went back to the couch and sank into the corner seat to wait for Elliott.
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Elliott Fix
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*Kara; s:c | w:p
Elliott had stayed in bed with Briar until about ten 'til eight, whereupon he got up, put on a pair of sweatpants, ate a bowl of cereal for dinner, and then called Kevin.

Ruby was so like her mother- she slept like a rock. She'd fallen asleep in Kevin's lap watching a program after dinner and stayed asleep through the trip through the Floo network. Elliott had changed her and tucked her into bed without her so much as batting an eye. He closed the door behind him and saw Briar on the couch.

He smiled at Briar and started across the great room towards her. "Hello, love," he said softly. He sat beside her and leaned in and kissed her cheek. It suddenly seemed absurd that Kevin thought they needed to talk. He knew she put on a front about how she felt, and he knew she hated letting other people take care of her. The fact that she was sleeping more was a good thing, wasn't it? It was bad to feel bad, but it was good to do something about it. Right? He decided to try and start off light. "Kevin seems to think he's been helping you hide an affair you've been having with our bed. The bed and I have talked: we're very much agreed on keeping things open between the three of us. I don't mind you sleeping in the bed without me. I won't be jealous, I promise." He raised his eyebrows teasingly for just a moment, but couldn't keep it up.

He wrapped both his arms around her a pulled her into his side. "I can take leave; I've got loads. Both of our mums have offered to move things around in their schedule, and Kevin has been working midnights, anyway, so he can watch Ruby in the afternoons... I'm glad you've been letting him help, but you've got to let the rest of us, too."
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Briar Fix
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Kelci; muggle
Briar smiled obligatorily in response to his joke and nestled into his embrace. She felt relieved, although she wasn't quite sure why. She'd just gotten into the habit of expecting the worst. She sighed softly and rubbed her forehead against his shoulder. It always came back to this in the end, but she didn't know why it was so hard for her to let herself be taken care of. She didn't have anything to say that she hadn't already said a million times.

So after another moment of silence, she tried something she hadn't before and agreed. And in the moment she made that decision, she suddenly realized how much she really did want it. "I would feel so much better having you at home with me." And that was true. But then she added, "I would also feel about a million times worse, though. It would just remind me of how fucked everything is, and ... I need you. But so does everyone else. And before you tell me I'm being ridiculous, just, just... I really need something to be normal." She replayed that sentence in her mind, and shook her head, "No, I don't mean that I want you to not be here, I just mean that- it feels good to know the world is still doing its thing. Everything is so incredibly fucked, I just need to know that... well, that it isn't. That's what I need from you."

This was more than she could remember talking in days, but she didn't know how to say what she wanted to say. She turned her cheek to rest against his chest; had he always been this warm? After another moment, she managed to articulate a little better. "You are the only thing keeping my life anchored right now, and there is no one else who can do that." She sighed in frustration. That wasn't big enough to even begin to describe what she was feeling.
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