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AmbiguouslyMe · 01-22-2010, 05:41 AM

Thanks again to everyone reading and commenting and all that. This one's on the longer side.

Chapter Three: Promises

“Tirion, please.”

They'd been having this argument for months. It started the day that the phone had rung for Tirion. Susan could still recall the expression on her husband's face as he pressed the phone to his ear and heard his father's voice. It had been like a ghost had rung.

They never spoke of family. Susan's rejected Tirion and, as far as she had known, Tirion's didn't even know about her. But that had changed the day the phone rang.

The day the phone rang. It was destined to be a marker of time, whether they wanted it to be or not.

Tirion had refused to tell Susan why his father had phoned and had skulked around the house in a daze for nearly a week. It had been another three weeks before another call came. Again, his father. And again three weeks after that. And again. But then the calls became more persistent. First every other week. Then weekly. The calls were coming every few days now. And still, Tirion refused to tell Susan what was happening.

“Tirion, please.” Her voice was insistent as she followed him about the house, Tiberius balanced on her hip. “Stop walking away and talk to me. Tell me what's happening.” It was so unlike him to keep secrets from her but for months, he had been.

“Susan, for the last time, I can't.” His voice betrayed his frustration and he instantly felt remorse when Susan stopped in her tracks, spun on her heels and marched herself and their son into another room, leaving him there, kneading his fingers into his forehead.

* * *

“Don't pick it up.” Susan stood between Tirion and the phone a month later, face shifting between a stony resolve and a desperate plea. To her, the not knowing was worse than anything else that it could possibly be. But Tirion just kept telling her that he either couldn't tell her, or didn't really know what was going on. Perhaps, Susan though, it was sometimes both. “Stop this. Just... don't pick it up.” She mouthed a silent 'please.'

Months. Months and months of begging and pleading and kitchen standoffs, and Tirion dropped his shoulders and put his hands up in front of his chest. “Ok. I won't answer the phone today.” He paused, stepping closer to his wife and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Today.” He wouldn't promise tomorrow.

“I just don't understand it, Tir, I just don't. Why...” But Susan was cut off by the sound of the Floo. Standing in their fireplace, dusting himself off, was Max. Sheepishly, he stepped forward, and realizing that he'd interrupted a moment that was either tender or tense, or both, pointed to the living room.

“I'm just gonna go play with the lil guy until you're done. Erm. Yes. Sorry.” Just as awkward, but not nearly as gangly, as when he'd stood for them at their wedding, Max had made a rather sudden reappearance in their lives that, while not unwelcome, wasn't exactly a reappearance that put Susan at ease. It was clear to her that Max knew what was going on. And he was here to talk to Tirion about it. Again.

Susan watched as Max entered the living room and approached a playing Tiberius, moving to lean against the door frame, arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Unkka Mac!” Tiberius squealed as the man lifted him out of his pen, still clutching his Hogwarts bear.

“What do you have there? Is that a Hogwarts bear?” Max tickled Tibi's stomach with a single finger.

“Og-warz! Og-warz!”

“And what house are you going to be in?”

“Raaaaaarrr!”

As Max spun a squealing toddler around the living room, Tirion moved behind Susan, watching his friend play with his son.

“Promise me he'll go, Susan?” He slipped an arm around her waist. “No matter what happens, our son will go to Hogwarts?”

Susan looked back over her shoulder, eyebrows knit together in concern. Something about the tone of his voice had caused her heart to drop into her stomach. Shifting in his arms she turned to face him. “You say that as if you won't put him on that train yourself,” she whispered, it almost serving as a question. It hung there between them, Tirion refusing to meet Susan's eyes, his own focused intently on the squealing child in the next room. They stood there, Susan only able to hear the laughter of her son, and the frantic beating of her own heart.

“Ok,” she said, putting her hand on his chest briefly before turning back around. “I promise.”

* * *

The phone had stopped ringing.

In fact, if she thought about it really hard, Susan would recall that the last time the phone had rung was the day she asked Tirion not to answer it and he had listened. At first, she had been relieved. But then as weeks continued on, she sometimes caught herself hoping it would, just so there would be some sort of resolution.

As she sat across the kitchen table from Tirion, she studied his face. Deep wrinkles creased his forehead, much deeper than even a few months ago. His eyes were intense, softening only for Tiberius. As she considered him, hands wrapped around her mug, her thoughts wandered. If there was anything to be said about Tirion in those weeks, it was that he was inordinately devoted to his son. Every spare moment playing or telling stories of his days at Hogwarts. Toys were enchanted and stories were play-acted. Susan would curl in her rocking chair and watch them, feeling just the slightest bit apart.

They would have their magic. Something she could never be part of.

The owl tapping on the glass brought her back to reality, as Tirion stood to open the window. Unrolling the piece of parchment, he closed his eyes briefly, before pulling out his wand and destroying it. “Susan, I...” Tirion pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he leaned against the windowsill. “I have to go for a few days.”

“Not without telling me why,” she said plainly, not bothering to look up from her breakfast.

“It's about the calls,” he began, hesitatingly. “And why they stopped. I have to go make sure he's ok.”

Susan looked dumbly at her breakfast, willing herself calm. She'd never met the man, and as far as she knew, Tirion hadn't seen him in years. And yet, he was dropping everything. “Tir, I just don't understand what this has all been about. All the calls, all the secrecy. I just don't understand.” She looked up at him. “And I know that there's a lot I just don't get about your world, and maybe that's part of this, but you haven't even given me a chance to try.”

Pushing away from the window, Tirion stood behind Susan and bent down, pressing his cheek to hers as he hugged her. “I know. I'm sorry. I was doing what I thought was best. When I get back, I'll tell you everything. But right now, I have to get ready. Max will be here soon.” He kissed her cheek lightly, before straightening up and heading to the stairs.

“Promise you'll come back and tell me.”

“Promise. On both counts.”

Susan followed Tirion with her eyes as he disappeared from her sight, before standing and clearing the table. She didn't even look up when she heard the Floo in the next room, but did when Max sought her out, instead of Tirion.

“Is he ready to go?” Max's voice betrayed an impatience, almost an urgency, that Tirion had not expressed.

“Max, whatever this is, talk him out of it. Please.” Susan wasn't sure if it was simply foolhardy or dangerous, but she thought she'd rather not find out.

“I can't do that, Susan. Even if I thought he'd listen, which he wouldn't. He's a lion, through and through.” He paused, softening at Susan's expression, both wary and weary. “He wouldn't be the man you married if he didn't go do this.”

Susan had opened her mouth to reply when Tirion came back down the stairs, broom in one arm and son in the other. “Look who I found awake and ready for his day,” he chuckled, bouncing him. Turning to Max, Tirion nodded, getting serious. “Good, you brought your broom. We can fly.”

“Fie. Boom. Tibi fie boom.” Tiberius clapped his hands together and the adults fell silent. Tirion's eyes glimmered at the boy's words as Max and Susan exchanged glances, Max's saying 'we don't have the time,' and Susan's 'this buys me some time.'

“What do you say, Susan? Can I take Tibi up on the broom for his first ride before I go?” He smiled at her sweetly, before turning to Max. “Ten minutes won't make that much of a difference.” Not waiting for a response from either of them, he hurried out the back door, tossing the camera from the side table behind him to Susan.

“Just be careful!” Susan hurried out after him, Max following behind her.

When she reached the yard, they were already up in the air, flying zigzags over the yard.

“Max!” Tirion called down to the two of them standing there. “Get the camera from Susan and get up here and take a picture!” He zoomed off to the nearby woods, Tiberius' shrieks of excitement echoing all around them.

Max mounted his broom and looked back to Susan, as if to ask if she wanted a ride, but she simply shook her head. He kicked off and followed the others to the woods where they could fly with more cover. Susan watched them go, before sitting on the ground, knees pulled up to her chest, and waiting.

She wasn't sure how long they were gone, but when they landed, Susan instantly collected Tiberius and held him to her chest, leaning into Tirion as she did so. “Please don't go. Please. You can fly with him any time you want, just please don't go.”

“I love you, Susan. And you too, Tibi.” Tirion hugged them both close to him. “That's why I need to do this. I'll be back soon.”

“Pom-is?”

“I promise, little man. I promise.”

With two more quick kisses, Tirion mounted his broom and kicked off, turning back just once to wave to a wife fighting back tears and a two-year-old boy clamoring to fly again.

* * *

When word finally came, Susan and Tiberius were spread out on the floor playing with his toys. Her heart racing, Susan leaped to her feet, not bothering to put Tiberius in his pen, and raced to the door.

“Daddy!” Tiberius cried out, giggling, as he tried to push himself up to his feet.

Susan wrenched open the door to find a somber looking Max standing on her stoop.

“Daddy!” Tiberius toddled over to the hall, trying to get to where his daddy was supposed to be, his still little legs not moving nearly as fast as he wanted to move.

Max's eyes were sad, and perhaps his cheeks a little tear-stained, as he extended his hand and placed something in Susan's. She looked down, hoping that her eyes would tell her something other than what she felt. They didn't. It was Tirion's wand.

“Daddy?” Tiberius repeated himself, this time perhaps a little more puzzled as he saw Uncle Max in the door giving something to his Mummy.

“No.” She whispered, looking back up. “No!” She lunged forward, beating both fists against the man's chest, her body wracked with sobs. “You wouldn't talk him out of it. Your fault. Your fault!” As he placed his hands on her shoulders, she stopped her assault, dropping her arms to her side. He stepped away, then, and, the charms on the house no longer there, disappeared with a pop. Susan closed the door and put her back up against it. “No.” Thump. She hit the door with her fist. “No.” Thump. Her body shook and, slowly, she slid until she was seated at the base of the door, still thumping, still crying, gasping desperately for air.

“Daddy.” Tiberius had finally made it to the door and to Susan. He looked up at the door and down at his mum, some awareness of her sadness showing on his face. “Daddy,” he repeated, not quite a question, but not quite a statement. “Daddy. Home.” It was almost insistent.

Opening her eyes, Susan used the back of her hand to wipe them, still gasping for breath. With her other arm, she grabbed her son and pulled him into her lap. Cradling and rocking him slowly, her own body still shaking, she choked out the words that she had feared the most.

“Daddy's not coming home, sweetheart. Daddy's not coming home.”

01-22-2010, 05:41 AM	#19 (permalink)
AmbiguouslyMe SA & DMLE Mooncalf Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Boston Posts: 6,674 Hogwarts RPG Name: Hazel Martin-Pryce First Year Diagon Alley Proprietor: Scout MacIntyre Daily Prophet Reporter x4	Granddaddy Ravenclaw \| \| Jermione Granger Thanks again to everyone reading and commenting and all that. This one's on the longer side. Chapter Three: Promises “Tirion, please.” They'd been having this argument for months. It started the day that the phone had rung for Tirion. Susan could still recall the expression on her husband's face as he pressed the phone to his ear and heard his father's voice. It had been like a ghost had rung. They never spoke of family. Susan's rejected Tirion and, as far as she had known, Tirion's didn't even know about her. But that had changed the day the phone rang. The day the phone rang. It was destined to be a marker of time, whether they wanted it to be or not. Tirion had refused to tell Susan why his father had phoned and had skulked around the house in a daze for nearly a week. It had been another three weeks before another call came. Again, his father. And again three weeks after that. And again. But then the calls became more persistent. First every other week. Then weekly. The calls were coming every few days now. And still, Tirion refused to tell Susan what was happening. “Tirion, please.” Her voice was insistent as she followed him about the house, Tiberius balanced on her hip. “Stop walking away and talk to me. Tell me what's happening.” It was so unlike him to keep secrets from her but for months, he had been. “Susan, for the last time, I can't.” His voice betrayed his frustration and he instantly felt remorse when Susan stopped in her tracks, spun on her heels and marched herself and their son into another room, leaving him there, kneading his fingers into his forehead. * * * “Don't pick it up.” Susan stood between Tirion and the phone a month later, face shifting between a stony resolve and a desperate plea. To her, the not knowing was worse than anything else that it could possibly be. But Tirion just kept telling her that he either couldn't tell her, or didn't really know what was going on. Perhaps, Susan though, it was sometimes both. “Stop this. Just... don't pick it up.” She mouthed a silent 'please.' Months. Months and months of begging and pleading and kitchen standoffs, and Tirion dropped his shoulders and put his hands up in front of his chest. “Ok. I won't answer the phone today.” He paused, stepping closer to his wife and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Today.” He wouldn't promise tomorrow. “I just don't understand it, Tir, I just don't. Why...” But Susan was cut off by the sound of the Floo. Standing in their fireplace, dusting himself off, was Max. Sheepishly, he stepped forward, and realizing that he'd interrupted a moment that was either tender or tense, or both, pointed to the living room. “I'm just gonna go play with the lil guy until you're done. Erm. Yes. Sorry.” Just as awkward, but not nearly as gangly, as when he'd stood for them at their wedding, Max had made a rather sudden reappearance in their lives that, while not unwelcome, wasn't exactly a reappearance that put Susan at ease. It was clear to her that Max knew what was going on. And he was here to talk to Tirion about it. Again. Susan watched as Max entered the living room and approached a playing Tiberius, moving to lean against the door frame, arms crossed in front of her chest. “Unkka Mac!” Tiberius squealed as the man lifted him out of his pen, still clutching his Hogwarts bear. “What do you have there? Is that a Hogwarts bear?” Max tickled Tibi's stomach with a single finger. “Og-warz! Og-warz!” “And what house are you going to be in?” “Raaaaaarrr!” As Max spun a squealing toddler around the living room, Tirion moved behind Susan, watching his friend play with his son. “Promise me he'll go, Susan?” He slipped an arm around her waist. “No matter what happens, our son will go to Hogwarts?” Susan looked back over her shoulder, eyebrows knit together in concern. Something about the tone of his voice had caused her heart to drop into her stomach. Shifting in his arms she turned to face him. “You say that as if you won't put him on that train yourself,” she whispered, it almost serving as a question. It hung there between them, Tirion refusing to meet Susan's eyes, his own focused intently on the squealing child in the next room. They stood there, Susan only able to hear the laughter of her son, and the frantic beating of her own heart. “Ok,” she said, putting her hand on his chest briefly before turning back around. “I promise.” * * * The phone had stopped ringing. In fact, if she thought about it really hard, Susan would recall that the last time the phone had rung was the day she asked Tirion not to answer it and he had listened. At first, she had been relieved. But then as weeks continued on, she sometimes caught herself hoping it would, just so there would be some sort of resolution. As she sat across the kitchen table from Tirion, she studied his face. Deep wrinkles creased his forehead, much deeper than even a few months ago. His eyes were intense, softening only for Tiberius. As she considered him, hands wrapped around her mug, her thoughts wandered. If there was anything to be said about Tirion in those weeks, it was that he was inordinately devoted to his son. Every spare moment playing or telling stories of his days at Hogwarts. Toys were enchanted and stories were play-acted. Susan would curl in her rocking chair and watch them, feeling just the slightest bit apart. They would have their magic. Something she could never be part of. The owl tapping on the glass brought her back to reality, as Tirion stood to open the window. Unrolling the piece of parchment, he closed his eyes briefly, before pulling out his wand and destroying it. “Susan, I...” Tirion pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers as he leaned against the windowsill. “I have to go for a few days.” “Not without telling me why,” she said plainly, not bothering to look up from her breakfast. “It's about the calls,” he began, hesitatingly. “And why they stopped. I have to go make sure he's ok.” Susan looked dumbly at her breakfast, willing herself calm. She'd never met the man, and as far as she knew, Tirion hadn't seen him in years. And yet, he was dropping everything. “Tir, I just don't understand what this has all been about. All the calls, all the secrecy. I just don't understand.” She looked up at him. “And I know that there's a lot I just don't get about your world, and maybe that's part of this, but you haven't even given me a chance to try.” Pushing away from the window, Tirion stood behind Susan and bent down, pressing his cheek to hers as he hugged her. “I know. I'm sorry. I was doing what I thought was best. When I get back, I'll tell you everything. But right now, I have to get ready. Max will be here soon.” He kissed her cheek lightly, before straightening up and heading to the stairs. “Promise you'll come back and tell me.” “Promise. On both counts.” Susan followed Tirion with her eyes as he disappeared from her sight, before standing and clearing the table. She didn't even look up when she heard the Floo in the next room, but did when Max sought her out, instead of Tirion. “Is he ready to go?” Max's voice betrayed an impatience, almost an urgency, that Tirion had not expressed. “Max, whatever this is, talk him out of it. Please.” Susan wasn't sure if it was simply foolhardy or dangerous, but she thought she'd rather not find out. “I can't do that, Susan. Even if I thought he'd listen, which he wouldn't. He's a lion, through and through.” He paused, softening at Susan's expression, both wary and weary. “He wouldn't be the man you married if he didn't go do this.” Susan had opened her mouth to reply when Tirion came back down the stairs, broom in one arm and son in the other. “Look who I found awake and ready for his day,” he chuckled, bouncing him. Turning to Max, Tirion nodded, getting serious. “Good, you brought your broom. We can fly.” “Fie. Boom. Tibi fie boom.” Tiberius clapped his hands together and the adults fell silent. Tirion's eyes glimmered at the boy's words as Max and Susan exchanged glances, Max's saying 'we don't have the time,' and Susan's 'this buys me some time.' “What do you say, Susan? Can I take Tibi up on the broom for his first ride before I go?” He smiled at her sweetly, before turning to Max. “Ten minutes won't make that much of a difference.” Not waiting for a response from either of them, he hurried out the back door, tossing the camera from the side table behind him to Susan. “Just be careful!” Susan hurried out after him, Max following behind her. When she reached the yard, they were already up in the air, flying zigzags over the yard. “Max!” Tirion called down to the two of them standing there. “Get the camera from Susan and get up here and take a picture!” He zoomed off to the nearby woods, Tiberius' shrieks of excitement echoing all around them. Max mounted his broom and looked back to Susan, as if to ask if she wanted a ride, but she simply shook her head. He kicked off and followed the others to the woods where they could fly with more cover. Susan watched them go, before sitting on the ground, knees pulled up to her chest, and waiting. She wasn't sure how long they were gone, but when they landed, Susan instantly collected Tiberius and held him to her chest, leaning into Tirion as she did so. “Please don't go. Please. You can fly with him any time you want, just please don't go.” “I love you, Susan. And you too, Tibi.” Tirion hugged them both close to him. “That's why I need to do this. I'll be back soon.” “Pom-is?” “I promise, little man. I promise.” With two more quick kisses, Tirion mounted his broom and kicked off, turning back just once to wave to a wife fighting back tears and a two-year-old boy clamoring to fly again. * * * When word finally came, Susan and Tiberius were spread out on the floor playing with his toys. Her heart racing, Susan leaped to her feet, not bothering to put Tiberius in his pen, and raced to the door. “Daddy!” Tiberius cried out, giggling, as he tried to push himself up to his feet. Susan wrenched open the door to find a somber looking Max standing on her stoop. “Daddy!” Tiberius toddled over to the hall, trying to get to where his daddy was supposed to be, his still little legs not moving nearly as fast as he wanted to move. Max's eyes were sad, and perhaps his cheeks a little tear-stained, as he extended his hand and placed something in Susan's. She looked down, hoping that her eyes would tell her something other than what she felt. They didn't. It was Tirion's wand. “Daddy?” Tiberius repeated himself, this time perhaps a little more puzzled as he saw Uncle Max in the door giving something to his Mummy. “No.” She whispered, looking back up. “No!” She lunged forward, beating both fists against the man's chest, her body wracked with sobs. “You wouldn't talk him out of it. Your fault. Your fault!” As he placed his hands on her shoulders, she stopped her assault, dropping her arms to her side. He stepped away, then, and, the charms on the house no longer there, disappeared with a pop. Susan closed the door and put her back up against it. “No.” Thump. She hit the door with her fist. “No.” Thump. Her body shook and, slowly, she slid until she was seated at the base of the door, still thumping, still crying, gasping desperately for air. “Daddy.” Tiberius had finally made it to the door and to Susan. He looked up at the door and down at his mum, some awareness of her sadness showing on his face. “Daddy,” he repeated, not quite a question, but not quite a statement. “Daddy. Home.” It was almost insistent. Opening her eyes, Susan used the back of her hand to wipe them, still gasping for breath. With her other arm, she grabbed her son and pulled him into her lap. Cradling and rocking him slowly, her own body still shaking, she choked out the words that she had feared the most. “Daddy's not coming home, sweetheart. Daddy's not coming home.” __________________ Has anyone ever sung you a lullaby? You can fly above the rain clouds Close your eyes Let the melody carry you Leave all your fears behind You can float across a rainbow sky to once upon a time Last edited by AmbiguouslyMe; 01-23-2010 at 02:36 AM.