WHO: Baelfire & Nana WHEN: May 21st WHERE: Resettlement Bureau WHAT: A boy and his dog. STATUS: Complete
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Baelfire didn't know what to expect as he'd approached the Resettlement Bureau. He'd seen on the Network that people were getting gifts all throughout the day but it hadn't seemed like there was any rhyme or reason as to who was receiving them or not. Or at least not based on those who'd chosen to talk about it publicly. He supposed there were plenty of individuals who hadn't felt a need to talk about it with the rest of the Community. But he hadn't exactly been expecting to be contacted himself about a gift. They'd not told him what it was and with the way his world worked, he'd felt his stomach twist into a knot with the message. What if it was something that he truly didn't want? His Father had an entire Castle of cursed objects. What if he was being presented something truly monstrous and all wrapped up with a bow?
He wouldn't put it past the portal to mess with him that way.
Moving around the corner with the staff member, he came to a stop to stare ahead. By a man's hip sat a giant saint Bernard who was whining at the collar that had been placed around her neck. She was still trying to pull from the grip of the man and from just one glance, Baelfire instantly knew why. It was because she didn't know where her children were. She was worried and thinking she'd lost them. It was her job to be with them at all times. And Nana? Nana took her job very seriously.
His lips parted and a small noise escaped from him. It was enough to catch the dog's attention and her gaze snapped to him. The whining subsided and she stopped trying to pull from the man who held her leash. At least, for a moment. But that moment passed and suddenly the dog jerked forward so hard that the leash was pulled from his grip and she was barreling towards Baelfire. She knew him. She remembered him.
He didn't even realize that he'd dropped to his knees against the hard concrete floor.
Instantly, his arms wrapped around her, pulling her against him. Even though he'd grown, looking several years older from the last time that she'd seen him, she recognized who he was. He still smelled like the boy who'd traveled from another realm to a world of unknown. Age couldn't hide that from her knowing gaze. Nana knew her children and it wasn't just John, Michael and Wendy. Nana knew Baelfire and she was making sure in that moment that he knew she remembered her boy. Excited barks were escaping from her as she proceeded to try and comfort him, noting the tears that were falling down Baelfire's cheeks at an alarming rate, so far that her kisses couldn't lap them up. Still, her giant head pushed against him and she continued to lick at his cheeks, trying to reassure him that she was there and he was her boy.
A noise broke from the back of Bae's throat as he shifted, slipping to sit on the floor instead of his knees, and he didn't care that there were others around him. He pulled her closer and he buried his head against her fur. She was a reminder of home and the life he'd once so desperately longed for. His thoughts shifted back to Kensington Garden and those very brief weeks among the Darlings. His family. He thought of Mary Darling, coming into the nursery and singing them lullabies at the end of the night, and how she'd go to each of her children and brush their hair back as they laid in their beds. And how she'd done this not only with John, Michael and Wendy but Baelfire too. Mary had always made it clear that Baelfire was to be hers, too.
Mary had been the first person to try to give Baelfire a home after Papa had rejected Baelfire's attempts to find them a new one where they could be together. She took in a frightened and abandoned boy without so much as a second thought. And for the first time in a very long time, he thought of her and his family from a century before, who were all long go. Who had either grown old and perished or been kidnapped by Pan but held at a purposeful distance from Baelfire so as to prevent him from knowing of their closeness. He'd lost them all even though he'd spent so long trying to get back to them.
But now?
Now, in his arms, was a reminder. It wasn't one he'd expected or even dreamed of but here was Nana, more than a century in the future, but still fully aware of who he was. She had found at least one of her children. He knew that her heart would still ache without the other three by her side but he also knew that she wasn't going to abandon him. Nana would protect him just as she'd tried to all those years ago.
Swallowing, he pulled his face back and wiped at his eyes, before bringing a hand up to stroke her face lovingly. Then he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. "I've got you, old Girl. It's you and me," he promised, hand still petting at her fur. And soon enough, he was clamoring to his feet, taking the leash off of the collar. "Come, girl," he said and began walking away from the Bureau. And without any argument from her, she came to his side and walked along it, intent on being there to watch over him from this moment forward.