One minute Julia was putting Hope down for the night, smiling as she bent to kiss her daughter good night, and the next she was standing in the middle of McAllister Street. Well, not literally in the middle. She was on the sidewalk in front of an apartment building that definitely wasn’t The Station and she was holding Hope, which she hadn’t been doing a moment ago, had she? It felt like only seconds had passed or minutes at most, but Julia wasn’t exactly a stranger to weird, random bullshit.
She had just pulled out her phone to check the network and figure out where the hell she was when she saw the familiar figure of Angie Smith approaching. From Angie, she quickly learned that it had actually been a couple of days and that for all intents and purposes, she and HQ had been gone. At least, that’s what all their data had shown. Try as she might, Julia couldn’t get any real answers as to how they knew when someone was sent back through their portal or whatever it was and Julia had other places to be. People to reassure she was here.
Her first stop was the apartment she’d shared with Q, which it seemed like she’d been assigned back to again. Shifting her little girl into a more stable position against her hip, Hope unlocked the door and let herself in, hoping Quentin would actually be home.
Q wasn't exactly wallowing, but he also wasn't not wallowing. Things had gone from shitty to even shittier as nearly all his connections were yanked away. First Julia and Margo, then Louis and, yes, even Eliot, even though the last thing they'd had was an argument. He'd barely moved to eat, only motivated by the Julia-voice in his head telling him he had to shower, he had to put food in his mouth, he had to try to read at least a page or put on TV show. All of it hurt, and he'd already put his grief on the network; it seemed like doubling down if he went to it again, even though he knew people would be understanding and sympathetic.
And speaking of pathetic, he was in the cycle of sadness where all he could do was stare at the ceiling and try to lead his thoughts out of their current spiral. So color him surprised when he heard someone at the door. What was more, it was someone actually walking in like they had a key. Had he been assigned someone new already? That hardly seemed fair, but who knew what lurked in the minds of the government cogs. Quentin sat up and came out into the living room only to freeze in place.
He tried to say his best friend's name, but all that came out was a low croak. Julia. It was Julia. And his goddaughter. Standing in the living room. He moved like a zombie toward them, taking lurching steps, his arms extended. "Are you real, or did I finally break?"
Julia might have laughed if she hadn’t glanced at the network long enough to see the alerts, if she hadn’t known that everyone else was gone. Everyone in their little circle, at least, and the man Quentin had been seeing. She could imagine how it had felt to suddenly be left alone. The devastation she’d felt at losing him to the portal so many months ago was fresh enough in her mind and she’d still had Eliot, then, to share in the misery. She’d still had Thor to hold her as she cried for the best friend she might never see again. Still, Julia understood all too well what he was probably feeling.
She nodded, reaching out to pull him into a half hug with the arm that wasn’t currently holding his namesake. “I’m here, Q,” she reassured him. She didn’t know what had happened, why or how she’d been sent away only to reappear so quickly, but it hardly seemed to matter in the moment. She was just glad to be back.
Another noise left him as he all but collapsed against his best friend. The only thing that kept him from it was the slightly wiggly almost-two year old in her arms. Tears choked him, but elation was creeping up on his bone-deep relief. He still had Yelena—full-stop, no qualifiers—and he would be forever grateful for her unwavering support. Julia was the one who really knew him, though. She'd know how hard this had been on him. He pressed a kiss to the top of HQ's head right before the tears welled and fell. "How? When? I didn't think I'd see you again! Shit, all your stuff is gone. It vanished when you did. We have to get things for Hope again. What do you know? Do you remember being here?"
He was talking a mile a minute, the questions getting tripped up on his tongue but still spilling out into the world. Q winced. "Sorry, I'll let you get a word in edgewise. Hi."
“I don’t know,” Julia answered the first question honestly. “I was here and then I was… on McAllister Street. I know I’ve been gone a couple of days, but it doesn’t feel that long for me.” She wished she could answer how it had happened. She wished she had more answers than she did, but she was glad to be back, either way. “I remember everything before that,” she clarified.
Julia studied him for a moment. “When was the last time you ate?” she asked. She couldn’t help jumping right into mothering him a little.
"Oh, thank god." The relief made him literally weak at the knees, and he nearly buckled with it. He did, in fact, sway in place, especially when her question brought to light the fact that he couldn't really remember. "Earlier today…?" Quentin hadn't really meant for it to come out as a question. Hell, he couldn't have said what time it was currently. He'd left his phone in the bedroom, and it hardly seemed important now. "So you don't remember anything about going back? No new memories or anything like that? I guess it doesn't really matter if you do or don't." He sent her a watery smile and started to tug her toward the couch. "I'm just really glad you're back."
“That’s it, I’m ordering food,” Julia decided as she followed Quentin over to the couch. It was a relief to be able to sit after holding the growing 16 month-old in her arms. Not actively growing, but, you know, heavier than she’d been as a newborn for sure.
She shook her head as she pulled out her phone to order some delivery. “Nothing. It was like I was here and then I was on McAllister Street.” It was weird, but they were pretty used to their lived being fucked up. “What are you in the mood for?” She’d have to do a real shopping run later and pick up some new things for herself and HQ, but this would do for now.
After they sat, he almost offered to take HQ, but as he reached for her he saw his hand was shaking. His chest gave that moment to also remind him that it was still healing and itchy. Quentin blinked unevenly and rubbed at the skin around it over his shirt. An ache opened like a gulf in his chest. "No preference," he mumbled a little absently, and then laughed. It was this horrible little wet sound. His voice cracked right down the middle, as he said, "I got a tattoo." He took a breath, then cocked his head in the world's worst attempt at a subject change. "Why McAllister Street, I wonder?"
Julia shrugged. “Why any of this bullshit?” she asked. It all seemed so random. She reached over and squeezed his hand. “The street doesn’t matter as long as I’m back here with you, Q.” She wished she had some answers. She wished she knew why some people stayed and others were sent back, if only to find some way of being able to choose to stay. For herself and for everyone else.
A few taps on her phone and food was ordered. She settled on pizza for her and Quentin and ordered some chicken nuggets for HQ. Later, she’d do a grocery order, maybe run out and pick up some clothes and other things for them.
“Do I get to see this tattoo?” she asked.
He sat through the few minutes of her ordering in the silence of someone who was very clearly struggling, but trying to hide it. Badly. Her question was all it took to break the dam. Quentin's face crumpled, and then the rest of him folded over. The part of him that wasn't falling apart could acknowledge that his reactions were frankly absurd. He and Louis had only been dating for two months, but the problem with Q was that when he fell, he fell hard and fast. His track record was proof enough for that.
The tears were already flowing when he felt a little hand touch his cheek and heard a little voice pipe up. "Unc Quen'n?"
It didn't stop his crying, but it did make Quentin hiccup a laugh. "I'm okay, pumpkin. I'm just a little sad. I'll be okay, promise."
He wasn't sure how much he believed that, but somehow it helped a little to say that to his goddaughter. Q looked back up at Jules and swiped at his cheeks while his chest hitched. It took a few seconds to get that part under control. After, he tugged his t-shirt down enough to show her the stylized heart made from a cursive L. It hurt, having to wonder if Louis would still remember him, still have his own tattoo back in his own world. Quentin wasn't sure if it was better or worse that the likelihood was pretty much none that he would. Coupled with the fucked up way he'd left things with Eliot, the whole thing was a recipe for a major spiral. "Talk about crappy timing, right?"
Julia knew all of this about Quentin. She knew him better than she knew herself and her own heart broke for him, for all he had lost over the past few days. She knew it was a part of life here, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with when the people you cared about disappeared.
“Or maybe it’s a timely piece of him you get to keep with you,” she offered, giving his hand a squeeze. She hated that helpless feeling that there was nothing she could do to stop him from hurting. All she could do was be there for him. “I happen to know that HQ cuddles help a lot,” she added as her daughter reached her arms out to Quentin for a hug.
It was all the invitation he needed to scoop his namesake up and settle her against his chest. Her arms went around his neck, and she tucked her head on his shoulder. For his part, Quentin patted his hand down her back and settled back into the couch. It helped. It really did, just like Julia's continued support. His other hand reached for, found, and held one of Julia's, and he tried for a smile in her direction. "Your Mommy's a very smart woman, HQ. You're going to be just like her when you grow up."
Little Hope made a vaguely affirmative sound. It was a tiny bit easier to smile this time. "Hey, if you grab my phone, you can use my account to order stuff for same day delivery. Do you still have everything? Like your accounts and stuff? This might really suck if you have to start over from scratch."
“Nope,” Julia said, making a face. “The setup for the school is still there, somehow, but I’m basically going to have to start over. At least I have the starter five grand.” It would be enough until she got settled again. The grant was in a separate account linked to the school, too. Finding that out had been a relief when she’d talked to Angie.
“I’ll take you up on that later. Right now, I’m pretty comfortable right where I am.”
"Yeah," Quentin said on the back of an exhale that somehow felt like he'd been holding his breath to keep from drowning since waking up alone. He squeezed Julia's hand and kissed the top of HQ's head. If he started to tear up again, it was only because he was so incredibly grateful to have them back again. "Same here."