Darker London

“Dad’s coming in after dinner with my girls,” Daria whispered to her mother, reading off the phone that Noah was holding, since both her hands were occupied with a breastfeeding Alastair. “And Merry again, and Hayley,” she watched her mother’s face as Yolande covered her mouth with her hands to keep the joy from bursting out. Daria felt the same, but with extra layers of tired, and extra layers of sore. She’d always been active, loved the gym, athletic sex, and finding new ways to push her body, but right now there were muscles aching she’d never thought about before. Her whole body felt like it had fallen out of a tree.

She had fallen out of a tree once too. She’d been getting high with Adam in after school and leaned back too far, hit another branch on the way down and was lucky not to break anything. It hadn’t been a very tall tree, but she was discovering new bruises for days.

“Neil and Merry and Hayley,” Yolande echoed, voice creeping out through her fingers. “Cassandra and Phoebe and Neil and Merry and Hayley.”

“I think we should tell Cass and Bee that you’re an Auntie, or something – I don’t want them telling their preschool they got two new siblings and a granny back from the dead,” Daria said, picturing it. Or rather – she didn’t want other adults telling Phoebe and Cassandra that they were making up stories when they weren’t. “That should work, right?” she looked over at Noah.

Merry stepped out of Daria’s room, and instantly found that looking at her mother without the distraction of her sister and new niece and nephew became far more difficult. Her gaze dropped to her hands, one of them slowly wringing anxiety out of the other.

“I’ll, uh, get coffees,” Joss said, thinking that this was a mother-daughter conversation and he better get himself out of there for a while. “What do you drink – uh – do you drink?”

( ... )

Knowing he could attend university next semester was one thing, actually doing it was something else entirely. It was the first time since primary school he would be at an institution of learning where he couldn't just dash down the hallway and be safely in his mother's office. Considering just how often Danny had had panic attacks or felt ill because of his meds, the knowledge that his mother was always there had been a lifeline. Now he was going to be off on his own with so many people surrounding him. Anything could happen at any moment.

Danny was pretty sure he was going to spend his first semester in a state of constant terror. Luckily though, he would have his Zoe there with him. He hadn't even known her for a year, but Zoe had become his strength and his very best friend. He trusted her so fiercely that sometimes it scared him just a little. She could hurt him with so little effort, but he truly believed she wouldn't.

He had secured a daypass to visit the university with Zoe, hoping that seeing the place with her would calm him down. He could meet a few of the people she knew as well and that might help a lot. He met her at the front of Priory as arranged, climbing into Liz's car with a forced smile.

"I'm freaking out a little," he said, leaning forward from the backseat to rest his chin against Zoe's seat. "Or I could have said hi. Hi, guys, it's nice to see you.""