Who: Ella & Peggy Carter When: Tuesday May 12, early afternoon Where: Downtown Test City What: Ella's taking a walk and sees someone who looks a lot like her mother. Rating: Low Warnings: Mistaken identity, family feels (so nothing really). Status: Random/In Progress
Ella really liked Test City and the peace it offered her. Things were settling back in to normal and The Greenthumb was open for business as usual. She'd offered to take up extra shifts to get the place back in order and allow the others to get their homes back in order as well. The apartments hadn't been hit too badly, save for a few flowerbeds and spots of grass that were damaged because carcases were laying out for too long. Her apartment was perfectly clean and tidy, had been since the day she moved in, but it was lonely. So Ella spent as much time as she could outside her apartment, exploring the park and the other shops in town, as well as taking shifts at The Greenthumb just about every day. Mr Grimes was very nice about letting her work a good number of hours without letting her be taken advantage of by the other workers. Everyone she'd encountered thus far in Test City were kind, considerate, compassionate people. She was much happier here.
It was disheartening to not live in the home she'd grown up in, but she was slowly making her apartment more homey. The memories just weren't there, and she didn't have her family to make new ones. That wasn't to say that she hadn't made new memories, though. Ella was very fond of having Wade over to share a meal, or working with Mr Barnes on her bookshelf. They were both kind men, but it wasn't the same as having a father. What she truly missed, if she were honest with herself, was the presence of a strong female role model. Lady Tremaine was a good example of how not to act, but her mother had been the baseline Ella had always measured herself against. Her mother's last words to her, to have courage and be kind, have stayed with her over all those years. It's only a small reminder of her mother though, and Ella was selfish enough to want more.
As she mulled over those thoughts, walking through town with no real destination in mind, Ella caught sight of a familiar face. She stopped, dead in her tracks, and turned to track the familiar curves of her mother's face in the woman walking past. She was dressed differently, and her hair was a rich chestnut instead of golden like the sun, but that was most certainly her mother's face. Without thought, Ella ran to catch her, throwing caution into the wind by wrapping her arms around her mother's waist. "Mother?" Ella asked, hope, disbelief, and a bit of breathlessness all rolled into one. "Mother, is that you?"