Well, stones. Who: Harry Dresden, Elaine Mallory, Neena Thurman, Thomas Raith Where: The Dresden-Mallory residence What: A grilling picnic, and a body swapping. When: August 4th. during this log Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for some small language Status complete
Elaine had noticed that Cora was getting more than usually underfoot that afternoon, particularly after Nate had arrived, and wondered what was going on. It wasn’t like Cora not to want to hang out with her friend and would-be beau. Part of her wanted to take the precocious teenager(s) aside--individually--and ask them what was up, but there was a salad to toss, vinaigrette to shake, bread to slice, and brownies to be frosted; and only so much room in the kitchen.
She’d put Harry in charge of the grill, because it was the safest way to let him get his pyromania on and give Thomas a mini-lesson on emotions and elemental evocation, and she’d let Neena pick a job, but Cora was so antsy and distractible that Elaine had just given the girl a giant hug, and a kiss on the forehead, and relieved her of duty. They could have a heart-to-heart later, when they weren’t having company.
Neena was making egg salad and generally making an ass of herself whenever the opportunity arose. She was in and out of the kitchen a lot, teasing one person or another as the whim took her. She didn’t disturb Thomas’s magic lessons, but she did tease him when the opportunity arose. It was all in good fun.
“You know, I haven’t done this kind of domestic party throwing stuff in a long time.” If ever, actually.
Thomas laughed, when he was free to do so, and not trying to concentrate on feelings and wizardese. Harry and Elaine made it all look so easy, he was almost certain the blazing candles in the bistro the previous week had been a fluke. He’d been feeling rather unsure of himself lately, off and on, for no good reason. He felt better now, standing in bare feet, with a sweating glass of iced tea in his hand. The dual circle of Cora’s little kiddie-pool mini-beach was looking very appealing.
“Look at you now,” he teased, “Domestic parties every other week.”
Against all of this, Harry was cooking. farthest away from the electricity, at the main grill and grinned at them all. It had been slow work this morning, but he felt Thomas was getting the idea, slowly. Fire work and Earth work both needed emotion, and solid willpower, and Thomas had tons of both. They just had to work on control and direction.
He lifted his glass, watching the rest, happy, seeing his family so arrayed. He stepped away from the heat of the grill for a moment, coming near between Neena and Elaine, nodding to the rest as he claimed a glass of lavender lemonade from the ice chest he had set it down in.
“Could be worse. Could be fun.”
Elaine slipped an arm around Harry’s waist, exhaling softly as she felt the energy between them. Sure, they made sparks sometimes, but they also grounded each other--and she hoped Thomas and Neena could find that perfect balance as well. She gave them all a grin, and said, “I think we’re getting the hang of it, don’t you?”
“More or less,” Neena said with a laugh. She grabbed a lemonade for herself and went to look at the little beach. It was pretty cute. “We can’t be too normal, but we can pretend now and then.”
Thomas smiled, plunking down in the beach chair that sat inside the circle, and dangling his feet into the pool of water. He patted his lap for Neena to join him. “I think we’re just about right.”
Harry smiled as he poked Elaine, and kissed her, shifting as he drew her along after the other two. The food had time, so they would be alright, and this day was about family and fun anyway. He grinned at their words. “Normal? What is that, anyway?” He snorted. “I grew up the son of evil law firm people. Moved across half the states. Am marrying my high school sweetheart.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s a setting on the washing machine called ‘Normal,’” Elaine said, leaning into her hubby-to-be as they moved across the lawn. She was so proud of her family, and so glad to have people to remind her to unwind every now and then. “So far, it still works, right along with ‘Delicates,’ and ‘Heavy Duty.’ Three guess which gets used more often--and the first two don’t count.”
Neena settled onto Thomas’s lap, kissing him softly. It felt good to be in his arms. “Well, you have a kid, there’s really no normal for that kind of thing.” She dangled her legs over the side of the chair so she could face the others and her lover at the same time. “I like how we work together.” Both herself and Thomas and their weird little family.
“Me too,” said Thomas, blissfully grounded in the moment. Maybe it had something to do with the water dispersing his burgeoning magical energy. Maybe it was just the fact that he had Neena in his arms. Maybe a little of both. “I’m sure we’ll find our stride, before long.”
Harry smiled as he hugged Elaine close, happy, and just feeling mellow. “Strides vary, life happens.” He nodded, and quietly sent a wave of wind across the mini-pool splashing Thomas’ feet.
Elaine hugged him, laughing at the wind and water antics. “Speaking of life, how is baby Raith?” she asked, glancing at Neena, and then at Thomas’ hands, which were folded protectively over Neena’s stomach. “Not giving you too much morning sickness, I hope?”
Neena laughed at the waves and tried to kick water at Harry. “Nah. I get a little nauseous sometimes, but I didn’t have much morning sickness with Chris. I guess I just luck out when it comes to things like that.” She smiled, snuggling into Thomas. It felt good to be in his arms, relaxing with her new extended family.
Thomas just smiled, and kissed Neena’s neck, sighing contentedly. When it came to questions about pregnancy, he was glad Neena knew what to expect, because he had no clue. “I guess your powers are good for something after all.”
Harry chuckled and was about to open his mouth to talk when the timer went off and he grinned, then turned to head for the grill. “Okay, everyone! Line up for food.” He opened the grill, checked everything, then started getting ready to hand out food.
Elaine moved to the picnic table, removing covers from the side dishes. Nate and Cora weren't back yet, but there would be plenty of food left to go around.
Neena regretfully slid out of Thomas’s lap, keeping her hold on one of his hands. “Just us?” She didn’t mind too much, but she’d expected Cora and Nate to be joining them.
“Let me know if I should form a search party,” Thomas said, giving his brother and Elaine a pointed look. “You know I’m more than happy to give that boy a Come To Jesus talk.” His tone was serious, but was smirking when he said it, and his eyes glinted with mischief, not malice.
Harry chuckled. “Nah. Cora and Nate went to help Emma Summers with something. They are supposed to be back fairly quickly.” He carefully put all the hot dogs, links, and burgers on the large platter, and banked the coals of the barbecue, before laying the ribs on the grill and closing the cover. Those would smoke all day, and then go in the fridge to cool all night and be the center of more food later.
Then he carried the platter toward the table.
And then... there was a weird twisting sensation as he stepped closer, and for a second he felt a crystal clear sense that something very wrong was happening. For a second, it was like everything just fell into place. He was facing Neena and he was very clear in the fact that she was almost diagonally across from Elaine, and that Thomas was diagonally across from him and then...
...then, everything shifted, he stumbled, and suddenly was not himself.
“Well, stones.” And the voice was definitely not his.
Elaine blinked as the world shifted and tried to slide out her ear. The feeling was gone in an instant, passing almost as quickly as it had come, and she became aware of two things. One, she had moved several feet to the side, and a good head and shoulders upward; and two? “Uh, Harry? I’ve got your stones right here.”
Because it just had to be said.
The sensation of being transferred to another body was alien to Neena as well, and she was momentarily nauseous. She rubbed her face with her hand and looked around the table. “Fuck.” She couldn’t help but put a hand over Thomas’s mouth as his voice came out when she spoke. “This is not good.”
Thomas’ eye narrowed as he glanced around the circle, then widened, and then narrowed again. He was no longer holding Neena’s hand, but standing near the picnic table, and Harry. He glanced down, just long enough to recognize Elaine’s shirt, and snapped his eyes back up. “Okay, this is so not my fault!”
Harry sighed. “No, it’s not, and it’s none of our faults, either. I felt...something, well, happen. But it wasn’t magic.” He shivered. “Something else.” And he sighed as he looked down again. “Looks like we shifted forward, somehow, each leaping to the nearest body, in some order, or other.”
He rubbed his face. “Only us.”
He hoped.
“Okay,” Elaine said, with Harry’s voice. “Let me just make sure I’m following. Harry is Neena, Neena is Thomas, Thomas is me, and I’m Harry?” She felt like she’d just stepped off a schoolyard merry-go-round just trying to wrap her brain around it. “Thank God we took care of that White Court business already.”
Neena nodded. “Fuck yes. There is no way I could control that shit for a second.” She eyed Elaine’s body, then winced a little and looked over at her own. “Oh you’re going to hate life, Harry.”
Thomas grimaced with Elaine’s mouth. “Good luck controlling my nascent magic,” he said, “I don’t even know how to do it that well yet.” He was just glad that Elaine’s didn’t seem to be as unpredictable as Harry’s.
Harry sighed. He didn’t like anything like this happening. He was supposed to protect his family, damn it. And now, this. “What specifically are you talking about, Neena?” He reached out for Elaine’s hand, ignoring for a moment that it was his own.
Elaine squeezed Harry’s hand, ignoring the sideways look she got from Thomas--the bitch face, as Cora might have called it, though not where she thought Elaine could hear. “You mean, aside from being pregnant?”
“Just the pregnant thing, really. There’s a list as long as my arm, uh,” She held out Thomas’s arm, “Yep, still that long, of shit you can’t do. You can’t drink coffee or anything like that, or have alcohol, or junk food. That last one’s not a pregnancy thing, it’s a me not getting fat thing.”
Thomas chuckled at the question of whose was longer. He couldn’t help it. So what if it made him a twelve year old? “No junk food for you, either,” he quipped, “I actually have to work for that bod now, babe.”
Harry nodded, then realized. “The kids.” He took out his phone, even as Elaine’s rang. “I bet...” For sure, that was them. Sometimes, he just knew.
Elaine gestured for Thomas to hand her the phone, which was in the right front pocket of her jeans. When he tossed it over, she caught it, and answered, figuring Harry’s voice wouldn’t bother Cora too much, even if she was expecting mom. She didn’t want Thomas to have to try and explain things.
Neena ran her hand through Thomas’s hair and sighed. “So, uh, how are we going to work this out? We didn’t switch cleanly between couples.” She spoke quietly, so she wouldn’t distract Elaine from her phone call.
“Good question,” Thomas said with a slight groan at the end. “I guess it’s a good thing I decided to take a break from filming while I sort my magic, but I’m not going to pretend I can give more than fifteen minute scalp massage, even with Elaine’s hands.”
Harry spent a few moments leaning close to Elaine and listening, an wincing, then straightened up. “I have a feeling we’ll all have to take a break from our normal jobs for a few days.”
Elaine sighed as she got off the phone with Nate and Cora, wishing them luck, and promising to save them some leftovers. At least the mutual explanations had been relatively easy, but she could tell Nate was not happy with himself for being unable to prevent it.
"Well, folks, it looks like we're not the only ones. I'll give you three guesses whose machine is the culprit this time."
“Nate.” Neena said, without hesitation. Because everything was always Nate’s fault, in her experience.
Thomas laughed out loud as Neena spoke the thought that had been on his mind. If there was a machine involved, there was probably Nate. But then, Thomas didn't really know much about Emma or what she could do, beyond telepathy and diamonds being a girl's best friends. "Sorry," he said, "I just can't." All he could do was laugh. But that was progress!
Harry chuckled. He had overheard enough to know that this was not quite right. “Nope. Emma. Right family, wrong member.” He shook his head. Nate had apologized, for what, he did not know, but he was sure he would hear the whole story soon.
“Apparently, Emma was working on a body-swap machine,” Elaine said, giving a brief rundown of what Cora and Nate and tried to explain to her. “Nate was helping, but it seems like plain old mechanical failure.” She sighed, and breathed a prayer of thanks that both children’s minds had been safely deposited in bodies, and not lost in the ether, or something equally tragic.
Neena facepalmed. “Shit. Fucking telepaths.”
Thomas hugged her, because it seemed like the thing to do, only realizing as an afterthought that maybe it was a little weird to do so in Elaine’s body. The hell with that. “I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to undo it.”
Harry winced. Then he nodded. “Emma doesn’t seem like someone who will let much time pass without throwing herself into fixing this.” He considered things for a moment. “Nor does Nate.” He sighed, then smiled. “In the meantime...there is food people, and drink of the nonalcoholic kind. Let’s try to settle in and relax a little, if we can.”