Lancelot is a noble man. (fromthelake) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-04-07 13:38:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, audrey, sir lancelot du lac |
Who: Audrey Baxter and Lance du Lac.
When: Late February
Where: Baxter Bakery
What: Random Encounter?
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete when posted
Audrey was settling back to something of a schedule at the Bakery. She and Ben came for a few hours every day, and she did experimenting and polishing of new recipes at home at night. She worked on scheduling, marketing, ordering and finances from home. It was a good schedule. But she missed the interacting with customers that she used to get to do. She was working into expanding the wholesale business from the back, which was going to bring in quite a bit more income, so that part was good. More income meant she could hire on another full time employee to take some of the pressure off Izzy.
She and Ben were sitting in the lobby of the cafe. There were papers on the table in front of her, and Ben was asleep against her chest. It was the best way to spend the afternoon, though Audrey wished she could lay back for a nap, too.
Once he’d gotten over his bug, Lance had decided to make good on his word and stop by the bakery to see Audrey. He was worried he’d miss her, but he grinned when he saw that she hadn’t left yet - and that Ben, who he met when he visited Merlin a couple of weeks before, was there.
“Working hard, I take it?” he asked, walking over to her table with a smile.
“Something like that,” Audrey replied, playfully. She grinned at the sight of Lance--who she knew fairly well from being a customer, and was now learning of connections between him and her husband. He was a good guy, and she liked him. “How are you? Do you need a coffee or a pastry or something? Come sit, tell me everything.”
It was a small world, wasn’t it. Who would have thought, of all things, his good friend in his dreams would be married in real life to the woman who ran his favourite bakery. “I’ll be back in a second,” he said. Once he got his cappuccino, he took a sit opposite Audrey. “Here I am. I’m afraid I don’t have much to tell, though.”
Audrey lifted a hand to stop him. She could have one of her employees bring him his cap! But then he was back and she was grinning, shaking her head. “I could have had them bring you one.” She said, but gave up on that train of thought when the baby against her chest stirred.
“Anything is interesting to the woman who spends all day nursing, napping and changing poopy diapers.”
“I have two perfectly good legs. And they have better things to do.” Lance gave her a smile. “I’ve really just been working. Most of my classes are starting on their Shakespeare units now, so that’s always entertaining.”
“Oh, Shakespeare! That sounds like fun. You teach high school, right? The perfect age to really get them engaged.” Not that she ever was. Audrey was definitely not the best student in the world when she was younger. Actually, she wasn’t in college, either. But now she was thinking it might be time to go back and get some formal education.
“Yeah, high school. For most of them, it goes over their heads. The drama students are always the most enthusiastic, obviously. But I do my best to get them all interested.” Lance shrugged. “Most of my favourite stories are from that time period and earlier, so I have fun with it.”
“I’m sure you do really well.” Audrey said, grinning at him. She bounced the baby a little to settle him back to sleep. “What sorts of stories?” She asked. “I don’t know if I have any favorite stories from back then.”
“The Canterbury Tales is probably my favourite,” he admitted with an amused look. “A lot of people find it dry, but I think it’s charming. And the old epics. Beowulf, for example.”
“Oh, that sort of thing.” Audrey said, nodding. She paused for a moment. “My mom used to have a book of Greek Myths. You know, Zeus and Hera, that sort of thing. I remember reading it a lot when I was a kid. I mean, it had all these fantastic pictures. Athena coming out of Zeus’ head, and Aphrodite being born from the sea foam.”
“Fantastic,” he said, sounding amused. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember that those myths were inspired by something real. I wish so many old accounts still existed. Imagine how much of our history they’d open up.”
“It makes me really sad to think about all of the records of human history that we’ve lost. I mean, the loss of the Library of Alexandria alone, but there’s so much more to it than that. The idea that we’ll never even know how much we’ve lost. It’s really sad.” Audrey said, trying not to let her hormones get the better of her.
Lance seemed to pick up that her mood was shifting, so he decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “So how has little Ben been doing, then? I think he gets cuter every time I see him.”
“It’s amazing. He’s amazing.” Audrey said, relieved for the change in subject. She turned a little, leaning forward, so he could see the baby’s face as he slept against her chest. “He’s getting so big! I can’t believe he’s almost three months old.”
“I still can’t believe Merlin has a baby,” Lance said, unable to keep from laughing. It really did boggle his mind. “You, absolutely I can believe that. You have a maternal air. Then again I think I’ve only ever known you when you were pregnant, so that helps.”
It was true; Merlin didn’t seem all that paternal when she met him. Then again, she’d been convinced he wasn’t interested in her team, either. And now they were married with a child and a future and it was wonderful. Just goes to show no one should ever assume things about a person’s sexuality. If Audrey hadn’t, they might have had more time together.
“I should hope that I had a maternal air while I was pregnant,” she grinned. “And that I have one now? You’ve seen Merlin with him, though, haven’t you? Merlin’s an amazing father.”
“Merlin,” Lance said, with a smile, “from what I do know of him, is generally only best described with the word amazing. And you have a wonderful maternal air. Ben’s going to grow up very lucky with parents like you.”
Audrey couldn’t wipe the grin from her face even if she wanted to. She nodded, humbled by his compliment, and went a little pink. “Thank you, Lance. You’re so sweet.”
“I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true,” Lance said. His phone decided to go off, then, and he gave Audrey an apologetic look. “Sorry, just give me a moment to go answer this and I’ll be right back.”
“No problem. Don’t let me keep you.” Audrey said, giving him a smile. She knew he was busy, and she was a busy lady, too. The baby was starting to fuss now, and she knew she’d have to go nurse him and put him down for his nap soon, anyway.