original_clone (original_clone) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-02-16 09:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, john crichton, sarah manning |
Who: John and Sarah and NPC Kira
When: Early Feb
Where: Sarah’s place
What: Boyfriend meet Daughter
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Sarah was nervous and part of her was wondering why she was doing this and if it was a massive mistake. What if she introduced John to Kira and then one of them decided this wasn’t what they wanted after all? Not that Sarah wasn’t happy, she very much was and didn’t see that changing but it was still something running through her mind.
Still she had done it now and John was on his way, she’d just told Kira that a friend was coming for lunch and she seemed happy enough. She wanted to speak to John before introducing him as her boyfriend, just in case he wasn’t happy with that.
John knew this visit was different. Sarah had never invited him around when Kira was there and he knew how protective she was about her daughter. He’d dressed smartly, but not formally, no suit jacket just a casual shirt and pants. He’d even forgone bringing a bottle of wine because he figured it was probably bad form when there were kids in the room, but he’d explain that to Sarah when he saw her. Clearing his throat, he rang her doorbell and waited.
Opening the door she smiled, “Hey, come in” she said shutting the door and then kissing him, “I’m glad you could come” she told him, “Thank you” It meant a lot that he had and she wanted him to know that.
Slightly taken aback by the kiss, John couldn’t help but smile as she pulled back. He had expected her to hold back from any displays of affection during this visit, but was happy to be pleasantly surprised. “Of course I came,” he reassured her, gently touching her arm as he did. “Everything ok?” he asked quietly with a little smile.
Sarah had expected the same but Kira was currently in the other room and she’d just wanted that touch before introducing them. “Yeah” she nodded, “Just...I don’t do this. Introduce people to Kira I mean, I’m just a little on edge I guess”
Placing his hands on her arms, he rubbed his thumbs back and forth as he spoke to her. “Hey, we don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, we can wait? See how you feel in a few weeks?” he suggested. He hadn’t wanted her to feel pressured into this meeting, he wanted her to be the one leading this aspect of their relationship. Ultimately he wanted Kira to like him but if Sarah didn’t think she was ready then he would obviously do whatever she asked.
She wasn’t feeling pressured other than the pressure she was putting on herself, her mind telling her all the ways she could screw this up and then in the process hurt Kira. But before she could say anything a little voice said, “Mum? Is that your friend?” and turning she saw Kira standing there watching them. “Well that’s decided” she said under her breath with a smile at John she moved to beckon Kira over and lift her up. “Kira, this is John. John this is Kira”
Kira smiled and held her hand out, “Are you my mum’s boyfriend?” she asked.
John gaped a little like a fish at Kira’s question, looking almost desperately between the mother and daughter as his frozen brain struggled for the right answer. He wanted to say yes immediately but he knew Sarah was just wanting him to be ‘the friend’ on this visit. “Well, uh, I am a boy and I am your mom’s friend, so…” he trailed off, a little lamely. He took the tiny hand in his own and shook it. “Nice to meet you Kira, I’m John,” he smiled kindly.
Kira gave him a look that told both him and Sarah that she completely didn’t believe them but just shrugged and nodded politely, “Hello John” she said, “Do you work?”
“Kira” Sarah said, “Don’t be rude. Now go into the living room monkey while John and I make us lunch” she put down her daughter and patted her bum to get her moving.
“Sorry, she’s a little precocious”
“Hey, that’s ok, I don’t mind answering questions,” John smiled as Kira headed off to the living room. “That’s partly what I’m here for, right?” he asked optimistically. He was actually a lot more nervous than he thought after that meeting. “So uh, what are we making for lunch then?” he asked.
“It is and she will no doubt have many more questions for you over lunch” Sarah said, “If you don’t want to answer any just tell her, or kick me and I’ll tell her” she added. “I was just going to throw some sandwiches together if that works for you?”
John smiled at her. “It’s ok, we’ve got to get to know each other, right? We’ll figure it out,” he took her by the shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “And sandwiches sound great, lead the way,” he told her as he gently released her shoulders.
“You are far too understanding” Sarah ribbed him with a grin, leaning into him a little before taking his hand to lead him to the kitchen. “Naturally Kira’s favourite is peanut butter and jelly, honestly you’d think that girl had been born in this country the way she’s taken to some things” Even if Sarah did struggle with calling it ‘jelly’ when it was clearly ‘jam’.
John laughed at that as she led him to the kitchen. “PB and J not a thing in England, then?” he asked as he let himself be directed as to how he could help. He hadn’t had the opportunity to travel much and he hadn’t really had any English friends growing up.
“Definitely not. Peanut butter isn’t really anywhere as close to big in the UK as it is here” Sarah told him, “I can’t say I’ve missed out” she added jokingly. “So what would you like in your sandwich?”
“Well, now you’ve mentioned a childhood favourite, I kinda wanna say PB and J,” John told her, bumping shoulders with her as he grinned. “So what else have you ‘discovered’ since coming over? Marshmallow fluff? Pumpkin pie?” he asked, reaching to help with the bread.
“Urgh heathen” she told him with a laugh, but she’d make him one anyway. “Oh my god, pumpkin pie is the best thing ever. I could eat that everyday” she told him with a grin, “Actually I think we have one in the fridge” she said with realisation.
John chuckled at that. “Would you rather we had pumpkin pie for lunch?” he asked, already knowing what the answer would be. He stole a quick kiss on her neck as he came up behind her.
“Yes” she grinned, “But that would be setting a terrible example for my daughter so we’ll have that for dessert” she turned and pressed a kiss to his lips. Now the initial introduction was over she could relax a little.
John sniggered against her lips before pulling away. He licked his lips as she started moving about the kitchen. “Right...good example, must be a good boy,” he grinned as he looked over at her, biting his lip naughtily.
“You are terrible” she told him with a laugh as she threw a tea towel at him. “Get me the butter and jam from the fridge” she instructed as she grabbed the bread and peanut butter.
Laughing, John caught the tea towel and moved to the fridge to retrieve the items she had asked for. He dropped the tea towel on the side and get the items out of the fridge before returning to her and sliding the pots across the surface slightly. “So, what’s the plan after sandwiches? Games?”
“Actually I think Kira will want to test your maths skills” Sarah said with a smile, “She’s been doing science lately with Cosima, for fun” she added because she wasn’t sure where her daughter got that from. Those subjects had never been fun for Sarah when she was young.
“Excellent, that'll be fun” John grinned, looking forward to sharing his scientific knowledge with someone. “I might need the occasional reminder that I'm not teaching college students though,” he nudged her gently with his elbow. “So tell me more about Cosima, she's the scientist, right? Genetics is it?” he asked, standing alongside her at the counter while she worked.
“I have no doubt I’ll get lost before Kira will” Sarah told him nudging him back, “Yep she’s the scientist. She’s studying for her PhD right now, she’s super smart and pretty cool” Sarah smiled, proud of her sister which was obvious. “Juice in the fridge, you mind pouring some glasses?” she asked.
“Yup,” John spun round and headed back to the fridge to retrieve the juice. “So, just to be clear, you're all genetically the same but express different key personality traits, is that right? So, she's super geeky? You’re super hot and smart, what are your other sisters like?”
“Pretty much yeah” Sarah said, laughing at his description of her and Cosima. “Well Alison is the soccer mum, Helena is the scary nutball, Rachel is the freaky leader at Dyad and Beth was a police officer. But Cos is the only one here in the real world”
“Well Alison and Beth sound pretty cool, but Helena and Rachel don’t exactly sound like the best of dinner guests,” John joked, pouring the juice into the glasses. “How are things here with you and Cosima here then? How did you meet again?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know Beth very well but Alison is good. She just wants a normal life but she’s a good sister. Helena is an unusual one and very confused. But yeah Rachel is a bitch” she said as she finished up the sandwiches, “Things are great here. She’s absolutely my sister now. We actually met randomly in a coffee shop”
“That must have been surreal,” John said with raised eyebrows as he turned around. “Where do you want to eat? Is there a table I should set up?” he asked.
“Yeah very” Sarah nodded before shaking her head, “No table we can eat in the living room. We’re not the formal kind of people” she grinned popping the sandwiches on plates and adding bags of crisps to a tray before motioning for him to follow with the drinks.
“Ok,” John smiled, picking up the drinks. “So uh, does Kira know about Cosima and your sisters? he asked quietly before they got to the front room, not wanting to mention anything inadvertently to the little girl.
Sarah nodded, “Yeah, she loves Cos though she doesn’t have the dreams so we’ve kept the explanations to a minimal” she explained before they entered the living room. “Okay monkey, lunchtime”
Kira came over to sit near the little table, “Have you met Uncle Felix yet?” she asked John before picking up her sandwich.
The question took John a little by surprise and he gaped like a goldfish at the two girls in front of him briefly before his brain realized he needed to answer. “Umm, no, I don’t think I have met Uncle Felix,” he smiled at Kira, setting the drinks down on the table. “Why don’t you tell me what he like?”
“He’s funny and he organises parties for people” Kira said as she pulled her plate towards herself, “He likes boys but he doesn’t bring them home” she added matter of factly, “Mum doesn’t either until you so she must really like you”
“Kira” Sarah said, “Eat your lunch please” she mouthed an ‘I’m sorry’ to John mortified her daughter seemed to think nothing of talking about her mother and Uncle’s love lives.
John chuckled and shook his head at her. He didn’t mind really, she wasn’t saying anything that was untrue so he really couldn’t be upset. Besides, she didn’t seem to mind him which John considered as a bonus at this point. “So uh, your mom tells me that you’re learning about math and science. Funny co-incidence, but that’s what I teach. You enjoying it?” he asked, settling down to munch on a sandwich.
Kira grinned, “I like the science Auntie Cosima shows me. What kind of science do you teach?” she asked him curiously, now looking at him with a new kind of regard as Sarah watched in amusement.
“Cool, so you like biology and that sort of thing?” John shuffled in his seat and got a little more comfortable. “Well I teach my students about space. All about the planets, moons and stars,” he told her happily. “Have you learnt about that sort of thing in school yet?”
“Uh huh” Kira said, Auntie Cosima had taught her a lot of clever stuff. Much better than school. “Yeah, the basic stuff like where they are and how big they are and things like that. Mum nearly cried when she saw that Pluto wasn’t a planet anymore” she added with a grin at her mum.
John laughed at that and nodded while he swallowed a bit of sandwich and covered his mouth with his hand. “Well technically it’s still a planet, but now we call it a dwarf planet because of its size relative to other objects in the solar system. So really it’s a cute planet,” he winked at her. “So did you enjoy learning about space and everything in school?” he asked curiously before taking another bite of delicious PB and J.
“It still should be on the solar system map” Sarah muttered before grabbing a handful of crisps and munching on them. She was a little bitter about that one.
“Yeah I liked it. It was cool to learn about gravity and stuff” Kira said, “Is that what you teach? About the planets?”
“Yep, about the planets, how they move, why they move, what they’re made of, that sort of thing,” John listed casually, shrugging as he munched on his sandwich. “Would you like to learn some more about that sort of thing?” he asked curiously.
Kira nodded, “Yes, please. I’d like to know everything” she said with the enthusiasm only children could show but there was a bright intelligence to her eyes.
“Great! Well, if your mom’s ok with it,” John looked across at Sarah to confirm before looking back at the little girl. “We could look at doing a few experiments after lunch, what do you think?” he offered.
“Yes, please! Can I mum?” Kira asked looking earnestly at Sarah.
Sarah herself smiled, “Who am I to stand in the way of education?” she smiled at John when Kira started eating her sandwich faster. This had gone wonderfully and she couldn’t help feel a little more relaxed about it all.