Who: Harley, Helena and NPC!Christina What: Family trip to the Tower of London When: Late May Where: Tower of London Warnings: Family friendly
So far things had been going well on this trip. Christina had had a wonderful birthday, and she was still all abuzz from getting to see her friends from Germany again. And now that the birthday festivities had finished, Helena was going to show Harley and Christina the sights that the United Kingdom had to offer. It would be their first family vacation together, and Helena hoped that it would only be the first of many.
Starting off simple, they were touring around London, Helena obviously knowing the best places to show off to everyone. She just avoided going anywhere near anything with H.G. Wells plastered on it because it would only make her angry. Today it was the Tower of London, and various parts around there, that was on the agenda. It was something that Christina hadn’t experienced before and would find interesting, and she hoped Harley would find it interesting as well.
Taking a Jack the Ripper tour would be something Helena would do with Harley. Helena was not going to let her ten year old go on that. Christina may be mature for her age, but Helena was conscientious of what she exposed her daughter to, and gruesome murders was not among something she wanted her daughter to experience just yet.
“Well here we are, one of the more famous and infamous places in all of London. They also say it is one of the more haunted places.” Helena said once they arrived.
Harley would not be the best person to ask, as taking a kid to the Jack the Ripper tour would be something she’d do if someone didn’t stop her. But she was enjoying the little family outing. She remembered the last family outing she’d been on and the less said about it the better. Dad had been drunk and her mom had been high and honestly it was amazing she turned out as well as she had.
“I’m sure we’ll see a ghost!”
Once Christina was in her teens, then Helena would probably allow it, but for now it was a hard no to anything Jack the Ripper. Of course, the Tower of London had its own horrific history, but it wasn’t just about the grisly deaths that had happened here. Some of the most famous, and infamous, people in history had been housed in the Tower.
“Do you think so?” Christina asked excitedly, looking up at both Harley and Helena.
“Perhaps if you are good we will,” Helena said with a smile. “And perhaps some ghost stories are on the agenda for tonight.” She glanced at Harley and Christina to gauge their response to that.
Harley’s face was lit up. She loved anything spooky, just like she liked dressing up in a costume or otherwise getting to express her creativity and freedom. And sure, her dreams had made her a lot zanier than she used to be, but she’d always been just a little too cheerful. Helena just managed to bring out the real cheerfulness in her. “Extra spooky, right?”
“Of course, love. What is the point of a ghost story if one does not maximize the spooky aspects of it?” Helena said with a smirk.
“Yes! I think that’s brilliant!” Christina said with a wide grin. “I do love a good ghost story.”
“Perhaps each of us could tell a ghost story tonight?” Helena suggested. She tended to tell really good stories. She always had, even before dreaming that she was the H.G. Wells, father of science fiction.
“We’ll avoid the slasher ones,” Harley said, in a loud stage whisper. “Least until she’s seventeen!” And boy howdy did she have some doozies. She could easily make up one from her capers in her dreams, or from some of the things she’d seen in them. She was 100% sure ghosts existed, too.
“Good idea,” Helena responded in the loud stage whisper.
“Not fair!” Christina pouted. Helena laughed lightly.
“We’ll still ensure you get some perfectly good ghost stories, love.” She smiled warmly at Christina. “Besides, there’s plenty of non-slasher ghost stories that can fill the next seven years.” Helena could also tell a few ghost stories from her own dreams. Actually, she might just tell the story about Alice Liddel. It involved murder, but it wasn’t quite a slasher one. Just a tale of a psychopathic young girl that got trapped in a mirror for one hundred and fifty-odd years, then possessed Myka for a time.
Harley lowered her voice, “Maybe if you’re good I’ll tell you a couple in three years or so.” And she winked, because she was the cool mom and honestly 13 was the age of going camping and summer camp and at summer camp there was no one to stop the really bad stories.
“I can be good!” Christina whispered back. And she was a very well-behaved child. She rarely, if ever, threw fits because she was told no or couldn’t have something. Helena had drawn boundaries and stuck to them early on, and it had clearly worked out for the better.
“Now, what would you like to do first, visit the White Tower, or see the Crown Jewels?” Helena asked, then gave Harley that look of ‘don’t get sticky fingers.’ Because Helena really didn’t want to deal with her wife wanting to steal the Crown Jewels. That would bring a heap of trouble down on them that none of them wanted.
She squeezed Christy’s shoulder and nodded at Helena with the most innocent expression she could manage. She wouldn’t steal the Crown Jewels on her vacation, no sir ee.
That would be another time maybe. But oh she’d be tempted. And scoping out the place. Maybe bugging the place. You know, for kicks. “White tower first, maybe?”
“White Tower!” Christina echoed.
“The White Tower it is!” Helena said with a smile. She took one of Christina’s hands in hers and started heading in that direction. Christina reached out and took Harley’s hand with her other one, grinning up at her. “The Royal Armouries are housed within the White Tower, so that should certainly be something to see.”
“If we leave without video of me making one of them guards laugh, this will be a wasted trip,” Harley replied. That would be the true crime, here. Really put the guards to the test. If she couldn’t make them react even a little then their training was golden!
“Then I think you should certainly give it a go for making them laugh! I should certainly enjoy seeing if they crack a smile.” Helena said. And it would certainly be a sight for the ages, really. Those guards certainly knew how to hold a poker face.
“If anyone could make them laugh, I’m certain it would be you!” Christina said, beaming up at Harley.
Harley had once, ONCE mind you, gotten the Batman to crack a grin. If she could get broody mcbroodster to grin, then she should be able to get a guard to smile. Or at least twitch like he was going to smile. “Bet they must hate tourists,” she said. Knowing full well she’d be one of the tourists they’d hate.
Helena chuckled. “I think they must, but they should also be used to it by now. They probably also hate those of us that are from here. I rather think attempting to make them laugh is as much a national pastime as it is a tourist attraction.”
“Seems like it, you’re all cheeky bas-people. Cheeky people.” She side-eyed Christina. It was so hard to watch her language around the kid, and honestly she’d been using the fuck word since she was eight.
“We enjoy our cheekiness to the fullest, as you can personally attest to, love,” Helena said with a bit of a smirk. She caught Harley having caught herself before saying bastards, and she was grateful for it. Helena couldn’t shield Christina from such things forever, but she liked to try and keep things to a minimum when she was around.
Harley would have to corrupt her when her wife wasn’t looking. Though she wouldn’t let Christina into the special make-up drawer. Sure, Harley had owned what had happened to her but the idea of seeing Christina in that kind of makeup was just a little on the disturbing side. “That’s why I love you lot!”
“Perhaps I’ll have you speaking with an English accent at some point,” Helena teased. Helena herself could just as easily slide more towards an American accent the longer she lived in America.
“We love you, too!” Christina chimed in with a grin. She certainly could get used to having two parents. She didn’t feel like she’d lost out on not having a father, but she was relishing having two mothers. Which did make her wonder if Harley would be opposed to being called mom. And if she had no qualms with it, Christina was bright enough to know she should pick different variations of mother for Helena and Harley so they would know to which one she was referring.
It would touch Harley in ways she couldn’t quite explain. She had this little family and she was relishing it. If Chrstina called her mum she might actually cry. “I’ve almost adapted, give me another day or two, ducky!”
“You are getting there!” Helena was a bit surprised that Harley hadn’t gotten an English accent from those dreams of hers where she’d been in England during World War II. Finally arriving at the White Tower, they made their way inside to the first floor. “And here we are. The first of four floors.”
There was a lot to see. There was a lot of history on display. Given the Royal Armouries were in here, suits of armor and weapons were on display. Henry VIII’s armor was also here. Christina, of course, meandered over to a display case to get a closer look, pulling Harley and Helena with her.
If Harley wanted to admit the truth she’d say she was actually from Jersey in those dreams, but shhh. She immediately affected a passable british accent, though, just to spite her wife. “Got your camera handy? We’re gonna take lots of pictures!”
“My camera is always handy,” Helena said as she pulled it out. Having raised Christina, she’d long since had a camera within reach at all times. It was essential for capturing milestones when they came at unpredictable times. Also it was handy for capturing family moments like this one.
“Good because I want a picture of everything.” She pressed a hand to her chest, like the idea of missing even one thing was terrible. Terrible. “Isn’t that right, Chrissy? We should get everything.”
Looking up at Harley, Christina nodded. “Yes, it is! We need documentation of everything!”
“Thorough documentation it shall be then,” Helena said with a smile. And she started by snapping a picture of Harley and Christina in front of a display case. This was the sort of family vacation that wouldn’t drive her insane. Her siblings, namely Charles, wasn’t there to drive her up the wall.
“Careful kiddo,” Harley knelt down to look her in the eyes. “If we document things too much then you’ll have to write a report! Do you wanna write a report?” Maybe she did and who was Harley to stop her?
“It would depend on the report.” Christina responded, looking at Harley. And that was yet more proof that Christina was undeniably Helena’s daughter. Helena would’ve written a report. And thus far, Christina had inherited a love of learning.
“If you wanted to write one, I think we could come up with an intriguing topic.” Helena said. “Though I think any talk of that can wait until our vacation is over. Because this is a vacation and there is to be no work to be done on it for any of us.” Unless there was some emergency that Harley needed to handle with a client. But barring that, this was a vacation.
“For some people, reports are fun.” She gave Helena a knowing look, like she’d caught her doing something ‘scholarly’ for ‘fun’ one time and never let her live it down. And never would. “But your mom’s right, we can do something like that later. For now lets-” She raised her voice. “BASK IN HISTORY!”
“SHH!”
“Sorry!”
With that knowing look, Helena could only smile. After all, Harley probably had caught her doing such things before. She liked doing complicated math for fun at times. She also liked studying and learning about branches of science she didn’t know much about.
Christina giggled at Harley, then gave her a hug. “Yes, let’s bask in history!”
“I think that’s a brilliant idea.” And then Helena snapped a picture of Christina hugging Harley. Because she could and it was adorable.
Harley straightened, still holding Christina in a big hug. She set her down, after a moment. Chrissy was probably a little too old to be carried around everywhere, but there was always the idea of future kids. Probably not. “Lead on, Mom.”
Helena had a feeling Christina wouldn’t mind a sibling, but that was a topic she and Harley would discuss at a later date. Now wasn’t exactly the best time to get into such a topic. Though Christina didn’t necessarily mind if she was carried around. Helena occasionally carried her around. Just not for long periods of time since Helena was kind of a stick and Christina tended to get heavy after a while.
Smiling at Harley, Helena then led the way through the exhibit, snapping pictures where applicable. It was certainly something to see. Though of course Helena had to wonder if any of the pieces on display were Artifacts, or had the potential to be, like in her dreams. In reality, several pieces probably could have been Artifacts.
“Ah, now here is the royal armor of King Henry VIII.” Helena found it to be an interesting suit of armor, even if she didn’t quite like the man for the things he had done in his lifetime.
“I want to touch it,” Harley murmured. It was so shiny and pretty and Helena would look good in a suit of armor. She looked at her wife. She wanted to polish her wife. “Can we play knight and squire sometime?” She waggled her eyebrows.
Looking over at Harley, Helena smirked. “I do not see why not. I rather like the idea,” she affirmed. That was certainly something she’d more than enjoy playing with her wife. And it would certainly be rather sexy.
She’d go into detail but there was a childrens present. So Harley settled for another wink. “Hey Christina, didja know there were girl knights? There was a whole order of them in one town, even! We’ve been fighting with the boys since the very beginning, they just don’t like to think about that.”
“Really? Oh that’s brilliant! I like hearing about women like that.” Christina said with a large grin. She did like learning about strong women, and women who went against the grain, so to speak. Clearly her mother’s influence.
“Perhaps if you’re a good girl, we can find a book about them for you,” Helena suggested. At least Christina could be easily ‘bribed’ into behaving with the thought of giving her books. Dolls also worked, but books were quite high up on the list as well.
There probably were books, and Harley made a mental note to look for some. It made shopping for Christina on holidays and birthdays really easy though. Good books and her reading level was several years beyond her age. She’d gotten her the Alanna series for her birthday. You couldn’t go wrong with Tamara Pierce.
“What’s next, lovelies?”
Christina had loved the books Harley had gotten her for her birthday. And she’d already started reading the first one of that series.
“The Crown Jewels?” Helena suggested. “Then perhaps some lunch if you both are hungry?” At least after some photo ops in the courtyard and such of the Tower. Then after that, perhaps it was off to some other sight to see in London, or they could begin to head out of London and towards some other point on their ‘tour’ of the UK.
“Yes, lets see the crown jewels,” Harley replied, a glint in her eyes. Sure, she wasn’t planning a heist, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t planning something. Like there was a sudden challenge. She wasn’t Selina. But she could do subtle.
If by subtle one meant breaking in later and putting in a crudely drawn picture of ‘family jewels’ with a note stating ‘the most important jewels were missing so I decided to help.’
And so it was off to the Crown Jewels. Helena was wondering just what was going through Harley’s head. Though perhaps she was better off not knowing. Plausible deniability and all that. So she simply carried on, leading the way to where the Crown Jewels were kept. There were quite a few people heading there as well, which was to be expected considering how popular of an attraction they were.
It took a little bit, but finally they got close enough where they could see the jewels from a distance. Helena bent down and picked Christina up, allowing her to see them as well.
“Ohh,” Christina said in awe. And the jewels seemed to only become more awe inspiring as they drew closer.
“Wow, they’re beautiful!” Harley knew a person that would be in love with them. And probably steal them. Oh, she missed her fellow sirens something fierce sometimes. Selina and Pam were her best friends. “Never thought I’d actually see them in person.”
“They are certainly a sight to behold,” Helena said as they’d gotten up to them. No doubt they would be Artifacts in her dream world considering all the emotions and things they’d been through over the centuries.
“They’re very beautiful.” Christina agreed, gazing at them in awe. There was plenty of history on display right in front of them. Several monarchs had possessed them and worn them.
“Do you think they were worth the trip?” Helena asked, looking over at Harley.
“I think so,” Harley agreed. “But honestly you coulda taken me chimney hopping and it would be worth the trip as long as it was with you two.” She leaned against Helena to watch Christina look at the jewels. She was a mom.
Holy shit she was a mom.
Helena smiled warmly. “Perhaps that will be our next vacation, then,” she chuckled. She then leaned in and kissed Harley’s cheek. This was definitely something she could get used to. The fact that Harley and Christina had gotten on so well had been the best part of it all. It felt good to have someone to love, a family to share her heart with.
Christina gazed at the jewels for some more moments. She could finally say that she’d seen them. She looked back at Helena and Harley and smiled warmly. Keeping one arm around Helena’s neck, Christina shifted and wrapped her other arm around Harley’s neck, hugging both of them at once. “I like being with you two as well.”
Harley really did keep having ‘oh shit mom’ moments and probably would for some time to come. And maybe eventually ‘oh shit granda’, if Chrissy ever wanted or had kids of her own. No pressure on her front. She beamed out at them both. “I feel all kinda motherly right now.”
Helena would rather keep the ‘oh shit grandma’ moments for a couple decades down the line, if it ever came. But that was just her. Really, as long as Christina was happy, she’d be happy, whatever that entailed.
Christina grinned, then looked at Helena for a moment before looking back at Harley. “May I call you mum?” She asked.
The question came as a little surprise to Helena, but it was a welcome one. Helena then looked at Harley to see her reaction.
Harley’s grin got bigger, and she was fit to burst, suddenly hugging Christina tightly. “Yes, you can! You can call me mum!” She glanced at Helena, eyes watering.
Christina grinned and hugged Harley back tightly. Helena smiled warmly at Harley, seeing the water in her eyes. She reached out and gently squeezed Harley’s arm, but she let the two of them have this moment. Helena was happy that they had gotten to this point, where Christina was comfortable enough to call Harley mum, and Harley being comfortable with being called it. She knew what it meant to them both.