mythandmagic (mythandmagic) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-03-26 21:45:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, elphaba thropp, merlin |
Who: Merlin and Elphaba
When: Early March
Where: Merlin and Audrey's home
What: A Visitor
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Complete: Complete
Audrey had been called into the bakery for some problem with one of the ovens so Merlin was at home with Ben and Bea, thankfully Ben was watching his favourite movie and Bea was currently asleep so it had been an easy morning so far. He didn’t mind, he liked spending time with the kids. He and Ben had played a game and they were planning to make cookies with Aud when she got back. Currently he was cleaning the kitchen, or rather watching as the kitchen cleaned itself. The perks of magic.
Hearing the doorbell he left the dishes washing themselves and opened it to see who was calling.
Elphaba had arranged to meet with Audrey that afternoon and headed over with a freshly baked cake as soon as she could. After pulling up to the house, Elphaba took baby Mae out of the car along with the baby bag, locked it and headed up to the front door. When it opened, she smiled, expecting to see Audrey but surprised to see her husband instead. “Oh, hi, I'm Elphaba,” she introduced herself, moving to shake hands but realising she had a cake in it instead. “Sorry, uh, I was just coming over to see Audrey?” she asked.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, she’s at the bakery at the moment. A problem with one of the ovens but please come in. I’ll find out how long she’s going to be” Merlin said, before belatedly adding, “Can I help you with that? You seem to have your hands very full” he offered to take the cake assuming that would be the easiest for her.
“That would be great actually, thank you,” Elphaba smiled as she handed over the cake tin to Merlin. “Sorry to just...arrive like this, but I’m sure you can appreciate how much effort it takes to get out of the house with just one of these, let alone two,” she gestured to the baby in the carrier in her other hand. “You don’t mind me staying do you?” she asked, conscious that she was impinging on his time.
“I absolutely understand” he assured her, “I don’t mind at all. You’ll be keeping me company since my little one is sleeping and the older one has his head in a cartoon” he grinned, “It’s Elphaba isn’t it? I think we met at the Guild when you were pregnant. I’m glad to see you and the baby doing so well” he said leading her to the living room so she could sit.
“That’s right,” Elphaba smiled and followed him into the house. “Thank you for your help back then by the way. I haven’t been able to make it back there for some time unfortunately. But I keep meaning to make another visit. I’m really sorry I didn’t realise you were Audrey’s husband,” she explained apologetically as she placed the baby carrier down in the front room. “How long have you been together?”
“Oh you’re welcome. If I’m honest I haven’t had a chance to go back either, things have just been busy” he admitted before waving off her apology, “Don’t worry, I don’t think it ever came up. We’ve been together over 5 years now, married for 4 come October”
“Congratulations,” Elphaba smiled as she undid the straps for baby Mae. “Is it alright if I put a playmat down for her and let her crawl around a bit?” she asked, looking up at Merlin.
“Thank you” Merlin said, Oh of course, feel free to use any of Bea’s things. It’s a shame she’s asleep right now. She’d love to have a little playmate I’m sure”
“Thanks. That’s ok, I know better than to disturb them from their sleeping cycle,” Elphie smiled at him knowingly as she took the soft play mat out of the baby bag and laid it out on the floor before picking Mae up and laying her down on it out. Sitting down besides the baby and rubbing her stomach as she wriggled around and hit her feet on the musical board at the bottom of the mat. “We’ll have to try and arrange something more convenient for both of them. Do you take your kids to any clubs or anything? I’ve been looking at signing up for some in the area is all,” she explained, looking up at Merlin across the room.
Merlin chuckled, “Yeah we learnt that first time round with Ben too” he grinned, remembering vividly how much his son had hated been woken up. Luckily both children slept through the night well. “That would be good. I use the nursery at work, Stark has a good program. Other than that not really. Audrey takes her to work or I do. But if you find somewhere let us know and maybe we could try it out”
“I work from home so I've been finding it difficult to get out and about to talk to other parents. As much as I love Mae, I kind of wish I had a place I could go to like you, so I could have some more...adult conversations, y’know?” Elphaba admitted sheepishly. “And somewhere safe can meet other kids and learn.”
“I can have a word with Stark if you like? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you coming by a couple of times a week and using the nursery. It’s really great” Merlin offered, “And I’ll speak to Audrey too, get her to message you of any groups she knows of”
“Oh, he wouldn't agree to that would he? I'm not an employee,” Elphaba gave a little laugh and shook her head. “I mean I'd appreciate anything really. I don't want to disadvantage my baby Mae by turning into some sort of recluse,” she told him. It was a real possibility if Elphaba stopped making herself go out. She could so easily shy away from the world and Mae would suffer for her own foolishness. She couldn't have that.
“Tony has never really been one to be too bothered by rules. I’ll find out and let you know” Merlin said, he was positive Tony would be fine with it. There wasn’t an overabundance of kids at the nursery one more would be fine. “I know what you mean. It’s so frustrating when people believe kids don’t need to interact with other kids from a young age. I mean where else are they going to pick up social skills? Certainly not the parents if they’re hiding away from the world all the time. Any advantage I can give my kids I will” It was something Merlin was passionate about. Kids needed social time with people other than their own family.
“I would appreciate that and I agree, I don't want to be the one who holds her back,” Elphaba smiled up at him. “I love her and as much as I want to, I can't coddle her and keep her locked away from everything,” she told him and took a deep breath. “It is such a relief to talk to someone else who understands what I'm talking about,” she closed her eyes and sighed, shoulders relaxing as she did. “I think we’ve deserved cake, don't you?”
“Exactly, loving her means letting her try things and meet new people. We can’t be the be all and end all for our kids” Merlin understood completely and was pleased to see Elphaba was of a similar parenting thought, “I think we definitely deserve cake, let me pop the kettle on so we can have tea too”