ᴡᴇ ᴘɪʟʟᴀɢᴇ, ᴡᴇ (plunder) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-04-09 15:48:00 |
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Throughout his career, the illegitimate and the more legitimate side of things, Killian had met his clients in a variety of locations - bars were popular, rowdy taverns to cover the noise of their conversations, restaurants where it was quiet if need be, sometimes even his houseboat which now functioned as an office for JR Investigations. He’d never met someone at place for afternoon tea, however - oh, but he’d done this sort of thing before, in Belfast. In the motherland there were plenty of places to enjoy a spot of tea and scones, if you could afford such extravagances (and most of the time he could not). Now it was different, and he felt like this particular young lady would enjoy being taken out for tea. She was so wee though. He wondered if her feet even touched the floor. There was a little cottage in Seal Beach that reservations were required for, and that served a fine cuppa. Pale yellow walls, lace tablecloths, and mismatched teacups seemed to set the mood for a rather tranquil experience - a chalkboard sign up in the front said the tea of the season was blueberry, and there was a wide selection of good eats too. Made-from-scratch scones with Devonshire cream, strawberry preserves and lemon curd, savoury bites and finger sandwiches on a three-tiered platter, tarts, cupcakes in miniature teacups (which was supposed to be cute, he supposed) and even English trifle. He hadn’t had trifle in ages, and usually only around the holidays. Maybe he’d splurge today. “This place alright, love?” he asked once they were seated in the parlor. Killian made reservations in advance so they’d be sure to have a table, but they could always find somewhere else if need be. Aurora’s feet could touch the floor. She was young, yes, but not so young that she struggled with her feet touching the floor. Not unless the chair was particularly tall. And she would be seventeen soon, so it wasn’t like she was too hideously young. Maybe. She supposed it depended on who you were asking. But the concept of going to afternoon tea was exciting. She’d actually never done it before, so she was practically beaming as she sat there. She was looking the menu over to see what sort of tea and food there was, but she found herself distracted by an entirely different form of information. Killian had news on her parents. She’d never met them, never known them, so the idea that she would have even a small amount of information on them would be wonderful. She wanted to know everything, but she wasn’t sure if everything was on the table. “Yes! It’s more than all right! I’ve never done this before. I almost wish I’d worn something that felt more tea party.” Today she had a light yellow t-shirt dress with a white cardigan and a pair of flats. It didn’t seem very tea party, but it was the outfit that had spoken to her. So she went with it. “I think I’ll have to try it again sometime. Maybe with my aunties. If they’d like to come.” Well, everything could be on the table if the lass wanted it to be - Killian had started off small, so as not to overwhelm Aurora. He didn’t know if he’d even be wasting his time anyway, as in, she might not even want to know everything about her parents. However, if it was in his power to do so he would certainly help her. She deserved to have these answers - no point in shielding her from her own past, especially if her mum and dad were still alive. Which they were. “Alright, then. Shall we order and then I’ll go over some things with you?” he suggested. “I’ve got some info, but I didn’t dig for details about the circumstances regarding your adoption yet,” Killian said. “That’ll be up to you, if you want me to look more into things.” But first, the orders were placed. May as well go with the ‘tea of the season,’ blueberry, since it was different. He also got himself a currant scone, because it was warm and heart-shaped and that just seemed too ridiculous to ignore. A platter of finger sandwiches were tacked on there too, for them to share, since it was sacrilegious to go to afternoon tea and not consume tea sandwiches. Aurora nodded at his question. She felt nervous about finding out things about her parents. Excited, but nervous. She knew so little, but she wouldn’t have suspected her aunties of anything because they’d always taken care of her. Maybe they hadn’t always been very good at looking after children or knowing what they liked, but they’d still taken care of her like she was their own. So she hadn’t had any reason to suspect them. She was sure that just getting to learn about them was good enough. “I can’t wait to know even a little bit. Thank you for looking. I know you didn’t have to.” She hadn’t even asked him. He’d asked her. Aurora wasn’t sure what made it so interesting that he was willing to offer to help her out, but she guessed some people just liked looking for things and she was curious anyway. She ordered a scone herself, considering it seemed appropriate as they were at afternoon tea. Parental cases were sort of personal to him, and that was why he decided to even do this - he hadn’t been blessed with great parents (well, Killian had never known his mum since she died so soon after he was born), and he knew what it was like to wish for a mother and a father who cared about you. Aurora had her aunts, certainly, but her biological parents must miss her - perhaps they could even be reunited. He felt as if he’d helped plenty of people in the OC reunite with long-lost family members, since he’d set up his business here. “Well, your parents are still alive - Stefan and Leila,” he passed over the contact information he’d written down. “Obviously they’ve got a different surname than you. Like I said, I’m not certain why they sent you away - only that they aren’t dead like how you were told. I can look into it or if you want to get the story from them yourself, you can.” He hoped it wasn’t something like she was taken from her parents - but those three spinster ladies she was currently living with seemed harmless, so Killian doubted it was that. She’d gone from happy and smiling to confused, brow furrowing as she looked at the contact information he’d given to her. They were alive. This whole time. “I trusted them.” The words were barely above a whisper. She’d expected names, maybe pictures, some information about who they were. She hadn’t expected for them to still be alive. She hadn’t expected to discover that she’d been lied to. Not telling her details of some gruesome death, she could understand, but she wasn’t sure how to make this okay with her. For a long few moments, she just stared at the information, all of it blurring together. Her eyes were unfocused, all of her thoughts trying to sort through every interaction and looking for a sign that she should have picked up on. But all she could seem to remember was them sharing looks and they’d always done that, so she didn’t think it was so unusual. Now she wasn’t so sure. What did it mean? For her. Here and in the dreams. Was she parentless there or were they still alive, too? She knew that she’d gotten older in that she wasn’t a baby, but she still didn’t know anything about her parents. “I…” She glanced up, trying to hide her feelings on the matter, but she was never very good at it. Part of her felt that she should be happy, but the rest of her wanted to know why. Why had she been lied to for nearly seventeen years. “I don’t understand.” Oh, bugger, the girl looked like she was going to cry - not that Killian blamed her. This must be quite a shock to her, the poor thing. He gave Aurora a spare napkin to use to dab at her eyes with, if she wanted, his expression sympathetic for such a rough and rugged pirate. He had his moments where he wasn’t so selfish, so ruthless. Fatherhood had changed him, settling down with someone he loved had changed him - and finding his own long lost family, his sister, had also changed him. “I’m so sorry, love,” he offered in a rumble of a tone. “Is there anything I can do? Find out more, perhaps? Maybe wait until you’ve got the whole story - your aunts really care about you. I doubt they’d lie to be malicious.” Perhaps it wasn’t the best decision, or the best reason - but there likely was a reason. Quietly, Aurora took the napkin. Instead of using it for her eyes, she just held onto it tightly, fingers squeezing around it. She did want to cry, but everything hadn't sunk in entirely. So her gaze dropped and she stared at the tablecloth this time. “I don’t know,” she said when she finally found the strength to speak again. She couldn’t imagine the story behind it. Was she too much? Had they been too young for children? Had she done something? There were more bad thoughts than good, which wasn’t they way her mind usually worked. She was always able to find the good in the bad, but somehow this was different. She wished, suddenly, that the other woman from her dreams was there. Then she could have found her and maybe she would have taken her in. At least she could trust her not to be dishonest. Perhaps you are being too hard on your aunties, a voice in the back of her mind commented. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to clear her mind. “What if they don’t want me,” she asked after a moment. “What if I did something and that’s why they didn’t want me anymore?” But the opposite of that existed, too. It was possible. It just meant that she’d have to see. “I want to look first...before I talk to them.” If she could manage it. “Darling, there’s no way you could have done something,” Killian insisted. It was sad to hear the young lass say such things, but really, any child would feel that way - at any age. He certainly blamed himself enough times, for his father being a worthless drunk. Logic dictated that it wasn’t his fault, but that didn’t stop him from thinking it anyway. “You were only a baby. Perhaps they were trying to protect you from something - though I often find that trying to protect someone by not being honest can backfire. However, it’s true that everyone makes mistakes - even parents do. I certainly have.” Whatever her aunts had done, they were obviously trying to do the best they could to raise her. So likely, there was much more to the story than either of them knew. “I’ll find out some more for you - then you can decide if you’d like to talk to them,” he offered. Their tea and treats arrived then, and maybe that would help. A warm and buttery scone could fix many ills; he just hoped he didn’t make things worse for Aurora. Protect her from something. But what? What could be so bad that she needed protecting, that she needed to be sent away and lied to about it? Her dreams hadn’t been unusual. At least not the dangerous sort of unusual. They’d been fairly normal...with a touch of magic. She’d lived through things and everything was good. Maybe not perfect, but what could have been so bad? She was glad that he offered to dig further, but she knew that she was going to look a little herself. To see if there was anything. She had names now. She wanted to know if anything had been said about her. Then again, it was possible that Killian would be better at finding things. He’d found them. “How am I supposed to go home and act like things are normal?” Would she have to? “Maybe I’ll just spend more time in the greenhouse or outside. I can do homework there, too.” But tea and scones were there. Even as sad as she was, they smelled good. She let out a sigh. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” Everything was different. Her parents were alive...and she didn’t know why she was here and not there. Killian poured them both tea and then reached for his scone to break it apart, steam wafting from the innards, and spread a bit of butter onto it. “Take some time for yourself, if it’ll help - you know, just to be able to think about things. In the greenhouse, if you must. I doubt your aunts would find that very suspicious,” he said. After all, Aurora was in there a good portion of the day anyway. She hopefully would feel even better once she had a chance to focus and calm down, and let the news sink in. “You’re always welcome at our place too. There’s a guest room.” Though he didn’t want her aunts to think Aurora had run away or something - still, he made the offer just in case. There was a lot to think about and a lot to get used to. Even if it was just one simple fact. She had parents and they were alive. Somewhere out there. Were they looking for her? Did they know where she was this whole time? She had a lot of questions and not enough answers. She guessed she’d know more later. Once the shock of everything settled and she felt she could reach out to them. She nodded, putting the napkin down on the table and picking up her cup of tea instead. It was warm and her teacup felt smooth in her hands. She tried to focus on that instead. “My aunties might question me staying there. I guess I could say I was studying with a friend if I wanted to leave for a little while.” She took a sip of her tea, brow furrowing again. “It’s my birthday this month. I’m going to be seventeen. I thought…” She frowned. “I guess I thought birthday months were supposed to be good all the time. I guess that was silly.” “It can be good, there’s still time,” Killian promised. Good gods, to be seventeen again. He was essentially signed up to attend the Naval College in the UK, pledging service to Her Majesty and the Royal Navy by following in his older brother Liam’s footsteps. Things were so different for Aurora here - she was young and innocent, and now had a thousand questions about her upbringing. Well. Had to face those questions at some point, he supposed. “Seems overwhelming now, love, but I promise it will work out. What do you want for your birthday?” Time. That seemed to be the answer to a lot of things. Time would heal and make things better. She just nodded. Maybe time would change the way she felt, but she wasn’t sure what it would mean. It was possible that it wouldn’t really change, but it was also possible that it would. She’d have to plan her birthday party, still. Right now she wasn’t overly excited about the prospect. “I don’t know. I haven’t even figured out what sort of party I wanted outside of it being outside and flowers. I hadn’t even thought about anything else.” Especially not presents. She generally accepted whatever she was given. It was more about the thought than anything else. “Maybe I’ll have a better idea about it later. But anything’s fine. Really.” Time by itself didn’t necessarily heal everything, but what you did in that time could certainly assist - so, planning a birthday party was something that could help fill the hours with something positive. “Outside and involving flowers sounds nice, very you,” Killian chuckled. “A botanical garden around here, perhaps. There are loads to choose from. One thing I know is that everyone deserves a cake on their birthday. So I suppose we’ll have to make that happen.” It was meant to be a celebration of life, even if things were a little rocky now. But he was confident that it would turn out. One of them had to think along the lines of something more upbeat, anyway - funny that it was the grizzled, scruffy pirate (he cleaned up nicely, however), but that was the way the cookie crumbled sometimes. |