It took Fiona a few moments to place the soft snores coming from the sitting room when Gollum, demanding to be fed and taken out for a walk, woke her in the morning.
Moving as silently as she could she dressed, made her way into the kitchen to feed the hungry dog and switch on the oven for the bread, then tiptoed across the sitting room into the bathroom preceded by Gollum who sat by the front door to wait for her, and finally walked out of the flat, down the dark stairs and outside, into the sunshine spilling upon the world from beyond a layer of gauzy clouds.
Botheration... She gathered her mane into a low bun using an elastic band she found in the pocket of her jeans when the first few passersby looked at her. Her unruly bright copper hair attracted as much attention as fire, and she hated it. And yet, for the first time, she wished she could just ignore the glances and keep it that way... because she suspected that he liked it... Just how annoying was that!
Fiona sighed; it didn't matter whether Peregrine liked her hair or not, only a few more hours, and he and his friends would be gone, and she would forget them and the dream they represented... eventually. Even though she wouldn't mind them hanging around a little longer, she couldn't allow them to meet Freddie, and the boy would be back tonight... They had to go.
Absorbed in her thoughts as she was, she didn't even notice when they reached the park, didn't know how much time she spent walking across the wet lawn before Gollum returned to her, satisfied with his walk, ready to return home.
Everyone was up when they returned to the flat. Gilderoy and Leodhais greeted her from the sofa which they had already folded back and now used to repack their bags, and she found Peregrine in the kitchen, using the same kettle she had used the night before to make coffee for all of them.
"Morning," he said, glancing at her as she entered. "You drink coffee, don't you? I heard you leave and thought I'd get at least this done for you before you returned. Your hair looks wonderful, you should keep it this way, I don't understand why you should want to hide it..." he trailed off, surprised by all the things he had said. This... wasn't like him. This woman seemed to be bringing out a side of himself he didn't know he had.
"I... hmm... Thank you," she said, dismissing the rest of what he had said before his words would make her blush. "I'll make the bread; it will only take twenty minutes. We'll eat, and then we must leave. I'm doing a ten hour shift today, I must be in the hospital at twelve."
"We will walk with you to work, at least," Peregrine said, moving out of her way and sitting at the table with his cup of coffee.
"Fine," she agreed, transferring the well-risen dough into the oven she had switched on before she had gone out. "But then you'll leave and return home, promise? How did you even get here? You mentioned you... walked through the standing stones in Bodmin Moor. I've never been there," she mused.
Peregrine launched himself into a detailed description of their train journey from Liskeard to Paddington, then the tube ride to High Barnet, without making any promise about their returning home. They would be waiting for her outside the hospital tonight at ten, just like they did yesterday.
Having to say goodbye to them again in the small park across from the side entrance to the hospital which she always used, looking at their retreating figures from the vestibule, waving at Peregrine who, as if feeling her eyes glued to his back turned around, removed his black hat and bowed in greeting, made her feel sad.
Turning her back to the glass, she walked into the building, wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, hoping to wipe the three men from her mind just as easily. They were gone. They would not be coming back. She had sent them away; it had been her decision, and it had been the correct one. Her life was here. She needed to think about Freddie, Gollum, her mum, and her work and no one else. They were gone. Really gone.
Fiona's eyes strolled inevitably to the place in the dark park where she found them standing half hidden by the trees the previous night as she reached the glass vestibule again at ten. She saw them the instant she walked outside. Botheration! They were there, waiting for her, and it made her smile... Until a short figure ran at her at full speed from the darkness even as she started walking towards them.
"Freddie!" she called in surprise, hugging the boy, looking around for her mother. She had never brought the boy to the hospital before; they always waited for Fiona at home.
"Hi, mum. Grandma and I were ever so curious about the men, where are they, I want to see them!" Freddie called excitedly, disentangling himself from her arms even as they were reached by his grandmother, a little breathless after the swift walk in high heels.
"Mum! What did you tell him? And why? I asked you not to tell him anything more of that nonsense of yours!" Fiona chided the woman, keeping a careful eye on the three men still standing under the trees, consulting each other now in whispers, hoping that they... But of course they would not leave now; they had apparently decided not to listen to her pleas just like her mother. And now they would see Freddie... Botheration!
"But it isn't nonsense, and finally you know that, right?" the older woman, dressed and wearing makeup in such a flattering way that she didn't look a day older than her daughter, asked. "So? Where are they?"
Fiona took a deep breath, resigned to her fate, when she looked at her visitors again and found them only a few steps away, approaching swiftly.
"Well, you can as well meet them, suit yourself, mum. But they are leaving tonight," Fiona said even as they reached them.
"Fiona Isabella Murphy, where are your manners?!" her mother reprimanded her before she curtsied gracefully in reply to the strangers' deep bows as they introduced themselves to her. "Of course they can stay as long as they want, and then we'll go to Alaric with them, I packed and brought my luggage, and I packed yours and Freddie's bags too!"
"No, we won't go with them!" Fiona insisted through clenched teeth, her hands locked on the shoulders of her son who had bowed to the three otherworldly men with surprising ease and grace before he came to stand in front of his mother in a half curious, half protective way.
"Gimli, Legolas and... " Fiona held her breath, afraid that he would call the dragon shifter Pippin, then exhaled on a sigh when he continued, "... Aragorn! They are so cool, mum!"
"Freddie! You can't just invent names for people you don't know; they just told you their names..."
"I asked you to call me Frodo, mum, haven't I? And may I have the ring back?" the ten-year-old demanded in a princely seriousness.
His grown-up manners usually made Fiona smile, but not tonight. Without thinking, she reached into the pocket of her cardigan where the ring was since last night and gave it to him. It was pointless to struggle and fight with all of them... Everything would have to sort itself out somehow; she didn't have enough strength to fight this battle.
If her mother wanted to go with these three to the man she had once loved, she could ask them to take her there.
But Fiona and Freddie were not leaving.
~~~~ Word Count: 37 500
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And this is it, for now. I have to leave the story here for the moment, but it will continue after the ONC.
Thank you so much for reading, and good luck, everyone!
