glacial_queen | Room 218, Sunday Morning

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Room 218, Sunday Morning

Karla had spent most of yesterday in her room, hibernating with a vicious headache. She would wake up long enough to drink some more tea and then go back to sleep. At some point in the evening, she'd noticed that the tea she was drinking was still warm--Gabrielle must have come in and set something up for her. She'd have to thank the girl later for her kindness.

Unfortunately, it had been impossible for her to tell the pounding on her door from the pounding in her head, so she hadn't realized that she'd had any visitors, never mind any visitors of an unusual nature.

The first thing Karla realized when she woke up was that her headache was gone, thank the Darkness. The second thing she realized what that she wasn't alone in her bed--there was someone cuddled up against her, an arm slung over her ribs. The third thing she realized that whoever was in bed with her was awfully small.

She flailed a bit, trying to disentangle herself from whoever was in bed with her, trying to remember anything that could explain...this.

The sleeping moppet behind her opened up one blue eye and grumbled, "Dun wanna wake up yet, Mommy. I'm sleepy."

Hell's fire, Mother Night, and may the Darkness be merciful.

[Open for wee kidlets and friends alike.]

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"You have red hair like me!" Sean blurted, then beamed at her. "You're pretty. Wanna be my gir'friend?"

Behind him, Dinah facepalmed.

"You c'n be my Consort if you want," Jaenelle responded cheerfully. "An' be part of my Court."

Karla was doing her own face-palming behind her daughter. "Please tell me he's not Ben's, too," she said quietly. "I don't want to have to explain that to either of them."

"Okay! What's a Consort?" Ben walked in and beamed at the other pretty lady. "I'm Sean, I'm four. This is my mommy, she's awesome. She says you're her friend. Hi!"

"Thanks, sweetie. And no, thank God." Dinah walked in and shuddered, then had to grin at the teeny redheaded little girl. "Awwww... Sean's, uh. Roy's." Blush. "Somehow."

"Roy's, huh?" Karla said with a smirk in Dinah's direction, and then hunkered down and gave Sean a smile. "Hi, Sean. I'm Karla and, yes, I'm your awesome mommy's awesome friend. This is Jaenelle, uh, Mara," she said. "She's...." Karla paused, uncertain of how old her daughter actually was.

"I'm five!" Jaenelle Mara announced proudly. "Soon, I'mma have my Birthright Ceremony and get a Jewel and become a Queen an' a Healer an' a Jedi!"

Apparently, ballerina-astronauts were no longer in vogue. "An' a Consort is a very special boyfriend to a Queen!"

"Ben's?" Dinah asked in reply, nodding toward Jaenelle Mara. She grinned down at the little girl. "Five is awfully big. Congratulations, that's..." heh. "Astral!"

"Astral!" Sean parroted, then looked up at his mom. "I'm her special boyfriend! For a Queen!"

"Your daddy will be thrilled," Dinah told him.

"Yeah-hunh," he agreed. Then he giggled and reached toward Karla's hair. "You and my mommy have fun here? I flew!"

"Are you an Eyrien?" Jaenelle asked eagerly. "You don' have no wings! Mommy and Daddy don't always, neither, but they gots fake ones that my Auntie J made for them. I'mma get some when I'm bigger. An' a lightsaber, like Daddy's!"

Karla was trying to glare at Dinah, though her lips kept twitching suspiciously. "Yeah," she said dryly. "Totally astral."

'Brat,' she mouthed, too far away to tell Dinah telepathically.

"No, Mister Master Skywalker flew me. Up up up and whoosh!" Sean bounced, arms out like an airplane's. "Whatsa lightsaver? And your Auntie J makes wings?" Oooooooooo!

Dinah grinned back at Karla and thought at her, Roy nearly had a meltdown. The Awkward is only funny if it's not me! Then said aloud to Sean, "Yes, you flew. And got pancakes, hunh? And your sisters watched movies last night with...?"

"Uncle Tony!"

Putting the two of them together was resulting in a conversation that was rapidly approaching the speed of light and the high-pitched noises only dogs could hear.

"His name isn't Mis'er Mas'er Skywalker," Jaenelle corrected, giggling. "He's Great-grandpapa. Mama says you gotsta emph'size the great cause it reminds him he's old."

Karla began facepalming again. "I'm sure I meant you emphasize it because he's a very good man," she said.

"Nope!" Jaenelle said with a merry grin. "Cause he's old. Even though he ain't older than Unca Lucivar or Unca Saetan or Unca Daemon."

"He's not old!" Sean nearly fell over with giggles. "He's only as old as Daddy maybe!" He snickered at Jaenelle and said, "You're funny! You got lotsa uncles? I got some others. Uncle Dick and Grampa Oliver and he's old, he's got a beard! And Aunt Barbara and Aunt Helena and Aunt Momo!"

If they remembered any of this later completely, they'd know everything about each other by the end of the hour.

Dinah was grinning at Karla. "Nice to see you get along so well with your in-laws?"

Karla was reminding herself that she probably shouldn't gag her own daughter. And that her own mother was probably laughing about this, somewhere far away.

"Let's not tell Great-Grandpapa here about that, okay?" she asked, a little desperately. "Let's just...not. It's better that way."

She looked up at Dinah and sighed. "You can't even imagine the things she's been telling me. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it all, really."

Jaenelle nodded at Karla, but was far more interested in talking to Sean. After all, even with healthy legs, Mommy was still Mommy. Sean was new and a Consort of her very own. "Of course he's old," she squealed. "He's my Daddy's Daddy's Daddy! That's, like, super-duper old!"

She held out her stuffed bear. "This is Mr. Bear," she introduced. "He's not a unca, but I do gots lots. All of Mommy's Court, 'cept the bad ones, and all of Auntie J's Court, too. Plus all of Daddy's Jedi circle, back in outer space."

"Ooooooooooo!" You could not get more impressed than Sean at this moment. Outer. Space! "Hi Mr. Bear!" He shook Mr. Bear's hand 'cause that's what you did when you met someone's bear and beamed at Jaenelle who was interesting. "I gots uncles who can beat up bad people! Mommy does that too."

No, Sean didn't know about the superhero stuff yet. Waaaay too little to keep that secret. Although it probably wouldn't be much longer...

"What's a Court?"

Dinah, meanwhile, couldn't help wanting to hug them both and smish them together and pinch their cheeks. Awwwww!

"My Mommy's a Queen an' a witch!" Jaenelle said happily. "She don't beat up bad guys much, but Daddy does, cause he's a Jedi an' that's his job. An' Court is all the people who work for the Queen! I'mma have a Court one day, just like Mommy."

Janelle looked at Karla. "Am I gonna haveta get really sick to be a Queen, Mommy? Like you an' Auntie J?"

Karla gave Jaenelle a wan little smile. "No, sweetheart. You're gonna be just fine."

Dinah gave her an alarmed look, eyes wide, and sent, We're so talking about that later but Sean was chattering away now, distracting them.

"My mommy is a P.I.! Private Eye!" Sean bragged, then beamed. "And Daddy is the best archer in the world. The world. He says grandpa is but no, he's not really." Then he frowned and reached out to pat Jaenelle. "Don't get sick! No!"

Here, have a Sean-hug. That fixes everything.

Karla glanced at Dinah and nodded. The information Jaenelle had passed on was vague and filtered through the mind of a precocious five year old, but still incredibly important.

And then Karla suddenly found her own arms full of one adorable little red-haired boy. Having given Jaenelle a Sean-hug, he'd apparently decided Karla needed one, too.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Karla did feel a bit better.

At least, until Sean let go to hug Jaenelle again. "Left for the younger woman," Karla snarked. "I see how it is."

Dinah was facepalming again, and muttering, "I blame Roy." Like she'd never hugged anyone out of a bad mood, right. Even if part of her was proud of him at the same time. Sigh.

"Mommy, can Jaenelle come visit us? And play darts?" Sean asked, holding Jaenelle's hand. "And have Alfred cookies?"

"Sure, honey." Yay. There was still an Alfred, some odd years in the future. Woo!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Karla said, holding up a hand at the same time Jaenelle cheered. "Let's be clear. If there are trips that involve Alfred cookies, Jaenelle's mommy is going to be involved, too."

Some things were only fair.

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Room 218, Sunday Morning

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