The Park, Monday Evening

[lockestheway]

Portals elsewhere might break, send you to the wrong planet, or leave you hanging; this one was forever faithful to its own schedule.

Sadly, for those denizens of the island who might have grown attached to their children, that meant it was time to say goodbye. The portal popped up blazing purple in the center of the park, calling to those it had taken here just a few days ago.

Time to go, time to go home, children.

[[ for your AU kidlet goodbyes! Sniff. ]]

Comments

[weedragonherder.livejournal.com]

"Yours!" Ella told him contentedly, swinging their hands. "I have to go to school. We're learning about taking numbers away from other numbers."

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hey, that's a good one. We can't have you miss that." He liked math, of course he thought that! "Or the draw about your weekend assignment." Because her teachers would of course love an explanation of the big swirly portal.

Of course, they might get that same kick out of any scrawlings of dragons she might hand in.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"Assignment?" Dany asked, wandering over. She was looking a little red-eyed, but trying to cover it up admirably. She smiled down at Ella. "Have we been keeping you from homework, my darling?"

"Can I take Viserion for show and tell when I get back?" she asked, eyes wide. "Pleeeease?"

Dany thought about it, glanced over at Chuck, and said, "That's a question for your older parents, I think."

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"Isn't he going to be a little big for your classroom?"

Oh Chuck, stop being so logical. You don't have to worry about it.

[weedragonherder.livejournal.com]

"He can sit on the playground," Ella assured him. She'd thought of that.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"Ohh, right. Of course. How did I not think of that?" Fail, Chuck. Fail. He shot a quick smile over at Dany. "And already she's smarter than I am."

The reddened eyes hadn't gone unnoticed, but it seemed like maybe 'later' was the time to go asking about that. For now, he was holding to his attempt at light humor.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"Maybe just a bit more used to negotiating her own way," Dany corrected, and smiled back. It was genuine, too, though Ella made her sad in an entirely different way. The child who'd never be, no matter how the many possibilities might align. She knelt in front of the little girl, reaching out to straighten her hair a bit. "Tell your other mother that I said if you are very good, you may ride Drogon with her again. But only with her. And maybe your father, too," she added, glancing at Chuck with a lifted brow.

He rather seemed like it would take some work to get him onto a dragon.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck could barely believe that was his world somewhere. Dragon riding. He couldn't really picture what it would take to convince him to go for that either.

"And make us look cool in that drawing, okay?" Because that was important.

[weedragonherder.livejournal.com]

"I always do. You put them on the fridge and when we're at King's Landing, Mother puts them in the chamber for the small council," Ella told him with a nod. "Because they're art."

Queen Daenerys apparently had become a bit more of a soft touch once she'd killed her way to the throne.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck arched an eyebrow and shot a look sideways at Dany. "I bet. Who wants the musty old castle art when they have your stuff?"

Except possibly the musty old men who were likely to be sitting on a council in Dany's world.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

"My thoughts precisely," Dany agreed, smiling softly. "Go draw her a lot more pictures. I'm sure they've missed you this weekend."

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

If it he knew him (which he did), he would probably be freaking out right now. This him would've done if she'd up and vanished for more than a few minutes this weekend.

"Okay, do we get a hug?" Because he at least wanted one of those before they sent her off.

[weedragonherder.livejournal.com]

Ella nodded, eagerly hurrying over to throw her arms around Chuck's waist. "Bye, Daddy. I'll tell other-you not to be scared 'cause I was gone. He'll get it, right? 'Cause this happened to him, too!"

Time paradoxes as explained by a six year-old, yes.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck grinned and bent to give her a quick squeeze of a hug. It was good to know that for someone around here it was Just That Easy.

"I... think so?" Maybe. It couldn't really hurt to tell him not to be scared. "But still, no other portal side-trips, okay? I don't know if other me can take more than one of those."

[weedragonherder.livejournal.com]

"Not without a grownup," she agreed with a solemn nod and the air of someone who...you know, traveled between worlds a lot, anyway. "A grownup I know," she added. "Or unless I know where I'm going...."

Born negotiator, yes.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"Hey, hey, I see what you're doing," he warned her. She wasn't that sneaky. Chuck was starting to learn her number. "Grown up, or no go."

"Now get over there and give your mother a hug too."

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

Ella dashed over and threw her arms around Dany, who knelt again to hug her tightly. She pressed her face into the girl's hair, sighing softly. This wasn't as hard as Rhaego, but it broke her heart for entirely different reasons.

"Be good, little princess," she said softly.

"I will," Ella assured her as she wriggled away, and with a cheerful wave, she dashed off to the portal.

And if Dany was trying not to cry (and largely failing) as she rose up again, well...could you blame her?

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Not really, no. Even less so if you knew everything that had happened before. Even Chuck, with no such background looked a little wistful as he watched Ella disappear into the portal.

The moment she'd vanished home, Chuck turned his concerns to Dany, watching her for a moment while he decided what exactly he could say. 'Are you okay?' seemed dumb, 'What's wrong?' also seemed silly, because he knew this was never a high point of these weekends...

"People tell me I'm great at hugs," was what came out. If she wanted one.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

She did. Dany barely thought about it before closing the distance to wrap her arms around him.

"I'm afraid I might get your shirt wet," she mumbled. It wasn't a hesitation so much as a warning, because she wasn't going to be able to keep from crying, now, no.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"I can't speak for the shirt..." Chuck said, once he'd slid his arms around her in return. "But, I don't care."

The shirt could get wet, if it helped, and he would be here for hugging as long as she needed it.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

She accepted that and was quiet for a moment, trying to get herself under control. "I'm sorry. I'm not normally one to cry," Dany offered softly, when she could speak. "It's just...this weekend was a lot harder than I'd expected it to be. No one had warned me that it wasn't just...." She trailed off, a little uncertain as to whether to tell him about Rhaego. It was hardly the secret it had once been, but she still balked.

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

"They're... really, really easy to get attached to." Chuck rubbed her back with his palms, a little extra reassurance. "Even if they're not ours ours, it's rough watching them walk away."

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

Dany nodded against his shirt, hesitating before offering, "I was told it was just...hypothetical children. Rhaego wasn't a fiction. And Rhaella can never be real, no matter how the possibilities might align."

There. She almost felt relieved, telling him.

"It's all the more heartbreaking."

[knowsnokungfu.livejournal.com]

Chuck's mouth started to form a few words that never quite made it out, while he stringed those statements together.

"He wasn't a fiction, in your version of your world?" His theories as far as these weekends went had assumed they weren't strictly fictional at all, just from worlds slightly altered from theirs. This was one thing he thought he should check, rather than assume.

[unburnt-queen.livejournal.com]

She shook her head. "He was stillborn. He died the day before my husband did. I was sent here to recover from the birth," she said quietly. A pause, and, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before now. I...it's hard to talk about. And I was worried what you'd think." She still was, really.