fandomtownies | Plant Parenthood; Friday [10/04].

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Plant Parenthood; Friday [10/04].

Eleanor was really hoping that working today would take her mind off of how nervous she was about Kamala's parents visiting for the weekend. Sure, she'd met them before, but that was very briefly, back when she was just some girl from school that Kamala had extended an invitation to and not, you know, her girlfriend. And, even though she was doing much better with remembering that things were different with Kamala, that Kamala herself was possibly as different from Lucy Spencer as anyone could be, she couldn't help but feel certain knots in her stomach, because things went Lucy turned after a weekend where she'd stayed over at Lucy's place for Christmas and met her parents...

So hopefully work would be a good distraction and postpone the inevitable a little bit, but it also gave her some time to sort of go over some of the Urdu she'd been learning in preparation to leave a good impression on Kamala's parents. She had a list of phrases and pronunciation to pour over, listening to language lessons on her phone as she went about the store, cleaning and taking care of the plants, and just trying not to get too worked up or nervous.

It helped, too, knowing that at least she didn't have to worry about anything when it came to her family for this. She didn't think they'd visit, even if she had asked.

(Dun dun dun....)

Plant Parenthood is open!

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After spending some time at the park, Kamala took her parents on a trip through the town and of course had to stop at her favorite spot. "Hi! Look who I brought!" Kamala said with a smile and a pair of green smoothies in her hands.

Muneeba and Yusuf Khan followed their daughter into the store, also with smoothies though judging by the look on Muneeba's face she was not enjoying hers. Yusuf on the other hand had almost finished his.

But Muneeba quickly focused on Eleanor, a smile on her face and reaching out with her hand in greeting. "Eleanor! It is good to see you again. Come here, and let me take a look at you."

Oh, Eleanor was so glad she wasn't holding anything delicate or breakable or at all, really, once Kamala and her parents made it to the shop, because she probably would have dropped and broken whatever it was once they arrived. And sure, sure, Eleanor had been expecting them to probably swing by while she was still at work (it was a better neutral ground, really, and if things really started to go terribly, then Kamala could always just usher them out under the pretense of Eleanor really needing to get back to work), but she was still so inside her own head about it that she jumped a little bit when they finally arrived and Kamala announced it.

(It didn't help, either, that, all day, she'd had some other weird feeling sneaking up her spine, like a premonition, tied in with some of the strange dreams she'd had the night before, that almost made her wonder....)

But she couldn't worry about that right now, there was enough to worry about just ahead of her as her eyes widened and she tried to smile and ignore the fact that, taking a look at her probably meant that Muneeba would notice that Eleanor was slowly starting to vaguely resemble the smoothies they were all drinking. But, obediently, and somehow with even more fear (a different kind of fear) than she'd felt when she'd stood in front of her grandfather in a similar fashion several years ago on that fateful night she'd escaped St. Brigid's and the consequences of her attack on Lucy, she moved over to them.

"Hello, Mrs. Khan," she said, smile nervous, heartbeat seemingly drowning out her own words in her head, as she nodded to her, and then to Kamala's father. "Mr. Khan."

And then, a moment of doubt and panic as she tried to will her tongue to work properly, on all the things she practiced. A moment of wondering if she just shouldn't say it, because she'd just end up messing it up or embarrassing herself. And then a moment of scolding and reprimanding that she didn't spend these last few weeks studying for this moment to then go and throw it all right out the window.

"Um," she said. "Salam Alaikum." The rest came out a little stilted, but she was going to push through: "//It is very good to see you again, too//. Did..." In her nervousness, she slipped back to the comfort of English, and even though she'd practiced the next question, too, found herself sticking with it as she continued, "Did you have a good trip in?"

Ohgod, she was throwing herself into the ocean forever after this.

If the Khan family noticed the greenish pallor on Eleanor’s face, they certainly didn’t show it as any form of revulsion. After all, they’d had their home invaded by aliens, and they’d spent time on a space station populated by Skrulls and other species. (Plus, Kamala might have given them a heads-up.)

But when Eleanor spoke Urdu, the reaction was immediate... and it was one of pure delight. There had only been a handful of times when someone outside their culture had tried to speak their language, and the effort itself spoke volumes. Muneeba and Yusuf beamed with pride, while Kamala’s eyes practically turned into cartoon heart shapes to match the huge grin spreading across her face.

“Wa Alaikum Salam,” Yusuf replied warmly, nodding gratefully. “And our trip here was just fine. Not a bad drive, even with the car packed full of supplies. We’ve brought some for you, too!”

"I hope you like ramen," Kamala added, coming over to take Eleanor’s hand and giving it a little squeeze. "Because I’m pretty sure they brought a year’s supply."

Eleanor's heart was still racing much too fast for it to even begin to feel a wave of relief at the Khan's response to all her efforts; it was going to all come crashing down on her much later after they'd left, probably, but for now, she was just sort of stuck in a state of being a little stunned, and the only relief her body allowed was in her smile and the small laugh she let out and the absolute clinging to Kamala's hand when she had it.

"Ramen is fine," she said. "Ramen's great! Thank you! Er, um," she licked her lips, which seemed impossibly dry all of a sudden, "Shukriya, and, um, khush aamadid to Plant Parenthood." With her free hand, she gestured somewhat awkwardly around. "This is where I work. And...well," a little of the nervousness faded with her small smile, glancing over to Kamala, "where Kamala buys all her plants, too."

"Yes, she often shows us her plants and how remarkably alive they are," Muneeba said with a grin. "Which, honestly, I did not expect. Most of her previous plants died within a week."

"Ammi!"

"But clearly, having you in her life has improved her black thumb," Muneeba teased, casting a playful look at Kamala. "For that, I thank you. And I must say, Eleanor, I’m impressed. You might know more Urdu than Kamala."

Kamala let out an exaggerated sigh, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling. "Oh, give me strength."

"It's only just a few phrases," Eleanor insisted, with a new wave of emotions hitting her, and that emotion was guilt, as she passed a nervous glance toward Kamala and hoping she hadn't stepped over some boundary with her by trying to impress her parents in this particular way. "But I thought...I thought maybe you'd appreciate it. It really is a beautiful language. I started looking into some Pakistani poets, and not all of it at the library was translated into English, so I figured it might help to..."

She felt another wave of heat to her face as she realized she was rambling and tried to think of something, anything, to get the topic of conversation onto anywhere else, and then realized that she was forgetting something else, anyway.

"Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, shaking her head, and as loathed as she was to let go of the anchor that was Kamala's hand, she had to, to go get something behind the counter. "I just remembered, I have something for you, too!"

A few awkward moments later, she was holding out a Tupperware for Muneeba. "Because you're always sending me such nice treats, I thought I'd made you some, too. It's baklava, with some of the honey we sell here in the shop that my boss harvests from her bees. I've never made it before, so it didn't turn out as good as I remember my grandmother's being, but I didn't think you would mind."

It was the thought that counted, right? Because, clearly, Eleanor needed to bolster up the Urdu plan if it wasn't good enough...

The tupperware was intended for Muneeba, but Yusuf swooped in, cutting her off. "Ooo! I love baklava!"

Muneeba shot him an amused look before turning her attention back to Eleanor. "Thank you, beta," she said sincerely. "It appears my daughter has chosen well. Good manners, speaks Urdu, and loves poetry."

"Don’t let my wife fool you," Yusuf chimed in, already munching on the baklava. "The only poetry she appreciates is from the Slippery When Wet album."

"Do not test my love for Captain Kidd!" Muneeba laughed, playfully swatting at him.

Meanwhile, Kamala sidled up to Eleanor, gently taking her hand. "You're amazing," she whispered, as her parents continued to banter.

Even though it was pretty clear that she'd succeeded on all accounts, Eleanor didn't seem quite ready to believe it until Kamala was back next to her, the anchoring hand back in place, and when she was squeeze it, it was much less out of the necessity to just have something to cling to and much more just out of gratitude and, finally, some sense of relief. She turned her head toward her with a pleased, thankful smile and whispered back, "I have no idea what they're talking about."

And a whole rush of warmth and almost peace, especially after being such a nervous wreck inside up to this point washed over her, and she squeezed Kamala's hand again as she added, "Thanks. I just..."

Her eyes skittered over toward Muneeba and Yusef, figuring the baklava would only distract for so long.

"We can talk later," she said, and, her attention turning back toward Kamala's parents.

"You two have been so kind to me already," she pointed out. "I mostly just hoped I could return the favor in some way."

"Kamala has told us how you are from another time period," Yusuf said, allowing Muneeba to sample the baklava before sealing it up again. "And it's clear how much you mean to her. We felt it was best to have someone close by making sure you have what you need. It's our pleasure, Eleanor."

"Speaking of which," Muneeba said after swallowing her first bite of her baklava. "We have more spiced tea for you as well as some staples we picked up at Costco that every student needs. Peanut butter, granola bars, trail mix, athletic socks, all the essentials. And ramen of course."

"We'll drop them off at the dorm so you don't have to carry them across the island," Yusuf said with a smile.

"You may never have to leave your dorm room for food ever again," Kamala joked.

"Or socks, even," Eleanor pointed out, because she was pretty sure she'd never in her life owned as many socks as she did now thanks to the Khans. "But thank you," she said again, with emphasis, smiling at them both now with a nod of her head. "I really appreciate that. Especially the tea as we head into fall. I've really enjoyed curling up with it on the weekends when I have time to just sit and read for a little bit."

"You are very much welcome," Muneeba said giving Eleanor a smile and putting her hands on her shoulders. "And if you and Kamala wish to come visit us, you are more than welcome to come. I know holidays are coming up and if you can't make it home there is always room at our table."

"We should probably let you get back to work," Yusuf said, cheerfully and most likely giving Eleanor an easy out for them. "We can take some time later this weekend to have a meal and get to know each other better."

"Kamala did mentioned us maybe having dinner together one of these nights while you're here," Eleanor confirmed, feeling a little more lightness with the relief that it looked like Muneeba and Yusef weren't planning on sticking around too long, at least not here, so she could have a little time to just sort of decompress from all the emotions. "I'd really like that. It'll be nice, to just have a little quiet time for us to sort of talk and everything without....well..."

She rolled her eyes a little with a wry smile, gesturing at the store and all the hard work she was definitely, absolutely doing.

"Absolutely," Yusuf agreed with a grin.

"We’ll catch up with you later," Muneeba added warmly, giving a little wave as they both headed for the door. Kamala lingered behind, watching them go with a patient smile.

"I’ll be right there!" she called after them, waiting until the door closed behind her parents. Then, turning back to Eleanor, she blinked in amazement, her face lighting up.

"Urdu? Really?"

Before Eleanor could even respond, Kamala beamed and leaned in, kissing her with a giddy, spontaneous joy.

And here Eleanor was going to respond with something somewhat teasing back, in Urdu, but before she could even pick and choose from the limited list of words and phrases she'd committed to memory, she was being kissed, and, well, every single one of those words and phrases suddenly seemed completely erased from her mind.

The only thing that seemed to exist in there any more was the drive to move closer to Kamala as she kissed her back, sliding her arms around her and pulling her close, and the small reminder that her parents were probably still just outside was the only thing that kept it from being more than just that.

But she was still going to try to cling and linger in it as long as she possibly could, pulling away with a soft, warm smile and resting her forehead on Kamala's.

"I just really wanted to leave a good impression," she admitted, which was just slightly better than what she almost said, which would have been I just want them to like me. Feeling her blush creeping in again, she asked, "Do you think it worked?"

Kamala was in no rush to leave in this moment but she had to let out a chuckle as she held Eleanor close.

"Are you kidding? I'm pretty sure like you better than me now," she joked and gave her one more small kiss because the moment felt right.

"Trust me. They love you. I mean the baklava would have been enough but the learning of Urdu? Yeah, you scored some major points with them."

And then with a bit of a smirk she tilted her head down so she could look Eleanor in the eyes. "Not to mention tons of points with me."

And honestly? Even if Yusef had spit the baklava out at her feet and Muneeba had cursed her very tongue for having the audacity to profane their language by thinking she could speak it, if it still earned points with Kamala? That would be all that really mattered.

Of course, it helped that she knew neither of them would have probably ever done that in a million years, but you never could tell, and people were not always what they seemed, but when it came to the Khans? Eleanor couldn't but feel like every single one of them were just honestly, genuinely just good people. As strange as that was to wrap her head around sometime.

She smiled back at Kamala, meeting her eyes with her own.

"Even if they like me better now? I guess maybe now I'll have to teach you some Urdu."

There was a slight hesitation, before she added, "Tum mere liye intehai aihem hou."

You mean so much to me, in that careful, practiced, recited uncertainty of a new language, dedicated and determined in the same way she'd learned Latin and French at school, but with so much more weight of meaning and purpose to those dry, rote lines, and she kissed her again.

Kamala’s smile widened, even though she didn’t understand Eleanor's words, the emotion behind them was unmistakable. Her heart did a little flip as she felt the weight of Eleanor’s gaze and the sincerity in her voice.

"Okay, that sounded... really important," Kamala whispered, her voice soft, almost teasing, but there was a seriousness in there as well. "I don't know what you just said, but I felt it."

She returned the kiss, lingering as long as she could before she had to run off to join her parents. "I guess you do have to teach me Urdu now." she said, quietly. "But maybe I can teach you this one: Mei tum se pyar kerta hun."

And when Kamala said that, it made Eleanor's heart flip in her chest so strongly that she had to let out a small gasp of a breath. She'd heard it repeated again and again as she learned it and tried to figure out how to say it right, even though she didn't think she'd actually be able to say it for a while now. And of course it sounded different, coming from Kamala, heartfelt and meaningful, rather than just the precise and almost robotic pronunciation videos she'd dug up, and she repeated it quietly to herself as if running it through the lexicon she'd been building up to cross reference it to make sure she'd heard it right.

"Mei tum se pyar kerta hun..."

A smile that almost wasn't ready to believe it but wanted to with every fiber of her being drifted up as her eyes searched Kamala's.

"I already know that one."

Of course she learned that one.

"And I love you, too, Kamala."

And now she'd said it, and it was out there, and it was terrifying, because what made you weaker, what made you stronger, and more vulnerable and more dangerous, than a thing like love?

Kamala let out a long heavy breath she didn't know she was holding and broke into a little soft laugh. "I probably should say that in English, right?" Kamala teased but the smile was still there. "I love you, Eleanor. You're amazing and I love you for not what you did today but for everything else you are."

She leaned in for a quick kiss.

"I hate to say that and run but-"

"Kamala! We're waiting!" Her mother's voice was from outside the door but could be heard, muffled as it was, in the shop. Kamala risked a look and say her parents were very directly looking away from them giving them privacy.

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

Honestly, that beckoning call from her mother was probably one of the best things that could have happened. Eleanor's emotions were such a complicated turmoil inside of her that she wasn't sure she should be trusted to handle them at that moment, so Kamala having to leave now meant that she would have the time to come down from them and know how to handle them. Even if she knew, as soon as she was sure they were out of earshot, there would probably be a lot of screaming and jumping up and down and just letting it all burst out of her in what would no doubt be a very embarrassing way.

"You're fine," Eleanor assured her, laughing a little and squeezing Kamala's hand one more time before letting it go. "You're great." Her hands found Kamala's shoulders. "You're perfect."

And then she turned her around, leaned in for a quick kiss on the cheek, and gave her a nudging push toward the door, "And we're making your parents wait, so go catch up to them, and we'll talk later and let me now about dinner, okay?"

"I will," Kamala promised, though she reluctantly peeled herself away from Eleanor, walking backwards toward the door as if leaving would physically hurt. She clasped her hands over her chest, like her heart might burst out at any moment. "Ugh. Timing. Always the worst."

But then, with a playful glint in her eye, she flashed Eleanor a mischievous smile and winked. "Talk to you later."

Just before disappearing out the door, she called back with a quick, “Love ya!” and then hurried to catch up with her parents.

Eleanor had mentioned the little plant shop and apothecary she had been working at in her letters, many, many times. Luma assumed it was mentioned so often so that Eleanor could feel she was justified in abandoning them to go study at this little island instead of staying home with them when they really needed her. When they were cleaning up the mess that she had made. It was hard for Luma, really, because she knew that it was important to Eleanor. She knew that with their grandmother dead, she didn't have anywhere else to learn a lot of what Persephone had done. And sometimes Luma wondered if they were all better off without Eleanor, anyway. After all, the whole time she was gone, they had been getting along just fine, but then, as soon as she showed up on their doorstep again....

But Eleanor was her sister. She was her family, and she loved Eleanor with the deep, hungry passion that all Zarrins felt for the things they loved.

And she needed Eleanor.

And Rhys needed her even more.

So she sucked in a breath, breathed it out slowly, and pushed open the door to the little shop, leading Rhys in after her. She could smell Eleanor immediately, without even having to look, even through the other myriad of scents and aromas filling up the place, and so she didn't even need to look at her as she stood in the door way, but she did, with a cool and steady gaze toward her.

"Hello, Eleanor."

And, despite herself, with a rush of relief in seeing her again, she felt a flutter in her chest, and she couldn't help a faint, longing sort of smile.

Thinking herself safe to handle things now that the inevitable visit from Kamala's parents had passed, Eleanor had wrongfully had a bottle of lotion in her hands when Luma came in, and, sure enough, when she saw who had entered the store, she dropped it.

"Luma," she said, blinking, ignoring the shatter of glass at her feet. "Rhys."

She almost went to run to them, but her brain caught up with her and realized what she'd done, and she found herself in a sudden swirl of panic, kneeling down instead to try and pick up some of the bigger pieces of glass. "Damn it. I...hold on a moment...I just..."

Then she seemed to realize that the mess could wait. Luma and Rhys were here.

"You guys came," she said, blinking almost owlishly at them as she slowly stood back up.

"Sorry we didn't wait for an invitation," Luma said, that cool gaze still settled firmly on Eleanor as she stood, though she could feel it starting to waver, starting to break down, and she almost just wanted to run to her and embrace her, but she held herself back, waiting it out.

Almost like waiting for the right moment to pounce on prey. Rhys would always be the one to charge forward, and sometimes, especially lately, Luma had trouble reserving herself, too, but for this? For an important catch? It was sometimes better to just wait, even just the barest second longer...

"Mother is here as well," she added. "It seemed too difficult to bring her with us, and there were a lot of people at the Meet and Greet in the park, so she's just staying at the hotel for now. But, if you'd like to come when you're done here, I know she'd like to see you."

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Plant Parenthood; Friday [10/04].

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