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[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality.

After the storm, back at the Dormouse

After making sure everyone else was okay, and that Damien would be looked after, I slipped away from the Abbey. From happy tears and reunions. There will be none of those for me.
I need to go see if I can find Lucien. I need to make arrangements, if I can find him. I need---

I need to check on Rose. Make sure she's okay. She's sleeping, I know that much, but now that the dreams have stopped leaking into reality, Kent will--- Rose will be alone.

Too much loss for one day. Too much. I need to find Lucien but...

I need to change. I need to shower.
I may need to have a nervous breakdown.

Cut around to the backdoor, glad to see the graveyard is gone. No purple bunnies either. Rose will be quite put out, once she realizes they gone. Amongst other things. Lock the door behind me, drop the plated armour to the floor and start to wrestle myself out of the riding coat as I climb the stairs.

"Rose sweetling..." I call softly, hissing a bit when the coat peels away from the gash on my arm. I'll have to have Lu-- no. I can't, can I? "Mummy's home. Are you alright?" I turn the corner, and stop dead. Rose is still asleep, that is not what shocks me.

Kent, not my ex-husband in the Kent form, but Kent Whitman, is holding her. The dreams have receded, and Kent is... still...

"Rose said 'Ent 'tay... the world went bright... and here I am." He informs me simply.

"Oh, I see." I reply just as simply.

Then the world goes bla

Closed

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[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

I hear her come in the door, and after a weird sounding clattering, I hear Wanda start climb up the stairs. I want to respond to her when she calls out to Rose, but she is asleep. I don't want to wake her, or to startle Wanda. I cannot begin to imagine what happened to make her scream so, but it cannot have been good.

She rounds the corner, wearing the strangest outfit are those... bloomers? and obviously hurt. I am worried that it is serious, but she has such an odd look. Shocked, yes... but also rather glazed over.

"Rose said 'Ent 'tay... the world went bright... and here I am." Start simply, and go from there. I really do not like how pale she looks.

"Oh, I see."

Before I can respond to that, she crumples in a dead faint. I quickly lay Rose down on the bed and rush to her side.

"Wanda... Wanda...!" I whisper, gathering her up in my arms and stroking her cheek.

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

It's quiet. I think I could just sleep for a little bit longer, I am so tired.

"Wanda... please... wake up..."

The voice seems so far away, and I just want five more minutes, but it is insistent. Worried.

My eyes flutter open, and I wince against the light. Kent... not Kent... dream Kent...? My Kent? has me on his lap, his finger's running through my hair. I reach up with a trembling hand to touch his face. "You're still here...?" I can't seem to think straight. "Or am I dead? Oh please no, I can't have... I can't leave Rose..." My voice hitches higher in panic, and I struggle to get away from Kent. "I can't stay here, can't can't want to, but 'm sorry! I have to get back to Rose! No, No, NO! I thought Nanshe fixed it all and we stopped dreaming!"

[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

Wanda's eyes finally open, and I exhale in relief. But before I can do much else, she begins to panic. It is a frightening thing, to see her so undone. She thrashes in my arms, and her voice rises higher and higher. Rose whines in her sleep in response to her mother's worry.

"Wanda! I promise, you are very much alive, and all is well. Shhhh, love. It's all right." I assure her as I rise and carry her to the bed. I set her down next to Rose, and Wanda all but falls over her little daughter, stroking her hair and kissing her head, tears of relief streaming from her eyes. I sit down opposite them, and watch as Rose sighs in her sleep and curls closer to her mother.

"You're hurt." I say, touching the binding with the angry red stain on it. "Please tell me the other guy looks worse." I joke softly, trying to get her to smile, to relax, to do something else other than cry or panic.

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

Oh no, thank you! I'm here, I'm here... made it back and Rose is fine and alive and I am and oh thank you Nanshe! We're both okay and---

"You're hurt."

And Kent is here. I'm not dead, nor dreaming. Raise my head and look out the window, and all is as it should be, and he's still here.

"Please tell me the other guy looks worse."

I can't help it, I actually bark out a hoarse laugh at that. "Well, I did manage to gouge out a dragons eye, so..." His look at that is almost priceless. "It's nothing, really." I shrug it off with a weak smile, more concerned with the man sitting on my bed, looking at me in rather concerned way. "I don't understand..." My hand reaches out of it own accord to smooth the hair off his forehead. "How are you..." I shake my head. "I feel like I am five steps behind this conversation, behind this day, behind everything right now."

[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

Dragon??? I think she's in shock, or concussed or sun stroked... something. I shall have to hunt down Lucien. I may have no love for the man, but I believe he would still bend over backwards for Wanda.

"How am I still here?" I capture her hand and bring it down to clasp between both of mine. "You would have to ask Rose. I heard you screaming, I think half of town could..." I want to ask her why she was, but such pain flashes through her eyes at the mention of it, so I let it go for now. "I asked Rose if she could hear you, if you were okay. Then she started howling. I told her, she should call you home, that you should be with her when I... when I went away again. Rose did not like that." Smile, just a little. It should all seem so absurd, but... shake my head. "She started yelling at me to stay, hit me in the chest... everything went bright and the room seemed to be electrically charged, and... here I am."

I give her a moment to let that all sink in, and oddly; she doesn't seem as shocked by my story as just about any one else would be. "Wanda, what happened out there?"

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

Kent explains everything that happened here in my absence. I find I can almost smile about it as well. "Rose does not seem to like people leaving her." I agree softly, remembering how she would not let me slip away. "My little star," I sigh, touching her hair lightly. I am afraid such a display of power from Rose will call her father to her like a moth to a flame, but I will have to worry about that when he shows up. Right now, there is too much to deal with.

"Wanda, what happened out there?"

My breath catches and I close my eyes. "Too much, far too much." I allow myself just a moment. I lean in and place my head on his shoulder, and clutch him close to me as his arms slip about my body. Oh, this.

Part of me longs to hide in this moment, but I cannot. "Miles to go before I sleep." I mutter, and extract myself from the comforting embrace. "I promise, I will tell you everything later." My hand ghosts over his cheek and I touch my forehead to his for a moment; then I rise from the bed and pluck at the busk of the bodice I brought out from the dreaming. "But now there's still work to do. I need to clean up, and go find Lucien."

[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

"Rose does not seem to like people leaving her." Wanda gives Rose a fond look, and yes... she would know exactly how it felt, wouldn't she? Again, a memory that is mine but not shimmers back to the surface. I just stood by and waited for Wanda to die, but Rose had other ideas.

The memory is distasteful, disgusting, and I am glad that Wanda is able to chase it away just by settling into my embrace. I enfold her in my arms, and let her take the comfort she seems to so desperately need. But too soon she is up, struggling out of her clothes and talking of going to see Lucien.

"Wanda," I cannot keep the exasperation from my voice. "You are obviously hurt. For god's sake, rest. If you need him so badly then I can go..."

My words die on my lips. The look on her face is one of absolute pain. And in that moment, it all connects. "Oh god Wanda... Rose was wailing 'Ooooooh-en, no, 'tay'..." I sit back down on the bed. She is not leaving me right now to see Lucien...

she is leaving to find Lucien.

"Oh, Wanda. I am sorry."

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

"You are obviously hurt. For god's sake, rest. If you need him so badly then I can go..." My eyes water almost instantly, and my heart twists. Oh please, don't make me explain. It hurts too much and the more I talk about it, the more real it becomes.

"...Rose was wailing 'Ooooooh-en, no, 'tay'..."

I laugh a little, more of a sob, really. "Rose was always so frustrated that she couldn't quite get the 'L' or the 'C' quite right. Oh my little love... I am sorry, I should have closed my mind to you." I sigh, and cross back to the bed to touch her head again. Kent breathes out an apology, realizing what I have been trying to tell him without actually saying it. I sink down on the bed beside him and take his hand, so large and rough compared to my small one. I merely take a few moments to trace the veins on the back of it, and the lines in the palm. Such a small thing to do, yet it's personal... and so very real. It... helps.

"I am not running out on you right now for Lucien." I think he knows that, at least he knows that now, but I think it's important he hears it from me. "You are here, beyond all hope, and comprehension to me, you are here, and that is... incredible." Shake my head a little, and smile. "There is so much we will have to discuss." And that is enough to make my head throb even as my heart dares to hope that just maybe...

"But right now, my best friend is gone, and possibly out there, alone. He's...Lucien's my family. I know you did not like him, but he's been in my life for a decade, and an uncle to Rose and... I have to do right by him. Please Kent, tell me you understand."

Please, be the man I think you can be, and understand.

[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

I watch as her fingertips run lightly over the lines of my hands, and let her speak without interrupting.

"He's...Lucien's my family. I know you did not like him, but he's been in my life for a decade, and an uncle to Rose and... I have to do right by him. Please Kent, tell me you understand."

I turn my head so I can look down into her eyes. She's grief stricken and beyond exhausted. I do not want her to go out again today. I want her to get cleaned up, and eat something, and rest!...

"I think I do. I... respect the fact that he's been a part of your life." The relief in her eyes is almost instantaneous, and I brush a lock of hair from her face. "But first, I must insist that you clean up and eat something while I tend to your arm." I inform her sternly as I rise and pull her up with me. "And maybe, someday in the future when it does not hurt to talk about, you can tell me a little bit more about Lucien?" I ask softly as I lead her towards the bathroom.

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

I can see the conflicting emotions flicker through his eyes, and I think for a moment he doesn't---

"I think I do. I... respect the fact that he's been a part of your life." I want to fling my arms about his neck and kiss him for that, but all I manage is a grateful smile and a squeeze to his hand. I do not argue with him when insists I eat and shower, so I find I am famished and more than a little anxious to get clean. "Yes sir, whatever you say." I murmur with a tired grin as I rise to my feet.

"And maybe, someday in the future when it does not hurt to talk about, you can tell me a little bit more about Lucien?"

Oh, Kent. If you actually mean that... there is hope. I tug at his hand to get him to stop moving. He looks back at me in confusion and I think I am crying again even as I smile up at him.

"Thank you, Kent. For understanding, and for being kind and and and..."

[kent-whitman.livejournal.com]

"Thank you, Kent. For understanding, and for being kind and and and..."

Alright, clearly distraught is just simply trying to take care of my wife... ex-wife... Wanda. Yes, many things to be discussed.

"Shhhh, shhhh love. There's no need for tears." I assure her as I take her into my arms and stroke her hair. "Come now, let us get you into the shower and you can tell me how the dragon cut your arm." I kiss the top of her head and walk into the bathroom with her, my arm comfortably looped about her shoulder.

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

Part of me just wants to stay here and let myself be taken care of, but I have a duty to Lucien yet. Just a short reprieve will be enough, a hour at most. Just long enough to get my wits back about me and the strength to do whatever needs to be done.

"Come now, let us get you into the shower and you can tell me how the dragon cut your arm."

"It was actually a woman from the carnival that turned into a giant Egyptian Dog-God and..." I start, then note the look on his face.

"Or perhaps it's a tale best left for after a few hours sleep." I suggest, and then give myself over to his care.