Liz Sherman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
open_flame) wrote2011-08-21 06:51 pm
open_flame) wrote2011-08-21 06:51 pm
035: Wise Through Experience - Fic for Bump in the Night Verse Fae War Plot
Characters: Liz Sherman - Harkness, Trevor Harkness, Thomas Harkness. Mentions of Jack Harkness and 2D.
Fandom: Hellboy/Torchwood
Setting: Bump in the Night Verse: Fae War Plot
Rating: PG ( very mild domestic violence)
Word Count:1400
Prompt: 035: Wise Through Experience.
AN: Takes place after![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
notthat2dtalks Liz into telling her children the truth about Jack being trapped by the UnSeelie. Grammarsmacked/Betaed by phasing_cat
For years, Jack and Elizabeth Harkness had lied to their children. It started small. Trevor and Thomas were told that the work their parents went to every day, and sometimes every night, was where they ran a prestigious consulting firm, catering to the richest of the rich, and most powerful of the powerful, and secretive of the most secretive people in the world. Thus, talking about their work just wasn't allowed. Confidentiality agreements.
Then, the lies grew, as lies tend to do. Jack couldn't explain why he'd come home with a coat soaked in slime and his own blood, and the excuse that Liz came up with that daddy was helping out at the zoo and there'd been an accident didn't exactly seem plausible to the twins. Nor did the haphazard excuse the Harknesses came up with a few months later when Liz came home with several dozen stitches in her arm from what was obviously a large bite mark. Sure, she was off active duty at the time, but when you're having dinner with your husband and you see a beast with rows of razor sharp teeth, you can't exactly focus on your meal. Especially when said husband says he's 'gotta pee' and goes off in the opposite direction of the men's room.
That all changed, when the boys discovered Jack and Liz embroiled in another argument late last year. The clever, and in most cases not so clever, deception was finally brought to an abrupt and dramatic halt. The boys had overheard too much, and more importantly, seen not only their mother’s hands flickering blue fire, but their father's cheek slowly mending itself from the burn Liz had caused when she got so upset she slapped Jack in her anger and fear of the boys discovering the truth.
After that day, the truth came quickly, so quickly that Trevor and Thomas half expected to wake up one morning and have it all be a dream. Their mom and dad were superheroes, and many of the people they'd come to love as aunts and uncles were too. They'd have been angry at their parents for keeping this from them, but they were too busy being giddy at the idea of being smack in the middle of a comic book world. What kindergartener wouldn't love it?
Early the next year, while secluded on a private island in the Caribbean, Jack and Liz made a promise to themselves and their children. No more lies. No, they wouldn't be telling the boys every little detail of their lives, but they would be as honest as any parent could be without frightening their boys with the gory details. They were a family, and they deserved the truth. Always.
But old habits die hard, and the morning that Trevor and Thomas awoke some six months ago to find their dad was 'gone', Liz spit out the first lie that came to her head. “Your father got called away on business.” Liz said to the boys in a tone that was much too emotionless to not raise a red flag. They, being far more clever than Jack or Liz ever gave them enough credit for, knew it wasn't really true. Business meant a mission and a mission meant Daddy would come home covered in slime later that day.
But he didn't...and after months of waking up and running to the kitchen together to see if their father was there having coffee like he was supposed to be, Trevor and Thomas began to realize that this so called business was very serious indeed. The muddied, scattered emotions the boys picked up from both Jack and Liz only compounded this.
They knew. They knew as well as they knew that broccoli was gross and that Uncle HB was going to have yet another cat this week, that their father was not on business. More to the point, they knew he was in more danger than he'd ever had been since they were born.
It's said you often can't see what's right in front of your face, and this was true on the case of the Harkness children and their mother's blindness to their own awareness of her lies. She spent months carefully crafting excuses and alibis, even going so far as to enlist the help of her and Jack's personal assistant to create 'proof' that Jack was in Cardiff, or Japan or Germany. Had she been a little less worried about keeping her children in the dark, she would have noticed the looks of concern growing on their faces as her lies grew and grew with each passing day.
It wasn't until her resolve almost broke, and she considered running away from everything, again, that Liz finally saw how wrong her decision to keep the truth from her children was. 2D, true to his form, put things in the most simple and logical perceptive when he explained that she simply couldn't keep lying to the boys.
It took a few days of willing herself to do it, of lining out the precise script in her mind. She had it perfectly planned, right down to the bench outside the boys’ school she was going to wait at until the final bell rang and the twins came running out, eager to get home.
But the best laid plans never end up as planned, and as she sat in that big SUV, staring at the bench she was supposed to be sitting on by now, something in her broke, something that needed to break long ago. Liz slumped her head down on the steering wheel, angry tears dripping down her face, smearing that perfectly applied make up as the weight of this secret finally pushed her to her limit.
Liz cried, and screamed and hated herself and, though it only made it worse, she hated Jack most of all. Playing the lonely hero, running to the rescue of those he loved without any real regard for himself, just like always. She hated it...but more than that she loved it. How can you not love a man who will give everything of himself to keep the ones he loved safe?
More minutes ticked by, and still Liz sat there, her chest aching from crying, her head throbbing, her fingers shaking as they clutched the steering wheel. It was something solid, something real other than all this pain that she'd been keeping buried inside her.
She shook her head, wiping her eyes as she looked in the rear view mirror. The sight of herself, alone and afraid only made her cry again. “I can't do this without you.” Liz choked out though she knew Jack couldn't hear her. She still needed to say it. She wasn't sure which Jack she was talking to, frankly. Her Jack...imprisoned in Fae or...him. The man from the future to professed to love her for centuries...for millennia. Forever.
Liz was so wrapped up, again, in trying to hide the truth from her children she didn't notice the boys, who had recognized the SUV, walking up to the car in complete silence. They'd have run, but the second Liz broke down, that pain tugged at them as well and they knew the time had come to make good on that promise they made to their father every time he had to leave, even if it was overnight. Take care of your mother, no matter what happens.
The driver’s side door ripped open, and Liz was met with the shining blue eyes of her and Jack's boys. She covered her face as quickly as she could, trying to wipe away the pain and tears that were all over it. Thomas whimpered, so close to tears himself as they watched their mom try to be a rock when she didn't truly have to be. Without a word, she buried her head back in her arms, too ashamed to be seen like this by the ones she thought needed her to be so strong.
“Ma.” Trevor's voice broke the silence, and Liz had to look at them when he spoke. Tears started to dribble down her face again when both children raised a hand up, each reaching for one of her hands. The look on their faces was so brave, so kind and loving. And worst of all...so much like Jack.
“Yeah?” Liz whispered as she let herself be pulled from the SUV to stand next to the open door. It didn't last long, though. That bench she'd planned to sit on would remain vacant, because no sooner was she on her feet, she'd fallen to the ground in a heap of sorrow and shame.
The twins looked at each other a long time, already learning to use that link...that gift their mother had given them. Without a word, they each coiled their arms around their mother, pressing their foreheads to her temples until they were sure she was calm enough to hear their thoughts. Then, in perfect unison, they opened up their minds.
Ma. We need to talk about Dad.
Fandom: Hellboy/Torchwood
Setting: Bump in the Night Verse: Fae War Plot
Rating: PG ( very mild domestic violence)
Word Count:1400
Prompt: 035: Wise Through Experience.
AN: Takes place after
notthat2dtalks Liz into telling her children the truth about Jack being trapped by the UnSeelie. Grammarsmacked/Betaed by phasing_catFor years, Jack and Elizabeth Harkness had lied to their children. It started small. Trevor and Thomas were told that the work their parents went to every day, and sometimes every night, was where they ran a prestigious consulting firm, catering to the richest of the rich, and most powerful of the powerful, and secretive of the most secretive people in the world. Thus, talking about their work just wasn't allowed. Confidentiality agreements.
Then, the lies grew, as lies tend to do. Jack couldn't explain why he'd come home with a coat soaked in slime and his own blood, and the excuse that Liz came up with that daddy was helping out at the zoo and there'd been an accident didn't exactly seem plausible to the twins. Nor did the haphazard excuse the Harknesses came up with a few months later when Liz came home with several dozen stitches in her arm from what was obviously a large bite mark. Sure, she was off active duty at the time, but when you're having dinner with your husband and you see a beast with rows of razor sharp teeth, you can't exactly focus on your meal. Especially when said husband says he's 'gotta pee' and goes off in the opposite direction of the men's room.
That all changed, when the boys discovered Jack and Liz embroiled in another argument late last year. The clever, and in most cases not so clever, deception was finally brought to an abrupt and dramatic halt. The boys had overheard too much, and more importantly, seen not only their mother’s hands flickering blue fire, but their father's cheek slowly mending itself from the burn Liz had caused when she got so upset she slapped Jack in her anger and fear of the boys discovering the truth.
After that day, the truth came quickly, so quickly that Trevor and Thomas half expected to wake up one morning and have it all be a dream. Their mom and dad were superheroes, and many of the people they'd come to love as aunts and uncles were too. They'd have been angry at their parents for keeping this from them, but they were too busy being giddy at the idea of being smack in the middle of a comic book world. What kindergartener wouldn't love it?
Early the next year, while secluded on a private island in the Caribbean, Jack and Liz made a promise to themselves and their children. No more lies. No, they wouldn't be telling the boys every little detail of their lives, but they would be as honest as any parent could be without frightening their boys with the gory details. They were a family, and they deserved the truth. Always.
But old habits die hard, and the morning that Trevor and Thomas awoke some six months ago to find their dad was 'gone', Liz spit out the first lie that came to her head. “Your father got called away on business.” Liz said to the boys in a tone that was much too emotionless to not raise a red flag. They, being far more clever than Jack or Liz ever gave them enough credit for, knew it wasn't really true. Business meant a mission and a mission meant Daddy would come home covered in slime later that day.
But he didn't...and after months of waking up and running to the kitchen together to see if their father was there having coffee like he was supposed to be, Trevor and Thomas began to realize that this so called business was very serious indeed. The muddied, scattered emotions the boys picked up from both Jack and Liz only compounded this.
They knew. They knew as well as they knew that broccoli was gross and that Uncle HB was going to have yet another cat this week, that their father was not on business. More to the point, they knew he was in more danger than he'd ever had been since they were born.
It's said you often can't see what's right in front of your face, and this was true on the case of the Harkness children and their mother's blindness to their own awareness of her lies. She spent months carefully crafting excuses and alibis, even going so far as to enlist the help of her and Jack's personal assistant to create 'proof' that Jack was in Cardiff, or Japan or Germany. Had she been a little less worried about keeping her children in the dark, she would have noticed the looks of concern growing on their faces as her lies grew and grew with each passing day.
It wasn't until her resolve almost broke, and she considered running away from everything, again, that Liz finally saw how wrong her decision to keep the truth from her children was. 2D, true to his form, put things in the most simple and logical perceptive when he explained that she simply couldn't keep lying to the boys.
It took a few days of willing herself to do it, of lining out the precise script in her mind. She had it perfectly planned, right down to the bench outside the boys’ school she was going to wait at until the final bell rang and the twins came running out, eager to get home.
But the best laid plans never end up as planned, and as she sat in that big SUV, staring at the bench she was supposed to be sitting on by now, something in her broke, something that needed to break long ago. Liz slumped her head down on the steering wheel, angry tears dripping down her face, smearing that perfectly applied make up as the weight of this secret finally pushed her to her limit.
Liz cried, and screamed and hated herself and, though it only made it worse, she hated Jack most of all. Playing the lonely hero, running to the rescue of those he loved without any real regard for himself, just like always. She hated it...but more than that she loved it. How can you not love a man who will give everything of himself to keep the ones he loved safe?
More minutes ticked by, and still Liz sat there, her chest aching from crying, her head throbbing, her fingers shaking as they clutched the steering wheel. It was something solid, something real other than all this pain that she'd been keeping buried inside her.
She shook her head, wiping her eyes as she looked in the rear view mirror. The sight of herself, alone and afraid only made her cry again. “I can't do this without you.” Liz choked out though she knew Jack couldn't hear her. She still needed to say it. She wasn't sure which Jack she was talking to, frankly. Her Jack...imprisoned in Fae or...him. The man from the future to professed to love her for centuries...for millennia. Forever.
Liz was so wrapped up, again, in trying to hide the truth from her children she didn't notice the boys, who had recognized the SUV, walking up to the car in complete silence. They'd have run, but the second Liz broke down, that pain tugged at them as well and they knew the time had come to make good on that promise they made to their father every time he had to leave, even if it was overnight. Take care of your mother, no matter what happens.
The driver’s side door ripped open, and Liz was met with the shining blue eyes of her and Jack's boys. She covered her face as quickly as she could, trying to wipe away the pain and tears that were all over it. Thomas whimpered, so close to tears himself as they watched their mom try to be a rock when she didn't truly have to be. Without a word, she buried her head back in her arms, too ashamed to be seen like this by the ones she thought needed her to be so strong.
“Ma.” Trevor's voice broke the silence, and Liz had to look at them when he spoke. Tears started to dribble down her face again when both children raised a hand up, each reaching for one of her hands. The look on their faces was so brave, so kind and loving. And worst of all...so much like Jack.
“Yeah?” Liz whispered as she let herself be pulled from the SUV to stand next to the open door. It didn't last long, though. That bench she'd planned to sit on would remain vacant, because no sooner was she on her feet, she'd fallen to the ground in a heap of sorrow and shame.
The twins looked at each other a long time, already learning to use that link...that gift their mother had given them. Without a word, they each coiled their arms around their mother, pressing their foreheads to her temples until they were sure she was calm enough to hear their thoughts. Then, in perfect unison, they opened up their minds.
Ma. We need to talk about Dad.