Work Text:
Portland, Maine June 2019
Four months, two weeks, and six days after, Jude finished her GED. At 17, Jude had expected to be knighted. She expected to be accepted into the royal court, to be going on missions that put her name on the map, and to be ignoring her adoptive father Madoc. Instead, she was sitting in creaky chair eating blue cake that said “congratulations Jude!” on it while Vivi wallowed over Heather and Oak cried about his parents. Who, surprise surprise, aren’t his biological parents. Instead of what her life would have been like if she had never swore Cardan into her service, if she had never fallen in love with him, and if she had never married him, she was living in an apartment in a sketchy part of Portland eating crappy cake from the Krogers down the street.
“Vivi, can we talk?” she asked. The envelope in her bag was burning a hole. A really big fiery hole that was most likely going to explode if she weren’t careful.
“What do you need Jude? Money? A life? Your husband?” Vivi responded, stabbing her cake with the plastic fork.
“No, I actually just need to tell you something. And I need you to know that I’m not doing this because of you, I’m doing this because of him. Because I need to go.” Jude reached for her bag, pulling out the white envelope.
“What, Jude? What’s happening?”
“Well, when I got the news that I got my GED, I applied to some… opportunities?” she said slowly, taking a deep breath.
“What type of opportunities?”
“The kind that are taking me across the country?” she handed the envelope to Vivi, “Open it.”
“Ms. Duarte, after reviewing your qualifications and applications, we are happy to congratulate you on your acceptance to the University of California, Los Angeles. The term starts August 29, and should you still need it, the after school care program has a spot for your son, Oak.” Vivi froze, “Jude, what the hell did you do?”
“I have to get out of here. I have to leave Maine and leave behind the world of the fae. And I have to take Oak with me. There’s an elementary school right next to campus and I’m going on a partial scholarship for financial aid and I’m already looking at part-time jobs I can get. I’m leaving, Vivi.” Jude took a deep breath. This was not how she wanted to tell her, but she started to notice the spies coming out more and more and she had to get Oak out of here before somebody did something stupid. Oak deserved the childhood that was robbed from her and Jude was going to make sure he got it.
“Ok,” Vivi said softly.
“Ok?” Jude asked.
“Yeah. Can I ask a question though?”
“Of course Vivi, anything.” Jude smiled at her and then at Oak, who was smiling too.
“Does this have anything to do with the positive pregnancy test I found in the trash can about a month ago?”
~~~
LAX July 2023
“Oak, Lily we are going to miss our flight we have to get a move on. You can eat your bagel at the gate,” Jude said, looking back to her kids who were slowly walking behind her through the bustling airport at 7:00 in the morning. After she had dropped the bags at the check in and they’d made it through security, the kids had begged her for food. The Einsteins was the closest place she could find.
“Mommy,” Lily whined, “Why do we have to go to Aunt Vivi’s and Aunt Heather’s wedding?”
“Because, Lily, we love Aunt Vivi and Aunt Heather,” Oak replied for Jude, while she herself muttered, “Because it took them long enough.”
When they finally made it to their seats on the place, Oak had been tasked with carrying the carry-ons because Lily had insisted on being picked up. She was now asleep.
“Ok, Oak, we’ve got a five hour flight with a four year old. And I have got to get this case sorted out,” when she turned to Oak, the twelve year old seemed to be asleep as well, “Great,” she muttered and buckled them both in.
By the time they landed in Portland, Jude was ready to pull her hair out from all the “are we there yets?” she received and the “can you please shut up your children” looks. As they walked to the rental car, Jude realized that she might actually have to face her problems today or tomorrow or maybe even the next day. Because Jude knows Vivi. Jude knows that Vivi invited Taryn, so Taryn brought Locke, which means Cardan knows and will show, and Vivi is getting married which means Madoc and Orianna will be there, which in turn means the Nicasia will probably come as well. So Jude will not only face the big glaring problem that is her child’s lineage, but also the other five problems that happen to go along with the big one.
“Mom?” Oak asked.
“Yes Oak?”
“What do I call them? Madoc and Orianna and Cardan and Locke?”
“Oak,” she looked at him in the passenger seat, “You can call them whatever you want.”
“What about if they ask why I call you mom?” he asked.
“You tell them the truth, Oak. You tell them that I raised you. That I helped you through the chicken pox and pneumonia and your first bad grade and you first break up. They have no right to judge, they weren’t good enough for you.”
“Ok,” he said and continued to look out the window.
About two hours later, one hour longer then the original ride to the hotel should’ve been due to the bathroom and food breaks, Jude finally stepped out of the car. Vivi was standing out front and ran to her, pulling Jude into a hug.
“How I’ve missed you little sister!” she squealed, “Heather!” she shouted behind her, “Look who finally made it!”
Heather walked out and looked at Jude and Vivi. She ran to them and hugged Jude, “It’s been too long future sister-in-law,” she said calmly. “Did you bring Lily?”
“I did. Couldn’t find anyone to watch my kids for five days. Oak, help your sister get out of the car.”
The door to the hotel opened and out walked Cardan, Locke, and Taryn all talking and laughing. Crunching behind Jude broke her out of her stare.
“Mommy,” Lily said, “Up.” She put her hands up, gesturing to be picked up, which Jude did immediately.
“Lily, this is your Aunty Heather,” Jude said, pointing to the women.
Heather waved and asked, “Jude, what’s her full name?”
Vivi snorted.
“Her full name is Lilith Rose Duarte, why?” Jude asked. She saw Taryn take note of her.
“No reason,” Heather hummed.
Jude gasped, “Do you know?”
“Know what?” Taryn asked, holding hands with Locke, Cardan standing on the other side.
“Nothing Taryn,” she grimaced, “This is my daughter Lily, sweetheart, this is your Aunt Taryn and your Uncle Locke.”
“Hi,” she said and waved before hiding her face in her mother’s shoulder.
“Can we, uh,” Jude paused, seeing Cardan’s intense stare on Lily, “Go to our rooms? Lily needs a nap and Oak could probably use some peace as well.”
Vivi nodded and led them into the hotel.
“Are you going to tell him?” Vivi asked,
“Only if he asks.”
~~~~
Jude, Lily and Oak walked downstairs to where dinner was being held. She spotted the party in the corner of the restaurant and headed over.
“Hi everybody,” she said, “You all remember Oak,” they all waved and smiled and cooed, which he found disgusting, “and this is my daughter Lily,” she said, looking down the the four year old. Nobody said or did anything for her. “Oh boy,” she mumbled before sitting down, and helping Lily get situated.
The waiter came around and asked for drinks, Oak asked for coke, Lily for chocolate milk, and Jude as for a glass of white wine. She could see them judging. Dinner was relatively smooth. Jude could see the judgement at her and Lily, but Oak did his best to defend them. It was clear that what was present of the royal court of Elfhame was not used to eating with a functional family. Now, while Jude would definitely not call her family functional, she was biased because she had had this family for the last five years.
After Jude had put Oak and Lily to bed, she accepted Vivi’s offer for coffee in the lobby.
“Jude, eventually you’ll have to tell him that he’s a father,” Vivi says, while Heather, who’s sitting next to her agrees.
“I know that if I had a kid somewhere out there I would want to know. Cardan might actually want to have a kid, have you thought about that?” Heather asked.
“I mean, no. He might want to have kids but Vivi, he exiled me. I don’t think I can be with someone who took me for granted and then embarrassed me because he got pissed off and bored.” Jude took a sip of her tea while ignoring text messages and calls coming in from the office.
“Did you know that he hasn’t been with anyone since you left, Jude?” Taryn walked up to the table and sat down.
“How do you know?” Jude asked, while declining another call.
“Lily has his eyes. Is she glamoured all the time to look human, like Oak?”
“Yeah, that was one of the first things Oak taught her when she was old enough to understand. For a while Oak was always glamouring her for me.” Another call.
“Are you going to answer that?” Heather asked handing Jude her phone.
“No, I took the week off. I got done the work that needed to happen on the plane ride in.”
“What do you do now?” asked Taryn.
“I’m an intern at a law firm in LA.”
Taryn looked as though she was about to ask another question, but quickly stopped talking when she saw Cardan walking toward the group, “Vivi, Heather I think we need to go,” the happy couple saw who was walking towards Jude and vacated the table. Heather sent her a look that could’ve only meant “good luck” before leaving.
“Wife,” he said.
“Husband, what can I do for you?”
“Is she mine?” he asked softly.
“Who, Lily? Of course-” he cut her off.
“I don’t want to hear your bullshit excuses. She looks like me. So I’ll ask this once again, is she mine?”
“Yes,” she said, looking into her tea.
“Why? Why did you hide her? Why did you leave? Why didn’t you tell me?” His rapid crossfire of questions threw her off. She thought he would be mad, not interested in her choices.
“Cardan, when I found out, I was so mad at you. I was mad that you had lied to me, that you had exiled me,” she stopped, tears were streaming down her face, “I was mad that you had made me fall in love with you.”
“You love me?” he asked softly.
“Yes, and if you think that Lily hasn’t grown up knowing her father, then you’re wrong. I told her tales of the great king who saved his people. I told her stories of how you had saved me from my own misery, no matter how horrible you were in the beginning. Cardan, she knows her father to be a kind and understanding man, but it’s been so long. Are you the same?” Jude was crying, she had always wanted Cardan to know his daughter, her middle name was a pull from his last name for God’s sake.
“I’m better Jude. Just ask Madoc or Nicasia or even Locke. I became better,” he dropped to his knees in front of her, “Jude, please let me be in her life. I relinquish your exile, I welcome you back to the courts, please Jude,” he was crying now, “Let me be her father. Let her know me.”
“I can’t,” she sobbed, clutching his shoulders which sagged in disappointment, “We have a life in LA, I have a job, Oak has school. We can’t just return to faerie.”
“Then don’t!” he shouted, getting looks from other customers who were witnessing all that was going on, “Just, return to Maine, we can figure it out from there. I need you to be closer to me, Jude. I need Lily and Oak to be closer to me. Please.”
She smiled and said, “When Vivi told me she was getting married, do you know what I said in response?” He shook his head, “I told her that I had decided that I was going to be her future kids Godmother. But I can’t be their Godmother from across the country. I put in for a transfer to the partner firm. It’s not in Maine, it’s in Massachusetts. Which, is close. Is that okay?” He nodded. “Good, now I have to take this call and make sure that Lily and Oak are okay. Would you like to do lunch with us tomorrow? We can start with proper introductions there.”
“I would like that very much.” He stood up and offered his hand to her. She took it with a giggle and they walked to the elevator together.
~~~
The End.