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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 16:55:31 GMT -5
He shook his head at her. He was still trying to wrap his brain around being a father, and all she wanted to do was take it away from him. "What would you know about suddenly learning there's a piece of you out there? You've had 16 years to adjust to being a parent! I've barely had 16 minutes!" His rage overflowed and he couldn't contain himself any longer. With a fiery orange blast from the tip of his wand, the picture that hung on the wall behind Diana burst into a thousand pieces. "16 years!" he bellowed. "You had 16 years to tell me and you kept her a secret from me! Why? To punish me for leaving a stupid little girl who couldn't keep my interest for more than a week?!"
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 17:17:44 GMT -5
If he had been paying attention the color had gone from her face as it hit home that he was going through what she had gone through, except she was the innocent party. But as he continued her face went from colorless to flushed as anger mounted and poured from every inch of her tiny frame.
Wand or not, Diana was through listening to him. She jumped from the chair and slapped him as hard as her small body would allow, then she brought her fist back and decked him for good measure.
"That's right Christian. You left. You left and you disappeared. And that stupid little girl looked for you you, she looked for eight months to tell you that you had left something behind. And while she was looking for you she was ran down by a drunk carriage driver. She spent four months in the hospital recovering, and four years in the psychiatric hospital for attempting suicide after believing her daughter had died in the accident. She spent another ten years believing her daughter had died until her father told her that to spare her the shame of being an unwed mother, he sent the baby away."
She was hurling each revelation in his direction as if they were weapons, "Indeed what would I know about suddenly learning there's a piece of myself out there somewhere? What would I know about feeling the child that was ripped out of my body was still alive and being told I was delusional and crazy for four years? What would I know about years of being a mother to a dead child? Punishment? None of it would have happened if you hadn't disappeared! You didn't care about the consequences of leaving then, you don't get to care about them now!" she screamed at him.
"Alyx is mine."
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 18:08:16 GMT -5
Her slap stung his cheek and his jaw throbbed when her fist had connected with his face. His chest heaved with deep, furious breaths. The only thing that stopped him from smacking her was her admonishing him for assuming he knew the whole story. He had only gleaned a small fraction of Diana's thoughts before, but as she spewed her history for him in hateful tones, Christian felt a weird sensation in the pit of his stomach. His sneer faded, though his heart continued to pump furiously within his chest.
With more control in his voice now, he said "you don't get to keep her all to yourself. She's not yours alone." The evening had begun with Christian wanting to discover what had happened to Diana and in one hate-filled monologue he had achieved his goal. But the victory was bitter-sweet. He now had a daughter and a contract on her mother.
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 18:22:11 GMT -5
Diana didn't add that in the year and a half since learning she was a mother, she had spiraled down a dark and twisted path. She was dangerous, and no one was telling her what she could and could not do.
"How are you going to stop me?" she asked. She wasn't willing to share her daughter with this virtual stranger who had left her all those years ago. Then she sighed and turned away from him walking to the bed and sitting down.
"She's sixteen...she's not a baby or a child. I don't know that either one of us would be able to make a connection...no matter what we wanted."
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 18:38:12 GMT -5
He had no answer for her. The Veritaserum had finally worn off and he was free to keep his thoughts to himself. But as Diana moved to the bed and bemoaned about the loss of time with her daughter, Christian understood that there was still more to her story that he didn't know.
Again, Christian filled in the gaps with assumptions. He had assumed that Diana had kept his child secret from him while raising her. He was wrong. And now he assumed that Alyx had spent the last few years with her mother. But Diana's sorrow punctured that belief. "Where is Alyx now?"
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 18:53:42 GMT -5
"I don't know" she answered honestly. She hadn't been able to devote her entire energy in looking for Alyx as much as she had cleaning out her father's company.
"My father wanted to make sure there'd be no trace back to me so it hasn't been easy trying to find her."
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 19:15:11 GMT -5
If Diana hadn't spent the better part of the last hour restraining him, interrogating him, and threatening him, Christian might have sat with her and comforted her. But her paranoia and anger had earned her a place on that bed by herself. Christian remained standing, staring at her as he tried to reconcile the many layers of this tale with his own mind. Silently, he set Diana's wand on the table behind him. He didn't trust her with it, but he saw no need to keep it captive for the moment.
Christian had connections through his work, wizards who were skilled at finding people who wanted to remain hidden. The trail wasn't normally so cold, but he might have more luck than she was having. Obviously she hadn't committed all her resources to finding their daughter as she had time to ruffle enough feathers and earn her an assassination. "I know some men who might be able to locate her."
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 19:25:37 GMT -5
Something snapped in Diana's mind, maybe it was the stress of the evening, or the absurdity of it, but she started laughing. It took her a moment to calm down.
"And then what Christian?" she asked. She wasn't about to tell him that she had enemies, she didn't know that he might have had them too, she also didn't know that he was hers. But aside from all their secrets one thing was very clear and funny in Diana's mind. They were a mess, Christian was terrible, Diana was a disaster. They had no right intruding upon this girl's life.
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 19:35:47 GMT -5
Diana's maniacal moment of clarity struck Christian like cold water. Yes, he could potentially find her using his henchmen. The henchmen who worked for him because he was a mobster and a hit wizard, when he wasn't moonlighting as a Death Eater. If he did want to be a father, what sort of father would he be? Did he even want to be a father? He would need time to process.
"Well f*ck if I know, Diana!"
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 19:45:56 GMT -5
She smiled, but there was no humor in her eyes. Diana was in the same boat, she had been sailing in it for a while now.
Despite all she had done to him that evening, and all he had done to her years ago, she felt for him in that moment. She knew what it was like to discover you were a parent after years of thinking otherwise. Their pains were different, but Diana could understand.
It happened then as she was studying him in his confusion, just a small ridiculous idea that was completely impossible but strangely appealing. She had experienced so many emotions that evening, perhaps it was the fact that she was overwhelmed, maybe it was something else, but she asked him anyway, "Do you really want to find her?"
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 20:15:08 GMT -5
Christian was silent for a moment, trying to process all of the information and organize his thoughts. Did he really want to find his daughter? She'd lived her entire life not knowing who he was, so if the answer was no it would change nothing for Alyx. But Christian was selfish and wasn't considering what might affect Alyx. He thought of himself. What would he do if he were suddenly responsible for a child? A teenager, really. A daughter. How would he feel going about his life, knowing his child was out there somewhere? Could he carry on?
Would he feel guilty or relieved to leave her missing?
Guilty, he decided. "I can't bloody well not, now can I?"
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 20:33:28 GMT -5
Diana wasn't aware of the strangely tender expression she wore while looking at him. If she was she would have dropped it immediately. She also didn't know anything about him other than she had loved him when she was younger, still obviously had a chemistry with him now, and they both had a teenage daughter.
Diana had been alone for so long, first in her pregnancy, then after in the hospital and psych ward. Believing her child had died caused her to push everyone away, and since learning that her child was alive she had been fighting assassins and corrupt business men. She had Derek and Whistler, but there was something different about Christian. Perhaps it was because they both had something to lose. They had the same thing to lose: Alyx.
She felt uncomfortable, vulnerable now that the truth was out.
"I would have told you." she said finally, "When I found her...I would have told you."
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 20:46:38 GMT -5
She was softer now. Her hard edge remained, but she now resembled something closer to what he remembered of her from their youth. But there was something in her words that didn't sound right. Was it pity? No, he didn't think so. It was the sensitivity in her tone, it had been left unused for too long.
Christian moved to the chair where she had sat earlier. His wand still in his hand, he sat. "That's an easy thing to say now, isn't it?" He wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to her statement. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to any of this. Every possible action seemed wrong. It went against nature to find out you were a parent after the child was grown and before you met them. Everything was out of order.
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 20:59:56 GMT -5
"Nothing about this is easy Christian." She responded harshly. It's true though, she would have told him, she was lied to for so long, she wouldn't have lied to him as well, but she had to be sure it was safe to reveal Alyx to the world. She still wasn't sure her secret was safe with him.
She let the silence keep until she couldn't stand it, "What now?"
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 21:09:02 GMT -5
He was still angry. And confused. It had been a very disturbing night and he was tired. But his brain wouldn't rest. Christian was standing on a landmine. One wrong move and he'd be ripped to shreds. He had choices to make, the severity of his actions would quickly reach critical mass.
"Drinks," he answered. Drinks and silence, followed by many decisions tomorrow.
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 21:22:07 GMT -5
"Nightstand." she answered, the drawer hid a bottle of firewhiskey. If there was one thing Diana did not lack, it was alcohol.
She still wasn't prepared for him to leave the room. Her fears and paranoia were in place for good reason.
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 21:32:38 GMT -5
Christian looked to the nightstand. He lifted his wand, then hesitated. Instead, he stood and walked to the nightstand, pulled the drawer open, and removed the bottle. He sat on the bed next to Diana and pulled the stopper from the bottle.
"Sixteen years," he said to himself as he drank from the bottle. "We've had a daughter for 16 years and we've never even met her." He passed the firewhiskey to Diana. He repressed the urge to apologize to her. It would have been the noble thing to do, but Christian didn't have it in him at the moment. In time he would, but not now.
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 21:37:47 GMT -5
She took the bottle from him and drank deeply. Diana didn't need an apology, she understood how he had felt, and she technically was the one who tied him up and drugged him, not that she'd be apologizing anytime soon either.
She closed her eyes at his statement and swallowed the urge to cry out of bitterness.
"Damn Marcus Crawford to hell." she said though she didn't mean it. It was hard to hate her father despite what he had done. He was dead, out of her grasp, and for so long he had been the tender loving man she cared for, but for one awful decision that ruined all their lives.
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Post by Christian Ward on Oct 8, 2016 22:44:57 GMT -5
Christian realized only after he saw her face that his statement had been insensitive. And inaccurate. Christian had never met their daughter, but Diana carried Alyx inside of her for eight months. She had known Alyx much more intimately than he ever could have, even if he had raised Alyx himself.
Diana cursed her father, and secretly Christian joined her. There was no way of telling what his life would have looked like were he to have known about Alyx from the start, but their daughter was an innocent bystander and had deserved the chance to know her parents. Even if Christian could not be a good father, she still deserved a father of some sort.
He sighed and rested a hand on her leg in comfort.
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Post by Diana Ward on Oct 8, 2016 22:57:07 GMT -5
She took another long sip of the firewhiskey and made a face before handing it back to him.
She didn't recognize his hand on her leg as comfort, but she felt it and something else. Warmth. Acceptance. They may have a sordid history, and were miles apart, but they were stuck in the same boat now. It was comforting. Diana wasn't alone.
She noticed the red marks on his wrist from where she had tied him up. Without thinking she leaned over him to the nightstand again and picked up a jar of medical salve. It was a gesture, not much of one considering the night, but they were damaged people, even small gestures counted.
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