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rhegar · 11 years ago

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All It Takes Is Time

For the beautiful Annabel on her birthday!

I'd said I'd write something Jessa but the idea that came to me was something even better: Herongraystairs! I hope you like it and I hope my writing hasn't gone rusty because I literally haven't written anything in ages.

Rate: E

Ship: Herongraystairs

Type: Modern day AU

Place: New York City

Storyline: Two years after their girlfriend Tessa decided to break up and go to Munich for work, Jem and Will decide it's time to refill their home with a third person. On the day they were going to the orphanage to adopt, Tessa reappears with an unexpected surprise.

"Boy or girl?"

Jem thought before answering.

"Hmmm... I don't know. I guess we'll just... go, and if one of the children is destined to be ours, we'll know."

Will smiled that devilish smile of his, and bit his croissant.

The couple were sprawled under the blanket, eating breakfast. Two months ago, which was almost two years after their girlfriend, Tessa, had broken up with them to go to Munich for her work, they had decided the house was too lonely. They had loved each other enough, but they had wanted a third person with them. Especially that Will usually came from work before Jem, and he complained about being alone an hour every day. And that was when they decided to go forward with an old plan.

Before Tessa had broken up with them, they had wanted a baby.

But then Tessa was offered the job in a magazine in Munich. It was probably the most important auto magazine in the world. She had asked Will and Jem to come with her, but Jem had had his work in the music hall, and Will in the New York Times; he was a writer too, in politics.

She told them there were plenty of opportunities in Munich for Jem, and the same for Will. But it was difficult to move. Will was taking care of his aunt who was severely ill and had no one else, and Jem was expecting better opportunities at work soon, and if he had to move to Munich, he'd have to begin from the scratch. In the end, no one could make it work. Tessa left.

It was difficult to make it through that, but they had helped each other. And now, it was time to pretend like things were always like this. It was time for a child. They'd wanted to be parents for a while.

When they finished breakfast, they got up and dressed.

Will groaned while Jem was wearing his scarf.

"How can you always be so classy and elegant? A waistcoat and a tie and a scarf... you just need a back cloak to finish off the look. And here I am like... "Do you like this tan pullover? I got it on sale."."

Jem laughed and kissed his partner's cheek.

And then they heard the doorbell.

Jem frowned. "Bad timing. Are we expecting somebody?"

"Nope. I've got that."

Will went to answer the door, while Jem mumbled a tune to himself.

Will thought to himself that it was an exceptionally bad timing. They'd made an appointment with the director of the orphanage, and hated to get late and look like unreliable people as a first impression. And, they hadn't been expecting anybody. His assistant only comes unannounced like that when there's a literal disaster at work, which he hadn't been expecting; things had been going smoothly...

He opened the door, and froze in his place.

He hadn't realized how much he'd missed her face.

"Hi, Will." She said, and smiled. "Can I come in?"

****************

Tessa sat opposite them on a chair... And on her lap, sat a little girl, barely over a year. The girl had hair with a very familiar shade of brown, and brown eyes, and a pale skin. She was so beautiful... and looked familiar around every single feature.

You didn't exactly salute your ex-girlfriend by asking her whose daughter she was carrying, especially if you hadn't broken up on very bad terms.

"How have things been going?" she asked, still smiling. How could she keep smiling the whole time? Women were so solid, Jem thought to himself. He and Will looked like they were hit by an atomic bomb.

Still, Will couldn't talk, yet Jem had received the surprise more gracefully.

"We're doing great, Tessa. Yeah, Will's last article was a blast, and my shows have been going pretty well, and I have a contract now... we're good. How are you? And..." he pointed at the little girl and smiled.

"Dara."

"Hi Dara. How is she?"

"She's great. And I've been doing pretty well in Munich. They've just moved me to the US branch, which means I'm back in New York."

"You're back? For good?"

"Yeah."

A moment of awkward silence followed.

"So... I wanted to talk to you guys."

Jem gave her the kind of look that said "listening" while Will just stared.

"So, when we left... when I left, I mean... we hadn't meant for it to be bitter, there were no hard feelings. I still love you guys. And I hope you don't totally hate me either." she laughed nervously.

Will sighed, and finally spoke.

"Look, Tessie, it was hard to do it without you. We missed you everyday, I still bought three cupcakes at the store out of impulse and then remembered on the way home, Jem still heard you in every single note he ever wrote... but that wasn't all. I mean, yes, no hard feelings and all, but still, there was always this bitter thought... that you chose something else over us."

"You guys chose something else over me."

"Let's say Jem was going to leave New York and find some job in Munich, there's plenty to go for a musician there, but what about me? I'm a writer in politics, I write about America because it's what I know, it's what I can do, there in Germany... what could I write? And oh, not to mention my aunt who has cancer and whom I can't leave alone."

"And I had the best job opportunity I could ever hope for and I simply couldn't waste it. We're equal in this situation, Will."

"Tessa..." Jem said in a calm tone. "You've asked if we hate you, and I think you know the answer."

"We never could." Will confirmed.

She didn't talk.

"Is she your daughter?" Will asked suddenly.

Tessa breathed, trying to remain calm. "Will..."

"No."

"She's ours." She looked from one boy to the other.

***************

They looked about for a while for something for Dara to play with, and found two old teddy bears the boys had given Tessa in one valentine's day, and all three had laughed at it back then.

After they finally checked for the room's safety and locked it, they stormed outside for a talk.

"Are you trying to tell us," said Jem, "that we had a baby about two years and a half ago but you didn't even think to call us?"

"Look, I didn't want you to think I'd expected things from you two! I had enough money to raise her on my own, we were happy and I hoped you two were happy and would do without any complications... I mean, I was in Munich, and you two were settling here and you'd already refused to move once... what were you going to do?"

"I don't know, something! I'm just saying it was our right to know that we'd had a daughter!"

"With the distance and all, all it was going to do was complicate your lives!"

"And now you're here and you want to talk because..." it was Will.

She sighed.

"Now I'm here, for good. And I want for her to grow up with her fathers as well as her mother. I understand if you don't want me back, if you don't want us to begin again, but give her a chance at least." She looked so full of hope. She wanted a family back.

"Do you understand why this is difficult for us? We'd moved on, Tessa. We've made it over everything together. Today we were going to adopt. And now you're here... with our daughter."

It was probably the second time Jem had ever said something that hurt her. The first was when he told her there was absolutely no way he could go to Munich.

Her face darkened slowly. The light of enthusiasm went out of her eyes.

"I understand. I do. I... you know where my apartment is. I understand if you still want to move on from me completely, and even if you want to move on from us completely. I can raise her alone, I have no problem with that. But if you want to see her at any time... you'll be welcome."

She got up, unlocked the guest room's door, and took her child and left.

*****************

"I called the orphanage and apologized. They asked me if I wanted to reschedule, I said not at the moment."

Jem was deep in thought.

"Will."

Will was silent. Then he swallowed and said, "I know. I need a drink. Drink?"

Jem nodded. Will got up again and poured them cups of brandy. They both swallowed the whole cup at once.

"Look, she just can't do that. She can't leave for two years, then show up at our door with our 19 months old daughter we didn't even know existed and say she wants back in. How could she destroy everything like that?"

"Will..."

"Jem, look, we'll get over this. She's our daughter. We can stop by from time to time, make sure she has someone to call dad, but... this was so low of Tessa."

"No, Will, it wasn't." Jem sighed, and went to pour himself another cup of brandy. "Think of what you would do if you were her. And you do not really feel like it's low of her, you're just angry because you really really miss her, and you can't forget how she left you. She left us."

"Yes, okay? But how can we get back, Jem?"

"We can't. Not right away. I'm sure that wasn't what she was asking. We could give ourselves time, and then we'll have a family. A real family."

"We would have had a real family if she hadn't come today and we'd went to the orphanage as planned."

"And now we get to have her as part of this family too, and our biological daughter."

"I just... I can't."

"Not at all? You need time, Will. So do I, so does she."

Will didn't say anything. He just went for the whole bottle of brandy.

"Do you want to get drunk?"

"Oh, let's not. I was saying we need time. Maybe we shouldn't invite her to move in right away, maybe we should make baby steps. First a few dates, we could talk... all it takes is time. Time heals everything, Will."

"So does brandy," said Will, waving the bottle seductively.

Jem sighed. "Maybe."

*****************

It had been three days since her disappointing meeting with Will and Jem.

Tessa had only hoped for her family back together. Her little girl, growing up with her mother and fathers.

She had loved them so much. She hadn't meant to bail. She had only wanted to do something for herself. To prove how good she was at what she was doing.

And she had been so good they hadn't minded moving her to New York's branch when she asked. She had been waiting for that moment, when she could be proven so good she could have both her career and her family.

Her daughter was playing with two dolls at her feet. She was mumbling in two different notes, imagining them taking turns at a conversation. She had been so clever and sweet, she deserved better than a mother alone...

And then she heard the doorbell.

She headed to answer it with an absent mind, and her mind was still absent when she saw the balloon.

It was a big balloon, shaped like a heart with the words "Are you free this weekend?" printed in pink, and the ribbon by which it hung was kept on the ground by two familiar, old teddy bears and a box of chocolate put on top of it.

At first, she couldn't think. This is surely a mistake. She hoped the poor person who's done it had still lingered by so that their money wouldn't go to waste...

But then she remembered the teddy bears. And that was when Will and Jem emerged from the hallway.

"Hey!" She smiled and hugged them. She hugged Will first, then Jem.

Will was shameless to go inside uninvited, and carry his daughter. The little girl looked surprised and shy at first, then started laughing.

"So, question's on the balloon." Jem said.

"Hmmm... Do you guys have something in mind?"

"We were thinking the orphanage. We've promised the director we were going. Maybe Dara will have a little brother or sister if she's lucky. Do you mind?"

"No. That would be lovely."

"That's settled, then."

And they kissed.

"Are you guys coming in?" Will called, and they laughed, and walked in. Tessa held the balloon happily, smiling like an idiot, thinking to herself that she looked like a child. A happy child, she reminded herself that was all that mattered.

*******************

#her0ngraystairs #will herondale #jem carstairs #tessa gray #the infernal devices #tid #fanfic

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