Sea Legs (Updated 09*21*19)
After a little encouragement from other players I've finally decided to "move" my story from another thread to this one. Moves in quotes simply because I'm not moving anything, just copying the posts...
Forum Discussion
When Ammon and Shari had finished sharing the story of their beginnings, silence hung in the air only for a moment. "So, you just abandon us??" Niella questioned flatly. "Little one, I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for your mother. Why don't we give her a chance?" Ammon proposed gently. Niella shrugged "Who's stopping her, Dad? I just asked the question." Niella responded, clearly reacting to the pain of growing up without her mother.
https://i.imgur.com/LLkaT6W.jpg
Shari then told them all of the events that only she knew. "I knew that if I were going to keep you safe I was going to have to face them, which I could not have done with you at my side" she glanced at Ammon. "At best my people would have kept us all prisoner for the rest of our days. What kind of mother would I have been to willingly put my child in that situation??" She continued "So I did the only thing I could think to do. I changed the game by changing the play, as my dad would say when he was about to beat me at chess. I took the artifact from the temple, I hid it, and then told them that if they ever wanted to have it again that no harm would come to us by their hands. But such a gamble came at great expense. They didn't want my defiance of their laws to encourage others to do the same. They demanded that I never see or speak of you again, that I give up my family's royal position, and my very people forever - that I walk os ánthropos - as man. That I give up my tail and scales." Shari gripped her heart. She had never said the words out loud and the heartache was so overwhelming Shari could actually feel every fracture at her core.
https://i.imgur.com/PhWNF8D.jpg
Karlie tried to let her mother's words sink in. Her mother use to be a mermaid?? Her best friend turned out to be her half sister, a genie?? "Wait, please slow down mom. Are you saying that they made you turn into a human?? I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with Niella as a sister, and now you're telling me you're human, but you use to be mer... What am I?? Am I human??" Karlie pled. Shari swallowed hard "Not exactly." "Not exactly?? What does that even mean 'not exactly'??" Karlie demanded. Shari steadied herself. "You see, for a mer to become human we have to visit an appointed mágissa, a person trained in the ways of magic. This was not our people's ways but there were times where such a skill set could be useful so the royal court has always maintained relations with at least one. I was sent to one here, in Isla Paradiso. I was granted the right of my last swim from there to here. I took my time, knowing they'd be the last days of what I had known my entire life. It took me almost two months... By the time I had gotten here, I realized I was pregnant.. with you. So the witch offered me a choice. She was old, so very old. And had never had a child. She didn't much like them, never wanted them. But she didn't want her family's magical heritage to end. So she told me that I could either agree to allow her to pass her magic on to you, or explain your existence to the royal court. Please understand, Karlie. Everything was so complicated. My life had been nothing to prepare me for these impossible decisions. So I drank two elixers that day. One to turn me human, and one to turn you" "witch" Karlie finished. "My entire life has been a lie. And the worst part is not finding out that I can't trust you, because in my head I can understand why you made the choices you made. It's finding out that you don't trust me. You chose not to. Why haven't you told me?? I don't even know who I am now.. I mean, am I .. wait.." Karlie stopped, she counted under her breath on her fingers. Her eyes widened. She looked up at Ammon "Are you my father??" she asked, almost bewildered.
https://i.imgur.com/eeJHyAs.jpg
"Is he, mom??" Karlie demanded. Ammon and Niella, this thought having not occurred to either of them, both gasped as Shari said "Well who else would it be, Karlie Ana?!" When Shari realized what she had just said out loud, she slowly looked over to Ammon. And then, almost inaudibly she said "I've told you 100 times that I have only and would only ever be with your father." Ammon sat stunned. In fact everyone did.
https://i.imgur.com/FXvgge2.jpg
"Now I think I really might pass out." Karlie said, clearly just as overwhelmed as when the evening started. "And with that," Raj, who had been perfectly quiet up till this point, stood up and looked at Ammon and Shari "and all due respect, I'm going to interrupt this... no offense but bizarre Jerry Springer episode so that my pregnant wife, who hasn't eaten since lunch and who spent this afternoon literally over a hot grill for our guests, can get some sustenance. I'm going to take her out on the back deck to get some fresh air and eat the sausages that survived. I invite you all to do the same." Connor and Raj helped the girls to their feet and sat them down at the picnic table first and handed them a plate before sitting across from them. Shari sat down in the patio chair next to Karlie which left the only seat for Ammon directly across from Shari. As Shari sat down she looked to her daughter's face to tell her how sorry she was, she was overcome with emotion when she noticed her daughter silently gazing at her father, a look of hope Shari had never seen in Karlie's eyes before. Ammon was too enraptured by his true and only love sitting across from him to notice, which filled Karlie with a well spring of love for Ammon. The fact that she already knew how much her mother had, and obviously still, meant to him before Karlie even knew his first name flooded her heart. She turned away just before Ammon let his gaze follow from his love to daughter to daughter. He closed his eyes and took in a long deep breath and then picked up his sausage and bit into it.
https://i.imgur.com/iWqXCiX.jpg
Everyone ate their hours-cold sausages in uncomfortable silence as they processed the night's events. No one could really get a firm grasp on reality no matter how still the houseboat was on the water that evening. It was if everyone had walked into a very small tilting ice rink, in their socks. It was a lot to process. The single attempt to break the silence was when Connor randomly blurted "You know Karlie, these sausages might even be better cold." Niella put her's down and stared directly at Connor, obviously not enjoying his but trying to make others think he was. "Really, Connor? Really??" Niella said, barely moving her lips. Ammon immediately looked at Shari, hoping she'd recognize her own biting sarcasm coming from her daughter. When he saw her eyes were already saying the same thing to him, they both broke out snickering. Niella picked up her sausage and bit into it, eyes burrowing into Connor with a glare so pointed he spent the rest of his dinner avoiding eye contact with her.
https://i.imgur.com/V6xjqqg.jpg
As everyone was clearing the plates and leftovers from dinner, Karlie caught her mom gazing out at the sea with that same hope that Shari had seen in her own eyes earlier. "Hey why don't you stay and enjoy the evening air, mom?" Karlie suggested softly and reached down to give her mom's hand a squeeze. Sheri squeezed her daughter's hand in return and nodded yes. As Connor and Raj did the dishes and put away leftovers, Karlie caught Niella on her way upstairs. "Hey yeah so how crazy was that?" she said. "Beyond." Niella returned. Then she said "I want to apologize if I came off hostile at your mo... at ou.. at Mom. I hope you know I've always loved her to death, it was just so much. I guess I just let that moment of frustration out." Niella truly did love Shari, though she was still having a hard time reconciling that with the sadness of growing up without her.
https://i.imgur.com/Pw2jf6c.jpg
"Trust me," I understand. It's been a very... unexpected and overwhelming day for everyone I guess. I suppose maybe somehow we always knew? I mean I think we both loved each other like sisters long before we knew we actually were. Whatever happens, how ever any of this turns out, can we maybe promise that we always will?" Karlie asked in a rare moment of vulnerability. She had always seemed like the reserved one while Niella was the more expressive in the friendship but now she felt as fragile as she ever had. Niella responded "Karlie, I will always be here, I will always love you. I promise with my whole heart" and she wrapped her arms around her little sister. She felt the brick in her throat as she managed to eke out "that's what big sisters are for" before giving her sister a extra long hug.
https://i.imgur.com/He0wslr.jpg
Ammon saw Shari sitting at the patio table gazing out to the dark of the waters. He remembered how she use to love the night as he looked out across it. If he closed his eyes he could hear the sands of Egypt and feel the tickle of her hair blowing across his face as they looked up at the night sky. He knew because he had stood outside countless nights and thought that very thing until he could take it no longer. Sometimes he forced himself to, almost as a punishment for losing her. It was a very bitter but deeply cherished memory. "Beautiful night" he said, because he literally couldn't think of a single thing else to say. "Mmm. Yes it is" Shari said quietly and looked back out to sea. Eventually she asked Ammon if he'd like to join her, pointing to the seat across from her. Ammon accepted and sat down. He simply could not believe his wife was seated across from him.
https://i.imgur.com/1Z8OGMo.jpg
"I'm not sure how this goes," Ammon said, shrugging his shoulders. They had both fantasized about this moment countless times but neither of them were prepared for it this way. In fact neither of them really actually prepared for the moment at all. "I'm sure you have something you must want to say to me, or ask me?" Shari offered. Though she still believed her decision was the right one, that belief was also wrapped in a thick layer of heartbroken guilt. "I just want to know why, Adrastria? Did I appear so weak a man that you thought I couldn't keep you and our daught.. Daughters safe??" "Is that what you think?? That I left because I thought you were weak?? Hapi you are the strongest man I've ever known. That is why I left Kynthia with you. Because I knew no matter what they did to me, you would keep her safe. That if I didn't know where she was that she and you would be safe, out in the world and that if she was with you that you would always protect her" Shari so desperately needed to explain.
https://i.imgur.com/CzPVgKq.jpg
"Hapi I know I can never ask you to forgive me, but I do with my whole heart hope some day you understand. And maybe that both of our daughters do someday too." Sheri's voice cracked and tears pooled in her eyes before spilling over her cheek. "And I will do anything, anything for that" she said, a steeled determination renewing her voice in resolve. "Well the first thing I need to know is are the girls safe?? Is this relic still hidden?? Do they still not know about Karlie??" Ammon questioned soberly. "Oh, *snf* they're both totally safe. They even have the relic back." "I'm sorry, what??" Ammon said, almost sternly. "The law was abolished... by the demand of the people.." Shari went on to explain that despite their best efforts and even banishing Shari to Sunlit Tides, Adrastria's story of sacrifice and heartbreak resonated throughout her people like the ballad of a legendary hero until eventually the law was abolished by royal decree. "I didn't even know about it until Mer started showing up in the news around Isla Paradiso six-seven years ago. By then they had witnessed the discovery of so many supernaturals - vampires, werewolves, fae, the young ones - or well the ones our age, had rallied and convinced the old ones to share their history with the world. They chose here because they had already been swimming these waters since fleeing the battle of Greece in 1941."
https://i.imgur.com/LeOgtQQ.jpg
"I actually know that last bit, or at least knew that the local legends of them here were strong, it's why I chose here to raise our daughter. Taught her - well taught us both how to scuba dive, just hoping to find something that would lead us to you. I did run into one mermaid, when Niella was 15 or 16. I asked her about you she very nervously told me you had been "sent away" and then she swam away forever. I came to the same diving spot every day trying to find her again until the Egyptian Embassy came knocking on our door to question me about Mesbah." "Oh no, Hapi!" Shari exclaimed! "No, no it's alright now, my love I mean, uh, ... Adrastria. In exchange for immunity for both of us, I agreed to go back to work for Morcucorp undercover until there was enough evidence to shut them down forever. That's really what I was doing there, well that and trying to find out anything I could about where you were." Ammon explained. "Oh Hapi, do you think Niella will ever find it in her heart forgive me?? Or you??" Shari's eyes had started to fill again.
https://i.imgur.com/CI0wjDC.jpg
"Listen, I cannot speak for Niella, I can only speak of her." Ammon said gently. "And the young woman I know her to be is forgiving, and understanding, and non-judgmental. And she grew up wanting to know her mother more than anything in the whole world. Right now that hurts but the daughter I know in my heart will eventually see that for what I see it as - a miracle that the universe has given us. How could it be anything less?" And just like that, like the first trickle of a spring thaw, both Ammon and Shari slipped from the darkness they had been in for the last 26 years and into the warmth of love they had for each other. Soon they found themselves sharing stories of their daughters growing up and their experiences as a single parent with barely a breath between.
https://i.imgur.com/od3DT66.jpg
They talked all through the night. As the sun rose and the birds awoke, and the stars started to fade in the sky they were still nowhere close to talked out, but they knew the night's end was way past due. As they looked across the table from each other, Shari kicked the ground shyly. "I really should go. Piggygirl, my dog, has been alone since I went to work yesterday morning pretty much. She has free roam and plenty of food and water, but my girl is probably really lonely" she said. "And I have to actually get ready for work, I start at the science lab today... But I would really like to see you. Can we please continue our talk, as soon as you're up to it of course" Ammon asked nervously. "Oh Hapi nothing would make me happier... But I really feel like maybe I should talk to Karlie first, and maybe you should talk to Niella? I just want to give her whatever she needs right now. Please tell me you understand." Shari's eyes searched his. "Of course I understand, and you're exactly right. This is bigger than just us. May I please call you sometime, then? Maybe after we get a sense for how the girls feel?" Ammon persisted, not able to think about anything other than the what his heart was doing right then. Rejoicing at seeing his soulmate and irrationally panicking at the thought of her watching her leave.
https://i.imgur.com/bTqeiyV.jpg
As they both stood, Ammon rushed over to help pull Shari's chair back. When she turned to face him she reached her hand out and placed it on his chest gently. "I almost still can't believe you're here. I keep feeling like I'm going to wake up, in a pool of snot and tears like so many other mornings." She let her finger's slide down his arm and as she did he brought his hand up to her elbow and then he slid them both around her and hugged her close. For a moment they lingered and then Shari pulled back enough to place her hands gently on the sides of Ammon's face. "Oh how I've missed your face." She whispered before stepping back.
https://i.imgur.com/b14IEKd.jpg
As she did Ammon's fingers ran through Shari's hair. "Your hair is still the softest thing I've ever felt" and as his eyes met hers he said "next to your skin. I've never forgotten the touch of either" he said as his hand caressed her cheek. Shari held it to her face for a moment and then kissed his hand and walked past him. She couldn't look at him as she passed, worried she'd not have the strength and she knew it was what was best for the girls. And maybe herself. She had built so many walls around her heart she wasn't sure how she could handle if they all fell at once. As she opened her door piggygirl was in the process of hopping down off the couch, no doubt sleeping there, to greet Shari. Shari knelt down to her girl. "Oh I am so sorry for leaving you for so long my poor baby. You're never going to guess who Mimi found today!"
https://i.imgur.com/GbPOAjg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bPejSgZ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LLkaT6W.jpg
Shari then told them all of the events that only she knew. "I knew that if I were going to keep you safe I was going to have to face them, which I could not have done with you at my side" she glanced at Ammon. "At best my people would have kept us all prisoner for the rest of our days. What kind of mother would I have been to willingly put my child in that situation??" She continued "So I did the only thing I could think to do. I changed the game by changing the play, as my dad would say when he was about to beat me at chess. I took the artifact from the temple, I hid it, and then told them that if they ever wanted to have it again that no harm would come to us by their hands. But such a gamble came at great expense. They didn't want my defiance of their laws to encourage others to do the same. They demanded that I never see or speak of you again, that I give up my family's royal position, and my very people forever - that I walk os ánthropos - as man. That I give up my tail and scales." Shari gripped her heart. She had never said the words out loud and the heartache was so overwhelming Shari could actually feel every fracture at her core.
https://i.imgur.com/PhWNF8D.jpg
Karlie tried to let her mother's words sink in. Her mother use to be a mermaid?? Her best friend turned out to be her half sister, a genie?? "Wait, please slow down mom. Are you saying that they made you turn into a human?? I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with Niella as a sister, and now you're telling me you're human, but you use to be mer... What am I?? Am I human??" Karlie pled. Shari swallowed hard "Not exactly." "Not exactly?? What does that even mean 'not exactly'??" Karlie demanded. Shari steadied herself. "You see, for a mer to become human we have to visit an appointed mágissa, a person trained in the ways of magic. This was not our people's ways but there were times where such a skill set could be useful so the royal court has always maintained relations with at least one. I was sent to one here, in Isla Paradiso. I was granted the right of my last swim from there to here. I took my time, knowing they'd be the last days of what I had known my entire life. It took me almost two months... By the time I had gotten here, I realized I was pregnant.. with you. So the witch offered me a choice. She was old, so very old. And had never had a child. She didn't much like them, never wanted them. But she didn't want her family's magical heritage to end. So she told me that I could either agree to allow her to pass her magic on to you, or explain your existence to the royal court. Please understand, Karlie. Everything was so complicated. My life had been nothing to prepare me for these impossible decisions. So I drank two elixers that day. One to turn me human, and one to turn you" "witch" Karlie finished. "My entire life has been a lie. And the worst part is not finding out that I can't trust you, because in my head I can understand why you made the choices you made. It's finding out that you don't trust me. You chose not to. Why haven't you told me?? I don't even know who I am now.. I mean, am I .. wait.." Karlie stopped, she counted under her breath on her fingers. Her eyes widened. She looked up at Ammon "Are you my father??" she asked, almost bewildered.
https://i.imgur.com/eeJHyAs.jpg
"Is he, mom??" Karlie demanded. Ammon and Niella, this thought having not occurred to either of them, both gasped as Shari said "Well who else would it be, Karlie Ana?!" When Shari realized what she had just said out loud, she slowly looked over to Ammon. And then, almost inaudibly she said "I've told you 100 times that I have only and would only ever be with your father." Ammon sat stunned. In fact everyone did.
https://i.imgur.com/FXvgge2.jpg
"Now I think I really might pass out." Karlie said, clearly just as overwhelmed as when the evening started. "And with that," Raj, who had been perfectly quiet up till this point, stood up and looked at Ammon and Shari "and all due respect, I'm going to interrupt this... no offense but bizarre Jerry Springer episode so that my pregnant wife, who hasn't eaten since lunch and who spent this afternoon literally over a hot grill for our guests, can get some sustenance. I'm going to take her out on the back deck to get some fresh air and eat the sausages that survived. I invite you all to do the same." Connor and Raj helped the girls to their feet and sat them down at the picnic table first and handed them a plate before sitting across from them. Shari sat down in the patio chair next to Karlie which left the only seat for Ammon directly across from Shari. As Shari sat down she looked to her daughter's face to tell her how sorry she was, she was overcome with emotion when she noticed her daughter silently gazing at her father, a look of hope Shari had never seen in Karlie's eyes before. Ammon was too enraptured by his true and only love sitting across from him to notice, which filled Karlie with a well spring of love for Ammon. The fact that she already knew how much her mother had, and obviously still, meant to him before Karlie even knew his first name flooded her heart. She turned away just before Ammon let his gaze follow from his love to daughter to daughter. He closed his eyes and took in a long deep breath and then picked up his sausage and bit into it.
https://i.imgur.com/iWqXCiX.jpg
Everyone ate their hours-cold sausages in uncomfortable silence as they processed the night's events. No one could really get a firm grasp on reality no matter how still the houseboat was on the water that evening. It was if everyone had walked into a very small tilting ice rink, in their socks. It was a lot to process. The single attempt to break the silence was when Connor randomly blurted "You know Karlie, these sausages might even be better cold." Niella put her's down and stared directly at Connor, obviously not enjoying his but trying to make others think he was. "Really, Connor? Really??" Niella said, barely moving her lips. Ammon immediately looked at Shari, hoping she'd recognize her own biting sarcasm coming from her daughter. When he saw her eyes were already saying the same thing to him, they both broke out snickering. Niella picked up her sausage and bit into it, eyes burrowing into Connor with a glare so pointed he spent the rest of his dinner avoiding eye contact with her.
https://i.imgur.com/V6xjqqg.jpg
As everyone was clearing the plates and leftovers from dinner, Karlie caught her mom gazing out at the sea with that same hope that Shari had seen in her own eyes earlier. "Hey why don't you stay and enjoy the evening air, mom?" Karlie suggested softly and reached down to give her mom's hand a squeeze. Sheri squeezed her daughter's hand in return and nodded yes. As Connor and Raj did the dishes and put away leftovers, Karlie caught Niella on her way upstairs. "Hey yeah so how crazy was that?" she said. "Beyond." Niella returned. Then she said "I want to apologize if I came off hostile at your mo... at ou.. at Mom. I hope you know I've always loved her to death, it was just so much. I guess I just let that moment of frustration out." Niella truly did love Shari, though she was still having a hard time reconciling that with the sadness of growing up without her.
https://i.imgur.com/Pw2jf6c.jpg
"Trust me," I understand. It's been a very... unexpected and overwhelming day for everyone I guess. I suppose maybe somehow we always knew? I mean I think we both loved each other like sisters long before we knew we actually were. Whatever happens, how ever any of this turns out, can we maybe promise that we always will?" Karlie asked in a rare moment of vulnerability. She had always seemed like the reserved one while Niella was the more expressive in the friendship but now she felt as fragile as she ever had. Niella responded "Karlie, I will always be here, I will always love you. I promise with my whole heart" and she wrapped her arms around her little sister. She felt the brick in her throat as she managed to eke out "that's what big sisters are for" before giving her sister a extra long hug.
https://i.imgur.com/He0wslr.jpg
Ammon saw Shari sitting at the patio table gazing out to the dark of the waters. He remembered how she use to love the night as he looked out across it. If he closed his eyes he could hear the sands of Egypt and feel the tickle of her hair blowing across his face as they looked up at the night sky. He knew because he had stood outside countless nights and thought that very thing until he could take it no longer. Sometimes he forced himself to, almost as a punishment for losing her. It was a very bitter but deeply cherished memory. "Beautiful night" he said, because he literally couldn't think of a single thing else to say. "Mmm. Yes it is" Shari said quietly and looked back out to sea. Eventually she asked Ammon if he'd like to join her, pointing to the seat across from her. Ammon accepted and sat down. He simply could not believe his wife was seated across from him.
https://i.imgur.com/1Z8OGMo.jpg
"I'm not sure how this goes," Ammon said, shrugging his shoulders. They had both fantasized about this moment countless times but neither of them were prepared for it this way. In fact neither of them really actually prepared for the moment at all. "I'm sure you have something you must want to say to me, or ask me?" Shari offered. Though she still believed her decision was the right one, that belief was also wrapped in a thick layer of heartbroken guilt. "I just want to know why, Adrastria? Did I appear so weak a man that you thought I couldn't keep you and our daught.. Daughters safe??" "Is that what you think?? That I left because I thought you were weak?? Hapi you are the strongest man I've ever known. That is why I left Kynthia with you. Because I knew no matter what they did to me, you would keep her safe. That if I didn't know where she was that she and you would be safe, out in the world and that if she was with you that you would always protect her" Shari so desperately needed to explain.
https://i.imgur.com/CzPVgKq.jpg
"Hapi I know I can never ask you to forgive me, but I do with my whole heart hope some day you understand. And maybe that both of our daughters do someday too." Sheri's voice cracked and tears pooled in her eyes before spilling over her cheek. "And I will do anything, anything for that" she said, a steeled determination renewing her voice in resolve. "Well the first thing I need to know is are the girls safe?? Is this relic still hidden?? Do they still not know about Karlie??" Ammon questioned soberly. "Oh, *snf* they're both totally safe. They even have the relic back." "I'm sorry, what??" Ammon said, almost sternly. "The law was abolished... by the demand of the people.." Shari went on to explain that despite their best efforts and even banishing Shari to Sunlit Tides, Adrastria's story of sacrifice and heartbreak resonated throughout her people like the ballad of a legendary hero until eventually the law was abolished by royal decree. "I didn't even know about it until Mer started showing up in the news around Isla Paradiso six-seven years ago. By then they had witnessed the discovery of so many supernaturals - vampires, werewolves, fae, the young ones - or well the ones our age, had rallied and convinced the old ones to share their history with the world. They chose here because they had already been swimming these waters since fleeing the battle of Greece in 1941."
https://i.imgur.com/LeOgtQQ.jpg
"I actually know that last bit, or at least knew that the local legends of them here were strong, it's why I chose here to raise our daughter. Taught her - well taught us both how to scuba dive, just hoping to find something that would lead us to you. I did run into one mermaid, when Niella was 15 or 16. I asked her about you she very nervously told me you had been "sent away" and then she swam away forever. I came to the same diving spot every day trying to find her again until the Egyptian Embassy came knocking on our door to question me about Mesbah." "Oh no, Hapi!" Shari exclaimed! "No, no it's alright now, my love I mean, uh, ... Adrastria. In exchange for immunity for both of us, I agreed to go back to work for Morcucorp undercover until there was enough evidence to shut them down forever. That's really what I was doing there, well that and trying to find out anything I could about where you were." Ammon explained. "Oh Hapi, do you think Niella will ever find it in her heart forgive me?? Or you??" Shari's eyes had started to fill again.
https://i.imgur.com/CI0wjDC.jpg
"Listen, I cannot speak for Niella, I can only speak of her." Ammon said gently. "And the young woman I know her to be is forgiving, and understanding, and non-judgmental. And she grew up wanting to know her mother more than anything in the whole world. Right now that hurts but the daughter I know in my heart will eventually see that for what I see it as - a miracle that the universe has given us. How could it be anything less?" And just like that, like the first trickle of a spring thaw, both Ammon and Shari slipped from the darkness they had been in for the last 26 years and into the warmth of love they had for each other. Soon they found themselves sharing stories of their daughters growing up and their experiences as a single parent with barely a breath between.
https://i.imgur.com/od3DT66.jpg
They talked all through the night. As the sun rose and the birds awoke, and the stars started to fade in the sky they were still nowhere close to talked out, but they knew the night's end was way past due. As they looked across the table from each other, Shari kicked the ground shyly. "I really should go. Piggygirl, my dog, has been alone since I went to work yesterday morning pretty much. She has free roam and plenty of food and water, but my girl is probably really lonely" she said. "And I have to actually get ready for work, I start at the science lab today... But I would really like to see you. Can we please continue our talk, as soon as you're up to it of course" Ammon asked nervously. "Oh Hapi nothing would make me happier... But I really feel like maybe I should talk to Karlie first, and maybe you should talk to Niella? I just want to give her whatever she needs right now. Please tell me you understand." Shari's eyes searched his. "Of course I understand, and you're exactly right. This is bigger than just us. May I please call you sometime, then? Maybe after we get a sense for how the girls feel?" Ammon persisted, not able to think about anything other than the what his heart was doing right then. Rejoicing at seeing his soulmate and irrationally panicking at the thought of her watching her leave.
https://i.imgur.com/bTqeiyV.jpg
As they both stood, Ammon rushed over to help pull Shari's chair back. When she turned to face him she reached her hand out and placed it on his chest gently. "I almost still can't believe you're here. I keep feeling like I'm going to wake up, in a pool of snot and tears like so many other mornings." She let her finger's slide down his arm and as she did he brought his hand up to her elbow and then he slid them both around her and hugged her close. For a moment they lingered and then Shari pulled back enough to place her hands gently on the sides of Ammon's face. "Oh how I've missed your face." She whispered before stepping back.
https://i.imgur.com/b14IEKd.jpg
As she did Ammon's fingers ran through Shari's hair. "Your hair is still the softest thing I've ever felt" and as his eyes met hers he said "next to your skin. I've never forgotten the touch of either" he said as his hand caressed her cheek. Shari held it to her face for a moment and then kissed his hand and walked past him. She couldn't look at him as she passed, worried she'd not have the strength and she knew it was what was best for the girls. And maybe herself. She had built so many walls around her heart she wasn't sure how she could handle if they all fell at once. As she opened her door piggygirl was in the process of hopping down off the couch, no doubt sleeping there, to greet Shari. Shari knelt down to her girl. "Oh I am so sorry for leaving you for so long my poor baby. You're never going to guess who Mimi found today!"
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https://i.imgur.com/bPejSgZ.jpg
