Fic: Gossamer (3/18)
Mar. 15th, 2012 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_wolfTitle: Gossamer
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: "Paige, you're pregnant." Three weeks after her parents' death, Paige receives some surprising news. What she decides next will change the course of history, not only her own, but that of the family she doesn't even know exists...
*****
It took Paige another two weeks to work up the courage to go talk to the father of her baby. She hadn't seen Nick Long since the night of that fateful party over a month ago, and she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him, now.
The party had been hosted by a group of the rich kids from one of the prestigious private schools in the area, and one of Paige's friends had managed to get invited. She'd urged Paige to tag along, promising her a good time. What she'd had, instead, had been a vicious hangover and the memory of Nick telling her that she was a good kid and that he wished her well.
And, now, she had to tell him that he was going to be a father.
She didn't even know if Nick wanted to be involved in his baby's life. But, she had to give him the chance.
'Who knows?' she thought, wryly. 'He might surprise me.'
She was waiting outside the gates of his private school, sitting on a low wall. Butterflies were churning in her stomach, and she wanted to blame the baby, but she knew that it was too early in her pregnancy to feel anything like that.
Hearing the sound of voices in the distance, she looked up to see a group of teenagers walking in her direction. Nick was at the front of the group, and the nervous sensation shot into overtime at the sight of him. For just a second, she very strongly considered turning around and leaving, but she squashed down the thought as quickly as it had appeared. She wasn't going to chicken out, not now.
"Nick," she called out, as he got closer, and she watched as confusion, and then slow recognition, flashed across his face.
"Patricia, right?" he asked, as he looked at her, quizzically. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Paige, actually," she corrected him, gently. "I need to talk to you."
"So, talk," Nick said, with a careless laugh, as he and his friends stopped in front of her.
"It's actually kind of personal," Paige hedged, nervously. "I was hoping that we could talk somewhere in private, maybe?"
"Look, Paige, I'm pretty busy, right now," Nick said, the condescension in his voice making his friends laugh. "So, if you could just hurry this up and then run along-"
"I'm pregnant," Paige blurted out, her voice tight with tension.
She hated saying it like that, out in the open and in front of everyone, but she couldn't take any longer, couldn't take the chance that she was going to lose her nerve. And it wasn't like she was going to be able to keep it a secret for much longer.
'Besides,' she told herself, firmly, as she stared up at the frozen expression on Nick's face, 'what do I care what his friends think of me? I'm never going to see any of them, ever again.'
Nick was still staring at her with a shocked expression on his face, and she was tempted to reach out and poke him, just to see if he was going to react. Then, Nick visibly shuddered, his stunned expression morphing into a disdainful sneer.
"What does this have to do with me?" he asked, although his voice sounded rather strained and desperate to her ears.
"Because you're the father," Paige snapped, her patience suddenly wearing thin. "Why else would I be out here publically humiliating myself? Just to hear myself talk?"
"Let's go over here," Nick said, abruptly, wrapping his hand around her arm and towing her a short distance away from his friends.
Paige shook her arm out of his painful grasp, glaring at him as she rubbed the sore spot on her arm. The area where he'd been gripping her was bright red, and she could tell that there was going to be a bruise there, tomorrow morning.
"You know," she said, pointedly, as she stopped and looked up at him, "I don't remember seeing the caveman act a few weeks ago."
"You're pregnant," Nick said, instead, ignoring her jab. "How did this happen?"
"You want me to draw you a picture?" Paige asked, wryly, feeling more like she was on secure ground, especially since he seemed to be floundering.
"Well, it's not mine," Nick said, defensively, glaring at her as though challenging her to say something different.
"There's no one else it could be," Paige countered, watching as he went white at her words. "This is your baby, Nick."
"No, it's not," Nick insisted, forcefully. When she tried to protest, he continued, "I don't want anything to do with you, or that kid."
Paige stared at him, anger and hurt warring for dominance in her emotions.
"I can't believe that I actually thought that you'd be decent about this," she said, in disgust. "I thought you might actually want to be involved with your baby."
"Well, I don't," Nick snapped, shortly, a note of fear lurking behind the belligerent tone in his voice. "You can't prove that kid is mine, and my family will fight you if you try."
Paige stared at him in disbelief, and then she just sighed and shook her head. Even though she'd fervently hoped otherwise, some part of her had been dreading that reaction from him.
"Have a nice life, Nick," she said, turning and walking away. "I hope you rot in hell."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After walking around the streets for a while, anger simmering in her gut, Paige found herself at Golden Gate Park. For years, it had been her favorite place to go and think, to just be alone with her thoughts. And now, more than ever, she found herself craving the peace and solitude of the park.
She wandered idly through the park for a while, not really surprised when she found herself at the Children's Playground, with the bright sound of laughter filling the air. She sat down on a bench, leaning back against the backrest and closing her eyes as she drank in the sounds of the children playing, nearby.
'We'll be coming here, together, some day,' she thought at her baby, letting her hands rest protectively over her stomach. 'It's so amazing here; I know you'll love it. I always did when I came here with my mom-'
She stopped, there, feeling tears spring to her eyes at the thought of her parents. She'd been thinking of them constantly over the past few weeks, especially her mother. She couldn't help but wonder what she would think of all this. Would she welcome her new grandchild? Would she be proud that her baby was becoming a mother? Sad that her little girl was growing up?
'I miss you and Dad, so much,' Paige thought, sniffing back tears as she wiped the moisture away from her eyes. 'I wish you were here, right now. I wish you could tell me what I should do.'
Five weeks in, and she still didn't know what she was going to do. There were days when the thought of keeping the baby made her heart race and made her break out in a cold sweat. But, those days were quickly being outnumbered by her daydreams of the future.
She kept seeing a little girl in her dreams, vivid green eyes and dark, curly hair, and a smile as bright as the sun. In her dreams, she got to hold her daughter, and sing to her – and then she would wake up, and she was filled with a deep, lost feeling that made her want to crawl under the covers and hide.
She wanted an answer, a clear, definitive path to take. She just wanted to know, for sure, what she should do.
"Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit down?"
Startled out of her thoughts, Paige looked up to see a young woman with short, dark hair standing beside the bench. Blushing furiously, she snatched her bag off the bench next to her, gesturing to the empty space.
"Go ahead," she said, and the woman sat beside her with a grateful sigh.
"Thanks," she said, as she slumped against the back of the bench. "I thought that I was in good shape, but then I walked through the park trying to find shots for my portfolio. I forgot just how big this place is; I haven't been here in a long time."
"I used to come here all the time, too," Paige said, conversationally. "What kind of portfolio are you working on?" she asked, interested, when she saw the camera in the other woman's hands.
"It's my final assignment to get my bachelors' degree," the woman told her. "I have to create a professional portfolio and a presentation about it. I decided to do faces in the city. Hey," she added, a second later, "would you mind if I took your picture?"
"Sure," Paige said, with a shrug. "What do you need me to do?"
"Just sit there for a second," the woman said, speculatively, as she got up and walked a slow circle around Paige. "I want to see what kind of light I'm working with."
At the other woman's direction, Paige left the bench to sit on the ground, with her back against the trunk of a tree. As she leaned back, one hand drifted down unconsciously to wrap around her abdomen, getting the woman's attention.
"I'm pregnant," Paige explained, seeing her curious gaze, even as she wondered why she was confiding in a total stranger.
"Congratulations," the woman said, beaming at her, and she was the only person, other than Henry, that hadn't immediately been disapproving at her news. "You must be so happy!"
"Thank you," Paige said, softly. "You know," she added, a moment later, "I really think I am."
She spent the next twenty minutes posing for the other woman, helping her get the best shots. They talked while they were working, and Paige found herself telling the other woman all about her own art. When they were done, she accepted the other woman's help in getting up.
"This was great, thank you," the woman told her, excitedly. "Um, this might seem like an odd question-"
"What is it?" Paige asked, when the woman trailed off, awkwardly.
"Would you mind if I took pictures of you throughout your pregnancy?" the woman asked, in a rush, her cheeks flushing with color. "It's just – I need more than one portfolio, especially when I start looking for a job, and I think that it would be fascinating to document something like this-"
"Sure," Paige said, cutting off the woman's nervous rambling. "It sounds like fun. You're going to have to let me paint you, in return," she added, and the woman nodded.
"It's a deal," she said, holding out her hand for Paige to shake. "I'll call you with the details?"
"Okay," Paige said, as she scrabbled in her bag for a piece of scrap paper, scrawling her name and number on it. "I'm Paige Matthews, by the way."
"Prue," the woman told her, as she took the piece of paper. "Prue Halliwell."
Continued here
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: "Paige, you're pregnant." Three weeks after her parents' death, Paige receives some surprising news. What she decides next will change the course of history, not only her own, but that of the family she doesn't even know exists...
*****
It took Paige another two weeks to work up the courage to go talk to the father of her baby. She hadn't seen Nick Long since the night of that fateful party over a month ago, and she wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him, now.
The party had been hosted by a group of the rich kids from one of the prestigious private schools in the area, and one of Paige's friends had managed to get invited. She'd urged Paige to tag along, promising her a good time. What she'd had, instead, had been a vicious hangover and the memory of Nick telling her that she was a good kid and that he wished her well.
And, now, she had to tell him that he was going to be a father.
She didn't even know if Nick wanted to be involved in his baby's life. But, she had to give him the chance.
'Who knows?' she thought, wryly. 'He might surprise me.'
She was waiting outside the gates of his private school, sitting on a low wall. Butterflies were churning in her stomach, and she wanted to blame the baby, but she knew that it was too early in her pregnancy to feel anything like that.
Hearing the sound of voices in the distance, she looked up to see a group of teenagers walking in her direction. Nick was at the front of the group, and the nervous sensation shot into overtime at the sight of him. For just a second, she very strongly considered turning around and leaving, but she squashed down the thought as quickly as it had appeared. She wasn't going to chicken out, not now.
"Nick," she called out, as he got closer, and she watched as confusion, and then slow recognition, flashed across his face.
"Patricia, right?" he asked, as he looked at her, quizzically. "What are you doing here?"
"It's Paige, actually," she corrected him, gently. "I need to talk to you."
"So, talk," Nick said, with a careless laugh, as he and his friends stopped in front of her.
"It's actually kind of personal," Paige hedged, nervously. "I was hoping that we could talk somewhere in private, maybe?"
"Look, Paige, I'm pretty busy, right now," Nick said, the condescension in his voice making his friends laugh. "So, if you could just hurry this up and then run along-"
"I'm pregnant," Paige blurted out, her voice tight with tension.
She hated saying it like that, out in the open and in front of everyone, but she couldn't take any longer, couldn't take the chance that she was going to lose her nerve. And it wasn't like she was going to be able to keep it a secret for much longer.
'Besides,' she told herself, firmly, as she stared up at the frozen expression on Nick's face, 'what do I care what his friends think of me? I'm never going to see any of them, ever again.'
Nick was still staring at her with a shocked expression on his face, and she was tempted to reach out and poke him, just to see if he was going to react. Then, Nick visibly shuddered, his stunned expression morphing into a disdainful sneer.
"What does this have to do with me?" he asked, although his voice sounded rather strained and desperate to her ears.
"Because you're the father," Paige snapped, her patience suddenly wearing thin. "Why else would I be out here publically humiliating myself? Just to hear myself talk?"
"Let's go over here," Nick said, abruptly, wrapping his hand around her arm and towing her a short distance away from his friends.
Paige shook her arm out of his painful grasp, glaring at him as she rubbed the sore spot on her arm. The area where he'd been gripping her was bright red, and she could tell that there was going to be a bruise there, tomorrow morning.
"You know," she said, pointedly, as she stopped and looked up at him, "I don't remember seeing the caveman act a few weeks ago."
"You're pregnant," Nick said, instead, ignoring her jab. "How did this happen?"
"You want me to draw you a picture?" Paige asked, wryly, feeling more like she was on secure ground, especially since he seemed to be floundering.
"Well, it's not mine," Nick said, defensively, glaring at her as though challenging her to say something different.
"There's no one else it could be," Paige countered, watching as he went white at her words. "This is your baby, Nick."
"No, it's not," Nick insisted, forcefully. When she tried to protest, he continued, "I don't want anything to do with you, or that kid."
Paige stared at him, anger and hurt warring for dominance in her emotions.
"I can't believe that I actually thought that you'd be decent about this," she said, in disgust. "I thought you might actually want to be involved with your baby."
"Well, I don't," Nick snapped, shortly, a note of fear lurking behind the belligerent tone in his voice. "You can't prove that kid is mine, and my family will fight you if you try."
Paige stared at him in disbelief, and then she just sighed and shook her head. Even though she'd fervently hoped otherwise, some part of her had been dreading that reaction from him.
"Have a nice life, Nick," she said, turning and walking away. "I hope you rot in hell."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After walking around the streets for a while, anger simmering in her gut, Paige found herself at Golden Gate Park. For years, it had been her favorite place to go and think, to just be alone with her thoughts. And now, more than ever, she found herself craving the peace and solitude of the park.
She wandered idly through the park for a while, not really surprised when she found herself at the Children's Playground, with the bright sound of laughter filling the air. She sat down on a bench, leaning back against the backrest and closing her eyes as she drank in the sounds of the children playing, nearby.
'We'll be coming here, together, some day,' she thought at her baby, letting her hands rest protectively over her stomach. 'It's so amazing here; I know you'll love it. I always did when I came here with my mom-'
She stopped, there, feeling tears spring to her eyes at the thought of her parents. She'd been thinking of them constantly over the past few weeks, especially her mother. She couldn't help but wonder what she would think of all this. Would she welcome her new grandchild? Would she be proud that her baby was becoming a mother? Sad that her little girl was growing up?
'I miss you and Dad, so much,' Paige thought, sniffing back tears as she wiped the moisture away from her eyes. 'I wish you were here, right now. I wish you could tell me what I should do.'
Five weeks in, and she still didn't know what she was going to do. There were days when the thought of keeping the baby made her heart race and made her break out in a cold sweat. But, those days were quickly being outnumbered by her daydreams of the future.
She kept seeing a little girl in her dreams, vivid green eyes and dark, curly hair, and a smile as bright as the sun. In her dreams, she got to hold her daughter, and sing to her – and then she would wake up, and she was filled with a deep, lost feeling that made her want to crawl under the covers and hide.
She wanted an answer, a clear, definitive path to take. She just wanted to know, for sure, what she should do.
"Excuse me? Do you mind if I sit down?"
Startled out of her thoughts, Paige looked up to see a young woman with short, dark hair standing beside the bench. Blushing furiously, she snatched her bag off the bench next to her, gesturing to the empty space.
"Go ahead," she said, and the woman sat beside her with a grateful sigh.
"Thanks," she said, as she slumped against the back of the bench. "I thought that I was in good shape, but then I walked through the park trying to find shots for my portfolio. I forgot just how big this place is; I haven't been here in a long time."
"I used to come here all the time, too," Paige said, conversationally. "What kind of portfolio are you working on?" she asked, interested, when she saw the camera in the other woman's hands.
"It's my final assignment to get my bachelors' degree," the woman told her. "I have to create a professional portfolio and a presentation about it. I decided to do faces in the city. Hey," she added, a second later, "would you mind if I took your picture?"
"Sure," Paige said, with a shrug. "What do you need me to do?"
"Just sit there for a second," the woman said, speculatively, as she got up and walked a slow circle around Paige. "I want to see what kind of light I'm working with."
At the other woman's direction, Paige left the bench to sit on the ground, with her back against the trunk of a tree. As she leaned back, one hand drifted down unconsciously to wrap around her abdomen, getting the woman's attention.
"I'm pregnant," Paige explained, seeing her curious gaze, even as she wondered why she was confiding in a total stranger.
"Congratulations," the woman said, beaming at her, and she was the only person, other than Henry, that hadn't immediately been disapproving at her news. "You must be so happy!"
"Thank you," Paige said, softly. "You know," she added, a moment later, "I really think I am."
She spent the next twenty minutes posing for the other woman, helping her get the best shots. They talked while they were working, and Paige found herself telling the other woman all about her own art. When they were done, she accepted the other woman's help in getting up.
"This was great, thank you," the woman told her, excitedly. "Um, this might seem like an odd question-"
"What is it?" Paige asked, when the woman trailed off, awkwardly.
"Would you mind if I took pictures of you throughout your pregnancy?" the woman asked, in a rush, her cheeks flushing with color. "It's just – I need more than one portfolio, especially when I start looking for a job, and I think that it would be fascinating to document something like this-"
"Sure," Paige said, cutting off the woman's nervous rambling. "It sounds like fun. You're going to have to let me paint you, in return," she added, and the woman nodded.
"It's a deal," she said, holding out her hand for Paige to shake. "I'll call you with the details?"
"Okay," Paige said, as she scrabbled in her bag for a piece of scrap paper, scrawling her name and number on it. "I'm Paige Matthews, by the way."
"Prue," the woman told her, as she took the piece of paper. "Prue Halliwell."
Continued here
