Big Love • Alcina Dimitrescu

16.

I'm currently standing in the middle of a spacious lab built underneath the village. I had gotten a letter instructing me to meet Mother Miranda at her lab for some private meeting. I've been waiting here for almost an hour now, the letter never specified what time to arrive so I made my way over straight from the castle when I received the letter.

I've been spending the last 3 days, and nights, at Castle Dimitrescu, just enjoying my time with Alcina. Our relationship has only grown since we've said 'I love you'. It's amazing how much a relationship can grow in just 3 days.

The sound of footsteps were getting closer and closer to the door, I hope that it's Mother Miranda because there isn't much to do in this room. When I first arrived I was occupied for a few minutes, looking at all the photos, drawings and diagrams that are plastered over every surface available. I've been exploring, but I didn't want to poke my nose in where it's not welcome. So I've stayed out of the books with the Beneviento and Dimitrescu crests on the cover.

As I was wondering why I'm here the door opened with a bang. I whipped my head around to see Mother Miranda strut into the room. Even the way that Mother Miranda walks just shows how much power she has,

"Ah, Marlene," Mother Miranda smiled over to me, "I'm glad you're here, hope I didn't keep you waiting for to long,"

"Not long at all, Mother Miranda," I lied,

"I brought you here, darling, so I could talk to you about your Christmas gift," Mother Miranda moved around me and rearranged some papers on one of her many desks, "Have you read over any of the books I gifted you? Or have you been busy?" She chuckled,

"No," I blushed, of course she knows I've been spending all my time with Alcina, "I've read over some books,"

"Okay. Well, I brought you here today because I wanted to ask about your devotion to experimenting with the cadou. I've been wanting to do more experiments and I know that you've expressed an interest in the past couple of months and so I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping me with my subjects. So that you can see how it's done before doing it yourself,"

"Yes. I would love to," I have been so interested in the cadou and how it works for months now and so when I found out that Mother Miranda allows us to conduct our own experiments, I was excited to find out more about the strange being living inside of me,

"Well that's wonderful to here. I will begin my experimentation next week. In the meantime I would like for you, every night I would like for you to take a walk through the village and search the grounds for any candidates,"

"Of course Mother Miranda,"

"Now they have to be alive,"

"Okay," I was making mental notes of all of the information I was being told, it is so important that I get this right.

I could feel, not only my own excitement but Mother Miranda's to. She was overjoyed to have the help and get back her daughter. Over the past few months I've been filled in on all that is going on with the lords and Mother Miranda. Like, the lords experiment on villagers and Mother Miranda is experimenting on all of us to try and find a suitable vessel for the daughter she lost a few centuries back.

I'm more than happy to help her be reunited with her daughter, I know exactly how it feels to go without family and I'm no stranger to the hardship of parents being without their children. I've never experienced the pain but my own parents have leapt off the waterfall behind the manor as they were overcome with grief and depression. I have respect that Mother Miranda has stuck around and stopped at nothing to bring her daughter back. I'd do the exact same if it were Donna. Or Alcina.

Mother Miranda gave me the details of when we will meet next and to phone her if I find any vessels. After exchanging a goodbye and a hug, I was out the door and walking through the tunnels once again. I was happy to get out of that office. As much as I was happy to be given the opportunity to conduct my own experiments, that room had such a weird vibe about it.

I walked through the tunnels, the opposite way I came from previously, away from the castle and toward the manor. Thinking about Mother Miranda and her daughter has made me realise that I haven't seen or spoken to Donna in a few days, it has made me realise how much I miss her. I haven't been away from my sister for this long in years. It's weird considering how much I enjoy my sisters company.

As I walked out of the cave tunnels and up the pathway, leading to the Beneviento manor I was struck by grief at the sight of the waterfall, thankfully I didn't walk past Claudia's grave otherwise I might've broken down. All of this talk about finding a right vessel to bring a child back to life has really got me more worked up about my family than I have been in years.

"Donna it's me," I yelled throughout the house as I made my way through the front door and over to the living space. I ducked through the narrow doorway and saw Donna and Heisenberg sat next to each other on the couch, both with cups of tea in their hands, "Heisenberg, didn't expect to see you here?"

"Didn't expect to see you here either?" Heisenberg cocked an eyebrow at me,

"You didn't expect to see me at my sisters house?"

"No, I thought you and mega sized bitch would've been shacked up together by now. Attached by the hip or some soppy shit like that," he snarled,

"Not at the moment," I mumbled, "You okay Donna?"

"Fine thanks. It really is wonderful to see you," Donna stood up from her seat and came over to give me a tight hug, "I've missed having you around,"

"I've missed being around," all of a sudden a yapping could be heard from the doorway. I looked over to see Angie running into the room with Heisenberg's new puppy, Hank. The Doberman puppy has grown quite quickly since I last saw him and I'm glad he looks happy. It's also nice to see the light Heisenberg gets in his eyes whenever his sight lands on Hank. It's cute. It's the same look Donna gets when she sees Angie, or the look Moreau gets when he sees Mother Miranda. And now, the same look I get when I see Alcina. The look of pure love and adoration.

Hank came barrelling up to me and jumped up at my legs, leaving little muddy paw prints all over my white dress pants. I crouched down at gave him a little scratch on the head as I carefully pushed him away from my clothing as I'm currently wearing all white and Hank seems to be one very dirty dog.

These are the moments I love. Nothing is going wrong in our lives. We all have people we love and care about. Nobody isn't happy. We're all happy. And I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I'd really appreciate your guys' opinion on if I should write a romance between Donna and Heisenberg or if I should create a person for Heisenberg to date. Let me know please.

( A/N: Thank you all for voting. This story is currently ranked number one on the Donna Beneviento hashtag and I can't believe it. I may have bragged a little about it and now my mum wants to read my story, which I'm not sure she'll be to happy about.  Thank you all and please keep voting.)