Raising Isla | ENGLOT AU

Chapter 20: End

It was a struggle to keep the little girl on her feet as they finished up in the bathroom, but Isla was already dressed for bed so she was at liberty to collapse as soon as she settled down under the bedsheets, if Emery could even get her there. Isla's eyes were already half shut.

Emery placed the infant's toothbrush back in its holder by the sink, sighing as she found Isla's drowsy arms reaching up toward her, asking. Meena had called it 'uppy arms', Emery was still debating how much of an insult to the dictionary that term was.

You're nearly too big for this, Isla. Emery sighed, but didn't argue - this was probably easier, she resolved, than walking down the hallway with a toddler that seemed ready to trip over air.

So, Emery carried her, the little girl's cheek falling against Emery's shoulder as her head lulled to one side. Careful, as Emery nudged open the bedroom door, before lowering Isla down on the bed, rearranging the blankets so the slowly blinking four-year-old could cozy into them like a rabbit in its warm burrow.

"Goodnight, Isla," Emery said quietly, locating Pinki Pie on the nightstand before nestling the teddy under the little girl's elbow as Emery knelt on the floor beside. The infant's eyes were quite soundly closed by now, her breathing slowing.

Isla was almost soundless as she mumbled a sleepy reply. "Night night, mama,"

Emery froze, but didn't stiffen. Her heartbeat trying to make sense of the words she'd just heard as her jaw turned slack, something unguarded and warm starting to bloom in her chest.

There weren't enough hearts in all the world to contain what she felt then. It was like her soul was radiant with it - almost painfully.

Emery forced herself onto her feet after a while of kneeling in the dark room, aware that if she stayed any longer she might wake the child again. Something heavy was building within her ribcage. And her hands, were they shaking? She crept to the edge of the room, clicked the light off and slowly pried the door shut behind her until she was standing alone in the hallway.

Before she started sobbing.

...

Mae dismissed Calypso a while later. The announcement that Mae herself would be staying out a bit longer to enjoy the evening, followed by an innocuous wink, was all the nudge Calypso needed to leave. Rolling her eyes as she stood.

Emery was in much the same state when Calypso found her, though she'd successfully dragged herself out of the hallway and into their own guest room, a little hope for privacy while her eyes turned pink and her cheeks sodden. Tears are salty, she mused, why are tears so salty?

She tried to hide it as Cal pushed through the door. Hurriedly wiping away the wet trails with the sleeve of her hoodie, and sniffing heavily in the hopes it would dispel the emotion in her chest. But it was a pitiful attempt to mask it, really.

Calypso's feet paused as she noticed, a single thread of her mind contesting that perhaps there actually was such a thing as a bad time, while the rest just stared, bemused. "Em, what on earth happened?"

"Nothing," She tried nonchalance, then grimaced at how false it sounded. "I'm fine." At least that was true, maybe on a physical level.

"Em," Calypso pressed, moving towards where she was perched with her legs crossed underneath her at the foot of the bed.

She groaned dismissively. "Ugh, its stupid."

"I doubt that,"

She let out a shaky breath as Cal sat beside her. "You remember when Isla called you mommy?"