A Trollhunter turned King

Recovery

Barbara paced in worry throughout the whole night. It had taken two whole days since the kids were taken to come up with a suitable plan and get to the base. According to Varvatos, area 49-B was all the way in Nevada, and with Arcadia only being a few cities away from LA, it was quite the commute.

Toby had been keeping her and Walter, who stayed behind to keep the redhead company, updated. The trollhunter had texted them right before their signals went out due to the compound's safety protocols, but that was hours ago, and they hadn’t heard anything since.

The changeling did his best to reassure Barbara that everything would be fine, but he understood a mothers concern for her only son. It was bad enough that he put himself in dangerous situations so often but she thought his school would be the one place he and his friends were safe in. That turned out to not be the case.

Barbara was well aware of how capable her son was, how strong, how stubborn. He definitely got that from her. She was confident that Jim and his friends were strong enough to survive and come back from this, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about the things they were enduring while there.

“Barb, please.” Strickler sighed as he sat watching the woman pace the living room. He wanted nothing more than to team to return or at least send an update but he knew how long it took for rescue missions.
“I can’t just sit down and wait, Walt. You know that.” the redhead countered as she continued to pace.

“Dear, I’m worried too, but what do you expect to accomplish by pacing rather than sitting?” the changeling tried to convince her. “I’m not asking you to stop worrying or to just relax. All I ask is that you sit down. You’re only going to make yourself more anxious if you keep pacing.” he held out his hand to the stressed mother, who paused in her steps for a moment to look at him.

A tense moment of silence passed before Barbara took the offered hand and sat next to her once finance on the couch. Strickler breathed out in relief as she settled next to him. The changeling took the moment to enjoy her company and love as she leaned against his side, knowing that it would be few and far between before they would get another moment like this due to how chaotic the timeline was currently.

“They come back. You know that.” he once again tried to soothe but his words only seemed to stress her out more as she sighed.

“Yes, but with what injuries, Walt?” the redhead took her glasses off as she rubbed her face nervously. “I know they can handle themselves, they’re strong. . . . they’re used to this, but they shouldn’t have to be. They’re just kids. They shouldn’t be put through all this so young.” the mother in her was worried about the children, the doctor in her was worried about their wounds, physical or mental, from this experience.

“They’re not really children anymore, are they?” Strickler tried to joke lightheartedly but it was the truth.

“Maybe not mentally, but physically, yes. Yes they are.” Barbara shot back, her tone more worried than angry at him for suggesting such a thing.

“They were. . . they grew up far faster than they should have.” the man sighed. “They were adults far before their bodies were. . . I suppose I’m to blame for some of that.” Strickler cringed slightly as he remembered all the things he, himself, had put the teens through. Especially Jim, but that was in the past now. He was slightly caught off guard by the sound of Barbara’s soft chuckle.

“I think you jinxed him with that little nickname.” she huffed with a sad smile. The changeling huffed his own chuckle at that.

“I suppose I did. But Young Atlas has yet to prove me wrong, so I don’t plan on dropping it anytime soon.” he wrapped his arm around her and she leaned back into his side. Another moment of silence passed before Barbara spoke up again.