Life, Death, and Time - A Books Of Beginning Collection

Oneshot: A Sitting Around and Getting Old Shop

Background: After the end of the Black Reckoning, with the canon ending.

Content: Kate reunites with (and introduces her family to) some old friends from New York.

"Is Kate coming down to watch the movie?" Richard Wibberly asked his two younger children.

Michael and Emma exchanged looks of concern. They knew that no, Kate would not be leaving her room to watch the movie. But they didn't want their parents getting worried and prying into Kate's life with good intentions and bad results.

In the month since the Wibberly family had been living a 'normal' life, Kate had become more and more isolated. She spent a lot of time in her room and a lot of her nights restlessly tossing and turning.

Her siblings knew why. It wasn't just the stress of the war catching up to her, or the oddity of having Richard and Clare in their lives as parents. No, Kate was dealing with a deep grief, the grief of losing one of the people she loved most.

While Richard and Clare knew a bit of the story, they didn't know just how utterly Rafe's death had broken Kate's heart. But Michael and Emma knew. Kate had told them the story of her time in New York, had told them of the people she had befriended, of Rafe, of the sacrifices he made for her. They knew how much she was hurting. And they knew she did not want to explain this all to their parents. So Michael and Emma guarded her secrets close, because she was her sister, because they owed it to her, and because they loved her.

It was Emma who finally responded to Richard's question and Clare's curious gaze this time around. She said, "no, I think Kate said she was tired and wanted to go to bed early tonight."

It wasn't necessarily a lie. Kate was always tired. How could she not be when nightmares haunted her every resting moment.

Richard and Clare accepted the explanation. Michael and Emma, on the other hand, continued to worry. They couldn't remember the last time their sister had laughed, truly laughed. It had to be sometime before Rafe's death, they knew.

It was Richard who went to turn on the movie, but as he was about to complete this task, an ear splitting crack assaulted the eardrums of the Wibberly family.

"What the hell was that?" Emma asked.

Then she heard a voice behind her, an elderly woman's voice, yelling, "YOU IDIOTS! I said take us to the front door! Not inside the house!"

"Well I got us here so stop your complaining," another voice responded in annoyance.

As one, the four Wibberlys turned to see three very old, clearly magical people standing in their hallway.

There were two men and a woman. The Wibberlys actually recognized the two old men, they were the same ones who assisted them in the battle of Loris. The woman was unfamiliar. She had grey hair, glasses, and leaned on a cane. But there was a strength about her, and annoyance written on her face as she looked at the two men.

With a sigh of frustration, the woman turned to the Wibberlys, "I am so sorry about that. They're idiots."

"Who... who are you?" Michael asked, still shocked.

"My name's Abigail," the old woman said, "that's Jake and Beetles."

"We met Jake and Beetles," Richard murmured, "in the battle on Loris."

"But we never did properly introduce ourselves," Michael jumped in, ever the polite one, "I'm Michael Wibberly. That's my dad, Richard, and my mom, Clare. And this is my younger  sister Emma." Emma rolled her eyes at Michael's never ending quest to be seen as more mature than her.