Of Lorenz Theory & Love

Of Beaches & Babies

25 Of Beaches & Babies

8 am, Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos, Greece

Harry and Macy found themselves at Super Paradise Beach ("the greatest beach in Mykonos!" a nearby billboard touted, in both Greek and English). Holding hands, they stepped onto the warm granules of powdery honey-colored sand, their toes sinking into what felt like kinetic sand ASMR, but better. There were not many people out and about due to the early hour; they walked to a nearby tiki lounge and decided to order a light breakfast. Harry went with an iced tea; Macy ordered an iced frappé, a Grecian coffee drink composed of instant coffee, water, sugar, and the local milk.

While their drinks were being prepared, Macy delicately broached the topic of Celeste. "I know you're upset Harry—believe me, I would be beyond pissed if I learned the love of my life died and my memory had been wiped to remove all traces of her. But, I think, as twisted as Celeste is, she did help bring us together. Honestly, if it weren't for her, we wouldn't be on our second transatlantic date, grabbing breakfast on a Grecian isle."

Harry raised an eyebrow, a hint of a hopeful smile on his lips. "Are we dating? Are we a thing now?"

Macy ignored Harry's evasive attempt to change the subject. "Harry, Darcy was already doomed by the soothsayer—there's nothing you could have done to prevent her death, and you know it. Your actions were really heroic. Jimmy wasn't all darkness. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't completely bad to the core."

"I thought he was," Harry murmured. "I spent years—years upon years—formulating his persona in my head, demonizing him, criticizing him to the ends of the earth, and the bitter memories I had of Clara served to perpetuate that. It was easier that way. It was easier to blame someone concrete, someone with a shoddy reputation."

"Perhaps Jimmy was remiss in his marriage with Clara, but he did a lot of good too; he saved my family line," replied Macy.

"Perhaps, indeed..."

8:30 am, Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos, Greece

Harry and Macy's drinks had arrived, and a few minutes passed in silence as they sipped their beverages, reflecting on what had happened just mere hours before. "My past self seems redeemable enough, from what Celeste told us. It's a far cry from the Jimmy I knew though—a consummate drunk and a worthless excuse of a human being," stated Harry, staring into the aromatic mahogany concoction that was his Earl Grey tea.

"And I keep telling you," retorted Macy, "that neither you nor your past are worthless. Jimmy is a part of your history; it's nothing to be ashamed of, and it's a piece of the Harry I care deeply about today." She reached over and stroked his arm.

"Matias though," said Harry, continuing the discussion, "I can't believe Celeste tried to hide that Jimmy rescued him from the Sarcana."

"Maybe it was out of Celeste's control?" Macy suggested, though knowing that even if it weren't, it would not have made a bit of difference. Celeste was still a conniving shrew, that much was certain. Macy suddenly had an idea. "How about this: I'll draft a letter this afternoon—our letter—and we can leave it by Matias' doorstep tomorrow so he can read it and decide for himself what to do with the information we give him. How does that sound?"

"That sounds like a plan," Harry replied, more or less agreeably. They spent the next minutes after that examining the shoreline from a distance, with its cool splashes of foamy, aquamarine water slapping against the crystalline sand, taking in the expansive, cloudless sky as they listened for the gulls circling overhead in flocks. Being of magical origin certainly had its perks sometimes.

9:30 am, Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos, Greece

"I can't believe that all of this happened when Matias was, from my calculations, a baby and definitely less than a year old," Macy spoke out of the blue.

"I know," Harry said, wearily, placing his Earl Grey teabag on the inner rim of his white porcelain saucer.

"And—I mean—then there's Darcy. She had a baby, and she was all alone—she must have been so scared—" said Macy. "It was really brave of Jimmy to rescue a baby he didn't know."

"It was Darcy's child," responded Harry. "I imagine that since they were very much in love, Jimmy thought of her son as if he were Jimmy's own flesh and blood, and just as irrepressibly beautiful, sweet, and lovely as his own darling Darcy," he said, looking at Macy with renewed intensity.

"Harry...do you want kids of your own someday...with me?" Macy inquired carefully.

Harry paused to parse his thoughts out before speaking. "Truth be told, I had never thought about being a father, after Carter. If me becoming a father again were possible in this day and age, would it violate the laws of nature?" Harry wondered aloud, intertwining his fingers with hers.

Macy laughed, looking down at the paper straw wrapper she had been crumpling up into tiny balls these past few minutes with her other hand—a nervous habit. "Considering you're over 80 and I'm a stillborn regenerated by a necromancer, probably. But that's not good enough a reason to give up on being a father again, if there's still that chance. If that's, of course, what you want...?" She peered up at him curiously.

"But back when I was Jimmy, I was an alcoholic—per my dishonorable family name," said Harry dispiritedly.

"That was Jimmy, whose memory was tampered with by Celeste. We know that now. You are Harry, reborn as a Whitelighter. Your life is whatever you decide to make of it—your life is your own, and it's time you understood that," said Macy, staring him straight in the eye. "Do you want kids or not?"

"Well, in that case, and since you framed up your argument ever-so-elegantly..." replied Harry, now more invigorated by Macy's pep talk and the tea, "Yes. In ideal circumstances, I could see myself being the father of your children Macy. But I'm scared—"

"Aren't we all?" Macy asked. "I imagine everyone goes into parenthood completely terrified and horribly clueless."

"True," Harry laughed.

"And if for a second you think you can get away with not changing a diaper, or being an ass, you have another thing coming—" Macy said, teasingly wagging a finger in his general direction.

"Point taken. I do imagine, sometimes, what a baby of ours would look like," he pondered. "I imagine they'd have your lively curly hair—"

"Your marble-grey eyes—" interjected Macy.

"And your spirited personality," finished Harry.

With that, they kissed.