She was different.
That was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. The girl who used to dance around the house and paint her nails with glitter and sneak into the kitchen at 10 o'clock at night to get Fruity Rings for her and Daphne was gone. She was replaced with a grim, distrusting, angry and downright pissed off girl, with eyes that looked like they had seen too much of the world. Hell, for all I knew, she had.
So was her sister.
That was the second thing I noticed when I woke up. She still looked up to Sabrina with eyes full of trust, eyes full of 'if all else fails, she'll still be here.' But this time there was something else, and for the life of me I couldn't put a name to it. Then it clicked- Respect. I had seen a lot of emotion pouring out of my babies eyes- hope, fury, love. But never respect. And this, once again, made me wonder what I had missed. What had happened to my two baby girls?
But they weren't babies anymore.
That was the third thing I noticed when I woke up. Sabrina's hair ("princess hair!" Daphne had once cried) was down to her waist, and she was taller. Her body was no longer that of a little girl, but starting to become one of a teenager. Daphne stood beside her, eyes wide and mouth smiling, but she too, was older. Her hair, so much like mine, was waving softly past her thin shoulders, not the sweet bob cut that she had once wanted so badly. What had happened?
They had met their grandmother.
That was the fourth thing I noticed when I woke up. Relda, a saint sent from God if I ever saw one, stood behind the girls, my girls, a hand on each of their shoulders. She was the only one in the room (which was where?) who wasn't looking at me, but instead the man sitting next to me. My eyes continued around the room, landing briefly on a sullen almost-teenage boy leaning against a wall. Sorry, I was lying. He was also not looking at me- he only had eyes for Sabrina, who was staring at me with a face that I had never seen on her. How many other expressions had I missed? I continued past the boy, seeing only a small girl in a red cloak, and Canis. Then… Her.
She was there.
That was the fifth thing I noticed when I woke up. She stood against a wall, her blond hair falling in ringlets over her shoulders, eyes down and arms crossed, as though hoping she could make herself small enough to disappear. I blinked once, and tried to get my head around what was going on. Perhaps it was a nightmare? But my baby girls were both there, and to say that they could be a part of my nightmares was like saying Relda was evil, or Hank cruel. It just didn't fit.
There was a strange pressure on my hand.
That was the sixth thing I noticed when I woke up. I looked down, and saw my husbands hand wrapped around my own; squeezing it so tight I couldn't feel it anymore. He gave me a small smile and brushed the hair off of my face, before kissing my forehead. I opened my mouth, trying to choose which question to ask first, when a noise from behind me made me close it again. I turned around, and saw Daphne stepping slowly towards me, looking as though she would have liked nothing more to run straight towards me.
Sabrina stood behind her, looking like she wouldn't mind doing the same thing. "Hey Ma," she whispered.
And for now, that would be enough.