Lou's theatre never needed electricity to run, but it was easier to pretend she existed in the real world when her lights weren't turned on by the snap of her fingers and when Nineball's computer's actually turned on from the sockets.
"When are the girls visiting?" Lou questions Debbie late into the night, after their new friends are wrapped up below with cards and drink, barely paying them any attention. Debbie tucks a dark strand of hair behind her ear, shrugging.
"I've not contacted them, yet."
"I find that hard to believe," Lou replies, taking out her phone. "I stayed in contact with them, you know. Toni's growing up."
"If she wasn't, I'd be worried," Debbie replies, as if the mention of her youngest hasn't caused her grief. Her hands grip the wooden bannister of the balcony and even as Lou's fingers wind themselves into Debbie's dress, the Ocean woman is already causing the power to fluctuate. The lights dim then brighten, one bulb shattering across the room. "Everything's fine."
"Everything is not fine," Lou hisses, avoiding looking at their team, who have quieted. Below, a small thread of magic crosses the room, curious and instinctive, without control or awareness. Constance, Lou recognises. "And everyone is a witch here, even if they don't know it."
"That was the point," Debbie mutters darkly. "New lease of life, new coven."
"The Owens are waiting for you to come home, Sally." Lou leans closer, their faces barely inches away from each other as Debbie twists to face her. "I'm not leaving you."
"…never thought you would," Debbie breathes. "You know, I once joked about going to prison, nearly confessed to murder."
Lou grimaces, "You also nearly ended up with a detective for a husband. Look where that ended."
"The both of us turning each other extremely bisexual?" Debbie replies, eyebrow rising. "My point was, the reality of me going to prison had passed. Apprenticing under Danny was never meant to be my one-way ticket into the slammer."
"And you think they'll actually care that it happened?" Lou shakes her head, "That's not how it works, Deb. Your daughters aren't children, but they shouldn't be alone with only each other to lean on, either. It's not fair."
Debbie's tongue slips from her mouth, wetting the edges of her lips, "I'll think about it. Give me a month."
"I'll give you two, so long as I'm with you when you reunite in person," Lou says, reaching up to run her thumb down Debbie's cheek. I missed you, she thinks, I missed our girls. It was never right without you, even if I love them so much my heart could burst. Their lips touch and eyes flutter shut as they reconnect.
Above them, the light bursts as their magics touch again for the first time in five years.