Wednesday watched from a park bench as the little golden haired, rosy cheeked child who couldn't be more than three swung as high as she could go and jumped. A shout of "Catch me, Mommy!" and the look of fear on Amanda's face, as Amanda caught the child in her arms, sent spiders dancing up and down under the skin of Wednesday's spine.
And the look on Amanda's face when she noticed it was Wednesday sitting on the bench...just delicious. The spiders under Wednesday skin went from a slow waltz to a tango, spreading to encompass the raven-haired woman's entire body in a torturous way.
Pity Wednesday hadn't thought to look Amanda up sooner. A lot had happened in the fifteen years she had stopped torturing the blond. Amanda, it seems, had gotten married, had a child, and divorced.; given up her dreams of acting to teach at a private school, much too sensible for a move for an Addams, though Amanda wasn't one...yet. And done several other things that it would have been a deep and aching sort of blissful pain to witness, pining from afar.
But Wednesday hadn't come to this park when she knew Amanda would be there just to pine from afar.
Tucking her book into her purse, Wednesday stalked forward. Slowly as possible. It wouldn't do to scare the shaking woman away before Wednesday even got to suggest they go for some coffee.
Her eyes darted to Amanda's daughter just long enough to notice how eager the little girl, Lilly, was to get down and continue playing. Amanda almost dropped her just as Wednesday reached them, tightening her arms just in time. A primal sort of fear blazing in Amanda's eyes like the time Wednesday had tried to burn her at the stake.
"Careful," said Wednesday, reaching out an oxblood-nailed hand to steady Amanda's grip on the little girl.
"What are you doing here?" said Amanda.
It was like Wednesday's stomach was trying to stage a riot because she hadn't drunk enough arsenic. Perhaps she had been wrong to look Amanda up. Fifteen years was a long time, and childhood crushes often remained just that, a foolish part of youth.
Steeling herself, Wednesday continued, "She looks like you."
Amanda's eyes darted around as if looking for an escape, and then, to Wednesday's surprise, she appeared to gain some sort of relaxed self-assuredness. "She does. How's Pugsley?"
The spiders along her spine had turned into icicles being wedged under Wednesday's fingernails, and eyelids. Deliciously painful and heartbreaking all at once. The little voice in the back of Wednesday's mind telling her that this was definitely a bad idea.
"Joined a freakshow and married a bearded lady. They're perfectly miserable together." Wednesday's voice was steady, monotone.
"That's good."
Wednesday suppressed a smirk when Lilly tugged on the sleeve of Amanda's sweater and said, "Mommy, who's that?"
"Give her to me," said Wednesday, reaching over to take Lilly and deposit her on the ground, kneeling to meet the little girl's eyes. "I'm Wednesday Friday Addams. And you are?"
"Lilly Friday John... Johns..."
"Johnson, Baby," said Amanda, voice thick with pride.
"Yeah! That!"
Wednesday looked up at Amanda and raised an eyebrow before turning back to Lilly. So, the child had been partially named after Wednesday. Interesting. Maybe Wednesday's chances of success weren't as bad as that voice in the back of her head told Wednesday they were.
"Lilly is a perfectly deadly name. Did you know that some lilies can kill people."
Lilly shook her head, and Amanda looked mildly horrified to have named her daughter after a poisonous flower. Ironic considering who she had named the child after and Wednesday own enduring love of poisons.
"They can. And if you go and play, maybe your mother will allow me to tell you more about other poisonous plants."
Wednesday doubted the child knew what Wednesday was talking about, but she nodded and ran off to play while Wednesday and Amanda sat down on a bench to watch her.
"You named her after me."
"Eric thought I was crazy after he found out about Chippewa."
Wednesday smirked. He had been right, of course. But Wednesday liked to think that the subtle kind of insanity it took someone to name their child after the person that had almost killed them was something which would fit in well with the Addamses. And Wednesday intended for Amanda and Lilly to be Addamses in the future if her plan worked.
"It's a nice name." Wednesday reached out and entwined her fingers with Amanda's, nails digging into the blond's hand, and skin tingling when the other woman shuddered and leaned in until their shoulders touched, Amanda's hand remaining still as death in Wednesday's.
"I admired you as a kid, you know. How you didn't care what others thought about you, didn't care what I thought."
"I wanted to kill you from the moment you spoke to me." More shuddering. Wednesday resisted the urge to pull Amanda in for a kiss. There would, hopefully, be plenty of time for that later.
"You almost did." Amanda's voice was breathy, whisper soft. It died the moment the words left Amanda's lips.
"It would be an honor if you and Lilly would accompany me to the botanical garden next weekend."
Amanda squeezed back, fingers biting delicious crescents into the back of Wednesday's hand. "That might be nice."
"Saturday?"
"Sounds great."
Wednesday placed a chaste oxblood lipped kiss on Amanda's golden cheek and then settled in to continue watching Lilly play.