A/N: You KNOW that I adore a good Devie story, and that this story did not come lightly. It has been sat on my hard-drive since March, and I've been waiting for the right moment to post this. This feels like the right moment.
Please note, I listened to Someone Like You by Adele on repeat for about three hours. If my sibling is to be believed, I then sang it in my sleep... wouldn't surprise me.
Former Devie story, mild Doug bashing. Enjoy this not so festive piece.
Evie took a breath. She didn't want to come, not here. Here hurt. But she was here, hovering at the end of a path, she hadn't even made it to the door yet. Her family had told her to do it, and even though she hated the sight of the house in front of her, she knew they were right.
Her family, that was a term that made her laugh; she had an Auradonian family which still took her by surprise. It surprised her at how quickly her stepsister and her step-niece had nestled their way into her heart. Blanche was only two years younger than Evie, and felt more like her sister than Snow did, who was like a fabulously fashionable aunt. Evie had found…a home… with this family.
Besides, it wasn't just Snow & Blanche, and Uncle Ferdinand that told her to make her peace, Mal had also rallied behind the idea, Carlos, Jay, Jane and Lonnie also supported the need for Evie to do this.
Another fortifying breath, and Evie found herself pushing the gate open and knocking on the door of the cottage. The cottage that should have been hers, when the laughing voice behind the door opened it, the laugh died in his throat.
"Hello Doug." Evie sounded more confident than she felt. "Cat got your tongue Doug? It's not like you to be so quiet." She observed quietly.
"Evie." He swallowed, and unlike her, he couldn't hide the tremor in his voice.
"Doug." She repeated, and raised one eyebrow as he continued to stare at her. "This is the point where people are usually invited in." She chewed at her lip, and wordlessly Doug stood aside to let her pass down the hallway Evie had once painted a pale blue. It was now cream. Her heart clenched as she went past the first door on the left (the lounge) and made a beeline for her old kitchen. She had to swallow hard when she stood at the threshold – her warm and cosy kitchen had been replaced with a cold and sterile white room, where surfaces were scrubbed until they blinded the occupants. Evie's heart of her home had been ripped out and destroyed. How ironic.
"Evie." Doug was hesitating behind her.
"Well you've changed a lot." The bright cheerfulness to her voice had him wince, and for a moment she was dismayed, but then there was a fierce pleasure at his discomfort. "Much colder than I remember." She commented. "You got rid of the fireplace in here, wonderful memories roasting marshmallows over the open fire." She gestured to the space where the monstrous refrigerator now sat. "Never mind." She said at his silence. She gingerly pulled one of the breakfast stools out, and after tucking her skirt beneath her properly, she sat and tried not to let her anger roll over her.
The home she had made had been sterilised and ruined by her replacement.
"You don't say much anymore, do you?" She propped her hand beneath her chin to stare at the man she had devoted so much time and love to. It had been Blanche that had saved her. Blanche and Mal, who had found her shaking and sobbing in the back garden when Doug told her he had fallen in love with his lab assistant at work. It had been Blanche and Mal who had made sure she didn't rip his heart out, though she had been close. Even Blanche had almost let her go when he moved Evie's stuff out within a week and brought the woman in her place. But the two women held firm and made sure Evie retained her humanity, and didn't go full Evil Queen on the pair.
"So, you're still at the lab I heard, managing partner now. I know you always wanted that role." Evie chattered, she could hear the wistfulness in her voice but she was unsure Doug would. He wasn't the man she fell in love with. "I was visiting Blanche and Aunt Snow, and thought I would pop in, see if you were still living in our old house." The words were said without spite, but she had meant to inflict pain, and was gratified to see him wince. "You have changed so much." She said idly. "You've made it…open. No secrets anymore."
At his glance she smiled and amended her statement. "The secret cupboard behind the bookcase must be gone by now."
"What are you doing here Evie?"
"As I said, I came to see my old house. I know you bought me out, but this beautiful little cottage was my dream home. Not anymore though. You have utterly trashed the spirit this house once held. Awfully sterile." She had stood once more to look out at the back garden, most of which was paved over. "Oh, you got rid of the old herb border. You didn't heed the old wise woman's warning about removing the herb border." She said almost absently. "No children yet Douglas?" She turned to him with a sort of benign look in her eyes, while her heart danced.
"No." He said stiffly.
"Sorry, never my intention to upset you." She said without a trace of remorse. "Best replace the herb garden if there are to be children, Nana Yaga is never usually wrong about that sort of thing." She shrugged.
"Magic." Doug scoffed.
"Magic writes most of True Love's Happy Endings." Evie reminded him archly and he fell silent again. Having the blue haired Princess here (for she was a Princess again, reinstated at Snow's request), in his home made his skin itch. It dredged up memories he had long since repressed, negative emotions he had tamped down with amazing sex with his amazing assistant turned wife. But now Evie reminded him of his childhood, of the summer haze and the memories he had made. His glory days that had long since passed into a whitened façade of dull routines.
"Please leave Evie." He grunted.
"Why? Is she due home soon?" Evie couldn't resist the dig. "I imagine it would be hard to see the displaced woman back in her own home." She had padded through the hallway, past the stairs (now painted white instead of their rich varnished teak colour), and peeped into the lounge. Sure enough, the fireplace was gone again and it was a depressing mix of beige with pink accents. She wrinkled her nose but turned to the downstairs closet bathroom, she was thankful to see that hadn't been ripped out.
"Get out." He tried sounding more forceful, but when she turned to stare at him, he felt like the nervous teenager faced with the newly arrived Villain Princess. His heart hammered, and he felt the blush rise to his cheeks. He turned away from her sharply.
"I didn't come here to cause problems Doug. I came to see you, get my final closure and take out my talisman." She said quietly, moving into the bathroom, she squatted to feel behind the cupboard that had been passed over in the vicious redecoration of the house. Her fingers closed around the small herb bag and Evie tugged it free from its place.
"What is that?"
"A happiness charm." Evie replied honestly enough. "Nana Yaga gave it to me on the day we moved in. I need to take your piece from it." She explained, unwinding the cord, and pulling free the signet ring he had once given Evie. The night he had gone to a different college than her, it was his promise ring to her. The lump in his throat grew as she dusted off the herbs and handed it back to him. "There now I shouldn't be influencing the house at all." She squared her shoulders and stared at him.
He wanted to flinch under her gaze but instead met it squarely.
"Evie…" He started to say but she cut him off.
"I wish you every happiness Doug." She said simply and without another word, she left, closing the door quietly behind her. A strange feeling wrapped itself around her shoulders; a warm tingle that made her sigh and her body prickle. Removing Nana Yaga's final talisman meant that Evie was finally free.
She almost danced down the path, uncaring of the silver car that pulled up at the kerb, the venomous glare of the female driver. Instead Evie slid into her own car (undoubtedly parked in the silver one's space), and left before the Assistant could get out to hurl abuse at her. Let her hurl abuse at Doug, she was his problem.