Chapter 2: Rebuilding Her Life
AN: Here is chapter 2 at last folks, sorry for the long wait, was finishing the last few chapters to one of my other fics called War for Meridian's Throne.
Once again, no beta reader for this, I want to make this my first solo fic and see if I can avoid making too many mistakes on my own. Hopefully, I can avoid have too many mistakes.
Now I would like to thank the following people for reviewing the first chapter: DadaWars, Lil chap welsh nd proud, an0n, Lily887787, steve rogers, AngelKat7, Violent Pixie, Midnight librarian, CaptainThomas, famartin, Lily312, Sokai, KnightofFaerun, Philip Gipson, WITCHGRL12
Disclaimer: Don't own W.I.T.C.H. (wish I did though, then we would have a season 3)
Chapter 2: Rebuilding Her Life
The next morning, Will woke up to the smell of bacon and pancakes in the air. 'That smells so good.' The still weak redhead thought as she got up and headed for the kitchen. It felt good to be home again, though Will still feared the challenges to come, mainly confronting her friends again.
Will had left the Heart of Candracar behind when she and Matt ran away, so they at least still had the source of their power, but lost their leader and friend. Will was sure the other Guardians would be furious with her when they saw her again. They would probably drag Will to Candracar to face the Oracle and the Council.
The thing was thought, Will was not scared facing the Oracle or the Council. She was scared of setting foot in Candracar itself. Matt made Will swear on the power of Candracar to never use magic again, when they left Heatherfield. But when Will defended Willow from Matt's attack, the desperate young mother called on her Quintessence power to zap her former boyfriend into submission.
Will had broken her vow and now knew she was in same predicament as Phobos had been back when he claimed Nerissa's seal. All Will had to do was lay a single toe on Candracar and who knows what punishment would happen. Will was scared she would never see her daughter or mother again if that happened.
'I have to hope I can at least get the girls to listen to me long enough to explain that. Who knows maybe they will at least take pity on Willow and help work out punishment with the Oracle that will at least let me stay in my daughter's life.' Will silently prayed as she entered the kitchen.
Will found her mother cooking away at the stove; while Willow happily sang the word 'pancakes' over and over again, brining a smile to Will's face. Will knew her daughter loved anything that went with maple syrup and would try to drench her pancakes in the sticky substance until the plate literally over flowed, unless Will stopped her.
Will had learned long ago it was cheaper and cleaner to have someone else put the syrup on Willow's food. This was not something Willow agreed with, but the four year old never stood a chance when Will put her foot down.
"Mommy!" Willow happily called out and jumped form her seat to go give her mother a hug. Will met the embrace by kneeling down as the young girl came towards her and two wrapped their arms around each other.
"Hi sweetie, have you been good for grandma?" Will asked her daughter as they broke from the hug.
"Yes mommy, been very good. Mommy, guess what? Grandma has a frog room!" Willow said with the bubbly happiness only a young child could have. Will looked shocked at the mentioning of a frog room and looked over to her mother as if looking for conformation.
"No matter how much I tried after you first left Will, I could not bring myself to throw away what you had to leave behind. It's a good thing too, since it seems your obsession appears to be genetic!" Susan explained with a smile as she put a large stack of pancakes on the table and plate loaded with bacon as well.
Susan felt a little worried when she watched her granddaughter let out the kind of evil laugh only a young child could make as Susan brought the maple syrup over to the table. As Susan placed the plastic container down, the young girl moved to grab it, but Will plucked it out the younger redhead's reach.
"Nooo!" Willow cried in an over dramatic fashion as her mother opened the bottle and poured some of syrup onto her daughter's pancakes. After Will was done, she looked over to her mother and explained, "To Willow, you don't have enough syrup on your food until the container drips its last drop. So in other words, never let her pour her own syrup unless you want clean up one huge mess."
"Good to know." Susan replied as she watched a sulking Willow slowly eat her food. The new grandmother rolled her eyes at the sight, and then grabbed the newspaper from the counter before going to sit down and enjoy her own meal.
"Will, while you were sleeping, I thought about a few things and made a decision. Please look at the things I circled and I mean really look at them before you jump to conclusions." Susan told Will as she held the paper out the oldest redhead at the table.
Will took the paper with a confused expression on her face, but did as her mother asked. Will looked at what her mother had circled in red and found they were apartment ads. Will was about to break down crying at first, because she thought her mother was trying to get rid of Will and her daughter, but then noticed something.
'All of the apartments are...' Will started to think before she looked up at her mother and said, "Mom, you don't need to..." But before Will could finish her sentence, Susan cut her off.
"Will, you can't support yourself yet and we don't have room for three here, so moving to a bigger apartment is the best option. I want to be there to help you raise Willow and you can't talk me out of it. Besides, being a single mother is very hard and you know full well I'm speaking from personal experience." Susan told Will, making it clear there was no changing her mind.
Will felt grateful to her mother for wanting to move, just to make more room for the two of them, but Will refused to leech off her mother. "But Mom, you can't support three people by yourself! At least wait and see if I can find a job before..." Will started to say, but Susan cut her off.
"Will, I have had a couple of promotions and several raises since you left, I think I can handle it. Besides, I made a few calls before I got a request for pancakes from the syrup monster there and found a job you might enjoy. Or at least you did when you were younger anyway." Susan told her daughter, then went about her getting her own pancakes ready.
Will was about to ask if her mother meant what Will was starting to suspected, when Willow jumped in and asked, "We are bigger home?" Will nodded her head at this which was quickly followed another question from the younger redhead.
"Then can we get a froggy, a kitty and a puppy?!" Willow asked excitedly, while bouncing up and down in her chair.
Susan had to stare at her granddaughter in an amusement, while Will rolled her eyes. "And why do you want to have all those pets Willow?" Susan asked her granddaughter. She could understand wanting one of the pets (even the frog, seeing how she was like her mother) but wanting all three at the same time? That was the first time Susan had heard that.
"We get the froggy because it's the bestest animal in the world. We get the kitty for the cuddling and we get the puppy so it can grow up into a big doggy and eat daddy." Willow said and then went about eating her pancakes, though no longer looking as depressed that they were not drowning in maple syrup.
Susan thought her granddaughter's logic cute, but did not think she liked the idea have raising a dog to eat a person, even if he did lay a hand on Will. Ripping his organs out one by one, sautéing them teriyaki sauce and then feeding them back to him on the other hand, that idea was to the oldest Vandom's liking.
"If what you grandma was hinting a few minutes ago is what I think it is, then you can at least LOOK at lots of animals, but we are not getting one…not yet anyway." Will told her daughter, but did not add any finality onto the sentence since she did not want to close that door permanently.
Susan knew Will did not want to crush the little girl's hope of having a pet, so she had to smile at her own daughter's attempt at diplomacy. 'I think Willow will enjoy the trip though to Mr. Olsen's pet store, she is in for a surprise.' Susan thought, as she continued to her eat her breakfast.
000
After they were done eating, Susan lent Will some of her clothes, since she knew Will wanted to look presentable to Ted Olsen. The few bruises on Will's face had healed nicely and it only took a few gentle touche ups with makeup to hide what was left.
"Mom…did you tell Mr. Olsen…" Will stated to ask, but watched her mother shake her head no. This made Will feel relieved until her mother said, "I wanted you to tell him when we get there."
Will's eyes widened with fear, but Susan quickly put her foot down before Will could protest. "He needs to know what his own grandson did to you Will. All he knows right now is that you and Matt had a fight, but you know full well he is going to want to know more then that." Susan told her daughter firmly, then finished the touch ups.
Will then got up and looked into the mirror and had admit she felt a bit better about how she looked now. She was wearing a white sweater and black dress pants and felt like seemed presentable for the 'interview'.
Will knew Mr. Olsen intended on hiring her, but wanted a reason to have her come in and for them to talk. They had been good friends, almost like grandfather and granddaughter actually, it made sense he wanted to her see her.
He also probably wanted to see Willow to, so Will had the young girl put on the clothes that were in the best condition, even if it was just a pink t-shirt and blue jeans. They were fairly new though, so were in perfect condition.
"Let's get going Will. We don't want to keep Mr. Olsen waiting." Susan said to her daughter and held out her hand to Will. It may have seemed like an action only for young children, but for Will it was comforting thing right now.
Right now, Will was much like a child in some ways. She was scared and vulnerable because of what had happened over the last few years and needed someone to be her pillar of strength to lean on. Something of which Susan would gladly be for Will.
The two got the youngest member of the family and headed for the apartment's underground parking lot. Susan had clearly traded in the old station wagon for a hybrid car, which Will had avoid making it obvious she could hear it talking.
It felt strange to hear anything with a current running though it, 'talk' again. When Will first arrived back in Heatherfield, everything was silent, but then this morning, Will heard things talk as if they were very far away, but now it was like the old power was slowly getting stronger as the voices become louder and clearer.
'My vow must have suppressed it and when I broke it and got closer to the Heart, it must be reawaking.' Will thought as she heard the hybrid complain about her mother's 'ancient' music.
This started another ancient war Susan and Will had for years. Will would push a button to switch to a pop music station, but then Susan would push the button to switch back to her CD.
Willow just laughed at she watched the original mother-daughter combo compete for control over the radio and mocked glared at one another whenever one changed the music.
000
A half an hour later, they finally arrived at the pet store. Will and Susan were still debating on whose music should be played and both even tried to Willow to back one of them up. But the little girl chose option C, play the Kid Pop CD she had brought along.
Susan said no because it was just pop music sang by kids instead the original singers. Will said no because to her, it sacrilege to her sacred music. Of course when Will said that, it was clearly a joke to tease Willow with and got the younger redhead debating with her mother.
Susan tried to use the distraction to change back to her music, but Will kept whacking her mother's hand away from the dial. It had been an entertaining trip to say the least.
Of course, no one was really mad at each other, It was like game really, to see who could rule as 'Queen' of the radio/CD player.
When they entered the shop, Will was greeted by the old man who had not changed bit since she left all those years ago, with the exception of using a cane to walk now. He was clearly getting too old to be working, but Will knew Ted Olsen would sooner light himself on fire then retire. Not unless he had very good replacement to take over the shop for him.
Unknown to her though, Ted believed he was looking at the very replacement. True Will was not a licensed vet and could not take over that half of the store's function yet, but there was plenty of time for that and there was a lot more home study course these days.
"Will! How you are a sight for these old eyes! Was never the same around here since you left." The old man greeted and gave Will a hug.
"I'm glad to see you Mr. Olsen. I'm sorry about…" Will started to but Ted cut her off.
"First of all Will, you should be call me Grandpa, your family, even if Matt's parents don't except it and you to have had falling out of some kind with that grandson of mine. Secondly, you had a good reason to leave town at the time, so no need for apologies." Ted told Will, then looked at Willow.
"And you must be Willow. I'll have to get you know very soon my dear, but first I need to have chat with your Mommy. Why don't you go and look at the animals with your grandma until we are done." Ted told his newest grandchild.
Willow happily took Susan by the hand and dragged the oldest Vandom through the store, though the dark haired woman did not seems to mind. While they did this, Ted took Will behind the counter and into the back room.
It was a short talk, actually. Mostly if Will had gained any new skills with animals and such, so Ted knew what he might suggest Will try to learn to better help out at the shop. Ted found it sad, but understandable that Will was barely able to do enough home study courses to be considered graduated. All of her other times was spent doing odd jobs to help support Willow and Matt.
Ted got a rough idea what Will's life had been like during the last two years of her time with Matt, though not through Will admitting anything. She always seemed to avoid talking about Matt, so Ted knew something more then a lot of argument had happened.
This combined with the fact Susan seemed when angry whenever Matt became a subject of discussion, it did not take a genies to figure out Matt was not the same man he was four years ago.
"Well Will, I'll admit I was hoping you would have been able to at least start training to be a vet like you dreamed of doing, but I think you're still perfect for the job. Having a full time assistant would be a great help around here. My part time help is mostly only good for lugging around stuff and holding the big and troublesome animals down, but his heart is in the right place." Ted said as he and Will headed back onto the front part of the store.
"Who is you part time help?" Will asked, just before the door to the pet store opened and revealed a little surprise walking through.
"Hey Mr. Olsen, got the pet food shipment out back. Just…need…the…" The newcomer started to say, but then locked eyes with Will and both the newcomer and the redhead looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car.
"Will?" "Caleb?" Both said at the same time. Willow noticed all this and quickly ran up and pulled Will over to Caleb and said some of the cutest, but embarrassing words Willow had over spoke in her life.
"Hi Hunky Person, this is my Mommy. She is straight, single and she likes frogs and long walks through the zoo." Will blushed bright red, Caleb stared in shock at Willow and the two grandparents laughed their head off at Willow giving Caleb a date her mommy ad.
'Being called Hunky Person and getting a dating ad from a four year old; that's a new one on me' Caleb thought, while Will tried to recover from her daughter's little statement and admired Caleb's new physique.
Caleb had always had an impressive build, but now he looked like he had an even better build then Shagon's. Will knew Caleb was studying Earth-style martial arts before she left four years ago, so that had helped with his current state.
Will knew Caleb was trying to gather skills for a career in teaching the stuff to kids, but knew Meridian's styles might have stood out too much right away. So he decided to learn the fighting styles of Earth and create something new from them. This was so he could support the family everyone assumed him and Cornelia would have one day.
'Cornelia, you are so lucky.' Will though as Caleb asked a bit shyly, "So…Will…been back in town long?"
"N-No…just got back last night." Will replied, trying to find the courage to ask him to let her have a few more days before telling the girls she was back. Will wanted to make sure Willow would be looked after if Candracar punished her for leaving without notice and breaking her vow to Matt to never use magic again.
"That's good to hear, you have been missed. So…where's Matt?" Caleb asked, hoping to find out what Will had been up to that last four years a little bit at a time.
Will was about to answer, when her mother stepped in, much to Will's relief. "She and Matt had a…falling out, Caleb. Anyway, we should be going. We need to do some shopping. What time do you want her in tomorrow Ted?" Susan said to Caleb, then looking over to Ted Olsen with the last part.
"Will can start Monday, that gives her three days to settle back in, which I'm certain she needs." Ted told the oldest Vandom then, went quickly into the back a got something.
"Before you leave Susan, I believe you'll want this little fellow back." Ted said and let a familiar looking gray dormouse freed of his hands and it ran up to the Vandoms. It acted surprised t see Will and quickly scampered the redhead body until it was on Will's should and sniffed her.
Susan always found the almost intelligent nature the dormouse had, not knowing it was far from an ordinary animal. Susan could tell Will was wondering what Ted meant by wanting him back though, since Will knew her mother did not Mr. Huggles around years ago, so Susan answered the soon to come question.
"It got lonely after you left, so I…kind of took him in. Since Matt left him behind and the other girls had already tried and failed to look after him, I decided to keep him. I brought him in a for a check-up and was going to pick him up today anyway, so I thought I would tell Ted ask Ted if he still had work for you." Susan explained, while Willow looked up at the furry creature in awe.
"Mommy, we have a pet squirrel!" Willow exclaimed, making both her mother and grandmother smile and explain Mr. Huggles was a dormouse, not a squirrel. The three Vandoms and the secret Regent of Earth (to Susan and Willow) left to get go shopping.
Caleb just watched them leave, debating if he should tell the girls or not. 'It's probably better I wait a bit. Will just got back and does not need to much happening right now if she has broke up with Matt. Besides, I want to let Cornelia cool down from that fight yesterday before I talk to her again.' Caleb thought as he turned around and did his normal part time work around the shop.
000
And there you go; I'll try to have the next one out a lot sooner. Please read and review.