Chapter 7 It all comes down to this
"Um...are you both ok?"
"Did you just say what I think you said?" Sookie somehow managed to open her mouth and say to this strange woman who was standing there as calm as could be while Sookie was mildly freaking out on the inside. Bill had not said a word and in fact had taken a step back as if allowing her to deal with this personal matter. She looked at this stranger named Molly, hardly daring to believe what had just been said. "Did you say you were Allie's birth mother?"
"Yes I did." Molly nodded in agreement, a tense smile on her face as they stared at each other in disbelief. "I'm sorry for springing this on you out of nowhere. I know it must be a shock for you."
"You're damn right it is a shock." Sookie said, her heart thudding wildly in her chest as she let go of the door frame and tucked her hands under her arms. "I mean, we only found out that Allie was adopted a year ago and not once in her entire life did you ever show up. And now suddenly you are standing on my front porch. Why is that?"
"I just thought it was time to meet you all." Molly replied, her lips pressing together and her hands twirled her hair around her fingers, an action that reminded Sookie of Allie. It was weird and shocking, but even Sookie couldn't deny that the two looked alike. And Molly had the same kind of air about her as Allie did, that kind and generous vibe that drew people to them. "I know I shouldn't have just popped up, especially when you have such a heavy burden to deal with..."
"So you know what happened?" Sookie asked quickly, seeing the flash of sadness go through the woman's eyes. "You know we're mourning her?"
"Yes, I heard about the unfortunate circumstances surrounding her death and its truly heartbreaking. Even for me, even though I haven't been in her life at all." Molly nodded, the sadness never leaving her face as she shifted from side to side on the old wooden porch. "But there is a reason I came here tonight and its to let you know something..."
"Look, I'm really sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I need you to leave right now." Sookie cut in, feeling her chest get tight and her eyes start to rim with wetness. She didn't exactly know why she was suddenly getting emotional, but having the woman who gave birth to Allie standing right there in front of her was more then she could take right now. There were too many bad things that had happened in such a short period of time and she couldn't deal with another shocker like this. "We are trying to deal with her death and having you show up out of nowhere is just making things worse then ever."
"I don't mean to cause trouble or more pain then you already have, but I needed to come here and meet you." Molly said gently, looking at her with sympathetic eyes. "There are just things you really need to know."
"Whatever it is, I don't want to know about it. It's like I said, we're mourning her and that's tough enough. So please don't lay more things on us, not right now." Sookie wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and looked over her shoulder at Bill who came up to her side and wrapped one of his arms around her waist while she looked at Molly one more time. "Please just leave. This not something I am prepared to deal with at the moment."
"I understand. And I won't bother you again." Molly stepped back on the porch just as Sookie moved back into the door frame. But before Molly walked away, she turned back and said "Just know that I loved my daughter and I did what I thought was right."
And then she was gone as Sookie stepped completely back into the house and shut the door before flipping the lock securely. She stayed there with her hands flat against the wood trying to collect herself. It was only when Bill pulled her back and turned her in his direction did she look up and meet his eyes for the first time.
"That was.."
"Yea..."
"I mean, she just shows up and I don't even..."
"I know, it was a shocker."
"I'm sorry but I couldn't deal with this. Not now." Sookie shook her head and moved forward so Bill could envelope her in his arms where she felt the most calm in this chaotic world. "It's too much in the face of what just happened with Allie."
"You don't have to explain anything to me. I get where you're coming from." Bill set his chin on top of her head, his arms tight around her body. "But I get the feeling that this is not the last we will see of Molly. Birth mothers don't suddenly show up after 23 years without a specific reason."
"I hate to agree with you but I do...something is off about this whole thing."
20 minutes later
"Oh boy. Judging by the look on your face, I take it things did not go well with Sookie and Bill."
"That is the understatement of the century." Molly groaned as she slid into the chair across the table from Aaron in the back of the diner and proceeded to drop her forehead repeatedly on the tabletop until she began to feel an ache set in and then she stopped. She sat back and clasped her hands in front of her, seeing her friend stare at her expectantly and she sighed. "As soon as I said who I was and tried to talk to them, Sookie started crying and she asked me to leave before I could tell her anything important."
"You didn't even get to tell them that you're bringing Allison back?" Aaron asked, his mouth dropping open in obvious shock. "That you're a witch and you're performing a resurrection or anything?"
"Nothing at all and before you say anything, I couldn't just blurt it out just for kicks. Telling a person you are attempting to bring someone back from the dead is not something you just scream at upon meeting them. Especially after I told them I was Allison's birth mother. I think that was enough of a shock to last them a while." Molly told him, rubbing the sides of her head with her fingers as Sookie's face kept flashing in front of her eyes. She didn't blame the blonde for not wanting to hear anything else. After all, they had just lost Allison and were still in the beginning of the grieving stages and Molly hadn't been willing to let herself be known about until now. "And besides, I don't think they want to encounter any more witches so soon after what happened. So that's why I didn't tell them about me."
"So what's your plan then to deal with them?" Aaron questioned, pouring them both a cup of coffee from the pot on the table before pushing a cup over to her. "Because you know you can't just resurrect her and let that be it. They are going to want answers and when Allison shows up one day on their doorstep, they will want to understand how it is possible. And you will have to give then that."
"I know I will and when the time comes then it will happen." Molly assured him, smiling gratefully for the coffee and clasped her hands around the steaming mug. "But right now, my mind has to be completely focused on bringing my daughter back."
"Wow, I still cannot get use to the fact that you had a daughter." Aaron shook his head, his cup clutched in one large hand. "I mean, we have known each other over 20 years and you never once mentioned this."
"That's because it was entirely too painful to think about, let alone talk about. So I tried to pretend like it had never happened and that made it easier to go through life." Molly frowned, thinking of how many years had gone by where she had somehow managed to forget that she had a daughter. She sometimes wondered how she had done that because once you became a mother, no matter what you did about the baby you still had that connection to your offspring. "I pushed it aside until I couldn't do it any more and now here we are."
"So...how did this all happen?" Aaron wanted to know, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "Tell me everything about where it all began. Because you have left me in the dark about a lot of things."
"I was in college when I got pregnant. I was only 19 and I was so not capable of taking care of even myself, let alone a child. So I knew adoption would have to be the outcome if I wanted to keep my life going. And even though it killed me, I set my mind to giving up my baby." Molly bit down on her bottom lip as she remembered that moment 24 years ago when she came to the conclusion that she could not keep Allison in her life. It just was not possible and it wasn't right. It would have been selfish to try and hold on to her daughter just because she was scared of letting go. "It was hard to stay true to that decision because when I went to the doctor and heard her heartbeat and say the ultrasounds, I wanted nothing more then to just keep her with me. But I knew I couldn't. If she was going to have a better life, then I had to give her up."
"I'm sorry you had to make that decision. I can't even begin to understand how hard that must have been." Aaron's normally cheerful face had gone serious fast and he was looking at her with a foreign look in his eyes. "So how did you meet the Stackhouses?"
"Oddly enough, I had met them by chance at an old diner like this in Georgia. And we had started talking and I had told them I was pregnant and looking to give my daughter up and that's when they said they wanted to adopt." Molly smiled in memory of that day when she met those kind people out of the blue and they had offered to take care of her baby. It was the biggest favor anyone could ever do for another person. "They had been trying to have a baby of their own but it just wasn't in the cards and were just looking to adopt when we ran into each other. We had exchanged numbers and once the papers were drawn up, I signed over all custody and parental rights to them and the week before my due date, they actually came and stayed in a hotel near my apartment so that when I went into labor, they could be there. And they were, it was a few weeks after I turned 20 when I gave birth and they both stayed with me in the hospital because I had no one else. It was so comforting to know that the better parents for Allison were there. And when they took her away, I knew she was going to be happy with them."
"I'm sure that even if you did keep her, you would have been a great mother even at 20 years old." Aaron assured her, patting her hand gently before asking the unavoidable question. "What about her birth father?"
"I don't want to talk about him." Molly retorted rather quickly, feeling a flash of anger and fear go through her at the mere mention of Allison's father. She hadn't thought about him in years and she preferred to keep it that way or else she would never sleep at night. "We did not have the best relationship and it ended badly when he found out I was pregnant and I haven't had too much contact with him since then and I want to leave it at that. So please don't ask me about him. If I ever do talk about it, it has to be to Allison first."
"Done deal." Aaron instantly knew not to push this subject and that was due to them knowing each other for so long that he enough to let this one go for now. "So I guess that brings us to the present then."
"I guess it does."
"So...when are you going to tell Allison everything?"
"Not for a while, that's for sure." Molly shook her head and combed her fingers through her short brown hair and picked up her coffee cup again. "Once Allison is resurrected, I think its best to stay hidden for a while at least until things have calmed down. I mean, she will have enough to readjust to when she comes back to life and I don't want to burden her with all this just yet. But once a little time has passed and she has had a moment to start getting her life back together, then I will go back and tell them all it was me who brought resurrected her. But until then, I just need to stay away."
"I guess that makes sense." Aaron nodded, pressing his lips together into a tight line. "But since you brought it up I just thought I would ask. When are you completing the last part of the resurrection?"
"Tonight...I'm doing it tonight."
Back in Shreveport
"Are you serious?"
"Absolutely and completely."
"I'm not joking here Eric?"
"Who said anything about joking? I was just answering your question and you take it as me making a joke."
"You'll have to forgive me for this but I have history on my side that says you very rarely get serious about anything. Now tell me the truth."
"That is the truth...I don't have a plan about the witches."
"Oh Eric." Godric found himself groaning, dropping his face into his hands because he could no longer look at his progeny. He was still taken about by the lack of formation in Eric's decision to go after the rest of the coven especially after his child had spoken so determinedly about it. He had thought Eric would put more consideration into how exactly they were going to pull this off. And now to his surprise, there was no plan and no structure at all. He looked up to see Eric staring at him from the other end of the couch and rolled his eyes. "How could you not think to come up with a plan?"
"I don't see what there really needs to be done except find them and kill every last one of them." Eric said like it was the easiest thing in the world to do and that there wouldn't be anything that would go wrong. "So whats the problem?"
"The problem is you are going after a handful of witches we have already been to war with and you are expecting to go into a fight blindly with no plan. Do you know how many things could go wrong if you do that?" Godric asked him, sitting with his hands in his lap and fighting the urge to say that Eric was acting foolishly, again. But he held back. "I finally came around to agreeing with your idea and I'm even joining you on this mission because I too want them to pay for what they have done. But we have to be smart about this."
"Well, you're my elder so you tell me what to do since you have all the answers." Eric threw his hands up in the air and stretched his arm alogn the back of the couch while looking at Godric expectantly. "Speak."
"First off, I do not always have all the answers but I'm glad you have enough respect for me to think that." Godric smirked, a lightheartedness hanging in the air right then. "But in this instance, I did think it was important to do some kind of research so we have some kind of direction. So I called Isabel."
"You did? For what?" Eric questioned curiously.
"I wanted to know if the remaining witches had returned to Dallas or not." He explained to his progeny, thinking of that hour long conversation he had with his long time friend. They hadn't just talked about the witches, they had talked what happened in the graveyard, Allison's death and how they were all coping with it. Isabel had offered her sincere condolences to them for their lost, proving that there was the occasional vampire who still held on to their humanity. "We can't just say we are going to slaughter the rest of them without knowing where the hell they are. They could be anywhere and if we don't have a clue where to find they then we could be searching for years."
"Well then what did she say? Did they go back to Dallas?"
"She hasn't gotten word from the spy she had set up in their midst but she promised to look further into it and then get back to us soon. She knows how important this is to us and she's doing what she can." Godric told him, running his fingers over his knee so he had something to do. "But until then we just have to wait."
"That's fine with me, but I will tell you one thing though..." Eric sat up straight, becoming taller then Godric even with them both sitting down. He had a dark look cross over his pale face briefly as their eyes locked. "Once we know where the rest of them are, we are going right after them and showing no mercy."
"Normally I would shy away from this for a second time, but I just so happen to agree with you." Godric nodded, his own face reflecting the determination in his still heart. He wasn't normally in favor of violence, but much like with the first battle, he was willing to forget about his calm ways and jump feet first into this fight. He had lost a very close friend and just like Eric, he wanted to avenge her. And that meant killing every last one of them. He looked at Eric and nodded. "No mercy."
The end of the night
"This is it...the time has come to bring this body back to life."
"Stop whispering like that...it's really freaking me out." Aaron made a point of saying under his breath like he didn't think she would hear him but of course she did. And when their eyes met from her spot on the ground, he visibly cringed as if scared of her wrath. "Uh..."
"You are so lucky I am done with the incantation or else I would blast your ass from here to Kingdom come." Molly threatened but she wasn't serious since all her attention was on the grave site in front of her. Her hands remained over the grass where she had directed the white light from her fingers into the earth where it was forcing down the droplets of blood she had poured on the grass. "You're a witch too and yet you are freaking out like a child."
"That's because I have never attempted uncharted magic before like you are doing. Who knows what could happen as you try and finish this." Aaron said back defensively, standing a few feet away from the grave as if he were worried something was going to jump out at him if he got too close. "Not to mention I haven't seen you use your Fae powers in forever."
"It's essential to use them now in this spell." Molly told him, watching as the light embedded itself in the grass and pushed it's way into the dirt towards the coffin lying 6 feet below. "She needs not only my blood but the use of my powers in order for it to work."
"Why is that?" Aaron wondered, eying the grave curiously.
"She needs the blood for obvious reasons, blood sustains life and with her being my daughter, my blood ran through her veins up until her death. So she needs the blood she was originally born with in order to be reborn again."
"And the powers?"
"The spell requires me to give two personal parts of myself to resurrect her, its the sacrifice part and both parts have to be something that she also had. And besides the blood, we also shared Fae powers, even though she is full blooded and I'm only half."
"So wait...the father was a half Faerie too?" Aaron started snickering at this statement so much that Molly too found her body shaking with laughter. "Oh there is so much wrong with that sentence."
"Oh yea, I know." Molly giggled as she rolled her eyes just as the light died from her hands and she stood up with a satisfied smile on her face. "Alright, it's done. It's finally completed."
"Wait, are you for real?" Aaron's body instantly snapped to life for the first time since they got here and he actually came over to her side and motioned down to the ground. "You're done?"
"Yes I am, the last part finished just now. The blood exchange, the incantation and the white light was the final stage. It's over now." Molly nodded, feeling a lightness spreading through her body, knowing that she had pulled this off and her daughter was going to be coming back in the very near future. "We can go now."
"Is that seriously it?" Aaron seemed unable to accept that this process had ended without some big bad ending and had instead just went quietly away. "Do we wait here for a sign? Do we start digging her out? What do we do?"
"We don't do anything. Our part is done and now we let nature take over." Molly explained, chucking at her life long friend's bewildered expression. "Didn't you re-read the spell book like I told you too so you would know what is going on?"
"And don't you remember that I never listen to you when you get bossy?" He shot back, shoving his hands in his pockets. "So tell me now. Is she going to be waking up any time soon?"
"The actual duties may be over, but according to the spell book, the resurrection won't be complete until the next rain storm hits." Molly replied, her hand clutching the old book in her right hand that she proceeded to wave in his face. "If you had read it like I told you then you would know that. It says at the very end that it only works once the earth has been cleansed by the waters of the heavens. So she won't be brought back until then."
"You're saying that once it rains, then she'll be resurrected?" Aaron eyed her like she was out of her mind before he shrugged and threw his hands in the air. "That's really weird, but whatever works for you is ok I guess."
"You are such a trip." Molly teased him, pushing at his shoulder and moving him towards the path that would lead them back out through the old iron gate. But before she left with Aaron, she turned back to look at the grave, seeing nothing out of place and sighed. It was hard to know that she had finished her part in all this and now she would have to wait for nature to take it's course. Now it was out of her her hands and what ever happened would happen. She raised her hands at the tombstone and whispered "Awake soon my daughter and come back to this world."
