So, as it turns out, I'm back to working 10 hours a week cause we're in shut down again. LOL. Guess that means more time to write... without the guilt of pretending to work while I actually write Winx Club FF.
Thanks SunshinewithHurricane! You'll be happy to see some TxT interaction in this chapter when Tecna's section goes up
To my #1 fan (you know who you are): Happy you liked the new chapter! S2 is my favourite season so there are times when all I want to do is skip ahead to it lol
Thanks foxchick1. I'm excited to see what happens too ;)
Guys! I'm so pissed! I had worked out the timeline of all my chapters in individual documents so I could just write on them directly as I went. Anyways, I could not find my fucking chapter 13! I checked my laptop, my phone and my work computer. Nothing. I had so many great things that I was so excited to do... Real upset rn.
Luckilyyyyyy I have a real good memory and I managed to figure most of it out from memory and notes on further chapters. I'm sure I missed something, but I'll make it work.
Anyways, I have issues with this episode. The whole Bloom seeing people's true intentions thing which is then NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN pisses me off so I did a whole lotta modifications to this chapter.
Finally, I had considered putting up ep 13 as one chapter, but it's going to be like 50000 words if I do and I feel like that's exaggerated. So you'll be getting 5 parts of chapter 13, one for each girl. I'm still working on them and it'll take a while before the next one goes up as the other 4 all interact with each other somehow. Since Bloom doesn't though, here she is :)
Ch 13. Meant To Be
Part 1 - Bloom
Bloom sighed happily as she threw herself onto her bed. It felt so good to be home! Not that she didn't love being at Alfea; she just really missed her parents. She'd arrived twenty minutes prior and had been immediately been pulled into a family hug of which she didn't escape for a good five minutes. Her mother had cried tears of joy at having her baby back and her father had made a stupid joke about how she should stop growing up and stay at home forever. All in all, it was exactly what she'd wanted in a homecoming.
She had about two hours before all her relatives – at least those that could - started arriving for their belated Christmas celebration. Somehow her parents had managed to convince all the local family that Christmas dinner in January would be more fun. Now, Bloom loved Christmas, but by the 1st of January even she was tired of the Christmas music. Never the lights though – those she could keep up for the whole year and never tire of them.
After that it would just be her and her parents. She'd made plans to see some friends, but if she was being honest, she hadn't missed them all that much. She knew that they hadn't had an unbreakable friendship. After all, they'd barely seen each other all summer and once school was over, they wouldn't have kept in touch more than occasionally liking a Facebook or Instagram post. The friendship she'd formed with the other members of the Winx Club was much more durable.
She laughed internally at the completely unoriginal name that was the Winx Club. After all, winx was a known term for all fairy magic in the magical dimension. It had started as a joke during a slumber party they'd had at the beginning of the year and become a running joke. Then, somehow in all that, it had become an actual thing and they'd gone as far as doodling a logo – which Bloom intended to draw and paint as a dorm gift at some point – and creating a theme song.
A knock at her bedroom door came and her mother opened the door just enough to poke her head in. "Feel like helping me with dinner?"
"Sure!" Bloom replied enthusiastically. She and her mother cooked together all the time when she was still at home. Every Sunday when her father wasn't on shift, they would make a point of having a family meal that Bloom and Vanessa would make together. Most of the time, they'd make traditional, family favourites, but they also loved to experiment. They'd tried make vindaloo – which had gone great – and dumplings – which had been delicious, but not pretty.
Because tonight was their Christmas dinner, it would be the traditional Turkey with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, mashed carrots and turnips, and parsnips followed by dessert. Her mother had made all the desserts that they would then send people home with because they always made way too many: gingerbread cookies, snickerdoodles and fruitcake – though why Vanessa still bothered with the fruitcake, Bloom couldn't figure out. The only dessert left to make was the apple pie because it was Bloom's specialty. She loved making fancy crusts that her cousins would all take pictures of to post on their Instagram accounts claiming it was theirs.
When Bloom got downstairs, she found her mother at the sink peeling the potatoes. Vanessa suggested she start on her pie without turning to look at her daughter. Bloom started to prepare her apples, humming to the tune of 'deck the halls'. After all, she hadn't listened to any Christmas music yet since it didn't exist in the magical dimension.
They worked in silence, besides Bloom's humming, which the redhead found strange. She and her mother had a great relationship and would spend hours chatting about any and everything. For Vanessa to be this quiet – especially when Bloom had just gotten home from magic college – something had to be off. "Mom, is everything okay?"
Vanessa took a deep sigh and turned to face Bloom, leaning against the counter for support. "Bloom, honey, I wanted to talk to you about something that's been on my mind for a while."
"Okay?" Bloom replied as she began slicing her apples.
"It's about when we adopted you -"
"I know, it was the greatest day of your life" Bloom laughed. Her parents had always told her the truth about her being adopted, and she'd more than once heard about how, especially so soon after having found out Vanessa was infertile, it was the greatest joy to find a baby that they so immediately fell in love with.
"Well, of course it was the greatest day of my life" Vanessa replied, walking around the kitchen island to wrap her arms around Bloom. "You were such a cute, beautiful baby. You grew up so fast."
Vanessa reluctantly pulled away from Bloom. "Anyhow, honey, what I wanted to talk to you about -"
Bloom put up her hand, interrupting her mother's sentence. Something was not right. "Do you smell burning?"
"Huh?" her mother said, followed by a gasp and Vanessa shouting about her burning fruitcake. Just as she was about to make her way over to the oven and turn it off, the oven burst into flames and Vanessa jumped back in shock.
The heat off the oven was intense and the flames were growing bigger as the seconds passed. Bloom knew she needed to take action or else there would be no Christmas supper and, beyond that, possibly no more kitchen. She pushed past her mother, who attempted to stop her, and with some quick thinking and simple magic extinguished the flames and cleared the air of smoke.
Vanessa dropped herself onto one of the kitchen chairs; it felt like she had just run a marathon. Coupled with the shock of watching her baby girl so easily adapt to magic, Vanessa was ready to sleep for the next hundred years.
"Are you okay?"
"That was amazing!"
"Thanks. I couldn't save the fruitcake though."
"Forget the fruitcake! You saved us!" Vanessa exclaimed, jumping up from her chair and pulling Bloom into a hug. "Besides, you know the only person that actually cares about the fruitcake is Jenny and I think she can survive without it for one year."
Bloom laughed loudly – it was true that the only person to enjoy the fruitcake was her aunt Jenny. She went back to preparing her apple pie as her mother checked out the damage on the oven. "You can't even tell there was a fire" Vanessa said in awe.
"Magic!" Bloom joked.
It was around noon when Bloom finally woke up the next day. She had stayed up late with her family at supper last night and it had been wonderful. Partially for the fact that she loved her family, but also because it was nice to be somewhere where she knew everything. At Alfea, she'd had things thrown her way last minute that she didn't understand or hadn't been warned about, but that wasn't the case here.
Her family had questioned what kind of school she went to that didn't give the students time off for Christmas. Bloom had frozen at that question, but luckily her father had come prepared explaining that Bloom's new school was far away, in North Macedonia, and that for them January 7th was Christmas. (1) He'd also come up with the idea that her school was incredibly small and very private; that the friend that had gotten her in had pulled a lot of strings to do so. He'd even claimed that Bloom had had to sign some sort of gag order as many of the students' parents were rich and powerful and the school would not allow any student to leak things to the press that may be harmful to the school, the students, or the parents. That last bit, thankfully, had worked in stopping questions from Bloom's aunt Serena who was notoriously nosy.
Sunday was going to be quiet day – her mom had lunch plans with her book club and her father was at work, so it was just Bloom and Kiko. They'd had a quick bite to eat and were now riding around downtown Gardenia just like they used to. It felt nice to drive through the city and see familiar and friendly faces.
Bloom stopped pedaling to get a sip of water and heard a shrill voice behind her say: "Wow! Look who it is."
So much for friendly faces, Bloom thought with a sigh. "Hello Mitzi" she muttered in a monotone voice.
"So, where have you been?"
"Away" Bloom said shortly as she put her bottle away and readied herself to pedal as far away from Mitzi as possible.
"Duh" Mitzi rolled her eyes. Noticing Bloom was about to drive away, Mitzi planted herself in front of Bloom's bike with the front wheel between her legs. "There's a rumour that your parents shipped you off to reform school."
"What? That's insane."
"What is it then? Did they ship you off to military school? Or to one of those other schools for rejects and outcasts?"
"Oh, fuck off Mitzi" Bloom replied angrily, rolling her eyes and maneuvering her way out of Mitzi's grasp. She should've taken the long way around to the park but instead she'd been naively optimistic that Mitzi would not be home.
"I'll find out whatever it is your hiding, Bloom. I have my ways, you know" Mitzi shouted after her.
Bloom shook off the irritation of having to deal with Mitzi and focused on the fact that she was just a block away from the park. Soon she'd get to lay down on the grass and relax. She'd always loved Gardenia Park, but rooming with Flora had given her an even greater appreciation for the enormous green space. She loved the way the grass smelled when it'd been freshly cut and how the wind blew through her hair. She also planned on spending some time listening to the bird songs – though that was more Musa's influence than Flora's.
She made her way to the clearing where she'd met Stella and, surprisingly, found it empty just like she had that fateful day. She couldn't understand why no one was here; sure, it was January, but they were in southern California and it was still 61 degrees outside. (2) All anyone needed was a light jacket. She laid down in the grass, using her arms to support her head, and closed her eyes breathing in the cool winter day.
"Bloom?"
Bloom opened her eyes to find a tall boy with spiky black hair, dark brown eyes and glasses standing at the edge of the clearing surrounded by two little boys with a similar appearance. "Andy!" she greeted happily. Finally, an actual friendly face.
"Mind if I sit with you while these twerps play?" he asked, lovingly rubbing his brothers' heads.
"Sure. Have a seat."
Andy sat beside her and watched as his brothers kicked around a soccer ball. There was a brief moment of tension where neither of them knew what to say to the other. It didn't help that they hadn't seen each other since June when the last school year had ended. "So, are you home from... school?"
Bloom raised her eyebrow curiously at the intonation in Andy's voice at the word 'school'. "Yes?"
"Cool" he mumbled, nodding his head awkwardly. "So, Mitzi's spreading this rumour that you were shipped off to, like, reform school or military school or some shit like that..."
"Oh my God" Bloom moaned. "Would you please tell that bitch to mind her own business and stop spreading shit about me?"
"Happily," Andy chuckled, "but, uh, you know she won't listen to me, right? She still slaps my ass when I pass her in the hallway."
"Seriously?" Mitzi had started flirting with Andy when he and Bloom had started dating in March of 2015. At first Andy had told her he wasn't interested but seeing as how she didn't seem to care and continued to flirt, Andy had moved onto ignoring her. The school year had ended and once it started up again, Mitzi had ignored him. Bloom could only assume that Mitzi had thought they'd broken up and stopped caring about Andy as she no longer had someone to steal him from. Soon enough, though, she'd started again. Only, this time, she'd started getting physical too: rubbing his arm, hugging him, running her finger down his chest, kissing him on the cheeks and slapping his butt. Once Andy and Bloom had broken up last May, Mitzi had continued her relentless pursuit of the dark-haired boy anyways. "How has she not gotten the message that you're not interested?"
"I don't know" Andy shrugged, shaking his head. "She'd getting even bolder, though and it's really pissing off my girlfriend."
"You're seeing somebody?"
"Uh, yeah. Dani...the, uh, the blonde from math class."
"Jacobsson?"
"Yeah."
"Good for you" Bloom smiled genuinely. "Dani seemed really sweet."
"Yeah, she is" Andy replied, wearing a dopey grin that made Bloom even happier for him. "What about you? Have you got yourself a boyfriend at your not-a-reform school?"
"No" Bloom replied bashfully. She stared at her wringing hands not wanting Andy to see her blush as she thought of Brandon.
"But there is somebody." Bloom looked up at the boy curiously. His tone indicated that what he'd said was a statement, not a question. "Bloom, I know you. Remember, we were friends before we dated; I know what you're like when your crush comes up. So, who is he?"
Bloom let out a dramatic sigh that would have made Stella proud. "His name is Brandon. I met him through a friend at my new school. He's really sweet and thoughtful – the perfect gentleman, really."
"I hope it works out for you" Andy said softly.
"Are you okay, Andy?"
Andy met Bloom's gaze and, for a second, she felt the love she'd had for him return. Andy had always been a sensitive, caring person and the look he was giving her was the same one he'd given her when she'd broken up with him.
"Yeah. I, um, I've just been meaning to reach out and apologise but I've never really been sure how to bring it up."
"What do you have to apologise for?"
"Making you feel pressured to have sex with me. And how I reacted when you brought it up during our breakup. I really shouldn't have gotten so defensive – you had every right to feel that way regardless of whether or not I intended for you to feel pressured. Though, just for the record, I didn't. I... I never wanted you to feel like you had to do anything. So, I'm sorry."
Bloom was taken aback. Like she had told the girls, she held no resentment towards Andy, but it was still nice to have her feelings acknowledged. "Wow, Andy. That's very mature of you."
"You can, uh, thank Dani for that – she made me see your point."
"Sounds like Dani's gonna be good for you" Bloom chuckled. "And, anyways, that was forgiven a while ago. I don't see the point in holding any bad feelings towards you 'cause I know that you never meant to make me feel that way."
Andy and Bloom spent the better part of the afternoon hanging out just like old times. He filled her in on what was happening in Gardenia; what stupid things the kids at school were getting into; what rumours were going around; who was dating who. Bloom told him about her new friends and school – at least, as much as she could without revealing that she'd randomly discovered she had magic powers and was now going to a special fairy school in a whole other dimension. At the end of the afternoon, Andy and his brothers walked her home and the two shared a hug, happy to have reacquainted with an old friend.
Bloom woke early on Monday – she'd promised her mother that she would help at the shop while she was home. For the average teen, spending a break week working at their parents' shop would be a nightmare but that wasn't the case for Bloom. In fact, she really enjoyed working with her mother. The flower shop was almost always filled with pleasant customer experiences – flowers for anniversaries, weddings, birthdays, dates, and grand romantic gestures. Bloom's favourite was the grand romantic gestures – they'd once sold 4000 yellow daisies for a man proposing to his girlfriend. (3) Then there were, of course, the funerals but Bloom would always let her mother deal with those since she was the florist and would handle the situation with a lot more tact than Bloom mumbling 'I'm so sorry for your loss' multiple times through the meeting.
Vanessa's flower shop was a quaint enterprise – a mere 500 square feet of shop space, plus the back storage and workshop. There were large glass doors with an intricate floral pattern etched into them and large windows that were not quite floor to ceiling. The space around the windows was filled with plants and vines and the inside of the shop had even more. Floral arrangements and potted flowers lined the shelves around the room, as well as the tables, the cash counter and the ceiling.
As Bloom made her way towards the shop, she spotted a limo outside. She wondered momentarily if a celebrity was visiting her mother's shop. A celebrity in Gardenia would be a first – them being at her mother's flower shop an even more exciting first. Despite being a relatively large town only an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles, Gardenia was never frequented by the rich and famous.
She approached the limo and store, excitement rising in her, to park her bike. Doing her best to not be obvious, she eyed the limo to see if there was any hint as to who the rider was. Unfortunately, the windows were tinted black and the only face she could see was that of the driver who had opened his window.
Bloom entered the store with all the grace and self-control she could muster. Her mother might lose the sale if Bloom freaked out over whoever was inside. She had been hoping to see someone exciting like Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce – hell, she'd even settle for someone moderately famous like that kid from Glee with the big lips. (4) Instead what she found were two men she didn't recognise.
The first was a tall, broad shouldered man with a thick head of dark brown hair. She might even consider him attractive if it weren't for the fact that he was old enough to be her father. The second was a shorter, chubbier and older man; he wore what was obviously a toupee and thick pair of glasses. Both men had large smiles plastered on their faces. Something troubled Bloom about their smiles; they seemed very disingenuous.
"Bloom!" Vanessa shouted happily as she pulled the girl to her side. "I'd like you to meet some people. This is Mr Bonner and Mr Bonner, my future business partners."
"Hello. How do you do?" The two men said in unison. They had low, husky voices that sent a chill up Bloom's spine.
"It's nice to meet you" she replied politely, "Business partners?"
"Your mother has agreed to sell her flower shop to us" the older Mr Bonner informed her.
"Well, not entirely" Vanessa laughed. "They'll own the actual shop, but we'll all own the shop name. They think-"
"We can turn this shop into a big chain of stores" Mr Bonner Sr interrupted excitedly.
"That's exciting"
"Isn't it, honey? Just think, your mother co-owner of a chain of flower shops." Bloom watched as her mother happily turned to the two strange men and instructed them to bring the contracts to sign the next day. Mr Bonner and Mr Bonner nodded, shook Vanessa's hand and turned to leave the store. As he was on his way out, the older Mr Bonner reached up and tousled her Bloom's hair. If Bloom hadn't cared for him before, she definitely didn't now; she wasn't a ten-year-old boy.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Bloom asked, making her way towards the cash register at the back of the store. "You need me to water plants? Sweep? Be an extra pair of hands while you prepare a bouquet?"
"How about coffee?"
"Coffee?"
"I had to be here early for my meeting with the Bonners and I would give my right arm for a cup of coffee right now."
"Your right arm? But mom, you're right-handed. That's some serious arm sacrificing."
"That's how badly I want coffee" Vanessa laughed.
"I'm on it" Bloom replied, giving her mother a peck on the cheek before making her way to the café down the street.
The patio outside the Hazelnut Café was surrounded by 8-foot tall walls covered in greenery to give off a feel of intimacy and privacy. It was what had drawn Bloom and Vanessa to try the café the first time around; the delicious coffee had made them come back. Everyone else in Gardenia must have felt the same because it was one of the prime spots in the city and at any given point people from all walks of life could be seen in the shop or on the patio – couples, working students from the nearby college, not-working students from Gardenia High, families, business associates, nurses from Gardenia General. Everyone went to the Hazelnut Café.
Today, as luck would have jt, Bloom happened to spot the Bonners. She knew she shouldn't eavesdrop on their conversation, but she couldn't help herself. Something was off about them and if this was her chance to figure out what, she wasn't going to waste it. She leaned against the back of the greenery wall opposite of where the Bonners were sitting, knowing full well that she seemed a bit looney to the people around her. She cast a spell Musa had taught her to control her hearing. Granted, the spell was nowhere near as useful on her as it was on Musa what with her lack of sonar ears, but it was better than her regular hearing.
"... dumb broad" the older Bonner's disembodied voice said.
"A chain of flower shops – what a ridiculous idea" another voice that Bloom assumed was the younger Bonner's laughed.
"You'll see, this'll be the easiest one yet. Tomorrow, we take her to sign the papers and within two, max three, months, we've shut her down and are ready to start building state of the art luxury condos."
Bloom felt her breath leave her body. The Bonners were going to screw over her mother, shut her down. The urge to throw a burning attack at them was strong, but that would only get her branded as a freak and possibly have her arrested. How would the Gardenia Police react to magic, she wondered as she fought off the urge to attack.
Forgetting about getting coffee, Bloom ran back to the store. She bolted in, effectively scaring her mother and sweet Mrs Manning, who was probably there to buy her weekly bouquet to visit her mother at the old folks' home just outside the city. "Mom, we need to talk."
"Well, can't it wait Bloom? I'm with a customer" Vanessa replied sternly, pointing to Mrs Manning. "Teenagers, I swear."
"Oh, tell me about it. My Cassie is convinced every little thing is the end of the world these days" Mrs Manning chortled. "Bloom, darling, how are you? It's been so long since I've seen you."
"I'm well. Mom, seriously, this is important."
"Where have you been hiding? Cassie says you're not at school anymore."
"Mom."
"Bloom."
"Oh, teens" Mrs Manning chuckled.
"Here you are, Cindy. See you next week."
"You have a nice week, Vanessa dear. It's nice to see you, Bloom" Mrs Manning replied happily before leaving the shop.
Vanessa turned to face Bloom, irritated at the way her daughter had acted. "Honestly, Bloom, you couldn't have waited a few minutes?"
"No, Mom. This is really important."
"Was there another passed out fairy at the café?" Vanessa joked, noticing that her daughter was not holding any coffees. "Bloom, did you not get our coffee?"
"Huh? No. I overheard the Bonners talking and, mom, they're not good business partners. They're planning –"
"Bloom, don't be ridiculous. The Bonners already have a chain of successful businesses."
"They're gonna shut down the shop to build luxury condos" Bloom shouted.
"Bloom."
"Please, mom. You can't sign that contract. The Bonners are not good people."
Vanessa observed Bloom attentively. Her daughter had never been one for lies and dramatics. And she had no reason to try to dissuade Vanessa from signing, so for her to be doing so meant she had to have a valid reason. "And you're sure about what you heard?"
"Yes. I used a hearing augmentation spell that my friend Musa taught me. I'm one hundred percent positive."
Vanessa looked at Bloom quietly for a few seconds before simply replying 'Okay then' and returning to her work.
"Okay? You won't sign?"
"I won't sign. Besides, it's not like I really needed it. The shop is still successful even if it's small."
When the Bonners came back the next day, contract in hand, Vanessa informed them that she'd re-evaluated and wasn't interested in signing anymore. She claimed to have realised that the idea of a chain flower shop sounded like more work than she was willing to take on. She liked her life simple and was content with the way it was at the moment.
The Bonners were not happy with this news and made their displeasure very evident. Mr Bonner Sr's large fake smile became a very terrifying glare, but the old man said nothing. The younger Mr Bonner, however, did not have his father's controlled temper. "Look, we want this shop and we've got plenty of ways of getting what we want."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Vanessa replied angrily. She was usually a very calm and rational person, but the way the Bonners were acting irritated her. It was understandable that they were upset about their deal falling through, but to threaten her like that was just unacceptable.
"Oh nothing" the older Mr Bonner dismissed calmly. "It's just that there are other things that can be broken besides agreements."
Vanessa stared down the old man, not willing to let him see that his comment had shaken her a bit. The two men said nothing more. Instead, they turned around and made their way out of the store, though their exit was nowhere near as quiet as the men themselves were. The younger Bonner, who walked with both hands stuffed in his pant pockets, knocked over one of the vases that sat on a table by the entrance. Vanessa gasped as the small pink pot hit the floor.
"Oh, how clumsy of me" the younger Bonner said coldly. He did not bother apologising or trying to help clean his mess; he simply walked out the door.
"You were right about those men, Bloom" Vanessa said as she made her way to the back store to fetch the broom. Bloom walked over to the de-potted plant and broken vase and waved her hand over it. Within seconds, the broken vase was back together and shortly after the plant and soil were back in it as if it had never been knocked over. Vanessa came back from the back store and was shocked to find that the pot was back on its shelf. "H- How did you?"
"Just a little trick my friend Flora taught me. She hates to see a plant with a broken home" Bloom shrugged.
"Magic" Vanessa laughed, the weariness she felt from her exchange with the Bonners washing away.
On Wednesday she'd gone to the movies with her parents. They'd seen Fences (5) as a matinee and had thoroughly enjoyed it; but how could they not with lead actors as phenomenal as Denzel Washington and Viola Davis? Bloom made a mental note to ask Tecna if she had a way for Bloom to access Earth TV shows from Magix – season 3 of How to Get Away With Murder had started just after she'd left for Magix and she was dying to know the aftermath of Wes' father being shot. (6)
After the movie they'd gone walking through the park together before Bloom went to meet up with her friends from Gardenia High: Abbey, Marcus and Ellen. She had waited for them just outside the high school; it felt like an eternity since she'd set foot on the Gardenia High campus and standing in front of the large dull brick building made her even more thankful to be at Alfea. Where Alfea was bright and inviting, Gardenia High was bleak and ordinary. It was definitely not a place that inspired learning.
She stared up at the building anxiously, praying to avoid a run-in with Mitzi, when the three familiar faces she was looking for came out the door. The two blonds, Ellen and Marcus, and currently pink-haired Abbey came bolting down the stairs when they spotted her, enveloping her in a warm group hug. "It's, like, so good to see you" Abbey squealed.
"It's good to see you guys too."
"Where have you been? You completely bailed two weeks into the school year."
"I know El, I got an opportunity to go to this really awesome private school and I just couldn't say no."
"And you couldn't text? Or call? Hell, we would've accepted actual mail."
"Actually, a handwritten letter would've been super cute" Marcus commented, earning an eye roll from Ellen. "So vintage and romantic."
After Bloom managed to get Ellen off her back about not having contacted them since going AWOL – which, admittedly, wasn't cool of her – the four of them went out for ice cream. They caught Bloom up in everything that she'd missed – who was dating who, which teachers were completely out of whack this year, any rumours going around and so much more. Bloom didn't bother telling them Andy had already filled her in on a lot of the information. If she had, they would've started questioning her about whether or not she was looking to get back together with him. So she let them ramble on. In the past, she would've felt sad, like she had missed so much in a few short months, but really, she couldn't care less. They were still learning algebra and figuring out which college to go to while she got to learn magic and experience a whole new world.
Maybe after Alfea, she would travel, see the realms. She could start in Solaria with Stella, then head to Eraklyon to visit Brandon and Sky – assuming Sky wasn't too busy to see her. After that, maybe she'd go off to Melody to visit Musa, then Zenith and finally, Linphea. Or, maybe she'd like Eraklyon, and she and Brandon could settle down together. Assuming they ever got together. Then there was figuring out what she wanted to do. Originally, she'd wanted to be a social worker and help people, but now she had a whole new world of possibilities.
When she parted ways with Abbey, Marcus and Ellen that night, Bloom didn't feel much sadness. The thought of leaving them again didn't hurt her the way the thought of leaving her parents did. She wondered if that made her a bad person. It wasn't that she didn't like her old friends – they were wonderful people – it was just that she had met new wonderful people that she felt much closer to.
Thursday morning Bloom and her mother walked to the flower shop together. They stopped at the Hazelnut Café and ordered breakfast sandwiches and coffee like they used to when Bloom was still living at home. She'd only be home a few days but she found herself settling into old routines like they were a well-worn pair of jeans.
Once the shop was opened, Bloom got to her tasks of cleaning the shelves and watering the plants while her mother prepared an order that was supposed to be picked up that day. She wasn't the biggest fan of manual labour, but when it was easy like this and voluntary, it wasn't too awful.
As she passed the rag over the counters and the vases, she had a flashback of cleaning bleachers with Musa while Stella did her nails, and of the water fight that ensued. She would love to have the girls here to help with this. She didn't necessarily need the extra hands, but she was starting to miss the girls. She wrung out her rag and picked up her bucket. The murky brown water sloshed over the sides of the bucket a little as Bloom walked to the back store leaving a small trail on the ground. She probably shouldn't have filled the bucket so much.
Just as she was about to push the back store door open, a loud smashing sound came from behind her. She turned to see that the beautiful glass doors to the shop had been broken and a brick lay just inside the doors.
"Bloom?!" Vanessa's concerned voice rang out from behind the door. "Is everything okay?"
Bloom didn't have time to answer as her mother hadn't bothered to wait for one. In an instant, she was rushing through the door and taking in the scene before her.
Both girls moved towards the door, looking outside to see if there was a possible suspect in sight but the street was deserted. "It's going to cost a fortune to replace these doors" Vanessa sighed in exasperation.
"Mom" Bloom laughed, picking up the brick and infusing it with a bit of magic. The hard brown brick became a soft yellow sponge which Bloom then wiped over the broken door. The shattered glass on the ground began to glow causing Vanessa to flutter her eyelids. When she finally managed to keep her eyes open, the broken door was whole again. "Magic, remember?"
"Bloom, that's incredible! Thank you, sweetheart." She pulled the redhead into a hug and squeezed tightly.
As per their working together tradition, Bloom and her mother went out for lunch that day. They'd selected a Chifa restaurant (7) that had just opened up a few streets away. Once they finished eating, they walked back to the restaurant to walk off the food they'd just eaten.
"Oh, I am so stuffed" Bloom laughed, patting her belly.
"Your grandmother used to say, 'a lady is never stuffed, she's-'" Vanessa came to a halt causing Bloom to bump into her.
"Mom? What's wrong?"
"The doors have been forced open! Someone was here while we were gone!"
Bloom stepped out from behind her mother and gasped at the state of the shop. It looked like a tornado had gone through the place. The shelves along the side walls were broken and some had even been ripped off the wall. Broken vases, dirt and pot-less plants littered every surface to the point that they couldn't see the floor.
"I don't suppose you have a spell for this?"
"No, I'm sorry, Mom" Bloom said sadly. As much as she wished she could, her magic just wasn't strong enough to fix a mess of this magnitude.
"I don't get it. Why would burglars wreck the place? It just doesn't make any sense."
"I don't think it was a burglar, Mom. It was the two Mr Bonners."
"We don't know that, Bloom. We can't just start pointing fingers." Bloom shook her head at her mother's naivety. "There has been a problem with burglary lately. I saw it on – "
Bloom made her way over to the cash register. She played it off as checking to see how much the 'burglars' had gotten away with, but she had her suspicions that she wouldn't find any missing money. She opened the register and, just as she'd predicted, it was still full. "If it was burglars, why didn't they take the money from the register? It was those guys; they're trying to intimidate you!"
"God, I really hope this isn't going to be a regular problem" Vanessa sighed "Bloom, you might as well just go home. I need to call the insurance company and the police."
"No way. I'll stay as emotional support."
Later that night, Vanessa recounted what the police had said to Mike. He wasn't happy to hear that the cops had said that there wasn't enough evidence. The men had made veiled threats to his wife and then two days later, her shop had been broken into and trashed. How was that not evidence?
Eventually, they all went to bed even though Mike had it in him to stay up another three hours complaining about shoddy police work. Vanessa, however, was completely exhausted from a long, difficult day and Bloom just wanted to get to sleep.
Bloom changed into a pair of pajamas and removed her mascara before tucking Kiko into the small bunny bed on the table next to her own bed. She flicked off the bed side lamp and quickly fell into a restless sleep.
Bloom walked through a field of flowers. The mix of reds, yellows, pinks, purples and blues reminded her of something friendly and welcoming that she couldn't quite place her finger on. The smell of the flowers perfumed the air around her and she breathed in deeply to fully appreciate the sweet scent. This was heaven.
As Bloom danced through the rows of flowers, she spotted a sky blue rose that stuck out tall amongst the rest. She moved dreamily through the field to pick up the rose. She brought it to her face and smiled as the smell of the rose invaded her senses. Her smile faded when she pulled her face back and saw that the beautiful blue rose had turned black in her hand.
The rose hit the ground as Bloom stared at it in shock. When she finally regained her composure, she noticed that the fields in front of her were burning up. She turned around to see if the field behind her were burning too and came face to face with a large green, white and pink sign that read 'Vanessa's Flower Heaven'.
Something was wrong.
Bloom awoke with a gasp and bolted out of bed. She ran to her parents' room, flicking on the lights and shaking her father awake.
"Bloom? Honey?" he said sleepily as Bloom moved to the other side of the bed and began shaking her mother.
"We... we have to go" Bloom yelled breathlessly as she ran down the stairs to get her shoes.
"It's okay, honey. You had a nightmare" Mike reassured her as he and a half-asleep Vanessa followed their panicked daughter down the stairs.
"No, I had a vision. Mom's shop is on fire. We have to go!"
"Bloom, a vision? Really?" Mike asked skeptically.
"Yes dad. I don't know how to explain it but I sometimes get visions when I'm asleep or... Or something. Please. We have to go" she begged. "If I'm wrong, the worst that happened is that we took a quick midnight drive as a family."
"Okay, let's go" Mike sighed.
Mike drove as fast as he could to the flower shop without driving recklessly. They got to the shop a few minutes later and were devastated to find the building engulfed in flames. The heat radiating off the building could be felt across the street and inside the car.
The area the shop was in was almost entirely commercial with very little nightlife. All the clubs and bars were a few blocks away on Crescent Street and its surrounding streets. Third Street, where Vanessa's shop was, contained cafés, boutiques, nail salons, restaurants and a bunch of other businesses – none of which would be open at 1 AM.
Mike called his squad, but their station was a 10-minute drive away and the building was going up fast. Bloom knew that if they waited that long there wouldn't be much left to save. Money wouldn't be a problem since, after the break-in that afternoon, Vanessa had taken all the cash in the shop except $250 and brought it to the bank. Still, Bloom had this nagging feeling that there was more than just the building at stake, but she couldn't explain it more specifically than that.
"Mike! My shop!" Vanessa cried as she leaned into her husband for support. She felt like her legs would collapse out from under her.
"Don't worry, honey, it's gonna be okay" he replied as he rubbed her back, trying to bring her some semblance of comfort. "At least you weren't in there. A shop we can always replace, but you-"
Bloom had had enough. She was a fairy crying out loud! A proud student of Alfea; one of the best fairy schools in the universe! "I'm taking care of this. You guys just stay back."
"Huh?"
"Bloom! No! Stop her, Mike!"
Bloom was halfway across the street when she felt a hand grab her wrist. She shook him off, explaining that she had to do something now or there wouldn't be anything of the shop for his men to save. "You can try to stop me all you want, I'm doing this. I have to."
Bloom hesitated a second, she had been expecting her father to counter with an argument about how she was acting recklessly but instead the man just stood there with a blank look on his face. It was almost as if he was in another world. Bloom decided she didn't have time to wait and see what was happening so she turned on her heel and marched towards the building.
"I'm coming in with you then" Mike said with a bone-chilling determination, suddenly appearing at Bloom's side.
Bloom nodded. She knew better than to argue with him about this. She conjured up a force field around them that would allow them to breathe properly and not get burned. Mike forced the door open and the father-daughter duo headed inside.
The interior of the building was even worse than the exterior. The same bright flames engulfed most of the room, but there was the added mess of burnt plants, broken furniture, and broken and breaking beams. Bloom casts a few spells to reduce the flames, but she didn't seem to be having a more than moderate effect.
A young man and his squad of firefighters pulled up outside a series of burning buildings. The fire was enormous, larger than anything any of them had ever seen. The young man, who Bloom now realised was her father, was determined to go in and rescue whoever they could but his squadron kept insisting the flames were too big. Still, young Mike insisted on trying.
He ran into the building and the scene shifted.
Inside, Mike looked around a building in more or less the same state as her mother's shop. Young Mike looked around, but there was nobody to be seen. He continued onwards into the burning building, becoming more and more discouraged as he went along. There were easily a dozen buildings in this fire; he would surely die if her were to search each one alone. Regardless, he would do it. He had become a firefighter to help people, so if he could just save one, his sacrifice would be worth it.
Then, like a blessing from above, he heard it. A crying baby.
He followed the sound as well as he could with the sound of the crackling fire around him. It led him to a small apartment on the top floor. He kicked open what was left of the door and gasped when he saw the baby. She had big blue eyes and a protective bubble much like the one Bloom had conjured. She cried so much her voice was become horse.
Bloom couldn't be sure if she'd imagined it, but she could swear she heard the voice from her dreams telling Mike to take care of the baby. Young Mike moved forward and picked up the baby who immediately ceased her crying and began to happily coo at the blond man.
"Bloom?! Bloom look!" Mike yelled, pulling Bloom out of her trance. She looked towards where her father pointed and was shocked to see a familiar-looking old man cowering in a corner. It was the middle of the night; nobody should've been in the building.
Bloom left the protective bubble, deaf to her father's objections. She calmed the flames around the old man and helped him to his feet. Ignoring the confused and awed look that came across his face as Bloom used magic to save him, Bloom instructed him to take the side door as it was the nearest exit and, thanks to a quick spell, was virtually flameless.
Once the old man had left, Bloom used a few more spells to control the fire. She realised a few spells in that she was nowhere near experienced enough to do this alone. Ideally, she'd transform and use the full extent of her powers, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to de-transform in time for when the firefighters arrived. Besides, she was pretty sure if her father watched her sprout wings, he'd have a heart attack and that was not something she could deal with right now.
Thankfully, Mike's squad arrived a short minute later, and Bloom and Mike could slip out and let the guys deal with it. Vanessa, overcome with relief at the sight of her unharmed daughter and husband, charged them and pulled them into a hug.
"Is the old man okay?" Mike asked, pulling away from the hug.
"Yes. A little shaken, but he seems fine."
"I wonder what he was doing here."
"I think I know" Bloom said, suddenly remembering why he seemed familiar. "That's the Bonners' driver."
Bloom walked over to the old man who began to thank her profusely for saving him. She graciously accepted his thanks before cutting to the chase. "What were you doing in there?"
"I drove the two Mr Bonner's to the store but when I saw them start the fire, I tried to stop them and they knocked me out" the old man replied remorsefully. "They figured this way you'd have to sign the contract."
"Yeah? Well, they were wrong and they're in a lot of trouble. And you may be too" Mike commented.
"I know I shouldn't have had anything to do with them but I felt like I had no choice; I used to own a limo business 'till they scammed me out of it. And I only took this job because I needed the money. I have a family to support. But tonight? Starting a fire, they went too far. I could never be part of that."
The old man shook his head and rested it in his hands. Mike looked at him uncertainly, but Bloom could tell that he was truly contrite so she told him so, if only to soothe his guilt by a little bit.
Once they'd finally finished talking to the police, it had been past 3:30 AM. When they finally got home, it was closer to 4. Bloom was so exhausted, not just from the late hour, but from the use of magic, that she fell asleep the minute her head hit the pillow.
She slept for the better part of 10 hours, waking just before noon. When she finally came downstairs, her parents were sitting at the table, cups of coffee in hand. Bloom nodded at them before making her own cup of coffee.
"Between the money I'm getting from the insurance and the reward from the mayor, I'll be able to open an even bigger flower shop than before. What do you think?"
"As long as you install the best alarm system on the market, it sounds great."
Bloom didn't respond despite knowing that her mother had been addressing her too. As happy as she was that everything had turned out okay, she couldn't get the vision she'd had in the fire out of her head. It had replayed in her dreams and continued to do so now that she was awake.
"Hey, Bloom, are you okay?"
"Is there something bothering you, sweetie?"
"Yeah, Mom, there is sorta" Bloom sighed, taking a seat opposite her parents. "During the fire I had this sort of, sort of, I don't know, vision? I saw Dad. I saw him in a fire with a newborn baby. You were saving it, I think."
Mike and Vanessa exchanged a knowing look that didn't go unnoticed by Bloom.
"What? What is it? You know something about this?"
"Yes, we do. This is what I was trying to tell you about before Bloom. You know, when we were making supper last Saturday."
"You see, honey, we've talked to you about being adopted but what we didn't talk about was that day in the fire, when I… found you."
Bloom's mind reeled at her father's revelation. It felt like she'd just been smacked in the face by a building. She'd always known she was adopted, but this?! "Huh? What do you mean we found me in a fire?! What was I doing there?"
"We don't know Bloom. It was a four-alarmer: four blocks burning and no way to stop it. I'd never seen anything like it before, or since. When I saw you, I heard a voice calling to me. A woman; she told me to keep you safe. So, I did."
"A- a voice?"
"As soon as I picked you up, the whole fire went out. As if by magic."
"When you told me about being adopted, why didn't you tell me about this too?" Bloom asked softly as she wiped the tears that had started to gather in the corner of her eyes.
"We were going to but since nothing like that ever happened again, we thought we'd wait. For what, we weren't sure – when we could explain it better or maybe for when you'd be able to understand it even if we couldn't. And then, well, there was that day with Stella and your powers came back and you went right off the Alfea so quickly before we could sit down and talk with you."
"Let me tell you something important, Sweetie. We did talk to you about the real magic that happened that day. That we found you and you found us and that we became a family together" Vanessa said, getting up to pull her daughter into a hug.
"Bloom, we love you so much."
"I love you guys too" Bloom replied as Mike's arms surrounded her and her mother. And she did love them – they'd been her entire world for so long. But she also had so many questions: how did she end up in that fire? Why had her powers been dormant for so long? Where did she actually come from? And who were her birth parents?
Saturday night was her last night on Earth. Griselda was set to come get her at 9pm. Unlike the other girls at Alfea who lived in the Magical Dimension and had ways of getting to and from their home realms, Bloom did not. There was no ship that travelled to and from Earth; the only way was through a portal. The Downtown Magix train station had a portal to Earth, but none back. Since Bloom did not possess the power or knowledge to create a portal, she had arranged with Faragonda that one of the teachers would bring and come get her.
They had made a large supper with all of Bloom's favourites – homemade pizza, pasta Alfredo and tacos. Bloom had invited Abby, Marcus, Ellen and Andy, knowing they'd be upset if she didn't say goodbye again. The night was spent eating, reminiscing and laughing.
At 8, they got everyone to leave under the pretense that Bloom had a very early flight and needed to get to sleep. The last hour was spent with her parents talking about any and everything. Then, at 9pm on the dot, a flash of light appeared in their living room. Once it retreated, it left a tall, terrifying woman in its place.
"Are you ready to go, Miss Peters?"
"Yes Miss Griselda" Bloom replied before turning around to pull her parents into one more hug. "I love you guys."
"We love you too, sweetheart."
Bloom let go of her parents and walked over to the head of discipline. As the light enveloped them, she got one last look at her parents: Mike had his arm around Vanessa's shoulders and waved his little girl goodbye with his free hand. Vanessa had her head rested on Mike's shoulder and smiled sadly as Bloom disappeared, trying to hold her tears until Bloom was gone.
Then, the world around Bloom went white. Before she knew it, she found herself standing in front Alfea's main arch. She smiled at the sight of the light pink school before her; it felt like coming home.
(1)It's true. North Macedonia celebrates Christmas on January 7th because the main Orthodox Churches still use the old Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar.
(2)That's about 16 degrees Celsius for literally everyone else out there.
(3)Gilmore Girls reference. Fun fact: to film that scene and make it look as grandiose and yellow as it was, they had to use way more than 1000 daisies. That's why I upped the number.
(4)Chord Overstreet
(5)Released Dec 2016
(6)Sorry for the spoiler if you haven't watched season 2 yet…
(7)Chifa is Peruvian/Chinese fusion. It's extremely popular in Peru and also Ecuador which is where I first came across it.