Written as the result of an ask meme on tumblr; this one specifically was prompted by GeneticallyEmancipated! Please note that this is not beta-read. I don't have a beta reader currently and never quite beta my drabbles as they are a sit down and go thing for me personally. Spelling errors might occur, though I try not to make them.
AU where everyone lives! So Marni is there, Nathan is there, Mag is there and together they are a very good family unit. Here, angst doesn't quite exist. Enjoy the fluff!
Trigger warning(s): None apply
This fanfiction is cross-posted from my AO3, where it was originally published on August 29th 2020
"Shilo! Come down now! Your god-auntie Mag is here!"
Marni's voice rings out loud and clear as both her, Nathan and Mag wait in the quiet of the living room, the grandfather clock ticking away. It's about eleven in the evening. They had already put Shilo to bed earlier, knowing well enough that the girl wouldn't go to sleep until she'd seen Mag.
The silence is interrupted by the thudding of socked feet darting their way down the stairs. Bouncy and excitable as ever Shilo comes flying into the room, skidding over to a halt near Mag. Her arms extend and Mag closes the gap to give her only and favourite god-daughter a tight embrace. She's missed her so very much.
Mag's been gone on tour for roughly a year. Now her pale skin is kissed by the sun still shining on a different continent and she looks tired if you look at her long enough, but she always insists on seeing them the minute she sets foot back into town. Shilo, now eight years old, has had her first birthday without her god-mother there and where she is sad about this, Mag feels horrible about it. Yes, work comes first but family is much more important to her. She can not believe she's missed a birthday. The girl's grown so much in her absence.
"Let's sit down Shi," Nathan interrupts, "Maggie has brought you something."
They move over to the sofas and there already on the table sit several boxes, wrapped in baroque print wrapping and with big shiny bows on top. Shilo's eyes light up at the sight of them, big and excited. She's practically jumping up and down in her seat with excitement.
"Now, my sweet little bug," Mag started as she reached out to stroke Shilo's cheek, "I'm so very sorry I wasn't there for your eighth birthday. Not a day has gone by where I haven't thought about you or your mother and father while I was on tour…"
The soprano slid off the sofa and kneeled carefully between the table and Shilo, reaching out to grab the first box, "I've brought these gifts for you while I was touring the Middle East. I picked them specifically for you and hope you like them."
She placed a kiss on Shilo's forehead and gave her the first gift, "happy birthday my dear."
Shilo eagerly undid the wrapping paper of the smaller box and opened up her gift, grinning wide in anticipation. Inside she found a large square album, holding on carefully she looked at the Vinyl record; the slipcase cover of it depicting a photograph of Mag in a black dress, standing in a lake with the sun rising behind her. Scrawled on the front in black marker is a little birthday message.
"For when you miss me," Mag explained with a wink, "it's a live recording from my last tour. I had it recorded and made especially for you. There's only one and it's yours."
Shilo set the record aside carefully and threw herself at Mag, hugging her around her neck. "I'm going to play it every night! Thank you so much auntie!"
Mag chuckled, patting Shilo's back. "Don't thank me just yet, there's more gifts for you."
Shilo sat back again and unwrapped the next gift just as eagerly as before. Out of the box she lifted a giant stuffed animal: a brown rabbit wearing blue silks, almost like a belly dancer. It had a necklace made of small bells, that rang as Shilo moved it around to look at it. It smelled of incense and dry air, the sands of the sahara instantly coming back to Mag's mind.
The girl gave the rabbit a kiss on it's soft furry forehead, smiling constantly. Soft giggles were audible and it made the soprano's heart melt. She'd missed that sound so much; so, willing to hear it more she helped her set the rabbit beside them on the sofa, handing her the last gift.
This gift was wrapped in a much smaller, flatter and rectangular box. "Be careful with this one, it's fragile." Mag warned as she placed the box on Shilo's lap.
Inside was a set of earrings with small gemstones hanging from a ring, a deep blue hue; lapis lazuli. The rings they were attached to were clearly made from real gold and were constructed with care. Beside them on the other sofa Marni gasped, knowing full-well Mag must have paid a small fortune for these. "Mags, you're spoiling her rotten," she laughed, "no gift is ever going to match up to this."
Mag could only laugh and stick out her tongue at this. Shilo sat and stared at them as they lay in the box on her lap, mouth agape. She had gotten her ears pierced right before Mag left on tour, but she hadn't any jewelry as pretty as this. "Want to try them on?" Mag asked.
This broke Shilo's trance as she nodded happily. Mag reached out and stroked her hair behind her ears. "Sit still for your auntie, Shi," Marni warned, rendering Shilo as still as a doll while Mag removed her rather plain looking earrings. With care she put on the ones she'd given her, smile gracing her features as she admired how well they actually looked on her.
"All done!" she announced when she finished, Shilo launching into a sprint to go find a mirror hanging in the kitchen. After a minute or so Mag found herself laying flat on her back, Shilo having given her a tackle-hug that caught her off guard. A tangle of limbs and laughter they were as Shilo repeated her thanks over and over.
They reassemble themselves on the sofas, Mag sitting with Shilo with Marni and Nathan across from them on the other one. Shilo is leaning against Mag, who has one arm wrapped around her tiny frame. She's clinging to the stuffed rabbit, contently burying her nose in its fur. The adults swap tales for a while. Nathan and Marni filling Mag in on what's happened while she's been away, and Mag recounting her adventures in the Middle East.
Mag's talking about riding horseback in the sands on her day off when Shilo quietly interrupts, voice laced with a sense of wonder. "I want to ride a horse-" she yawns. Mag chuckles. There's no horses left in Sanitarium or the cities around them so it's an impossible request. Yet, childlike wonder knows no boundaries. "Maybe some day, little bug."
"It's time to go to bed Shi," Nathan says to her then, "it's very late and you're sleepy."
"I'm not sleepy-" Shilo goes to protest, breaking into a very big yawn.
"Will you go sleep if your auntie brings you to bed?" Marni asks, knowing that her friend won't mind. Shilo nods tiredly.
"Alright, up we go," Mag mumbles, gently moving to rouse Shilo from her sleepy position against her. The girl holds out her arms and Mag complies, lifting her up into her arms and carrying her up to her room.
Shilo's bedroom has gained a few posters since she last saw it. There's a new one from her promotional shoot from last christmas sitting on the mantle, and a poster from her most recent tour adorns the space on the wall right of the piano. She smiles, the missing had been mutual.
Mag places Shilo back into her bed, tucking the warm blankets around both her and her new friend, the stuffed rabbit. She presses a gentle goodnight's kiss on her forehead and softly hums a lullaby.
"Can you show me-" another yawn, "- the horses...?"
Mag doesn't stop humming but her eyes do whirr in compliance, conjuring up a light blue projection above Shilo of black stallions racing across the warm sandy dunes. Galloping wild and free underneath the blazing sun.
Before the girl entirely drifts off to rest she finds herself looking at it from Mag's perspective, a horse beneath her speeding toward the horizon, chasing the morning.
If you want to support me, there's links in a pinned post on my tumblr! Thank you so much for reading! As always, any comments and thoughts would be welcome, they motivate greatly! Hope you enjoyed this! My tumblr is Meluisart, so feel free to hit me up there, drop me a request if it strikes you fancy 3