To 8Ball3- Well, Jessica's about six feet tall, so yeah, Lizzie's tall too XD No no, no smut :I Yep, Lizzie is clear-sighted :D
To Piffthemagicdragon21- I promise Lizzie will be fine. I'm not going to kill her off, pinky swear ^_^
To BethnPercy- Oh, was that you? XD And I'm glad you think that, I wanted Lizzie to be another piece to their puzzle! XP
To Anonymous Person Lucky 13- You don't necessarily have to imagine an Australian accent, but it's just there (I'm never good at remembering to voice their accents in my head, so don't worry about it :P )
It turned out that both of Jessica's daughters were capable of eating an entire kitchen's worth of food when stressed out.
Storm stayed in the front room- the kitchen was too small and Lizzie was freaking out as it was.
"So," she licked chocolate ice-cream off her spoon, "the gods," dipped her spoon back in the tub, "are real? Like, all of them?"
"Yes." Harvey nodded. "All of them."
"Roman gods."
"Yes."
"And goddesses." She added around her mouthful.
"Yes."
"And you and, uh, you," she circled her spoon first at Harvey, then at Louisa, "are… what did you call them?" She asked Jessica, who sighed.
"Demigods." Jessica had her own tub of ice-cream. She had lost the chocolate to Lizzie- as well as the last of a pie from the other day, a packet of biscuits, three packets of chips and a triple chocolate muffin- so she was having vanilla instead.
"Right." Lizzie nodded vaguely, staring into her tub. "So, um… who- who- who are your… godly parents?" She could hardly believe the words coming out of her mouth. She had come all this way to finally meet her birth mother, not learn about an entire pantheon of gods that still existed, or actually existed in the first place. Myths were myths, fun stories, interesting history. Not this.
"My mother is Hecate, goddess of magic." Harvey bowed his head.
"My dad's Neptune." Louisa was sitting on top of the fridge- no-one had seen her get up there and no-one was bothering to get her down. "He's a butthead."
"Lou, you can't-"
"I can. Butthead, butthead, butthead."
"Neptune's…" Lizzie racked her brain. "Neptune's the god of the sea, right?"
"Yes." Harvey nodded. "He's one of the Big Three gods."
"Cool, cool. What does that mean?" With a sigh, Harvey began recounting the whole Big Three oath story and all the consequences. Jessica grumbled behind him about her adopted charge and the trouble she had caused- can't take her anywhere!- but they decided to tell her more stories when her brain was no longer on the verge of imploding.
Lizzie half-turned in her seat to reappraise the child on the fridge. She was dangling her legs over the freezer door, swinging her feet alternatively, staring into space. "Lou." Lizzie called. "Lou."
"Huh? What? I didn't do it."
"Your dad is really really Neptune?" Louisa nodded, picking at her lip. "So… what does that mean? What can you do? Other than talking to horses." There was an annoyed snort from the other side of the door. "And pegasus… pegasusses?"
"Pegasi." Jessica supplied.
"Yeah, those."
"Stuff." Louisa muttered unhelpfully. Lizzie opened her mouth to press, but saw Harvey and Jessica shaking their heads in her peripheral.
"What about you?" She jabbed her spoon in Harvey's direction. "You say goddess of magic, what does that mean? Like… Harry Potter?"
"No. Not like Harry Potter."
"Lame."
"Real magic helped me find you." Harvey explained. "I know possibly hundreds of different spells and incantations, following my mother's teachings. Harry Potter magic is tame in comparison." Lizzie blew a raspberry, going back to her ice-cream. Harvey pursed his lips. With his finger, he drew on the counter- a circle with a criss-crossing pattern in the centre. The design lit up a pale pink in colour. He tapped it and Lizzie's spoon turned into a bouquet of roses.
"My ice-cream!" She protested. Harvey took the bouquet away with a smug smirk and presented them to Jessica.
"Thank you." She gave a tired, but grateful smile. "You owe me a spoon."
"Noted." He smiled. She moved away to put the roses in a vase. Louisa sneezed.
"Ow." She complained, pinching her nose. Harvey raised an eyebrow at her. "Flowers make my nose itchy." She muttered, bundling her T-shirt over her nose and glaring at the offensive plants. "Can we watch the movies now?"
"In a bit, Lou." Jessica assured, trimming the stems. "Lizzie. Are you OK?"
"He stole my spoon."
"Top drawer, left of the oven."
"Thank you."
"Are you OK?" Harvey worried. "I know it's information overload, but-"
"It makes sense though." Lizzie cut across. He didn't mind, curiosity getting the better of him. "When I was… five, maybe? I can remember it really clearly- I saw something like Storm fly over the bus I was on. No-one believed me. I- I've seen loads of stuff like that. I saw someone running around with a sword once."
"Purple T-shirt?" Harvey asked.
"Yeah, how did you-?"
"That's our camp. There's a camp for people like us. We train to be part of a Roman legion."
"That's so cool! Can I come?"
"You're mortal, unfortunately. I don't think you'd get past the barriers."
"Ooh, that's so unfair!" Lizzie pouted.
"I have a sword." Louisa chimed in, showing off her weapon. Lizzie stared at it, eyes widening.
"Can I have a go?"
"Lou's only allowed to use her sword for when they are monsters." Jessica shot her youngest a what did we talk about? glare. Louisa wrinkled her nose and the sword shrunk back into her watch.
"Alright, fine." Lizzie huffed. "One more question. Then can we watch the movies?" Jessica nodded, putting the last rose in the vase. "Thanks. Lou?"
"Mm?"
"You're being a daughter of Neptune thing… is that why Mom calls you a fish?"
"Yeah. I can breathe underwater." Lizzie beamed.
"Your new nickname is Fishy!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Too late, Fishy! I'm not changing my mind!"
Jessica sat at the table. Harvey was with her, on the right side. Lizzie was on the left, scooting her chair closer and leaning on her mother's shoulder. None of them looked round as Louisa approached, too busy talking amongst themselves.
"-do you think then?" Harvey was asking, gesturing to Lizzie.
"Oh, she's great." Jessica said. Something was wrong with their voices. They sounded happy, but… it didn't sound happy happy. Forced, with horrible big grins on their faces that looked more pained than anything else. "I'm so glad Lizzie's here." Jessica continued. "I have my real daughter back."
"What are you going to do with the other one then?" Harvey sipped from his tea. Louisa frowned. He hadn't had that a second ago.
"Who? Oh, her. Mmph." For a moment, Jessica's grin melted into a look of disgust, and then it was back again. "Don't need her anymore."
"What do you do with kids that aren't needed anymore?" Lizzie mused. As one, their heads turned. Louisa realised it was a nightmare then, because Lizzie had been sitting with her back to her, her head turning one-eighty to look at her.
"I have an idea!" Jessica laughed. "We should get rid of her like she got rid of her friends!"
Louisa screamed. Her eyes snapped opened. Thunder boomed outside. Storm shrieked in alarm, startling to her feet. She stumbled a bit, disorientated, then slunk her way to her rider, keeping her head down.
Are you OK?
Louisa sat up, shaking and sickly. Storm nuzzled her face, repeating her question. Louisa didn't answer, mouth dry, absent-mindedly petting the mare's snout.
Her bedroom door swung open. Jessica stood there, bleary-eyed, pyjamas rumpled. Her hair was a mess, falling out of its night-time braid. Peering around her was Lizzie, rubbing at her face and yawning.
"What's going on?" She mumbled, struggling to keep her eyes open. Jessica swept into the room, holding her hands out. Louisa hesitated, welling up.
"It's OK." Jessica assured, sitting on the edge of the bed. Louisa burst into tears and buried herself in her mom's hug. "Oh, Lou…" Jessica sighed, pulling her onto her lap and rubbing circles into her back. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" The bed shifted- Lizzie had joined them.
"What's wrong?" She asked, reaching to gently tuck Louisa's hair behind her ear. The child flinched before she even touched her. Lizzie held her hands up in innocence, suddenly more alert. She looked to Jessica, lost.
"She used to get really bad nightmares." Jessica explained quietly, cradling her youngest. "Harvey had some… medicine for her to help, but…" She shrugged a shoulder, looking down. She couldn't see Louisa's face, buried in her shoulder, her small frame trembling with sobs and hiccups.
Another clap of thunder, Lizzie jumping at the noise with a small yelp. Storm snorted at her, shuffling around, sniffing the floor. She came back a few seconds later, Beartrice in her mouth. She nudged the bear against her human's head, huffing. When Louisa didn't immediately responded, she nudged her again. The third time, she dropped the bear and caught it by its leg, swinging her head to swing the accursed toy at Louisa's face- she looked up at the wrong moment and got a face full of flailing teddy bear limbs.
The impact made her splutter. Storm whinnied a noise like laughter and dropped Beartrice into her hold. Louisa tucked the bear to her chest, sticking her nose in the fluffy top of its head. Jessica leaned to the side a little, studying her tear-stained face. "You want to talk about it?"
"Stupid." Louisa grumbled. Another burst of thunder, rain began pattering on the windows.
"Not stupid enough to make all that." Jessica pointed out, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder. Lizzie followed the direction, then stared back at her, gaping. She pointed a finger at Louisa, a silent question on her features. Jessica nodded. "Yes, she has stormy powers, get with the times. Lou?"
"Do I have to go?"
"Go? Go where?"
"Away."
"No, why?" A flash of guilt across her face and she hid again. "Oh." Jessica realised. She jostled Louisa. "What are you?"
"Gremlin."
"Silly gremlin." Jessica corrected. "I'm not giving you up for anything." Louisa looked up at that, biting her lip. Jessica smiled at her, scooping her up and blowing a raspberry on her cheek.
"Ew!" She complained, squirming, but a laugh broke free.
"I think it's time for hot chocolate. You want one, Lizzie?"
"Obviously. Uh, I mean… yes please?" She hunched her shoulders, smiling awkwardly. "I'm sorry, but I'll never say no to a hot chocolate."
"Well, that makes three of us then."
"I would like you to know that you are small and light enough for me to drop-kick you out that window. You put that down and I can and will drop-kick you out that window, specifically that window." Louisa blinked at her, the picture of innocence. Jessica kept still, only her eyes moving from one daughter to the other. Lizzie glared at her little sister, eyes wide with demand, a finger pointing over her shoulder at the specific window.
Louisa's expression did not change as she put down a card.
"Draw four. Uno."
"Right, that's it! Come here, Fish."
"No!" Louisa squealed. She scrambled across the tabletop, ducking Lizzie's grab and falling into Jessica's hold. She sat cross-legged on the surface, safe in her mother's arms and smirking triumphantly.
"Brat!" Lizzie declared, now stuck with twenty-something cards. Louisa blew a raspberry at her, squashing her cheeks between her fists, her one, lone card between her fingers.
Jessica had thought a day of games and fun would be good for them. It was still storming outside- maybe Louisa wasn't completely responsible for it- so they weren't really keen to go anywhere. There was a stack of games waiting to be played, but they hadn't got past Uno. Lizzie, it turned out, was a tad on the competitive side.
"Well, Lou's seen my cards now. How about we play a different game? Maybe not Monopoly."
Chess, the pair just threw the pieces at each other. Same with checkers. They couldn't build houses from cards without sabotaging the other. Twister was a dead-end- Lizzie, being taller, could reach spots further away from her, which meant she took up the ones Louisa could reach, leaving the nine-year-old fuming and stomping her feet.
"Not fair!" She protested, folding her arms. It was Lizzie's turn to blow a raspberry at her, but that came with a price. A steely look of an idea fell into Louisa's eyes and she smirked. Quick as a flash, she darted to the side, jumping on the sofa and then propelling herself off of it. She landed on top of Lizzie, flattening them both into a groaning, slightly winded heap.
"Ow."
"I win!"
"You do not!"
"Do too!"
"Mom, tell her! She doesn't win!"
"I think you're both disqualified actually. Which means… I win. Huh, look at that." Jessica shrugged, smiling sweetly. They stared at her, offended and seconds away from demanding a recall, but she didn't care. Something about seeing them together just gave her such a steady sense of warmth, of comfort. It was all she had ever wanted.
Lizzie got her hands under Louisa's arms and lifted her up so fast, Jessica had a wild moment of panic, thinking her eldest was going to launch her youngest at the ceiling. That was not the case and Louisa laughed, spreading her arms as Lizzie held her up, letting her 'fly', airplane noises in tow. Jessica sat back, watching them play, content, but also oddly smug. She couldn't help thinking of her mother and what she had taken away, but she did have the urge to ring her up and just rub it in her face how much of a bitch she really was and how great the 'real' daughter was. Jessica smiled to herself- she was beginning to feel rather petty…