Aftermath

Chapter 1: I'm home

The aftermath of another long day at work for Barbara Lake with flying castles, trolls and the best surprise a mother could hope for.

Barbara let out a massive sigh as she pulled up outside her house, taking in its darkness and lack of people home. Walt had been gone for a few days now at her own insistence – he had stuff he needed to do apart from babysit her – and Jim…

She took a deep breath at the thought of her only son. He was so strong, stronger than she'd ever be. And it broke her heart that he'd had to grow up so quickly, even without all of this Trollhunter business. When his father had left, he'd become the man of the house, looking after her as she ran around pulling double and triple shifts at the hospital. And he never complained, not once. She could see it in his eyes whenever she came home after many hours at the hospital, frowning slightly at the dark circles beneath her eyes but never once did he ask her to change.

Then all the Trollhunter stuff happened (as she now knew) where his grades had dropped, he'd started getting into fights and causing crime and she thought he was falling in with wrong crowd… She was so terrified of what was happening to her small boy. But eventually she got an explanation, a war and an old grumpy git of a wizard who changed her boy into a troll ("Half troll, mom," Jim would always say with that small half smile like he knew that one day he could return to normal. They both knew deep down though that it wasn't possible).

But he had succeeded and won, but then there were the babies, Walt, trolls, a massive hole in the middle of the canals, parents to comfort. Not even 3 days later Jim was leaving with Claire and the trolls of Trollmarket, those he'd sworn to protect, leaving for New Jersey to go and find a new heartstone to preserve their way of life and –

Barbara took a deep breath, swiping a hand down her face. When had she started crying, she wondered, confused at the presence of tears. She softly laughed to herself, cleaning her face briefly before stepping out of the car and locking it behind her with a push of the button. Life had just been getting more stressful ever since Jim had left all those months ago smiling and promising he'd be back. She had been getting regular updates, about once a week (finding a working pay phone was hard these days with everyone going mobile her son had joked at some point about halfway through their journey, distant and crackly from half a country away) but then suddenly about a month ago the updates had stopped.

She had pestered Toby, the remaining trolls, Walt… Nobody knew what was happening. The only thing Toby knew was that Jim and Claire had been fighting someone while he was stuck with another crisis here in Arcadia (aliens. It was aliens. She couldn't remember which time. But that was life in Arcadia these days weirdness happening every other week) but even he had been getting radio silence from her son.

Luckily, weirdness seemed to follow her son wherever he went these days, she contemplated as she reached the house and started to unlock the door. The crashing castle ship that had destroyed the school was likely something to do with him, and Toby wasn't answering her calls, but the searching flying skull castle proved that wherever chaos was her son likely wasn't far behind. Or in front depending on if he caused the chaos or not.

She shook her head. She couldn't think about this now, her brain hurt too much and she was looking forward to collapsing on the sofa with a tub of ice cream, a glass of wine and watching How to Train Your Dragon (she tried to ignore how that was Jim's favourite film, she had Jim's favourite flavour ice cream in the freezer-).

"Dr. L! Dr. L, wait up!" She froze before throwing the door open again and peering down the street towards the woods. She gasped as she noticed Toby atop of Arrrgh and next to them –

"Claire honey! How are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" Barbara cried as she pulled Claire into a tight hug as Toby climbed off Arrrgh. Claire's hair was tied back, showing more of her face than the small clips ever had and showing the sharper lines of her face, finally fleshing out over the long months she and the others had been travelling –

Others. Travelling. Jim. She extracted herself from the tight hug Claire was giving her and looked her in the eye. Slightly easier now, she noticed absently.

"Claire, where's Jim? Is he… Is he safe?" Claire nodded, smiling.

"He's perfectly fine Dr. Lake. He's, he's better than fine actually. It was a bit touch and go for a while and the last battle has taken its toll but –"

"Claire. Where is he?" It had been so long since she'd seen him, troll or boy. And now she just wanted to hug him.

"He's coming in a bit, he just had something to sort out with Merlin's apprentice." She looked contemplative for a second. "Well I guess successor now. Why don't we go inside, and I'll tell you what's been happening and why I haven't been in contact with you for the past month." Claire glanced behind her where Barbara noticed Toby still stood, smile a mile wide. "You coming Tobes?" Toby shook his head, turning to his house.

"Na, it's good Claire, I've got to go say hi to Nana and assure her I'm not dead. You have fun with explaining all the world ending stuff. You know more about it than me anyway with your time travelling stint!" He winked, laughing, and walked away towards his house, Arrrgh following not far behind, although the giant troll did turn his head and nod at her smiling.

"Jim fine. Jim good now. You'll see." And with that cryptic message followed Toby into the house. Barbara sighed and glanced back at Claire before gesturing to the wide-open door.

"Why don't you come in then? Will anybody else be joining us?," she questioned as they crossed the threshold. Claire gave another small smile.

"Jim will be joining us as soon as he can once he's sorted out the magic stuff. I don't know if Blinky will though, he might be heading to Toby's as well or looking after the trolls who couldn't make it to New Jersey." Barbara nodded and pointed towards the sofas. As Claire sat down, she shut the door.

She didn't lock it.

Claire's story was both terrifying and amazing, leaving her wondering about her son's already fragile state of mind after all the troll stuff that had already been happening to him over the past few months. It all sounded so fantastical, time travelling to Camelot, being at the battle of Killahead, meeting so many legendary figures, Merlin's death and the considerate boy at the café being over 900 years old and Merlin's apprentice, now successor. The shard of corruption heading towards her son's heart and the consequences he endured to save his friends.

Claire was obviously reaching the end of her story, winding down to the final battle with Arthur (the King Arthur!) and how his death had stopped the corruption of Jim's soul, saving him from the eternity in the Shadow Realm like Claire had nearly had to endure a year or so before, but he had turned to stone and –

"He… He turned to stone? Does that mean he's dead?!" Barbara was nearly hysterical at his point. Oh, her poor boy! Claire looked towards the window where dawn was approaching, the sun peaking out over the horizon.

"Yeah. Yeah, he did die, but only for a moment. We were all standing around because we couldn't believe he was dead, after all the stuff he endured for us and the world…" She smiled slightly, looking back towards Barbara who had tears in her eyes. Between them both they had used up nearly two tissue boxes with the tears and sadness that had ensued from the story. "But then the rock started to crack, and we thought that that was it, that was the end. But then, then the shards started to move, and he just stood up, like nothing had happened!" Claire started to laugh, but soon tears were pouring down her face again as she came to realise exactly how close she had come to losing her boyfriend.

Barbara drew her into another hug. She was about to ask how he was when she noticed a figure walking down the path, but glancing at the sky told her dawn was fast approaching so why would her son come now? Claire noticed her inattention and sat back, drying her eyes as she too glanced out the window.

"Oh, he's here. He must have finally sorted out the magic stuff with Douxie." She grinned slyly at Barbara. "Do you want to go say hi?" Barbara glanced at her confusedly before horror flashed trough her brain. Jim was a troll, even if half and the one downside of that was the sunlight! He would turn to stone before he reached the door! She gasped and threw herself off the sofa, grasping wildly for a large umbrella she kept in case of emergency. She sprinted for the front door to tell her son to stay back, let her come to him she needed to protect him! She threw open the front door –

And there, standing in the golden light of dawn, sun shining on his back, was her son. Not the half troll she had come to know and understand these past few months but her son, dressed in the same outfit he had favoured the past two years, brown hair swaying slightly in he breeze, half smirk settled on his face… The umbrella dropped from Barbara's grasp as her mind went blank. This was her son, her fully human son who they both thought they'd never see again.

But in that moment, she didn't care. Her son was home, and he was whole. He was here. She sprinted down the path and grasped her son tight. He was certainly taller than when he was last human and seemed to have filled out, the clothes he was wearing torn in odd places (likely from the original transformation he underwent, she could see where the back had torn as she gathered him in her arms) but he was here in her arms and standing in the sun. Unharmed.

She took a deep breath, her nose burrowed in her son's hair.

"Hi, Jim. It's so good to see you," she gasped, trying to hold her tears in but failing. They weren't sad tears though, they were happy. She heard her son laugh, voice still changed from puberty and the other transformation but still ultimately him. He hugged her tighter like he would never let go.

"Hi, mom," he said, voice clogged with tears. "I'm home."

Yes this will be multiple chapters. Yes Steve and Claire were both really annoying at times during wizards but hell yes time travelling is now canon and that will be coming into play here! I'm currently finishing up my masters dissertation (sooo hello, I'm not dead?) so another chapter may be posted before the month is out depending on how much I procrastinate.

The idea of this fic is to follow the aftermath of Wizards (don't own it) and some stuff I really wish would happen. If you like the story (I WANTED TO SEE JIM AND HIS MUM TOGETHER AGAIN THE PURENESS) the next chapter will be a house party with Strickler and Nomura meeting Jim again. Mwah ha ha.

I hope I've done Barbara justice, I haven't seen many fics about them meeting again yet and just wanted to capture their first moments together again. So far I have about 6 other chapters planned. We'll see when it gets done XD

Until next time friends, stay frosty.

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