Visiting Home—One
Author's note: And so we come to the end of Allies. Never fear, though, the Rangers will—occasionally—appear in the rest of the Chronicles.
I know this is an Interlude, but there was so much I wanted to put in it I had to split it into chapters.
True and Dominic—this one's for you.
Visiting Home
"Go away!"
Merrick looked up at a loud crash above them. "Does that happen often?"
Taylor nodded. "Cole looks really tired. Alyssa's hardly sleeping anymore."
"Surely that's bad for the baby." Merrick protested.
"She's not feeling very logical right now, Merrick." Max pointed out.
"Being overdue'll do that to you." Eric agreed.
"How would you know?" Taylor asked. Eric just smirked.
"You're going to be late, Taylor." Max said suddenly. Taylor glanced at the clock and cursed softly.
"Yeah. You guys'll be OK?"
"We'll be fine. Go to work." Eric told her. Taylor stared at him until Merrick intervened, "We'll manage, and if we can't we'll call you."
"That's more like it." Pointedly ignoring Eric, she left the room to say goodbye to Cole and Alyssa.
"Cole wasn't late, right, Merrick?" Max asked a few minutes later. Merrick mentally rolled his eyes but didn't comment, knowing well Max was just trying to pass time. The Rangers knew Cole's story as well as their own.
"No, Cole was born a week early. A little underweight, six and a half."
"Poor Alyssa." Eric commented. "Three weeks overdue? Must be rough."
"Go away, Cole!" Something else crashed overhead and a moment later Cole came into the room. Merrick instinctively stood and offered him his seat, afraid the man would fall down otherwise.
"Say something wrong?" Eric asked.
"I wish I knew." Cole said honestly. "I can't say anything right lately, it seems. Or do anything."
"She's afraid." Merrick said quietly.
"I know why she's doing it, Merrick." Cole was irritated, another sign of how tired he was. "I just wish she wouldn't keep doing it to me."
"That's why we're here, right?" Max asked lightly. "So she'll yell at us and not you?"
"Thanks, guys, but it's not working."
"Cole!"
Everyone was on their feet without thinking about it. "Alyssa?" Cole called, moving towards the door.
"Cole, my water's just broken!"
No one noticed the knock on the door.
The front door opened and Cole came out, talking over his shoulder to someone still inside; he didn't notice Tara, and she had to skip backwards to avoid being stepped on.
"Tara." he said in surprise, catching her arm to steady her. "You're here."
"Somewhere else I should be, Cole?"
"Alyssa's in labor!"
"I repeat the question."
Cole looked over her shoulder. "Who's that?"
"Leo." she said without turning around. "He helped me get here in time."
"You needed help?" Cole raised a hand in automatic salute to Leo and then stepped forward to hug Tara. "You're very pale, Tara. Are you all right?"
"Your wife's in labor, Cole, what are you worrying about me for?"
"I always worry about you."
"Worry about Alyssa." Tara advised him.
"Alyssa!" Cole smacked his forehead. "She's waiting for the car!"
"You're driving?" Tara trailed after him to the garage, noting absently that Leo was gone.
"Sure. Why not?"
"Hold out your hand, Cole." Puzzled, Cole extended his hand. "Cole—you could whip cream on that!" Cole's hand was shaking madly. He closed it into a fist. "Who else is here?"
"Merrick, Max and Eric."
"Good. Have Eric drive."
"Why Eric?"
"Because, Cole, Eric can speed without getting a ticket."
"We're not in that much of a hurry, Tara." Merrick observed from behind them.
"You may not be." Tara muttered.
"Why? What's wrong?" Merrick demanded. Tara turned then, and for a moment she looked unaccountably old.
"Miles to go, Merrick." Then she smiled and the age fell away from her, leaving her just as always. "That's not what I meant, anyway. If you're not in a hurry Alyssa probably is."
"Yes. Hospital, please."
They all spun around to see Alyssa standing in the doorway, Max supporting her on one side and Eric hovering behind them.
"Hi guys. Eric, you're driving." Tara said.
"Why?"
"Cause you can speed without getting tickets." Cole spoke up.
"Not in that I can't." Eric gestured to Cole's car. "In my own, yeah."
"Right. Your car's at your house?" Tara asked.
"Yeah, but to get there and back…"
"No." Tara interrupted him. "Get off the road, Cole."
Cole jumped slightly and moved off the road, going to wrap his arms around Alyssa. Everyone watched Tara sit on the edge of the kerb and stare intently up the road.
Nothing happened.
Some more nothing happened.
Eric frowned and stepped forward. "Are you…"
"Don't touch it!" Tara shrieked. Eric back-pedaled reflexively.
"What's happening?" Max asked.
"The road's moving."
"What?" Merrick asked sharply.
"The road's moving." Eric repeated. "Tara…"
"Don't touch me, Eric. I'm nearly done. Just don't touch me."
"Eric…" Max pointed up the road. "That's…"
"I don't believe this." Eric said flatly.
"Believe it." Max laughed out loud.
Without any fuss—or, indeed, driver—Eric's car was gliding towards them. Tara scrambled to her feet, backing away, and the car came to a gentle halt in front of the gate.
"Tara." Eric said. "Did you…"
"It's very tiring." she cut him off. Her tone was very precise, and the Rangers exchanged glances. "So I don't do it much."
"I can't believe you just…people must have seen that!" Eric snapped at her. Tara flinched away from him, moving instinctively towards Merrick.
"No one saw. I know how to do it." She looked around; no one except Merrick would meet her eyes. "What? Eric needed the car."
Alyssa pulled away from Cole to give her an awkward hug. Directly into her ear, she murmured, "Give them a minute. They're a little freaked."
"You needed the car, Alyssa." Tara murmured in return. "You all know who I am."
Alyssa backed away slightly, saying in a louder tone, "Thank you, Tara."
"Thanks." Max muttered.
"Yeah." Cole frowned for a second, then shook his head and smiled. "Thanks, Tara. Alyssa, let's get you settled."
"My bag." Alyssa reminded him.
"I'll get it." Max almost overlapped her, he spoke so fast.
Merrick leaned against the doorframe, watching Eric and Cole help Alyssa into the car. "He still bothers you." he murmured softly.
Tara snorted. "Yes, he still bothers me. I don't know if he'll ever not bother me."
"Tara, do you…"
"He doesn't scare me." she interrupted. "At least, I'm not afraid of him. On edge around him, yes, but not afraid."
"Conchobar was a long time ago."
"Not long enough."
"Here, guys." Max pushed between them, waving Alyssa's bag. Tara ducked to avoid the upswing and stumbled into Eric.
"You do that often?" he asked, steadying her.
"Do what? Lose my balance?" She pulled away from him.
"Move things around like that. You know that's what I meant."
Tara sighed. "No, Eric, I don't do it often. Believe it or not, I'm not trying to expose either you or me."
"You don't like me." Eric said flatly.
"You haven't done anything to me. This isn't the time, Eric." She gestured to where Cole was watching them, waiting for Eric. "Take Alyssa to the hospital. I'm not going anywhere…well, away from this house. Merrick, I can go home?"
"Shayla's there." Merrick said.
"She doesn't bite." Tara said in amusement. "I'll 'phone from here first. Eric, go. I'll be in town."
Eric started to say something else, changed his mind, and turned away instead. Tara watched him go before looking back at Merrick. "Merrick, are you going?"
"I promised." He looked uneasy. "Cole's…he's never…"
"It's all right. I'll go home. Call when you know anything, huh?" She smiled, pulling him into a brief hug, and then disappeared into the house, leaving Merrick to find a seat in the already crowded car.
"I know why I'm here, and why Merrick's here," Eric started the car as he spoke, pulling away from the curb, "But why is Max here?"
"Moral support." Max said brightly. "Plus I'm representing Taylor and Danny, and Kendall and Wes and Liss, who all can't be here right now."
"What, were you taking it in turns?" Eric asked.
"Sure." Max shrugged. "Look, everyone wanted to be here, right? But everyone works. So we got together and decided that we'd arrange our schedules so one of us could always be here."
"Well, isn't that cozy." Eric flipped on the siren and pulled into the emergency lane.
"Alyssa and Cole are family." Max said.
"Of course they are."
Max would have kept going, but Merrick was shaking his head slowly and the younger man subsided, muttering under his breath but making no attempt to be heard.
Tara let herself into her house, smiling at the pictures on the wall; Merrick was in one, Shayla was in one, and the rest of the wall was covered with pictures of Cole and the other Rangers.
"Princess? Cole?"
"Cousin Tara!" someone yelled upstairs.
"Hey short stuff, whatcha doin'?"
"Washing!"
"Finish, then. I'm not going anywhere."
Shayla came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. "Tara."
"Princess." Tara answered, bowing lightly.
"Don't do that! Friends don't bow, Tara."
"That's true, I suppose." She considered Shayla for a minute. "I like that dress, Princess."
Shayla looked down at the dress, a soft rose thing that hung loosely from her shoulders, as though she'd forgotten what she was wearing. "Thank you. Merrick tells me this is my color."
"You looked good in white, too."
"Cousin Tara!" Someone cannoned into her from behind.
"Cole!" Shayla scolded. "You shouldn't run into people like that."
"Tara's not people, Mama, she's Tara."
"He's got you there, Princess. OK, short stuff, get off me."
"Aww…" Reluctantly, Cole let go and backed away. "How long you staying, Cousin Tara?"
"Dunno, Cole. A while, maybe. That OK with you?"
"I sleep in my own room now." he informed her.
"Yeah? Which room?"
"The little one in the front."
"Ooh, I always liked that one. Cold in the winter, though, huh?"
"Haven't been there for a winter yet. Why didn't you sleep there if you liked it?"
"I like the view out the back better. Besides, short stuff, my books wouldn't fit in your room."
"Dinner's ready, Cole." Shayla interrupted at that point. "Tara, are you joining us?"
"I've eaten, Princess, but I'll gladly sit with you if I may."
"You don't have to call me Princess, you know. Cole, go sit down. Tara's not going to disappear if you stop looking at her."
Tara grinned mischievously, but when Shayla glared at her she laughed and shook her head. "No, I won't, Cole, so listen to your mother and sit down. And yes, Princess; I think I really do."
Shayla frowned; it took her a moment to track the comment. "Call me Princess? Why?"
"Because you are."
"So are you." Shayla protested.
"It's not the same thing. Thariin's a long time gone, and so's Deirbhile. You've always been a Princess." She shrugged faintly. "It feels…wrong to call you Shayla. Too familiar, or something."
"It doesn't bother me."
"Can I have some milk, Mama?" Cole asked.
"I'll get it." Tara rose to her feet and crossed to the fridge. "I know it doesn't bother you. Bothering you was never the issue. Say 'when', short stuff." She glanced up at Shayla. "Does it bother you that I call you Princess?"
"When!" Cole chirped, and she looked down to find the milk overflowing his glass.
"Ah, Cole…" Shayla reached behind her for the cloth. Tara lifted the glass carefully, carrying it to the sink to drain off some of the milk.
"You slobied." Cole laughed.
"I slobied? You were supposed to tell me when to stop!"
"I did."
She twacked him upside the head, returning his glass to the table. "We'll have to get you a glass with a lid, so it doesn't spill." she decided idly. "Princess?"
"Hmm? Oh…" she thought back over the conversation. "I'm…not so used to it as I used to be. The others, the Rangers…they don't call me Princess anymore."
"Really?" Tara laughed. "I can't…it's hard to imagine them not."
"There's no disrespect in it."
"Oh, I know. That's not the issue either."
"Then what is the issue?"
"What's an issue?" Cole asked.
"Eat your vegetables." Shayla said automatically. "They're good for you."
"Aww, Mama…"
"Eat your vegetables." Tara told him. "I was raised in a royal court, Princess. I spent my first six hundred years being polite to everyone around me."
"But you're a princess too." Cole complained. "Weren't you their boss?"
Tara looked at Shayla in amusement. "Wonderful upbringing you're giving this child."
"He didn't learn that from us." Shayla protested, smiling.
"OK, OK, I can deal with this." Tara frowned in thought. "Cole, you know Uncle Cole and Aunt Alyssa are having a baby, right?" Cole nodded solemnly. "And when the baby's old enough, you'll be playing together." Cole nodded again. "Well, are you going to boss the baby around just because you're older?"
"No, Cousin Tara!" Cole blurted.
"Well, it wouldn't have been right for me to boss the others around just because my father was a king, would it?"
"No." Cole admitted.
"My brother always taught me to be polite. He said I had to be respectful especially to people who weren't princes, because that way I'd remember they were still people. Do you understand, Cole?"
"No."
Tara grimaced, rubbing at her forehead. "Any time you want to jump in, Princess?"
"You said you could handle it." Shayla reminded her. "You must have had this conversation with Aoife."
"Aoife was seven years old when she came into my care." She sighed again. "All right. Cole, sometimes when people have power, like when they're kings, they start to think they're better than everyone else. Right?"
"Right." Cole said dubiously.
"So, being polite to them made sure that wouldn't happen. Right?"
"Riiii-ight." Cole thought about it for a long minute. "Are you better?"
"No one is better than anyone else."
"But Mama can do magic, and you can do the things you do…"
"Can you swim, Cole?"
"Swim?" he echoed. "Sure."
"I can't. Does that make you better than me?"
"You can't?" Shayla echoed.
"No. I don't drown, so I never saw the need." She looked back at Cole. "Does that make you better'n'me?"
"No."
"Neither does your Mama's magic, or my…what I do. They're just things we can do."
"Now finish your vegetables." Shayla said quickly. "No, Cole, no more until you're finished." Cole bent obediently over his plate.
Tara leaned back in her chair, smiling absently as she watched him. Shayla glanced at her and then rose to her feet, beginning to clear away the dinner plates. Tara shook her head and got up to help, but Shayla waved her back to her seat.
"Don't be silly, Tara. Tonight you're a guest."
"A guest in my own house." Tara murmured, sitting back down. "If you keep inhaling the food that way, short stuff, you're going to choke."
Cole looked up in alarm. "Mgffg, O wwwog hoke, uuu?"
"No, you won't choke. Don't speak with your mouth full. Tara, don't upset him."
"I'm not!" Tara protested.
Cole swallowed and said quickly, "Yes you are!" By the time Shayla looked up he'd already taken another bite, so she let it go.
"Sorry, short stuff. I'm only teasing. Don't listen to me."
The 'phone rang and she glanced up in surprise; Shayla moved to pick it up and spent several minutes uh-ing and ah-ing. Finally she put it back down. "Alyssa's checked in; the doctor thinks it'll be a few hours yet. Maybe all night. Max is coming here, but the others are going to wait."
"Even Eric?" Tara asked absently.
"He's…what did he say?…representing Wes and Mr Collins."
Tara looked up in surprise. "I didn't know Alex Collins knew Cole and Alyssa."
"He doesn't. But he does know Taylor. And Eric and Wes know them."
"I suppose. You finished, Cole? Let's go find a book to read, huh?"
"Really?" Cole's voice came out in a sort of high-pitched squeak, and she blinked in surprise.
"Uh—sure. Why?"
"Cole doesn't go into your room when you're not here." Shayla explained, picking up Cole's plate and glass. "So he doesn't get to read your books."
"Oh." Tara was mildly surprised at that; Shayla and Merrick had been living here much longer than she had by now. "Some of those books aren't really…I mean, for his age…"
"We know. That's part of it." She glanced up. "You should go catch him before he breaks something."
Abruptly Tara realized Cole had vanished upstairs already, and she pushed herself out of her seat with a sigh. "Oh what fun/it is to chase/a small child round the house, oh…"
"Wrong season." Shayla commented.
"Words fit, though. Cole? What're you doing?"
"Nothing!" Cole yelled from above. The crash as he spoke didn't quite fit, though.
"Oh yeah? You better not have knocked anything over…"
"Um…OK!"
Grinning, Tara headed upstairs to fix whatever he'd done.