Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 9: England
When they had left Sierra Leone, it took them another 14 days to get to Le Havre in France. It had been getting colder from day to day, because in Europe it was still winter. During the night between the 2nd and the 3rd of March they finally reached Le Havre. The temperature was still subzero, but that didn't stop the explorers to go on deck.
"Oh, I didn't think it would be that cold!" Finn exclaimed. She had her arms crossed in front of her body and was shivering.
"I told you to put on your jacket." John said. He was holding Alasdair, who was sleeping in his arms. The little boy was wearing a cap and a jacket. David was wrapped in a blanket, crying himself to sleep in Veronica's arms.
"Look! Can you see that?" It was Ned, who pointed his finger at something.
"What?" Finn asked. "I can't see a thing."
"There! The lights. That's France." Finn's eyes were screwed-up.
"I can see it, now. That's France, cool." Challenger nodded.
"Yes, I agree. It's very cool, but that shouldn't spoil our enjoyment." Finn looked at him in confusion, but she didn't say anything.
"I guess we'll be in Southampton in the afternoon." Marguerite said.
"You can be sure about that." Challenger agreed.
**********
Marguerite turned out to be right. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when the jagged coastline of England came to sight. The weather was very English as well: Hazy, cloudy and an icy wind was blowing. It looked as if it was going to rain any second. That was most likely the reason, why there was almost nobody on deck. Veronica, Ned, Finn and David had already gone back into the ship. The others were still standing at the deck rail, watching England come closer, while they were speaking.
"I wonder whether we'll stay in touch once we reach England." Marguerite said sounding very thoughtful. Challenger patted her shoulder.
"Of course we will. I wouldn't worry about that. There are a lot of occasions to come, where we're going to see each other, even if we don't live in the same city." Marguerite sighed. George wasn't sure, but it sounded rather sad. John seemed to have noticed it, too. He put an arm around her shoulder. Challenger gave her a reassuring smile.
"Don't think you'll get rid of us so easily. And I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to see Alasdair and David growing up and the little 'Little One', of course. Perhaps there is also going to be a christening or a wedding. Who knows?" He said the last part with a conspiratorial undertone. Roxton laughed.
"At least we should know about it, George." He said. Marguerite said nothing. They had talked about marriage, so it wasn't the first time somebody mentioned this topic, it had been an issue before. But this time it seemed to be so serious, so feasible and that made her unsure. She wasn't scared about it, but it had never been important. Marriage and love were two different things for her, one thing wasn't necessarily a consequence of the other. You could marry somebody you didn't love. Perhaps her attitude towards marriage was connected with the fact that she had had very bad experience of it. She didn't know.
"It's getting really cold and it's almost teatime, I think I'll go inside." Challenger said. He turned to Alasdair who was talking to Sunny in his own language.
"Are you coming with me, Alasdair?" The little boy looked up when he heard his name. George held out his hand. The boy was not sure whether he should take the hand or not. He looked at his parents as if to ask them for permission.
"Go with him, Aly. It's much warmer in there. We'll be coming soon." John said. The boy smiled at him and took Challenger's hand. When they were out of sight John turned to Marguerite.
"We don't have to go to Avebury, if that's what you've been trying to tell me." She looked at him in surprise.
"I haven't been trying to tell you anything. But now that you mention it..."
"I think it would be better to tell her what she has to await anyway." He said more to himself than to her.
"What?"
"I was talking about my mother. She's very..." he was searching for the right word. "Complicated."
"Meaning, she wouldn't like me?" She asked. He shook his head.
"Don't say that! But she became very moody and withdrawn after..." He stopped a moment. She took his hands in hers.
"I know."
"So where do you want to live then?" He asked after a while.
"Don't know. London would be fine with me. You know, as a provisional solution."
**********
The reception they were given was colossal. There were so many people. It gave the impression that the whole population of England was assembled at the jetty. Most of the people asked questions like: 'Where exactly have you been?', 'What did you find there?', 'How did you escape?' and so on. Marguerite didn't bother to answer them. She was too tired and too preoccupied with Alasdair, who was so nervous and in high spirits when he saw all these people. He was running around and sang something not even his mother could understand.
"Alasdair! You stay here with us, otherwise you'll get lost." She told him with insistence. But only seconds later she lost sight of him.
"Alasdair?" She took a look around, but she didn't see him. Fear welled up in her. She turned to John.
"Alasdair is gone!"
"What!?"
"I can't see him." She looked around a second time to make sure she didn't miss a thing.
"Well, he's got to be around here somewhere." She knew it was an attempt to comfort her, but it didn't help. When she looked at all the people her hope was fading away very very quickly. And the worst of it was that it was her fault. At least she felt responsible for it. A mother should be responsible for her children, but...
Oh, please not now, Marguerite. There is enough time for self-pity later. It won't be that hard to find him.
"Alasdair!" John started to shout.
"We should separate. It'll be easier to find him then." Marguerite nodded.
**********
It was only five minutes later that John could hear his son sobbing. But he could also make out another voice that sounded vaguely familiar.
"We'll find your mum and dad. Don't worry." The woman, who had Alasdair on her arms, was only a few yards away.
"Alasdair!" John shouted for the umpteenth time, but this time it was not without success. The boy turned his head to face him. He stopped crying at once.
"Da'y! Da'y!" He shouted. The woman looked at John.
"Is that your boy?" She asked.
"Yes." She handed Alasdair over to him. John looked at her more closely. He was sure, that he had seen her before, but he wasn't sure where.
"You are Lord John Roxton, aren't you?" She said. He nodded.
"Then you can certainly tell me where I can find George." When she had said that, he suddenly recognized her.
"Jessie Challenger?" She smiled at him.
"I'm sorry, that I didn't recognize you. I..."
"There is nothing to feel sorry about. We only met twice and that was more than five years ago."
"John!" He heard Marguerite's voice. "Have you found him?"
"I can't say I have." He answered. She approached them.
"I assume this the boy's mother?" Jessie asked.
"Yes, that's Marguerite."
"Why did you tell me that you didn't find him, when you obviously did?" Marguerite was out of breath. John shrugged.
"I didn't find him. It was her." He pointed at Jessie.
"If that's the case, a 'thank you' would be appropriate." She gave Jessie a hand. Then she took Alasdair from Roxton.
"You gave us a real shock, little laddie." She kissed his cheek.
"He's cute." Jessie said watching the little boy snuggling up to his mother.
"I knew you would like him." It was George approaching them from behind.
"George!" They embraced each other and Marguerite cast Roxton a glance of astonishment, which seemed to amuse him.
**********
They decided to stay the night at a hotel in Southampton. Alasdair didn't let go of his parent's hands for a second. He kept a tight hold on them all the way from the harbour to the hotel. When they reached the room where the three of them would stay that night he risked letting go of them. As soon as his father had opened the door nobody could stop Alasdair. He ran into the room to explore the world, which was awaiting him behind the door.
"Must be something that runs in the family." Marguerite laughed.
"Certainly. Now I'm convinced, that he's my son."
"Weren't you before? Oh, come on, he looks just like you." He kissed her briefly.
"I know. I was just kidding." He took the luggage and waited for her to enter before he did. He put the luggage into a corner of the room and closed the door.
"I'm well aware that you were just kidding, I just thought..." She gasped and her legs suddenly felt so weak, that she almost fell to the ground. John supported her and helped her to sit down on the bed.
"What was that?" he asked obviously concerned. "It almost looked as if you were going to faint." She shook her head.
"I have no idea. It was strangest sensation I've ever had. Like a cold wind rushing right through me. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but I didn't feel the cold, I just knew it was there. There was something inside of me that shivered with cold and it warned me somehow."
"It warned you? About what?"
"I don't know. Everything happened so fast..." she said with resignation. They remained silent for a while; they just sat there. John wanted to say that everything would be fine, but how could he if he didn't even know what was wrong? Marguerite sighed.
"I really don't like to say this, John, but somehow I got the feeling, that this is getting worse."
End Chapter Nine...
Special thanks to:
pandagal: Thanks for the review and don't worry Mrs Walsingham won't bother us any longer, I think:)
zeusfluff: So here's chapter 9. I hope you like it. Thanks for the review!!!
Alexpat1: Yeah, I know that the thing about Summerlee is kinda sad, but well actually I didn't think much about including him! I just forgot… I hope you like it anyway. Thanks for your review.
keys3303: Thanks for the review. And I promise the mystery will come out, but not today:)
A.Windsor: Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm so glad that you like Aly!
Angel LeeAnn: Well about the 'Chosen One': That was in one episode of the first season. I don't know the name now, but there was this woman, who needed the blood from a virgin (you probably remember Malone!?). She said to Marguerite that she was the Chosen One. But they never really explained what it meant. So I tried to find a solution for the Chosen One and Morrigan at the same time… That's basically what it's about!
And thanks for the review of course!!!
Spirita: Hi! I'm so glad you like it! As to Mrs Walsingham: I thinking about leaving her out for the rest of the chapters… And thanks for the review of course!
TheChosenOne3: Of course I know that you like supernatural! Well thanks for the words you know what this means to me. Talk to you soon!
Lexi: I don´t have to write anything 'cause you're standing right beside me:)