Chapter 7

Sorry for the delay. Merry Christmas. Co-written by Samhainix

Back in the office, Derek had had enough. He watched everyone arguing. Something still just didn't feel right; he still felt there was somebody still pulling everyone's strings.

He let them continue arguing. He sat and tried to work everything out in his head. He knew he wasn't going to let Audrey lose to Richard. But none of it made any sense. The odd one out of this theater life was Dev. Dev? Why? So he married Ivy. Big deal. So why would he want to get into all of this. Where was the connection? He was a suit, but worked for a few powerful people. Maybe that was it. Someone higher up on his line of work wanted to sabotage Bombshell. He was Deputy Press Secretary to the Mayor. Though if Ivy wanted back in, then he was ruining her chance.

More questions kept appearing in his head. Still no answers.

"ENOUGH! You are all going in circles and getting nowhere. Think. Every one of us has a stake in Bombshell. All except Dev. Dev what is your interest in Bombshell? What has the Mayor of New York got to do with the London production?" Derek asked.

Dev stood open mouthed. How had Derek worked that out? He started to panic. "The Mayor knows some very important people. And they knew how Bombshell broke sells back in the day and they wanted it to transfer back, as a lot of the big shows are closing down. And he hoped by bringing this as a revival it make the audiences come back." Finished Dev.

Everyone stood looking at him. Even Richard stood silently. He had been hired as a pawn? He thought he was cleverer than that to be taken in like that. He felt deflated. The bluster was taken from him.

They were gob smacked. Ivy's head was spinning. "Wait, you let the show get sabotaged and all because the Mayor said so? It wasn't about me at all. You used me to bring back the revival? I think that is...genius!" Ivy gushed.

Derek hung his head. He actually had thought Ivy was going to say the right thing for once. "Ivy only you in God's name would you think this was a good idea. You have disappointed me again and again. But this time takes the biscuit. You are are welcome to each other. You are devious and cunning and I hope this comes back to bite you. Eileen are you coming? We need to sort this. I need to see where Karen is."

Derek and Eileen walked out of the office, Eileen was stunned into silence. Derek stopped walking and got his cell. "Karen darling, where are you? I need you to meet me at the apartment. It's important." Karen heard the tone in Derek's voice, "I'll get there as soon as I can. Julia is here, we'll both get there ASAP." Karen hung up. "Sorry Tilda, something has come up. You stay here and rest. Julia, grab your coat, we need to get to the apartment now." "Why what's wrong?" "He never said. Come on."

They flagged a taxi and got the taxi to rush to the apartment.

...

Back at the apartment.

Derek and Eileen were sitting. Derek had given Eileen a steaming hot cup of tea. He even made one for himself. This was no time to hit the hard stuff. He needed time to think. Eileen couldn't speak. Yet just like the old days, she saw the cogs turning in Derek's head, his mask was on. The Dark Lord was in charge.

Karen and Julia came into the apartment. Saw both the expressions on Eileen and Derek's faces. "Derek. What's wrong? I haven't seen that look in a long time." Karen asked.

Derek lifted his head. How was he supposed to tell her that Dev had had a hand in all of this? He had made her life a misery back when she was starting out, and now he was doing it to her family and a show as she saw as her own baby.

"Karen, Julia please sit down. There's something I need to tell you." Derek told them all of what Dev had said and what the Mayor had planned. Both women had tears in their eyes. For different reasons. Karen was thinking about Audrey and what she had gone through. While Julia was thinking of Dev and how even after all these years, he still found a way to get into Karen's life and hurt her all over again.

Eileen was sitting thinking where did all her money really go? The Mayor? Or Dev?

"Right enough of this sitting doing nothing. We need to get back to London and fix the show and give the Mayor of New York no reason to have a revival here. Sorry for the audiences going down. But Broadway has been pushing prices up for years. Let's go." Said Derek.

...

Karen had called Tilda and explained that she and Derek were heading home, they had to save Bombshell. Karen also let Tilda know about her fears that Richard and Ivy would be following close behind.

Sensing an opportunity for closure, Tilda raced to the office, only to find it empty apart from Iain, the janitor. Sneaking a peek at the computer, Tilda found tickets to Heathrow had already been booked; she still had time, though not a lot of it.

Traffic was terrible even for 9am but the long drive to the airport gave her time to think, to consider what she wanted to say, maybe too much time.

By the time she got parked, went inside and bought a ticket she wouldn't use to the least expensive destination she could find, Tilda had worried she had missed everyone. Did the tickets say 11:25 or 11:45? Did she miss her chance?

Thankfully upon entering the departure lounge, she immediately heard something that put her mind at ease.

"Gordon Bennett, Ivy! You are impossible!" Derek practically screamed.

In the middle of a novelty mini pub, Ivy was blocking Karen from getting a drink at the bar, Derek was at his wits end and Richard was sleepily nursing a martini.

Tilda took a deep breath, she thought back to the car and everything she had wanted to say to her half-sister, she'd drop the truth bomb immediately, leaving her shocked and Richard stuttering up an excuse. Ivy would slap their father and leave in a state.

Anxiety got the best of Tilda, if she followed through with just throwing the truth out there, embarrassing Ivy in front of everyone, Ivy wouldn't forgive her.

Tilda wondered why she wanted Ivy's forgiveness; she was the same vile creature that she had known from teen hood. The same one who humiliated Tilda, time and time again, why shouldn't Tilda get at least a taste of revenge?

Conflicted, Tilda bought a hot cocoa from a neighboring coffee shop and watched the Wills/Lynn drama unfolds.

Sipping her cocoa, Tilda couldn't help thinking back on her complicated history with Ivy. She remembered one year, around Christmas, Aunty Leigh, Ivy's mom had dropped Ivy off without telling Tilda's mom first. The two were shouting at each other about whose day was too important to be derailed with an extra kid.

Ivy put her little gloved fingers in her ears and started to sing jingle bells to herself. Tiny Tilda wanting to reassure her then cousin that everything would be ok started singing along. They eventually held each other's hands and went through all their favorite Christmas songs, when they ran out they made up their own. Tilda particularly enjoyed "Have Yourself a Merry little wizard"

That day was perfect. Sure her own mom had left them to their amusement but they had fun. They played Christmas hide and seek, which was like normal hide and seek but one had to wear a pair of antlers. They watched The Wizard of Oz, ate too many pop tarts and had naps under the Christmas tree. It was perfect.

At the end of the day when Aunt Leigh came to collect Ivy, she asked Tilda to stay in touch but Tilda didn't know that Leigh would get a leading role in the musical "Bright Lights, Big City" in the new year. The Lynn family moved somewhere new and no matter how many times Tilda would ask her mom for an address, she'd just shrug it off as "Not our problem anymore"

Tilda wouldn't see Ivy again until they were in their teens; she was friendly enough but distant, sadder. They could've been great friends growing up, if only they had the chance. Maybe Ivy would turned out less emotionally damaged if they had, maybe not, who knows.

"You just going to stare off into space, dork?" Ivy laughed, sitting down facing Tilda and nearly giving her a heart attack.

"I didn't see you" Tilda admitted.

"Obviously" Noted Ivy.

An awkward silence washed over them, what Tilda wouldn't give for Karen Wills to pop up and interrupt but she seemed to be stopping Derek from punching Richard.

"It's okay if you don't want to talk to me..." Ivy said bluntly, probably noticing Tilda glancing over her shoulder "I just wanted you to know officially that we won't be keeping you on, you know how it is fresh faces, fresh talent" Stated Ivy.

"I already wrote my resignation" Sighed Tilda

"But I beat you to the punch; also don't expect a reference, that's not going to happen" Ivy said evilly.

"Didn't think it would" Replied Tilda.

Ivy looked disappointed, like she was expecting some kind of negative reaction, maybe a break down with some tears. All she got was tepid boredness. Tilda was so tired of her routine.

Defeated, sort of, Ivy went to leave.

"Ivy?" Tilda called her back; something was on her mind "Why were you happy that Dev was using you?"

Ivy's eyes widened

"Karen told me" Tilda explained

"Mrs. Perfect always poking her nose in where it's not wanted"

Tilda rolled her eyes and drummed her fingers on the table.

"I enjoy a good manipulation, if it's worth my while. Dev was sweet and charming but it was nice to know he had a mean streak too"

"Why?"

"Why, what?"

""Why is that nice to know?"

Ivy didn't seem to know what to say so Tilda continued.

"I'm not one to judge but you deserve more than some tool that'll screw you over and leave you out to dry"

"It's... None of your business" Ivy replied, wearily

"I guess not... All I know is that Dev is so much like your father and that's genuinely scary"

"You mean our father?" Ivy corrected

Silence fell once more; shamefully Tilda glanced down at the table and finished her cocoa. Did Richard get to get to her first, spin his own version of the truth?

"Oh don't be so alarmed, sis, I did a DNA test years ago, got yours from the time you visited me on that Tom Hooper film" Ivy smirked "Maybe don't drink free production water"

"Why didn't you say something?"

"Like what?" Ivy cackled "Hey I know I tried to ruin the show that you and your friends spent years to perfect but hey we're sisters now. Want to hug?"

"I would've"

"Seriously?" Ivy looked like she didn't buy it

"It sounds like a cliché but life is too short for grudges, I'm old enough to forgive someone who wants to do better"

Ivy played with her press on nails like a nine year old, for Tilda that made it much easier to recognize that kid from all those years ago. Her fingers in her ears, singing Christmas songs to distract her from a harsh reality.

"... Me and Dev deserve each other" Ivy told Tilda "We don't live in the present, we're obsessed with settling scores from the past, and we don't want to do better"

"I can't believe that, you've always had some good in you"

Ivy shook her head, determined at her lack of redemption.

"Do you know why I hated you all those years?"

"Because I'm Trans?" Tilda guessed

"Hell no, you think you're the first Trans person I know? I work in showbiz"

"I'm the first one you know personally"

"...True" Ivy admitted "Okay maybe I haven't been as supportive in the past but I never hated you for it"

"Why then?"

"That Christmas, when we were kids, do you remember?"

Tilda was surprised, of course she remembered it but it was a good memory, wasn't it.

"You had passed out under the Christmas tree after eating too many Gingerbread Pop Tarts" Ivy smiled

Tilda thought that they had both done that but supposed that it didn't change the story too much.

"I didn't want that day to end, it was so much fun but I knew we'd be moving soon because of my mom, so I wrote my new address on a piece of paper and put it on your fridge" she revealed, before adding "You never wrote, not once"

"I didn't know, maybe my mom threw it out, I can't remember" Tilda gasped

"I know it's a petty excuse for hating someone, especially for years... but I did, because I'm a petty person, I hated you for not writing, I thought that you had wanted rid of me like my mom did, like everyone did"

Tilda reached for Ivy's hand and surprisingly Ivy let her hold it.

"I'm sorry I never found it"

"So am I" Ivy started crying

"But we're twenty years older now, Ivy, we have the chance to make amends, you have a niece you've never even met before"

"No" Ivy said firmly

Tilda's heart sank but Ivy simply stood up and walked around to her, wrapping her arms tight around her.

"You have no reason to make amends, I have to make amends, and I have to take responsibility for my own actions"

Ivy checked her watch, sighed and let go of Tilda. She braved a smile.

"When I get back I'd love to meet little Harper" Ivy added

"You're still going to London?"

"I have to... I don't know what I'll do when I get there but I just know that I have to be there"

"To stop our father?"

Uncertainty crossed Ivy's face, as if she was fighting her nature.

"Trust me?" she asked

Tilda paused for a brief moment before finally replying "Okay"

Tilda stood and hugged her sister once more, she never thought she'd ever regard Ivy as that but she couldn't help it.

"Have You a Merry Little Wizard" Tilda whispered, remembering the song they had made when they were kids

"It's autumn, you nerd" Ivy added before chiming in "Let your brooms be light"

"From now on Dorothy will be out of sight"

They laughed and separated, Tilda had done what she had deemed impossible, she had made things better with Ivy. Now the only question was could Ivy follow through with her promise to make amends.

Tilda couldn't help watching Ivy from the distance, their father trying to crack jokes and put his arm around her. Ivy laughed at his joke but shrugged off his arm.

Tilda would have to trust that Ivy's better nature would win out. She had a good person in there somewhere, Tilda even met her today.