Can't Ignore it

The stockings and decor slowly made their way back to storage in the days following Christmas. The tree still stood in the corner, barren of ornaments and gradually losing its needles, gathering in a ring below it.

The siblings finally had the chance to visit friends in the time they had left at home, before they departed New Year's Day. Usually, Felicia would miss no opportunity to try and capitalize her best friend's time away from Farkle. But today, she found herself in her room, given she couldn't even tell Renna about… well, anything. She was tired of huge events happening to her that she couldn't tell anyoneabout.

Felicia pulled the needle through the front of Sir Squeakles's neck again, tightening another stitch that slowly reunited his head with the rest of his body. She sat cross-legged on her bed, her door closed. Her father and brothers' chatter from out in the courtyard floated in through her room's window, their sawing and hammering all muddling together into background noise as she worked. Earlier they'd asked her if she wanted to join them, but she'd politely declined.

She was aware she'd been spending a bit more time than usual in her room the past few days, as well. Perhaps because she knew the more time she spent out with friends, with anyone really, the more she'd be tempted to let loose everything that now occupied her mind.

Or, perhaps it was because this may very well be one of the last times it would be her room.

A few knocks on Felicia's door sent the needle off-course into her fingertip, her concentration so intent that it genuinely caught her off-guard. She inhaled sharply and quickly sucked the puncture, shoving the half-mended doll under her pillow.

"Come in," she called.

Fiona pushed the door open enough to poke her head inside. "Hey," she greeted her daughter warmly.

"Hey," Felicia replied in kind.

"Did you have a minute?" Fiona asked.

"Yeah," Felicia offered as casually as she could, as if she didn't know exactly why her mother was there. Her mother didn't usually come to her room with such… caution. As if any wrong move would shatter the moment.

Felicia had really, really hoped that this - the topic that had triggered the whole Christmas Eve avalanche in the first place - would just be magically forgotten, so that she could be left to magically get over it on her own. She'd been lucky for a couple days, but that luck looked like it had just run out.

"How're you doing?" Fiona asked as she closed the door behind her.

"Good," Felicia replied pleasantly. "How about you?" Her eyes briefly shifted to her mother's middle, then back up to her face. "And the baby?" The corners of her mouth twitched in a small, tentative grin.

"Good, good," Fiona replied with a sigh and a smile, her hand meeting a little jab. "Nice and active. All the voices are still exciting, seems like." Fiona let her smile linger perhaps a little too long, as did her daughter. The two seemed to realize their awkward pause together, and they both exhaled in amused acknowledgement.

Felicia scooted further up her bed, clearing space for her mother to sit, which the older ogress accepted.

Fiona knew that Felicia knew why she'd come in. As Fiona tried to recall how she'd planned to start this conversation with her daughter, her eye was drawn to a spot of faded green sticking out from under Felicia's pillow, contrasted against the beige sheets.

Fiona's eye had lingered on it long enough for Felicia to notice, however. The younger ogress flushed slightly, and pulled the toy out from where she'd shoved it, needle still sticking out of his chin.

"He's never been a stranger to needing a few stitches," Fiona offered in good humor.

Felicia nodded with another exhale, turning the doll over in her hands. "First time on purpose, though," she replied.

"You don't remember when the boys ripped all his limbs off?" Fiona countered with a smirk.

"Oh I do," Felicia confirmed in a similar tone. "I meant I did the ripping this time." She looked at Sir Squeakles another moment, before she took hold of the needle and resumed sewing.

Fiona watched her daughter work with the worn fabric for a moment. "Well, I don't think he'll hold it against you. He's still smiling, after all."

Felicia's lips tugged again as she secured another stitch. "Gotta try a lot harder to get him to stop smiling." She completed the final stitch back where she'd started from, knotted it and bit the thread off.

"Good as new," Fiona noted lightly.

Felicia held the doll up, inspecting her work before setting him down on her pillow.

"I know you didn't come in here to watch me fix him," Felicia said. She turned her head slightly in her mother's direction.

Fiona blinked. "You're right, I didn't." Leave it to Felicia to get back to the point. "I just wanted to check in with you, see if there was anything you–"

"It's going to be a guest room, right?" Felicia interrupted as she gestured at the shared wall with her brothers' room, turning fully to Fiona. "They don't get to just keep their same old room, whilemine is–"

"Yes," Fiona assured her. "But that's not– we don't need to be thinking about all of that right now–"

"No no it's fine," Felicia amended quickly, "I know that the baby needs–"

"Not for more than a year," Fiona clarified. "It's still your room right now. And the boys' is still theirs. We don't need to change everything so fast." She offered her daughter a small smile.

"There's enough already changing as it is." Felicia reciprocated the expression as best she could, but couldn't resist looking away again.

Fiona nodded. "Don't I know it." She briefly debated whether to keep speaking - their little chat could be wrapped up well enough right here, she'd said what she needed to, and Felicia seemed to be far more receptive than days prior. But Fiona also knew her daughter quite well - well enough to know there was more to it than just the room.

Again, Fiona had spent too long dwelling, as Felicia turned her head back to her - now she knew there was something more Fiona had to say.

"In a few months, it won't just be you three anymore. That's… not something I thought I'd ever be saying." She smiled wistfully. "That's quite the change. For me, for your dad… for you, maybe."

Felicia sat still for a moment, her eyes on her knees. She offered a small nod, retrieving Sir Squeakles again from where she'd set him.

"Might not even be the only girl, either," Felicia mumbled, thumbing over the doll's faded stitch-smile.

Fiona closed her eyes for a short unseen moment - she still couldn't believe she hadn't picked up on her apprehension that Christmas Eve dinner, that it wasn't just moody dramatics… Felicia being Felicia. A part of her wished she could go back to that night - perhaps keep her sons from taunting her as hard, perhaps stop her husband from bringing up the rooms. Had she somehow had the clairvoyance to do so, they could have likely avoided having to delve back into Stiltskin and his contract entirely.

But then… Stiltskin wouldn't have come up, and she would be none the wiser that her children had encountered him. They would have been going back off into the world completely unaware of the risk. Not to mention, whatever twisted words he'd put in their heads would have just been left to fester.

"Maybe," Fiona sighed, bringing herself back to the topic at hand. "I guess we'll just have to see. But… hey," she leaned against her daughter's shoulder with her own. Felicia looked up at her mother after a moment, as if it took great effort to do so.

"There's only one Felicia," Fiona brushed a stray lock from her daughter's face. "And she's right here."

Felicia hugged her mother before her face could betray her. Fiona hugged her back just as tightly. The older ogress could have sat in that embrace for–

"Hey!" Felicia exclaimed, quickly breaking the hug to Fiona's surprise. She looked down at Fiona's middle with faux-offense. "Do you mind? I'm only here for a few more days!" She looked up at her mother with a smile, to which Fiona chuckled in appreciation and relief.

Fiona took a breath to continue speaking, but her head turned as the front door squeaked open.

"Aye, go 'n set it under the window," Shrek's voice grew as he stepped inside, his words accompanied by multiple shuffling footsteps.

Fiona glanced quickly back at Felicia with a smile and touched her arm lightly, inviting her to follow her. Fiona pushed herself back up to her feet and made her way out to the main room.

As her mother turned away, Felicia's smile faltered. She just as quickly shook it away with a small exhale, setting Sir Squeakles back on her pillow as she scooted off the bed.

As she stepped into the main room, her brothers were coming down the stairs from the master bedchamber, to which Fiona in turn ascended them to inspect the newly constructed crib. Its legs were built quite a bit taller than its predecessor, its railing level with Fiona's hip, and it was far narrower, tasked to accommodate only one future resident.

The couple had wanted the triplets to all help with its construction, to get them involved with the impending arrival - Fiona would step back so they could build it with their father. Not that either parent felt the boys were still too ambivalent - the gesture was specifically aimed at one teenager in particular. But when Felicia had declined the invitation to participate, Fiona didn't question it, or push her to do it anyway - that wouldn't have exactly helped foster any positivity in the child that likely needed it the most… though it would be a lie to say Shrek and Fiona weren't a tad disappointed at her decision.

Fiona ran her hand along the crib's railing, the twine that tied the slats upright, and up the headboard toward the small heart-shaped carving.

"Still needs moss, 'n a blanket," Shrek said as he approached the foot of the steps, "but I think we did alright."

Fiona looked at him and met his grin. "You did." She looked at her sons who stood nearby, watching her admire their handiwork. "This is perfect, guys. Thank you." They smiled at her, then glanced aside at one other proudly.

Felicia looked at the crib as she stood behind her father and brothers - she couldn't even take part in this now, because she'd chosen not to. She had no one to blame but herself for this one.

As she noticed her mother's glance shift onto her, smile still on her face, Felicia forced her expression to match.

"Okay, how about these:" Farkle swallowed his last bite of breakfast as he dropped his plate in the sink basin, turning back to the table where his parents still sat. "For a boy, Radorum. For a girl, Gossadra. Eh? Eh?" He raised his eyebrows enticingly, picking up their empty plates for the same destination.

"Or," Fergus's head popped up from the cauldron he scrubbed, "Helianthanna for a girl? Alliumcepo for a boy?"

Fiona glanced between her sons with a patient, amused smirk. "We'll consider them," she replied, giving her husband a look as she sipped her tea.

"So many good choices, dunno how we'll pick…" Shrek sighed as he met his wife's eyes, his sarcasm thick enough to spread on toast.

"Fel!" Farkle called out the half-open front door, "Got any names?"

A moment passed, and Felicia re-entered the house with a hefty armful of freshly cut firewood.

"I'll uh–" she grunted as she made her way to the fireplace, "–write 'em down and send a pigeon home if I do." She set down her load beside the hearth and wiped her hands on her skirt, looking up at her parents with a quick grin before beelining to the sink basin to help Farkle.

With breakfast eaten, dishes done and all other chores accounted for, there was little left stopping the siblings from resuming their Leaving besides goodbyes. They picked up their knapsacks that sat on the sofa, packed the night before to be ready for their New Year's Day departure.

Shrek and Fiona met their children by the front door, just as they had months prior - if there had been a hesitance or anxiety detectable in the three back then, it was gone now. Not that they appeared eager to Leave again - rather, they were heading back out into a world they were at least a little familiar with now.

Fiona wanted to reiterate the cautions that had consumed her mind the past week, but she didn't want to dampen the moment. The three didn't need them, anyway, she knew - they were smarter than that.

"So," Shrek began, "Ye got everythin' ye need–"

His question was cut short by a series of yeah's, nods, and good-humored eye rolls. "Gotta ask, it's mah job," he offered lightly with a shrug. "So we'll see ye end'a March?" He squeezed his wife's shoulder that his arm wrapped around.

"Actually," Fiona quickly inserted, "Maybe closer to mid-March. Just so that you're guaranteed to be here. I know it's hard to plan out how– but if you can." Shrek hummed affirmatively to her amendment, and the three teenagers all nodded in earnest.

Hugs and kisses were exchanged, and the triplets made their way out the front door and down the courtyard. As they reached the start of the forest, they waved back at their parents in the doorway, not breaking their strides as they continued away from the house.

As the three finally disappeared among the distant trees, Fiona pinched the corners of her eyes and sniffed lightly. She looked up at her husband beside her with a self-aware grin on her face, a far cry from her state in the same position months prior.

Shrek looked back at her with a similar smirk. "Hopefully they'll find somethin' more interestin' to get up to this time."

Fiona's brow raised slightly. "Well… not too interesting." Her lips still maintained their upward tug, though not as much as before.

Shrek's eyes sharpened momentarily in realization. "Mm. Right. Not like that."

The three walked on wordlessly for many minutes, save for a periodic grunt of discomfort from Farkle as his feet warred with his unbroken-in boots. They each silently noted the passing landmarks falling behind them as they pressed on.

"So," Fergus finally broke the silence. "Where to now?"

Felicia's brow twitched slightly, as if he'd just asked the world's stupidest question. "The tower. Duh."

"Wait wait hey–" he held out his arm in front of her to halt her stride, much to her irritation. "After all that, you still wanna go to the–"

"Look." She pushed down his arm that he still extended before her. "If they can keep… all that from us," her voice had regained its usual acerbity, "for all these years? We can keep this from them." She slung a knapsack strap off one shoulder and pulled out the neatly folded map to the Dragon's Keep, which she'd covertly taken from Fergus's bag while he'd been in the outhouse earlier that morning.

Fergus's eyes widened. "HEY–"

"Ha!" Farkle exclaimed, a toothy grin slapped across his face. "Nice." Felicia looked at him, returning the devious glint in his eye. He watched off her shoulder as she unfolded the crisp parchment.

Fergus made an impulsive grab for it, but Felicia quickly swerved it away from his grasp, anticipating he would try to do so. Farkle extended a blocking arm for good measure, as well.

As the two resumed examining the map, they felt their brother burning holes into them with something between a glare and a plea. They looked up at him in annoyance.

"Unless you'd rather go off and look at more scenery," Farkle taunted, looking back down at the map.

"Or if you're gonna tattle on us," Felicia added, sarcastic tone dissonant with her stern expression.

Fergus looked between his siblings, and then down to the map the two had turned their attention back to. He reflexively looked over his shoulder, even though home was quite far behind them and nowhere in sight. He looked back at the map his sister still held, unable to deny that the curiosity still sparked in him, too.

"I won't." He set his jaw firmly, and exhaled. "Let's go."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

We are SO back

Alexa play "Fast In My Car" by Paramore

Thanks so much for reading!