* long gone and moved on

[acanthus a. macdougal]

CAUSE I GOT NO BUSINESS KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE

it was finally friday. the day that acanthus macdougal had seemingly waited eons for. friday was her day off -- the only day of the week that she could manage to have a moment for herself. typically, moments like these were spent with her best friend aiden or her fiance, but today was reserved for adalia nott. she and addy had become friends over the course of time -- well, all friends did, didn't they? -- and acanthus had agreed to meet where they typically did, at the cafe. it didn't have too much to deal with acan's caffeine addictions as the fact that it was so close to the hospital. besides, had she needed her coffee fix for the day, she would have went to see her fiance aiden, wherever he was at this very moment. despite being his best friend, there were still times where she had absolutely no idea where he was. actually, the majority of the time that she wasn't with him, acanthus didn't know his whereabouts. they were friends, but personal space was still allowed -- that's how it was supposed to be, wasn't it? you hang out for a bit, share a little about your day, and head on home? acan and aiden just seemed to have an understanding of one another, it seemed, and for now she was perfectly fine with that. she always had been up until now, so she really couldn't foresee that changing.

she had to deal with a few healers before taking friday off, but that wasn't anything unusual. who didn't want fridays off? well, when she took over as head healer and took off whenever she pleased, the new healer-in-charge could have fridays off. oh, merlin. she was looking forward to watching that bloodbath -- every healer wanted the healer-in-charge position. unless some ninety year-old woman decided that she finally wanted a career, that head healer position had acanthus macdougal's name written all over it. therefore, when the title was hers, she could finally sit back and watch every other healer fight over the job that she had somehow secured a year and a half ago. oh, who was she kidding. acan had worked like a madwoman, trying to get her grades in perfect shape for a seamless transfer to st.mungo's. the head healer had been fairly impressed with her, and for that she was given the healer-in-charge position without so many conditions involved. her current position was merely a step towards her dream, and she couldn't have been more happy about being so close to it.

acanthus quickly made a mental note to write to her brother as soon as she was back home. merlin only knew how long it had been since she had seen or written to him, and they had sworn to one another that graduation hadn't meant only seeing each other at major holidays. the only holiday ramona enjoyed was christmas, and that was because she enjoyed her weight in egg nog. despite being remotely thin, ramona rowle was no lightweight. she never had been, unfortunately. why her father put up with that woman on multiple occasions, she would never know. it had to be some kind of deep, all-forgiving love that acan had no knowledge of. someday, she only hoped that she'd know all about that kind of stuff. not to say that she didn't, because she was engaged to be married, but....there was always more to be desired when it came to choosing that life partner. she supposed that it was normal, always wanting more than she had. not that she would ever utter a word of it to declan, of course.

digging into her purse for her wallet, acanthus stepped through the doors of the cafe and walked up to the counter, ordering her usual cup of coffee. her and aiden's table was in the back corner, and currently taken up by another couple. acanthus currently corrected her thought; she and aiden were anything but a couple. never had been, and never would be. just friends -- that's all they would ever be. that's how it was supposed to be, afterall. glancing around once more, acanthus grabbed a seat by the window, and waited for adalia to show up. she would have ordered a coffee for her as well, but it had been so long since she had seen her that she had practically forgotten what the girl even looked like. and for a friend, that was a rather sad thing to say.

TAGGED FOR STEFANO. POSTED IT HURR CAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO PUT IT LOL.

[adalia l. nott]

little miss big ol' heart
BEATS WIDE OPEN

adalia nott looked in the mirror, her delicate fingers touching her face. it had been nearly two weeks since she had first arrived back home. in those two weeks, the bruises on her face had done a nice job at healing themselves. there was still a hint of her black eye which only made her huff. going out in public wasn't something that she missed, but there were certainly people that she wanted to see. for some, it had been far too long and she owed them visits. another was someone that she had to see, not only because she missed her, but because of another matter which coincided with the injuries she took to her face and the rest of her body. applying a little make-up to her face, adalia exited the bathroom and walked into lucas' room where he was laying fast asleep in his crib. "oh, time to go, booger," she murmured to him as she gently lifted him from his crib. and there wasn't a single fuss or uninterpretable sound that came from his mouth. and that was exactly the main reason she was going to see acanthus macdougal.

even though acanthus was one of her dear friends, there was more intentions behind her visit with her than just catching up. when she had returned to england, having minimal things with her and looking like she had had the daylights kicked out of her (which she had), acanthus was the only person she trusted to go to. anyone else would have badgered her about what happened and then called services to investigate what she had put her son through. that was not an option. knowing the healer-in-charge just happened to have it's perks, including the fact that she knew acan wouldn't bother her for questions. adalia had promised her friend answers at a later time, after she got herself situated and found out that her son was alright. lucas had checked out to being alright, after the traumatic incident that caused her to leave monaco. adalia had been dating a muggle, who had before hit her, but adalia never thought he would lay a hand on her son. if she had ever thought that, she would have stopped seeing him. what had happened had been all her fault, but she had never dreamed it was something that could have happened to them. now, he was dead and she was back home in england with a baby who no longer made any sounds other than a laugh or two. before, the room was always filled with sounds that didn't sound anything like words or high-pitched laughing or giggles. now, lucas tended to be more on the quiet side. the only person who could get him to laugh really was adalia, and even that was rare these days.

when acanthus had checked him out and said that all was fine with him, adalia had been relieved. now, two weeks later and he still wasn't making any noises, she was more on the worried side once again. what if something had caused him to develop a speech delay? or maybe he would always be mute? even the thoughts caused her to chew on her lip, looking down at her sleeping son as she strapped him into his baby carrier. "we're going to go see auntie acan. you remember her, right? come on. it'll be fun," she talked out loud to her son who only just stared at her with half-open eyes. she supposed that this meeting too meant that adalia finally had to tell acanthus just what had happened. she owed her at least that much. a deep breath and adalia picked up her son, apparating off to the cafe where she was supposed to be meeting her friend. part of her didn't want to tell acanthus exactly what had happened. all of it was her being ashamed in herself that she had let someone like that into her life, that she had let someone like that around her son. all of what had happened was her own fault, and adalia blamed herself completely. what she should have done was kicked him out of her life the minute that he had hit her for the first time, but no. her desire to not want to be alone overwhelmed everything and her weakness got the best of her. no matter how hard to tried to trick herself though, the company that her boyfriend had given her never matched the company caden would always give her. and caden didn't even have to kiss her or hold her hand or have sex with her to give her that feeling of being complete or happiness.

adalia shook the thought from her head and entered the cafe, blinking a couple times to make her eyes adjust to how much more dimmer it was in the cafe compared to outside. it didn't take her longer than a few seconds to locate the gorgeous dark haired girl that was one of her good friends. stopping to order herself a tea first, adalia quickly joined acanthus at their table. a smile was quickly put on her face. "hey, sorry i'm late. sleepyhead was taking a longer nap than i thought," she said with a little laugh. it was funny to think that the way she was talking now was never a way she would have talked over a year ago. there was a lot of difference between the girl she was now and the girl that she used to be. despite all of it though, adalia would never change anything. being a mother was the best thing that had ever happened to her. "i hope that you weren't waiting too long. how have you been?" of course all she wanted to do was ask her about lucas and to have her look at him once more, but that would have to come later. she didn't want acanthus to think that all she was doing was making this about business. it wasn't. she really did miss her dear friend.

tagged: acanthus macdougal - - word count: one thousand and ten - - lyric credit: sugarland - - graphic/template credit: myself - - notes: it's soooo poopy.