for the rest of us death will be a relief

[praevaricatio]

Comments

[founderscouncil]

I know the last day and half has been stressful and then before that, the week we were back, and you can't say we haven't been living in a holding pattern - because we have - so, I figured, with the recent good news and nobody in danger, we should take some time for ourselves. Dawn's in the Dawnca - Deancave. ( He smirks. ) She's downstairs. Mary and Bobby are out. Irina's at that witch school. We have the place to ourselves. I think we should take advantage.

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda tips her head to the side curiously as she makes her way closer because he's not wrong. They have been kind of living in survival mode, trying to process all of this new information and new events happening.

It might be nice to have a night that's just for them.]

Alright. I'm game. I take it if you've done all this preparation you have a plan for the evening?

[founderscouncil]

Dean has another car. Your favorite movie's playing at a drive-in in the next town over. It's a midnight showing, so we have time. And, ( He pours a nice bottle of champagne ) I've been told by Sam that this is a good year and there's a whole wine cellar they don't make use of. So, when we inevitably move on, we can start to get a collection going. We should be focusing on us. Yes, there's the kids, but, Miran - they're not kids anymore.

[happiness_elude]

No, they're not.

[And it's part of the frustration if she's honest, because she didn't get to see them grow up. She didn't get to see them reach this point. And she's sad that she missed it.]

Well. If we're going out, I suppose I should go get ready.

[founderscouncil]

Dawn has a dress ready for you. Go and change, take the champagne, dinner will be ready when you get back.

( He comes up to her, handing her a champagne flute, before pressing a kiss to her lips. Sometimes, you have to build intimacy from the ground up. And he's willing to work at it. )

[happiness_elude]

Alright. I'll be right back.

[And she will take her time, relatively speaking. Take a shower, do some fine tuning, go through all the motions that comes with a date. She hasn't been good at taking care of herself, either, and taking the time to do it feels better than the time she's spent trying to vibrate out of her own body.

Still, she finishes getting dressed before making her way back to the kitchen and flashing him a smile.]

That smells delicious.

[founderscouncil]

And you look amazing.

( He has a glass of red wine waiting to be handed over to her.

The scent of Italian food wafts from the table. There's a little garlic bread and a side salad. Very simple. )

You clean up well, Miranda Sommers.

[happiness_elude]

So do you, Grayson Gilbert.

[She takes her glass of wine and moves to sit on her side of the table.]

And are very sneaky. I'm not sure how you got all this arranged without me realizing.

[founderscouncil]

Dawn helped. Like a lot.

( And some of it was her idea. But, he had the general outline. Dropping a napkin in his lap, he broaches the next important subject. )

And, I've also doing other things under your nose. I think I found us a place. That is, if you finally want to get out of this bunker.

[happiness_elude]

[Boy does she ever.]

Really? We don't have to live here anymore?

[No offense intended to the Winchesters, they've been lovely, but oh god does she need to get out of this bunker. Then she blinks because ... ]

How can we get it? I mean, don't we need ... a credit history? A real identity?

[founderscouncil]

Think of this as that starter apartment we had when we first got together. You know, the small one with a coin washer and dryer and the lady living below us with all the cats.

( This was never supposed to be permanent. )

Some guy named William is covering all of that. I never wanted to be a trustfund kid, but until we can get fully on our feet I won't be looking the gifthorse in the mouth. It's a small house. Three bedrooms if the kids want to come by or crash. It has a yard and a basement.

[happiness_elude]

Sounds like it'll be quiet.

[Not that the bunker doesn't have it's moments, but it'll be nice to have their own space.]

Maybe if we take some time away, Elena and I will stop snapping at each other.

[founderscouncil]

You're both headstrong. And you believe in what you believe. She knows it will take time for you to come around. You always had the easier relationship. Maybe... try being there for her. She opened up to me on the car ride back from the airport. One of her exes called her out of the blue and brought up a lot of old trauma. ...Hearing about her life and just - things happening to her - it helped me. And helped put things into perspective.

( Maybe they can listen more. )

Did you see how Dean went tearing out of Michigan to go save her. He loves our daughter. I can take that to the bank.

[happiness_elude]

Dean ... I don't think my issue was ever really Dean.

[She could see that he cared for her daughter and that Elena cared for him. It was more the things outside of them.]

Maybe I am delusional, hoping that it would all just go away if we pretended it didn't exist. That I can't understand why they won't.

[founderscouncil]

I wouldn't use that word. But, I think you can be stubborn. And something is blocking you from understanding that this is our daughter's life. We didn't do this to her, and had we lived, this still would all be coming up. We'd just be directly involved, or, I assume, kept out of it. ( And, maybe, because of all the bad, and the vampires and the danger, maybe they would've died another way. Or worse. ) Shouldn't we be happy she had Jenna for as long as she did. And this Alaric person? And then, she took care of herself. She grew up, Miranda.

[happiness_elude]

I know she did.

[She sighs, looking down at her plate and trying to figure out why she has such a knee jerk reaction about these things.]

I just wish it hadn't been so hard. Or that she didn't feel like she had to stay in the hard place.

[founderscouncil]

Maybe, you have to let her off the hook for going to the hard place. From what it sounds like, the hard place found her. She didn't choose to be taken from the hospital. She didn't choose to survive our accident, or to be in our accident. Stefan Salvatore saved her from that accident. He saved her life. So, that she could do whatever she wanted with it. But, she is a doppelganger. We didn't want this for her life. Who would choose this. But it is her life. And I think you need to stop looking at it like ... she's choosing to be in this hard place. Jeremy's a hunter. Our kids are their own people and both of their lives... disappoint me, but not how they lived them, just what's happened. But the people they've became. ...I'd like to think that's a testament. To you. To me. To them ... surviving the hard place. Like we're both going to.

[happiness_elude]

[Miranda sighs, leaning back in her seat. She knows he's right, that their children made their own choices for their own lives, but that doesn't stop her from wishing their lives had been easier, safer. That they hadn't lost so much.]

I still remember when you first told me that vampires were real. How that ... made the world so much scarier. You grew up in this Grayson, and I tried to adjust, I did. But part of me still wishes I could go back and pretend that none of this is out there.

[founderscouncil]

I know.

( He doesn't say what they might both be thinking. Or, maybe she isn't. And he'd never. Not from what he's learned about vampires. And his son's part in everything, at least at first. But, he knows if they wanted to, they could take this away, too. )

How did you handle it? The first time? Because, other than Mikael coming for Elena, you didn't have to see it or hear about it?

[happiness_elude]

Mostly, yes.

[She hesitates, before drumming her fingers against the table.]

I think it was more of a hypothetical than an actual reality. I mean, I knew they were real. You showed me. But ... I didn't really see one after that until Mikael so it's like I could pretend things were normal.

[founderscouncil]

We hadn't had a vampire in a really long time, not since the 90's.

( It was a hypothetical for him, too. )

Founders Council was a once-a-week meeting addressing the status quo.

[happiness_elude]

[She nods again.]

Here, it doesn't feel like they're allowed that deniability. And maybe for them they feel like it's a good thing. It doesn't feel like it should be, but I'm not them.

[founderscouncil]

I wouldn't call it deniability. And you don't have to be them. Or, the Winchester brothers. You're you and you'll come around to things in your own time. Elena also said things only recently started up again.

( Though, she is in a relationship with a hunter. And their son is also a hunter. )

What would help you most?

[happiness_elude]

... I need to get out of this bunker.

[Yes, that's the real meat of it.]

I need to ... have a life outside of this. I think if I have motions I can go through, maybe it won't feel so all-encompassing.

[founderscouncil]

Okay.

( He smiles, taking her hand. )

I'll put in the offer.