( Right. His gene, right. Weirdly enough, he's less worried about it because of people who exist like Hope. And, much much much much less, like Klaus. They don't talk. They don't need to talk. But, he's alive and his daughter is a wolf-witch ... vampire now. )
Sorry. I did. And we're happy. We're ... as happy as we can be. And maybe more now. I don't know. But. She's kind of it for me. Marriage or not. Kids or not.
[That he not making the same mistakes that his parents did. Not that she regrets him, not for the world. But maybe trying to make it work with Richard, knowing what she knows now, wasn't her best choice.]
And there's nothing wrong with being unconventional. I know I haven't been that open minded in the past, but you really realize how much didn't actually matter after you die.
[Can they comfortably joke about that yet? She needs them to be comfortable with it.]
You married him. You had me. I know what all that came with.
( He grew up under you two. Because of his dad's... personality and his mother's neglectful love, he got away with a lot. But he knew the town's pressure that was on them. The pressure Matt's mom buckled under completely. Caroline's mom. Even the Gilbert's. Legacy. )
[She still thinks about that day in her apartment, when Bill told her that she had to go back. That she would be safer in Mystic Falls. All the things that Bill knew, all the secrets he kept.]
Sometimes I would think about what could have been if it I hadn't stayed and it was just you and me. We would have much different problems, but one of them wouldn't have been him.
Yeah, but, we don't know, do we? And life would be really different.
( He knows why she would think like that, but he can't. He keeps the past in the past. Sometimes thinking about it depresses him more than he'd like. And he can't do anything about it.
If his mom had moved him away, would he have been a nicer person? Had anger issues? He'd still be a werewolf. And that's if his dad would've let it happen, and not hired some lawyer. )
[She pauses, quietly considering, before shrugging.]
I'm sure there are others out there who had it worse. I certainly never wound up in the hospital.
[Richard at least had that much control of himself.]
But he had a way of chipping away at you until you felt like you had nothing left to offer. And I don't think ever forgave me for almost leaving before we got married.
( He wants to get up, to come around, to put a hand on her shoulder. Or lean down and just let her rest against his chest. But, he wasn't raised that way. And if she wants to initiate any affection, he's right there. )
I don't know you almost left. I don't... know timelines or how things line up. Were you pregnant with me, then?
He didn't know until I decided to stay, though, which probably made it worse.
[How to give context for this? The woman she was then feels like a completely different person at times, but she remembers those days so clearly.]
Your grandfather didn't like me. He was trying to get rid of me, so he took the opportunity to introduce me to my first vampire. Told me all about Mystic Falls' sordid history. Naturally, I panicked and headed out of town to my apartment where I was living at the time, until Bill Forbes showed up to talk me into staying. In those few days, I figured out that I was pregnant with you.
[She makes a face.]
At first, I thought absolutely not. I'm not going to have a baby in a town full of vampires. I'm not stupid. But ... Bill had my number. He knew just what buttons to push, even without knowing me very well. He said that if I came back, we'd have resources, we wouldn't struggle. You'd have a legacy to grow into. I found out much later that he knew about the werewolf curse and that was most of the reason why he wanted you in Mystic Falls.
First, Bill's a dick. And not just for running off on Caroline and the sheriff. He had no right to say that to you or to drag you back and it only makes him miss him even less. I barely even remember him. ( Kind of a lie. Bill liked him in a way his dad didn't. He liked the kids sticking together. Probably because they were raising the next legacy. ) Second, he knew about the werewolf curse? Dad did, too. Because Mason did. ( He hates that. ) Don't carry that. Cause you weren't equipped or even read in. And I learned, barely and then got taken in by the wrong kind of pack. But, you and dad didn't do that. I did that. And Katherine did that, if you want to blame anyone.
( It's at this moment, he doesn't know if his mother would even recognize Katherine's name, but he and Elena have talked through those events. )
[But she didn't learn that until much later. Until she was confronted by her son's own situation and she called Bill out for knowing all these years and saying nothing.]
And I don't think I'm looking to blame anyone. We all made the best choices we could with the information we had at the time. It's all ... water long under the bridge. Just a lot of what ifs.
And I didn't hold you to any of them. Mom, you did a good job. And I love you. And, we haven't been this sentimental ever, so, just take that to the bank okay.
( He's not great with this and it's veering dangerously toward real, deep feelings he has only skirted along. )
[And her tone says he should, but for now, she'll get up and head off to her room to get some rest.
And, a couple hours later, at a truly ungodly time of night, two cars pull up to the front of the Lockwood Manor. One contains a pair who's probably been there before, due to their proximity to the owner, but the other has a trio that definitely has never been here before.
"Whoa," Waverly says softly as she climbs out of the car. "This is Tyler's house?"
"The one he grew up in, anyway." Liv squints as she does the same. "He left out this was also an Earp party, though."]
( He does, after sending an apology text to his girlfriend and an 'I love you.' A few hours of sleep go uninterrupted, but he sets an alarm for 6am.
"How the other half smolders," Wynonna says, getting a good look at the joint.
"It's in his family," Luke corrects, everybody calm down.
The engines approaching wake him and the car doors ensure he's ready for what's coming.
Charlie gives mother and son time together. He showers and puts on the clothing Carol provided. Her husband's old college shirt and Tyler's Mystic Falls High shorts. It's something. He tugs at the shirt as he looks at himself in the mirror with a sigh. It's a nicer property than he's ever been on. It's not the Homestead and a far cry from Purgatory.
He wakes earlier than the both of them because he falls asleep earlier.
He's already downstairs making coffee to keep his hands busy.
Tyler sends a good morning message like a freak boyfriend and then knocks on his mom's bedroom's door. When she opens it, )
[Carol takes a deep breath and when she smells the coffee she smiles happily.]
Oh, yes please.
[She makes her way down into the kitchen and greets the other man with a smile.]
Coffee smells delicious, Charlie. Thank you.
[Liv gets the message from him and rolls her eyes because she is in love with a nerd. She then shakes her head and makes her way up to the door, knocking lightly as she opens it. "Ty? The Earps are here."
And her and Luke obviously, but she figures her voice makes that clear enough.]
The door opens to Tyler's girlfriend, who flashes him a tired smile as she steps in to let everyone else behind her in. "Hey," she says. She will not ask him how he is in front of the Earps. Mostly because Waverly follows up with nervous history questions:]
Is this an original house? Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that right off the bat. Hi.
( He'll nod to no one in particular as he goes into the cabinets again to get more coffee.
Tyler will give her a smile to not worry.
"Yeah, it was in my family. It was my grandparents', their grandparents. The town rents it out for events, but it's still in the family," he confirms. )
And we have coffee!
( Charlie yells from the other room.
Wynonna breezes past her sister and wolf boy, stopping in her tracks in the doorway.
"It is you," she says, as he refills the coffee maker with water.
"Hey, Wynonna," he says, leaning over it. "It's me." Dropping the cover down, he hits the button and then turns to her "And a little extra." A beat, tapping his temple. "Julian's in here, somewhere, I think.")
[Hearing his voice makes this real in a whole other way. She takes a deep breath, before nodding and glancing back to Tyler.]
I should take these in there. We can talk about the house later.
[Because she does have many, many questions and it will help the nerves with everything else. She turns to follow Wynonna and Charlie's voice into the kitchen, and she can't help but smile when she sees him.]
Hi.
[She cuts herself off before she calls him "Dad." They didn't actually get that far. She doesn't know what he'd prefer. Waverly moves to set the donuts down before reaching for the necklace around her neck.]
I have something that might help with that.
[Meanwhile, Liv will glance back to her boyfriend and give his hand a squeeze. "How're you doing?"]
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praevaricatio) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
everyonelives2025-10-11 07:15 am
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[Her being a witch, that is. Carol doesn't know anything about witches, but she knows that life in the supernatural world is complicated.]
As long as you're happy, that's what matters. I'm sure you have your own complications too.
[She would understand if he wasn't too keen to pass on the werewolf end of things.]
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Sorry. I did. And we're happy. We're ... as happy as we can be. And maybe more now. I don't know. But. She's kind of it for me. Marriage or not. Kids or not.
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[That he not making the same mistakes that his parents did. Not that she regrets him, not for the world. But maybe trying to make it work with Richard, knowing what she knows now, wasn't her best choice.]
And there's nothing wrong with being unconventional. I know I haven't been that open minded in the past, but you really realize how much didn't actually matter after you die.
[Can they comfortably joke about that yet? She needs them to be comfortable with it.]
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( They can joke. Joking helps. )
Only thing unconventional about us is probably that we're been together for so long.
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[She pauses.]
Myself and your father being the exception.
[They could have probably done with a little less longevity, maybe.]
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( He grew up under you two. Because of his dad's... personality and his mother's neglectful love, he got away with a lot. But he knew the town's pressure that was on them. The pressure Matt's mom buckled under completely. Caroline's mom. Even the Gilbert's. Legacy. )
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[She still thinks about that day in her apartment, when Bill told her that she had to go back. That she would be safer in Mystic Falls. All the things that Bill knew, all the secrets he kept.]
Sometimes I would think about what could have been if it I hadn't stayed and it was just you and me. We would have much different problems, but one of them wouldn't have been him.
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( He knows why she would think like that, but he can't. He keeps the past in the past. Sometimes thinking about it depresses him more than he'd like. And he can't do anything about it.
If his mom had moved him away, would he have been a nicer person? Had anger issues? He'd still be a werewolf. And that's if his dad would've let it happen, and not hired some lawyer. )
Was it really that bad for you?
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I'm sure there are others out there who had it worse. I certainly never wound up in the hospital.
[Richard at least had that much control of himself.]
But he had a way of chipping away at you until you felt like you had nothing left to offer. And I don't think ever forgave me for almost leaving before we got married.
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I don't know you almost left. I don't... know timelines or how things line up. Were you pregnant with me, then?
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He didn't know until I decided to stay, though, which probably made it worse.
[How to give context for this? The woman she was then feels like a completely different person at times, but she remembers those days so clearly.]
Your grandfather didn't like me. He was trying to get rid of me, so he took the opportunity to introduce me to my first vampire. Told me all about Mystic Falls' sordid history. Naturally, I panicked and headed out of town to my apartment where I was living at the time, until Bill Forbes showed up to talk me into staying. In those few days, I figured out that I was pregnant with you.
[She makes a face.]
At first, I thought absolutely not. I'm not going to have a baby in a town full of vampires. I'm not stupid. But ... Bill had my number. He knew just what buttons to push, even without knowing me very well. He said that if I came back, we'd have resources, we wouldn't struggle. You'd have a legacy to grow into. I found out much later that he knew about the werewolf curse and that was most of the reason why he wanted you in Mystic Falls.
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( It's at this moment, he doesn't know if his mother would even recognize Katherine's name, but he and Elena have talked through those events. )
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[But she didn't learn that until much later. Until she was confronted by her son's own situation and she called Bill out for knowing all these years and saying nothing.]
And I don't think I'm looking to blame anyone. We all made the best choices we could with the information we had at the time. It's all ... water long under the bridge. Just a lot of what ifs.
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( He's not great with this and it's veering dangerously toward real, deep feelings he has only skirted along. )
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I love you too. And we can absolutely stop being sentimental now if you prefer.
[She glances at the clock.]
We should probably get some sleep. Unless you're waiting up for someone?
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( He does math, though. )
But, that should be tomorrow. Early. So, you're right. You should get some sleep.
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[And her tone says he should, but for now, she'll get up and head off to her room to get some rest.
And, a couple hours later, at a truly ungodly time of night, two cars pull up to the front of the Lockwood Manor. One contains a pair who's probably been there before, due to their proximity to the owner, but the other has a trio that definitely has never been here before.
"Whoa," Waverly says softly as she climbs out of the car. "This is Tyler's house?"
"The one he grew up in, anyway." Liv squints as she does the same. "He left out this was also an Earp party, though."]
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"How the other half smolders," Wynonna says, getting a good look at the joint.
"It's in his family," Luke corrects, everybody calm down.
The engines approaching wake him and the car doors ensure he's ready for what's coming.
Charlie gives mother and son time together. He showers and puts on the clothing Carol provided. Her husband's old college shirt and Tyler's Mystic Falls High shorts. It's something. He tugs at the shirt as he looks at himself in the mirror with a sigh. It's a nicer property than he's ever been on. It's not the Homestead and a far cry from Purgatory.
He wakes earlier than the both of them because he falls asleep earlier.
He's already downstairs making coffee to keep his hands busy.
Tyler sends a good morning message like a freak boyfriend and then knocks on his mom's bedroom's door. When she opens it, )
Smell that.
( Actual coffee. )
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Oh, yes please.
[She makes her way down into the kitchen and greets the other man with a smile.]
Coffee smells delicious, Charlie. Thank you.
[Liv gets the message from him and rolls her eyes because she is in love with a nerd. She then shakes her head and makes her way up to the door, knocking lightly as she opens it. "Ty? The Earps are here."
And her and Luke obviously, but she figures her voice makes that clear enough.]
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( "Did you make enough for everyone?" Tyler asks as he makes his way to the front door, opening it. )
I can make more...
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The door opens to Tyler's girlfriend, who flashes him a tired smile as she steps in to let everyone else behind her in. "Hey," she says. She will not ask him how he is in front of the Earps. Mostly because Waverly follows up with nervous history questions:]
Is this an original house? Sorry. I shouldn't have asked that right off the bat. Hi.
[She holds up a box.]
We also brought donuts.
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Tyler will give her a smile to not worry.
"Yeah, it was in my family. It was my grandparents', their grandparents. The town rents it out for events, but it's still in the family," he confirms. )
And we have coffee!
( Charlie yells from the other room.
Wynonna breezes past her sister and wolf boy, stopping in her tracks in the doorway.
"It is you," she says, as he refills the coffee maker with water.
"Hey, Wynonna," he says, leaning over it. "It's me." Dropping the cover down, he hits the button and then turns to her "And a little extra." A beat, tapping his temple. "Julian's in here, somewhere, I think." )
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I should take these in there. We can talk about the house later.
[Because she does have many, many questions and it will help the nerves with everything else. She turns to follow Wynonna and Charlie's voice into the kitchen, and she can't help but smile when she sees him.]
Hi.
[She cuts herself off before she calls him "Dad." They didn't actually get that far. She doesn't know what he'd prefer. Waverly moves to set the donuts down before reaching for the necklace around her neck.]
I have something that might help with that.
[Meanwhile, Liv will glance back to her boyfriend and give his hand a squeeze. "How're you doing?"]
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I wouldn't know and... I don't think I wanna.
( "Kitchen's right through there," Tyler says, gesturing.
Inside, Charlie turns to face his "daughter," and luckily, dads don't just call their daughters, daughter. It's -- ) Waverly.
( He leaves the coffee machine whirring away as he crosses the divide. )
Is that his - ( he stops himself. ) It's mine, isn't it.
( Tyler lingers in the hallway for longer.
"Okay, so far. Neither of us have made any sudden movements. She's happy to be alive. Got real sentimental there for a second. It's. Nice."
But what Tyler isn't saying, is he's afraid to let himself think it's nice. To let his guard down fully. To freaking hope.
"She's surprised we're not married." )
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