Gilderoy moved through the night with Alaric's daughter on his arm as if he were sleep walking. Everything felt like a dream. Not only did they really find Fiona and she looked like a woman who would make a good queen, she also had a stunning child, who, in a few years spent at his grandfather's court, might become an even more suitable, and furthermore, a more willing ruler. 

He caught Peregrine's raised eyebrows look which the dragon cast him over his shoulder when the boy enquired about his sword-- it seemed that the young man, apart from being a Highlander, inherited his mother's kind of magic, whatever it was exactly, too. Gilderoy nodded to his friend, letting him know that he had noticed before the dragon's eyes seeked Fiona's. But she didn't meet his gaze, as if she was afraid that Peregrine would judge her for being a mother...

Gilderoy wished to tell her that he knew Peregrine well enough to be certain that the fact that she had raised the boy alone would not make him think less of her, on the contrary. But it wasn't really his place to do so, and the time wasn't right-- despite their obvious mutual attraction, she and the dragon shifter had only just met. What he should be doing was trying to convince Princess Fiona to come home with them. Then she and Peregrine would have as much time to talk and get to know each other as they wanted. 

Soft laughter reached him from behind, Fiona's mother seemed to be having a great time with Leodhais... If his best friend really excelled at something, it was charming women. Gilderoy chuckled, making Fiona turn to him when he realised that she, whom Leodhais was supposed to court, and marry, was the only woman who had ever resisted his charm.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, looking in her eyes. 

She wasn't taller than his Aryana... He missed the werewolf girl just like Leodhais missed his Annwyn. Now that it was decided that they needed to act fast, he would see her again soon, and he couldn't wait. He just needed to help the others to convince Fiona that coming to Silmarea was the best thing for her and her son. 

"How old is your son?" Gilderoy asked after a while of picking through the appropriate conversation starters in his mind, knowing well that Peregrine would be listening to them as intently as he listened to the boy who was telling the dragon everything about his favourite books at the moment, it seemed.

"He's ten," Fiona muttered. "I was eighteen when he was born."

Gilderoy nodded. Alaric had taken his sweet time to recall that he might have sired a child. 

"I suppose... it wasn't easy, bringing him up on your own?" he probed. Goodness, he was older than her, but the thought of becoming a father had not crossed his mind yet. Being a good parent meant leading a life filled with love and joy but also worries and sacrifices. It required perseverance and strength he wasn't sure he possessed.

"I don't regret anything," she replied immediately, raising her chin fiercely, eyes intent on the back of the boy's head.

"How could you? He seems to be a wonderful boy," Gilderoy said quickly, his voice tinged with apology. 

He hadn't meant it that way; he didn't want her to think that he judged her because he didn't. What he felt towards the frail-looking woman walking at his side was pure admiration. But at least her words confirmed his guess about her being a single parent-- Peregrine wouldn't linger around like this if he sensed the boy's father anywhere near. The other Highlander must have left them a long time ago. 

It didn't surprise Gilderoy. From what he knew about the Highlanders, they never settled down for fear of being hunted by others of their own kind. The thought made him look at Peregrine as he realised for the first time that the dark man whom he had come to consider his friend in such a short time had the same destiny lying in front of him...

"I... loved his father, you know? I really did..." Fiona muttered at his side, disturbing his thoughts, more to herself than to him, her half-whispered words tinged with the old heartbreak reaching the dragon shifter's sharp ears as well as Gilderoy's, making his black-clad shoulders stiffen as he waited for the rest of her line. "When he left a few months after we met, long before Freddie was born. It wasn't easy. But I moved on. Freddie needed me; his father apparently didn't. We all make our choices, then pay the consequences. Some people forget that we only live once, and we can't untake our false steps, undo our mistakes. I have forgiven him a long time ago, of course, but I'll never forget how he vanished from my life from one day to another, without a word of explanation or apology. If he returned now... there's simply no place for him in our lives anymore. Freddie and I are family..."

Fiona stopped herself from saying that she didn't need anyone else in her life as she lifted her eyes from the boy to the dark man walking at his side, finding him watching her over his shoulder. It would be a lie. It had been too long since she had been in love, but she still remembered how wonderful it felt. She bit her lip, resolved not to say anything else. He had overheard too much as it was. 

"This way!" 

She heard her mother call as she pulled her set of keys to Fiona's flat from her handbag, even as Fiona grabbed Freddie's hand and pulled the boy to her side before crossing the empty road. She knew that she should fight against her mother's decision to invite them all in again. But she felt too tired at the moment, what with the long shift at the hospital and her heart conspiring with her mother against her. How could she let any of these three fantastical men spend the night outside? 

Her eyes met Peregrine's again as he held the door open for her, his look sending her heart aflutter, before he followed her and Freddie, who was now chattering excitedly to Gilderoy, up the ill-lit staircase. She would just have to keep them around until they would give up and leave. Because she wasn't going with them. No way. But they could stay as long as they wanted.

Fiona's eyes were drawn to Peregrine's again while her mother unlocked her flat and ushered them all inside. She frowned at him-- she found a new intensity in that brooding grey look tonight, as if he knew something she didn't... Should she ask? She didn't want to know anything more about them and their world, though. It would only make her more curious... Botheration! It would take her a lifetime to forget them once they were gone. 

"Well, you'll just have to sleep like last night, if you don't mind," Fiona said, looking at her three visitors once everyone marched inside the small flat, Gollum, coming to welcome his favourite human adding to the confusion as his paws landed on her shoulders, making her knees bend under his weight. The sight made Peregrine chuckle, and she smiled at him in return before she continued. "Mum, you can have Freddie's room. And you will sleep in my bedroom tonight, young man," she finished, looking at the boy who nodded without looking at her. 

He was too busy observing the tall elf. "Are those ears real?" Fiona heard him ask as he approached the blond man to get a better look at his pointed ears.

"I'm going to walk Gollum, are you coming with me, Freddie?" she asked quickly in a half-hearted attempt to save the situation as she turned back to the door to hide her smile. 

Poor elf, she thought, biting her lower lip to wipe the inappropriate smile off her face. His ego seemed to be way bigger than his ears; she wondered what leaving him in Freddie's hands for twenty minutes would do to it.

"No, mum. I already took him out before; he doesn't really need another walk."

Maybe he didn't, but Fiona did. She needed to clear her head from the confusion and unpredictability reigning around her.

"Mum?" she called as she followed Gollum who acted as if he hadn't been outside the whole day back to the door, reaching for the leash and pulling the dog whistle from the pocket of her rain coat on the way.

"I'll keep an eye on him!" the older woman called before she addressed the others, "Is anyone hungry?"

Fiona sighed, exiting the flat in Gollum's wake, feeling like a ghost. She was losing touch with reality; everything seemed out of focus and reach, others seemed to be taking decisions for her, making her feel unimportant and invisible.

"May I come with you?" A voice startled her, and she turned around even as she was about to take a step down the dark stairway.

Peregrine stood close behind her, his cloak and hair a few shades darker than the noiseless tenebrosity surrounding them. Fiona nodded silently, realising only now how much she had wanted him to come with her. She couldn't seem to get enough of his presence in her life, if only he would stay forever...

Pull yourself together! she scolded herself, thankful for the darkness surrounding them when she felt the blush flooding her cheeks with heat. She couldn't afford to daydream about this stranger. Fantasies led to heartbreaks, and she couldn't afford a broken heart; it was an injury that took too long to heal.

Freddie needed his mother whole.