Sagging slightly against the pillows she'd propped behind herself, Regan released a breath as the fire died from green to the yellow-cored orange of ordinary flame. She'd done precisely as Gwen had bid, though none of their family was home, and it had taken long and tense minutes of explanation to find someone at the MLE to put her in touch with Joscelin's wife.

The return call finally concluded, her nerves jangling with worry for Gwen and the rest of theirs, underlayering the anxiety of needing to talk with so many unfamiliar people, she looked to her company on the mattress they'd dragged to the floor of her bedroom.

 

Teddy lay faithfully at her side, his dark eyes and patient canine expression a balm to her frayed concentration, his tail thumping a slow rhythm behind her. Tess, as the little faerie Gwen had pressed into her arms was called, lay dozing half in her lap, now somewhat soothed by much petting and not a few sodden handkerchiefs.

The child had been impressively - almost oddly - coherent, given the horrific story she had to tell; her father cut down by a hex while she sat at his side. There was more there, Regan knew from herself, but for the moment, a tentative blanket of peace reigned.

She turned her eyes to Rose, and reached out the hand that was not keeping up the lulling stroke over Tess' hair. "Thank you," Regan murmured.

"For what?" Rose asked, voice lower so as not to wake the babe as her fingers twined with Regan's.

"Everything. Being here... watching behind us tonight." A tiny flicker of smile changed her face in the firelight. "Fetching handkerchiefs so I didn't have to carry her to get them."

It would have been much more difficult for her without Rose there, Regan was certain; not just physically, though the help in moving the bed and getting everyone situated had been all but necessary with Tess there, but mentally. She disliked being alone, especially when she was upset. Having a devastated child relying on her was entirely new, and knowing Rose was there was keeping the chaos around her manageable.

"Rose Zeller, master handkerchief fetcher," the petite chaser answer, lips turning in a smile. The night had been a rush. The joy of the festival, sharing that fun with Regan. Then it had gone dark, painful. Rose had seen people fall, unsure but betting that they wouldn't be getting up again. She'd never seen a war before, never been in a battle, had never lost anyone in her family.

She'd seen lots of people lose someone from their family this night.

And like a beacon, Gwen had appeared and gotten them out, pulled them from harm's way.

Rose hadn't understood at first why her teammates looked up to their captain as if she hung the moon.

She understood now. She understood that feeling with striking clarity.

"Is there anything I can get you? I don't know why you have a billion staircases, but I could run up and down them all night long. It'd be good training."

Regan shook her head, squeezing Rose's fingers lightly. "I'd rather you just stayed, but if you want to, go ahead. I've a feeling I'll be as tired as she is once the panic wears off a bit more," she answered wryly, glancing to the small form wrapped around her knee.

"I don't plan on going anywhere. One, because Gwen instructed me specifically not to and she's rather intimidating, and two, because I wouldn't leave you alone," Rose finished, flashing Regan a bright grin. "You're stuck with me tonight, doll. Like a horribly timed sleepover."

"Lovely for all but the circumstances," Regan returned sincerely, making an attempt at echoing Rose's smile. Releasing her friend's hand, she shifted the child in her lap carefully, making space for herself on the outer edge of the mattress as Teddy obligingly scooted out of the way.

She hummed softly to Tess as the girl stirred, tightening her grip on Regan's person, and turned and petted alternately until she could lay with her charge tucked against her, between herself and where Rose was.

"I don't know that I can sleep, but I suppose we ought to try. Merlin knows what news Gwen will bring, when she comes," she posited, even the idea reminding her of her weariness.

"She'll be home soon," Rose assured the blonde, situating herself so that she was laying, head propped on an elbow, green eyes reassuringly gazing at Regan over the tiny girl.

A nod, as Regan prayed for the words to be true. She wouldn't let herself think on any other option.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She wanted to see her brother, needed to see him and be assured that he was alright - alive - but Gwen had left him in a pair of the only hands she truly trusted and that would have to do until she could be with him too.

Jonathan was safe. Hazel ... Gwen shook her head. She could not dwell on anything too long right now. There was a long night ahead.

Casting her gaze up the several flights of stairs from her Apparated arrival in the entryway, Gwen began to climb. Regan was safe. Rose was safe. And there was a little fairy. It would all be sorted, but not tonight. Only necessities right now, and it was necessary that she see Regan with her own eyes, see her calm and safe, and let her young friend - her sister - know she was alright as well.

The click of her heeled boots was loud in the quiet after the mayhem, after the violence and screaming and death and destruction.

The image of Joscelin getting hit, of falling lifeless to the ground illuminated her mind then and she stopped mid-step on the stair, hand reaching for the rail, knuckles white with her grip. Even now, just seeing the replay in her mind, Gwen's heart fell, anger rose, anguish swept through her in a tidal wave.

Closing her eyes, she forced it away and took a breath, only a lone tear escaping this time, and continued her trek up the stairs. "Regan? Rose?"

The echoing crack of Gwen's heels on the stairs had yanked Regan from the restless sleep she'd fallen in and out of for the past hour. She was stiff from holding herself still, trying not to wake Tess with her shifting, and the long pause, silent, had her heart creeping into her throat, her fingers inching toward her wand where it lay on the floor beside their makeshift bed.

As the footfalls began again, she attempted to disentangle herself from the girl's grasping limbs, and had nearly made the edge when Gwen's voice sounded, provoking a plaintive whimper from the morass of blankets. "Here," Regan answered tiredly, struggling to her feet with Tess propped on her hip.

"We're here," she repeated, her eyes finding Gwen's in the dim light as her sister stepped past the door.

It was dark in the room, but Regan's eyes drew Gwen's gaze and when she expected to find her, she did.

She was moving before she'd thought about it and a brief glance and thought was spared for the little girl tucked against Regan, but Gwen wrapped them both in her embrace despite her lack of knowledge of the child. "I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're whole, and safe," she said, arms tight.

"And I, you," Regan whispered, relief flooding her as she was enveloped in Gwen's arms. She'd tried not to worry, not to dwell, for Tess' sake if nothing else, but it had been impossible, knowing what they'd left and her sister had stayed through.

Feeling a damp face burrow against her neck, she moved reluctantly from the sheltering embrace after a moment of beautiful, illusory peace, her gaze solemn as it found the dark one she sought. Her hand ran a circuit over Tess' back, her body swaying automatically to soothe the agitation in her space, but her eyes never left Gwen's.

"Ours?" she asked, both fearing and needing the answer.

"Joscelin." Gwen's voice was even, and for that she was glad. "He's hurt very badly."

Alarm flaring at the mention of her near-brother's name, Regan held her breath for the beat it took Gwen to finish speaking. He was not dead, as she'd immediately dreaded, but the news was still grim. She rested her chin atop the tousled little head at her shoulder, willing away the tears that pricked her eyes, though a few fell despite, and she blinked to clear what she could.

A single nod punctuated her understanding, and it was several moments before she scraped up the courage to respond. She wanted to hold to Gwen as desperately as the babe in her arms clung to her, but it wouldn't do, and she couldn't ask. "You'll want to go, then," she managed hoarsely. "Rose and I will keep Tess until morning. I think I can sleep if I know you're safe."

"Tess," Gwen echoed, dark eyes shifting to the tiny thing huddled into Regan. She reached out a hand and brushed a lock of dirty hair behind her ear. "Yes, I must go," she said then, eyes finding Regan's.

Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to her brow and then peered into the room for its last occupant, though it was dark and she could only make out faint outlines. She understood the lack of light; she didn't want the glare to expose all just yet, either. "Rose?"

"I'm here," was the soft answer, green eyes blinking in the dark. Rose had heard Gwen's steps in the hall, fingers tightening around her wand at her side until she'd recognized her Captain's voice. Gwen had given her one job, and that was to hex anything that looked at herself or Regan funny. Even in the safety of White Chapel, she'd been determined to follow through.

Listening to Gwen and Regan talk, hearing that they had a loved one in pain... it had felt like intruding on something. She'd made no noises, no move that she was awake. It wasn't something she should have heard, but she had, and her heart hurt for her friend and captain alike.

Moving in the direction of the voice, proximity and knowledge of where her little Chaser was helped Gwen pick her out in the darkness. She reached out a hand to run it down Rose's hair, just as relieved to see this little one safe as she was to see Regan safe, even if the emotion was a bit different. It was true she wasn't affectionate like this with her teammates, with her girls, but that was a hard division line she'd kept to stall favoritism.

All of that didn't matter right now. What mattered is that Rose was alive and unharmed.

Her eyes noted the pale little fist wrapped tight around her wand, and though Rose couldn't likely see it, a tiny smile curled Gwen's lips despite everything that had happened and everything that yet had to be done. "You did very well, Rose Zeller. Exactly what I asked of you." Reaching, she placed her hand on top of Rose's fisted wand-hand. "Thank you."

Fingers loosening slightly, Rose looked up at Gwen with a small smile. She hadn't spent much time with her Captain outside of the pitch, even with being friends with Regan, but the personal touch was something she knew wasn't very frequently gifted.

"You got us out of there," she said, green eyes clear of any pretense, any hint of reservation, "made sure we were alright. Thank you."

"I did what was needed," Gwen nodded, bending to the level Rose was sitting. "You did what I asked even when we were in danger, and then after." She squeezed the little hand beneath hers lightly and then let go. "Do you have somewhere safe to go tonight, or would you like to stay here? I'll escort you wherever you want or need to be?"

"I'd rather stay here," Rose answered, eyes flicking to Regan before they focused back on Gwen, "I'd just be going to my flat, anyway."

Gwen understood the need to not be alone, especially at a time like this. Her thoughts flicked to Jonathan then, what he was doing now, but couldn't let herself dwell and she shifted her focus back to Rose. "I'll key you into the wards so you may come and go as you like. Use thefloo to call anyone who might be worried, and," her voice softened slightly, "you stay as long as you need to."

"I'll stay as long as I'm wanted or put up with." Smile curling her lips, Rose's gaze found Regan's, trying to make her worried friend smile.

"I think you'd be tired of us before we were of you," Regan returned, nodding to Gwen as her sister glanced her way. She smoothed the tangle of hair out of Tess' eyes as the little one raised her head, finally looking around at the others.

Offering a gentle smile as round hazel eyes returned to hers, shining in the amber dim of the room, Regan whispered, "That's Gwen," before pressing a kiss to one tear-stained cheek. "She brought you here with us." She walked the few steps closer, rounding the other side of the mattress, as Tess' head swiveled again with the new information.

The bedraggled faerie didn't turn loose of her perch, but her eyes were steady when she greeted, "Hi."

Gwen's lips curled. "Hello."

 

SUMMARY: Gwen stops back in White Chapel to check on Regan and Rose before she goes to see her brother.