first_in_time | Zagreus Sits Inside Your Head (for Splendid

Barbara looked out at the view as Ian put the last of their things in the car. From the front door of the little Bed and Breakfast, she could see beautiful rolling hills for miles. The last of the morning was being chased away as the sun rose higher in the sky, thawing everything out. Even the cows seemed more active on one particular hill.

"I wish we could stay for a little longer," she sighed to Ian, turning her back on it all so that it might be easier to leave. Her arms folded, one hand still held on to the key they were yet to return. "I don't suppose your car has a secret time traveling device so we can spend an extra few weeks here?"

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From:

splendid_roman

"It's just a wedding ring," Ian said. He couldn't really see what the fuss was over rings either.

His mother ignored him and undid the wrapping. "I can see you used Ian's wrapping paper," she said, noticing the Christmas theme on it. Once she unwrapped it she held it up so Robert could see too. "Don't they look lovely," she said, sighing over it. "My new hat would have gone wonderfully with your dress, Barbara."

"You bought a new hat?" Ian was sure she had hats and didn't think she'd needed another one.

"It was a big occasion, you getting married." Audrey put the portrait to one side, so it wouldn't get any wine or food on it. "I don't know what I'm going to do with it now."

From:

first_in_time

"Neither do I," Robert told Ian quietly, leaning over the table a little, "but you say those sorts of things just to please the women. Makes life easier in the long run. And that's my first bit of marital advice."

"We can always have a garden party once we find our own house," Barbara told Audrey, "I'd still love to see your hat."

From:

splendid_roman

Ian nodded. "I'd gathered that," he said quietly to his father.

"A hat would be perfect for a garden party," Audrey said thoughtfully. "How long do you think it'll be before you buy a house?"

"A little while," Ian replied. "We did save money on the wedding and we will be able to save more now we're not paying sets of rent and bills.."

From:

first_in_time

"You're young!" Robert declared, "you should travel!"

Barbara smiled at Ian without saying anything.

"Travel? Robert, they just got back from Scotland. How much more traveling would someone need to do?" Audrey huffed a little and fiddled with the cutlery in front of her. "No, I think that saving for a house is a wise decision. One of the best decisions you've had lately."

From:

splendid_roman

Ian had a feeling that 'one of the best decisions' meant that recent decisions, like eloping, hadn't been good decisions at all. He decided to concentrate on his menu, handily just as the waiter came over, which meant that he knew what to have. Robert and Audrey had been here often enough that they knew the menu well enough to choose something quickly too.

"How was Scotland?" Robert asked, once they'd all given their orders and the waiter had taken the menus away.

"It was very pretty." Ian sounded nostalgic about it, missing the place already. "It was hard having to come back to London.

From:

first_in_time

"We could have stayed there forever," Barbara added, her tone matching Ian's. "It was so wonderfully quiet in the mornings, and the waytge sun hit the hills...I'd almost say it was magical."

"You should enjoy what silence to have while you're not having babies," Audrey said and smiled at Barbara.

"Don't scare the newly weds with that talk, Audrey. Frankly I'm surprisd they noticed the silence and the prettiness, what with it being their honeymoon-"

"Robert-"

"We were far too busy on our honeymoon to notice anything outside the bedroom."

"Robert! We are in a public place!" Audrey huffed at her husband, who cheekily grinned back.

"We should go on a second honeymoon ourselves."

While Audrey webt a bright shade of red and fiddled with her napkin, Barbara blushed but giggled behind her spare hand.

Edited Date: 2013-08-21 07:12 am (UTC)

From:

splendid_roman

Ian blushed himself, not wanting to think about his parents doing that sort of thing. "I'm sure if you went away Alice and Katy could look after the chickens." With all the time Audrey and Robert spent looking after Katy he was sure they could convince Alice she owed them a favour.

"We could..." Robert looked at Audrey, sounding like he wanted something.

She sighed, but smiled. "We'll talk about that when we get home." She turned back to Ian and Barbara. "I want to hear more about your wedding, since we didn't get to go. Who were the witnesses, did you bring anyone with you or did you just pull them off the street?"

Ian shook his head. "There was another couple getting married just before us in the same position so we were witnesses for each other." And then they'd exchanged addresses and promises to keep in touch. Whether they would was something else.

From:

first_in_time

"They were a lovely older couple from Brighton. I hope we keep in touch." Barbara clasped both of her hand around Ian's and smiled up him.

"And this is what you both wore?" Audrey asked, nodding at the picture they'd been given.

Barbara nodded. "I had another dress but found that one entirely by chance and thought that it was a little nicer. The other was a pale pink and had a different shaped neck. I still took it with us but...well, I like to think that I made a good decision."

From:

splendid_roman

"You look beautiful." Audrey smiled at the picture. "Just as a bride should. Doesn't she?"

She passed the picture to Robert who echoed, "Beautiful," and passed it back, although he sounded like he mean it.

At least his parents didn't complain about Barbara's dress like Joan had. But even if they thought the same thing they were too polite to say it. "You can put it with your other photos in the lounge," Ian suggested.

"We will, don't worry," Audrey promised. She already knew exactly where it would go. Just as soon as she could convince Robert to put a nail in the wall.

"You could replace some of the older ones of me with this one," Ian said hopefully.

"But you were sweet when you were younger." Audrey grinned at him.

From:

first_in_time

"You know that baby photos don't get replaced. Ever." Robert chuckled and grinned almost evilly. "Tom's are still up and he got married years ago."

"That picture of you in the garden is rather sweet," said Barbara. Under the table she squeezed his hand.

From:

splendid_roman

"What picture is that?" Audrey frowned, not remembering one of Ian in the garden that was up in the lounge.

Ian sighed and gave Barbara a look. "I expect that would be the one of me naked that Alice seems to be fond of."

From:

first_in_time

"That's the one. The smile on your face is enormous," Barbara grinned up at him.

"That will always be on the wall, and Barbara, you have to roomies us that you'll always have that picture up when were gone," Robert said and laughed.

"I think it will look nice right near the door where we've got photographs of Tom and Helen's boys." Audrey told every one, then turned to see their meals arrive.

From:

splendid_roman

There was quiet for a moment while they all added condiments and tucked in.

"There'll be plenty of space left on the wall for your children," Audrey said after a while. "You are intending to have some?"

Ian wondered if she'd be shocked or upset if they said no. But he wasn't going to test that and he answered truthfully. "Not just yet. We want to get settled and buy a house first."

From:

first_in_time

And they had to get used to living with one another. Dating and staying the night at one another's houses was all very well abdgood, but it was another to share bills as always come back to each other.

Barbara, for one, found that idea exciting. Children could come later.

"We can't have children while living in Ian's flat, there's no room."

From:

splendid_roman

"No," Audrey agreed. "A small baby might be all right, but eventually it would need its own room."

Ian was looking forward to having children with Barbara, but he wanted to be able to spend some time together, just the two of them, for a while first.

"I'm happy to wait for another grandchild," Robert said. "The three we have now are exhausting."

From:

first_in_time

"But they were so adorable when they were babies," Audrey said with a wistful sigh. "Jamie used to simply cling, and Katy thought everything was a pony. David would just sit and watch everyone with his wide, beautiful eyes. He hasn't lost that, you know?"

From:

splendid_roman

"But then they grew up, have boundless energy and need to be entertained nearly all the time. Which is why we make sure never to have more grandchildren than adults in the house," he added to Barbara.

"You managed with three children," Audrey pointed out.

"We were younger then. If you like I can invite all our grandchildren to stay at once and then leave you with them," Robert teased her, grinning.

From:

first_in_time

"And just what would you be doing? Laying about in the sun ordering everyone around?"

"And that isn't my job?"

"It certainly isn't. And you'll be hard pressed to find much sunshine, I might add."

"Audrey, you're all the sunshine I need." Robert quickly pulled his wife in for a tight hug and a tender kiss to her cheek.

From:

splendid_roman

"Ugh." Ian made a face. "Save that sort of thing for when you're at home."

Neither of his parents took much notice. All Audrey said was, "And you and Barbara weren't holding hands under the table until the food arrived?"

Ian blushed at the knowledge that his mother had noticed that.

From:

first_in_time

"I hope that we're still holding hands under the table when we're celebrating our own child's wedding," Barbara told Audrey as she nudged Ian's shoulder with her own.

From:

splendid_roman

Ian felt the same, but was less keen on saying out loud. So he stuffed a forkful of food in his mouth and nudged Barbara's leg with his knee.

"I hope you are able to celebrate your child's wedding in the traditional way and not at lunch a week later," Audrey said pointedly.

"We've have traditional weddings for two of our children," Robert said to her. "Missing one won't matter."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara looked gratefully at Robert.

"Yes, but you only have one wedding...usually. It isn't an everyday thing, is what I mean. It's meant to be special!" Audrey said, trying to skip around Alice's divorce, even if it was for a good reason.

"It was special, and it was everything we wanted in a wedding. If we could have had our family and friends there, too, without feeling pressured to change everything, we would have." Barbara could see that Audrey was about to dispute that quite aggressively but Robert stepped in.

"It's done, they're happy, lets look forward to the future," he said and patted his wife's hand.

From:

splendid_roman

"Alice's wedding was special at the time," Ian pointed out, waving his knife around. "Her marriage wasn't. What our wedding was like won't have any bearing on what our marriage will be like."

Audrey gave in reluctantly. "As long as you're sure it was what you wanted."

"It was." Ian was sure of that, no matter what their parents thought.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara sat through a short silence before asking: "how are you gardens? Are you growing many vegetables we might be able to take off your hands in the next few days?"

"You're always welcome to our vegetables, Barbara dear," Audrey assured her with a pat to her hand. "And now you're part of the family, we'd be hard pressed to keep you out."

From:

splendid_roman

Ian smiled, glad his parents were making Barbara feel welcome into the family. Not that he expected less of them, but it made such a nice change to Joan's attitude earlier.

"Audrey has a deal with a girl down the road," Robert said. "She has a couple of rabbits and Audrey buys their droppings to use as compost."

"And very good compost it is too," Audrey put in. "There's nothing quite like rabbit droppings for making plants grow."