I Was Not Prepared For This.

Things had changed rapidly for the Ivanov matriarch, and even as she burst through the apartment to gather her things into a suitcase, she questioned why she had even been asked to go. Seventeen years later, she was being asked to go sit at her father's bedside as though nothing had changed, but absolutely everything had. They had not been invited to her wedding, and didn't know about her baby. She had, of course, wanted to send them notices for both, but doubted that they would even bother replying to say that they weren't coming.

A shuddering breath was pulled in, the blonde becoming increasingly desperate for air, and she sank to the ground with her back against the foot of the bed. Her mother's letter had suggested that Mathias could die, given the tumor the doctors believed him to have. Seventeen years and they wanted her to be there anyways. Pressing her palms into her eyes, she steeled herself for yet another painful loss, and zipped up her suitcase.

Robin would be in charge of Ariadne for the time being, but Avery was hardly worried about that, given the man's substantial amount of practice while she had to work. Her pulse was thunderous, though, as she made her way to the living room and said her goodbyes, sure to give the little blonde extra cuddles since she wasn't sure how long her visit would last. Especially if everything went incredibly wrong and she found herself having to plan and stay for a funeral service.

One last look was tossed over her shoulder before she apparated away, her feet landing outside of her mother's house. Hearing the crack from outside her door, Else yanked the door open and stared at Avery openly, just as the younger of the two blondes stared right back. "Candace?" Else asked hesitantly, making her daughter blink to cover her desire to flinch.

"Um, hi, mum." she returned quietly, fidgeting and shifting her weight. "It probably sounds silly now, but I go by Avery again..."

Else nodded slowly, stepping back to allow her daughter to pass through the doorway. Avery had the incredible urge to ask why she was undeserving of a hug in greeting, but then she reminded herself that it had been nearly twenty years, so she probably had long since given up that right. As she set her things in the front entrance, though, she turned to face her mother and let her brow furrow with the question she couldn't manage to hold back:

"Why aren't you at the hospital yet?"

"I was waiting for you," Else offered after a moment. "And your father has someone there with him, so he knows I'm bringing you with me when I return. All will be well," she pointed out, giving Avery a little flashback to her mother sitting on the couch, trying to knit a sweater but failing miserably even as she tried to assure the little blonde girl that it would turn out as she intended it to. Mothering had never truly been Else's forte, although order and rules and the law made perfect sense to her. As much as the woman had tried to be a romantic and ensure that her daughters would be, she had failed on both counts. Neither girl seemed to trust their heart, even though Avery was starting to put the pieces together. That, however, was Robin's doing and not Else's.

"Oh. So, Claire is already there, then?" Avery mused aloud. She was shocked to see the frown and shake of her mother's head that implied how unimpressed Else was with Avery's assumption. Or perhaps it was the person who was actually with Mathias that the older woman didn't approve of.

"His girlfriend," she corrected, extending a hand towards Avery. "Let's go. Let's go side-along."

Avery hesitated for a few moments, her gaze stuck on her mother's hand, but she finally reached out and took it, astounded by the warmth that was there. It seemed like there should have been a layer of ice between their hands, but Avery hardly had time to ponder that once they were ripped off of the floor and into the lobby of St. Mungo's.

Ben Norton liked Mathias Bishop. They had worked together long ago and where Claire saw disconnect, he saw a very quiet wisdom. Mathias did not say much, but he expressed his love in quiet, different ways. He still had pictures of his girls lining his hallways, he spoke about them in the present tense, and the dowdy little house elf always made sure to look for his girls' name in the paper. He had wanted to congratulate them both on numerous occasions but had been persuaded, mostly by his own insecurities at having failed them as a father, to keep the silence between them unbroken. He made sure to send cards, but had long lost Avery's address and no owl had managed to find her yet. These were things he mentioned casually to Ben - and there was surely more, for the man was not much of a talker.

Agnes was sweet, at thirty-eight, and she had a youthful glow. Ben had wanted her to be horrible, to justify the hatred he knew would come to her once the other women met her, but his weekend with Agnes had proved her to be nothing but pleasant. It had been Friday afternoon when he had received the owl that Mathias was acting strange. They had checked into the nearest hospital and all had seemed fine, until the spot was found. That had been the night before. He called Elsie first, telling her they had to contact the rest of the Bishops. Elsie volunteered to talk Claire into coming, and Ben had been given the task of talking to Else Bishop. Somehow, between the pair of charming brunettes, it was all agreed.

Ben was waiting on the bottom floor and Claire and Elsie appeared at eight sharp, in time for visiting hours. Claire obviously looked at a loss and, for once in her life, was not bothering to pull on a mask that proved her indifference. She was worried, and she was conflicted. Her life had just been on track to righting itself, to making sense, to falling into neat, little boxes. Her family remained the messiest part of her life and, somehow, she would be expected to clean it all up. She knew it in her bones.

They had arrived, but Elsie did not let go of her friend's hand. Claire blinked in confusion at Benny, and looked to Elsie, who did not seem at surprised to see her brother. Finally, Claire said, "Benny? What are you doing here?"

He stepped forward and took her shoulders in his hands. "It's okay, Claire."

Elsie squeezed Claire's hand and murmured, "Benji has been here since Friday. Your dad's girlfriend didn't know who else to call."

"Angie?"

"Her name's Agnes," Benny corrected, smiling, "And she's actually looking forward to finally meeting you. Not thrilled about the circumstances, course..." He paused, rubbing her shoulders, before pulling her into a hug. Her arms remained clamped at her side as she processed all that she had just been told. Her best friend's brother had been taking care of her father for almost two days now - it should have been her, or Avery, of her mother, for Merlin's sake. Benny pulled away, and Elsie wrapped an arm around her brother's torso, plopping a kiss on his cheek.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

There was a sudden crack, and the three turned around to see two familiar blondes. Claire immediately stiffened, and Elsie tightened her grip on her best friend's hand. Benny hopped forward to play diplomat, holding out hands for the two.

"Hi, Mrs Bishop, Mrs Ivanov. I'm Ben, we've met a few times, I think. Elsie's brother, and a friend of Mathias. Agnes called me in, but it was time you guys come along too. He really wanted to see all of you." He spoke with honest eyes and a kind smile. He glanced back to Elsie and Claire, beckoning them over. Elsie took a step forward, but Claire stayed rooted to the spot. Elsie paused, looking between the two groups, before slowly releasing Claire's hand.

She reached out to draw the two women into a hug, saying, "Hi, Mrs Bishop, Avery." She gave them both bracing looks and then looked back to Claire, who was now openly staring at her mother's aged face and her sister's deflated stomach. She blinked and turned her head to Benny. "Shall we see him now?"

Benny looked back at Claire with sad eyes, sad for the walls that refused to fold even now, and nodded. "Come on, I can take you," he whispered, turning and heading out of the lobby.

When they landed, Avery didn't expect to be thrown directly into the path of her sister and said sister's friends. Part of her wanted to reach for her mother's arm as she often had as a child, but somehow just looking at Claire brought about an ashamed expression as Avery hesitated. Elsie approached, though, and Avery didn't want to seem rude - after all, she had met the brunette before so it wasn't as though she had reason to be wary. Well, not any more than she usually would have when within a hospital.

Avery pulled back as the embrace came to its natural close, and glanced at Claire again. As she expected, though, there was no warm greeting between the three blondes. She would have initiated one herself were it not for the expression on Claire's face. She didn't appear ready to bridge that gap yet, so Avery decided it would be best not to push it.

It wasn't until they started following Ben off that Avery registered the other name he had mentioned. Agnes. "Agnes?" she asked hesitantly.

Else turned to her daughter, nodded with a serious expression on her face. "Your father's girlfriend, remember?" she replied blandly.

Avery could remember when the older woman had been lively, but she knew now that Else had simply been faking. She had wanted the girls to think everything was fine, when really it couldn't be. But over time, she had continued to fail at her attempts at being crafty, and instead fallen back into her very fitting, serious manner. She was a lawyer after all. It made perfect sense. Avery just wished it wasn't true, sometimes. Especially now.

"Right," she offered belatedly, nodding just as they reached what could only be Mathias's room. She waited for the door to open before peeking around the door and looking at her father with her eyes wide and stricken with fear.

They filtered in, as expected, and Avery found her eyes jumping to the woman who could only be her father's new 'person,' as her mother would have called it. Whether or not she truly believed her words now, Avery couldn't tell. But, for her father's sake, she hoped that Else had accepted it.

Extending a hand to the woman, Avery introduced herself quietly, her eyes jumping back to Mathias in intervals until she could stand it no longer and she sat down in a chair against the wall asking, "What's happened?"

Claire tried to look serious and busy-minded as she followed closely behind Ben, managing to pull of her usual all-business air. If she looked preoccupied enough, perhaps her inability to reconnect with her family would be chalked up to worry for her father. Truly, she was worried for him, but she was not one to worry until she knew she could do something. She had no idea what was even truly happening, so she could not feel anything beyond the initial sense of foreboding. Any other emotions would come with information.

She fell in alongside Ben, and Elsie hung back with the other two. Claire was not at all upset with her best friend for choosing to align with the other two Bishop women - rather, she was grateful that Elsie was taking care of being amicable, so she did not feel obligated to.

Ben reached over and rubbed Claire's shoulder, having always been incredibly fond of the blonde girl. She was more similar to him, even if he did pull off the classic Norton party-rebel persona when he got bored. She glanced over at him and smiled a bracing smile, one that looked more like a pained grimace, as she could not really bring any of the light a smile was supposed to bring into the rest of her face. He squeezed her shoulder and leaned in, murmuring, "Breathing is often the best way to survive any situation."

She shook her head, this time actually managing a small grin. Damn that Norton charm, and its occasional wisdom.

When they came in, Agnes swooped in. The woman seemed surprisingly age appropriate, seeming to be within a decade of her father's age. She had friendly smile lines, kind eyes, and a brow furrowed in gentle worry. She clasped hands first with Claire, and then with the others.

"Oh, hello everyone! I'm Agnes - thank you so much, Benny, for bringing everyone here. Mathias is sleeping, but he should be up soon. His schedule has become rather regular-"

"Agnes, this is Claire, Avery, Else-"

She placed a hand on Ben's shoulder, smiling at him. "Oh I know. Mathias has so many pictures of his favorite ladies. You all look even more beautiful in person."

Claire wanted to hate Agnes - but she seemed too sincere to be chastised.

Avery asked the question that everyone was wondering when suddenly, there was a stirring in the bed. Claire blinked as her father's eyes opened and took everyone in. Agnes immediately hurried over to help him sit up. Once he was situated he smiled.

"Wow... It's the whole family. Did you all come out for little old me?"

Claire couldn't help it now. She turned, slowly, ever so slowly, and looked at her mother and sister. This was her father? And he was... was he joking? Her father did not joke. What had happened? Whatever it was, it had to be serious if it had made her father capable of making a joke. She shook her head and folded her arms, tilting her head. "What happened, Dad?"

Mathias turned and looked at Claire for a long moment, taking in a long breath. On his exhale, he shook his head. "Clarissa Christine - always business." He smiled. "They'e not sure what it is. I came in for some arm pain, and they discovered a..." He looked to Agnes, who reached out and took his hand, looking at him. She looked back to the rest of the room.

"It could be cancer."

Avery practically blanched at Agnes's suggestion that their father kept pictures of them or even spoke about her, but she managed to hold it back except for the fact that her eyes widened a bit at the sides. Her hand was extended to meet the older woman's, of course, for the sake of politeness. It would not be a good idea, she assumed, to irritate the woman upon only just meeting her. Still, she did glance at Claire, hoping that she wasn't the only one feeling so surprised or even lost upon hearing the possibility that he still thought about her.

If she had truly been thinking about it, Avery would have registered that most parents, upset or not, would find frequent cause to think of their children. It had been more than a decade, though, and she had convinced herself that she wondered after them far more than they did about her. After all, they both had magical abilities just as she and Claire did, so why had they not tried to send her a letter? Had they not heard about her and Claire working at the Ministry?

She probably deserved it, though, given that she hadn't said anything about her wedding or about their daughter. Claire had been invited, on the off chance that she might mention it to the parents Avery had assumed she kept in touch with. But that had obviously not come to pass. She unconsciously covered her hand, hiding the ring there from view, and practically jumped when her father moved, interrupting the conversation she had attempted to start.

It would have been comical, the fact that all three blondes looked to each other in shock, were it not for the fact that they truly were astounded by what they had just heard. Even Else looked surprised, though Avery chalked that up to the fact that he had likely been quite funny before things in the marriage went downhill. Even though she knew it wasn't entirely true, Avery felt a twinge of guilt at the idea that she had helped to cause their split.

The amusement was lost immediately, though, following the explanation. Avery's shoulders fell, and she felt as though she had completely deflated. "Dad," she breathed, not even registering how very long it had been since she had used that word to describe her father. Sure, she had addressed Aiden and then Robin in that way, but not her own dad.

"Wait," she started suddenly, sitting forward in her chair to stare at her father and Agnes. "What do you mean it could be? We don't have some kind of... of spell to check that? How can they not know?"


(ooc: Totally just had a Cameron from House MD moment there, thanks to JMo XD)

Claire knew that she and her family had not been on good terms - it was as much a fact to her as it was that she belonged in New York. But she had thought that if she were going to be exchanging a unifying glance with anyone that night, that it was going to be her father. The fact that her glance to her mother and sister had not only been received, but reciprocated was enough to almost make her chin tip open. She kept her composure however, and closed her eyes, letting her gaze slip back over to her father and his new woman.

It was strange. Everything in her family life reflected that closeness solved nothing. There had been a time, reflecting, when Else and Mathias had tried really hard to make the marriage work. For about a month, they went to counseling, they had family dinners, they went on outings. None of it worked - in fact, if anything, it had accelerated the decline in their relationship, all of the extended time together, the extra exposure to the problems. Splitting up had helped, and so had dividing the children.

However, something about the way Agnes and Mathias interacted told Claire that they were not often apart. The way she lingered near him, the energy between them - distance was not apart of their relationship. It was hard for her to conceive that this was normal. That this was how people loved each other. It was much easier to suppose that her parents just were not capable of love, rather than the idea that they had chosen not to love each other.

The word cancer hit her hard and she turned her head sharply to look at her father, to trace the settling wrinkles in his face with her gaze, taking in the receding hairline. Her father was old. And he might be dying.

She was almost mad that Avery figured out a loophole before she did. She turned quickly to take in her father who raised a hand and waved it. "Pfaw, I don't use spells for medical purposes. Please-"

Claire blanched. "Dad, are you kidding me?"

He turned to look at her. "What? You wanna do the spell?"

Claire looked towards the others gathered and then nodded. "Yes. I mean, we can't do anything until we know what's going on." She looked to the other women. "Right?"