Fanfiction by Vivien - Harry Potter | Neil Gaiman Universe | Buffy | Multiverse-Milliways | Recommendations
Mary and Ingress as Teens (PG-13 for talkin' about s-e-x!)
Part 1 - by Becca
Part 2
Part 3
Part 1
It wasn't unusual to see Mary Lennox sitting at a table in Milliways; nor was it unusual to see her scowling.
However, she did not usually have a small, rather overstuffed valise at her feet.
“What's all that, Mary?” Ingress asked, looking down at the case in some puzzlement.
“Things I need,” Mary answered, matter-of-factly. “Some books, some things for the garden, two changes of clothing – I should have brought more but I did not have room.”
Ingress' eyes widened. “Things you need? Mary, are you running away?”
“My uncle locked me in my room,” Mary said, her scowl deepening. “He was going to pack me off to a convent school or some such place – only because he saw me at the brothel! It is not as if he has any room to talk, for he was there when I saw him – and I did not even have a chance to go in – but of course he would not pay any attention to that . He is so –” She gropes for an appropriate word, rolling her eyes, and announces finally “ Victorian. ”
Ingress nodded sympathetically. She didn't need to ask how Mary had gotten out, although lockpicking was one skill of Mary's that Ingress didn't possess – who needed it when you could Open? “I'm sure someone will be able to talk some sense into him eventually,” she offered, with her usual optimism. “Colin doesn't want you to be sent away, does he?”
“Colin,” Mary said, with some indignation, “thinks it is all too too terribly funny. He was still laughing when I came here. I do not think he will be of much help for some time.” (Mary, it was very clear, didn't see the humor in the situation at all.) “But in any case, it does not matter if he does not; I can take a room here for some time, only,” she adds, frowning a little, “I do not know how long my allowance that I have saved will last. But I have saved quite a bit. And perhaps I could take a position as a gardener or something like that –”
Ingress interrupted, laughing, before Mary could say anything more. “Oh, don't be silly! Of course you can come stay in the House of Arch. Tom and Door won't mind at all, I know it. You can come to my lessons with me – I know you've been wanting to learn swordfighting, I could help to teach you – and you can borrow my clothes if you run out, Tom'll enchant them to fit, we can talk all night and everything,” she went on, happily, “it'll be like a long sleepover!”
A few of the worried creases eased out from Mary's face, though she still looked somewhat anxious. “You are quite sure? I should like that, of course, but I should hate to be an imposition –”
“You'll be far less trouble than Gavroche,” Ingress predicted cheerfully. “He's getting into trouble almost all the time now – he keeps stealing things from the nobles he doesn't like. Of course he gives them back, but it makes them furious. And flirting with their daughters, the ones that have them, and they like that even less.”
Mary looked momentarily intrigued by this – after all, she had never achieved her goal at the brothel – and then shook her head, clearly dismissing the idea. She and Gavroche had never gotten along very well. “Very well, then,” she said, with one of her rare bright smiles, and stood. She picked up her valise, and the two girls headed towards the House of Arch portrait, passing Tom coming out the other way.
“Tom,” Ingress called, as they passed, “Mary's coming for a sleepover.”
“All right,” Tom answered, happily innocent of any of the greater complexities of the situation. “Remember to tell Door there'll be one more for dinner, then.” He headed towards the bar to order a drink.
He was still sitting there, going over some policy notes, when Archibald Craven stormed into Milliways and marched over to the bar next to him to demand of a thoroughly confused bartending turtle where his wayward niece had gone.
Top
Ingress laughed even as her cheeks reddened. “You’re not serious, Mary.”
The girls lounged on a broken-down, very comfortable sofa in Ingress’ room in the House of Arch. Ingress was home for a summer visit, and she and Mary were catching up over tea and biscuits.
“I am terribly serious,” Mary replied, the frown lines appearing on her forehead between her eyes. “I shall visit the Delicate Flowers and be done with it.”
“But- why in Haven don’t you just find a nice boy you like? That’s what the girls your age on Valdemar do. Besides, Door says it’s better to have sex with someone you love or at least like a lot.”
“I would find a nice boy if there were one around, but there is not.”
“What about Dickon? He’s awfully cute.” Ingress giggled.
Mary sat up a little straighter. “I do not want to have intercourse with Dickon. If I had I’d have asked already. Besides, he knows nothing of the subject.”
“You’re good friends with Wellard and he’s older than Dickon. I bet he knows more.”
“I asked Wellard and he nearly died of embarrassment,” she said. “Believe me, if there was someone to ask, I’d have asked.”
“Well, I think you’re mad to go to the brothel or to ask someone. I shall never have sex or have babies. It’s all gross.” Ingress made a face of disgust that only a thirteen-year-old girl is capable of making.
“How do you know if you’ve never done it?” Mary had a sinking suspicion that intercourse did, in fact, have some rather disgusting elements.
“I’ve seen your book,” Ingress said with a shrug. “I mean, the boy puts his penis inside you and puts in sperm in a big gush to make the baby. And while he does it, you’re all tangled up like a pretzel and you make foolish noises. I’d rather practice sword fighting.”
Mary stared at Ingress. “Not all of that is in my book.”
Ingress giggled, but this time a bit uncomfortably. With a voice lowered to a whisper, she said, “When I was quite small, I walked into Tom and Door’s bedroom and saw. I only stayed a minute, but it looked- well, it was ridiculous.”
Mary considered this a moment. “Then it would be best to seek out a professional,” she muttered.
“Do you have enough money? I heard that it’s expensive to hire a fancy prostitute.”
“I have-“ Mary frowned. “I’m not sure. I have some money, but I don’t know how much it costs.”
Ingress stood and walked across the room, picking up a green silk pouch from her nightstand. Returning, she sat down and counted out ten galleons.
“Here,” she said, pressing the gold coins into Mary’s hand. “Tom always fusses at me about being careful about spending my money in Valdemar, but every time I come home, he sneaks me more. And I’m always careful, so I have plenty.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of money,” Mary said, with a hint of worry in her voice.
“It can be your early Christmas present, how about that?” Ingress said, folding Mary’s fingers around the money. “But you have to tell me if it’s gross or not. Not that I’m ever going to try it, or anything.”
“I shall let you know.”
“Ooh, I know - you should ask Casanova at the brothel. He’s not much older than you are, and he’s quite handsome. Or maybe Jack Harkness.”
“For someone who’s never going to try it, you certainly have strong opinions about whom I should choose.”
“Well, maybe never is a strong choice of words,” Ingress said, and as one both girls began giggling.
A couple of hours later at dinner, when Tom asked them what on earth was so funny, they laughed even more.
After last week's Mary-Ingress fic of evil, I found that the story needed to continue, this time with Door and Ingress.
The result was a fic of decidedly not evil, set later in the evening as the first and featuring Door and Ingress and sisterly discussion. My thanks to Lynne for checking the Door POV, since I started it as an Ingress POV, but then Door became very insistent that she tell the story.
Door had been thirteen. She remembered the ease of giggling for hours on end, and the excitement of new discoveries. Ingress and Mary had been wonderfully silly at dinner. She couldn’t help but want to know why.
Chiming the portrait to Ingress’ room, she called out, “It’s me, sweetheart. May I come in?”
“Yes, please,” came Ingress’ voice, carried by magical means through the painting.
Her room was dark save for the lamp by her nightstand. She’d mentioned that Heralds-in-training went to bed fairly early due to sheer exhaustion from their classes and studies, but Door hadn’t believed Ingress would ever be anything but a night owl. Seeing as how she was prepared for bed at a very early hour, Door figured this was proof.
“I was just reading a bit before I fell asleep,” Ingress said with a smile, setting the book down.
“Sleepy head,” said Door, sitting down on the bed beside her. She took her sister’s offered hand. “Did you and Mary have fun today?”
“We did,” Ingress said with the huge smile that was so characteristic of her. “We talked a lot.”
“About boys?” Door guessed. Ingress’ blush told her all she needed to know.
“Well, maybe a little,” Ingress said with a giggle.
“Does Mary have a boyfriend now?”
“I think she’d like one,” said Ingress. “But I don’t think she knows anyone she really likes enough.”
“How about you?” she asked, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
“Yuck!” exclaimed Ingress, screwing up her nose.
“Well, I guess that answers my question,” said Door, laughing. “Tom will be ever so pleased.”
“Tom’s silly,” said Ingress, squeezing Door’s hand.
“Isn’t he, though? He’ll have to get used to the idea one of these days.”
“Maybe. Not for a long time.” Ingress glanced toward the doors leading outside, where Megwyn was currently stabled in her old lodgings. Some things you couldn’t discuss with Companions, especially when they didn’t have a human form from which to draw experience. “Door, is sex gross?”
‘Where did that come from?’ thought Door. Sex was not a taboo subject in the House of Arch (even if it was not explicitly discussed in Tom’s hearing unless they purposefully wanted to watch his face turn funny colors). Door had always been honest with Ingress, and once she’d gotten over the initial embarrassment of discussing sexual matters with her baby sister, each conversation had been easier.
“Hmm, that’s an interesting question,” she murmured, stalling for a moment to decide exactly how to answer the question. “No, I can’t say I do. I don’t think it ever is when you’re with someone you love.”
Ingress nodded, quiet a moment. “I think that I shall have to wait until I love someone then. But- it’s not wrong to have sex when you don’t love someone, is it? ”
“No, of course not. It’s just- well, I suppose just as each person's fingerprints are unique, each person’s heart is unique. For some people, it’s easy for them to sleep with whomever they wish, whether they’re in love or not. But for people like us,” she said, tucking Ingress under the blankets as Ingress tried to hide a yawn, “we need to be with someone who loves us.”
“Doesn’t it hurt, though? I should think it would hurt. Or at least be twisty and uncomfortable.”
“It hurts a little bit, the first time, but not too very much. The part that feels good takes over, or it should. If your lover doesn’t make you feel good, then you shouldn’t be with him.”
“I’m glad I’m home,” Ingress said, snuggling under the covers. “It’s good to talk with you whenever I like.”
“You know that if you ever need me, you can send your owl, and I will be right there. Tom will, too.”
“Even if you’re busy?” Her voice was very small, and Door was sharply reminded that despite the swords and the fighting skills and the grey uniform, Ingress was still very much a little girl.
“Even if Serpentine herself demands an audience at the same time.” She leaned in to kiss her sister on the cheek.
“Even if Portico needs you at the same time I do?”
Door frowned slightly. Ingress had never been jealous of Portico, nor had she ever made any indication that she was insecure about the presence of her nephew. She would make sure that she and Ingress had some nice blocks of quality sister time this visit. “If Portico needs us at the same time, we’ll simply scoop him up and bring him with us. Even if we have twelve children, Ingress, we’ll make the time to come to you when you need us to do so.”
Ingress’ sleepy eyes flew open. “You’re having twelve children!?”
“God, no,” said Door, speaking so quickly that both sisters began laughing. When Ingress yawned again mid-giggle, Door patted her tummy and said, “Get some sleep, little Herald. Gavroche should be here by noon tomorrow, and Tom and I thought we could all go to the meadow together. Your nephew is one-and-a-half and walking all over the place, and yet the poor child has never flown on a broom. I thought an expert might take him around.” Door was very thankful they'd kept the toy brooms with the anti-falling charms.
“Oh, yes, please. I’d like that. I love Portico,” Ingress said, smiling as her eyelids fluttered shut.
Door waited a moment, watching her sister slip into sleep. Then she switched off the lamp and reached for a wall. As she did so, she made two mental notes. One was to speak with Mary next time she saw her, to make sure she knew that if she ever needed “older sisterly advice”, she should feel free to come to her. The other was to take Savil aside once they’d returned Ingress to Valdemar and have a detailed discussion about teenagers, hormones, and Valdemaran custom.
When she walked into her bedroom, she was treated to a sight which flooded her with such a powerful surge of feeling that she stopped short. Tom lay on his back, Portico held tightly against him with one arm, the toddler’s curly black head nuzzled into his neck. An open storybook rested under Tom’s other arm on the bed beside them. Both were sound asleep.
In only four short years, Ingress would be seventeen, the age when Door met Tom and discovered what love truly was. She remembered her first night with Tom, and how it was both everything she thought it would be and nothing at all like she’d imagined. The years since had shown her the glorious truth of love, passion, and marriage. Even the most difficult of times she cherished, for they were all part of the bond between herself and Tom.
She tiptoed to the bed and slid over to join her husband and son. As she did, Portico lifted his head.
“Mummy,” he murmured with a sleepy smile, and raised his arms to her. She reached for him, and soon his little arms clung tightly around her neck.
Tom stirred, easing over to his side in order to drape an arm over both of them. “Hmm, must’ve been more knackered than I thought. Ingress asleep?”
Door nodded, snuggling into his embrace. “I love you.” She kissed Portico on the forehead. “And you, my sweet boy.”
Tom grinned. “I love you, too. Everything alright?”
“I think so,” said Door. “We’re going to have a wonderful visit.”
Enveloped in warmth and happiness, she closed her eyes, having learned early on in parenthood to grab sleep whenever she could. As she did, she thought, ‘If only Ingress can be half as happy as I, then she’ll be happy indeed. Please, please let her be happy.’