Work Text:
On January 1, 2015, Flemming Prescott met her mother for lunch. Over the next year, three extraordinary things would happen to her. They would not be the first extraordinary things to happen to Flemming. They would, however, change the last years of her life for the better.
The first extraordinary thing happened in a hospital where Flemming's mother, Adaline Bowman, who had lived for one hundred and seven years but who had stopped aging at the age of twenty-nine, was almost perfectly well, coming as a great surprise to the doctors who had overseen her care after she died and was brought back to life at the scene of a car accident.
For the first time in sixty-one years, Flemming no longer had to pretend to every other person in the world that her mother was a friend, a daughter, or a granddaughter.
When Flemming stops crying and Ellis gives her the chair next to Adaline's bedside so she can be the one to hold her mother's hand, Flemming holds her mother's hand to her cheek and says, "I'm so happy for you."
"Oh, my darling." Adaline strokes Flemming's cheek. "It doesn't have to be just our secret anymore. It doesn't have to be just your secret anymore."
Flemming lets out a choked laugh, on the verge of happy tears again.
"Darling, everything will be okay."
"I know, I know." Flemming kisses her mother's palm. "I'm so happy."
Adaline reaches out for Ellis, takes his hand on her other side. "Me too, darling." She looks up at Ellis. "You'll have to get to know my daughter."
Ellis reaches out to touch Adaline's cheek. They smile at each other for an endless moment of connection, one that takes Flemming's breath away.
"I would love to get to know your daughter," Ellis says. He raises his head and turns his young, handsome face to Flemming. "I look forward to it."
The second extraordinary thing happened eighty-seven days later, when Flemming and Ellis moved into Adaline's apartment. It would be the first time Flemming and Adaline had lived together since Flemming moved into her college dorm.
Flemming joins Adaline at the table, reaching over to squeeze her mother's hand.
Adaline smiles at her, and calls through to Ellis in the kitchen, "We're starting on the wine." She follows through on her words and pours glasses for herself and Flemming.
The two women toast and drink. It's a rich, red wine, a good vintage from Adaline's collection.
"Dinner," Ellis says, emerging from the kitchen with a flourish, "is served." He sets a covered dish in the center of the table. He sits, leans over to kiss Adaline, and accepts a glass of wine. Then he removes the cover from the dish.
Flemming raises her eyebrows at the rack of elaborately garnished sausages.
"My signature dish," Ellis says.
"It's what he made for me on our second date," Adaline adds, a smile making her glow from the inside.
"They look delicious," Flemming says.
It's a messy meal, but Flemming learned from her mother how to move elegantly in any situation, and neither of them allow the mess of it to intrude on their clothing or demeanor. Ellis is somewhat less lucky.
"You have a little something," Adaline says to Ellis, brushing her cheek with a finger.
Ellis wipes at his face with his napkin. It only makes things worse.
Adaline's amusement shows in the crinkle of her eyes and the slight lifting of her closed lips. Flemming, who's lived a less restrained life, laughs.
"No, here." Adaline uses her napkin to gently wipe Ellis's cheek clean. "There."
Before he sits back in his chair, Ellis leans even closer and exchanges a soft, smiling kiss with Adaline.
Adaline smiles and kisses him back, holds his cheek for a moment. Then she sits back. "Oh, but we don't want to make Flemming feel left out."
"I don't," Flemming says. "I'm just so glad to see you happy. It makes me happy."
"If Flemming doesn't feel left out," Ellis says. He leans toward Adaline. She smiles, close-mouthed and pleased, and leans in to meet him for a lingering kiss.
The third extraordinary thing happened before the first, when, as a result of the car accident and the treatment she received following it, Flemming's mother began to age. Adaline discovered this fact on the last night of the year, when, preparing to go out for the evening with Ellis, she found her first gray hair.
Not wishing to give those she loved most false hope, Adaline did not immediately share this discovery with Ellis and Flemming. Well practiced at keeping secrets, she waited until she had found enough gray hairs that there was incontrovertible proof that her body's normal aging process had restarted.
Flemming has a book in her hands and a dog on her lap when Adaline comes home from work. She sets the book down, and the dog jumps off her lap and goes running to greet Adaline.
"Hello," Adaline says to the dog. "Hello, yes, I'm back. It's so good to see you."
She stands and crosses the room to bend down and brush a kiss across Flemming's cheek. "Hello, sweetheart. How was your day?"
"I talked to Molly Andrews today. She invited me to visit." Flemming tsked at the look on her mother's face. "Don't worry. I won't be tempted to move to Arizona. But I would like to see her."
"Darling, of course you should visit your friend." Adaline sits next to Flemming. "I have something to show you." She undoes the braid in her hair and combs through it with her fingers to separate her hair. Then she tilts her head to look at her hair and separates out a few strands. "Look."
Flemming peers at what her mother is trying to show her. "What?"
Adaline holds those strands against the rest of her hair.
Flemming looks again. She brings her hands up to her mouth as understanding begins to dawn. "Are those gray hairs?"
Adaline nods and a smile spreads across her face. "Yes."
"Oh." Flemming's eyes tear up, and she flings her arms around her mother. "Oh, Mama."
Adaline laughs, sounding freer and happier than Flemming has heard her sound in over sixty years. "I'm getting older."
Flemming laughs too, and wipes her eyes. "What a thing to be happy about."
"I never would have imagined," Adaline says. "No more running. Ever."
The door opens a second time as Ellis arrives home. He shrugs off his coat and comes to join Adaline and Flemming. "Hello." He bends and kisses Adaline.
Adaline smiles up at him, radiant as she always is when looking at him, and shows him the same few gray strands of hair.
Ellis looks at them disbelievingly for a moment, then looks to Flemming's happy tears and back to Adaline's beaming face. "You're aging."
Adaline nods. "I'm aging."
Ellis lets out a whoop and lifts Adaline up to spin her around. "You're aging," he shouts.
"I'm aging!" Adaline yells through her laughter.
Flemming stands and claps her hands. The dog runs around at their feet.
Ellis sets Adaline down. She rests her hands against his chest as they kiss. Flemming looks on with her hands clasped and a smile on her face.
When the kiss ends, Adaline holds one arm out to Flemming. "Come here, darling."
Flemming joins them, one arm wrapped around each of them, one of each of their arms wrapped around her, the three of them holding each other in a bubble of extraordinary joy.