Chapter Text
They don't have dinner that night. Or the one after.
When Camila wakes up 36 hours later with a dry taste in her mouth and tangled in fluffy blankets, for a second, she forgets where she is. Sun is streaming through a broken stained window, and she hears the swoping of wings outside. They're heavier than a bird she can tell, and the rush of what happened comes back to her.
They did it. They saved everyone.
She groans in pain, sitting up. Her glasses are somewhere, and a splitting headache is making it really hard to want to stay awake, but she's alone in this room, and finding Luz is her first priority. Getting her bearings, Camila sighs, counts to ten, and stands from where she is. Blindly walking to the dresser across from her, she searches around before finding her glasses and putting them on her face.
Oh goodness.
This must be Luz's room.
There's an overwhelming feeling of joy as she looks around to see how she's decorated. Posters, and fairy lights, and a weird giant statue for some reason? There's a mattress on the floor and a bookshelf with little trinkets, and loose pieces of paper filled with notes and drawings litter the place. It's exactly as perfect as Luz is, and Camila's heart warms.
Eda let this happen. Let Luz in and cared for her as her own. Taught her things, supported her, woke up every day to be there for her daughter. Both of their daughter now.
Maybe there should be more feelings about that. Some sort of inadequacy or pain, but Camila doesn't care. She really doesn't. Luz is finally happy, wholly and truly. Eda did that. She has nothing but gratitude for that woman.
She opens up the door, peeking out into the hallway. No one is there, but as she walks down to the staircase, she sees rows and rows of pictures. Luz and King in the kitchen. The three of them posed for a family portrait. Luz laughing. Luz eating . . . are those tentacles?
She tries not to make too much noise going down the stairs, but the pictures distract her, and she puts too much pressure on the last step.
"Mami?"
Luz rubs her eyes and yawns, cuddling up to Eda, and King, and Raine in a bird's nest. Camila decides not to mention it.
"Buenos día mija. Did you sleep well?" She whispers, crouching down to be the same height as her.
Luz nods her head, trying to slip out of everyone's hold. Camila helps her, gently leading her out of the sticks and leaves and whatever else is in that nest. Luz sways for a second before grounding herself. She smiles up and Camila returns it, leaning in to hug her.
"I'm so happy mami."
"So am I mija."
It takes a couple more hours for everyone to wake up, but Camila and Luz spend that time in the kitchen, talking quietly over a breakfast of toast and some kind of demon realm coffee. They were going to sit on the couch, but Lilith and Hooty seemed to make that spot their bed, and neither wanted to wake them.
The first to walk into the kitchen is surprisingly, King. Luz automatically picks him up, holding him close and sharing her piece of bread. The next is Raine, and all they do is make another cup of coffee before sitting at the counter, watching King and Luz fondly.
"You're Luz's mother, right?"
Camila turns to them, taking in the tear tracked scars on their face. "Yes I am. Raine, correct?"
They nod and the conversation ends, the two of them more content to watch the kids make bad jokes.
The next to come are Lilith and Hooty, and any type of quiet atmosphere is immediately shattered. Hooty is . . . a lot, and Camila isn't sure when she'll get used to it. Hopefully soon. Probably not.
Lilith and Hooty go on and on about how much they missed each other, and it's a little weird, but Camila thinks she's doing a good job of hiding it, smiling along and not wincing too much at his high pitched screams. The look Luz sends her tells her she's not.
"Ugh, no one talk to me until I've had my apple blood."
Eda finally walks in, slumped and squinting. Raine hops off the table and kisses her cheek, and Lilith admonishes her for wanting whatever apple blood is so early. King scrambles out of Luz's grasp to climb into the witches hair, and Luz just smiles, a quiet peace on her face.
The joy is back. The warmth is back. These people, and their admittedly weird ways, have made her better. Luz always liked weird things. She's happy the weird things liked her back.
Eda notices Camila last, and although Camila gives a genuine smile, Eda still straightens up, a tenseness to her that she didn't have before.
Camila frowns at that but lets it go. They have all the time in the world to get to know each other better. To maybe clear some air. She takes a sip of her coffee.
"Eda!" Luz exclaims, hugging her tight before letting go, "Me and mami tried to make breakfast, but everything went bad."
To be honest, Camila couldn't tell if the food was bad or not. Bread just seemed like an easy win.
Eda chuckles and ruffles her hair. "I guess we'll have to get some food then."
The rest of the morning isn't awkward per se, but there's some one sided tension between Eda and Camila, and she can't figure out why. She thought everything was fine after pulling her into that hug the first night, skipping past the handshake. Later, Camila decides. Later, she'll deal with it.
Lilith and Hooty offer to get food and check up on some people, so they leave an hour later. Raine leaves about an hour after that, wanting to find their CATS members. Camila isn't really sure what it stands for but doesn't say anything. Luz wants to try and clean the place up, never one to stop moving, so the afternoon is spent throwing out trash, fixing furniture, and taping up the windows.
At some point the other children come over for a little bit, and Camila is quick to go over to them. They lived in her house for months, of course she loved them. She wanted to make sure they knew that.
Willow and Gus hug Luz tight, and Hunter and Amity start up a pleasant conversation with Camila. Eventually they leave, all too excited to be able to see their families again.
Lilith and Hooty come back by sunset, and Raine after them, and the house is slightly in better condition. All Camila wants to do is sleep again, but the need for dinner outweighs her tiredness.
She finds herself in the kitchen, trying to figure out how the hell to use any of the food got today. Are those eyeballs? Is that MOVING?!
Just when she finds something that looks close enough to the food back home, Eda walks in, cracking her back and shaking out her head.
"Whew! Either I'm getting old, or those rascals have too much energy right now."
Camila laughs. "I like to think of it as the second option."
"Need any help here?" Eda gestures towards the ingredients Camila's pulled out, one in a probably okay to eat pile and the rest in a I don't want to know what that is pile.
"Yes please. I'm a good cook, but all of this is uh," She looks back at the eyeballs and a jar of moving fairies, "different."
"Eh, it's not too hard. I've spent a lot of time finding out what Luz can and can't eat." She winces as if she said the wrong thing.
Oh.
She's sorry.
It's a new revelation for Camila. That Eda might be sorry for taking Luz in, for getting so close to her. That she might be scared she crossed some boundaries. That maybe Camila is secretly upset with her.
She sets a hand on the witches and smiles. "Thank you, Eda. For everything."
There's not much more she can say. Camila isn't upset, or angry, or whatever the other might think. She's thankful. Thank you for taking her in. Thank you for caring. Thank you for fighting for her. Thank you for doing your best. Thank you.
Eda turns away, but Camila catches the water in her eyes. "It's no problem."
And it's said so truthfully, so entirely genuine. Camila can picture herself in this family. Can picture the back and forth between the two houses. Can picture the co-parent hang outs and the group vacations and the family gatherings and everything.
It can start tonight. With dinner. With everyone around the table, yelling and joking and laughing. Eating barely edible food because it's Camila's first time cooking it, but no one gets better without practice. Meandering to the living room to play random games and exchange stories.
It's the start of forever. Camila can tell.
She's overjoyed.