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Courtney Sithe glanced around, wary as a wolf. Gina and Maria were watching from an upstairs window of the building - her heart melted like molten metal at the sight of her daughter’s face, which she hadn’t seen for months.
Cautiously, the ex-coroner entered the run-down seaside Inn. Peering around, she observed no-one watching in the pub - seeing as there also hadn’t been anyone but Maria and Gina watching from the window, and no-one had been watching from the surrounding field, that meant no-one was lying in wait. How polite of no-one. Taking off her coat to reveal a blackish-brown suit, she booked a room and walked upstairs, resisting every urge to break into a run.
It had been a year since she had escaped prison. The day before her execution, she had used the contacts she had built as a Reaper to arrange for the guards to be bribed into helping her escape. Once out of prison, she fled to the Isle of Man - she owned a house there - and hid for about six months. Once she had been sure the police had stopped looking for her, she had sailed back on a quest of redemption, solving as many crimes as she could, as well as checking on Maria now and then.
Maria… from what she had heard, her daughter had taken part in bringing down Stronghart and solving many other crimes since then. Courtney couldn’t be more proud, not that she could take much credit.
After all, you never called him out. She thought to herself. You never told him the truth - that his quest to keep crime down was nothing more than a way to fool himself. All he truly desired was more wealth and power. And you stood by while both the guilty and the innocent were murdered. You never got Maria to make friends, never taught her the most basic social skills… You failed.
She reached the top of the stairs, almost walking smack bang into none other than Maria herself.
“Mama!” squealed Maria, squeezing Courtney in a hug, which she returned in an instant. Time stood still, the embrace feeling like immortality. Courtney would have stayed like that until her bones had turned to dust if Maria had not broken apart.
“Mama!” grinned Maria. “It’s so good to see you!” she had grown taller, now reaching five foot nine. Her hair was longer, and Courtney was relieved to see her face was less pinched, and her frame somewhat thicker - she had been eating more than mystery meat and surprise vegetables, which was also Courtney’s fault.
She had a million questions, but with the energy of a lightning bolt, Maria was dragging Courtney to her room. “Gina’s in here! She’s rather nervous - in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she were having heart palpitations around now!” laughed Maria.
Okay, so her daughter made jokes now. Bad ones, but she got that from her Papa, not Courtney.
Shutting the door behind her, she saw Gina twiddling her thumbs on the sofa. She vaguely remembered the girl’s visits to the Morgue when she was still Head Coroner, as well as the fact she had allowed her to surgically look into crimes in London London whenever she was there after she had explained what she was doing. Gregson had seemed fond of former pickpocket, describing her as a ‘Good kid’, which was as genuine a compliment as Gregson gave anyone. With that in mind, she decided to go forward with a positive mindset, something that she would never have dreamed of a year ago.
“Gina.” she greeted, attempting to be pleasant. “It is… good to be here.”
An ocean-wide grin appeared on Gina’s face. “Good ter be ‘ere too, Doc! Thanks fer comin’! Sit down, I’ll make yeh some tea!”
As she went to grab some mugs, Maria sat her mother down on an armchair facing a sofa. “Mama,” she whispered. “Are you sure you’re okay with me seeing a woman?”
Courtney raised an eyebrow. Perhaps she should mention sometime that many of the ‘Business trips’ she went on after the divorce weren’t for work.
Gina returned with the tea, plonking herself on the sofa, a hopeful expression on her face. Courtney took a sip. It was… surprisingly good. Not a flavour she had tried before, but still wonderful.
“What blend is this?” she asked, feeling born again.
“Oh, me mate Iris made it.” Ah, Sholmes’ weird (if charming) daughter. The one with the guns and the pink hair.
“Hmmm… it’s very nice.” she nodded at Gina. “Thank you for making it.”
Gina grinned. “No prob!”
“Now…” Courtney set down her cup. Calculatingly, she tilted her head a little. “Why don’t you tell me how you two got together, hmm?”
. . .
After about an hour of hearing their story, Courtney’s stomach began to rumble. Hearing this, Maria got up “It looks like you need some dinner, Mama.” she commented. “I’ll go and fetch some.”
As she left the room, Courtney spent about twenty seconds studying Gina - she had put on some subtle, wiry muscles since she saw her last, had grown an inch or two (while still much shorter than Maria), and looked as nervous as Courtney felt.
“Let me make two things clear.” Said the older woman at last. “If you hurt her in any way, I will paralyse you and fool everyone into thinking you are a corpse. Similar things have happened before, except I know how to recreate the effects artificially.”
Gina went a little pale. “Fair ‘nuff.”
“Second of all.” said Courtney. “I want to thank you.”
Gina blinked “Thank me?”
“You… you brought Maria out of her cave. You helped fix my failures. You helped her make friends, and…” she hesitated. She wasn’t very good at this. “Thanks to you, she can live for herself. She knows she doesn’t have to atone for sins she did not commit. She can see her own path in her work and her life. She can cope without me. And all thanks to you.” she sighed. “I- I tried to be a good parent. Me and Arnold.. We- we both tried to be good parents, but…” she sighed. “Well, you get the idea. So thank you.”
Gina was quiet for a couple of minutes. Then she spoke. “Ta fer sayin’ so.” she told her, her voice little above a whisper.
At that moment, Maria returned. “Mama, Gina, they’ll be bringing up some fish and chips in about twenty minutes!” She gave Gina a massive kiss on the cheek, then turned to her Mama, infodumping on some of the latest studies in the magazine ‘ Coroner’s Cuttings’.
Soon enough, the food arrived. As they began to eat, Maria began to stare into space. Gina chose that moment to pick her brains. “What are yeh thinkin’ about, Ria?”
“Oh,” said Maria. “Just thinking about how gills in humans could possibly work.”
“Wanna tell me ‘bout it?”
As Maria began to rapid-fire information at the pair of them, Courtney noticed how Gina was resting her head on her fist, looking under a spell as she stared at Maria.
I think. Thought a smiling Courtney. That they’ll be just fine.
The conversation turned to work. Gina had nearly made Detective (if not yet Inspector), and had gained quite a bit of respect from the others on the force. She had also sabotaged strikebreaking operations, and the arrests of protestors. Maria, on the other hand, had become renowned throughout London, even helping with Detective work more than Courtney ever had.
They talked deep into the night. About the works of Charles Dickens, exchanging stories about investigations (including a funny story where a cat called Wagahai had clung to Lord van Zieks’ head for an entire investigation. Eventually, the clock struck twelve, and Gina stretched with a yawn. “Well, we ought ter be gettin’ ter bed.”
“I see. What will we be doing tomorrow?” asked Courtney.
“I hear there’s a nice beach we can relax on.” Gina told her. “‘Ria brought yah swimsuit.”
Courtney smiled, ignoring all doubts about whether the one-piece suit she hadn’t worn since she was twenty fitted her. As she walked out, she was satisfied her daughter had found the right woman.
As she exited, Gina began walking over to their room. Changing into her white nightdress and undoing her hair, she clambered into bed. Maria (in her black one) followed her, wrapping her arms around the blonde woman as she threw the duvet around her. After a few minutes, Gina spoke.
“‘Ria?”
“Hmm?’
“It’s a big Inn, innit?”
“Yes.”
“What room’s yer mum in?”
“I think she mentioned the one opposite the building. Why?”
“Fer tomorrow night. Too tired to right now, if yeh catch my drift.”
“Ah, I see.” murmured Maria, kissing Gina on the cheek and letting sleep take her.