What Happened to Us? (For Markise)

[Markise Sterling]

Markise would have loved to explain about DareandMichael's collection of twins and the odd triplets, but this news was a surprise. "I never would have thought you'd get yourself in trouble. You're going to think I'm dumb as a doorknob, but is it Magby's?" Out of whatever men she'd seen over the years, Ryan Magby was the only one she'd mentioned by name.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna let out a nervous laugh. These next few minutes would be torture for them both she feared. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a moving photograph of the young witch. On the back of the picture she'd simply scribbled Camille, Eiffel Tower, Age 7. "Definitely not Ryan's. She's seven." She passed over the picture to Markise with a proud smile, not making eye contact. "She's why I left Hogwarts." She didn't even know if he remembered. They hadn't ever talked about it after she'd given her virginity to him that night. How on earth was she going to break the news that she should have been brave enough to share 8 years ago?

[Markise Sterling]

Markise took the photograph eagerly, hoping he could guess the father if he looked hard enough. The little girl was very pretty, everything that set the hearts fluttering of all who loved people-in-training, but he couldn't tell. He was a designer, not a genealogist. He quickly flipped it over to glance at the back and his eyes caught. "That's my mother's name," he said, mildly surprised at the coincidence. He looked up and offered the picture back. "Are you going to eat anything?" he asked, glancing at her place. "They don't have fish and crisps or whatever it is you Brits eat, but it's good." It was fantastic actually.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Annabelle shook her head no at the thought of food. "No, but I think I could use a strong bevvy." She said to the air more then Markise. Anna focused on her large cup as she took a sip of her coffee to try and gain some strength to continue. After the warm liquid made its way down she took a deep breath and made eye contact. "Her full name is Camille Angel Sterling Hennessy." There. He wouldn't be able to miss the significance of either of their daughter's middle names.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's hand, still holding the photo, froze. One long blink passed, then another before it sunk in, and even then it didn't make sense. He pulled his hand back and set the picture on the table. "I'm... flattered," he said, though he was more confused than anything. They'd only really been close for a couple years and he couldn't imagine why she'd name a child after him. It didn't make sense. He wasn't even British, but the phrase bloody hell seemed to sum it up nicely.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"She, she's yours Markise." Anna looked down at her hands, a silent tear making a trail down her cheek. Her voice was soft and fragile as she spoke the hardest words she'd ever had to say. "I didn't know how to tell you when it happened. What were the odds of getting pregnant your first time anyways? I tried to ignore the signs and pretend that I just had some type of flu. By the time I knew for sure I didn't know how to bring it up. But then you didn't act like you even remembered that we had... you know, and I didn't want to ruin your life. So I just disappeared and went to live with my parents." She knew she was rambling but old habits dies hard.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise was lost in confusion. "Anna, I'm gay," he said. "We never..." He'd never given her more than a kiss on the cheek, and certainly hadn't had a stone dragon for her. "Anna, don't cry." He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it out to her, more persistently than he had the picture. It just wasn't possible!

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"Bloody Hell Markise do you think I would make something like that up?" She hissed at him, glaring as she snatched the piece of cloth from him and roughly wiped her tears away. "You were pissed. If I hadn't been drinking too I would have never taken things that far. But I don't regret giving you my golden snitch . You were always such a good friend that I couldn't have picked a better person to make such a crazy mistake with. I'm glad she's your baby."

She took a breath and a sip of coffee to give herself a second to gather her thoughts. "I don't need anything from you. I know you didn't ask for any of this. My conscience just wouldn't let me go on without letting you know you had a child."

[Markise Sterling]

Markise could hardly breathe for the insanity in his mind. He'd been drunk apparently. Very drunk, not that it hadn't happened every weekend he could make it to London. But she'd only gone with him once. "Did we... have sex at the club or something?" he asked.

He felt like he'd taken a heavy sock to the gut. Maybe he was in a deep sleep brought on by one too many Cosmos at the party last night. He'd only seen Anna this upset a couple times, but anger—especially directed at him—was bizarre. This entire thing was bizarre. He wanted to call codswallop like she had at his earlier compliment.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

Anna resisted the urge to rub her eyes and pull at her hair in frustration. She really would turn into a nutter at this rate. Thank goodness she'd had the foresight to wear waterproof mascara. Instead she looked at him, studied his expression of disbelief. "Do you seriously not remember any of it?" She'd always thought he'd just avoided the subject to spare her, since he was completely gay and they were such good friends.

"You remember that we stayed out past curfew and couldn't get back to the castle? Surely you remember waking up at the bookstore the next morning? I vaguely remember you couldn't figure out how to work the doorknob properly." It was mostly hazy for her too, but over the years she'd remembered bits and pieces. Enough had come back to her that she at least had the basic facts down. If it could be avoided, she wouldn't mention the other small parts, like her cheesy pickup line asking if Markise had a wand in his cloak or was he just happy to see her.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's brows were drawn together as he thought, but there was nothing, not even a spark of familiarity to the story. She could have told him he'd dressed as a rubber duck for a costume party and it wouldn't have sounded much stranger. But Anna had never lied to him and that had been when he and Ariel had been fighting so badly. They'd meet up to dance, argue, and go their separate ways.

His heart was thudding as he picked up the photograph again and looked at the child. She had full lips, something she could have gotten from Anna except no, there was a deeper bow that he hadn't noticed before. He tried to pick things out, but he couldn't tell one thing from another. She just looked like a kid! A sweet kid, but just a kid. "And you didn't tell me for what, eight years?" he asked.

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I almost told you, right before she was born. I thought you might not mind because it would add a bit of cover for you if nothing else. But then the Daily Prophet did that piece on you coming out, and you were living with your boyfriend. I was completely gobsmacked, I mean you had been so adamant about being secretive." She should have given him the choice back then if he wanted to know and accept his unborn child, but she was barely of age and hadn't known what was the right thing to do.

"The more I thought about it, the less I could see you putting a nappy on your daughter's bare bum. That just didn't seem like your cup of tea. And I don't expect it of you now either, not that she's still in nappies mind you. I just didn't want her to start asking questions later about her father and have you completely blindsided." She worried every day that her Angel would come home from school with a million questions. It was surprising that it hadn't happened yet.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise would have wanted nothing to do with changing nappies, which he assumed was British for diaper, that much was true, but Anna pregnant? "I would have wanted to know." It would have messed up so much for him. His mother would have been thrilled and Anna would have been sucked in, he was sure. Would he have had to marry her? It was so confusing, and a headache was beginning to form, a sharp pain like a quill behind his eyeballs. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked. He'd never wanted children and had no idea how to be a father!

[Annabelle Hennessy]

"I am truly sorry, You must know that I didn't mean any harm, I was only doing what I thought best at the time." Anna blushed, embarrassed that perhaps he would have wanted to step up as a father. "It's totally up to you Markise. I realized recently that I was robbing you, and your family, the opportunity to know her if you wanted to. If you don't, then nothing changes. You can walk away from here today and we'll go on like we never met up."

She didn't want that. She'd always mourned the loss of his friendship above all else and hated that she was lying to him by withholding such valuable information. "If on the other hand you want to be around, we can play it by ear. We don't have to tell her you're her father if you don't want to. Even if we just tried to rekindle our friendship and say, went and picked apples together and such. When she asks later on who her father is, I'll be able to say 'Remember that nice man with the lavender hair that was your mum's friend?' and she will know how great a person you are." Annabelle looked down at her coffee, running her finger over the edges of the cup. It was crazy to hope that Markise would want that, but she couldn't help it. Please let him want to be involved somehow.

[Markise Sterling]

"Well I want to at least meet her!" Markise said. He really had no interest in children, in fact in general he disliked them, but if all this was true, he wanted to see it with his own eyes. A kid! A daughter! It was so unbelievable, but he had no reason not to believe Annabelle. She'd never lied to him when they'd been friends, just disappeared. He couldn't help thinking he was going to need a strong bevvy when he got home.

"What is she like?" he asked. Was she like him at all? Was she nothing like him? Would she like him? There were a thousand questions he felt like he should ask but didn't know how. He started thinking about whether this would change things and realized he should be paying child support or something. He was going to have a long talk with his lawyers.