| Details for Secrets Can Hurt |
| Summary: | A secret Tim has been keeping from Annie gets blown wide open in a big way. |
| Date: | 17 October 1937 |
| Location: | Moody Residence |
| Related: | All Annie/Tim logs |
| Characters |
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Moody Residence London
Wed Oct 17, 1937 ((Wed Oct 17 00:04:39 2012)) (G,3 NE)
It is a fall night. The weather is freezing and fair.
Nearly every surface of wall that isn't a door is covered in framed photographs of the Wizarding variety. There is clearly a talent behind the lens; it's evident in the composition, the lighting, even the subjects captured. Some are portraits of people, others are landscapes, animals, anything that caught the eye of the photographer. The pictures are alive with movement, and all the more fascinating because of it.
It seems that most of the thought in decorating has gone into the placement of the treasured images. Not to say there isn't care in the furnishings, but the stuffed sofa and matching chairs seem more like a necessary afterthought, and not the main focus of the house's inhabitant. Toward the back of the house a glimpse of a functional kitchen, nothing fancy, can be seen. Stairs lead upward, surely to at least a couple of bedrooms and the water closet. And the wall of the stairway, of course, it yet another gallery for the stunning photographs to be displayed.
Near the door leading to the front garden of the house, there is a door that one would normally expect to be a coat cupboard. A peek beyond reveals something far different, and far larger than expectations. This is the photographer's darkroom, perhaps the most important room for the resident. Wizarding space has made the space expansive enough for ease of movement, and everything needed is just an arm's reach away. The scent of developing potions is redolent in this space, and how it manages not to seep under the door and into the whole house is likely explained by more magical means. There is clearly a place for everything here, and everything is in it's place. This organization probably all thanks to an adorable little house-elf by the name of Bowie.
Darkness is already threatening as Annie makes her way down Tim's street. With her jacket tugged snugly around her against the cold wind, she cradles a brown sack in her arms trying to protect it from the worst of the chill air. The young witch is later getting 'home' than usual, and her step is hurried in the hopes she can still beat Tim to the house. She makes the turn into Tim's front garden, hurries to the door, then knocks quickly while trying the latch to see if it's locked.
"Mistress Annie! Come!" Bowie's voice sounds panicked from within and the lock on the door gives way as she presses down as Bowie unlocks it. In black robes that have silvery white lining with a cut to his right cheek, gasping for air like he can barely breath curled up on the floor is Tim silvery white gloves are stained with splatters of blood. While one hand clutches at his chest pushing at the broken ribs to keep them from digging into his lungs the other hand reaches for Annie.
For a moment, as her eyes land on the crumpled figure on the floor, Annie is frozen, eyes wide, face stunned. The second of absolute shock passes, the sack drops from her arms without a second thought spilling it's fish and chips treasure onto the front stoop, and she hurries inside. "Tim! What's happened?!" She drops to her knees at once, reaching to touch him but hesitating before making contact and possibly making things worse.
Tim wheezes and tries to answer her. "He went out Mum! In his silly costume. Master is always coming home hurt when he goes out in that costume! Bowie will get the medicine!" The House-Elf vanishes and leaves Tim clutching at Annie curling up enough to lay his head on her knees he looks up at her and rasps weakly, "Ah sora." Some blood from the wound on his cheek dribbles down as he tries to speak, that wound on his cheek nearly identical to the wound from her dream.
Annie casts a confused look at Bowie before the elf hurries away, and scoots closer to Tim to cradle his head. The fact that the elf said he was getting medicine has at least some reassurance, and Annie keeps it together enough to whisper to Tim, "Shhh, he'll be right back." She gently smooths his hair back from his face, not noticing the blood that gets on her skirt but more than noticing it on his cheek. Still, she keeps whispering to him, "Don't try and talk. Bowie will be right here. Everything will be alright." She knows nothing of the sort, and her words hitch in her throat for a moment.
Tim raises one glove to bite at the fingertip to try to tug it off. It only gets half way off before it gets bunched up and won't come off any further. But it's enough for him to lift the hand up further so he can can touch the bared part of his palm up to her cheek to try his best to sooth her and make sure she feels more confident that things will be alright. Bowie reappears with a large box that he sets down and opens up. "Master needs something to mend his broken ribs." The elf says out loud as he pulls miscellaneous bottles and jars of ointment and such from the box to eyeball the labels. Unfortunately Bowie knows how to read Gaelic better than English.
Turning her head, Annie kisses Tim's palm softly before her attention turns to the returned house elf. "Bowie, tell me what t' look for, I'll help." The hand stroking Tim's hair has come to rest, helping to support his head. Her other hand reaches out to pick up a bottle, twisting it so she can read the label.
Tim drops his hand down to rattle around in the box as well. The bottle that Annie plucks out must have been fate guiding her hand because he groans and nods and tries to tap the bottle. It's a potion that seems to bring air to a patient. Considering he's starting to go pale with a slightly blue cast, he can really use it!
Even in near panic, Annie's no slouch, and her eyes dart to Tim as she whispers, "This one?" She barely waits for a nod before she indelicately uses her teeth to uncork the stopper, spitting it aside hastily as she brings the bottle to Tim's blueing lips. Her lips are moving rapidly, repeating two words with almost no sound. "Please help."
Tim gulps weakly as the potion is poured and he seems rejuvinated by it, the color coming back to his lips is pink and warm again and the dark circles around his eyes fade as well. The hand reaches up to cup her cheek again, his eyes filled with nothing but apology as he tries to continue to breath, the potion will keep his blood filled with oxygen for a time, but the broken ribs and deflated lung still needs to be tended to. He lifts up two fingers indicatively. What a horrible time to have to play charades!
Annie's eyes meet his, glossy with tears held at bay but unwavering until they flick to the fingers he holds up. Confusion darkens her eyes again, and it takes her a moment to say, tentatively, "Two?"
Tim nods and then holds up one finger and then crosses his middle finger over it like he was telling a fib, or crossing his fingers or…crossing the bones as they used to say. After the jumbling Tim just gave the bottles it's not hard to find a bottle with two crossed bones on it, though the bone in the front is broken. 'Bone Mending Potion' is nearly worn off of the label, seems he uses it a great deal.
It takes her a second of looking at Tim's fingers before her eyes drop to the box Bowie had brought out. She glances back to him, then hastily hands the bottle she'd already given Tim a drink from to Bowie, who had already rescued it's cork. As he fits the stopper back to that bottle, Annie is hastily rummaging around in the case, bottles and jars rattling as she picks one up just enough to see the label, drops it and goes to the next, her hand moving quickly until the pulls one up enough to glance, and then tugs it from the box. Two crossed bones, one broken, and a barely legible name. Again, she uses her teeth to get the cork out, the most efficient way she can manage right now, and this bottle is brought to Tim's lips.
Tim's eyes fill with pride and adoration as she puzzles together what he needs. She's always so very good at doing that. He drinks taps the bottle away from his mouth for just a second he squirms a little in her lap and then the hand on his chest presses down and slides and there is literally clicking sounds as he broken bones grind against each other. His eyes go wide with the pain and he opens his mouth, to have the medicine poured down his gullet as he silently screams.
Annie knows that sort of pain. She broke a couple bones playing Quidditch and had to spend her bit of time in the infirmary. The tears spill over and leave twin tracks down her cheeks, but the determination on her face doesn't falter as she makes sure he gets enough of the potion in him. Bowie steps close, making a motion, and Annie leans toward him so he can take the cork from her mouth. It's pretty well flattened at the top from the unconscious clamp her jaw had on it, and as soon as it's gone she's looking back to Tim, whispering frantically, "I know, love, it'll be over in a minute."
Tim gulps the potion down and tears roll out of his eyes at the same time they fall from hers, mostly it's seeing her tears that breaks his heart the most. He can now use both of his hands and makes a little hand bird gesture and then reaches up to touch her tear as it hangs from her jaw and then holds it up for her to see.
Her tears don't stop, but to her credit, Annie still keeps her head in her concern for Tim's well being. She shushes him gently, raising her hand to his, touching his wet fingertip with hers and then sliding her fingers to twine with his. A lean has her lips softly touching his hand before she presses the back of his hand to her cheek. "Just let the potions work, darlin', nothin' else matters right now." Tears can be dealt with in time, her worry will not cease until she sees improvement that eases it.
Tim manages a smile, he holds up two fingers to remind her that he still needs to have one more potion, he's still unable to speak because his lung is deflated. He wheezes and points to the box then makes the bird pantomime with his hands again before reaching up to touch her tears again. Then back down to the box where he holds his fingers apart purposefully indicating something small.
Realization penetrates Annie's racing brain, and her eyes widen. "Another potion!" She looks desperately toward the house elf, "Bowie, d' yeh know what he means?" Then her attention is immediately down again, and she rummages through the case's contents, talking softly, "Bird tears? Something small…" She's not picking up this one very quickly, and there's a touch of the frantic creeping into her words.
Bowie gets in a panic when he sees that Annie is becoming frantic and he starts dashing around mad cap, the glass of whiskey on the tray that's strapped to his head sloshing about, but still never spilling over. "Bowie will get a bird Mistress Annie!" He'll get a bird and wring it's little neck til it cries and he vanishes off to do so. Soon enough outside the window of the living room in the tree that's surrounded by a small iron fence comes the sound of Bowie clambering through the branches and whistling, "Here birdie!"
At the edge of the box are small fabric pockets and when the large bottle of Skele-gro is pushed aside peeking out over the top of said pocket edge is a glass vial stopper that is rather beautifully blown and molded red glass phoenix. The pocket is very small and the vial attached to the stopper is stylized to be the flowing tail of a phoenix, clear liquid sparkles within.
If Annie realized what Bowie had scampered off to do she would be horrified and rushing to stop him, but she misses it entirely. Before she can completely fly off the handle, her eyes cut over to Tim's face. She pauses for a beat, then takes a breath, turns her attention back to the potions, and scans the box quickly. Reaching forward, Annie's hands each close around a different bottle, and she shifts them. And there, to her right, is what Tim needs. "Phoenix Tears," she murmurs, drawing out the bottle and pulling the stopper before bringing it to Tim's hands.
Tim takes the bottle in one hand and the other hand moves up to cup the side of her face, then he does something that must be highly unpleasant he lifts the bottle up to his nose and as strongly as he can must her snorts tears. Bringing them into his lungs instead of his esophagus. That drowning feeling hits him and he almost dumps the very expensive and rare potion right over as he sputters and coughs. But! He's coughing! The tears in his lungs have repaired the whole that was in them and the cough draws air into the deflated lung and he's coughing and breathing deep and ragged. He forces himself to move so he can get into a semi-kneel and wrap her in his arms and pull her in against him to hold her and kiss her hair as he still sputters lightly coughing until the potion is out of his lungs. It eventually gets absorbed or put down into his esophagus which isn't a bad thing and as it works its way through him his hugging hold on her becomes stronger.
As best as she can, Annie cradles Tim through the coughing, helping him more upright until his arms wrap around her. She shifts, still trying to ease him until his coughing stops, unconsciously holding a breath as he tries to gain his. As his hug tightens she lets the breath out slowly, one hand lifting to stroke his hair and the back of his neck, hoping to soothe him as everything mends and he regains himself.
Tim is doing his best to sooth her and show her that he's alright now. "Oh Annie." He whispers once he feels he has a voice. "Ye brilliant beautiful woman. Ye saved my life."
Tim's voice is like music to Annie's ears, like the whisper of an angel, and a sob escapes her, quickly muffled against his shoulder. The pure relief to hear him and feel him growing stronger is overwhelming for a minute, and she grips him as if she'll never let him go. When she finally feels she can speak, she simply whispers, "My Tim."
Tim nods against her squeezing her more tightly. "Aye, yours. Ye saved my life, /twice/ why didn't ye tell me ye had the sight?" He asks looking into her eyes as he tilts up her chin to face him so he can just look at her in amazement.
The look returned from Annie is more like confusion. "What sight?" Speaking of sight, look, there's the Boyfriend, not dead! The thought crashes into Annie rudely and she goes a bit pale. "Tim, yeh nearly died! What happened?!" Her voice remains quiet, but there's a noticeable tremor in it. She looks at him as if seeing him for the first time, in his 'costume' as Bowie had called it. "What…" The thought trails off as she attempts to make some sense of what just happened.
Tim looks confused a moment, "Yer dream love. I got into it wif someone…things were goin bad so I pulled out. Finally got away enough…leanin on a lamppost. I reach up and touch my cheek, felt the scratch." Which really was more like a gash, but he's trying to down play it. "Then they caught up to me. But thanks to ye, I membered what ye said, I mostly dodged out of the way of a crushin' spell. In her dream the crack to his ribs was more centered and the ribs pierced his heart, this time it was a mostly superficial puncture of his lung. "I was able to apparate away…" Just before the avada kadavra was shot at him which was what she witnessed in her dream just before she startled awake. He leans in to kiss her, "Ye saved me."
It's pretty clear that this just cleared up nothing for Annie, but it's a bit questionable that anything would make it more understandable right now. She doesn't resist the kiss, instead melting into the warm reassurance of his lips and just not thinking about anything else for as long as she can. It helps clear her head and redirect her focus, and she looks less dazed when she pulls back to look at Tim's face. "It was a dream," she says, as if trying to talk sense into him. "Can yeh get up yet, love? We should see t' anything else."
Tim is feeling much better, to the point that he realizes now isn't the time to get into this. "Just promise me, that if ye have any more dreams ye tell me about them." He kisses her lips and then seems to be strong enough now that he stands up and draws her along with. "I love ye Annie. My Annie."
Annie still attempts to help him in standing, even though she probably just makes things a bit more awkward in a well meaning way. She'll have a lot of questions, but no, not now. "I'll tell yeh," she promises, sounding not entirely enthused at the prospect of ever having another dream like that again. "I love yeh, Tim. Why don't yeh put a robe on, love, an' I'll draw a bath for yeh." She'll even come in and wash his back, as long as he promises to keep a cloth strategically placed or bubbles in the water.
Tim blushes furiously. "Alrigh love. Bath sounds grand, aye." He slings one arm over her shoulders and kisses her temple and can't help but murmur how he loves her and adores her and whispers other sweet everythings into her ear as they head up the stairs together. "Shame…I was really lookin' forward to your Roast Chicken an' Veg…" Behind in the living room the voice of Bowie calls, "Mistress, Master!? Oh Bowie is too late! They have vanished! I failed! I did not get a bird's tears!" Tim calls down something in Gaelic and Bowie appears at the top of the stairs with tears in his huge eyes. "Mistress Annie has done it!"
Tim's words remind Annie of the dropped bag on the front stoop, and the fish and chips she picked up in a rush because she'd had to work late. She'll slip down later and tidy that up if Bowie doesn't beat her to it. Tomorrow night she'll surprise him with tonight's missed meal. Bowie's voice draws her attention, and she speaks to him softly. "I'd have done nothing without yeh bringing the case, Bowie. Tim is very lucky t' have yeh." The affection she's developed for the elf as well as for his master is clear in the gentle way she deals with them both.
Bowie launches himself in a leap and wraps one tiny arm around her neck while the other wraps around Tims. He squishes their heads together in his tight desperate hug. Tim pats the Elves back, "S'alrigh Bowie." He gives a sad guilty little smile to the both of them. "I'll clean up the food Mistress Annie! I'll start dinner too! You take care of the Master. So good at taking care of the Master. Master won't need Bowie soon!" Bowie says with a sniffle but he's smiling wide, happy Annie is here.
The display of affection touches Annie, and tears well in her eyes again. She manages to blink them back, whispering to the elf, "You will always be needed, Bowie." His words will be taken to heart though. Annie spends the rest of the evening seeing after Tim, low on the fuss but high on the love and affection. She'll see him into a hot bath to ease his muscles, not asking any questions of him tonight. There will be time for that, but now is the time to be thankful he's still here, that she got home in time and she can still steal his sweet kisses and tell him that she loves him. Enjoy the pampering tonight, for tomorrow there will be questions.