Playing the Widow

[hurinhouse]

Title: Playing the Widow
Author: hurinhouse
Fandom: White Collar (Pre-series)
Rating: G
Characters: OFC, Ellen, Neal
Summary: Once he comes back, everything will be fine.
Disclaimer: Entirely fiction
285 words



"Go out and play, Baby."

"-kay!"

The curls fly as he runs out, soft baby waves that he still lets me pet when no one's looking. The screen door slams shut behind him.

"Call him Danny." It's been a year and she's still harping.

"I will not. At least I don't call him- "

"Regardless," she cuts me off. She always does. "He needs to hear it, especially from you."

She opens all the curtains and the midday sun nearly blinds me. We have a fence, but she watches him through the window anyway.

"Don’t take him to the salon, Kathryn."

"It's Ellen. He'll blend in better if we cut it."

"You want to dye it next? Maybe get him some plastic surgery?"

She sighs, tired, like she's the one who can barely get out of bed. "Do you want to keep him yours, or keep him safe?"

"It can be both."

"Not the way you are now."

We'll do this again next week when she buys him a bike and teaches him to ride.

We'll do this again next year when she'll insist on him going to school.

I'm tired of doing this. "You're not his mother."

"Then act like you are."

She grabs the car keys and heads out, always taking my boy from me, "Let's go, Danny."

"Where?" He skips toward her. When did he learn to do that?

The car door shuts, the engine cutting through my quiet afternoon on the couch and I wrap the pillow round my head, drifting back to the place we used to be.

It'll be fine. James will come for us soon and I'll be able to think more clearly. We'll be a family again.

Comments

[neontiger55.livejournal.com]

I really like this! The friction between the two women is very realistic, as is Neal's mum's blind refusal to face reality.

"Do you want to keep him yours, or keep him safe?"

That's a great line, I can hear Ellen saying something like that :)

[hurinhouse.livejournal.com]

thank you. i figured that though ellen/kathryn was probably sympathetic to neal's mom, she probably didn't have much patience for someone who would put him in jeopardy, regardless of the reason. that woman was strong.

[florastuart.livejournal.com]

Ooooooh, oh I like this a lot! I've been wondering what the relationship was like between Neal's mother and Ellen, who would have remembered what she was like before everything fell apart. Very well done! :)

[hurinhouse.livejournal.com]

thank you and good point. i suppose ellen had patience due to that remembrance.

[leonie-alastair.livejournal.com]

I liked this a lot. Ellen's irritation and Neal's mother's disconnection come through so clearly. It's nicely done.

[hurinhouse.livejournal.com]

thank you!

[daria234.livejournal.com]

ooh great take on her ambivalence and her problems, and ellen is great here too

[hurinhouse.livejournal.com]

thank you!