st_rikingblueeyes | A trip sideways in time

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# inn-world: ghosts of winter

A trip sideways in time

"You know the signs," Corbie heard herself saying. "Mildmay's cough is getting worse."

Only Corbie hadn't said it.

The girl startled and looked up from the book she'd been too preoccupied to read and found a woman sitting across from her. She was older than Corbie, perhaps mid-twenties, but possessed of the same curling yellow hair, the same large blue eyes, the same mischievous quirk to her lips. But there were differences, too. There was a scar on her neck, two round marks that spoke of a bite. And her face was less round, the bones more defined. Her ears were pierced, and she wore a locket around her neck that hummed with magic.

But nothing was as shocking as the baby in her lap. A year old, give or take, but that was most certainly a baby.

Still. That was her own face, that was herself, looking back at her from across the cafe table. Corbie stared with huge eyes.

The woman smiled, bouncing the baby on her knee. "How long has he been coughing for, anyway?"

Corbie's mouth hung open like a fish. "Um... uh... a few days?"

"Oh, honey," the woman shook her head. "You know better than that. He should be in bed, and he won't until you make him. And that creates a problem for me, because now that I've got this one with me," she bounced the baby higher, making her laugh, "my job got a bit harder. I'd gladly have left her with Mildmay, but..."

"Wait." Corbie held up her hands. "What the fucking fuck is happening?"

The woman smiled wider. "Oh you know. You've seen some folk 'round here who shouldn't be, I'm just one of 'em. And you want to go back to your life and I wanna go back to mine, you're gonna be the good girl I know you are and listen to me."

"Who... are you, though?" Even though Corbie already knew it her heart and slightly dreaded the answer.

The other woman extended her hand and they shook. "Gartrett Corbie," the woman said, bold as brass. "Knowst it without asking me, fool girl," she said, in an imitation of gran so spot on that Corbie could hardly deny their connection.

"What d'you want with me?" the girl whispered.

The woman's eyes softened. "You are... in a place I remember being, with a lot of questions about the future and what it can hold for you. Who better to answer those questions than yourself? Even if Gotham is nothing at all like this place. But you do have potential. It's only you don't see it." She sighed. "Ah, well. Plan B. Perhaps we could find Regina."

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Jackson had glanced inside the café as he walked by, only to do a double-take and very nearly walk into a wall. He came to a stop just in time, missing that unfortunate encounter by a step. He instinctively leaned a hand up on the wall, however. That was... Corbie and Corbie.

His brain was absolutely going there.

At least, it had been, until he noticed the infant squirming in one of the Corbies' lap. Record scratch, new train of thought. This wasn't a wet dream, but more Inn weirdness, and it wasn't two nights past he'd drunk himself into a proper stupor instead of facing poor Hobbs. If this was anything like that, he figured Corbie might appreciate someone being there.

He walked in tentatively, making sure as he came closer that the Corbie he knew was the one without the squirming baby. (Small favors. Then again, since the one with the babe looked a little older, was that much of a comfort at all?)

And so it was the infant-free Corbie he addressed when he asked, "Everythin' alright, darlin'?"

The younger Corbie looked up at Jackson with huge eyes and only seemed to manage an ever so articulate, "Um..."

The older Corbie smothered a laugh and pulled the child more securely into her lap after she'd almost wiggled her way off. "She ain't yours, sir, don't worry about that." Nodding to her younger counterpart she added, "Yours, after a fashion." Seeing that the younger Corbie was about ready to flail her way out of the room, though, she softened. "It's all right. I promise. We just need to talk."

"No offense, but the last revenant who sold me that line left me with a hangover even hair of the dog couldn't cure, and a hole in my heart about the size of Chicago," Jackson replied, but he wasn't being hostile. Only stating facts, and being protective of Corbie, as he stepped towards her.

He crouched beside her, putting a hand on her thigh and looking up into her face. "They're a bit persistent, but we could always wait this out somewhere, if you want." Or until she felt ready to have a conversation with this other her.

And no, of course he wasn't disappointed to hear the baby wasn't his. That would be ten kinds of stupid, at least.

Corbie had known that something had happened to Jackson, but he'd been particularly taciturn about it and she hadn't pushed. Not at the time. So that was enough to get her out of her own spiral of alarm and confusion. She turned her attention to Jackson and touched his cheek, the unvoiced question in her eyes.

The woman regarded the two of them in silence for a long moment, reading everything about what was in front of her. Fuck if it wasn't just like looking in a mirror, if this hadn't been her and Kisuke once. Too old, unkempt, alcoholic, and yet for all his faults, that was deep and genuine affection. Oh yeah, she could see a time in her life where she would have fucked this man, and she knew exactly why, too.

The girl would grow out of this in time. She knew that. This wasn't about scolding her out of stopping whatever this relationship was before she was ready. But she was so young. So confused. And so lacking any real belief in herself.

"I'm sorry for that," she said. Though the gentleness was more to win over the girl. Him she wanted to tell that he gave himself that hangover. "But I promise you, I'm here to help. And you both know what a shit liar I am."

This was true, and it got the younger Corbie's attention. She turned her gaze back to meet that of her other self. The woman further offered, "I believe we could take him, too, if it would make you feel better."

"Wait, what?" Jackson cut in, looking back at the older Corbie. Ignoring the baby in her lap. No point looking for any Judge features on the kid, was there?

"Where are you plannin' on takin' her?" His hand squeezed Corbie's thigh on the last word, before he pushed up to his feet to scowl down at the other Corbie.

If he expected her to flinch, he would be disappointed. The girl would have, because she hated when Jackson was upset with her and tried to avoid that entirely. But it was more than the lack of familiarity that kept the woman from reacting in that way. She looked right back at him, gaze steady and eyes kind. She had dealt with monsters, gods, alien invasions, and children who were so abandoned and lost and confused that they sometimes lashed out at her just for being there. That scowl didn't have a patch on facing the disappointment of one of the Ewoks.

"You love her very much, don't you?" she asked softly. And she knew even without looking at the girl blushing behind him that the younger Corbie would never have dared to ask that for herself. She wouldn't have, once.

And yes, the girl Corbie was blushing bright pink, but she was also watching herself remain so self-assured and calm, and that did catch her interest.

In other circumstances, that question might have caused a splutter. But not when this other Corbie, with a baby and a few years on his, was talking about taking her God knew where. These... apparitions, or revenants, whatever they were, didn't bring anything good, and he was no more sure that this was actually a different Corbie than he was that that had been Hobbs. No, right now, Jackson had better things to worry about that than emotional entanglement (he'd been doomed for a good long while, anyway).

"That ain't answerin' the question," he retorted, instead of playing into her little game.

"Fair enough," the older Corbie allowed, pulling her baby back into her lap again. She knew her daughter wanted to get down and go exploring, but Corbie wasn't about to allow that right now, so she distracted her with her keys. She kissed her child's hair and slipped the key ring into her little, chubby hands. "There, Bonnie, there's a good girl."

So her answer was punctuated by the entirely unthreatening jingle of keys and Bonnie's laughter as she explained, "Ever read Dickens's A Christmas Carol? I'm here to take her to see the shadows of the past, present, and possible future." She turned her gaze to her younger self. "I'm who you could have been, in another time and place, taken from that same moment in the Nullity. I knew Regina, before she came here. That's how she knew who you were. I'm where your rings came from. You have questions, I'm in a unique position to answer 'em. In the book it was about an hour per ghost, but you're young and there's less to sort through. Shouldn't take so long."

The girl Corbie was listening now, sitting up straighter. But she knew nothing was going to call Jackson off except her, so she reached out and silently squeezed his hand. She was considering, if nothing else.

Edited 2018-12-28 18:14 (UTC)

Jackson looked away at the squeeze of a small hand around his, his scowl fading as he turned to Corbie, the real Corbie. "You can't trust what she says," he told her, quietly.

The woman turned her attention to her daughter, knowing that there was little else she could say. Either her younger self would take this offer, or not. Barely older than one of the Ewoks, yes, but grown and able to make her own choices. She waited.

The girl looked up at Jackson, her eyes full of questions, but no longer with apprehension. She was curious. "You don't know that," she answered.

"I do," Jackson retorted. "You can't trust the people you don't know." Hell, you could barely trust most of the people you did know. "Just because she looks like you, and knows things that you know, it doesn't make her you."

It was, in its own way, exactly what Corbie needed to hear. Because while she wasn't sure she could really believe what this other her was saying, she knew full well that she never wanted to be that shuttered and suspicious.

She squeezed his hand again and smiled up at him. "Maybe not. But I'm gonna trust her."

"And that whole Dickens, English malarkey?" Jackson asked, exasperation fleeting across his features as he glanced at the older Corbie, before facing his again. He knew that look in her eyes, of course; Corbie could be mighty stubborn, when she'd made a decision. "Let me come with you."

"I'll be okay," she said, standing up from her chair. "I can take care of myself." Corbie knew she couldn't explain it logically. It was a gut feeling. Like when she'd decided to trust Felix. Maybe this would go badly... but it wasn't because this woman meant her any harm.

She had an idea, though. "But there is something you can do. Maybe."

The older Corbie looked up at that, considering. She had a feeling she knew where this was going, the question was, was she willing? As she'd said, she'd have left her girl with Mildmay without a thought. But if he was coming down with winter fever, on top of being something he couldn't handle, it would be too dangerous.

Well. She wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. And it really would be easier if she could do this without Bonnie in arms. She stood as well, settling her baby on her hip, and watched.

God save him from stubborn women who thought they could take on the whole world on their own. Jackson sighed with irritation at her answer, but any argument he might have made was halted when she offered him something to do for her. "Anything," he told her, squeezing her hand.

"Good," they said in unison. The younger Corbie startled to hear it, and the older Corbie laughed. "You trust him?" the latter asked.

Corbie made a gesture that was part a shrug, part a nod before she let go of Jackson's hand.

So it was wide open for the older Corbie to pass him the little girl in her arms. "This is Bonnie. I'd tell her to say hi, but she hasn't quite managed words yet. Or walking, but she's working on that one." Even through the confidence in her words, though, she didn't immediately take her hands away. Not until she was sure he wouldn't drop her. "Just for a little bit." There was the first little waver of uncertainty, of a question. She looked up at him with those same large blue eyes.

For a couple of seconds, Jackson only held the baby at arm's length. He looked at his Corbie, then back into the serious young face of the infant. Then he brought her against his chest, settling her there with the ease of a man who had, through his profession, handled a fair number of babies before. "You'd better be right about her," he told Corbie with a look. Then he looked back at the baby in his arms and told her, on the softer tone reserved for infants, "She'd better be right about your mom, kid."

Then only did he meet the gaze of said mom. "Go before I change my mind. I'll take good care of Bonnie." Go easy on her, he wanted to add, a request in his eyes.

Some babies didn't take to strangers. Cried when out of their mother's arms. Bonnie it would seem wasn't one of them, since once she felt herself securely held she smiled up at her new friend and reached up to touch his face. Her eyes were blue, too, that same deep blue.

Her mother held Jackson's gaze for a moment. This was... slightly terrifying, but she nodded her understanding and assent. "She'd better be right about you, too," she said, her own eyes telling him, That's my baby. She was making the choice to trust him, too.

She gave Bonnie another kiss with a murmured, "be good, I love you," before tearing herself away and reaching for the girl Corbie's hand.

The two of them vanished from the cafe.

Jackson looked distinctly displeased when they disappeared without time for so much as a goodbye. Baby Bonnie chose that moment to pat his cheek with her tiny hand in that indelicate baby way that was close to a slap, and he focused his attention back on her with a sigh. "Right. Well, they better make it quick," he told her, turning to walk out of the café. "Let's go see if we can find you a bottle somewhere."

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A trip sideways in time

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