(no subject)

[sunbaked_baker]

She had been able to sneak in unseen through the alley-side door to the coffeehouse, at least, during the afternoon lull. But once Rae's new apprentice had let slip to the others that she was back, there was a seemingly endless flood of people finding an excuse to come by the bakery and see her. Charlie eventually shooed everyone out of the bakery and back to what they should have been doing. The dinner rush would start soon, anyway. He, too, though, stayed long enough to give Rae a hug and ask her if she was all right.

Rae had nodded and said that she was, but couldn't - wouldn't - go into detail.

Her apprentice had the dinner and closing shifts off, but lingered to make sure for herself that Rae was all right, on the pretext of asking what was different about preparing for close on Sunday nights when they'd have Monday off. Sunshine appreciated the concern, really, but didn't really feel steady on her feet again until after she had been left alone in her bakery. Her domain.

What she really wanted was a bath to get clean of the sweat and fear that still clung to her, and about eighteen hours of sleep, but she would settle for a busy eight-hour shift in her bakery. Just few minutes after Charlie left her, however, the door to the coffeehouse's store room apparently decided that Rae didn't really need more flour, but needed the door to Milliways instead.

She hesitated.

Rae had only just left Milliways earlier that day, and didn't know if she wanted to go back quite yet. There would be questions she didn't want to have to fend off... but there would also be the possibility of sleep, and a bath. So the bar door stood ajar with Rae's hand on the doorknob for a long moment, the baker not sure she would enter but also not yet determined to close the door, either.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

Autor glances up from the bar and his book, All Quiet on the Western Front. "Rae!" He abandons his reading, hops off his stool, and books it to her. But he stops in front of her door, not embracing her like he'd planned to once he sees her face. "Are you all right?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae watches him rush towards her, glad to see him but still rather numbed by the afternoon's ordeal

"Nope," she says with a slight smile and an attempt at her usual wry tone, "half of me's left."

Deciding she might as well give in, Sunshine steps stiffly through the door, and shuts it behind her, hesitating only a moment to make sure it doesn't disappear.

[herr_bookman]

The boy relaxes a little, folding his arms. "I'd say, 'hopefully the good half,' but all of you is good so that doesn't make any sense," Autor says. "So you saw her then? Would... Would talking about it help?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"I saw her, yeah," Rae says, quiet. "But I'm, um, not sure I'm quite ready to talk about it yet. It went a lot better than it could have, though."

[herr_bookman]

Autor steps forward, opening his arms. He reaches for her hand to kiss her knuckles, and then wraps his arms around her, firm but gentle. "I'm glad you're all right, Rae. Welcome back."

[sunbaked_baker]

It takes a moment or two for her to register the hug, and to hug back. But after a while, she is practically clinging, so glad to see him again. So glad to be free and able to see him again.

"Thank you," she says into his shoulder, a little while later.

[herr_bookman]

"So, tea?" Autor says, lacing his fingers together with hers to lead her to the bar. "Tea. I've missed you." He walks backwards as he speaks, trailing her along. "The bar's not the same without you around, though I did see you as a child again."

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche appears in her eyeline, studying her.

"You went back."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae gazes back at him, still rather numbed from the afternoon.

"I did, yes," she says, stepping through the door and into the bar, at last. She couldn't stand in her bakery and talk to no one through the store room door. Someone could overhear, and Rae has had enough of people talking about her behind her back, these days.

[street_sparrow]

"And are you... is it - did you get home?"

[sunbaked_baker]

She nods a little, looking back over her shoulder to make sure the door hadn't disappeared. "Pat brought me back to the coffeehouse, just now."

"I'm... fine," then, realizing how unconvincing it sounds even to her own ears, she amends, "I'll be okay."

[street_sparrow]

"Yeah, I think you will be now", he agrees. "With a bit of time. And what about her?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"How do you mean?" Rae says, not sure she follows. Before today, Rae would have said that nothing could faze the Goddess of Pain, but now she knows otherwise. "She is... still terrifying as ever. She apparently really hates me. More than she did previously, even."

The Goddess isn't used to not getting her way.

[witchfinder_general]

"Do come in, Rae," says Father Harman, sitting at a table nearby with a bible and some index cards. "It's good to see you again."

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae looks wearily back at him. It isn't the same kind of exhaustion he has seen in her before, and she is dressed too neatly for fighting vampires. The shoes would be impractical for it, at the very least.

"It's good to see you, too, Father Harman," Rae replies, numbly. Somewhat stiff, she steps through the door and closes it behind her. It wouldn't do to have one of the kitchen staff at the coffeehouse overhearing her talking to no one in the supply room.

[witchfinder_general]

"As you've not been fighting vampires, you must have been fighting bureaucracy -- and the Goddess of Pain's office was still waiting for you," he says. "You look dead on your feet; sit down and have some tea."

Without waiting for her answer, he asks a rat to bring two cups of tea.

[sunbaked_baker]

"Was," Rae echoes, making her away over to his table. "I've just... come back. I made it out."

But simply surviving the ordeal doesn't seem to have made anything any better. She sinks down into the chair like one afraid of moving too quickly, lest she simply topple over.

"And I got the, um, evidence. To my friend. One of the agents on my side."

[witchfinder_general]

"That was the tea spiked with an illegal drug, was it?" Father Harman says. "I think you had a small recorder from Jay as well? Did that work? And do sit down. Tea will be here in an instant."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Yes. I had it running throughout the visit," she says, slumping against the back of the chair like a puppet with its strings cut. She is so tired. Absently, she wipes at her eyes with the heels of her palms, and tucks stray bits of hair behind her ears so she doesn't look so completely frazzled. "Tea would be glorious."

[runningred]

Jay looks up and smiles to her, pushing the chair opposite him out to invite her into the room. He won't chase her, she looks like she needs time to make up her mind.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae sees him, of course, and offers the ghost of a smile in return. But she still isn't quite sure about coming through, and hesitates, leaning on the door frame to keep herself upright.

In the end, a friendly face who won't press, and the possibility of a bath and some sleep win out, and she comes through. She is wearing the exact clothes she left wearing, a month ago, only now they show wrinkles where they had been sweated in, and the smart bun her hair had been in isn't looking so neat.

She can manage a faint smile, though, as she approaches Jay's table and the offered chair. "Hey, you," she says, quietly.

[runningred]

"Hey you." Jay smiles warmly, catching a passing rat and ordering her some tea. "You okay?"

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae touches the back of the offered chair, carefully moving around it until she can sink down onto the seat, looking weary. "I'm better than I could've been."

And that'll have to be enough, right now.

"I'll be all right."

[runningred]

He lets her settle into the chair, pouring her a cup of tea and pushing it gently towards her. He gives her time to get her head together. "You look like you could do with a week's sleep."

[sunbaked_baker]

"Your assessment is pretty damn accurate, I must say," Rae manages a tired smile, leaning her elbows on the table and wrapping her hands around the cup of tea.

It takes her a moment to take a sip - she holds the cup in both hands, to prevent her from accidentally spilling it. The tea is hot and strong, just what she needed. Rae's weary eyes half-close as she breathes in the fragrant steam.