Did he have a nice walk? Not particularly, no. Ben felt as though he were stuck in an impossible situation, a spot where every possible decision was the wrong one, and everything he'd encountered on the walk through the quiet country neighborhood seemed perfectly crafted to remind him of it. As one prime example: a place where one beam of a two-rail fence had fallen down and laid in the grass a few feet off the path, with a little worn trail of dirt running from the main path to it. It was obviously a spot where children had gone off the path to sit down; it would have been an uncomfortably short squat for an adult, but it was a perfect makeshift bench for someone Nora's size. Maybe she had sat there before, side by side with her friend, while Melody and Diana waited on the path and exchanged stories. Seeing something like that and picturing his daughter in this place made his absence from the scene feel so stark. He wanted to be in his daughter's life, and the aftermath of the dragon attack had made it obvious that this wasn't the sort of thing to wait and let develop over time. He wanted to be in Nora's life now, to the greatest extent he could.
But last night hadn't been about Nora. Last night had been about desperation and need; last night had been Ben trying to cling to one incredibly far-flung hope that someday everything could be alright again. Nothing had ever been alright between the two of them, but from time to time they'd both been desperate enough to pretend that it was, or that it could be.
Unfortunately, the a close relationship with Nora and some sort of relationship with Melody were inextricably linked; he couldn't have one without the other. He and Melody had been cordial coparents despite not being together, but he suspected that last night had ruined any chance of going back to that. Her expression as she set Nora down said as much; she was only offering him a smile for the sake of pretense, not because she felt like smiling at him at all.
Fuck. Things had already been ruined, and now somehow he'd gone and ruined them more.
"Uhm. It's a — nice area," he said with a helpless sort of shrug, rather than saying anything about what he'd been doing while he'd been gone or what he'd been thinking. He reached to pick Nora up as she approached the wall and returned Melody's tight smile.
But last night hadn't been about Nora. Last night had been about desperation and need; last night had been Ben trying to cling to one incredibly far-flung hope that someday everything could be alright again. Nothing had ever been alright between the two of them, but from time to time they'd both been desperate enough to pretend that it was, or that it could be.
Unfortunately, the a close relationship with Nora and some sort of relationship with Melody were inextricably linked; he couldn't have one without the other. He and Melody had been cordial coparents despite not being together, but he suspected that last night had ruined any chance of going back to that. Her expression as she set Nora down said as much; she was only offering him a smile for the sake of pretense, not because she felt like smiling at him at all.
Fuck. Things had already been ruined, and now somehow he'd gone and ruined them more.
"Uhm. It's a — nice area," he said with a helpless sort of shrug, rather than saying anything about what he'd been doing while he'd been gone or what he'd been thinking. He reached to pick Nora up as she approached the wall and returned Melody's tight smile.
MJ made this <3