August 29th, 1892 - Darrow Household

Zelda was only in the Ministry for fifteen minutes that morning, during which time she returned her badge and robes and tendered her resignation. She'd had intentions of staying to finish the rest of the day, but the thought of facing anyone else in her department was chilling, so instead she took the floo back to the Sanditon. Orion's wetnurse clearly hadn't expected to see her so soon, as she looked baffled to see her, and Alfred was at the docks.

She sat at the back of the house with a mug of tea until the tea started to go cold, and was still sitting there with the mostly-untouched mug grasped in her hands when Alfred came back. (It was just mid-morning — she wasn't sure if he'd planned to come back or if the wet-nurse had told him.)

"Hi," Zelda said, blinking at him.

---

J. Alfred Darrow Fortitude Greengrass

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

The wetnurse had told him, and Alfred had spent the walk back to the house wondering what to make of this development. There was no reason for Zelda to be home so soon, unless something had happened that had forced her to come home. If that was the case, he would have expected her to be distraught about whatever it was, or at least shaken. The nurse hadn't said anything of that sort, which was confusing. Was it just that the nurse didn't know Zelda that well and couldn't read the signs of how she was feeling, if she was trying not to show it?

In any case, he was worried as he walked back to the house — then baffled when he found her in the back room, just sitting there with a cup of tea and nothing to say to him except hi.

"Hi," he returned. He was still standing in the doorway with his hand on the knob, unsure whether or not he ought to come in.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda adjusted her grip on the tea. She had never thought this through to the explanation part of things — which was unlike her, but she hadn't actually believed that she was quitting the Ministry until she found herself doing it.

"I quit," she offered, looking up at Alfred in the doorway.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Well, of all the things that could have happened, that was... a thing that could happen.

Except it wasn't, really. Alfred had never imagined that Zelda would want to quit her job, and prior to this moment he would not have believed it was within the realm of possibly. He was having trouble wrapping his mind around it. What had she actually said? What would this mean? What was she going to do with her days at the Sanditon? Not that she needed to do anything, exactly, but she wasn't the sort of person to do nothing.

"Oh," he said, moving a few steps into the room. "I thought you were going back today."

Obviously. What he wanted to say, but wasn't sure he wanted to bring up, was why didn't you mention this before?

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda sighed into the cold tea. "I was supposed to," she said. She was supposed to go back to work, and instead she was never going to go back. So instead she was in the back room with her tea and her husband and he seemed — confused. She should have anticipated that he would be confused by this; it was wildly unlike her to quit the Ministry, and she was even surprised with herself.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

There was nothing to say in response to her words, but the way she sighed into her cup brought up a slew of feelings. He frowned deeply. There wasn't just something going on, there was a lot going on, and he'd somehow missed all of it. Neither of them had been sleeping well since Orion was born and he was so tired he'd mistied a figure of eight knot that morning, but that wasn't an excuse — or not enough of one.

He entered the room fully and sat in one of the armchairs. "Come sit with me?" he asked, despite the chair only really having room to seat one.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Alfred had things to do, she was sure of it — the sailboats at the docks of the Sanditon were more important now that she'd quit. But instead she set her mug down on the coffee table and got up, walking across the room to squish into the armchair next to him. Zelda opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but closed it before any sound came out, because — well what was there to say, really?

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred held out one arm so that he could embrace her when she settled in next to him. He leaned in to her, closed his eyes, and smelled her hair. All he wanted was for her to be happy. Was this helping her to be happy? If she didn't want to work, then he'd work doubly hard to ensure she never had to. On the other hand, he hoped that she hadn't felt pressured to resign because it was what people did. He didn't think she would have done it just because of societal pressure, but he'd returned to work sooner than she had, so he didn't know exactly who she'd been talking to or which narratives they'd pushed. She still felt, at least to him, somewhat fragile from the ordeal of birth.

"Is this what you want?" he eventually asked.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

She closed her eyes with Alfred's arm around her. She could have stayed there forever in silence, she thought — she wasn't really thinking about anything in the moment, just the weight of Alfred's arm and the feeling of him against her. She opened her eyes again when he spoke. "I don't know," she said, "I just — kept thinking about going back, and I couldn't picture it."

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

He didn't really understand, much as he tried. Alfred had encountered problems in the past when reality didn't match what he'd pictured, but he'd never had a problem envisioning what he wanted, or didn't want.

"Maybe you just need more time," he suggested. He didn't have any better ideas.

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda sighed. Thinking about the baby, being with the baby, missing the baby when she was too far away from him — it all took up so much of her time. And sometimes when she was with the baby she wished she was at work. "I was supposed to be ready," she admitted, "And then it was like — I felt frozen." She'd found herself in the Ministry atrium thinking I can't do this and then the next thing she knew, she was quitting. (Without the Ministry, who was she? Zelda wasn't sure.)

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Frozen wasn't a great adjective, all things considered. Alfred frowned. He did have some experience with that feeling, he thought, though obviously not with this context.

"It's okay if you don't want to. People change," he reassured her. "The day Pablo and I were rescued in South America I still thought I'd marry Lily Huddleston. And then as soon as I saw her again I just — knew I wasn't the same person anymore. I'd already changed, but it took a moment like that to realize it."

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda frowned. I liked who I was, she thought, and the words were on the tip of her tongue — but she knew she ought not to say them, because they were concerning. "Maybe you're right," she said instead, tone uneasy.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred could feel the underlying unrest in her tone, but he didn't know what to say to address it. He didn't even know what it was that was leaving her uneasy, really, though he could make guesses.

"I'll love you regardless," he said, which seemed obvious, but since the example he'd used involved falling out of 'love' with someone perhaps it would be important to verbalize. "If you want to stay home with our baby forever or you want to go back to the Ministry someday or you want to up and leave England tomorrow and sail around the world until we're too old to heave a line. Whatever you want to do, we're here together."

---

  

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

Zelda smiled at Alfred, tired and relieved. "I love you too," she said. The words came easy and genuine for the first time in the conversation. "And if this is too — I don't want to make anything financially difficult for us," she added. Maybe it was easier to focus on the logistics, on the practicalities — because she had no idea how to articulate her feelings.

---

  

---

AMAZING set by MJ

The financials were so far removed from his focus that when she brought it up he almost wanted to laugh. "We're okay," he reassured her. The repairs from the hurricane had set them back slightly on where he'd expected they would be by now, but he'd taken on extra work that spring to compensate for it, so by now they were more or less back on track. Even if they weren't, their support system was massive. It was not as though Katia Meadowes would tolerate their child not having enough clothes, that Uncle H would have shrugged it off if they didn't have a ham for Christmas dinner, or that Caroline would have let Orion's birthday approach without a shower of gifts. Even if worst came to worst, it wasn't as though the Fudges were cold and impersonal landlords or employers; they wouldn't let Zelda and Alfred struggle, if they could help it.

"I'll take care of us," he said, giving her a slight squeeze. Then, joking: "Ask me again when we've got seven children and not just the one."

---

The following 1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post:1 user Likes J. Alfred Darrow's post
   Zelda Darrow

---

MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER