LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY restless)

Bernadette's bags weren't as heavy as she remembered. Margaret insisted that she pack everything important. "I'm not certain we'll return."

That statement struck her as terribly off, but she couldn't explain how at the time. Now they were standing in a dark field and some shady woman had sauntered up to Margaret with an envelope. Bet was trying to listen in, but their voices fell flat and didn't carry far enough.

Margaret shook the woman's hand, shoved the envelope into her jacket pocket and walked back toward Bet. "Are you sure you have everything you want to take with you?"

"What is this about?"

Margaret offered Bet a single moment of silence. It was the closest she ever got to treating Bet like a petulant child. Her question was genuine and it would require an answer. "Your mother wants you back."

Bernadette all but spluttered nearly dropping her luggage. "My mother is dead."

Margaret placed her hand gently on Bet's shoulder. "If only it were so simply my dear." She paused and looked the young woman over. In their few years together Margaret had become quite fond of her foster daughter. She didn't often feel the pangs of motherly love, but it was aching triumphantly just now. "The woman you knew as your mother is most certainly dead, but she was only the woman who raised you. Your real mother has been stuck for some time, unable to travel here."

"So what? Are we running from her?"

It struck Margaret with a cold sort of awe that Bernadette didn't question it further. She would believe whatever Margaret told her, even if it was the greatest lie. Of course, for the time being there was no lying. "More or less. There are a few other places she won't go and I think we should seek refuge until you're fully prepared."

Bernadette wanted to have a full on tantrum about this, but the way that Margaret paled at the mention of her real mother worried her. She'd never seen Margaret worried, not even when she lost control of the peculiar abilities she was endowed with. That anything could rattle the woman surprised her and made her willing to run away and hide. "So where are we going?"

"There's another world we can enter from this one. My contact set us up with a place to live for the time being and I can teach you everything about it once we arrive." She stopped a moment to steady herself. She had left this world herself many years ago. There was no doubt that the war was long since over, but she couldn't help the shiver as it ran down her body. Margaret was returning home.

She took Bet's hand in her own and squeezed it gently. "Just close your eyes and hold tight." A rushing sensation passed over them, strange noises filling the spaces around their ears. Bet wanted to open her eyes but she had a feeling she'd never sleep again if she did.

In the space of a breath they had passed whatever barrier separated the two worlds. They stood in another dark field, but the skyline was different. The city was a little further off and the stars were all wrong. Margaret let go of Bet's hand and began to walk through the tall grass. "It's not too far of a walk." That was an exaggeration meant to make Bet feel better, but there was nothing for it now. They had to get to New Meridian before anyone noticed the two terribly out of place women, both of whom actually belonged here just at the wrong time.