Can't Rush Your Healing

Wedging a screwdriver into the lid of the crate, Nicky prized it off. The wood splintered, the crack of it giving way sounding like a firecracker. He glanced idly towards the shop – empty for the moment. The bell above the door would let him know if anyone came strolling in anyway. He’d twitch the curtain that separated the front the back closed that last couple of inches before anybody got an eyeful of what he had spread out down here.

Curls of straw and crumpled paper tumbled out around his feet. He’d get it all later, once he’d found out whether or not the three thousand dollars had been worth it. Nicky supposed he could’ve bargained harder, but his heart hadn’t been in knocking the miserly old git down to near nothing on the price. He’d described the books as in ‘vintage’ condition, the photos he’d sent through upside down in his email showing crumpled paper stained as yellow as the teeth that’d flashed at him as they’d struck their bargain. They were grimoires gathered by an old magical family someone in the wilds of Kentucky. It didn’t matter how much he’d understood of what the man had hooted at him or how much they’d set him back, not as long as the key to unlocking that vicious little witch trap upstairs.

Dark brows knotted as he pulled the first of the cloth wrapped bundles out of the crate and then a second and third. Nicky’s nose wrinkled and he made a half hearted effort at digging through the last of the packing material. It smelt like something dead had tagged along for the ride, but there was nothing else in there. He lifted the crate down off the table and tucked it underneath, spreading out the grimoires in the spot it’d occupied. Dragging a chair closer, he settled himself in front of them. Maeve had been without her magic for months on end now, Mandy without hers for more than one. She hadn’t had hers as long, but it must’ve been like having a limb cut off for both of them. That feeling of vulnerability would’ve hollowed him out, his magic had been a part of him for almost as long as he could remember – without it Mandy wouldn’t have been here now, and Maeve wouldn’t have been upstairs, safe from the twisted son of a bitch who’d taken them both.

Nicky flicked through the first few pages, fingertips tracing the faded ink on those yellowed pages. The books themselves didn’t smell much better then the packaging had, but he’d tolerate it. A glamour spell. A boundary spell that was little different to the one he’d used on the shop and his own flat to try and shield Maeve and Mandy from any reprisals for what him and Darce had done to the Original scumbag to get the two of them out.

Halfway through the grimoire he found a spell for breaking magical locks. Maybe. Scrabbling for a bit of paper and a pen, Nicky was making notes when he heard noise out in the shop. Mandy heading … nope.

His head came up, the notes he’d been making were shoved aside and Nicky was on his feet. The curtain was tugged aside with an impatient twitch of his hand. ”What ‘appened to you not goin’ anywhere without one of us? ‘ave you lost your mind? That thing’s not gonna take to losin’ the two of you easily, Mandy.” As though he needed to remind any of them of that when they were all braced for Niklaus Mikaelson’s next visit. ”There’s lunch in the fridge back there. You can ‘ave that.” He wasn’t gonna mention Rhys’ part in this. If Darcey saw the kid back here he’d definitely end up nothing but a smudge on the floorboards this time.

Tagged: MANDY REID * Word Count: 640

Sending Mandy back to London had certainly been a consideration – God, she’d have hated him for it, but if he’d believed it would keep her safe he might’ve done it. Their parents would’ve practically had to sit on her to keep her there. They would have stood between her and Niklaus Mikaelson if the man chose to flex his power again there too. They’d have died for her doing it. That thought alone had sent a hot rush of nausea through him. Lorna and their unborn child had died to save Darcey, the two of them had put their lives on the line to get Mandy back (and unexpectedly Maeve too), none of them would want there to be a third time – not even Mandy.

He doubted she’d wanted to go out any more than they’d wanted her to at first. Their flat here was a sanctuary, a defendable position (although he hated to think of it that way). If they had to they’d batten down the hatches and Mandy could hide behind them for as long as she needed to. He’d known that she’d tire of them in the end, he’d just suspected it would be after they’d managed to destroy that thing upstairs and get both her and Maeve’s magic back out of it. Nicky hissed out a sigh, looking almost wistfully back over his should towards the grimoires and his notes. Maybe the answer they were looking for was just on the next page, Mandy could help with it. If he could stop her from bolting out the door.

Nicky made a noise that was half agreement as he glanced back. ”It’s been less time than you spent there with him,” he reminded her, feeling the jab in his conscience as he did. He didn’t need to remind her of anything she’d gone through, it had to be playing in her head on a continual loop. ”Are these friends that can step in and defend you if that arsehole decides to stop in to the Grill for a spot of lunch himself?” Asking exactly who the friends were was likely just to end up with Mandy stonewalling him. Even before some jumped up mongrel with overgrown teeth had decided to kidnap two innocent women.

He. Nicky was instantly grumbling under his breath, shaking his head. He was starting forward already, ignoring the bite in her tone. ”He can keep waitin’. That man’s trouble, Mand. You think it was a coincidence that he showed up ‘ere just as you happen to be snatched?” He wasn’t delusional enough to think that the bloke was involved with Klaus Mikaelson, but he still got the whiff of trouble off of him. Most people would’ve cracked under the pressure that Darcey had applied that afternoon. The bloke had in a way, but all that had come spilling out was babbled recollections and absolutely no explanation as to what he was, other than a problem right in that moment.

”You want us to write ‘I’m sorry we were mean to you when our sister got kidnapped by an evil son of a bitch? I don’t think so. We did what we had to and if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have had a single clue what’d happened to you.” Even if she could soften him up enough to do it, there was no way Darcey would. He could keep his distance, from the shop and his sister. ”I doubted anythin’ would happen here either. The only way you’re goin’ is if I come with you. Gives me a chance to make that apology, hmm?” Nicky stepped back through the curtain, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair. He slipped it on, marching into the shop and towards the door. Given the choice between having him as a chaperone and eating the cheese and pickle (the right kind, nobody sane would call a wally a pickle), Nicky imagined Mandy would be at that table back there in minutes.

Tagged: MANDY REID * Word Count: 665

He didn’t have to tell Mandy that time didn’t mean a thing. Darce hadn’t meant to be long when he’d gone out for that last drink either, but he’d ended up held for months by those things. It had been the same for Mandy, although she’d had no intention to leave the shop on the morning that Klaus Mikaelson had tried to get his hands on a powerful witch. All sorts of good intentions were torn apart when circumstances ended up out of your control.

Nicky shot a look just as sharp back at his little sister, the pale blue eyes the family all shared narrowing down like he could pin Mand to the floor with just a look. Maybe he’d been a little sharp with his argument, but it wasn’t like she’d have paid attention to him otherwise. ”How long don’t make a difference and you know it,” he said on a sigh. It was the least of his arguments, she could’ve said she was just popping down the road to the corner shop for a bag of penny sweets and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. She needed to be careful and stick close to home where there were people around who could prevent that son of a bitch from getting his hands on her if he poked his head out of that tacky mansion again.

The breath that huffed out this time was definitely amused. Nicky hitched his brows, the corners of his mouth rising in a pinched smile too. ”I think we saw all we needed to when he was squirming right there…” He waved a hand towards the spot on the floor where Darcey had pinned the boy like a bug – not quite pulling his wings off before they’d let him scramble away. ”Not knowin’ what he is don’t mean that he’s not smart enough to try and play yer.” He wasn’t his brother, he didn’t see everything as suspicious, but there’d been too many coincidences that day for him to even try and override the brotherly instinct to keep any weaselly little scrote away from his sister.

It wasn’t like he’d wanted to start relieving what had happened right here – the shop had been infused with enough memories after that day as it was – but they’d both shoved that door open now. ”Did I even consider it after we got in ‘ere and found you gone, blood on the floor and him scrabblin’ away from us? No, Mandy, I didn’t. We saw trouble and he was the one right in the middle of it. What would you have done under the circumstances?” After what had happened with Darcey and the sirens Mand should’ve understood their viewpoint a little more. Not that they hadn’t been overprotective before, this was just proof that justified them being like that.

Temper flared in Mandy the same way it did in Darcey – hot and sometimes with the added gift of actual flames. Nicky’s brows rose in the wake of it again, one hand thrown out like he was holding he back. ”Don’t be dramatic,” he warned. ”He walked out of ‘ere didn’t he?” Bearing some bruises maybe, but given the circumstances Darcey had been restrained. Nicky scoffed at the accusation, shaking his head. ”He didn’t strangle him. What’s he been sayin’ to you ‘appened?” The picture was a little fuzzy in his own mind, but he knew Darcey hadn’t choked the truth out of him.

”He can try,” Nicky snorted, stopping with his hand on the door like he’d hold it open for her. ”What’s he gonna say? Months ago some scary men threatened me, now one of ‘em wants to come and have lunch with me and his sister. There’s no proof, Mandy.” There wasn’t any proof of how his sister had been held either, but that didn’t matter. ”You want me to stand right here and stare over there the entire time instead?”

As though that would’ve worked. Nicky narrowed his eyes, glancing at the Grill through the window. He’d seen what Mikaelson was capable of, their sister could be gone before they even got out the door here. ”Don’t you lump me and that arsehole together,” he warned Mandy tightly as he looked back at her. ”I’m doin’ this for yer own safety. Get him to buy take away and bring it over here. You can eat in the back, can’t ya?” Right under her brother’s doting eye.

Tagged: MANDY REID * Word Count: 742

”Not like that,” Nicky said shortly as Mandy tried to make clear it had all been a coincidence again. Maybe it had been just bad luck on her part, but she had to see that standing on the outside of it all gave a different perspective. A powered bloke showing up here just after she’d vanished – one that she hadn’t mentioned to either of them, probably for good reason – was suspicious until proven otherwise. His lips pursed faintly, his head tilting in a begrudging nod. ”If we’d honestly thought he was up to somethin’ after Darce talked to him he wouldn’t have walked outta ‘ere.” The boy would’ve ended up like so many others – planted in a shallow grave in the woods that surrounded a town that turned a blind eye to such things.

As a toddler Mandy’s steely eyed glare had been enough to have her big brothers caving to whatever she wanted, but the times had changed. That Mandy hadn’t suffered through the violent loss of her sister-in-law and her own kidnapping that’d come so soon after Darcey’s. Nicky huffed a breath out through his nose and shrugged, like he’d actually considered the question. ”He shoulda been a little grateful, yeah. It could’ve been worse for everybody involved ‘ere.” That was a reminder Mandy didn’t need, but it was the painful truth that’d lodged in his chest the moment they’d found the shop trashed and her gone. ”You woulda spoken up the minute it ‘appened. He was standing right there and wouldn’t say a straight word about any of it.” Mostly because Darce had terrified the kid. Even once they’d made it clear he’d probably get out, he’d continued to babble his way through his story about the man he’d seen take Mandy when he’d handled the pendant.

He'd stared past her at the square beyond the windows and the Grill before that. When Nicky looked back, his expression was back to being flat again. His fingers tightened around the handle of the door. ”I wouldn’t prefer it,” he said gruffly. ”If he can’t put up with me breathin’ down his neck then maybe he shouldn’t be spendin’ time ‘round ya.” There was no way he would’ve added if the boy couldn’t put up with Darcey doing the same. He and Darcey were on different levels with their ability to intimidate, but with both of them it came from a place of love.


Maybe Niklaus Mikaelson would’ve said what he’d done was out of some attempt to keep his family safe, but it would’ve been bullshit. A man like that didn’t need to wring the magic out of a couple of witches to be able to do that. They were the Original sodding family. That meant almost bottomless power and the sort of arrogance that had driven him to lock two women up for months. Nicky’s jaw went tight as he continued to stare at his sister. After a moment, he sighed, giving a brief nod. The apology was genuine enough.

”I know you didn’t,”{/b] he muttered. On the other side of things it was hard to see anything except being held again. It didn’t matter the reason for doing it. Nicky’s determination started to soften around the edges. "’t's been a few weeks with you being magicless. You wanna be out there in this town without even that to protect ya?” That little voice in the back of his head warned him that she probably wasn’t worth a thing to Mikaelson without her magic, but it was cold comfort. ”You know the first time you walked to school on your own we were all followin’ behind?” he asked hoarsely after a moment. ”We trusted you, but we were still worried. It’s the same now. We’re always gonna worry for ya. Don’t get too pissed off at your big brothers for that, eh?” They were doing all they could for her. This had proved that sometimes even that wasn’t enough though.

Tagged: MANDY REID * Word Count: 663