“So big,” Magnus’ heart swells. Such a healthy boy- god, he should have been there. His heart hurts for his name- Valor. It was a name he’d picked out himself, she promised him that if it was a boy he could pick the name, and if it was a girl she could pick. She forgot him, but she still remembered the name he suggested.
He finally stops at her door and memorizes her house, bidding her good night. It feels surreal, watching her walk inside after saying good night, and watching her close the door felt like another little death. A panic tightens his throat and for a moment he’s afraid everything was just a daydream, but then he sees her silhouette against the drawn curtain a moment later and his heartbeat slows.
He can’t honestly fathom the idea of walking away now, just the idea of going back to his own home makes him feel ill. He’s so close to having Julia back, so close to healing from the grief that has made him sick for so many years, so close to beginning to make it up to her for leaving. Just thinking about turning his back on this house now makes him shake with fear. He’s so afraid to take his eyes off it and find out later it was all an illusion.
But he has to get ahold of that ichor. He calls a pod from the bureau base for the first time in months, and waits exactly there until it comes. He stays pressed to the glass to watch her house until the darkness of night consumes it, and he spends the rest of the ride shaking with grief and terror. He rushes to Lucretia’s office after that and frantically relays everything that’s happened over the last few hours to her. She’s just as shocked as he is, and then heartbroken when he asks her if she still has any of the ichor left, and she has to tell him no.
Until Davenport reminds her that they still have that flask from so many months ago tucked away somewhere. It’s not much, but all Julia would need is a drop. Lucretia reassures Magnus that she never fed his information to Fischer after his faked death, she never had any time, but it’s the only thing Magnus can think of, and so he takes the flask gratefully.
He doesn’t sleep at all that night. He’s frantic when he returns to his home, and when he finds Julia’s cooking still there on his table, he breaks down crying again. It’s not terribly flattering to sob into a plate of cookies, but he couldn’t stop himself. They tasted like home.
Come the next day, he has everything put together. He’s exhausted, but he can’t waste a single minute on sleep, he has to get back to Julia’s house, confirm she even existed at all. It all felt too good to be true, it didn’t seem possible that e could go to her house and still find her there, let alone his son. The closer he gets, the larger his fear grows that it was all a fabrication of his lonely, broken mind. But still, he brings coffee with the ichor hidden inside it and a loaf of raisin bread, one of the only things he knows how to make successfully, lumpy as always with the way he hand kneads dough to the perfect consistency, and a fresh square of soft butter. He knocks on her door, and holds his breath, and waits.
Honestly, the moment she’s inside she just gathers her son up into her arms and shakes. She’s crying a little, which isn’t really helping Valor being worried about her, and Annie comes up to them to lay across their legs as well. It’s a heartwarming scene. She doesn’t know when she’s gonna see Magnus again, but, if he is who he says he is? She figures it’ll probably be soon.
Which is honestly why she’s not surprised to hear a knock on the door the next morning around brunch time. Normally, Valor would be in school by this time of day, but Julia kept him home. She claimed it was just to give him a day off, but really she just... needed to have her family around him. When the knock comes she’s elbows deep in washing up in the kitchen, and she barely notices that Valor is the one who heads for the door.
Usually, she wouldn’t think anything of it -- their village is small enough that Valor would know everyone who would be coming to visit, and no one usually visits with malicious intent -- and then she realizes that Valor has yet to meet Magnus. She freezes where she’s standing in the kitchen because yep, she can hear Valor opening the door.
“Y’know, it’s sorta early for Mom to be getting visitors lookin for her bre--” And then Valor freezes, realizes who he’s looking at. His eyes widen. The door is slammed shut in Magnus’s face, and he’s raising his voice, hollering. “MAMA! Magnus Burnsides is at our door!!!!” Starstruck.
Julia drops the dish she was cleaning back into the basin. This was going to be a long day.
