enchanted
chapter 18, london with isaiah.

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"If you're still wanting to go see your mum we have to leave in fifteen minutes," Isaiah shook the girl awake, putting the letters back in Finn's bedside drawer. Rory groaned at the clothes being thrown at her causing her to open her eyes and see Isaiah standing over her.

"You look like a creep," she muttered.

"You look like you need to brush your hair," he quipped back with a smile. "Get up."

"I'm getting up. Calm down."

"I'm doing this for you not me."

"I know," she sighed. "Thank you."

The girl made her way to the bathroom where she got changed, brushed her hair and teeth. She quietly walked out of the bathroom and passed Isaiah the spare toothbrush once he left her room in what look like one of Finn's suits. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Hurry up, we've only got five minutes before Pol starts stirring," she teased with a smile. Isaiah let out a quiet laugh before pushing her head to the side.

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The two sat in a comfortable silence until Isaiah broke it, "Are you scared?"

"Yeah," she nodded slowly and swallowed thickly. "What if she doesn't like me?"

"Then she's an idiot," he said plainly with a shrug, reaching over to place her hand over hers.

The blonde gasped mockingly, "Are you- Are you being nice to me?"

"Shut up or I'll leave you in London by yourself," he warned with a grin.

"You do that and I'll tell Tommy that you forced me to go to London and then see how mad he gets at you," she turned her head to look at him. "Because we both know he'll believe me."

"Because you can do no wrong."

"I know," she smiled teasingly at him.

•❃°•°❀°•°❃•

"Did the letter have an address on the back?" Isaiah asked, his arm around Rory's shoulder. "Please tell me you brought one with you."

"Calm down, I brought the most recent one with an address on," she told him, fetching it from her coat pocket, turning it to the back to see the address reading out-loud. "Twenty-two Duke Street." Isaiah looked at the letter with a hum.

"This way," he directed her in the direction of where the street was.

"What if we've made a mistake and I've just wasted your time?" she began to panic when the street name into view.

"Right okay," he let out a small, quiet sigh, standing so he was facing her, placing his hands on his shoulders. "We don't have to actually see her if you don't want to. We can just stand and watch the house, flat whatever it is and see if she either enters or exits so you know what she looks like and then we can go back home and pretend we never left and it can be our secret. Or we can go and knock on the door and hope she answers so you can talk to her. It's entirely up to you."

"No, I- I want to see her," she nodded.

"Lets go then," he held out his hand which she grabbed and made their way over to the house.

Rory let out a sigh, "I feel sick." This was the first time she would seeing her mum in twelve years.

"You do look pale," Isaiah commented.

"Not helping."

"Sorry," he winced. "Do you want me to knock and you talk."

"Yeah," she whispered, following Isaiah up the steps. She let out another sigh when Isaiah knocked on the door. There was a silence which was followed by footsteps and the unlocking of the door.

"What can-" Lilian began before her face fell when she saw Rory standing at her doorstep. "What are-"

"I'm sorry. We've got the wrong house," Rory cleared her throat, rushing back down the stairs.

"Rory!" she called after her, making the blonde stop in her tracks and turn back around slowly.

"How do you know my name?"

"Because you know mine," she told her. "Which makes me believe that your dad either doesn't know you're here or he's let you see the letters so thats how you got my address."

"He doesn't know I'm here or that I read the letters," she revealed quickly making Lily sigh.

"If he finds out you've been here, he'll kill me."

"You're my mum," Rory argued.

Lily shook her head, "I'm not. As far as I'm concerned the day I gave you away I was giving you a better life as far away from me as possible."

"I'm not safe though. My last name is a curse."

"You're safer with you dad, uncles and aunts than what you are with me."

"If I'm so safe then why am I covered in bruises from almost being raped? If I'm so safe then why do I have to have a blinder follow me everywhere I go? If I'm so safe why did your dad find me and try to kidnap me for information on you?" she asked, growing frustrated.

"He wouldn't hurt you."

"Yes he would! And you know it because your dad kept you from me. He made you give me to my dad," Rory replied in a frustrated tone. "And do you know what I have made a mistake coming to see you because it's made me realise that you giving me to my dad was the best decision because if you stuck around god knows what your dad would have put me through. Everything and I mean everything my dad has done was for me, he even went as far as trying to beat up Finn, his own brother, for leaving me at the Garrison. I've realised that in the past two years that Esme is my mum and I don't think you could ever ever live up to what she's done for me even if you ever decide to come back. And if you ever mention this to my dad not that you will because he cannot stand you, I will cut you myself."

"I'm not your mum," she nodded. "You're right and I never will be."

Rory's heart broke but she held up a good front, Isaiah saw straight through the front but Lilian didn't. Instead she closed the door on them leaving her daughter to let out a quiet laugh at the situation. She made her way down the stairs while Lilian stood behind the door listening to their footsteps get quieter as they walked further away from the woman's house.

Once the girl had got past the corner Isaiah knocked harshly on the door in front of him which Lilian slowly opened again, "What now?"

"Why go to all that effort to write her letters every year on her birthday telling her how much you miss her for her to go behind her dad's back, the one person in this world who she loves more than anything, to see you for you too waste her time and tell her that you're not her mum and you don't want to see her?" Isaiah asked harshly. "She deserves a lot more than you and do you know what she's right, John would do absolutely anything for her and you can't even look her in the eyes when you're talking to her."

"Rory!" Isaiah called as the girl went out of sight.

"Sorry, I wasted your time," she told him. "I knew this was a mistake."

"No, you didn't," he shook his head watching the tears in her eyes falling slowly.

"I did, now I've gone behind my dad and Esme's back to see someone who doesn't even want to see me and now my dad is going to hate me," she told him, her voice breaking.

"He wont hate you, he could never hate you," he pulled her into a hug which she tried to push him away but he wouldn't let her go. "If she doesn't want to know you then it's her loss because as annoying as you are I'm glad you are in my life."

"Aww, you can be nice to me," Rory let out a laugh.

"Don't get used to it," he laughed, giving her smile.

"Can we just go home?" Rory asked, her head leaning against the wall.

"Let's go."

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The two of them made their way down the street of Watery Lane discussing how much trouble Rory would be in when she got home. "He's going to kill me," she realised.

"Yeah, you're dead," he nodded as they made a halt outside her front door.

"Where have you been?" John asked, standing up and rushing over to her. "Actually don't answer that I already know where you have been."

"What?"

"You went to London didn't you?" he asked raising the letters that Finn had found and given back to John.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Aurora you have no idea how much trouble you are in," he warned and Rory knew she was in big trouble because he never called her by her full name.

"I-"

"Go to your room, you're grounded." She knew he was disappointed in her which made her feel even worse because she hated disappointing her dad. The blonde laid in her bed when Esme came in. "What did you do?"

"Went to London," she muttered.

"Why?"

"Went to see Lilian," she revealed. "I had a go at her and realised I made a mistake then came home. She doesn't want to know me so I don't want to know her anymore. She's not my mum and like I said to her, you're my mum." Esme smiled at the girl even though she couldn't see her due to being laid facing the wall.

"You know I love you like you're my own right?" the woman asked, stroking Rory's hair.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Just because you're not biologically mine doesn't mean you're any less of my kid."

Rory turned her body to lay facing Esme and she moved further towards the wall patting the side of the bed, "Can you stay with me until I fall asleep please?" The woman silently laid beside the girl and began stroking her hair. "I didn't mean to upset my dad as much as I have, I just wanted to see for myself what she was like."

Esme nodded slowly, "I know, sweetheart and so does he but you didn't tell anyone where you were going and London is dangerous even with a blinder by your side."

"I know," she whispered back. "I hoped that she would be like auntie Ada said she would be bur she wasn't and I scared you and my dad as well as wasted mine and Isaiah's time and he probably hates me even more now."

"If he hated you, he wouldn't have gone to all that trouble to get to London and back in one piece."