hafl | (no subject)

Title: Grown Up
Original work: Malory Towers
Pairing: Mary-Lou/Darrell
Rating: PG

Growing up meant losing many things, Mary-Lou knew that, she learned that over the years. She lost her parents: father to old age, mother to illness. She lost Daphne, drifting away from her and now, they maintained only an irregular correspondence. She lost her long hair, cutting them away, so that they wouldn’t get in the way, when she was doing nurse’s work.

However, she also gained some things. She was wiser than she was at Malory Towers. She was also sadder, though that probably wasn’t a gain. Her work had given her that. However, most precious of all, she had gained Darrell. It was a chance meeting, years after they had left Malory Towers for good. Darrell was a beginner journalist, fresh out of school. Likewise, Mary-Lou had also only just left school and now, she was starting to work as a proper nurse.

Darrell almost didn’t recognise Mary-Lou, but even after the years Mary-Lou knew Darrell instantly. It was her, who spoke to Darrell first. A few words later, they had agreed to meet for lunch. Darrell was a new arrival in London, fresh from St. Andrews and apart from Sally, also a newcomer, she did not know anyone in the city. Mary-Lou had lived in London ever since she left Malory Towers and was happy to provide Darrell with whatever assistance she could.

Their friendship rekindled, Mary-Lou soon realised that her schoolgirl crush on Darrell endured, not diminished, but growing in force. She told Darrell so on one evening, when they were sitting together in Darrell’s rented room and Darrell just nodded and kissed her and it was like a dream come true.

Now, it was years later and Mary-Lou had lost her youth as well. So did Darrell, but whenever Mary-Lou looked at her, she knew that the Darrell she had met at Malory Towers so long ago was still there. It did not matter that silver was beginning to sneak into her black hair, Darrell was still the same and she was still making Mary-Lou smile.

Once, upon returning home from hospital early in the morning, Mary-Lou found a cold dinner on the kitchen table, along with a note, where Darrell profusely apologised for not being as good at cooking as Mary-Lou, even after all those years. Yet, Mary-Lou still found Darrell wide awake, still waiting for her, even though she could have gone to sleep long time ago, only so that she could spend a bit more time with Mary-Lou. At that moment, Mary-Lou knew even more surely than before that all in all, she gained much more growing up than she had lost.