Surprise

A/N: I added to the chapter before this one, didn't changed anything, just added after what was already there if you want to check it out.

"Come on, come on, come on" Talia says, dragging her parents through the door by the hand.

"We're going, we're going" Georgia replies.

"We go to the town every week for years now, how came you're still this excited to go there every time?" Tim asks smiling at her enthusiasm.

"Because it's awesome, and they're opening the new alchemy store today, I wanna see what that's like" Talia tells them, Morgana nodding her agreement from her shoulder.

Timothy and Georgia share a secret smile at that as they get into the carriage and make their way to town.

"Are you ready for this, Talia?" Tim asks trying to hold back a shit-eating grin while slowly opening the store's door for Talia.

Talia looks at her parents with suspicion, they've been acting weird for a like two weeks now, creepy origin story aside.

'They're definitively up to something'

[Agreed] 'No we're not!!!!' Clover and Morgana answer her thought at the same time.

'Morgana, since when can you speak back to me through your thoughts?' Talia asks.

[She still can't hear me at least, but now that I think about it, she has been able to hear your side of all of our conversations since she was born, she has just been polite enough to not interrupt this whole time.]

'Indeed, so why now Morgana? What do you know?' Talia questions and Morgana flies inside the shop in a hurry to get away and hide.

Talia runs inside after her. Not that she needs to, their communication doesn't have a limit for distance. And she stops in her tracks as a little eight-year-old girl with medium curly red hair and green eyes runs towards her and tackles her to the ground.

"TALIA, I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH" Maddie screams excited to meet her friend once more.

"Maddie, what? How? When? What's happening right now?" Talia asks confused, but extremely happy, hugging her friend back tightly.

Their parents get to them and watch them, smiling at the two.

"It was all us, actually" Georgia says.

"Maddie has been telling me how much she misses you every single day since you guys parted" John tells them.

"And Talia had been asking about what we knew about you two, every week" Tim shared.

Both girls blush a little, still hugging on the floor.

"John knew what town we came from, but since we didn't exchanged numbers or anything like that, and they travel all over for John's work, there was nothing we could do about it." Georgia says.

"And then, two weeks ago a waitress called me aside and told me a man named John and his daughter Maddie were looking for my family and gave me his number" Tim says grinning at the girls.

"Yes, after what happened that day on the lake, I've been putting things into perspective, so, I finished all my work that was incomplete, traveled around until the end of my contract, and decided to open a store where I could settle down with my little girl" John tells them.

"When daddy asked me for ideas to where we could live, I said that I wanted to live close to you" Maddie says looking down feeling a little shy.

Talia just kept grinning at the whole story, she loved every part of it, for what she heard, John isn't such an absent father anymore, the girl that she felt an immediate connection with and that she's pretty sure is the one that triggered that one memory she got back in a dream just confessed to not having forgotten her and now that the secret is finally out her parents will stop looking at her with random smirks and shit-eating grins whenever they remember they know something she doesn't, it was getting weird.

"Thank you" Talia tells them all sincerely, burying her face in Maddie's neck as a single tear falls from her eye.

[You always get a bit weird around this girl]

'What?'

[You get emotional, you both froze when you met, you were one step away from crying when she referred to you as a baby, you kept asking me if I was sure she was okay over the years, you said that when she was drowning it was like a piece of your soul was drowning with her and wasn't that memory trigger around the same time you met her? which you still won't tell me much about.]

'Huh, it is weird, and I haven't told you much because there wasn't much to tell, it was really vague and confusing'

[If you say so]

"Come on Talia, come see my new house" Maddie says dragging Talia out of the store to a house right beside it as the adults follow behind them.

It's a simple brick house, not too big, yellow walls, wooden door, two floors, four windows out front, two on the second floor and two on the ground floor, with the door on the middle.

Maddie gives Talia a little tour and they end it in Maddie's room.

"And this is my room" Maddie says sitting down on her bed.

Talia walks around looking at everything, there's a little desk with some alchemy books under the window, a wardrobe, a bed, a bedside table, and some random pieces of metal in a corner.

"What's that?" Talia points to the corner with the random pieces of metal.

"Just some materials I was checking earlier, generally I do that at the workshop in the back of the store, but dad brought this pile here for me to check it out and I haven't moved it yet" Maddie says.

"Materials for what?" Talia asks looking the pieces over more carefully now.

"Just some tinkering I do sometimes, I made a coffee machine once, dad uses it every single day" Maddie says proudly.

"Wow" Talia says in awe that such a young girl could already be that smart.

Maddie shrugs "Not as fancy as your magic"

"But just as impressive, are you a witch too?" Talia asks her smiling.

"No, I've never even tested my affinity, dad used to say that magic pales in comparison to what one can create by oneself" Maddie quotes.

"That doesn't make much sense, magic is a part of every witch, to have magic and not use it, would be like refusing to use an arm or something"

"Oh" Maddie says thinking on this new perspective. "I've never thought of it that way, but it makes sense, I guess. Since you saved me on the lake using magic, he stopped saying it though."

"Maybe he realized magic can be useful too" Talia ponders.

"Yeah, I think he knew it though, I saw he trying to do magic a couple times, but it never worked for him" Maddie confides.

"Have you tried it?" Talia wonders.

"No... Once, after you saved me, but it didn't work, maybe my family just isn't supposed to do magic" Maddie says with a small voice looking down.

"Hey" Talia tilts her head up by her chin, "Anyone can do magic, it's just harder for some than it is to others, I can even teach you if you want" she offers.

"REALLY?!?" Maddie asks with a brilliant smile that makes Talia's heart skip a beat.

"Really" Talia offers Maddie her pinky to seal the promise.

"Then you'll teach me magic and I'll teach you alchemy, if you want, I'm quite good at it" Maddie counters.

"Deal" Talia says.

"Deal" Maddie agrees finally wrapping her pinky with Talia's, officially sealing their promise.

They talk for a little while catching up when Morgana enters the room really slowly, watching Talia all the while.

"I'm not mad at you Morgana" Talia says without looking in her direction, Maddie on the other hand whips her head around to see Morgana and then runs to hug her.

Morgana giggles as Maddie tickles her. "What took you so long, where were you?" Maddie asks finally letting Morgana catch her breath.

Morgana makes a guilty face at Talia.

"She was scared that I'd be mad at her for not telling me about this surprise" Talia answers for her.

"You're really not mad, mommy?" Morgana asks with a small voice.

"No, sweetie. You didn't do anything wrong, I trust that if it was something I needed to know you would've told me as soon as you learned about it, you just didn't want to ruin the surprise, I get that" Talia explains to her.

Morgana smiles flying around the room in her excitement.

"She doesn't talk much to others, does she?" Maddie asks feeling a bit ignored by Morgana.

"She doesn't talk much in general actually, she rather show her meaning, and emotions through actions other than words" Talia explains.

"Oh, that makes sense" Maddie nods sitting back by Talia's side. "Did you really miss me?" Maddie asks shyly.

"Every day" Talia answers to which Maddie grins and hugs her tight with Morgana soon joining them the girls end up becoming a little pile of giggles on the bed as Georgia knocks on the open door.

"Come on girls, we made lunch" She joins the girls tickling and laughing around with them until Tim enters the room saying.

"Lunch is ready, I thought your mom came to call you already" he pauses on his step seeing that Georgia did come already but end it up joining their little game instead.

"Oh, we're coming" she passes Maddie to Tim grinning and throws Talia over her shoulder motioning for him to do the same with Maddie as they go downstairs with Morgana flying behind them as the girls laugh at their little antics.

They all eat having light pleasant conversation along their meal, and then it's time to go.

"I know you want to spend more time together after so long sweetie, but John just opened his shop today, and your dad and I still have things to do at home" Georgia explains.

"We'll come back to visit tomorrow though, you'll see each other again really soon" Tim tells her.

Talia is happy she won't have to wait the whole week to come back, but at the same time sad that they're partying ways so soon after finding each other once again.

"What if" Talia thinks about it. "what if Maddie came with us today, and we brought her back tomorrow, she can sleep in the bed you got for Morgana that she never uses anyway" Talia suggests.

"Can I?" Maddie asks her dad excited.

Their parents go the side to discuss it in private, so that they can give an answer unanimously without making one of them the bad guy, and come back smiling.

"Maddie, go get your things" John tells his daughter.

"Really?" She asks excited to which he nods and she runs upstairs dragging Talia with her so they can't change their mind and take her while she's getting her things.

"This is gonna be so much fun" Talia says, "I'm gonna show you my house, my room, my tree and we'll have all day together" Talia watches Maddie get her things.

"You have a tree?" Maddie asks while gathering her stuff in a backpack.

"Yeah, it's in the backyard and I love her, I spend most of my time under my tree, practicing, or mediating, or playing with Morgana, it's my favorite place ever" Talia says not noticing how much childish enthusiasm she's embodying at the moment.

[You're acting weird again]

"That sounds nice, can we start the magic lessons there today?" Maddie asks.

"Of course, though I only have elemental magic for now, so that's the only kind I can teach, is that okay?" Talia asks wondering what kind of witch Maddie is going to be.

"If you can teach me any magic at all, I'll be happy already" Maddie finishes packing.

Talia smiles and they get back downstairs.

"Did you get everything? Tooth brush, pajamas, a change of clothes, hairbrush, socks" John starts asking and Maddie interrupts.

"I've got everything dad, don't worry, I'm used to us traveling a lot, I know what to pack" She says trying to get him to stop worrying.

"I know, sweetie, I know, I just worry a lot since the lake, but I trust Tim and Georgia to take good care of you, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She hugs her and kisses the top of her head.

"Okay daddy, see you tomorrow" She hugs him back and kisses his cheek.

They leave the town, talking, playing and laughing, excited about the rest of their day.