souls a'fire (celeste)

It was February. February meant only one thing to Kit Emberton -- Valentine's Day. Things around London had gotten far too romantic and... pink... for the healer who had sworn off things of that nature years ago.

Despite his attempts at shutting down the younger nurses and administrative assistants in his office, the place was decked out in all things paying homage to the ludicrous holiday. The damn walls were covered in sparkly, pink and red hearts and ribbon. It was a purge of everything the man despised. Despite how much he wanted to protest though, it was nice to see his employees in such high spirits. Even the ones without a partner were all talks of their girls' night out filled with loads of wine and chocolate. Kit had decided to abstain from all things Valentines Day and instead threw himself into work.

The day hadn't been particularly busy, though. In fact, the healer found himself with ample unnecessary spare time to dwell on negative feelings. Kit sent most his employees off to do their romantic duty as doting partners. It wasn't as if any of them were invested in the work day to begin with, though, he could practically feel the little jump of their hearts when anything remotely romantic was brought up in conversation with a patient. How had everyone become so obsessed with something that was really just a fake holiday to begin with, he would never know.

The evening winded down slowly. Kit spent most of the time in his office reading and avoiding the one nurse who had vowed to stay just incase of an emergency. Ella Tebenth was new to the practice, and it was becoming more and more apparent to the much older man that she was far more interested in her new boss than actually learning anything of substance from her first job. Just before he was about to close up for the night, the familiar bell of the front door signaled to him that a guest had arrived.

In the absence of his receptionist, Kit made his way downstairs to greet whoever it was, excitedly running a hand through his unruly tufts of hair. Just as he had gotten his hopes up that he might be distracted for the last hour of the work day, those feelings were quickly slashed. Celeste Cain. He recognized the attractive blonde almost immediately, and a pang of nostalgia mixed with sickness coursed through his entire being. Despite his best efforts to move on, the man still harbored some bad blood when it came to this one in particular. Their tryst had ended years ago, and he hadn't seen the woman since, but Kit couldn't help but want to run right back up the stairs.

The little blonde girl that clung to Celeste stopped him in his tracks, though. The little one didn't look good, that was for certain. "Celeste?" Kit asked, knowing full well who was before him. "It's been.. ages.." He cringed. Small talk was never his strong suit.

Everything was pink, everything. Not just the window's full of heart shaped glittery cutouts, but the rose lined streets and cupid covered street lights. Valentine's day had once been a favorite holiday of Celeste's, but this year it knotted her stomach. She wanted to avert her eyes and head back home, but the little blonde munchkin tugging her mercilessly down the street was having none of her Valentine's Day scroogieness. Her young daughter displayed none of Celeste's disdain for the romantic dribble around them, instead she pulled her mother through the streets, eyes wide with excitement.  Evelyn was so full of wonder and glee that Celeste had trouble not smiling as she stopped to ohh and ahh over a particularly extravagant flower display. Celeste had hoped to lock herself in her studio for the day and bury herself in her work to ignore the horrendous day. Knee deep in taffeta she'd find peace and comfort away from a day that did nothing, but remind her she was destined to be forever alone romantically. It was a brilliant plan, until her rambunctious, spoiled and otherwise insatiable little munchkin wouldn't stop pleading and begging her for a day out. So what did Celeste do? She gave in without a fight and somehow ended up back in London. It was really unfair how much Evelyn was able to manipulate her when the girl was only four.

As the child stared mesmerized by a glowing cupids doll, Celeste pulled her dusty blue pea-coat tightly around herself. She wasn't sure if she felt chilled due to the cold or due to the feelings of hate brewing within her as she watched young couples floating by. One gloved hand dove into her coat pocket and pulled out a silvery enchanted pocket watch. Flipping it opened she stared at the object and grunted. Even her watch was filled with tiny little hearts to mark the season. Rolling her eyes she flipped the watch closed and stuffed it back into her pocket.

"Mama?" her little bird trilled and pulled on them hem of her dress. "Oui, ma bichette?" Celeste smiled down at the little girl, gloved hands twirling her small blonde curls. "J'ai mal au ventre." Evelyn chirped, pressing her paling face against her mothers leg. Concern filled Celeste and she kneeled down and began to exam the girl, hand pressing against her forehead to check her temperature. "Ma bichette! Vous avez une fièvre."

Celeste scooped up the sick girl and began to look around. With a stomach ache and a fever, she didn't want to chance apparrating. Her eyes frantically searched their surroundings. Maybe if she was lucky she'd spot an apothecary or clinic. Evelyn clung to her mother as she slowly began to walk down the cobblestone street in search of a place to take her daughter. As she turned the corner she nearly walked straight into a woman exiting a building. "I'm so sorry," she quickly chirped, bouncing Evie slighty. The little girl groaned and pressed her face deeper into her mothers neck.

The woman blinked several times, smiled and excused Celeste for the innocent mistake. Before she had the chance to walk way Celeste reached out to stop her. "Miss, you wouldn't be any chance know of a clinic around here that I could take my daughter to? She's feeling rather ill." Celeste shifted her shoulder, adjusting her hold on her child. After a short exchange the woman pointed Celeste to the building she had just exited and informed her that there was a doctor inside.

Celeste quickly made her way inside and set Evelyn down. "Ne t'en fait pas ma chère, tout va bien aller." She assured her daughter and looked around. Just as she was about to call out for someone the devil himself made his way down the stairs.

Sometimes she was certain the world was a sick and cruel place bent on making her miserable. Staring up at Kit Emberton she could not be more convinced of it's cruelty. "Kit? What are you doing here?" Evelyn pulled against her mothers cloak, distracting her enough to look away from the man before her. "Mama? Où est le médecin?"

Celeste pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and looked back up at Kit. The last time she had seen him, the two had ended on bad terms. He'd humiliated her and she'd snogged his best friend as revenge. She didn't have time to think about this though, she had to take care of her daughter who seemed to be growing greener by the moment. "We can catch up later Emberton. Is there a medwizard here?" She looked him up and down, "are you the medwizard? My daughter has a fever and a stomach ache. I would like to have her seen."

How quickly the feeling of the room had shifted. A once docile breeze had been replaced with something far more cold and uninviting, sending a shiver up and down the healer's spine. He physically reacted, working furiously to focus on anything other than the blonde woman that stood before him. Celeste Cain always seemed to have some extreme effect on the man, even as he approached his thirties. Whether it was good or bad, there really was no in between for the two of them despite how long it had been since they even spoke.

Just as Kit opened his mouth to respond to the question from the mouth of the little girl, who was presumably Celeste's daughter, he was interrupted. Is there a mediwizard here? The man caught the end of the question despite the repetition of her previous statement ringing loudly through his mental space. Catch up later, Emberton. Electric eyes shot up to Celeste, with just a hint of a smile. Emberton. She shouldn't have gone there. From anyone else, it wouldn't have mattered, but he could only assume Celeste calling him by his last time was associated with a certain degree of condescension.

The Healer smiled a devilishly sweet grin in the direction of his former flame before turning his attention to the blonde child wrapped around Celeste. "I am the doctor, little one," Kit responded swiftly in French, the familiar movement of his tongue bringing him back to his time spent in Andorra. "How about we have a look and get you all better, then?" He cooed. It was clear that despite how much the man said he didn't like children, he was a natural.

"No time for small talk then, Celeste," Kit spoke over his shoulder, directing her daughter to the medical offices beyond the waiting room. "We must catch up later," He shot the woman a look as a smile tugged on the corner of his lip. Two could play at that game.

The Healer led the duo into his office. "So, little bird, how are you feeling?" Kit gestured to the examination chair so that Celeste could help her daughter up. "Is it..." He continued in French. "Here?" He rubbed his stomach. "Here?" He tapped his forehead, eyes scanning over to Celeste begrudgingly for help assessing where to start with her symptoms.

Celeste stared at the man in front of her pointedly hand absentmindedly falling into Evelyns curls and lulling the child to calm down. Being in the same room with him made her blood boil, being in the same room with him on Valentines day made her want to repeatedly vomit and slap him at the same time. Her daughters shaking and slight moaning drew her attention back to down to the little girl. She cooed at her attempting to comfort her further. Before she knew it Kit had drawn the child away from her and she followed the two back into the exam room.

Celeste ignored his attempts at french, not giving him the satisfaction of believing she was impressed. She lifted her daughter onto the table and went back to smoothing the young girls curls. Evelyn smiled shyly at Kit her experience with males having been brief within her life. The little blonde buried her face into her mothers hip and whispered to her mother.

Celeste sighed and turned to stare at Kit. "I apologize, she can be fairly shy around strange men. This started about a half hour ago, she began complaining of stomach pains and I could feel the heat of a fever on her." She dipped her head down to kiss the top of Evies head and whispered back to her in English, "it's alright my little dove, the nice doctor is going to make you feel better." Hearing her mothers reassurances, the girl looked back up to the doctor, face turning greener.

Children. As much as Kit wanted to say he disliked caring after them, there was something beneath the veiled cynicism in his chest that had declared otherwise. It wasn't a regular instance in which he many people under the age of fifteen to visit his practice, which specialized in beast healing, but it was a welcome change of pace -- even if this particular child was the offspring of someone with whom he shared a complicated past.

"Pah!" Kit breathed out, just short of laugher, his electric green eyes snapping away from the patient and up to Celeste. The hot-head in him was screaming to shoot back with an equally as venomous reply, but the Healer in him was quick to remind that this was his place of work and he had to maintain some level of professionalism.

"Strange man..." He clicked his tongue, turning his attention back to her daughter with a grin. "I'm not all that strange you know. Only a little." Kit explained as he felt the girl's forehead with the back of his hand. "You know..." He began as he strode over to the shelves of his office looking for the appropriate potions. "There was a time when your lovely mother fancied me..." He looked over his shoulder with a smirk, his gaze stuck on Celeste. Her reaction was sure to be a kicker.

Celeste stared at him, mouth slightly ajar. Fancied him? I fancied you? What are you a twelve year old gossiping girl! she screeched in her head as her daughter perked up intrigued. Celeste fought her face turning bright red and instead snorted, kissing her daughters for head. "Yes ma petite I fancied the doctor because he reminded me of a large, unkempt puppy. He even tried to chew up your mothers favorite shoes at some point. As you can see....he still resembles a loveable mutt." She laughed pointedly as her daughter broke into little girlish giggles. "Monsieur doctor, are you really a puppy? I love puppies!" the little girl bellowed and reached for Kit.


"Now now kitten, you can ask the doctor if he'll play with you later, but right now we have to focus on getting you better." As much as Celeste enjoyed teasing her former flame, she was much happier to see some of the color return to her daughters face. Concern washed through her eyes as the heat of her daughters forehead lapped at her fingers. "Do you know what might be wrong with her? Have we been traveling too much? Is it food poisoning? Is it a flu? Pixie fever?" Her words darted from her mouth coated with panic.

Evelyn had been sick only once before as a baby and that had been a terrifying experience for Celeste. She had been forced to allow the baby to be kept in St. Mungos and the fear of losing her child was choking. Seeing the little girl sick again brought these fears back to her ten fold.