December 24, 2010 at Springfield International Airport
A steady stream of passenger emerged from customs, almost all bearing shopping bags with packages, some large, some small.
A couple waited anxiously just beyond the clearance area, holding each other a little too tensely in the chilly, December early morning.
"There, there she... no, no, it's not her," Abby sighed and loosed her death grip on Rick's arm. "Do you think she's really going to come this time? Shouldn't you check your messages again?"
"Abby, we both spoke to her last week, and she said us she was coming. All she said was she was going to spend a few days in Yorkshire before leaving for the airport." He sighed also. "She's coming. She has to come."
"I know you miss her too."
Watching the last passengers from Heathrow straggle out into the snowy, Midwestern morning, Rick muttered, "I even almost miss Danny."
Abby raised an eyebrow.
"I said almost. If it would bring back Michelle. Michelle.... Michelle! Over here!"
A tiny blonde bundle loaded down with packages emerged from customs. "Rick! Abby! I'm sorry. I forgot you're not supposed to wrap before, so it took longer but... but never mind."
She enveloped each of them in a hug. "It's good to be home."
"It's good to have you back, sweetie."
Rick hoisted up her bags, and strained under the weight. "Is there anyplace you'd like to go before we head home? Matt and Vanessa's? Bill's?"
"No, I'd just like to go home. I'm very tired."
La Cocina de Casa Bauer (The Bauer Kitchen)
They watched her go up to her room, slowly, carefully placing one foot in front of the other.
"How does she look to you?" Rick whispered.
"I don't know. Tired. Overworked. Underfed. What do you think?"
"Something's different. When she said it was good to be home, she said it like she meant it this time. And on the way back, she actually said it sounded like a good idea to stay a couple of weeks. Abby, she hasn't sounded the least bit happy to be back in Springfield since... in a long time. What do you think it means?"
As if on automatic pilot, she set another kettle of water to boil for tea. "I think it means Michelle's ready to be home again."
..............................
The late, late afternoon in Michelle's room
"Oooof!" A large mass landing on her stomach woke Michelle from a dreamless sleep.
Blinking her suddenly open eyes, she spied a small girl with long, brown curls, scurrying underneath her bed.
Hopping off her bed, she scooted herself under the bed with the poppet. "Hello! Who is that? Is that Bert?" She tickled a tiny waist in the darkness. "I hardly recognized you, you've grown so."
Sad to say, it was true. She hadn't been back to Springfield since the first holidays after her birth.
After a goodly long shrieking, large brown eyes turned back to stare at her, clear even in the darkness. "YOU're Aunt Michelle? You're just like a fairy princess!"
She grinned. Oh to be three again. "Thank you. Are your parents downstairs?"
"Uh, huh. Mommy said for me to get you 'cause you have to go to the country club for the party," she nodded her head emphatically.
"Ohmygosh," she'd completely forgotten about the country club Christmas Eve party. She scooted herself out from underneath the bed. Five o'clock, and they had to be at the country club by five-thirty!
"Michelle! We have to leave in a few minutes!"
"I'll be right there!" After a shower, dressing, and make-up she added silently.
......................................
Miraculously, she was showered and dressed in ten minutes. Gown? Long, red velvet, a bit looser than it used to be but still all right. Hair? Well, natural was good, right?
She was quickly applying a light application of evening make-up at her dressing table when she noticed in dressing table mirror that Bert had hopped onto her bed and was watching her apply her make up.
"Do you need something, honey?" she asked into the mirror.
"Will you tell me a story?"
"Now?"
She nodded her head emphatically. "Mommy's on the phone with Auntie Reva, and Daddy's on the phone with Uncle Phillip."
"Hmmm," as she puffed her face lightly with powder, she glanced at her watch. A story, a story... "Okay, sweetie, we have time for a very quick story. A very quick story just for you. Okay?"
"'kay." She settled herself into Michelle's pillows, waiting for her very quick story. It was no fun when Aunt Meta was telling a story to ten kids.
"Once, upon a time, a long time ago, in a land called... Springfield," she paused as she powdered her nose. "There lived a princess who lived by the sea. Everyday she would go to the seashore, and feed the birds, and play with the fish. And she was happy in her life.
"One day as she stood in the water, watching the tide come in, she felt a great hand, around her ankle, pulling her underneath the waves."
"It was a monster!" Bert shrieked, and Michelle paused, leaning forward to line her eyes.
"Yes, it was a monster. She screamed but no one heard her. The monster pulled her under the water, and she could see herself going further and further under the sea... to what she didn't know."
"Suddenly, she felt the monster let go, and two arms were pulling her up, up, up, out of the water. She was safe! Or was she? She realized not only was she out of the water, she was flying above the water!"
"Flying above the water?"
"Yes, she had been saved by a handsome prince, but not any handsome prince. A fairy prince. A fairy prince who declared that since he had saved her, she was his, and he was taking her to his castle."
"The princess was sad, very sad, she wanted to go home. But the prince refused to let her go. She cried, she screamed, but they flew farther, and farther away from her home. Until they arrived at his castle. It was a magical castle, with invisible servants and enchanted locks on the doors... And she was his prisoner."
"As the days passed, the weeks passed,... the princess grew more and more unhappy; she missed her home, she missed the sea, and she did not love the prince. And the prince grew more unhappy too... For you see, he had fallen in love with the princess, and could not bear to see her unhappy."
"One day, as she looked out her window at the sea, he appeared in her room."
"And he asked her, 'do you really wish to go home?'"
"'Yes,' she answered."
"He nodded. 'I free you.'" And he snapped his fingers."
"And suddenly she was home again in her room at the palace."
"He let her go?" Bert was hanging off the bed in anticipation.
As Michelle pawed through her pile of lipstick, she smiled, "Yes, he let her go. And she fell in love with him in that instant. She roamed the forests, and the valleys, walked all along the sea, but she could not find one sign of the prince or the enchanted castle."
"The years passed, and the princess became a queen. One day, travelers from a far off land came to her court, with a great covered cage, hoisted by four strong men."
"'Your Highness,'" they said. "'We bring you an offering from a far off land.'"
And with that, they lifted the cover off the cage.
"'A great fairy prince! We have captured his amulet, the source of his power, which we present to you.'"
"It was the fairy prince, captured and caged, like an animal. He recognized her, and she recognized him too. She began to cry, 'Please take him to the yard.' The four strong men obliged, and the prince watched her all the while, as they carried him off."
"She thanked the gentlemen, dismissed the attendants, and ran to the yard."
"He was regal even in captivity. 'Your Royal Highness, what will you of me?'"
"'I free you.' And she gave him back his amulet."
"She let him go?!"
"Yes, she let him go," she blotted her lipstick. "He snapped his fingers and disappeared."
"Michelle! We're late!"
"Ohmygosh," she hurriedly tied her hair with a matching red velvet ribbon. "Sorry, kiddo, I have to go or your parents will kill me."
"But Aunt Michelle! What happens next?"
Grabbing her red pumps, Michelle looked back at her niece before she hurried out the door.
"I don't know yet. Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow."