walking forward with the passing shadows - motherland (bbc) isekai fanfic

7) For my dreams to come true, a blessing or a curse?

Finally, Ms. Lamb opens the gate. "I know it's my fault, but I'm going to have to mark you all down as late."

"Bye Auntie Rina!" Marie yells over the commotion.
"Bye kids!" I wave to them as they walk into the gate.
Julia continues looking at Liz as she walks away from the school gate.
"Don't worry about Liz. She doesn't hold a grudge," Kevin tried to assure Julia. "She just sometimes finds it hard to let go of resentment."
We both look at Kevin. "Kevin, that is literally what a grudge is," I tell him.
"...See you, Kevin," Julia walks off.

Kevin and I catch up with Liz.
"Oh, did...? Did you see Julia back there, Liz?" Kevin asks Liz.
"Drop it, Kev," Liz coldly tells him. "I don't need anymore users in my life, I'm on a purge. The only team Julia's on is Team Julia and no one else's."
"She's just been under a lot of stress-" Kevin keeps pressing Liz about Julia.
"Kevin." I try to stop him.
"Oh come on, Don't we all need to try and make the best of things? What, should we all just give up?" He continues, "I've just found out I've got a job interview on Wednesday. I don't want to go back to work. I've fucked myself! I've fucked myself in the arse, I've fucked myself right up the arse! But we just have to make the best of it." Wow.
Liz jokes, "All right, sweary Mary!"
"Sorry. The baby didn't hear, did he?"
I ask, "Do you have to do it?"
Kevin adds on, "Yes... It's... It's complicated. I have to look at least willing."
Liz advises him, "Do the interview. Just don't get the job. I've not got hundreds of jobs. It's not as hard as you think."
He still looks unsure, "Oh, I don't know. I'm not good at things like that..."
Liz continues, "You don't have to do much, just do something weird."
"Like what?" Kevin asks.
"Winking. Try winking at them. That's how I got out of jury service."
"I should try that," I mumble.

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I sat down next to Liz at the café.

"...How are you feeling?" I ask.

Liz surprisingly answers me, "I... am okay. I've pretty much gotten over Lee."

"Oh, good to hear."

"I met up with the bloke he's having a child with earlier," Liz explained. "She seems nice. Deserves better, though."

"I can see that...," I replied.

"But for some reason... I still feel a bit empty," Liz added. Is it just me or is this starting to sound like an impromptu therapy session?

"Oh?"

"...someone's missing," Liz mutters.

I reluctantly ask, "I... I know you don't like talking about her but uh... perhaps... Does it.... Does it have something to do with Julia?"

Liz sighed, "As much as I'd hate to admit it... yes."

"Oh."

"I don't like her. She's a user. She's selfish. Everything she does is for the benefit of herself and no one else." She's right. Looking back now, I could see why people on the internet found Julia so annoying. Not most people, but definitely enough.

"..But I can't bring myself to fully hate her. I can't keep my mind off her and I hate myself for it." Liz sighs. She looks like she's trying to fight back tears.

"I want to let her go but I can't. I... I... I don't think I've thought about someone like this in years... Not since I was married to Lee at least..."

"...What do you mean by that?" I'm staring at her in disbelief. "Don't tell me that you're..."

Liz sighed, "...Yes. I fancy Julia."

My eyes widened. "Oh. Wow."

Liz exhaled and laughed, "Haha... I actually feel much better after saying that." She wipes her tears off and looks at me, "You better not tell anyone about this."

I giggle a little, "Hehe... Of course."

Kevin walks up to us and sits down.

"So you've finally been kicked off the mum table, again," I half-joked.

Kevin brushes it off, "Yeah, but it's fine, normal really. Oh, and Amanda's back."

"Yeah, I can see that," Liz mentioned.

"So what have you two been up to over here?" Kevin asked.

I vaguely answered, "Therapy session. Confidential. Sorry, Kevin."

Kevin reacted kindly, "Oh, no, I totally get it. It's fine. So um... Do you guys want to go visit Tommy?"

"The bloke who had a stroke a few weeks earlier? Sure," Liz answers. " 'Naria, you coming?"

"Of course."

What the fuck. What the actual fuck. Never in a million years would I have thought that Liz would actually... but then again I did transmigrate into this world so I guess anything is possible. It was only slightly implied in the show, but... Liz really is bisexual.

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We arrive at the hospital, and Kevin is explaining to us about his job interview.
"I winked my head off, Liz. I winked during the interview, I winked after the interview. I think I winked more than I blinked, but nothing. Nothing seemed to faze her," Kevin explains, which was quickly cut short as Liz noticed Julia sitting in the wrong room.
Julia notices us, "Oh, hiya."
Liz says hi, "Hiya."
"...What are you doing here?"
"Same as you," I tell her, "But that's not Tommy."
"...What do you mean? "
I shrug, "That's not Tommy."
Julia is struggling to figure out what I mean by that, "That's not Tommy... I don't know what that means."
Liz saves me, "It's just what it means, that's not Tommy. All right?" Liz shouts to the old bloke, them just making small movements with their hand.
Julia is in disbelief. "In the hospital channel it said room 12."
Kevin explained to her, "Oh, we're not using WhoZis any more, we're back on WhatsApp."
Julia sighs, and gets up to follow us, but not before Liz tells her to let the random old guy have the whiskey she brought for Tommy.

While walking over, Julia apologises to Liz, says that she was right about her, and invites her to her house for a drink. Liz responds much more happily. But when we get to Tommy's room, Amanda and the alpha mum gang got there first. We ended up watching from a distance, until Kevin was notified of his job interview outcome.
"Yes, yes, yes! I didn't get the job! I didn't get the stupid job!" Kevin exclaimed, a bit too loudly, as then everyone was staring at him.
"...Oh. She's asked me out for a drink." He looks up and realizes that everyone was looking at him. "Oh- Sorry, go on."

Ever since that day, and also since Tommy got out of the hospital, Julia has been a little more selfless. Her and Liz have gotten much closer. Also, taking care of Marie and Calliope as more or so their adoptive-ish parent rather than caretaker has been a little emotional for me. I've always loved them as if they were my own, but I'd never imagine that I'd be taking care of them like this... They've been recovering well from my sister's household and my sister had apparently been given a life sentence for murdering her husband. This life... It's strange. Anything can happen. But we have to make the best of it. For the children, and for our friends.