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fortunatelylori · 5 years

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People are not what they seem – Thoughts on episode 7

This episode was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were moments I loved but overall it left me more than a little frustrated.

Sparks joy

Arthur Parker

Arthur has always sparked joy for me. His pineapple takedown was one of the most iconic moments of this show and he does not disappoint in episode 7. A lot of people were surprised to see him make the salient points to both Sidney and Georgiana. But I would argue that’s because they haven’t paid attention to Mr. Heywood’s warning back in episode 1.

People are not what they seem in Sanditon and you shouldn’t let what other characters think about one person or another influence your opinion of them. Arthur might be a hypochondriac but, by and large, he has been considerably less trouble to anyone than the likes of Georgiana or Tom. He has also always been, in his own way, incredibly wise and brave. He asked Georgiana to dance when everyone was staring at her in a state of shock and he taught Lady Denham a lesson when even Sidney remained silent.

So it’s no small wonder that the task of reminding Sidney that Eliza Champion might not be the most trustworthy person in the world falls onto him.

It could hardly fall onto Tom … Listen I’ve tried my best to be as understanding with Tom Parker as I could be, making excuses for him left and right. But no more! In this episode alone, he tries to pass off his passive aggressive bullshit onto Mary when she rightly makes him see that hanging around Lady Denham’s drawing room like a carrion crow makes him no better than the likes of Edward Denham. He fallows that up by trying to push his younger brother into a quickie wedding to a woman that abandoned him in favor of a richer husband and sent him on a self-destructive path that almost killed him. What a bozo!!!

At the very least, as his older brother, it was up to Tom to advise Sidney to be a little careful in restarting his relationship with Eliza. But no, that task falls unto Arthur because Tom can’t be trusted with anything more challenging than miniature house building.

Esther and Lord Babington

Speaking of people not being what they seem, these two are by far the biggest surprises Sanditon has to offer. Esther started off as a combination of Mary Crawford and Caroline Bingley and she’s turned into freaking Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight over here!

Don’t ever let anyone tell you Sanditon is just a shallow bodice ripper because the way it went about effortlessly depicting a woman struggling through an emotionally abusive relationship with a narcissist is masterful! And her setting herself free of Edward in this episode was glorious!

As was Lord Babington proving to be a better Darcy than Darcy himself. His deep empathy for her, his complete rejection of Edward’s bitter gossip mongering and his unconditional support was truly moving. Bless him and his orange handkerchief!

PS: Give this man a first name, Davies! He’s earned it!

The Heraclitus of it all

Again, I firmly believe that the people who are dismissing this show as just a spot of shallow entertainment, aren’t really paying attention because the whole scene of Charlotte’s assumed humiliation is so carefully and masterfully built it’s delightful to watch

Charlotte takes Sidney’s “I’m certain Charlotte would prefer to be reading Heraclitus” line as an insult that depicts her a country bumpkin who is not fit for the fashionable London crowd.

But should she? We already know that Sidney reads Heraclituss himself. They were just bonding over that on their little boat ride. And look where his line comes into play:

Eliza: There must be a boy in your village that’s caught your eye.

Lady Susan: Why should Charlotte be limited to her village?

Eliza: I always think it helps to share a common background, that’s all. Miss Heywood is hardly likely to find a kindred spirit in this company.

Lady Susan: Why not?

Eliza: I just imagine she must find our London talk unspeakably tedious. Wouldn’t you agree, Sidney?

Sidney: I have no doubt Charlotte would rather be sat somewhere, quietly reading Heraclitus.

What Sidney is actually saying is that there is someone there who is a kindred spirit to Charlotte: HIM! He isn’t insulting her or laughing at her. He’s making a call back to their London ball scene where they both felt out of place but found solace in each other. What he’s telling her is that he doesn’t belong amongst Eliza’s crowd either.

This kind of subtle, clever writing is actually a lot rarer than you might think and, for me, drives to the core of why Andrew Davies is such a fantastic writer. He not only understands how to present a period drama to a modern audience in a way that is fresh and interesting but also how to create these moments of brilliant writing complexity almost effortlessly.

Georgiana Lambe

Georgiana, the character, isn’t really sparking joy for me as she’s behaving like an utter brat but the writing for her character is. She’s been terribly hurt for the first time in her life so she’s lashing out anyway she can. Also this line is brilliant:

Sidney: I am all too aware that I have fallen short as your guardian. But please believe that I am sincere in my desire to make amends.

Georgiana: Men like you cannot change.

Why is that brilliant? Well because Georgiana is engaging in one of the oldest and most popular forms of toxic anger: transference. What she’s really saying is that Otis will never change enough for them to be together. But Otis isn’t there, Sidney is so he gets to be the punching bag du jour.

The reason why depicting her grief in this way is so compelling is because it’s so natural to her story. She was already feeling like an outcast in England, not loved or wanted by anyone. Otis let her concentrate all of her self-worth entirely on him (one of the worst things he did and not the only one but that’s a subject for another meta) and then failed to live up to his inherent promises. Georgiana feels that no one cares for her and so she pushes the people who are trying to help her away so she can have her very own self-fulfilling prophecy.

And while her interaction with Sidney might be somewhat understandable considering his cold attitude towards her in the beginning and also the fact that whether or not Georgiana likes it, he’s the closest she has to an actual parental figure, her attitude towards Arthur absolutely is not.

Her insults, thankfully, fall on deaf ears because Arthur knows he is a precious lily of the field and we are all very happy he’s here!

Does not spark joy

Sidney and Eliza

From what I see in the tags, no one is really all that fond of Eliza … I wonder why … lol …

But protectiveness over my ship isn’t really why this storyline didn’t spark joy for me. It’s actually because it failed to live up to its potential. The writers chose to make Sidney and Eliza’s reunion all about how that affects Charlotte and dedicated very little time to the Sidney/Eliza dynamic.

And it started so well too. I had high hopes when Sidney said this:

Sidney: A man cannot step into the same river twice.

What Sidney is talking about in very poetic terms if what in my country we call “reheated soup”. That’s what Eliza is … a chance to reheat the soup. Except that the saying goes: reheated soup never tastes the same which is absolutely true when it comes to relationships. Tempting as it might be to rekindle something, it very rarely works out because the reasons why you broke up in the first place will eventually rear their ugly heads again. Which they do in their case as well, when Eliza needlessly attacks Charlotte, proving herself petty and superficial.

But because we never stay with Sidney enough to figure out what his attraction to her might have been once upon a time, because we don’t get to see how reuniting with her is stirring not only his feelings of long lost longing but also of the trauma she caused and because we don’t even get to watch their last conversation together, it all fails to make the impact that it could have made. Which is a shame …

IMDB has Ruth Kearney listed for episode 8 as well and a part of me hopes Eliza will be back next week and we can have a bit of a do over.

Lady Susan

I know everyone likes her and the actress is delightful. However as much as I might enjoy her in isolation, within the context of the story she remains a poorly introduced character who is only on screen to push Charlotte and Sidney together (we never find out why she’s so invested in this) and to act as a deus ex machine for the regatta.

The “half agony, half hope” that is …

Charlotte

I really hate to do this because I love her but most of my frustration this episode came down to Charlotte.

Her behavior was confusing, dissatisfying and at times quite thoughtlessly cruel. Most of that was directed at poor James Stringer.

As you know, I am a Charlotte/Sidney shipper so I don’t have a problem with Charlotte not returning James’ affection. In fact I’ve made the point in the past that the whole Tem Stringer vs. Team Sidney promotion was silly because it was clear there was no rivalry there.

However, Charlotte behaves very poorly to him in this episode. It’s the second time now (the first was in episode 4) where she’s used James as a stand-in for Sidney. Every time she’s talking to this boy, her mind is miles away and she ends up missing all the signs that she’s stringing him along (no pun intended but the clue is in the name, I suppose).

What Charlotte really wants is for Sidney to give her the same undivided adoring validation Stringer gives her and because he isn’t, she ends up engaging with James in a way that is less than ideal. That’s not so say she necessarily realizes she’s doing this but her thoughtlessness is starting to be frustrating.

Which brings me to … her behavior towards Sidney. The way unrequited love seems to work for Charlotte is that it makes her less than generous and she looks for any opportunity to cut Sidney loose, so to speak.

She doesn’t attempt to put up a fight for him at any level, despite this being the girl that fights for everything that matters to her. And it all comes crushing down during the conversation with Eliza, when she takes the smallest opportunity to completely shut him out.

It’s also kind of hypocritical of her to still be angry at this comment at the end of the episode, when she did far worse. I mean if you want to talk about someone being someone else’s “source of amusement” look no further than:

Charlotte (imitating Sidney): You see, Georgiana, this is exactly why I locked you away in Mrs. Griffths’ dungeon. To keep you out of mischief, while I, Sidney Parker, gallivant around London with my high society, dandy friends.

So while deciding that Sidney was an ass to her is tempting, I’d like to point out that, as I’ve shown earlier, there is nothing mean spirited or negative in his comment at all. So is it fair to say that Sidney hurt her when the most obvious explanation is that Charlotte is insecure? She has been since the moment she met Sidney and Eliza instinctively preyed on that insecurity. And Charlotte not only let’s Eliza hurt her but she also transfers her insecurity firmly onto Sidney’s shoulders, instead of owning it or resolving it.

The reason why this is in the half agony, half hope category is because I’m not sure if the above is the writers’ intention or if I’m trying to make this more interesting than it actually is. If their intention is to paint Charlotte as completely right about everything, while Sidney is the fool who needs to repent and Stringer is the guy who got ahead of himself, I’m going to be pretty disappointed.

For the moment, we’ll have to wait and see, I guess.

#sanditon #sanditon 2019 #my meta #charlotte heywood #sidney parker #young stringer #arthur paker #georgiana lambe #eliza champion #charlotte x sidney #sidney x charlotte

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growingstronglikeahighgardenrose · 4 years

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Hang a shining light upon the highest place

Pairings: Esther/Babington, mentions of Sidney/Charlotte (they’ll soon be reunited) Characters: Sidney, Esther, Babington, Crowe, Georgiana, James Stringer, Lady Susan and even the Prince Regent Prompt: Hang a shining light upon the highest place/ games for the @sanditoncreative 12 Days of Sanditon

Available on AO3

Synopsis: The friendgroup of Sidney and Charlotte come together for the Christmas Holiday at Babington's house in Scotland. Includes many of Hallmark's most beloved tropes like mistletoes, christmas tree decorating, drinking games, pining underneath a starry sky and friendship shenanigans.

‘What on earth have you all been up to?’ Esther asked. Babington halted on the stairs leading towards the living room, a second smaller pine tree in his arms.

‘What does it look like?’ Georgiana asked.

On December twenty-second a very crammed car containing George – Princey – Regis, William Babington, Matthew Crowe, James Stringer and Sidney Parker took off ten minutes before the car containing Susan Worcester, Esther Denham and Georgiana Lambe left. The sun shone brightly, after days of snowflake producing clouds. The roads were cleared with salt, so the drive would be a safe one.

Charlotte had decided to celebrate Christmas with her family first, before coming to Scotland to celebrate the New Year with them.

Their bags and food supplies were divided equally between the two cars, but a horrible mistake was made when the beer crate was placed in the men’s car. By the time they arrived to the house, the crate was empty and they all reeked of the cigarettes smoked by Princey, Crowe and Sidney. But in their defence, the ride had taken a long time, the home was located above Inverness on Black Isle.

The place was stunning. James Stringer was the only one who hadn’t seen it yet, so he remained outside, gawking at the lakeside house with its fine woodwork and snow covered roof. The snow around the house shimmered untouched, and the edges of the loch were frozen. There wasn’t even another house to be seen near the lakefront. The men merrily climbed the stairs to the deck, laughing about frozen pipes and praying for the heating to work as they pushed open the door. Taking a deep breath, prepared to feel incredibly poor and insignificant, he followed the others.

The house was indeed cold, and as Babington went downstairs to turn on the heating and the boiler and electricity, Sidney made a real fire in the fireplace of the living room, before going upstairs to put some logs in the other fireplaces. Crowe and Princey were packing the fridge with the supplies they’d brought. James had just started helping them, when the gravel crunched again. The three men could make out Susan’s red Toyota through the kitchen windows.

The girls were simply baffled. Georgiana, who’d spent most of her life in Antigua, was amazed by the snow-covered hills and high trees, while Esther was completely blown out of the field by the oak-framed nineteenth century building.

‘Yo, Babs, you said you had a house in Scotland, not a mansion’, Georgiana laughed as she plopped down in the leather couch.

‘It is a house. It’s called the Boat House, there used to be a great house on the estate as well, but that was destroyed before we bought the property’, Babington laughed as he walked through the living room, heading in no particular direction at all.

‘How old is this place?’ Esther asked, trailing a finger over the stone mantle of the roaring fireplace. She’d looked stunning in the aerobics outfit, amazing in the professional outfit during the elections, magnificent in the green and gold dress, but the black suede boots and pastel pink glittering sweater were the first outfit which made her look anywhere near approachable.

She didn’t flinch or look up when he halted next to her. ‘It’s only from the nineteenth century, but it tries to mimic the Tudor style. I don’t need to explain the Victorians their fascination with the Middle Ages to you, do I?’

She looked away from the mantel, her eyes taking him prisoner once again. Her eyelids were dusted with different shades of pink, topped by black eyeliner and pink glitter. He was amazed by how at ease she looked, and he immediately decided to store the memory of her tranquil face as it was something he didn’t want to forget.

‘No. I had enough classes on architecture.’

‘Did you?’

‘I liked them, but the topic didn’t agree with me.’

‘Meaning Esther flunked them and had to take most architecture exams three times’, James laughed.

The moment was broken, her chest puffing up as a sour smile appeared on her face. She threw James an annoyed look.

‘History can’t be reduced to stupid shit like exact dates and exact locations. I don’t give a crap about in which exact city a building was drawn, nor do I consider it important to study fifteen architects creating identical looking buildings in classicism style when none of them was inventive in any way. And so what I can’t remember floorplans of buildings, I made it, didn’t I?’

‘Barely.’

‘If memory serves me right,’ she said while smiling sweetly at her friend, ‘you were there right with me most of the exams, Mr. Engineer. So. Shut. Up.’

She strode away from the fireplace.

‘I’ll be unpacking, come Georgie.’

The kitchen was stocked, beds were made, and everything was unpacked.

Esther, James and Susan chased everyone away from the kitchen to start on dinner. Esther was glad to get to know Susan in a more intimate way. After the Friendmas dinner, Sidney’s friends had started hanging out more with Charlotte’s friends, and to Charlotte and Esther’s delight that had meant rekindling their relationship with Susan who was well acquainted with Sidney and Babington. Susan had finished her History studies and now the young woman was working for a certain diplomat. Esther had relied on her council the previous year when she’d suddenly become president of the student council. Susan had held the position a year prior to it and had always encouraged and helped her and Charlotte during their careers as student representatives.

As James recounted the adventures of the Man Car, the trio was oblivious to Georgiana spurring the other men on in the living room.

‘This is truly a gorgeous place, Babbers. And I really love the woodwork and the roaring fireplace and all. It feels really Christmas-y’, Georgiana said appreciatively. She’d quickly taken to using everyone’s nickname. ‘Yet… I believe it misses a tree. And perhaps a mistletoe and some other decorations.’

‘What are you suggesting?’ Babington laughed.

‘You know exactly what she’s saying, and I think she’s right’, Crowe laughed, jumping upright and walking over to Georgiana, leaning conspiratorially towards her as he stage whispered his next words: ‘I don’t think they get that you want us to go into the woods and chop a tree.’

‘They don’t?’ Georgiana asked with mock disappointment.

‘Ah yes, I feel called upon’, Princey said. ‘Have an axe, Babbers? It’s up to us men – and you of course, Georgie – to get ourselves a tree, the old fashioned way.’

‘There must be one, we sometimes chop a tree when we’re low on logs for the fireplace.’

‘I’m flattered by your inclusivity. Let’s get our coats, then we can surprise the others by the time the food’s done.’

And so, four men lead by one woman walked into the woods, their path illuminated by the faint last light of day.

Tree after tree was disapproved of by Georgiana. Too tall, too broad, too tiny, too ugly, one by one they were found lacking, until, when it was so dark they could barely see each other anymore, Georgiana cried out. Birds went flying, and Crowe did not jump a foot into the air by surprise, as the girl ran towards a tree, throwing her arms around it.

‘Is that the superior one, or has it become so dark you can’t distinguish any flaws on it anymore?’ Crowe asked, leaning on top of the axe in an attempt to appear unfazed after his scare.

‘Screw you. This one will do. Someone chop that tree. Matthew Crowe, you break off a couple of branches of holly, Princey you break some branches off from this tree. Pick some full ones.’

‘Hey, why do I get to snap some branches and someone else gets to fell the tree?’

‘I have to break off branches too, what’s wrong with breaking off branches?’ Princey asked in defence as he walked towards a pine tree with thicker needles.

‘Not trying to be rude, but Sid and William look like the ones most likely to be able to chop it.’

Crowe wished to protest, but looking at Sidney who stood comfortably in the snow dressed in only his plaid shirt, and Babington, who also looked a great deal tougher, he could only huff and set about his task.

In the end, Babington allowed Sidney to do it, and though hours spent in the gym and in boxing class had obviously paid off, even he tired so that Babington had to take over and finish the job.

Georgiana did not yelp when the tree finally lost its battle with gravity and fell down, forcing Georgiana to jump out of its path towards the forest ground.

‘Alright well, now we need only one more thing. Boys, you need to help me look.’

And so, by the time Susan, Esther and James exited the kitchen, they found the living room in a flurry. Georgiana was wrapping a rope around branches of holly she’d entwined in a circle shape. Crowe was laying tied together boughs of pine on top of the limestone fireplace mantel. Sidney held up a large pine tree as Princey was putting dug up dirt in a large plant pot which had stood empty in Babington’s cellar ever since the previous occupant of the knee high pot had wilted years ago.

‘What on earth have you all been up to?’ Esther asked.

Babington halted on the stairs leading towards the living room, a second smaller pine tree in his arms.

‘Decorating’, Georgiana explained with a smile as she put the wreath on the table top.

‘What does it look like?’

‘Stunning’, Susan quickly agreed.

‘William, what are you doing with that tree?’ James asked as the two women excitedly examined the decorations in the living room.

‘I already nailed it to some planks, thought to put one in the kitchen as well, since we’re having all our meals there.’

‘I’ll hold open the door for you’, James offered, quickly pushing the door open further, allowing Babington to pass, though the tree lost some needles when it was forced through the door opening. The magnificent green was lovely in the corner of the kitchen against the night sky outside and the white woodwork which divided the windows into tiny squares.

The two men decked the table after the tree was installed.

‘How long were you gone?’

‘A little under an hour or so,’ Babington admitted, ‘you hadn’t noticed at all?’

‘No, I’m amazed honestly. Wait, I’m fetching the others.’

James walked over to the door, calling the others so the food wouldn’t get cold.

And so, on the fourth Sunday of advent, the now combined friend groups ate lasagne, drinking wine and listening to a Christmas Classics playlist.

The dishes were done by the men, save for James, as the women went to the living room.

The music in the kitchen was changed to rock, while the ladies kept on playing Christmas tunes via the stereo in the living room. Susan and Esther unpacked all the Christmas decorations they’d brought, as Georgiana took polaroid’s. Susan wrapped red tinsel around the bundled pine branches laying on top of the oak cabinet filled with boardgames while Esther put red tinsel in the tree. Meanwhile, James occupied himself with making another wreath to hang on an empty hook in the room.

‘Shouldn’t we wait with decorating the tree until the other boys are back?’ Esther wondered as she jumped to hide the end of the tinsel between some branches near the top.

‘Naah’, James decided.

‘Perhaps’, Georgiana admitted. ‘She’s got a point, nothing’s as much fun as decorating. It’s a big tree, we can all decorate it together.’ She walked over to the shiny wooden living room table, picking up her glass of wine.

‘William has some boardgames around here. Or perhaps a game of cards?’ Susan offered while pulling open the cupboard.

‘Hm, I know some card games’, laughed Georgiana before running to the kitchen to fetch another bottle of wine. The men threw her a curious look, but thought little of it and continued with their task.

When the other men returned, they found the women and James sitting around the living room table, on the table lay a circle of cards.

‘Nice!’ Crowe shouted before hurrying to sit down at the short side of the table.

‘Still the first game?’ Sidney asked before sitting down beside Susan to join the Circle of Death.

‘Yes, but we already had to push the cards closer together since Georgiana made an awfully challenging circle’, Susan confessed with a smile. Georgiana’s grin showed her lack of remorse.

Babington looked at the players sitting around the table. Crowe sat next to Georgiana, Georgiana sat next to James, and Susan sat next to James. Esther was still alone on her side of the table. Princey was already walking towards the table. But if Babington went between the couches, he could still make it to the table first and sit beside Esther, which was exactly what he did.

The living room had become quite hot with the fire merrily crackling and the central heating doing its job. Georgiana was only wearing her long sleeved shirt, Susan and Crowe had already put the sleeves of their shirts up, and Esther, who sat closest to the fire, had put her hair in a bun with a scrunchie and dressed down to her black top. He was glad he sat next to her, that way he couldn’t easily look at her slender neck, or the lacework on the front of her top. However, he did notice the lacework of her bra clinging to her skin from the nape of her skin to an undetermined point beneath her top. He wished he was a better man, who didn’t instantly tried to imagine her bra, but he did.

He tried to focus on the game instead, but was constantly confronted with his lack of attention when he kept falling for Georgiana’s questions, who was the Question Bitch.

The bottle of wine disappeared quickly, and another two were uncorked, before the game ended and everyone got up to decorate the two trees.

Glühwein was heated, orange slices were thrown in, and everyone who was still wearing a sweater threw it to the sides as they prepared for their task.

Sidney, Susan, Princey, Georgiana and Crowe went to the kitchen armed with tinsel and boxes of baubles.

The string of lights was already laid out by Esther before they’d started the drinking game, so she picked it up and immediately set about twisting it around the tree, starting from the bottom.

James unpacked the statues of the nativity scene.

William Babington, a fool who couldn’t decide on where to go so instead stood in the middle of the room aimlessly until someone gave him a task, was snapped out of his uselessness by Esther who sat on her knees in front of the tree.

‘William? William? B- Babbers? You take the string when I pass it along? She asked, trying out his nickname hesistantly.

‘Oh, yes of course.’ He sat down on the other side of the tree, sheepishly smiling at her as he took the string around the other side of the tree, before giving it back to her.

‘So, is uhm… Your chamber to your liking?’

‘Yes, it’s lovely. It’s all quite lovely. It was still quite cold when I unpacked though. I brought flannel blankets and warm pyjama’s though, I hope that’ll be sufficient.’

‘The heating hadn’t been on for long. It’ll probably be warm now. Maybe now it’ll be too hot for those flannels.’

‘Or the pyjama’, Esther muttered. James hands froze as he took hold of the string of lights.

Esther, realizing her mistake instinctively turning her gaze towards the floor as an uncomfortable high pitched giggle left her mouth.

He didn’t know whether it were the five glasses of wine or butterflies causing his body to tingle and his stomach to heat up as he looked at her.

He bit his cheek in an attempt not to laugh as the woman who’d seemed so confident throughout the years, who had literally attacked Edward Denham’s balls and slapped a girl in the middle of a bar, could be so shy and awkward as well.

He couldn’t guess, since the large fireplace already coated her in a warm light, but he was fairly certain she was blushing.

The awkward moment was broken by Georgiana and James loudly skipping through the room, her hands on his shoulders as they sang.

I'm the happiest Christmas tree Ho ho ho, hee hee hee Someone came and they found me And took me home with them

Oh, I'm the happiest Christmas tree Ho ho ho, hee hee hee Look how pretty they dressed me Oh, lucky, lucky me

I got shiny bells that jingle And tiny little lights that tingle Whenever anyone passes by I blink my lights and I wink my eye.

They skipped through the door into the kitchen as they continued their song.

Esther slowly shook her head as her eyes connected with Babington’s again.

He winked at her, mimicking the Christmas tree and passing the string of lights back to her.

They got to a standing position now, as they started nearing the top. Another minute passed and as Esther accepted the string, she realized that she couldn’t get the string any higher even if she stood on her tippy toes.

‘Esther?’ Babington asked as he waited on the other side of the tree for her to pass the string to him again.

‘You’ll have to hang the lights on the highest part. I can’t reach it anymore.’

He came over to her side, hanging the string on a couple of branches and walking to his side again, finishing the lights in thirty seconds.

‘Well’, he said as he took a step back from the tree. ‘Now it’s time for le moment suprême.’

‘You did the last part, you can plug it in.’

‘Oh no, you can have the honours, milady.’

Esther rolled her eyes, and quickly turned towards the plug before he could see her smile. The lights were plugged in, and warm lights radiated through the tree branches.

‘Now we can really call it a Christmas tree’, Babington decided.

‘I agree’, Esther said as she came to stand next to him to appreciate the tree.

‘Hey mom and dad, turn around.’

Esther and Babington turned around, one over the left shoulder, one over the right shoulder, their bodies turning towards each other. They both just managed to put a smile on their face before they were blinded by an incredible flash.

Georgiana held still as she waited for the picture to come out.

As she waited, her gaze slid towards the kitchen door where Crowe and Princey just came through.

‘Mistletoe!’ Georgiana shouted. Princey looked up, rolling his eyes.

‘When and where did you get that? And when did you put it up?’ asked Esther, ice coursing through her veins.

‘Outside, where we got all the other greenery, and I put it up when no one was looking. Part of the fun is catching people by surprise’, Georgiana smiled.

‘Since I was the one who found it, I claim it cannot be used against me’, declared Crowe.

‘Come now, you mind kissing me so much?’ asked Princey.

‘No.’

Princey grabbed his friend and pressed a very quick kiss to Crowe’s lips, which was immediately captured by Georgiana’s camera and Sidney’s phone.

Esther looked away from the scene, realizing how close she stood to Babington. She looked at the man, becoming very aware of the width of his biceps, the posture of his shoulders and his height. She rarely stood this close to someone unless it was for dancing or a one night stand. Her eyes travelled upwards, towards his cheek on which the shadow of a beard was forming.

Something in her belly made a flip.

Esther downed her cup of glühwein.

‘Wicked child’, she chided before picking up a box of baubles and starting to hang them in the tree.

‘I’m not the child, Crowe is!’ cried Georgiana with a smile.

‘Alright, so what is all this family stuff’, exclaimed Susan when she came from the kitchen with a fresh cup of glühwein.

‘We decided that we all clicked together with a certain family dynamic’, Georgiana explained.

‘Crowe is the child, I and James are the crazy aunt and uncle, Charlotte and Sidney are that sickeningly cute couple… Hm, perhaps we should give each of you a title too.’

‘And what does that make them?’

Babington and Esther took a step apart as they felt everyone’s eyes drifting over to them as they had just been standing close together to each pick a bauble.

‘Mom and dad. Mom’s a snarky but caring figure’, James explained.

Esther hung her bauble and walked over to the table, pouring herself some more wine.

It was getting embarrassing, and the jokes about her and William being together made it hard for her to act normal around him. Especially since her belly decided to make loopings every time she looked at him. She liked him, as much as it was possible to like someone after having only met them a handful of times. She hoped the jokes wouldn’t put a strain on their friendship, their conversations already felt awkward enough from time to time..

‘And Babington is obviously used to taking care of us, but he’s a bit more rough on us, though he would definitely be the bottom in their relationship.’

Esther choked on her wine.

‘Excuse me?’ Babington asked of Crowe.

‘It’s true. We’ve all known you long enough to know you to be the gentle one, and she’s got a bite to it.’

‘I’ll never forget how you manage to get rid of pushy guys’, James admitted while looking at Esther.

‘Or how you hit Clara in the face that one time. My biggest regret the past four years has been not being able to see how you put Edward in his place’, Georgiana admitted.

Esther’s gaze fluttered towards Babington. He knew it would’ve been the better thing to just ignore it, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to put on end to it.

‘Come now, you’re making mother uncomfortable. Stop it before her knee goes up your groins.’

James flinched and everyone laughed.

‘I think I would make a lovely granny’, Susan decided.

‘Can there be another drunk uncle?’ asked Princey.

‘Sure’, Georgiana decided. ‘I don’t think any other role would fit you.’

Princey high-fived Crowe and the group dispersed. It was nearing two after midnight, and they wanted to explore the surroundings the next day.

First to go was Georgiana, whose energy had gone from very high to very low quite suddenly. She was quickly followed by Crowe. Next were Sidney and James. Princey and Babington played cards for a bit, as Esther and Susan finished up the big tree while talking about a very complicated sounding book they’d both read about a female dragon rider, orange trees and stupid men.

Princey decided to go to bed, and Babington went to the kitchen for a glass of water. As he was there, he appreciated the surprisingly well decorated Christmas tree – no doubt it had been decorated under Susan’s directions – before deciding to quickly wash the cups and glasses.

Less work tomorrow.

When he finished he noticed the slightest of movements on the deck against, he could only distinguish it thanks to the kitchen light and the moonlight.

He gently opened the kitchen door leading to the deck. There was no one on this side of the deck. He was only wearing his t-shirt, so the freezing temperatures shocked his body. His curiosity won out from his discomfort though as he rounded the corner. Esther was sitting on the bench on the deck overlooking the loch. She’d wrapped her arms around her legs, and had wrapped a blanket around her form.

Her gaze was aimed skyward until she heard the creaking planks.

‘Hi.’

‘Aren’t you cold?’

‘Yes. Uhm, I just thought I saw something on the deck and didn’t really think to put on my sweater.’

‘It was me. Sorry. I just wanted to check out the stars. Been a long time since I left the city, and the sky is nowhere near as pretty there.’

‘Yeah, it isn’t. I could stare at it all night. I try to spend at least one night a year in a sleeping bag looking at the stars. I like being away from the city, even the air feels different’, he said, growing increasingly awkward and cold.

She threw him an awkward smile, extending her arm and a part of the blanket to him.

Since he was a fool, not an idiot, he took the invitation and went to sit beside her with the blanket wrapped around both of them.

‘Then you must know a lot of constellations.’

‘You don’t?’

‘I like looking at them, but I just know Cassiopeia, Big Bear, Small Bear and the Archer’, she admitted with a smile. ‘I always tell myself I’m going to learn more, but I never do.’

And so he gladly pointed out other constellations to her, helping her find them in the night sky. She was softly shivering from the cold, but they both ignored it, not wanting to mention it since it would probably lead to one of them suggesting to go back inside.

She sighed after she found the fifth constellation he’d found.

‘Not tired yet, Miss Denham?’

‘I’m used to staying up late. I try to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but I always blink and it’s three after midnight. But no, I just really wanted to look at the stars right now. I like being outside.’

She took a deep breath, inhaling the forest air. She could never dare to describe the taste of winter air, but the night air in winter just had a distinctive delightful taste to it.

Babington could only gaze at her in wonder.

‘Me too. I’m not made for mornings or entire days being cooped up inside. And if I have to be inside, I want to be located near a window offering a view of at least a tree or something.’

Esther nodded, her gaze once again lifting up towards the sky.

Babington took a deep breath, gathering courage for what he desperately wished to ask next.

‘Are you fine, with all the teasing? I can ask them to stop if it’s annoying you.’

‘I’m just worried it’ll make things weird, you know. All the mom-and-dad-tee-hi-hi stuff, when we’re not… it’ll be like back in high school, when you were teased when you had a friend of the other sex and then the friendship stopped because you’re afraid that anything you do will be interpreted as flirting or being in love.’

She wasn’t looking at him, she rarely ever did. He wondered if he was bad that bad to look at, or whether she was just not the eye-contact type. Then he realized she definitely had no trouble holding people’s gaze. It was just him.

‘I felt the same way. But I know what I feel. I assume you to know what you feel. We’re not high schoolers anymore. They’re our friends and they mean nothing with their comments. I promise I won’t interpret your behaviour as anything specific just because they call us mom and dad. Let’s show them we’re real parents and adults who won’t let others influence their behaviour or thinking. We form our own opinions and decide for ourselves when the other is flirting… or not… Instead of letting them call it flirting like those high school kids would.’

The air between them was definitely charged with something as she nodded.

‘Yes. It’s only flirting when we intentionally do it. And we’re not. And we’re just being thrown together because you’re the dad friend and I’m the mom friend. It doesn’t even have to do with how we treat each other.’

William nodded. Not knowing what to take from this conversation. They’d agreed on not being awkward and not changing their behaviour just because of the mom and dad jokes, but the talk about flirting had made him a bit disappointed and unsure.

Despite how they had met, since meeting at the Friendmas dinner, she had apparently never – according to herself – tried to flirt with him. He had carefully omitted any statement about whether he’d been flirting or whether he was in love.

Did this mean she was uninterested? She probably was. But then he couldn’t shake the feeling that there had been more than a handful of times when the air between them had seemed charged with something. But maybe that was just him being in love and feeling said love.

‘Shall we retire to bed, dad?’ she asked with newfound confidence that she could accept the role without it having to mean anything.

But the comment did sound so flirtatious and Babington couldn’t stop his heart from skipping a beat.

‘Let’s, mom.’

They walked towards the door, still sharing the blanket, and as they opened it, Esther halted abruptly, her eyes focussed on something above them.

A second mistletoe had been hidden above the door.

Her eyes drifted downward again connecting with his.

To not kiss her would be to curse her with a year of being single.

‘Are you particularly superstitious?’

‘No, but I have been single for four years.’

She bit her lip. She shouldn’t be telling him that. Now she appeared desperate and lonely while it had been her choice to remain single. Okay, well, not completely. Men had thrown themselves at her, but she’d never allowed anyone to get further than a one night stand. All men who tried were men she met while out clubbing, they didn’t know anything about her and were only after her for her looks and for a quick shag. And the first two years after Edward, she couldn’t even imagine trusting a man so much he had the possibility to break her heart ever again. After four years though, loneliness won out from the fear of being hurt, but she just didn’t know how or when to find someone, or how to have a normal relationship. Hers and Edwards had always been weird, and in hindsight, toxic.

‘Don’t curse me for another year’, she decided.

There wasn’t a cell in his body which wasn’t panicking and rejoicing simultaneously at the thought of kissing her.

She said she hadn’t been flirting though, so he wouldn’t push her by stealing a kiss.

She lifted her face as he bent down, pressing his lips against her cheek.

‘Good night, Esther.’

And if her knees shook when he walked past her, that was entirely due to the cold.

Babington, once his head hit the pillow, realized that Esther had entered the porch through that exact same door the mistletoe had hung above, and tried not to overthink that fact. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed before.

Notes:

- Written for the 12 days of Sanditon challenge but I'm awfully late - Building mentioned is this one https://www.countrycottageholiday.com/our-cottages/the-boathouse# - Song sung by Georgiana and James is this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64xKIGA7_P4

#12 days of sanditon #esther x babington #esther/babington

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