Chapter Text
Susan Paddington waited patiently at the arrival gate at Heathrow International Airport. Her only child, Lucy, her husband Anthony, and her grandson Anthony Jr were flying in from New York City. Lucy and Anthony were flying to Zurich Switzerland for a business trip then to Italy for a seven week vacation without their son.
While she would never admit it out loud, she was somewhat disappointed in her only child. Lucy had shown very little interest in schoolwork and the world around her. She had been more interested in going to parties, designer clothes and having a good time. Lucy’s only ambition in life was to marry a wealth man so she wouldn’t have to work. Then again, she had been the same way until her family had been killed in a train accident decades ago.
“Nana!” A blue and white blur raced towards her. Susan smiled has she looked down at her grandson beaming face but mentally frowned. Why on Earth was Anthony dressed up like a sailor from the nineteenth century?
“Hello Mother,” Lucy DiNozzo said coolly giving her mother an impersonal kiss on the cheek. Susan studied her daughter. Lucy was immaculate has ever. Not a single hair out of place and she was wearing a very expensive silk blue dress with matching diamond earrings, ring, necklace and bracelet. Susan’s sharp eyes noticed faint lines around Lucy’s mouth and her eyes under her daughter’s makeup. Not laugh lines per say, but lines that suggested that her daughter was discontent with life in general.
“Nana, did you know we went on a really cool airplane?” Anthony said in an excited voice, bouncing up and down on the spot. “It was called the Concorde! We flew really high in sky and-“
”Anthony, be quite!” Lucy snapped. Anthony’s face fell and there was a flash of hurt in his green eyes. “Mother, here is the number of our hotel in Zurich and I’ll call you when we arrive in Rome. Anthony, be a good boy and I’ll see you in seven weeks.” Lucy gave her son a brief kiss on the cheek and walked away without a backward glance.
The next two weeks passed by quickly and Tony thrived under his grandmother’s attention. He had been ecstatic when she had presented him with a brown and white pony that Tony promptly named Thumper. Tony picked up horseback riding quickly and by the end of the week, he was begging for a bigger and faster horse.
The following weekend her brother-in-law’s family drop in for a two day visit. Saturday was a nice and clear day but Sunday was a gray and rainy day.
“Let’s play hide and seek,” Anne said, sneaking a look at her older brother and rolling her eyes. Neither sibling had been thrilled about being dragged off to the country for the weekend. There was no television; only a radio that played old boring music. The nearest shops were a fifteen minutes car ride away, and to add insult to injury, they had to attend church that morning.
“Do we get a prize if we’re the last person found?” Tony demanded in an excited voice. Nana’s house had all kinds of interesting hiding places.
“Sure,” Anne said in a bored voice. “I’ll count to fifty, so you better hide Tony!”
Tony shot out of the room and ran upstairs. No one was going to find him! He bypassed several rooms on the second floor until he spied the staircase that led to the attic. He took the stairs two at a time and looked around the attic for the prefect hiding spot. There were bit and pieces of furniture, old carpets and several trunks filled with old school uniforms, books and toys.
His green eyes lit up when he spotted an old wardrobe half hidden under a dust cover. He yanked the dust cover down, opened the wardrobe door and pushed his past the musty old fur coats until he hit the back of the wardrobe. Tony grinned to himself as he sat down. No one was going to find him!
“Anne, where is Anthony?” Susan asked has her brother-in-law’s family has they were getting ready to leave. She was thankful to see them leave. The only reason why they bothered to visit her twice a year was to stay in her good books.
“Hiding somewhere Aunt Susan,” Anne said with a careless shrug. “We were playing hide and seek and we couldn’t find him.”
“We didn’t have time to check the attic Aunt Susan, “ Joey said quickly seeing the frown on his Aunt’s face. “He probably found a hidey hole up there.”
“There’s nothing in the attic except some old furniture, school trunks and the...” Susan trailed off, and a terrible fear swept over her. Susan quickly said her goodbyes and all but ran upstairs to the attic. She ran over to the wardrobe but before she could pull the door open, the face of a shimmering lion appeared in front of her and roared.
“Your will Aslan,” Susan said with a deep curtsy of profound respect. Spying an old Queen Anne chair, she dragged it over and sat down in front of the wardrobe and waited.
End