Tu Es Ma Lumière

49 - Meeting Family *Modern*

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Prompt - can you write something about mary meeting the francis family??

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Mary reluctantly strapped herself into her boyfriends' car, wincing at the sound of the seat belt pulling against it's restrains. She was nervous. She and Francis had been dating for quite a few months now, and it was now time for her to meet his family. She didn't want to. Not because she had anything against them, after all, Sebastian provided endless hours of entertainment and he was a really nice guy, but because of the stories she had been told by both half brothers. 

Apparently Elisabeth could vary from a sweet farmers daughter, to a prude, uptight bitch, according to Sebastian. Claude gave her the implication of a rebellious party girl who drank all day and night because of a lack of maternal affection in the past. Apparently, the matriarch had never really bonded with the daughter that was far too much like her for anybody's liking. Charles and Henry were rather different to their elder brothers. Louis was next, an extremely intelligent young boy with an impressive academic record with no time for anything but his studies. His ambition that he had gotten from his father was solely focused on his smarts and his future. He resembled Henry and Sebastian more, dark hair and bright eyes so alluring for anybody who gave him a second look. Charles was going through an emo phase, apparently. Dark and gloomy thanks to a breakup with his first proper girlfriend, who broke up with him for Henry, who was a year younger. He seemed nice enough, she had been with Francis and Sebastian and Kenna to the thirteen year old's soccer, football and baseball games. A little shy in front of pretty girls, but he seemed to be a driven young guy who had a good head on his shoulders, even if he was a little too ambitious at times. Margot was a sweet young girl who had a good head on her shoulders, smart in school, but she was rather sheltered, thanks to a strict upbringing Catherine imposed on her daughters that she didn't impose on her sons. Hercules was a rambunctious little boy, a bundle of energy that was so sweet and innocent who adored his eldest brothers, who both were somewhat surrogate fathers to him and the others, seeing as though Henry and Catherine were rather busy people with little time to parent the ten children they had birthed together. Golden haired and dark eyed, he was a very kind young boy. Then the twins, Emone and Henriette. The two girl who loved to be mischievous with their youngest brother and cause havoc for their mother, long since given up on trying to attain their love, rather relishing in the fact they didn't have Catherine breathing down their necks like she did the boys. Henry just worked day and night, and when he was home parading his litter to the business executives, his eye always flashed over towards the next pretty girl in a short dress. Although she didn't like his behaviour, Mary knew that she didn't have any reason to not meet the guy. Well, maybe one. But Henry would never go that far.

The real issue was his mother. Bash had told her of multiple horror stories of how she had ran off many of Francis' ex girlfriends and didn't even let the relationship progress if she didn't like them after the first meeting. The most notable one was Olivia. The Italian girl of who'm she had never, ever gotten along with. There had been one time that she had walked in on her husband and that girl having sex. She took Olivia's clothing and threw it outside, before calling the girls' parents and making sure that Olivia never appeared in his life again. If she didn't like Mary -and the chances of that were great since she hadn't ever liked even one of Francis' girlfriends- then she could wave goodbye to this perfect golden puppy dog she had found several months ago.

Mary had met the youngest ones on a few occasions, but she had yet been invited to a family event. She and Francis had managed to dodge out of the family meeting last Christmas, using Marie's hospitalisation as the excuse, but Mary couldn't get out of the Valois-Angouleme-de Medici's yearly summer vacation to the summer house in the mountains of Anjou.

"I don't want to." Mary wined as her boyfriend slid into the car. He glanced at her.

"We have to." he said. She had been stalling all day, but if they didn't want to miss the flight to France and really suffer his mothers' wrath, they had to move now.

"What if I'm sick?" she guessed, looking at him with big eyes. Meeting his family seemed so formal. Like for real formal. They hadn't done this with Marie de Guise. After all, she had been so drunk for the duration of her only daughters' relationship to even notice that she was in one. 

"Are you?" he rose a perfectly plucked brow. Mary pouted, shaking her head.

"No." she mumbled.

"It'll be fine." he smiled, taking her hand. "You'll be with me, and Kenna'n Bash're gonna be there." he stated.

"It's not that, what if your mom doesn't like me?" she asked. "I don't wanna run out of your family home in nothing but my-" he cut her off with a chuckle.

"Don't worry, that won't happen. She'll love you." he proved it by kissing her head. "And if she doesn't, it won't matter cause I love you." he stated. Mary smiled.

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"Francis! You're here!" was what Mary heard as she and Francis exited their rental car. Mary looked over as Francis caught two running little girls in his arms. She smiled softly at him, closing her door and walking over to the other side of the bonnet. Francis placed the two giggling girls down and they looked at her expectantly.

"'Mone, Hattie, you remember Mary, don't you?"  he asked.

"Are you Francis' girlfriend?" Hattie asked. Mary smiled prettily and nodded, squatting to their level.

"I am," Mary answered. "Don't you two look pretty today." Mary complimented. The girls flushed and rushed forwards, wrapping their little arms around her neck. Mary smiled down at them, fixing their hair as they pulled back.

"Hey!" Bash called from behind them. "You give Francis all the hugs and leave me all alone?!" he asked, pulling suitcases from their rental's boot.

Hattie and Emone giggled, running over towards the eldest brother they had, barely coming up over his hips. Bash chuckled and petted their hair's affectionately. The children didn't get to spend much time with them after they had finished their academics and began their own lives, so whenever their beloved brothers could come around, the children relished in it.

"Well, it's that a pretty picture?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Mary jumped, clinging to Kenna's forearm as she caught sight of the matriarch of the family standing in the doorway, her face unreadable as she took in the sight of her children with her stepson. A stepson that she -apparently- couldn't stand the sight of.

Mary gulped audibly.
This so wasn't going to end well.

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Hey!

Hope you like this little oneshot. Keep the requests coming, 'cause I'm not really inspired to write right now, and I wanna get as much out as possible when we're all in this crazy situation. Stay safe out there!

Love you all,

me

:).