You Are My Light Part II

248 - Coming Home *Modern*

Side Note - Same AU as Part 228

"Welcome home, guys." Mariposa de Valois-Angouleme says gently, hunching down lightly to place the newborn baby's car seat onto the floor. It was slightly awkward, holding the little four year olds' hand gently as she lead him inside the ridiculously large mansion Catherine had insisted she and Francis purchase after Zachary's adoption. It slept fourteen comfortably! But that wasn't the point, the point of it was these little boys here.

Things had changed so much in so little time. Mary hadn't known it was possible to lead a life so happy and contented -albeit, a little busy at times- after so much pain, the dark times that hurt so much when she and her husband were younger. Seven losses and a stillborn little Maddie, then the light at the end of the journey with Aiden, Elodie and Acacia. Her eldest three children, and a miracle pregnancy that brought her so much joy and adoration. James, her perfect little miracle baby, her reward after so much loss and tumultuation. But the two of them knew that they were far from finishing their childrearing days.

A surprise proposition by their social worker just after James turned seventeen months, Mary and her husband had been at a dinner party when she got the call from Rebecca, a mother had just gone into labor in Paris, and she had decided not to go through with keeping her unborn son, after it came out that her baby was the product of a sexual assault, and the hospital had been scrambling to find a couple to take in the little child that was quickly cing into the world. Originally, it was just going to be a six month fostering situation, where Mary and Francis would care for the baby temporarily, but Francis hadn't had the heart to raise a little boy, then give it away. So, before the child was signed out of the hospital, his adoption papers christened him Zachary Matthias Daniel de Valois-Angouleme. They had met the birth mother, Melanie, and she was a lovely woman, who wanted to have only a picture of her baby until he decided if he wanted to know her or not. That was barely fourteen months ago, but there dark haired, red haired little boy fit into their family so perfectly well that it warmed Mary's heart to see her other children taking to him so well.

A failed adoption of a little girl nine months ago had put the family under a strain for a time, until Francis got a call in the middle of the worst storm either of them could remember, in the middle of the night, they were told of a three year old little boy who had been risen in an abusive household involving drugs and alcohol who had been taken away from his pregnant mother and a drunk boyfriend, who had nowhere to go. Rebecca gave them room to refuse, she knew that the Valois' usually only took in babies or were put into contact with pregnant women, but the decision had been a quick one for the patriarch of this rapidly growing family.

Sebastian Timothy Everett had turned up at their door with nothing but a small tesco bag full of clothes, a tattered blanket and a raggedy teddy bear. Mary had fallen in love with this little blonde haired, blue eyed boy with sad eyes from the moment she had seen him. He was an old soul, so damaged, but so sweet and serene and loving under all the tears and bruises and trauma that Mary took him into her arms and told him she'd never let anybody hurt him again. Several months of fostering and constant court dates, with the issue of getting the little boy and their other little children transitioned and comfortable with the new way of life had dealt another wave when it was ruled that Mary and Francis would be getting custody of the child, and would be working towards adopting not only him, but the child growing inside the biological mother, too.

Months of making sure that their case for adoption was tight and secure with the Valois lawyers, and another six weeks of anxiously awaiting if their case would go through for not only the little boy but the poor, sick baby boy with drugs in his system at birth. Needless to say, the issue was no longer existent, as Francis closed the French iron doors with the suitcase and bags in his arms.

"Welcome home little man." Mary whispered, keeling in front of little Elliot (as he liked to be called. It was simpler than calling him Sebastian because, well, the obvious reason, and he didn't really like the other names he had, and when little Zach had called him Elliot when he couldn't say Everett, it just stuck)  as he looks at her deeply. "This is your home now, you and your brother." Mary smiles gently. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah," he smiles. "yeah, mama." he says. That had been a recent thing, just after the baby had been born, he began calling the two of them by those precious names that reminded them that all of this pain was worth it.

"Do you want to see him? He's sleeping right now." Mary says, looking at the six week old little colt that was so small he could be mistaken for a fresh-out-of-womb newborn.

"What's his name? The new one?"

"Well, little man-" Francis came to pick up his newly adopted son. "his name used to be what yours was-"

"Stetzen." Elliot interrupts. Francis nods quickly.

"Very good, his name used to be that. But it's now Leighton Elijah Malachi (pronunciation key = mal-uhk-eye) de Valois-Angouleme." the blonde answers the other blonde.

"Are you happy with that?"

"Does that mean he's living here forever?" Elliot asks, looking from his new mother to his new father, when Mary raises with the little baby in her arms. She always cherished the times when they were babies (perhaps Aiden and James more than others, not that she could help it much, however) and had an awful feeling that they would be coming to an end of their adoption journey soon. It's not as though Mary didn't want any more children, of course not, with all she'd been through, she wants a hundred babies, and because she wasn't going to be carrying her babies, age didn't matter, neither did money for that matter. Because, let's face it, she and Francis had more money than they knew what to do with, but it felt only fair to the other children to give them what time they had in their childhoods devoted to them, not looking for more children to love and raise. And with the open and honest conversations about all but James' adoptions, there were no lingering feelings of pain or guilt or confusion. But, then again the children were indeed very happy whenever the adoption process started again. Maybe one or two more, but that could be decided later. For now, Mary would simply enjoy the children she had been blessed with.

"Mama! Papa! You're back! And you've brought two brothers!"

Yes, indeed, the children they had were very happy, indeed.

/

I really really wanna write an AU about this kind of situation, it's always fun to dabble with possibilities and different lives they could have had, and it's enjoyable to switch up the naming part of writing, since many authors (myself included) always tend to give the kids the same names all the time. Would anybody enjoy reading about Frary's sterile struggle and adoption process? I really do wanna write about it, seeing as modern ones are easier to write and I don't have to be bound to the storylines in the show that I can't access anymore, but I can't help but think that because of the darkness of the miscarriages and the stillbirth, it'll turn people off this story. Some people enjoy the fluffier than the darker, and that's perfectly okay, but I don't want to spend so much time and energy on a book that nobody will read, let a girl know!

Also, sorry for any issues with grammar or spelling, as usual, working with an awful keyboard that cuts connection every two bloody seconds and randomly typed letters.

Spoiler for next one, daddy francis! (I'm aware that I'm literally only doing pregnant/parent frary rn, but the idea of it is so darn cute that it's hard to resist)

love,

me

:)