Title: Family

Author: Jennie

Character/Pairing: Seph McCauley

Fandom: Heir Trilogy

Rating: G

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. I do not intend to make any profit off of them and are borrowing them for my amusement only.

AN: Written for the LiveJournal 31days community prompt October 19: 'lies my parents told me'. This series won't let me go, and it's not helping that the themes are so fitting... Also written for LiveJournal firstlinefic community prompt 32: It's his/her secret fantasy. Once again, spoilers for a major plot point in Wizard Heir.

It's his secret fantasy. To have a family, that is. He's always wondered what it would be like. He doesn't know much about his parents, but he can be sure that whatever they are, their names are not Jared McCauley and Helen Jacoby, that they are neither flight attendant nor software entrepreneur.

He loved Genevieve LeClerc like a mother, and in many ways, she played that role. But he knew she was lying. Even as a child, he could sense it, could feel the way she stiffened when asked, saw her eyes cloud over before she could look away and break the connection between them. He loved her, but he didn't exactly trust her- especially after he was old enough to hack into the files himself and learn the truth.

Of course, by that point, she was dead.

And he could no longer ask her any questions.

When Linda Downey came to the Havens to pick him up, he was grateful. But he also recognized the same lies, the same half-truths he had become immune to. He wouldn't trust her, even though he liked her. And he waited, biding his time until the time came when he would ask her and she couldn't say no.

Now he knows the truth, knows who he is and why he was hidden and he suddenly has two parents who are trying their best but don't really have a clue what they're doing. His father works him to the ground in magic, but seems to hesitate when bringing up anything that isn't magically related. His mother alternates between babying him and letting him have too much freedom- he's nearly a year younger than Jack is, but his aunt (who definitely isn't on the list of strictest parents) is more watchful than his own mother is. It's his aunt who will ask him why he was so late coming home one evening, or just what exactly was he doing with Madison Moss behind the bleachers at the high school? (The answer, by the way, is sketching.)

Linda- rarely "Mother"- tries, and he does, deep down, love her. But he's not sure if he can ever trust her again. Oh yes, she'll definitely give her life to keep him safe, if that's what it takes. But every time she answers a question, he has to keep from trying to enter her mind, wary of her version of the truth.

Learning that Genevieve knew the truth the entire time and never told him shatters the larger-than-life image he had of her ever since her death. Before, she was his beloved foster mother, a woman who cared for him because his own parents could not be there, someone he admired and aspired to please. Now he sees her for the liar she really was, and finds himself doubting her wisdom.

And Hastings- never "Father"- well, he didn't know of Seph's existence either. Seph does not blame him in the least, instead resenting his mother for keeping his father from him. What would have it been like to grow up with a father? He certainly would have gotten his training, and his father would have never sent him to the Havens. His father is strong, a rock of the resistance, someone you can count on. Someone that he needed during his life, and someone he didn't get to meet until they were both days away from dying.

It's a second chance he's living. Leicester is dead, D'Orsay is on the run, the Roses are busy battling themselves and D'Orsay and while Seph knows the war isn't going to stay away for ever, he uses the current peace to do something he never thought he would- get to know his parents.

No matter how weird things were, no matter how many lies were told, no matter how many confidences were broken- only one thing matters.

Seph finally has his parents.