It was raining. The night was dark, cloudy and humid, and between the driving fall of water and the lack of light, perhaps the skidding of the brakes was understandable-perhaps the car folded in and crumpled like a broken doll at the foot of the tree was justifiable, if not justified.
The official medical report listed the driver killed on impact. He had been drunk with his two small twin sons in the back seat. One of those sons was reported fine save for minor injuries-bruises and scrapes, but he was fine save from that-but the other... oh, the other.
The other would never walk, it was estimated. Such a spinal injury during the formative stages of infancy was debilitating. At best, he'd have incomplete paraplegia. The poor boy had no idea what was happening, of course; all he knew was that he hurt and he was afraid, and he cried and cried.
His father's younger brother took them both in-no one knew where to find their mother. After she had broken up with her high school sweetheart and left him the children, she vanished from their lives. So it was that Ambrose Strider with a heavy heart began to look for a full-time job, needing the income to pay for the many costs associated with raising children, not to mention that of arranging a funeral for his brother. At least that was a one-time expense.
And oh, he knew his family had money, but he wasn't really part of his family anymore. Calling on them wasn't an option. He put the idea far out of his mind and never came back to it.
For a little over a month, he managed, dropping out of his college career to pursue two day jobs so he could make ends meet. But regularly scheduled hospital visits for a little paraplegic baby are expensive, and healthcare isn't always free, and the bills kept on piling higher and higher and higher.
Eventually, when he was skipping two meals a day to let the boys eat, he realized what he had to do.
Spencer David Strider was taken to an adoption center, and his uncle drove away without looking back.
Your name is Roxy Lalonde, and you are the world's most determee—dittermine—STUBBORN four year old!
Your mom always uses a different word than stubborn, but that word is not working with you right now. It's a big meaniehead word!
"Moooommyyyy," you draw out her name as you stumble to keep up with her pace and cling to her hand. "Are we getting another baby today?"
She looks down at you with a broad grin, slowing to an easier and slower walk and bouncing Rosiewosie on her hip. Rosie giggles and you feel a bright smile pulling at your cheeks as you reach for her, wanting to touch her cute face and make her giggle again. "Yes, Roxy!" Mommy says, letting go of your hand to ruffle your hair. "Are you excited?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" you jump up and down and clap your hands. It was plenty exciting when Rosie came along because you fiiiinally had someone to play with. Another baby would make it at least one, two, three… TWO times more exciting! You can't wait to meet her. Or him, you don't mind all that much.
A while ago a lady came to visit you at home and you had to sit down with Mommy and Rosie while she asked you aall kinds of questions. You're not really sure you know what most of them meant, but you think they were adult things. Booooring!
Now it's time, though, today you're going to meet your new brother or sister for the first time ever! Mommy woke you up in the morning, waaay too early, but then you remembered what day today is! After that everything went by soooo slowly! Breakfast can wait, you have to meet the new baby! What if she thinks you're not coming if you're late? Would he be sad? You would be!
In your hurry you almost forgot your shoes, but Mommy called you right back. She even let you try to tie your shoes and you aaaalmost had it. Soo close. It didn't matter though, you had more important things on your mind!
And now you're finally here!
All three of you arrive at a big house (it's at least two meters high, so you know it's big) and Mommy stops in front of it to kneel down and look at you.
"Be nice now, Roxy. This is very exciting and new for all of us, so you have to promise to stay close to me and not run off." She holds out her hand with her pinky stretched out. "Pinky Promise?"
You link yours quickly. "Pinky Promise!"
Pink Promises are important, you know that. Mommy almost never asks for one, but when she does it's seer-ius. You can be seer-ius.
She smiles at you and Rosie yawns in her arm. Oh no!
"You can't sleep now! We're here, we're here! Don't you wanna see the baby?" You pap her hand lightly and she whines and paps your nose.
"Mommyyy! Rosie hit me!"
She chuckles and kisses Rosie's head before she can start crying.
"I think Rosie is just tired. She'll have lots of other opportunities to meet him. You can tell her about it when we get home if you want! "
You look at her with wide eyes and get a little jumpy again.
"It's a boy!"
Mommy smiles and nods.
"I always wanted a baby brother! Let's go, I have to meet him! I bet he's really cute, just like Rosie!"
"Just like you."
She kisses your head as well and stands up again, holding out her hand. You take it and grin.
"Yaayyy!" you cheer, bouncing on your feet for a second. You almost almost almost run forward into the big big house, but then you remember the Pinky Promise and stop, playing with the hem of your dress instead. You're excited! You can't wait! "Come on, Mommy!" you urge. "Let's go get the baby!"
Mommy laughs. You like the sound, it makes you laugh too! "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
When you get inside, Mommy goes to talk to a lady sitting at a desk. You don't really pay attention to what they talk about because blah blah, booooring Grown-Up Stuff! Instead you tug on Mommy's skirt and gaze around the room at all the colorful decorations, and then when you get bored of those, you slowly and dramatically sink to a seated position on Mommy's feet.
She looks down at you with a smile. "Roxy, honey," she says, "do you want to sit down? This might take a minute."
"I wanna see the baby!" you whine. "When do we get to see the baby?"
The lady behind the desk laughs. She has a low voice compared to Mommy's. "Well aren't you just the cutest thing!" she coos, looking down at you. "Don't worry, dear, you'll get to see him soon enough. But he's very little, he won't be able to play with you!"
Well duh, you know that! "Well duh, I know that," you say, your hands on your hips. "Mommy says he's the same age as Rosie, which means he'll just nap and cry a lot or throw food at me sometimes, but he's my baby brother! And I want to see him! This is boring!"
Rosie hears her name and coos softly. You giggle and bounce on your feet, distracted for a moment by your baby sister. Then she yawns again and closes her eyes and you sigh loudly as Mommy and the other lady laugh. What's funny? Did you miss something?
Mommy adjusts Rosie on her hip and then looks down at you. "If you are very, very careful," she suggests, "you can go sit down on the chairs over there and hold Rosie while I finish this boring old paperwork up."
Your face immediately lights up. "Yay yay yay! Rosie Rosie Rosie!"
Mommy smiles. You run to the chairs and climb into the comfiest looking one, squirming around to get yourself properly situated and then holding your arms out for Rosie. Mommy gently settles her into your lap and tells you "Don't move her too much, she's tired," and kisses the top of your head before she goes back to the boring Grown-Up Stuff.
You sit super duper still and look down at your sister—your baby sister—with awe. Napping and crying and food throwing aside, you love her soooo much! You've always wanted another baby around because being alone is lonely, and now you'll have two!
Rosie sighs in her sleep and her head lolls against your arm. Remembering what Mommy told you last time you held her, you quickly shift to support her neck properly and giggle, kissing her forehead. She's so cute!
A few minutes later, Mommy comes over to you and takes Rosie into her arms again. "Come on, Roxy," she tells you with a bright smile, "it's time to meet your baby brother!"
Your eyes grow wide as you jump down from the chair, and then jump up and down in place a few times with excitement. You're meeting him you're meeting him you're finally meeting him!
The lady from behind the desk is standing now, and she laughs at you for some reason. You ignore that and follow her and Mommy as fast as your legs can carry you down a hallway and around some corners and past a staircase into a room with a crib and another lady who's standing next to a baby in a rocker. You're so excited you could scream! Except you won't because experience with Rosie tells you that's a bad idea around babies.
So instead you hold your breath and stare at him adoringly, your face the picture of delight and wonder. The grown-ups are talking but you don't really hear them as you go over to him. He stares at you, blinking once or twice, and then he reaches for you. You gasp and let him hold your hand, and then you turn around because you have a very important announcement for the grown-ups.
"He's mine," you announce, pointing at him. "My new baby brother."
Mommy beams at you and the other two ladies smile broadly too. "Yes," Mommy says. "He is."
"I love him!" you look back at him, then at them. "He's my favorite baby brother ever!" Then you pause. "And Rosie is my favorite baby sister. I have two babies!" This is the most amazing thing ever! You have two whole babies!
The two ladies exchange glances and say something you don't catch to Mommy. You don't catch it because an important question just came to you.
"Mommy?" you interrupt them. "What's my favorite baby brother's name?"
Everyone laughs. "Spencer David Lalonde," one of the ladies says. You wrinkle your nose.
"I like David better than Spencer," you inform them all, and then you turn back to David. "David! Yes you! Hi!"
He blinks at you and you thiiink you see the barest hint of a smile on his chubby cheeks. Yesss he likes you! Also he's still holding your hand. Yesss he double likes you!
You plant a kiss on his forehead like you had with Rosie and then giggle as he gurgles a laugh. "Guess what?" you tell him. "You're my baby brother now! Welcome to the family, you're going to love it here."
AN: Hi everyone! Welcome to Promises To Keep, the fic that was born out of two sad Davesprite fans crying that he deserves better than canon gave him. This is the first of (hopefully many) collaborations between A Dreaming Songbird and LordPeanut (you can find both of our individual profiles under ADreamingPeanut's favorite authors)! We're still figuring it out as we go along, just a bit, but we're both very excited for this story and we hope you are too!
Just so you know what to expect: This is a David-centric story, but many characters will be prominent, and many more will appear at least once. It's mostly family, friendship, and a tad of romance and a good strong helping of hurt/comfort and angst, because really, anyone who knows us should know better than to expect a fic without angst. The main ship will be Davesprite/Jadesprite!
For the next month or so, updates will be rather infrequent, as both of us are really busy. We're starting now in honor of 4/13, even if we are a little late!
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy the rest of the story!
