Frollo walked alongside Esmeralda on their morning walk around the small village. It had been 3 years since that glorious day. In his mind, they made a beautiful couple. A mostly-submissive wife, with an all-powerful husband ruling over her, with a child on the way.

It wouldn't be too much longer until the baby came, and Esmeralda had made no attempt to hide it. It wasn't anything she said, but the moaning. What was so hard about carrying a child, he would never understand. She looked like she was in pain though, and had once asked if she could skip their walks until she delivered, which he declined. "And if I leave, who is to say that you won't try to escape?" She had yet to answer that.

Despite her unneeded whining, Frollo was happy about the child, or, the prospect of finally having an heir to his title. "Perhaps this one will be better behaved than that hunchback."

_

Esmeralda walked slowly, pretending to listen to her husband gripe how everyone was below him. According to him, having a speck of dirt on your being meant that you don't know personal hygiene. When she was sure that he was distracted, she slipped off, and went to see one of Clopin's puppet shows. It was the first time they had been out at the same time in about a year, and she was dying to see how he was doing.

Clopin was just finishing up an enchanting story involving a beastly prince and a fair young lady, when he saw Esmeralda in the small crowd. He, at first, was ecstatic to see her, until she moved closer and he could see her swollen mid-section. He almost gagged thinking about having a smaller version of Frollo waltzing down the streets, acting like he owned the place. Hopefully the poor thing would take more after its mother.

"From the looks of it, I'd say you're going to have a girl," He told her after the show.

"That's just an old wives tale, Clopin. They're almost never true."

"Eh, you never know. Either way, then we always have room in our pack!"

Esmeralda raised her eyebrow at him, trying to mimic the dispproving look Frollo gave many people, but it soon fell. "I wish I could, but you know I can't. If he ever saw our child behaving like I used to, it wouldn't be pretty."

Clopin's smile dropped as he stared Esmeralda in the eyes. "Has he ever hit you?"

Esmeralda was surprised by the question, but laughed it off. "No, why would you ask that?"

"Just wondering." He looked over her shoulder, only to see a familiar tall, dark figure heading towards them. "Listen, if you ever need anything or to get away, I'm here."