Apple Tree House.
She read and reread the sign about four times before slowly approaching the house, letting her eyes scan over the familiar building.
How long had she promised him? A couple of weeks? Two months at the most? Ten whole years had flown by without her even realising.
Flicking her blonde hair out of her eyes, she approached the door, knocking quickly, then stepping back, nervously wringing her hands.
The door was opened a short while later by a short Asian boy.
She smiled, hiding her nerves. "Hello." Her voice shook a little, but she quickly cleared her throat and righted herself. "Can I come in?"
Kiku just stared at the woman for a short while, but nodded anyway, assuming she was here for a fostering interview, and stepped out of the way for her to enter.
Sighing, she stepped into the house, glancing around. Everything reminded her of that day.
"I'll go get Jenny." said Kiku, disappearing through the archway.
The woman nodded, taking a deep breath. She waited patiently for his return, biting her lip to stop the memories from bringing tears to her eyes. She was glancing over the photos of days out and such on the wall of the hallway when she heard someone come down the stairs. She turned, smiling at who she saw.
"Francis?"
The teen froze when he caught sight of the woman in the archway. He recognised her instantly. The blonde hair that fell around her shoulders in gentle waves, her blue eyes, her pale skin, even the simple silver bracelet that rode her left wrist.
She put a hand to her chest. "Is that really my little boy?"
Without a word, Francis turned and ran strait back to his room, slamming his door, just as Kiku returned with Jenny.
Jenny, who had been ecstatic about a potential foster parent for one of the children, frowned, her mood plummeting. "Would you like to step into my office, Mrs. Bonnefoy?" she said, more demanding than requesting.
"Francis, what's wrong?" asked Antonio when his roommate stormed into their room and slammed the door, having only left under a minute ago.
Francis didn't answer. He just stomped over to his bed and threw himself down face-first, crying and cursing into his pillow.
How dare she!
First she lies to him, leaves him here to rot, then she shows up out of the blue! How dare she! That... that... that chienne! That stupid, stupid chienne!
Francis spent a few more minutes sobbing and swearing in French. "How c-could she, Antonio?" he wept.
Antonio, who had sat on his friend's bed, rubbing soothing circles on his back and listening to him bawling for the past couple of minutes, just sighed.
"T-two months at the m-most, so she turns up ten years l-later! I h-hate her, Antonio! I really, genuinely fucking hate her!"
Francis didn't swear often, so when he did, everyone knew things were getting too serious.
"I know you do, amigo." soothed Antonio.
A knock sounded on their bedroom door, and the two pulled apart as Antonio went to answer it.
It was Elizabeta, looking particularly concerned. "I saw." she said, stepping into the room. "Are you alright, Francis?"
"Does it look like I'm alright?" snapped the teen. He took a deep breath, wiping his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine." Elizabeta smiled, seating herself next to Francis, wrapping an arm around him. "Lesson number one in life, sweetie. Parents are rubbish." She let him rest his head on her shoulder, stroking his hair.
Claudette Bonnefoy thanked Yekaterina as she set a mug of tea down on the desk for her.
The Ukrainian nodded and sat behind her own desk, filling in a diary of yesterday's events with the Zwingli siblings.
"I would have appreciated at least a phone call." stated Jenny, folding her hands.
Claudette pouted. "I'm sorry." she snapped. "I was just so excited about seeing my son again after so long!"
With a sigh, Jenny ran her hand through her hair.
"I'm a changed woman, Ms. Dale!" Claudette clutched her chest. "I've left my husband and now I'm ready to be a mother, just please let me see my son! Please!"
Yekaterina looked up. "It isn't up to us, Mrs. Bonnefoy."
Glancing over to the care worker, Claudette frowned.
"It's Francis' decision." the Ukrainian explained. "Their tutor is about to arrive for their session, so you'll have to wait until afterwards."
Claudette nodded, wiping away a few tears that had been gathering in her eyes.
The tutor for Apple Tree House and all care homes in the area was a tall man from Estonia named Eduard von Bock. He was a kind man and was very good at his job.
The residents had a great deal of respect for him, even though they did all hate having lessons together with different age groups.
It was a difficult job to teach the six year olds on the same level as the seventeen year olds, but Eduard managed it.
"Good morning, class." Eduard smiled, leaning against the wall.
"Good morning, Mr. von Bock." was the monotonous reply. Today was Wednesday. Which meant they had maths. Nobody likes maths.
Not letting the usual drone of bored children deter him, Eduard wrote the word 'FRACTIONS' on the large whiteboard neatly.
The children gave an irritated groan.
Eduard gave a quiet chuckle. "I don't see what you all find so difficult about fractions." he said, busying himself with writing a few examples on the board, explaining them as he went along.
He was so busy, he didn't notice Feliciano's hand in the air. Well, Lovino took care of that.
"Hey, my brother's had his hand up for ages, you blind bastard! You must need stronger glasses!"
Having gotten used to Lovino's outbursts long ago, Eduard chided him for his language, and smiled towards Feliciano. "What is it?"
Feli quickly wrote on his own board, not wanting to waste too much time. Not that Eduard minded. He'd been in this job for a long time and had encountered a number of children who wrote on boards or used sign language to communicate.
'I'm still stuck on the fractions from last week.'
"Okay," Eduard nodded towards him. "I'll just go through the new ones for the others, then I'll come and have a look at what you'd got so far, okay?" He gave another smile, writing a few more fractions on the board for the class to try before making his way over to Feliciano and sitting beside him. "So, what's giving you trouble?"
Feliciano opened his maths book to last weeks problems. He'd given them a go, but he didn't think he'd done particularly well.
Eduard gave his answers a quick once-over, humming a little. "Well, you've managed to get a couple right." he said, making Feliciano's face light up. "But I think I see where you're having trouble. Let's see," He quickly scanned the students. "Ludwig," he decided. "Could you give Feliciano a bit of a hand with these?"
Ludwig looked up. "You mean tutor him?" he asked.
Eduard nodded. "If you wouldn't mind."
"Okay." Ludwig gave a small smile to Feliciano, before turning back to his work.
Feliciano frowned, feeling a bit useless. First he'd asked Ludwig to teach him to speak and now he had to help him with maths. He really didn't want to burden him.
On the other side of the room, Francis was busy ignoring the world. He hand his arms folded and his head down, thinking about the encounter this morning before tutoring began.
Why was she here? And why now? Why couldn't she have come ten years ago when he wanted her in his life?
All his life he'd daydreamed that she'd turn up in a glamorous car to take him back to France and now that she was here, what did he do? He stormed up to his room and cried like a baby.
He thoughts came to an abrupt halt when a balled up piece of paper landed on his desk. He unrolled it and read it's message.
'Are you alright? -Matt'
With a sigh, he scrawled back 'Not really.'
'What's the matter?'
'My mother turned up this morning'
'That's good though?'
'You'd think so, but no.'
'You know where I am, if you need me xx'
Quickly stuffing the note into his pocket, Francis decided to get on with some work before Mr. von Bock noticed him slacking.
Jenny quietly knocked on Francis' door, slipping inside when she heard him call. "Just me." she said, sitting on the bed.
"What does she want?" asked Francis, rubbing his eyes.
With a sigh, Jenny tucked a lock of loose hair behind her ear. "To talk to you. Maybe explain herself." she replied. Catching the distrust in Francis' eyes, she put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to see her, Francis." she said.
Francis sighed. "I will see her." he muttered. As much as he hated her right now, he couldn't deny that he needed answers from her.
Jenny gave a sad sort of smile and got to her feet, leaving the room just as Claudette entered.
"Francis!" she chimed again, wrapping her arms around her son.
Francis stiffened in her grasp. "Hello Claudette."
Claudette froze, frowning. That cut deeply. She knew Francis might be mad, but she didn't think he would outright refuse to call her mother.
Actually, on the way here she'd imagined a perfect reunion. The Francis in her mind was delighted to see her. He jumped strait into her arms and they embraced and cried together, pouring their hearts out to one another and simply stating who much they'd missed each other over and over and over.
"Why now?" asked Francis.
Claudette sighed. "I've wanted to come and get you for so long, mon bébé!"
"Then why didn't you?"
"Do you have any idea how difficult it was?" Claudette got to her feet, staring down at her son. "I was just a child myself when I had you! Sixteen, Francis! I couldn't… I couldn't look after a child!" she calmed herself a little, sitting back down next to Francis on the bed. "I hated leaving you here."
Unconvinced, Francis scoffed and looked away.
A few more tears gathered in Claudette's eyes. "But that's why I'm here. To make things better." Her voice was becoming desperate. She wrapped her arms back around Francis, who immediately struggled out of her hold.
"What, you think you can show up, say sorry and everything will be okay again?" he snapped, walking across the room to sit on Antonio's bed.
Claudette stuttered for a moment, before smiling softly. "She's just like you." she stated.
Francis raised an eyebrow. "Who is?" he asked.
"Monique."
"Who's Monique?" A bad feeling began stirring in Francis' chest.
Claudette reached into her bag and pulled out a photograph, handing it to her son. "That's Monique. She's your little sister." she said, still smiling.
Francis stared at the photograph, taking in the girl's image. She did, indeed look like him. She wore her long, blonde hair in a braid that fell over her shoulder, a few clips keeping her fringe out of her eyes. She had little glasses that sat cutely on the bridge of her nose.
Francis decided that she was beautiful, but that didn't mean he was any less hurt by her existence. "How old is she?" he asked.
Claudette's smile widened. "She just turned six." she answered.
Biting back any tears, Francis handed the photo back. "I think you should leave." he ground out.
"What?" Claudette got to her feet. "But, Francis-"
"You weren't ready to be a mother, but you had another baby? She wasn't put into care or pawned off an someone else, but I was? If you were ready to be a mother when Monique was born why didn't you come and get me back then?" Francis yelled, his hands balled into fists at his sides. He took a deep breath to stop himself lashing out any more. "Just leave, Claudette!"
Claudette frowned, tears falling freely from her eyes. "I've never stopped thinking about my baby boy." she admitted, before turning and walking away.
End Note: Longer chapter than usual. *nods* Anyway, the tutoring scene is here thanks to LilDeadKitty, who asked how Lovi and Feli cope with school, so I explained that a friend of mine grew up in care and was tutored. THAT SCENE IS FOR YOU, BABY! Sorry if I totally failed at Estonia, I've never written him before. Also, this is fab. I have Lithuania as the counsoler, Estonia as the tutor, now I just have to slot Latvia in somewhere. Also, Francis' mammy isn't the guest appearance, but Monique is. We'll be seeing more of her soon, don't worry. I hope you guys know who Monique is supposed to be O_o.
EDIT: Just corrected some mistakes.
Translations:-
Chienne - Bitch.
Mon bébé - My baby.
The song for this chapter is Untitled by Simple Plan.
~Lolly xXx