Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Black Butler! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates weekly!
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The sun sat in the sky, looking over another beautiful day at Phantomhive manor.
Small footsteps rang out as Thaddeus Phantomhive-Michaelis pounded down the hallway, giggling.
"Thaddeus!" Ciel called as she poked her head out of her study and scowled at her son, "Come back here with that!"
Thaddeus glanced behind himself at his mother with a smirk of glee on his face, laughing as he clutched onto the records book he had just stolen off of Ciel's desk.
In his brief three years of life, Thaddeus had grown to look more like a Phantomhive than a Michaelis, with Ciel's blue-gray hair and sapphire eyes.
But Thaddeus's physical traits had not changed Sebastian's wishes.
When Thaddeus Phantomhive-Michaelis was older, Sebastian already had everything arranged for his son to travel to his homeland and claim what was rightfully his.
Ciel was troubled by the unsettling fact that upon her death, Phantomhive manor may be abandoned.
The title that Ciel had fought for, the title that her father and grandfather and great-grandfather had held, discarded…….
Forgotten.
Thaddeus's giggling stopped abruptly when he neglected to pay attention to where he was going and collided with Sebastian's legs after his father stepped into the hallway.
"What have your mother and I told you about running in the house?" Sebastian tsked while he frowned down at his son.
Thaddeus pouted at the way he had been so suddenly knocked to the floor by his own negligence.
"What's that?" Sebastian asked, narrowing his eyes when he saw Ciel's book clutched in Thaddeus's small, chubby arms.
"Mine." Thaddeus replied innocently, blinking up at Sebastian.
"Are you certain that book belongs to you?" Sebastian asked, crossing his arms and leaning down to look at Thaddeus accusingly.
Thaddeus's lower lip trembled for a moment as tears of guilt pooled in his big, blue eyes.
Just as Thaddeus's tears started to spill down his cheeks, Sebastian reached a hand out and Thaddeus placed the book in his father's grasp.
"I'm very disappointed in you, son." Sebastian said.
Sebastian's tone was calm, but severe.
Thaddeus was a sweet child and Sebastian's disapproval broke his tiny heart.
"I just took it so mummy would play with me!" Thaddeus wailed, wiping his face with a pudgy little fist. "I was going to give it back after she chased me!"
Instead of punishing Thaddeus, Sebastian picked up the toddler and sat him on his hip to carry him back to Ciel's study.
"Remember that mummy can't chase you right now?" Sebastian asked his little boy while they walked down the hallway. "It might hurt mummy. You don't want mummy to get hurt, do you?"
"...No." Thaddeus pouted. "I just want her to play with me."
Sebastian walked into Ciel's study and from where she sat at her desk, the bluenette narrowed her eyes at her little boy.
Sebastian knew that Ciel was angry but he sought to calm her down.
"It seems that someone wants to play games with you today, bocchan." Sebastian chuckled at Ciel.
"I don't have time for games!" Ciel snapped, her eyes sharp and piercing as they darted from Sebastian to Thaddeus, who was still in his father's arms. "What on earth do you have to say for yourself?!"
Sebastian sat Thaddeus, who was still quietly crying, down on his small feet and Sebastian knelt down to whisper in his son's ear, "Apologize to mummy, little one."
"I-I'm sorry, mummy!" Thaddeus sobbed, his tears wetting the frilly collar under his velvet jacket. "I just wanted to play with you!"
"He just wanted to play with his mummy." Sebastian echoed remorsefully to Ciel, giving her a look as sad as Thaddeus's.
Ciel tried to be stern but as Thaddeus and Sebastian pouted up at her pitifully, Ciel made a noise of irritation in her throat and spoke, "I have work that I have to do!"
Thaddeus raised his small hand to wipe at his eyes again and Sebastian sighed, "What a shame, you always used to love games, bocchan~."
Ciel's hard attitude finally cracked under Thaddeus's mournful weeping.
"Thaddeus," Ciel said, her voice still firm but much gentler, "If you can be a good boy and let me work, we'll play a board game together once I'm finished. How's that?"
Thaddeus's tears stopped flowing and he nodded, "And I can stay in here with you, mummy?"
Ciel sighed reluctantly, "As long as you're quiet."
"Can I sit on your lap?" Thaddeus asked.
"You have a lot of requests today, don't you?" Ciel huffed. "Very well, but you must be quiet and you must keep still. Alright?"
Thaddeus nodded.
As soon as the toddler took his first step towards Ciel, Sebastian protectively sprang to his feet and came to stand behind him.
Ciel pushed her chair back and opened her arms welcomingly, but Sebastian was practically on top of Thaddeus to help him situate himself on Ciel safely.
Ciel was careful to guard herself while Thaddeus settled on her knee and Sebastian hovered cautiously over both of them.
"Careful." Sebastian said urgently, placing his hand here and blocking Thaddeus's elbow from hitting Ciel there. "Be careful with mummy…..there you go, make sure you don't bump into her."
Once Thaddeus was seated on Ciel, the bluenette turned back to her work and dismissed her husband, "We're fine, Sebastian. I'll finish this and then I'll play with him."
"I'll bring lunch in an hour." Sebastian replied with a smile.
Thaddeus watched Ciel as she focused on her work, wondering what his mother was really doing and hoping that one day, when he was older, he too would have important work to finish.
Then he wouldn't need anyone to play with…….
Sebastian knew it was time to leave, but his eyes remained glued onto Ciel.
More specifically, Ciel's swollen belly…….
Every day brought them closer to the arrival of the next Earl Phantomhive.
And every day, Sebastian grew more protective.
Sebastian was not opposed to another child, but due to Ciel's delicate health and the hemorrhaging she experienced when Thaddeus was born, the doctor and the midwife had advised the bluenette against expanding her family any further.
But Ciel was stubborn.
Ciel had lost her argument with Sebastian.
Thaddeus was Thaddeus, not Vincent.
As a grown man, Thaddeus would leave to go and take over the Michaelis estate, not the Phantomhive mansion.
The nobility and notoriety, which Ciel had struggled so hard for, would rust and fall…...
Regardless of her debt to Sebastian, that was not something that Ciel was willing to allow.
Ciel felt the only solution to her dilemma was to produce another son.
Vincent Phantomhive the second would take over the earlship, all of its duties, and all of its possessions.
Sebastian had tried to avoid another pregnancy but he underestimated Ciel and she seduced him on just the right day.
When Sebastian had learned of Ciel's condition, he was filled with fear and remorse.
Perhaps Sebastian should not have been so unyielding.
Having an heir was not worth the price of Ciel's life.
Sebastian also faulted himself for raising Ciel's opinion of the extent of his abilities, skills, and finesse too high…...
The bluenette seemed to have an almost reckless faith that Sebastian could protect her and save her from whatever trouble or whatever danger she faced.
Certainly, if Ciel was kidnapped, Sebastian could rescue her.
Certainly, if Ciel was threatened by some detestable villain, Sebastian could release her and eliminate the peril.
But, Sebastian could not save Ciel from disease.
Or bodily malfunction……..
Sebastian remembered moving Ciel from the sofa to her bedroom in the immediate moments that followed Thaddeus's birth.
Sebastian had never spoken of it, but he still had nightmares about the way his hands and uniform had become soaked with blood in those few seconds.
The carpet in the hall had to be changed afterwards………
The doctor and midwife had managed to work fast enough to stem the flow and save Ciel's life, but Sebastian was terrified.
What if this time, it was worse?
Sebastian still did not know the innermost family secrets of the Phantomhive name.
Sebastian had not memorized the oral history of the noble family, nor the detailed stories that Ciel could certainly tell.
How did Ciel expect Sebastian to groom the next Earl Phantomhive if she was not there to help?
Besides, as much as Sebastian had pushed for his firstborn son to bear the Michaelis name, Sebastian had originally left his home because he found his life boring and without meaning.
Ciel had become his light and his love, Ciel made Sebastian's life meaningful.
If Ciel was gone…………
Sebastian knew that the children would need him for a time, but one day, they would be busy with their own lives.
……...And Sebastian would just be sitting beside Ciel's silent grave, waiting to join her.
The potential, grim reality was almost more than Sebastian could bear.
And every day, as Ciel grew rounder, instead of expressing his joy with a smile, the tension in Sebastian's face increased as he wondered…….
Was Sebastian just counting down to the biggest loss he would ever suffer?