Chapter 5: His Daughter, Assisting.
Ciel wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting when he had been summoned so suddenly to the lounge by his wife. Had she done something wrong, and was she seeking forgiveness? No, that couldn't be it. Lizzie very rarely stepped even a toe out of line, always being a wife sent from the heavens. Had she decided that she needed some new additions to her wardrobe, and wanted to sweeten Ciel up with a few compliments here and there, in a bid to get herself a new spring wardrobe? No, it couldn't be that either. Lizzie was very familiar with Nina Hopkins and regularly sought her out for new dress fittings often. He walked slowly to the lounge, knowing she was waiting there with anticipation. Sure enough, as he opened the large oak doors, she was sitting comfortably in the elegant chaise lounge.
"Ciel!" Lizzie called his name excitedly, rushing to meet him at the doors, pulling him into an affectionate hug. He was used to this now, of course, and held her close. Truth be told, he had grown fond of her affection towards him and had learned to love her romantically over the years. He remembered how cruel he would be to her sometimes when they were mere teens, and decided the night before their wedding that he would make up for it by being a loving husband to her for the rest of his life. A truly admirable decision on his part, as Sebastian had described it.
"Good afternoon, Lizzie. How are you today?" He asked her softly, holding her petite hand in his, leading her back to the chaise lounge where they sat together. He rested their entwined hands in his lap, looking into her big emerald eyes.
"I'm wonderful! I actually have something that I must tell you…" She dropped her gaze, anxiety clearly clouding her usually cheerful demeanour. Ciel raised an eyebrow, leaning back to take in her full frame. She had become a beautiful woman, there was no denying it. No matter how testing she had been over the years, Ciel would never say that she was not desirable. He was certainly a lucky man to have a wife who would cause so much envy between other men he was familiar with.
"Yes, what is it?" Ciel pressed, feeling a slight irritation nip at him as he waited for her response. Elizabeth looked at him, her big eyes already glassy and threatening to spill tears. Taking in a deep breath, she started shakily, "Remember, how a few weeks ago I was very sick? And I was on bed rest…" Ciel recalled that time a number of weeks ago, where she couldn't keep any of her food down and was sickly for nearly all of the day. He had slept in a separate room - ordered by Elizabeth herself- fearing that she had a sickness that she wished to not pass onto Ciel.
"Well, it turns out that I was sick because...I am with child." A tear slipped down her cheek, and she brought her gaze back up to Ciel. She couldn't read anything on his face expect for obvious shock. Pregnant? Ciel soaked in those words, his brain unsure how to process them at first. A child? She was having...a baby? And his baby? Ciel ran over these words in his mind countless times, still trying to figure out how he should react; it was as if she had spoken to him in a foreign language.
"I'm sorry if you're not ready Ciel, I had to tell you sooner or later!" She exclaimed, tears now freely cascading down her glowing skin. Ciel still remained silent, but pulled her into him, resting her head on his chest.
"Shh, Elizabeth, please don't cry. This is nothing to cry about, this is wonderful news." He reassured her quietly. The words settled in his mind, child, father, mother. Of course, he felt a sense of overwhelming fear, but he also felt joy. Ciel Phantomhive, feeling joy. Sebastian would have had a smirk plastered on his smug face if he were present to find out the news.
"Really, Ciel? Please tell me that you're not bluffing?" Elizabeth looked up at him with big watery eyes. Ciel smiled down at her, gently wiping away a stray tear with his gloved thumb. He held her face gently, his thumb caressing the soft skin of her cheek. She smiled meekly back up at him.
"Yes, Lizzie, of course. After all, we knew we would have children one day. I am happy that this day has finally come. This is the next chapter of our lives; and the next chapter for the Phantomhive family." He spoke gently, a warmness filling his chest. He thought about how his mother and father had cared so dearly for him.
The least he could do was take care of his own to the best of his ability in their name.
"Imagine, Ciel, our own little Phantomhive! Just a few more months!" Elizabeth quickly regained her posture, a wide grin on her face. He smiled at her, pleased that she was no longer upset.
"How far along are you? Do you know?" He asked her, wondering how long he had unknowingly been an expectant father for.
"4 months. I'm nearly half way there!" She exclaimed happily, standing up in front of Ciel and pulling the ruffles of her dress taut to her stomach, showing her growing bump. It was only slight at the moment, but it would no doubt get much larger over the next few weeks.
"Wow…" Ciel breathed, the reality of the situation finally hitting him. Elizabeth sat back down next to him, taking his hand in hers.
"I needed to tell you as soon as possible, since we'll need to start picking furniture for the nursery and having it decorated! Oh, I'm so excited, Ciel! I wonder if it'll be a boy or a girl?" She looked at him happily, and in that moment he knew that her dreams were coming true. She had married the boy she had loved since childhood, she was a near perfect wife, and now she was to bear him a child. He smiled inwardly, having always secretly adored her for her devotion to him.
"Does anyone else know?" He asked suddenly, and Lizzie looked at him sheepishly. Would he be mad that she had told January before him? She had hoped not; after all, she rarely got to see her younger cousin, and she of course had requested her to be present for the next few months.
"Uhh, yes, January knows...but I only told her this morning!" She said quickly, waiting for him to become angry and yell at her, but he never did such thing. Elizabeth continued hastily, "I hope you don't mind, but I have requested that she stays here for the next couple of months. Just up until the baby is a few weeks old! I would appreciate another female around that I can converse and spend time with, apart from Mey Rin." Ciel looked at her curiously, he had no idea she was so fond of her cousin whom he had only just met.
"This girl, your cousin January, you are very close to her?" He questioned, wanting more information before allowing January to live with them for the best part of 6 months. Elizabeth nodded, smiling.
"Yes, she is indeed very dear to me! She is younger than me, but she is still my favourite cousin nonetheless. We played together as children, and then as we grew older she started to become… somewhat of a hermit, I suppose. It was a shame really, she was so different then." She looked down sombrely, remembering the good times spent with her cousin. "I feel that if she stays here, and she becomes familiar with us, she will start to become less reserved. And she is fantastic at singing, she is a true songbird! I'm sure she will entertain us with a song or two if we really manage to break her shell!" Lizzie giggled, and Ciel smiled at her, pleased to see her so happy.
"Then it is settled. I will let her father know, and I will have Sebastian arrange for a carriage to take her to her home to collect the personal items she will need." Ciel stated, and Elizabeth beamed at him. He took in her glowing appearance; pregnancy was making her look opulent.
Somewhere else in the manor…
January walked through the hallway, practically bouncing from the news Lizzie had given her. She was thrilled to be able to be at her side for the upcoming months, and to see her child being born into the world. She couldn't help but also look forward to spending the next months under the watchful eye of the ethereal butler, Sebastian. She inwardly shuddered at the very thought of him; those piercing ruby eyes, that chiselled bone structure and his alabaster skin, all framed by raven locks. She had never felt this way before, it was as if she craved him. Her mind would wander to him no matter what she had previously been thinking about, and she began to question if he was some mystical being, a force that had cast a spell of love over her. Or was it lust? She couldn't tell, but either way, Sebastian seemed like an absolute treasure to her. A door clicked shut up ahead of her, and it brought her away from her thoughts. There, up ahead of her, was her brother Cassius, alone.
"Cassius." She called to him flatly, her voice showing no sign of emotion towards him. It had always been this way with her brother, very little emotion shown to each other, and when they did pretend to love each other -no, not love, merely like each other- it was usually only in front of their parents or if they were in earshot of the pair. They had disliked each other from an early age, Cassius was far too brazen and arrogant for January; January was too illusory and nonchalant for Cassius. They had every reason to avoid almost any interaction with each other.
He turned on his heel, a scowl present on his face as soon as his eyes fell upon his sister. He wouldn't even waste his time trying to force a smile on his face for her; she didn't deserve it. She was the most useless member of their family, and the sooner their parents married her off to someone, the better.
"Yes? What do you want?" He turned to face her, his hands shoved in his pockets. January frowned at him, looking him up and down.
Her eyes landed on his neck.
There, a smudge of purple and red and pink was placed perfectly at the corner of his jaw. How distasteful, to have a love bite from a whore in a visible place. At least tell her to take is south. She thought to herself, disgusted at his improper appearance.
"You were with a lady last night." She spoke with no emotion, staring him dead in the eye, "I wonder how Mercy would feel about that little keepsake on your neck if she were to be invited over for afternoon tea today…" She trailed off, about to turn away from him and back down to the patio, when he charged down the hall towards her; shoving her into the wall roughly, holding her wrists firmly in his clenched fist. Still, she remained emotionless, her face blank. He didn't instil fear into him like he had done so many others. He was a bully, he intimidated everyone into letting him have his own way and she was used to being physically handled by him… unfortunately.
He forced his face close to hers, their noses practically touching. She could still smell the whiskey on him. She gagged, pulling away from him roughly.
"Good God, you've been drinking this morning?" She said harshly, as he pushed her back into the wall with a thud. He snarled at her, his temper wearing thin.
"Listen, my darling sister," A maniacal grin spread onto his face, "I will sleep with whomever I please. I would even bed you, or the lady Elizabeth if I pleased," A grimace spread across January's face, just the thought of the heinous act. "And you will say nothing to father, and especially nothing to mother. I will have you thrown into the nearest workhouse if you dare utter a word to them, do you hear me?" He was nearly yelling at her now, and she hoped Sebastian would come around the corner and drag him away from her. Cassius wrapped his hand around her throat, squeezing tightly. "I said, do you hear me, you silly girl?" He spat at her, and she nodded her head desperately, praying that he would let her go. The lack of oxygen was taking her back, back to her sad excuse of a childhood…
At 6 years old, January already hated her life. Her brother, the big and bold Cassius, her father's obvious favourite, had decided that she needed a haircut. When she was asleep, he had taking a pair of scissors from the manor's kitchen, snuck into her room and cut off all of her dark brown locks. She woke up to her hair being up to her jawline, and the chopped remnants of her long hair sat on her pillowcase.
She had sobbed to her mother for hours, worried that she would not find a husband now that she had hair 'like a boy.' Of course, their mother had told her that she was being silly; she was still beautiful and her hair would grow back soon enough. Cassius had gotten off easily, again, with merely a slap on the wrist and a "don't do it again!" from their father. Luckily, he never cut her hair again.
He did, however, decide to start taking his anger out on January; sending punches and kicks her way whenever their parents were not looking.
It kept going even when January entered her early teens, and her maid Ada would question her, "Miss, where are these bruises coming from?" and she would reply with a simple, "I fell off my horse this morning," or a "I caught myself on the corner of the dining table. I just bruise like a peach!" January would never tell of the abuse she received from her older brother. Who would believe her? Certainly not their father, and nor would their mother.
She had prayed that once their baby sister, Aurora, had been born the abuse would stop. And it did, but not until after the one encounter that still made her shiver to this very day.
January was snapped away from her throats as she felt his tight grip release from her throat and she could finally breathe again, sucking in as much air as she could. She fell to the floor, and stayed there as Cassius smirked down at her.
"Good. I must say, I simply love it when you act like the submissive lady you're supposed to be," he leaned down to meet her eye level and his deep brown eyes met her green ones, "It makes you far more desirable." Like a child, he sent a sharp kick into her shin as he walked away from her as if nothing had happened.
Downstairs, in the kitchen…
Sebastian stopped mixing the cake batter as he heard a thump vibrate through the floor from upstairs. His brows furrowed, an intruder? No, the servants are carrying out their tasks. They would know by now. He thought to himself, quickly abandoning the snack preparations and swiftly pulling on his jacket as he silently headed upstairs. Turning the corner at the top of the stairs, he heard a voice coming from further down the hall. He stealthily crept behind the corner before the hallway where the noise had come from. Peeking his head around the corner, he felt his blood boil at the sight before him;
Cassius, the son of Alexander Huxley and one of the most prestigious noble men to be known at the current time, had his younger sister pinned against the wall, a hand wrapped tightly around her throat. Sebastian's eyes flashed magenta, and he had to resist the urge to approach Cassius and snap his neck.
"And you will say nothing to father, and especially nothing to mother. I will have you thrown into the nearest workhouse if you dare utter a word to them, do you hear me?" Sebastian's eyes widened at this unexpected display of violence, and to against his own sister. He had guessed that there was something wrong with the cocky young man; the way he waltzed around the dance floor last night, taking an interest in almost every young woman he could lay his eyes on and how he held his head so high when around other noblemen.
A spoilt brat, if I've ever seen one. Sebastian thought to himself, disgusted at the pitiful excuse for a man in front of him. Suddenly, January was on the floor and Cassius was headed Sebastian's way. He had seen enough of what he needed to see, and he would report it to the young master immediately.
Immediately after a snack, that was.
Sebastian made his way back down to the kitchen to continue cooking the cake for the young master and Lady Elizabeth. As he poured the cake batter into the tins, he knew that he would have to protect January at all costs.
Any excuse to get closer to you, my little lamb.
