The following day, Lily seemed much brighter after having gotten to see Vash. Arthur and Alfred were puzzled as to why he didn't say anything to her when she was there about being her brother, but Alfred correctly guessed that it just wasn't the time. They were also equally puzzled about what Roderich told Alfred to do, but sure enough, the next morning, Alfred dialed the number on the business card.
He was terribly upset about being fired and had gotten up after Arthur took the kids to school. His husband warned him that he had better be out of bed by the time he got home because, "For God's sake, Alfred you can't mope around all day!" But, he didn't say much more, knowing that, although Alfred hated the job, being fired never felt good. Even if Alfred had stayed in bed all day, Arthur would have given him a break.
The tall man stood in the kitchen with a soda and a bowl of cereal. Sure, he drank coffee at the office, but Alfred's drink of choice in the morning was a soda. In his mind, it tasted better, didn't burn his tongue, and kept him as awake as any cup of coffee would. The only downside was that even the off-brands were expensive, so the case in the fridge had been there for a few weeks. Today, Alfred decided, was a day in which he really needed a drink of a certain sugary nature.
In his hamburger-printed PJs that Arthur had bought him for Christmas years before and a Tshirt with a blue alien, Alfred leaned against the counter holding the business card in his hand. Roderich Edelstein, Attorney at Law, a purple header wrote in an elegant script. Then there was the address, a phone number followed by an email address, and an elegant purple E for a logo on the right side of the small paper. Alfred had no idea what he was about to call into. Maybe Roderich wanted to give him updates on Vash's condition. Could it be about jobs? No, the man was probably far too busy to give the time of day to a failed lawyer who was fired from a mediocre firm. Taking a breath, he picked up the landline and dialed the number.
"Edelstein Law Associates," answered a cheery voice on the other end of the line.
"Uh, hello," Alfred stammered out, caught off guard for whatever reason. Perhaps, in his subconscious, he thought no one would answer. "Um, my name is Alfred F. Jones. Roderich Edelstein asked me to call today." It was a statement, and a true one at that, but Alfred found himself in an almost questioning tone at the end of his sentence.
"Alfred…?" The woman trained off. "Oh yes, Mister Jones! Does today work for your interview?" Now this caught Alfred completely by surprise. He stared intently at the wall, unsure of how to respond. "Sir…?" the woman eventually asked after a long pause.
"Oh, uh right! Sure. Yes, today is fine, yeah!" Alfred sputtered out.
"Great, we'll see you at one if that works," she replied. Alfred agreed. They hung up and Alfred was left staring at the wall again, stunned into silence at the quick, two minute conversation. An interview? At Roderich's law firm no less?
Alfred glanced at the clock and realized he only had two hours to get to the office in time. He checked the back of the business card to find the address which wasn't too far away. He hurried into his and Arthur's room to throw on his best suit and grab his briefcase.
"Alfred?" A heavy-set woman in a blouse and nice slacks asked as she came around the corner in the waiting room. Alfred was slouched in the chair, flipping through one of the celebrity gossip magazines that had been sitting on the coffee table since it was delivered three years prior. When he heard his name, he immediately sprung into a straight sitting position and smiled at the woman.
"Yeah, that's me!" He said in a chipper voice. All it took was that quick call to get his happy go lucky self back to normal.
"Follow me," She smiled and Alfred stood to follow her to the back where the offices were. They stopped in front of a small meeting room. She opened the door and turned on the lights. "We'll be right with you," she explained. "There's a quick team meeting that's running a little late. Can I get you a water?"
"Nah, I'm good," Alfred replied politely. As he entered the room, the woman turned on her heels and went back to her own desk. Alfred quickly tried to assess which seat he should take. He chose a black chair-identical to all the other chairs in the room-on the opposite side of the table.
As he leaned back in the chair, he glanced around the room. It was tiny, definately for one-on-one client meetings or very small team talks. There was a television on the wall with an HDMI cord resting on the end of the table, for a computer to be plugged in and easily projected. In the center of the table was a cone shaped black intercom which was used for conference calls. Besides that, the room was empty save for the table and chairs themselves.
Alfred watched a few people go by. One glanced in the room, but didn't meet his eyes, and the others didn't even look into the meeting room. The walls blocked out the majority of the noise, but Alfred could vaguely hear the sounds of a typical office-from beeping phones, to quiet chattering, and email pings.
Finally Roderich came into the room with a folder. He was hurrying away from the meeting, but he entered the meeting room with the collected and calm grace he was known for.
Alfred stood up when he entered and happily shook his hand. "Hey, man, thank you so much for this. Like, even the opportunity to just interview here is huge and I really appreciate it!"
Roderich sat down when Alfred finally finished rambling and shaking his hand. He opened his folder and spread some of the papers out. "Yes, of course," He hummed before finding the page he wanted and placed it in front of him. "Alright. So of the cases of yours that are public record, I see you've never lost one."
Alfred shook his head proudly. "Nope, not a one." He replied. "I don't wanna toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty great lawyer."
"And you largely have overseen juvenile cases." Roderich stated, picking up another page. Alfred nodded again. "We're looking at taking on some juvenile cases here. This was really a happy coincidence."
"Oh, that's great!" Alfred said. "Yeah, I really like helping kids. You know, sometimes they're really just victims of their situations."
"Have you ever managed a team before?" Roderich asked.
"Does being a parent count?" Alfred laughed, finding his joke much more hilarious than Roderich did, as evidenced by the other man raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, I did a lot when I was in grad school, and before I moved here I oversaw some interns at the firm." Roderich nodded and set the papers down. He leaned forward and studied Alfred for a moment.
"I"m going to be frank, I do want to help you. And if I offer you this job, it is completely out of pity and also part a thank you for helping Vash." Roderich explained. "But I don't have bad lawyers at my firm. Understand?"
The laughter left Alfred's face and he nodded slowly. "I promise you," he said, suddenly serious. "I'm a great lawyer."
Roderich nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, then, ready to go with five new cases to work on." Alfred stared, but figured there was no point in asking the man if he was serious.
"Of course!" He nodded vigorously. "Really, man I appreciate this more than you can imagine."
Roderich started putting the files back in his folder. "And I appreciate very much what you've done for my family." Alfred smiled. Although he didn't like accepting a job out of pity, he knew he would be able to prove to Roderich that he was a great lawyer. And, although Roderich was giving him the chance because of his circumstances, he could tell that Alfred was chomping at the bit to really show what he could do.
"How's he doing?" Alfred asked after a brief pause.
"Good," Roderich responded. "He should be coming home tonight or tomorrow morning."
"That's great!" Alfred broke into a huge smile, truly happy for his new boss. "Hey, where are you guys living now?"
"We're renting a few blocks away from our house until it's rebuilt," Roderich replied. "We lost almost everything, but a lot of it is just stuff." He shrugged. Alfred could tell he cared, but when thinking about all he could have lost, a few items here and there wasn't too bad.
"Well, hopefully everything should get back to normal soon," Alfred said."I'm sorry about the house, really. But I'm glad Vash is getting out of the hospital soon!" The two men stood up and shook hands again. "Thank you so much," Alfred said with a breathy laugh. "Sorry for saying it so much but this is the best thing that's happened to me… to my family in a while. I really owe you."
"All you owe me is your loyalty and diligence." Roderich replied. "I'm giving you a chance, but remember: I don't have bad lawyers at my firm."
"I gotcha," Alfred said with a smile. "And you won't tomorrow or the day after that, or the day after that or the day-"
"Understood." Roderich said, his eyes showing a slight annoyance, but his tone taking a more amused note. As Alfred left the building with another smile and a wave, he knew he hadn't made a mistake.
Arthur came home with two giddy, happy kids that afternoon. It was a welcome break from the melancholy Lily who in turn made Peter more subdued. Now, the kids chatted happily as they walked home from school. Arthur was also in a great mood, having submitted his course syllabus to the department head. With a few tweeks here and there, he was all set to begin teaching when the college opened for the summer session.
"Alright, go get your homework done and I'll let you know when supper is," Arthur called as the kids ran to their room to get started on homework. Arthur made his way to the kitchen, where he knew Alfred was since he heard him banging the cabinets around.
Before Arthur could say hello, he noticed that there was a bottle of wine on the table and Alfred was thawing what looked like steaks on the counter. Arthur stared in shock, wondering what had come over his husband. Of course, he felt bad that Alfred had lost his job, but was he insane? Steak and wine? This could cost them days of food.
"Alfred, what the hell is this?" Arthur asked, trying not to shout. He didn't want the children to hear them fighting. The taller man turned and smiled brightly at Arthur, as though not hearing the annoyance and slight anger in his voice.
"Artie! Do you want a glass of wine?" he asked, not answering the question that had been posed. "I got your favorite!" He crossed to the table and grabbed the bottle. Arthur's glare deepened.
"Why would you buy these things right after I told you that we needed to start cutting back?" Arthur asked. "Are you crazy?"
Alfred shook his head as he seemed to almost twirl over to the top cabinet and pull out two wine glasses that Arthur hadn't seen in at least a year. "Artie, we don't have to cut back!"
Arthur frowned. Maybe Alfred was trying to mask the issue by pretending there was no problem. While Arthur understood the sadness, they had to be careful with money. "Of course we do," Arthur replied as Alfred rinsed out the glasses. "Alfred, what are you trying to do?"
"Celebrate!" He poured a glass of wine and passed it to Arthur. Arthur stared into his dark red reflection with a puzzled expression. "Art. I got the job!" Alfred exclaimed.
"The job? What job?"
"That's what Roderich wanted to call me about," Alfred explained, pouring his own glass. He raised it up and Arthur hesitantly clicked his gainst Alfred's. "It was a job interview! They want to expand to taking juvenile cases and Roderich hired me! I start tomorrow! Then, when I got home, he called to finalize some details and told me he'd give me an advance on my first paycheck, since he knows we're in a tough spot." Alfred took a long sip of wine. "I know we need to save, but I wanted to celebrate! So much is going great! Lily's better, Peter's doing great in school, you get to finish your med program, and I got a job!"
Alfred's smile was infectious, so much so that Arthur couldn't help but twist his lips slightly upwards. He took a sip of the crisp, dry wine that had a slight aftertaste of berry. "That's wonderful, love," Arthur said softly after finding the words to speak. "You're right. Things are beginning to look up."
A few weeks later, summer began. Arthur began teaching and finishing his course work. Alfred hit the ground running at his new firm and Roderich soon found that he would certainly not regret hiring the happy go lucky, fun-loving, and hardworking lawyer. With both parents at work or school, Peter and Lily were often watched by Vash, who was almost completely recovered from the fire. He still got a little tired now and then and had a lingering cough, but he was able to watch the kids. They were smart kids, and knew where the limits were.
Some days, Peter had soccer practice and Vash would drop him off and then go to the playground with Lily. Sometimes, they would just walk around, or hang on the edge of the dog park and watch the playful animals run around in the summer sun.
On this particular day, Lily and Vash sat on a bench, the window softly blowing their hair forward every minute or so. It was quite warm, but not unbearably hot. It was still early in the summer, and it would be a few weeks before the very hot weather set in. Lily's purple bow was tied tightly into her hair. Vash gave it back after he was released from the hospital.
Lily watched the dogs pass by and enjoyed the air against her arms and legs. Vash looked down at his sister. He still hadn't told her. He was going to after he got out of the hospital, but underestimated the further recovery he needed. Then, he was going to once he got better, but the going was so slow, he never felt up to it. Now they were there-a few weeks into summer with Vash being pretty much back to normal, but he was still putting it off. He pretended to himself that he didn't know why, but really, that fear had returned.
"Lily." Vash started before he could stop himself. Lily looked up at the older boy with curious eyes. He internally panicked, but found himself continuing. "I need to tell you something." Lily nodded, feeling a sense of dread. In her experience, those words were rarely followed by good news.
Vash reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Lily watched with a questioning look on her face as Vash opened up the brown leather pouch and took out a small, yellowed and bent photo. Carefully, so as to not rip it further, he handed it over to the girl. Lily took it, being as careful with the fragile page as Vash had been.
The picture showed a woman with long blonde hair and green eyes posing in front of a home with her two children. One child was but a baby, nestled into her arms but smiling back at the camera with a laugh. The other child, a boy, looked back at the camera with his lips stretched out and upwards. The family looked happy and all shared the same shade of blonde hair and green eyes.
"Is this your real mom?" Lily asked, knowing that, like herself, Vash had been adopted. He nodded. "She's really pretty." Lily couldn't help but feel she had seen that face before, but quickly chalked that up to the woman having a similar face as Vash.
Vash nodded again, feeling his mouth go dry. "Do you know her?" Vash asked. Lily snapped up at him with a confused look on her face.
"Uh, no." she replied. "Should I?" Now she was completely confused. Vash paused for a moment and pointed to the laughing baby in the picture.
"Does she look familiar?" Lily stared at the picture again, studying the baby's face.
"Um. No, I don't think so." Suddenly, Lily felt like there was a wrong answer to these questions. Vash sighed and Lily worried she had disappointed him.
"That's you." He said, tapping on the baby's face. Lily was taken by surprise and looked at the picture again with her mouth hanging slightly open. Now that he pointed it out, the baby did look like her, but she would have never have thought so had he not told her.
Vash traced his finger to the boy. "That's me." Lily looked at Vash and then back at the boy. Yes, she thought, that makes sense. Again, she would never have guessed had he not pointed it out. But, that left her with more questions than answers.
"Wait," she said, confusion in her voice. "Why am I with you and your mom?" She looked back at Vash who was looking away from her. He left the question to linger awkwardly between them. The bench felt longer, and the question seemed to almost push them further apart from where they were originally sitting.
Lily was worried. Had she asked the wrong question? Was Vash going to tell her something bad? Did this mean they had known each other before? So many questions swirled in her mind that she couldn't find one to dwell on before another sprung up.
"Lily, that's your mom." Vash said, staring at the grass on the other side of the pass.
"But that's your mom," Lily quickly said back. Vash was silent and turned to watch as the realization dawned on her face. She stared back at Vash, her eyes wide. "Wait. You're my…" She couldn't finish her sentence, but Vash was confirming her thoughts with the look on his face.
The girl launched forward and hugged Vash tightly. The boy was surprised, but wrapped his arms around her. She then pulled away quickly and stared at the picture. "This is our mom?" she asked. "She's so pretty. She must have been so nice! I can't believe you're really my brother. Wow!" Her words were spilling out quicker than she could even think them. Vash just let her ramble on, trying to put everything together. He noted she seemed to be taking this really well, but figured much of that was due to there really being no other reaction. Sure, the news was shocking, but it was good news and Lily had no reason to doubt it.
"Do my dads know?" She finally asked Vash who nodded.
"They wanted to let me tell you." The girl nodded as she continued to stare at the picture. The two sat in silence for a little while and Vash began to relax back into his seat on the bench. He had been so worried about her reaction, but she seemed happy. Finally, he felt at peace. He didn't have his mother and father, but now he had his sister. And, as he learned from his experience in the hospital, he had two great parents who were always rooting for him.
Vash really was a lucky kid. His childhood had been a little rough, but he was loved by both Roderich and Elizabetha. Liz was overprotective, but wanted what was best for him. Roderich, though stubborn and introverted, was proud of his son and wanted him to succeed. Then there was Alfred and Arthur who had become like uncles to him over the past few months, and Peter who was the little brother he never had.
And then there was Lily. Lily, the sweet, sickly, kind little sister he never thought he would see again. The girl who had appeared in that fifth grade class, as if by had wanted to find her so he could take care of her, but found that she already had two wonderful parents to do so. Now, Vash could just focus on being a brother. He didn't need to be a caretaker or protector or there every second of the day. Instead, he was just there for her. Another special person in her life that she could count on no matter what.
"Vash?" The small voice pulled the boy from his thoughts. "What was mom and dad like?" He paused, conjuring up the memories.
"Well, they were kind. Hardworking and kind…" he began.
The summer went on, slowly at first and then all at once, as summers tend to. Lily took the news that Vash was her brother as well as any kid could. She was beyond happy, and her parents were glad the truth was out. Vash was happy to have his sister back and be able to call her as such.
Vash committed to the University Arthur worked and studied at. While it had a great medical program, it also had a very well known business school. Vash didn't know exactly what he wanted to do, but business sounded as good as anything else and he could pick a specialization down the line. Plus, by staying in the city, he could still be with Lily as often as he was now. Roderich warned him against throwing away a college experience, but after visiting the school with his son, he was pleased with what he saw. Vash also promised to make the most of his college experience and not feel obligated to come home all the time.
Arthur's class went very well and, although being a student and teacher was difficult, he loved both the class he taught and the classes he took. At the beginning of July, he was approached by a professor in the medical college who wanted Arthur to proof and edit his journal to be submitted at the end of the summer. Arthur fell in love with academic journal writing and was soon offered a position at the college, full time, to edit and review medical research upon completion of his program. It was the perfect combination of helping people through medicine, which he loved, and writing, which was his passion. The position also included one medical writing class per semester, so he also had the chance to grow a love of medical research and writing in students like himself.
Peter continued to grow and learn as a soccer player and member of the family. He and Arthur chatted often about England, although neither tried to trace their roots back. If they had, they would have found that they were half brothers, having shared the same father. However, it was something they likely already knew deep down and they just didn't bother to confirm one way or another. Besides, the discovery would have thrown the family dynamic off, and both were content with the roles they currently played.
Alfred excelled at his job and Roderich was beyond pleased with his newest hire's performance. Soon, Alfred was managing a real team and, around Christmas, moved to another office on the other side of town to oversee operations there. He hadn't told the energetic American yet, but if things continued on such an upward path, he was considering changing the name to Edelstein, Jones, and Associates. But, it was a little early for that.
Right before school started, Alfred and Arthur moved into a house a few streets away from the Edelstein's. For the first time, the kids had their own backyard. They were able to buy a car, new clothes, and other necessities and were on a fair payment plan to pay off their debts. In about two years, the hospital bill would be paid off.
For the first time, Alfred and Arthur saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It had been a tough few years, and a very difficult past few months, but finally things were looking up. They had their children, their home, and jobs they loved. Lily had her brother, Peter mellowed out, and they could finally enjoy their lives without worrying about if they would have enough for food or bills the next week.
One warm evening in early fall, Alfred and Arthur stood with Roderich and Elizabetha on the porch, watching the kids play baseball in the backyard. Vash showed Lily how to throw the ball to Peter who hit it towards the back of their fenced in yard. Liz brought over a big plate of burgers and hotdogs and Roderich helped Arthur set out the condiments and silverware. Alfred turned the grill off and called the kids over.
As they sat, chatting and eating, Arthur and Alfred exchanged a happy glance. Sure, things would get tough. That's how life worked. But with everything they had learned in the past few months, they knew they would be alright. They had their kids and their friends. But through it all, they had each other and the vows they had made both to themselves and their children. And those were promises they intended to keep forever.
And there you have it, the end of Pinky Promise. And it only took six years! Thanks to everyone both now and in the past who read this story and enjoyed it. I had a rough time in high school, and seeing reviews back then really helped me continue writing and not give up. My love of writing led me to a great college where I would pick a major I loved and would drop me off where I am today-at a job I greatly enjoy. So, to everyone now reading this, keep reading and writing! It'll open more doors than you can imagine!
I can pretty much say for sure I will not be continuing any other stories I have on this account (although, I've made that statement before). This and If You Had Another Chance had the most potential and I liked them the best, so I finished them. I do encourage you to read my past works. They're not my best writing, but they were popular in their day and I enjoy reading through them now and again. I may turn one of them into a real book someday, but that's a little far in the future. And who knows, I still have a secret OTP love of France/Jeanne D'Arc so I might write a little here and there for them!
Anyway, thank you all for reading! Hetalia will always have a special place in my heart, for better or worse, so thank you for the memories. And remember: keep writing, keep reading, and keep enjoying the things you love.