Leon stared at him.
"Your mother?"
Alfred nodded.
"Yeah Leo. Peter's and my mother. We hate her so we don't like to talk about her."
The younger children were all confused.
"Your Mommy is different than ours?" Chelle asked quietly.
"Oui Chelle," Matthew said as he pulled her into his lap. "Ma Maman is different aussi. She was French."
"Why don't we all have the same mom?" Steven asked.
Peter sighed.
"Alfred and I had a mother, that SHE we don't like to talk about, but she died."
"Ma Maman died aussi."
"Peter's and mine died before Dad and Papa were together. Dad was married to our Mom first and when she died we all went to live with Mattie and Papa. Dad and Papa fell in love and then all of you came along."
"But you're still our frères et soeurs!" Matthew nuzzled Chelle, making her giggle. "Et nous vous aimons."
"We do," Alfred followed. "And so do Dad and Papa. No matter what anyone says. Okay?"
The younger ones nodded.
"But wait, how did Dad have us then?" Steven asked quickly. "Women are supposed to have the kids."
"Shì because Dad is definitely a man and he's our mother," Leon added.
All three of the older kids rubbed the back of their necks uncomfortably.
"Ah. Well Dad is a special case. He will tell you that himself sometime. We really can't explain it to you very easily."
"The kids at school tease us about having two dads and no mom," Leon whispered quietly.
Alfred, Matthew, and Peter stared at him. None of them would have expected that some of admittance from the quiet boy.
Matthew pulled him close, Peter taking Chelle into his lap. "I know how you feel, petit. They used to tease moi about that sort of thing too. But they teased me for not having un mère in the first place. We can't help it. But you also have Yao, remember? You have three dads. Dad is your mère so you technically have a mère but they don't understand that."
Leo leaned against him and closed his eyes.
"I hope they leave us alone after this."
"Moi aussi."
The older three shared a look over his head.
The lawyer smirked as he posed his next statement. "Mr. Kirkland, the little boy-" He quickly checked his notes before continuing. "Leon said something very interesting last night and I would just like to see how you feel about what he said."
"Well what is it?" Arthur said with a quiet growl.
The lawyer's smirk grew.
"It's udder rubbish of course but he said that you are actually his mother, not his father." Arthur's eyes widened and he clenched his hands into fists. "And I was just wondering what made him think this?"
"How did they find out about that?!" Peter hissed to Matthew. "We were only talking about that last night when the eight of us were alone!"
"I don't know!"
Arthur bit his lip to keep from yelling as he said, "Francis is…on top in our relationship and I do most of the chores around our home so we just decided that they should call me 'Mom' to make it easier."
"Is that so? Huh." The other man picked up his notes and waved them at Arthur. "It says here that the little girls Chelle and Ange call you 'Daddy'." He cocked his head at Arthur. "Now why would your youngest children call you 'Daddy' if the other children call you 'Mom'?" Arthur started to answer but the lawyer cut across him. "More over it says that none of your 'supposed' children call you 'Mom' and all of them call you 'Dad' except for Leon who apparently calls you 'Father'. Care to explain this?"
Nervously, Arthur quickly looked at Francis with a look similar to a deer in headlights.
Francis shook his head slightly.
Arthur's desperate face begged him to let him say.
"Do not do it."
"Please Francis!" Arthur cried. "If it makes them believe us and give us our babies back…" He trailed off.
Francis stood up quickly, falling back a little as his restraints were pulled to the limit.
"Do not do it Arthur!"
"Please Francis! Please!"
Francis sighed.
"Amende. Do it if you feel it will accomplish anything."
Nodding a little timidly, Arthur turned back to the lawyer.
"I will show you why he said I am his mother rather than his father." He closed his eyes, Francis doing the same on the other side of the room, and began to chant quietly. Slowly his hair lengthened to his hips and was encased in two pigtails, one on either side of his head. A pair of glasses appeared on his nose as his chest expanded. His hips widened and his legs thinned. The clothing on him disappeared and everyone could clearly see that he had changed into a woman. He opened his eyes, looking rather angry, and yelled, "There! Now do you see why they said I was their mother?!" His voice was higher pitched now. "I can turn into a woman! That's how I've had my children! I did it as a woman!"
Realizing that he was naked and his hair wasn't hiding much, Arthur blushed and tried to cover himself.
Matthew quickly jumped up and ran through the little gate to the courtroom, pulling his coat off. He gently draped it over Arthur's shoulder, averting his eyes.
Arthur pulled it tightly around himself.
"Thank you Matthew." He kissed his forehead kindly. "Now I would go sit down before they get mad." He spotted Alfred, Peter and Steven out of the corner of his eye. "And tell your brothers they can stop covering the girls' faces. There's nothing to see now."
Matthew nodded.
"Oui Père."
He quickly walked back to his seat.
Arthur flipped some of his hair out of his face. 'I really have too much hair. I need to cut it…but it always comes back when I recite the spell.' He sighed and turned to face the speechless lawyer and judge. He saw Francis looking around the courtroom quickly, trying to spot someone checking out his boyfriend.
It was quiet for a long time before the lawyer finally managed to clear his throat.
"Y-You…y-you just turned into a woman…"
"Yeah. I do that," Arthur shot at him. "Get used to it! This form has helped me have several healthy children so I can stand it. I don't like being in it too long though."
The lawyer walked up to the box and leaned against it, grinning at Arthur.
"Well I certainly like it. You should stay in it and come over to my place."
Arthur backed away as far as he could.
"That is my boyfriend!" Francis shouted angrily. "You cannot talk to him like that!"
The man turned to look at him.
"Oh come on. Like you don't want to nail him to the ground every time you see him like this?" He turned back to stare at Arthur; Arthur pulled the coat tighter around him. "You should really leave him for me. I could treat you…" He trailed off, staring at the small bit of her that wasn't completely covered. Arthur noticed where he was looking and turned bright red, quickly crossing his legs. "Right. Better than that frog."
"Hey! Only I am allowed to call him that!"
The lawyer twirled some of Arthur's hair between his fingers.
"Stop touching him this instant!" Francis ordered, standing up again. "He is not yours!"
"There is nothing wrong with me hitting on a lady I fancy!"
"There is when you're prosecuting him! And Arthur is still a man or did you forget?!"
"I didn't forget but it is easy when you have such a beautiful form in front of you." He stroked the side of Arthur's face, Arthur shivering uncomfortably.
"Please stop touching me…"
The lawyer's face darkened.
"No! I will do what I want!" He grabbed the collar of the coat and pulled it harshly. Arthur fell forward and the lawyer kissed him hard.
Francis roared in anger and tried to break his restraints and get to Arthur.
However Steven was the one that vaulted the gate and threw the lawyer away, standing protectively in front of Arthur.
"Don't touch my Dad!" he yelled. Arthur stared at him. "I think it's time for you to be male again Dad."
Arthur nodded quickly and recited the spell that would turn him male once more.
His features returned to normal, the glasses simply disappearing, and he sighed.
"Much better."
The lawyer made a small noise and stirred, starting to get up.
"This is the whole reason why people aren't supposed to know about that. They get…touchy…"
Arthur squirmed.
The judge was staring at him.
"A-Any more questions?"
The lawyer shook his head.
"N-No. That's it."
"Very well then. Mr. Kirkland you may return to your seat."
A guard escorted him back to the table where Francis sat and locked his hands in a pair of handcuffs.
Francis wiggled around until he had his bound hands around Arthur's neck and was pulling him back against him.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't get that one off," he whispered.
Arthur shook his head, getting comfortable against Francis's chest.
"It's okay. You've dealt with almost all the others. It's about time one slipped through."
Francis tilted his head up so they were staring at each other.
"I should never have let any through." He kissed him, trying to remove anything but him from the other's mind.
Arthur moaned quietly and kissed back, closing his eyes.
Eventually Francis pulled away and smiled at him.
"There. All mine again."
The Englishman blushed a little and nodded.
"All yours."
AN: FINALLY! I finished it! I've had the entire bottom part (all of the courtroom stuff) written for weeks and haven't been able to connect it to the story! Now I have! :D And that part was over 1200 words long (that's longer than a usual chapter!) so you get an extra-long chapter to make up for the wait.
What did you think? I honestly LOVE the courtroom part. I've been in love with it since it was first worked on and wouldn't change a single thing! Pervy lawyer and protective kids and lovers to the rescue!
This is actually the first time I've written any sort or mushy romancy thing and been comfortable with it! Look at this progress! Maybe someday I will be able to write smut! ^-^ Maybe it's because I'm single again...?