It was becoming obvious that her baby boy, Ace, was searching more and more for his dad as time passed. Rouge had never looked for a new husband after Roger's passing, but maybe... maybe it was time to do so, her son deserved a father figure to grow up with.
TAGS
Child Ace
Emotional
Happy end
Rouge/Marco
As in the other series, I won't be repeating tags in every chapter, unless there's really things to warn for that don't just contain the concept of this series: Emotional with (eventual) happy ending)
I don't know how this idea popped up, but it woke me up and had to get it out.
I already put the eventual relationship up in the tags of Who gets with Rouge, so everyone can back out now if they don't like it. Though, I will say, There won't be a focus on their actual relationship. The main focus will be on the interactions with Ace.
This will not be a love story between Rouge and Marco.
"Go one baby, go play... I promise they'll let you join in." Rouge tried to push her little boy a bit towards the group of kids on the jungle gym, but it only resulted in the little fists tightening in her skirt.
"Acey-"
"Mommy." The grey eyes look up pleadingly, one hand only letting go of her in favor to reach up. And who was she to deny her sparkle of joy upsies. So she bend down and picked up her 5 year old son, holding him close as she kissed his cheek. The boy instantly nuzzling against her.
"What do you want to do, sweetie?"
"See papa."
The soft words almost made her bawl on the spot and just gave another kiss to raven locked as she turned around and started the small walk home. "Al-Alright sweetie." she whispered, needing to start again as her voice cracked.
At home she bypassed the shoe-rack and instead made for the living room, seating her little boy on the couch before taking a teddy-bear from the nearby and handing it over. She watched her son kiss the shirt the bear wore before cuddling it tightly, starting to tell the bear of his day at school.
She couldn't bear it and quickly took off Ace's shoes before going into the hallway and closing the door behind her, slinking down against the wall as she sobbed softly. The image she just saw ingrained in her mind because... on the shirt of that bear was printed a picture. A picture of her late husband.
It was something Roger had made not even two years ago, randomly the man had come home smiling, holding a gift for her. The man always brought home gifts for the simple reason of seeing his family smile, there never needed to be a birthday or event, he did it just because. And this time it had been bears. Three bears that all wore shirts with a picture of them. The biggest brown one had Roger's picture on it, a paler and just a tad smaller one had hers, and a tiny brown bear had Ace's. His picture barely fit on the shirt from how small the bear was, but it was perfect because the tiny bear could sit perfectly on the bigger bear's lap.
The bears had been treasured decoration on their coffee table, their little baby sometimes picking one up to cuddle when he took he nap on the couch, but they always returned there or were traded in to cuddle with the real deal, his mom or dad.
Now however... a year after her husband's death, for Ace, the bear had become Roger's replacement. She's sure he knows that it's not really Roger... she hopes he does... but maybe a month... two months after it happened she found Ace talking to the bear. Babbling about a lot of the things he had done that the other had missed out on. She had bawled her eyes out that day, holding their baby as close as she could, making so many promises to care for Ace to not only the boy but to her husband.
Yet... she couldn't help but think she was failing. With Roger here, the second Ace could walk they spend every second playing games. Inside and outside. They were at the park daily in the sandbox, on the grass, even in the jungle gym or on the slides that Ace had been far too tiny for, Yet Roger always took Ace on them, holding him securely as he climbed or slid himself. And the boy loved everything. Squeals of delight and laughter were a daily thing. Ace was adventurous and tried everything, often running of with Roger not far behind to chase him, much to the boy's delight.
Now... Her child was still a happy one, still liked to play but... he didn't run off anymore. Didn't want to try things alone. He was glued to her side, getting upset when she was out of his sight for even a minute, the only reason Ace hadn't come looking for her yet right now was because he was occupied telling stories to the bear and they were in their house. Their home the only spot Rouge could separate a little, outside Ace wouldn't let go of her hand or her clothes.
And it all started after Roger died, vanished to Ace's eyes. The therapist she saw told her it may be because Ace doesn't understand death. To him his papa was there on Monday, and then Tuesday he was just gone. Playing a game of hide and seek for far too long. So now he was scared that should he let go of her, she would vanish too. Something that may help was for another father figure to be there. Someone else Ace could attach to, someone to take Roger's spot.
But she had promptly denied that idea. Even if Roger himself had told her it was okay to find new love, that he just wanted her to be happy even if that meant her being with someone else. No one could replace Roger. Not for her, not for Ace. So they went with the other option... Let time do its thing. Help Ace mourn but also move on, show him they can live just the two of them. And... it had gotten a bit better she thought... But recently... things started to become more obvious. Ace was searching again, more and more, she had caught him waking up last night, sitting up and calling out a 'papa?', only to snuggle against her and drift off again when there was no answer.
But most of all, she noticed a longing when they passed other parents and kids. She could see his grey eyes focused on the father. She saw how he looked at the joined hands between the dad and their child before his own empty little hand flexed and a confused look was there. How at the park she may have been playing with her son, but then the call of a father rang out and Ace got distracted into staring at the other playing parents. Watching a dad play fetch with their son instead of throwing the ball he had in his own hands back to her. Staring down a girl on the swings and her father who was pushing her. Even when she would go and pick him up, Ace wordlessly held onto her, yet his gaze never left the other father. Watching them as long as he could.
She-
"M-Mo-mmy!?"
The cry pulled her out of her thoughts and she quickly wiped her face and put her shoes and her sons on the shoe rack... next to an unused bigger pair... maybe all these little reminders of Roger weren't good for Ace either... Not with no one using them...
A sob really got her moving and she exited the hallway, finding Ace looking around in the kitchen with the teddy still being hugged in his arms.
"Mommy's here, Ace."
"Mommy!"
Crouching down she opened her arms and her son barrelled into her not long later.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. Mommy's shoes were stubborn!" she joked as she rubbed Ace's back, already hearing the cries turn to soft sniffles. Only when they fully stopped did she pick up her son and kissed his forehead, "let's make some dinner together, hmm? Do you want to help mommy?"
"Y-yea."
"I have the sweetest boy." She smiled brightly, giving another kiss to raven locks before she got to work together with her son. Most thoughts of before pushed to the back of her mind to focus on the tasks, but definitely not forgotten. She would find Ace a new father figure. No one to replace Roger, she didn't want that, but someone that could fill the gap. Someone to make their little family a bit more whole again.
This is also in a new series. This will be more of an emotional series, most with happy endings and no one gets really hurt. The stories where someone obviously gets hurt and has no happy ending will be in Dark Flames. I'll be shuffling/moving some stories from Dark flames into this one too.
I do still need to think a little how to do it because I don't want to lose the comments I have on them in Dark Flames.
