Extended Family - A G/t Shorty

Ch. 11 24 hours - Part 1.

A/N - Thanks guys for waiting a long time, so to make it up to you all, I'm presenting to you a long chapter! Enjoy!

-ACR.

ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ

I pulled on my sleeve cuff to check the time for the umpteenth time, drowning out the ambient sounds of this formal dinner I wanted no part of.

Currently, I was sitting at a table surrounded by a few other government officials and their wives. Given that every annoyance was simultaneously happening around me, I figured that the less I engaged in conversation, the less likelihood I was going to lose my shit.

It irked me that I had RSVPed to this thing.

I took deep breaths as I tried to tune out the repetitious clanking of silverware against overpriced porcelain. I struggled to ignore the poorly told jokes resulting in humorless, feigned chortles. I resisted snapping at the few patrons who passed behind me and nearly suffocated me in an amalgamation of expensive perfumes and colognes potent enough to dissolve whatever remained inside my brain. Lastly, I writhed in my seat at those with no sense of their surroundings who continued to bump into my chair, earning them a few well-deserved scowls.

I slightly tugged on my tie to loosen its iron grip around my neck to allow me to swallow a large lump and clear my airway so I could take a few more breaths.

To my knowledge, there was no prescription medication strong enough in the world that could keep me composed while I sat here absorbing this torture.

Vivian noticed how tense I was getting and placed a delicate hand over mine, tenderly looking my way. My expression changed and gave her a small smile, just to assure her that I was okay. Maybe she thought I was angry that we had to be here in the first place and while she has all the right to think that way, given my history, that wasn't the case.

I was annoyed yes, but not angry.

Not yet at least.

If anything, I was anxious about how we were going to approach our children after all this time and how they were going to react once they saw their new adoptive parents in person. Much bigger than they could've imagined. The complexity of the situation was tearing me inside, and in moments of reticence, I constantly re-imagined multiple scenarios on how we could've done this process differently.

Once I arrived home, I was about to celebrate that I was able to return early enough from my trip, but I was blindsided by the dinner plans we had to attend earlier in the evening. My heart dropped through the floorboards when Vivian told me about the phone conversation she had with Mia. Without another word, I rushed to the phone, only to have the receiver torn away from my desperate hands. The fierce lion's roar that surfaced from my core was reduced to a dog's bark when Vivian's explanation, honed by motherly instincts, struck my temper enough to surmount it. However, it wasn't how she said it that shut me up, but rather what she said.

Our daughter Mia was afraid to speak to me.

For days, I couldn't talk to her; not even to offer a modicum of promise that everything was going to be all right. The sheer anger I had at myself made me want to burst into flames, all because I felt powerless and couldn't do anything to ease our children's fears! I wasn't allowed to be near them until the proper interventions were in place and because I'm a class five giant, I have no say in this whole process as it's dictated by human law and backed by our courts.

I continued to remain reserved and barely uttered a word to Vivian. So it wasn't surprising that another official's wife or girlfriend, whom I didn't know or care about, grabbed my wife's attention and got up to engage in a side conversation, leaving me alone at a table full of near-drunk assholes.