Algid (#TronnorAU)

Chapter 50: No such thing as happy endings

Then, came a moment when Grace stopped walking, and finally faced towards the children, and after taking a deep breath with her eyes closed, she clasped her hands together and cleared her throat to speak.

-"Ehem... Alright, so, where to start... Where to start...?"

She proceeded to mess her hair with both hands before talking again.

-"So! Connor, eh... You know how... About a week ago we had the pleasure to meet Nicola, and Jim and Tanya as well?"

-"Well... Yes, of course..."—Connor replied, not getting where Grace was trying to get at.

-"Well, you probably don't know this, but before they left, I... Well, Chester and I, we... We had a chat with them! With Nicola, mostly, I wanted to—eh, I mean, we, wanted to... Damn, this is awkward... Why is it so awkward!?"

-"Well, to be fair, awkward is sort of your A game."—Mikey joked, making Alexis and Connor laugh a bit, and even Chester, who was shaking his head from the second hand embarrassment.

-"I know! But that's not what I'm—What I'm trying to get to—Ugh, why is this so difficult—!?"

-"Grace, angel..."—Chester intervened, using his nickname for Grace for the first time in front of any of the kids (and much to their surprise), and proceeding to calmly caress her arms and shoulders—"Just... Go with your gut, right? Come on, tell them the news..."

-"News?"—Alexis asked, suddenly worried—"What news? Wait, something happened?"

Connor started feeling uneasy, he exchanged a worried look with her, who turned to Grace once again.

-"W-Wait, nothing bad, right?"—she kept asking, uneasy.

-"No! No, of course not."—Chester reassured with a smile, then turning to Grace again—"Baby?"

Connor took a moment to look at Mikey. Unlike Alexis and him, he was smiling gleefully, and from the look on his face he was trying too hard to contain a jump of joy. Grace finally sighed, and after composing herself, showed that she was gleaming with joy.

-"I wanted to talk with Nicola, in private, and with Dustin as well."—she explained—"I wanted to see if they agreed with me on something I want to do. And... Well, I got my chance... And we talked, and... And after seeing that we were all on the same page, and after talking about it with Mikey, it came down to asking the same thing to you, kids..."

Connor wasn't sure if he was following, and from on Alexis' face, she wasn't quite either. What was Grace talking about?

-"... So...?"—Alexis asked, still expecting an conclusion.

Grace looked like she couldn't contain herself from the excitement much longer. And with a smile as tender as her heart she mouthed the group of words that, once again, would give a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn to Connor's life.

-"... Connor, Alexis. I feel like you two have brought into our lives so much. So much laughter, and lessons, and good times... Hardships, too, but they haven't done anything but bring us closer together, as a special type of crazy family. One that I can't imagine my life without now."

Connor started understanding what Grace was trying to get to, and as he heard her talk, he started perching up, little by little assimilating her words.

-"... So, I can only say that, it would be my honor... Our honor, if... You two would officially become part of—"

-"WE WANT TO ADOPT YOU!"—Mikey jumped suddenly, bursting in a smile and with stretched arms.

Connor and Alexis couldn't believe it. First they looked at him jumping, then at each other, then at him again, then at Grace, with their mouths wide open and eyes bawling out of their sockets. Grace and Chester looked at Mikey, quite surprised as well.