may 27, 1988
almost a year after the end.
peter next to bea, watching as she fed their baby her bottle. they both sat with their backs against the headboard of the bed. peter looked at her with admiration as she whispered to her daughter.
"mom! we need help with this stupid recipe!" a voice shouted from downstairs.
bea chuckled at will's words, looking up at her husband. "a mother's work is never done."
she places the bottle on the nightstand and swings her legs off the bed.
peter holds out his hands towards his daughter. "here. you go help them. i'll check on sawyer then we'll meet you downstairs in a bit."
bea carefully places elodie in his arms. once, she saw she was comfortable, she removed her grasp. she places a kiss on elodie's head then she looked to her loving husband. she couldn't believe how lucky she was to have him. she kissed peter's cheek.
"i love you, peter."
"i love you, too, bea," he said, cheeks turning pink. even after all this time, she could still make him blush.
"hurry, mom! eddie's fucking shit up!" will shouts, panicked.
"shut up the fuck up, will!" eddie shouts back.
suddenly, a crash sounds from the kitchen. bea runs out of the room. "nobody touch anything until i get down there!"
peter chuckles looking down at elodie. she was the perfect mix of her parents. she had the same dark green eyes and the smallest tuff of brunette hair sawyer had when he was newly born. she looked up to her father, studying his face.
peter brought his hand into view and her tiny, chubby hands grabbed at his bigger fingers. he looked at her in awe as she played with his hand. he remembered when sawyer was this age. he was always looking around with his big green eyes. now he waddled around, causing havoc with his brothers when he wasn't napping or chilling with his parents.
"let's go check on your brother, huh?" he whispered to the gleeful child.
he carefully opened the door to sawyer's room, carrying the smallest child in his left arm. sawyer popped up from his bed, rubbing his eyes, having napped for two hours.
"come on, sawyer," peter encourages him. "will and eddie are making your favorite cake!" he looks down at his daughter, whispering to her, jokingly, "at least trying to."
"cake!" sawyer shouts, reaching for his father from the crib. peter carefully bends down, picking him up and carrying him on his right hip.
peter groans. "someone's growing!"
peter makes his way downstairs with sawyer messing with his hair. at the bottom of the stairs, peter places sawyer on the floor and allows him to run free. he follows the sound of his wife's voice to the kitchen.
"alright, you guys are all set now. i think next time i'll help you. i mean how do you mix up limes with lemons? it is literally in the name of the cake. it's lemon cak- oh, hello, dear!" she says, noticing her husband and daughter. "is sawyer up?"
as if he was trying to answer her question, sawyer stumbles into the kitchen. "ma!"
"sawyer!" she exclaims, matching his enthusiasm. she picks him up, placing him on her right hip. "good morning, little bear!" she giggles, tickling him. she dramatically gasps. "how about we go change your clothes then we go play outside while we wait for the cake?"
sawyer giggles in response. bea takes him into his room and changes him into a striped brown, long sleeve shirt and overalls. she draped an old sheet over her right shoulder and held sawyer on her left hip.
peter waited outside in the front yard with elodie who looked around at the beautiful nature surrounding them. the birds' chirps echoed throughout the forest. elodie gave peter a small smile as a butterfly flew by.
he smiled in return, running a finger down her soft, puffy cheek. she giggles at the contact. "every single thing me and your mother went through to get here was worth it just to see your sweet little smile, my little pumpkin."
bea opened the front door with the two boys following behind her. she hands the boys the big blanket. "do you boys mind laying this out?"
eddie shakes his head. "i'll take care of it."
will nods. "i'm going to grab that container of strawberries from the fridge for a snack. i'll be back." he runs back inside.
"can you grab a bottle for sawyer, please?" bea shouts.
"got it!"
bea sets sawyer down on the blanket. she sits down next to him, making sure he doesn't hurt himself. peter sits down next to her, handing her elodie to hold. she lovingly gazes at her daughter in her arms, leaning into peter.
"this is our daughter. these are our children," she whispers under her breath. she looks at eddie, trying to play peekaboo with sawyer. will runs out with his strawberries. she watches as he sits down near eddie. "this is real."
she looks up at peter. he leans in, pecking her lips, gently. "this is real," he confirms, resting his forehead on hers. "we've made it."
march 22, 1991
"did you hear about the new family moving in about a mile down?" bea asked eddie as he helped her frost a cake. "i heard they might have some kids, too. we might bring over some cookies sometime if you want to come with."
after a couple of years, peter began to integrate some deserving people into the new world—outcasts like them.
"sure!" eddie finger accidentally slips into the frosting. "aw, shit. my bad."
bea shrugged. the cake wasn't perfect. the frosting work was messy and uneven. sawyer would appreciate it anyway.
"alright, go ahead and bring the cake out. i'll get some more plates," she nods, placing the piping bag on the counter.
eddie carefully moves the cake platform to the patio outside. elodie runs into the kitchen, clutching her plush cat and giggling as peter chases her.
"come 'ere, you little monster," he laughed as elodie jumps into her mother's arms.
"no! momma, help me!" she exclaims, hiding her face in bea's chest.
bea smiles as she held her head, 'protecting' her from the threat. peter drops the act, kissing bea on the cheek.
"alright, ellie. wanna go sing happy birthday to will?" she asked, brushing elodie's hair away from her face. elodie nodded, quickly. "go find sully so we can sing."
sully had been what elodie had first called sawyer when she was unable to pronounce his name correctly.
elodie squirmed in her arms as she put her down. "cake! sully!" she exclaimed, running to the patio. tilly chased after her, ears flopping as the dog ran.
peter's arm snakes around bea's waist as they follow elodie, side by side. colourful decorations filled the backyard. food lined the long wooden table.
"ah! mom!" sawyer exclaimed as elodie threw her plush cat with her abilities. "elodie keeps hitting me with penelope!"
elodie lunges to take the plush but it swiftly ends up in peter's hand. "elodie," he scolds.
she looks at him with puppy eyes. "sorry, da."
he could never say no to that. she had him wrapped around her little finger. he drops penelope in her arms again, sighing. "fine. next time just aim below sully's face, pumpkin."
"penelope!" she shouts, hugging the cat close.
bea stifles a laugh. "pfft."
peter turn around with a stupid smile. "is that funny, mrs. ballard?"
bea rushes to the table. "did somebody say cake?" she exclaims, avoiding the topic.
the children filled their seats as their parents sat down. will sat at the edge of the table as the birthday boy. bea carefully lights the candles on top of the multicolored cake.
"happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! happy dear will! happy birthday to you!" they sang as will happily looked at his family.
he closed his eyes for a second before blowing out his candles. everyone began clapping as the flame vanished.
bea's eyes wrinkled with a smile. "aw, you are getting so old."
will laughed. "only seventeen, mom."
bea shakes her head, laughing along with him. "i know, i know. soon enough, you and eddie will be moving out and-"
eddie interrupts, "you know we'd still be around to help with these two stinkers." he jokingly pokes at elodie's sides, earning a giggle in return.
"alright, alright! who wants cake?" bea asks, standing up.
"me!" sawyer exclaims, flailing his arms.
peter raises a finger up. "i'll take a slice."
bea passes a slice to the birthday boy first. "happy birthday, sweetie."
will smiled brightly in return. no more birthdays being forgotten. no more being forgotten. no more being cast aside. free. through all the suffering and trauma each of them had faced, they now had each other. bea's family was complete and peter's plan worked. they would finally be happy. finally home.
hi, readers! thank you for reading mercy. it truly means a lot that people enjoy my work. please leave any requests, concerns, or questions below, i love seeing everyone's comments and support for mercy. thank you, again, for reading mercy!
-juniper