Gia smiled as she watched her young daughter play with her husband. It was nice to be able to have these moments, even though they all knew that legally Gia held no claim to Genevieve. Gia didn't care though.
She knew she was lucky that the former monarchs allowed her to be in Genevieve's life and that she got to know who Gia was. Gia knew it could have been so easy for the Le Bêtes to say no, she'd be a stranger to her daughter. Especially with who Genevieve's biological grandfather was.
But Belle and Beast hadn't done that. They welcomed Gia into their family and in doing so, allowed Genevieve to know her aunts and her Uncle Gil. Not to mention her cousins Gwen and Markos.
There's another member of her family now though, Gia thought with a small sigh. Mal had told her about Matt, Zevon's son and now Genevieve's biological half brother. Gia had talked it over with Hayden about what they should tell Genevieve, or if they should even be the ones to tell her. After all, Belle and Beast were legally her parents.
But Gia knew it wouldn't be the same coming from someone else, and she was a kid of the Isle of the Lost. They didn't run from their problems...even if all Gia wanted was to push the issue back until Genevieve was older. Like going to college older.
"Hey Geene? Can you please come here? I'd like to talk to you," Gia called.
"Okay mama," Genevieve nodded and gave Hayden a small hug. "Thank you for playing with me, Perry."
"Hey, we can play again after your mama's done talking with you okay?" Hayden said with a smile. They hadn't been quite sure what his title would be after he and Gia got married but it had been surprisingly Beast to offer a suggestion. Since pére was French for 'father', it would make sense if Hayden had something like that in his title since Beast was 'papa'.
It had been Genevieve who dubbed the half-Dwarf her 'Perry'.
"Is everything okay mama?" Genevieve asked as the two of them moved to a more private area.
Gia sighed softly and knelt down so that she was looking her daughter in the eyes. "Geene, sweetie...you know how, even though you have your Maman and papa, I'm also your mama?"
"Uh huh," Genevieve nodded.
"Well...you also have another papa," Gia said even though she hated the fact that Zevon had any claim over her daughter whatsoever. Other than maybe a penchant for making 'potions' (also known as mixing up her bubble baths to try to see if they'd create more bubbles), Genevieve hadn't shown any indication toward a fondness for magic.
Genevieve tilted her head. "Another papa? Like Perry?"
"No, no," Gia sighed before brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes. "You know how you have your Maman who you live with but she's Ben's blood mama?"
"Uh huh," Genevieve nodded. "You're my blood mama!"
"Right," Gia nodded with a smile. "Well...you also have a blood papa."
"But...why haven't I met him?" Genevieve asked as she tilted her head once more. "Papa said he wouldn't keep me from my blood family if I wanted to know them."
Gia sighed once more. "The...the reason you haven't met him yet is because he's still on the Isle of the Lost," she told her daughter.
"But...according to papa, people who are still on the Isle are bad," Genevieve said softly. "Is...are you saying I'm bad mama?"
"No, no," Gia said, quickly shaking her head. "You are not bad, my sweet girl. I just wanted to tell you about him because...well your papa, Maman, and I all wanted to tell you that...you have a little brother."
"A...a brother? Like BB?"
"Exactly like King Ben. Only this brother would be younger than you," Gia said. "Your father...he had another child."
"...Did...did he not want me because I'm a girl, mama? Is that why I'm with maman and papa?"
Genevieve's small voice honestly broke Gia's heart and she quickly wrapped her up into her arms. "No, no honey. And even if that was the case, you don't need him," she said. "You have your papa and you have your Perry. Remember what Ben always says."
"Blood doesn't make family?" Genevieve said softly, wiping away some of the tears that had started to roll down her cheeks.
Gia nodded. "Exactly sweetheart. And I'm so sorry honey, I never wanted to hurt you by telling you. We all thought it might be easier to tell you sooner because there might be a chance your brother could end up in Auradon."
"Why?" Genevieve asked, sniffing softly.
"Because he'd have a chance for a good life here if he wants it," Gia explained. "And shouldn't he get the chance to meet the world's best big sister?"
"...I thought that was Queen Mal?" Genevieve said softly. "After all, Rea says there's no sister better than Queen Mal."
"Okay, first of all, remind me to introduce Lady Rea to your Auntie Piper and then have her say no one's better than Mal," Gia said and smiled as she heard the giggles coming from her daughter. "And second of all, no one's expecting you accept your brother right away honey. That's not fair to you."
"Then...then why are you telling me mama?"
"Because you have the right to know," Gia said and gave her daughter a small smile. "I once grew up in a world where I had no control over my life. That's the last thing I want for you."
Genevieve smiled softly. "Thank you mama. Can...can I go now?"
"Of course sweetheart," Gia nodded and watched as Genevieve walked off. She sighed and shook her head; did she do the right thing?
"Don't second guess yourself," Hayden's voice came from behind her. "You know it's better that she learn from you now than learn from kingdom gossip years from now."
"How'd you know what I was thinking?" Gia asked as she looked over at Hayden.
"It was a lucky guess," Hayden said before kissing the top of her head. "You told her about Zevon's kid?"
"Yeah," Gia nodded with a small sigh. "I know it might be too early but like you said, she deserved to hear it from me. I just...I wish Zevon wasn't the only way she could have a sibling."
Hayden gave her a small, slightly sad smile as he held her close. "He's not. Remember she's also King Ben's little sister. And now she has a niece and nephew who'll practically be siblings to her with how the age gap is between them."
"I'm sure King Ben would appreciate that," Gia said with a small smile before sighing. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Hayden asked, tilting his head.
"That we never had kids of our own."
Hayden shook his head. "Gia, I told you back when we were dating and then again after we got married, I'm fine not having kids of my own. I have a plethora of siblings and cousins I can be the fun uncle for if I need to be. And what's more, you are not a baby machine Gia. If you didn't want any more kids after Genevieve, then that's your choice. No one can make that choice but you."
Gia smiled and gently kissed Hayden on the cheek. "How did I get so lucky to find you?"
"I believe we both went into Evie's at the same time and ended up leaving with both our orders and a lunch date," Hayden said with a small smile.
"I think you might be right," Gia chuckled and shook her head. Lacey had been the one to introduce Gia to dance after Genevieve had been born; as both a way to get her mind off of the birth and to help her lose the birth weight. Plus, Gia found it was a great way to gain some muscle that she hadn't been able to gain on the Isle.
Well at some point, her hobby had expanded to allow her the chance to dance competitively. Gia wasn't going to pass up the chance to be more than the 'VK the Le Bêtes took pity on and adopted her child', especially since dancing competitively allowed her to raise money to go to school. Evie had offered to make the dance costumes free of charge once she'd heard.
Normally Gia would have refused but she didn't really have the money to afford decent dance costumes on her own (even though she knew Piper would have loaned her the money if she'd asked, and so would Gil for that matter). But Gia wanted to be able to do it on her own.
Had it not been for the fact that Evie had helped out other VKs with their businesses, specifically Ginny Gothel and Quinn, Queen of Hearts' daughter, Gia might have felt like Evie was only making an offer because she was Gil's sister.
After all, Gil was the first and (as of that moment) the only male seamster under Evie's employ. Not that Gia was complaining mind you. Gil insisted on making her dance costume once he heard who the order was for and Gia had been able to have a front row seat to how happy her brother was.
It was no secret among the VKs or even the adults of the Isle that the youngest male LeGume was something of a disappointment to his father and Gia just couldn't understand why. Gil had been put under the protection of the biggest gang on the Isle, he had the best access to food and knowing how kind he was, Gil likely would have shared it. Plus his sewing hobby made it so they all weren't wearing rags twenty four seven.
Unfortunately, trying to figure out the inner workings of her 'father's' mind only left Gia with a headache.
It had been a happy accident that Hayden had been coming into Evie4Heart's just as Gia was there to pick up another dance costume for her competition that weekend. Hayden had been one of the four boys on the cheerleading team at Auradon Prep and it was something he had stuck with since he'd been able to earn a cheerleading scholarship to college.
Unfortunately, college cheerleading was a bit more intense than prep school cheerleading had been and so Hayden's uniform would often get rips or tears or stains. Things that would be often hard to fix on a college student's income.
It had been Evie who reached out to Hayden and offered to repair the uniform for free, since they'd been on the cheerleading team at Auradon Prep. Hayden had, at first, turned her down; claiming he didn't want any special treatment. After all, King Ben and Queen Mal paid for their items. Why should he get any freebies?
In the end, though, he had accepted the offer once his cousin Doug had gotten involved. Gia didn't know the whole story as to why the son of Dopey had gotten involved but she was glad he did. She might not have gotten to meet her husband otherwise.
"What are you thinking about?" Hayden asked.
"How glad I am that Doug talked sense into you," Gia said with a small chuckle. "We might not have met otherwise."
Hayden shook his head. "I still don't see why it was such a big deal to have me pay. I know Doug would have insisted on paying if the situation was reversed. Plus it would have helped out his girlfriend's business so that's a win-win!"
"Well...and this is just coming from an Isle perspective, but Evie might have seen you as an ally," Gia said. "We don't mistreat our allies on the Isle, and it was common place to have a deal like the one Evie gave you. I mean, Lord Hades would give free food to the VKs."
"He would?" Hayden asked, more than a little surprised.
Gia nodded. "Looking back, I have to wonder why my sisters and I didn't go to Lord Hades' restaurant more. His policy was the most Auradon of anyone on the Isle since he believed that the kids shouldn't have to pay because of what the parents' did. There were only a few kids who did have to pay, or even got banned from the restaurant."
"Whoa...what'd they do?"
"Made enemies with Mal and Uma, according to Isle gossip and Gil," Gia said with a small sigh. "Maybe that was why Piper didn't use that resource more, other than maybe a few times growing up when we were desperate for food. Because it was so easy to have it taken away from us."
"But...you wouldn't have made enemies with Queen Mal or Lady Uma," Hayden said. "Would you?"
Gia shook her head. "Of course not! That would have made life difficult for Gil and he's my big brother. I know he likes to say that older siblings should look after younger but since Locklyn proved that's clearly not the case for her, I don't see why I can't look after my older siblings."
"You're never going to let your Locklyn hatred go are you?"
"She deserves the Isle for what she did," Gia said firmly. "She took Brooke from a place where she was safe, a place where she had people looking out for her, and instead of at least telling her to go to us she took her to Freddy! I just...I know we're not supposed to wish ill on the dead but Gods, I hope Lord Hades is tormenting the hell out of Freddy right now!"
"I'm sure he is," Hayden said. "And didn't you say that Brooke was doing better with her new therapist?"
Gia nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Julieta has helped Brooke tremendously—I mean she was already making progress with Dr. Hopper but having a female therapist..."
"I get it," Hayden said, gently wrapping his arms around Gia. Dr. Julieta Madrigal had been a fairly recent addition to their sparse collection of therapists (though with the increase in VK population, that number had grown exponentially). When asked why she wanted to go through all that work when she was already established in her village as a healer, Julieta had said that she had seen first hand how holding things in could hurt someone. She had failed to see that her brother was holding back hurt, that her daughters were holding back hurt, and she had also seen how her mother's repression of her grief had hurt her for fifty years.
She didn't want anyone else to go through that.
To everyone's surprise, it had been Queen Mal to be Dr. Julieta's first client. When she'd been interviewed as to why she went, Mal simply stated that the first time she'd tried therapy, the therapist in question wasn't the most professional and while she trusted Dr. Julieta, she also wanted to make sure any young VKs going to her wouldn't be alone with someone who would just berate them and make them feel small when the world had already done that.
After the session, Mal could be quoted as saying 'if anyone doesn't go to her for any reason other than they're already comfortable with their current therapists, they're idiots. Plus, you get free cookies with your sessions! I didn't know you could put strawberries in cookies but the cookies feel like a warm hug!' Needless to say, a lot more of the lower leveled VKs were signing up to be clients of Dr. Julieta's. Especially if they were female lower leveled VKs.
A small pressure near her calfs made Gia smile as she looked down, breaking slightly from the hug.
"And what are you doing?" Gia asked Genevieve.
"Perry said we could play when we were done talking," Genevieve said. "So we're playing."
"Oh? And what are we playing?"
"Hug mama!"
Hayden couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I think that's a game I'd be happy to play," he said as Gia sank back into his embrace.
"Me too," Gia said with a small smile. "Me too."