Louis' POV
Franco walked in the apartment, his eyes glued to a letter he had just received. Michael and I were watching television when he walked in and closed the door behind him with an absent expression. It wasn't hard to guess that something was extremely wrong. Franco had the most expressive facial expressions a person could have.
I watched him carefully before calling his name and snapping him out of his trance.
He blinked and finally looked up, "Hey, Lou, you don't think Kate could actually take Michael away from me, do you?" The question made Michael stiffen beside me.
I stood up and made my way over to him, "Why?"
"Because Kate is suing me for custody over Michael," he handed me the letter, "I'm supposed to be in court next Thursday."
I took the paper out of his hand gingerly and looked it over. I heard the television turned off in the background and silently thanked Michael but I didn't need to read very far to understand exactly what was going on. "Well," I cleared his throat once I was done reading it twice over, "She can try. It doesn't mean she'll succeed. However, we may have some difficulty appealing to the court, especially with Katherine being so dead set on what she wants."
"When you came here, you said Leslie took precautions," Franco said lowly.
"Distant relatives and his mother are two very different cases," I informed him with a sigh. "But it doesn't matter. I'll be right there with you the whole way. There's no way I would let her win."
His sad brown eyes stared at me, hesitant to trust but eager to believe. "Really?" he asked hesitantly.
Did he really not expect me to stick around? This was the first time I had a relationship that actually meant something. It wasn't superficial and shallow. He made me smile and laugh and love. "Of course."
"Thank you, Louis," he nuzzled my neck, kissing my Adam's apple before pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. He had an adorable obsession with my Adam's apple and tended to bite and kiss it. No matter how much I asked, he wouldn't tell me why. Not that I was complaining. "Seriously, I don't know what I'd do without you."
I chuckled, "There's no point in thinking about that since you won't have to do anything without me. Due to my perfectionist nature, I'll be, as you would say, 'breathing down your throat' for as long as you'll have me."
Franco laughed, "I never thought I'd be so relieved to hear that."
I couldn't help smiling adoringly at his laugh. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Michael stand. I waved him over and watched as he came over, a bit wobbly on his feet, and fell into both of our arms, hugging us tightly. Franco picked up his son, sensing his distress over the matter. To think that we had forgotten that Michael was in the room as well.
He cooed comfortingly, "Mikey, we're never going to let you go. We love you."
I nodded, ruffling his bouncy curls, "That's right. This is nothing you need to worry about. Just smile for us so we'll have the energy to fight evil."
Michael giggled, relieving the both of us. "Okay, papa."
"Papa?" Franco and I glanced at each other with wide eyes, "I'm papa now?"
"Yeah," Michael pouted, "You don't like it?"
"Um, no, I mean, yes, of course I do." Is it strange that my heartbeat quickened? It is speeding into overdrive like it did the first time Franco introduced me as his boyfriend. "I was just surprised." And happy. Honestly, I was really, really happy. "So I'm papa now." A part of me was still questioning what I heard.
"Yep, daddy and papa," Michael said proudly, "I don't need a mom when I have you two."
That was one huge boulder that came rolling off our shoulders. It was one thing to keep Katherine away from Michael but to keep Michael away from Katherine was very different. I could understand a need to get to know his mother but under this circumstance, we couldn't allow that and I knew having Michael resent him for that would break Franco's heart.
Franco glanced at his watch and said gently, "I think it's about time for you to get ready for bed, Mikey."
"Okay," Michael chirped. He kissed Franco's cheek then leaned over to kiss mine before wiggling out of Franco's arm and heading off towards their room.
"So," Franco's eyes were downcast, like he tended to do when he was embarrassed, "You're papa now."
I nodded timidly, "Are you okay with that? I can tell Michael to not call me that if you're not."
"No, no," Franco said hastily, "Don't. I was just surprised, you know. It feels kind of strange, hearing him call you papa."
"Good strange?" I asked curiously, "Or bad strange?"
Franco shrugged, a small smile finally surfacing, "Adorable strange. You should have seen your face."
I chuckled, "Is that so?"
He nodded quietly. The conversation came to a lull that was actually unusual for us. Where others couldn't get a proper sentence out of me much of the time, Franco could make me talk for hours about nothing. Talking to him actually made me happy.
A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Did you ever tell your mother about us?"
"Well..."
I shook my head at him but couldn't help grinning, "Maybe you should give her a call, Franco, before she finds out by some unconventional way."
"I know," he groaned, "But we can afford to put it off for a little bit, right? At least until this whole thing with Kate is figured out."
"We could," I admitted, "But not without her finding out through one of your friends." I watched him whine and groan for a bit longer before offering carelessly, "I can call and tell her."
He looked at me with wide brown eyes, "Are you serious? You're offering to tell my mother that you're dating her son. You remember my mother, right? Small, ferocious, speaks in Spanish half the time and dying to marry me off. You're willing to call her and tell her you're dating me?"
"As terrifying as you make her sound, she's actually a very sweet woman," I informed him.
He looked at me critically with his eyes narrowed. He stated, "You've been talking to her."
"She wanted my number," I explained.
His eyes widened at hearing that he was right, "You've been talking to my mom."
"She only wants to know how you and Michael are doing."
"I can't believe this. You've been talking to my mom behind my back." He shoved me away playfully and turned around to sulk.
"You're being melodramatic."
Franco glared at me, "What has she told you?"
I couldn't help laughing at his accusatory tone, "She hasn't told me anything."
"She definitely told you something," Franco persisted, "What was it?"
"Well," I pretended to think for a moment then took a step closer, "She told me your birthday."
"And?" he asked suspiciously.
"Your favorite food."
His face softened, "So that's how you knew."
"That you wore boxers," I concluded, hugging his waist. "It was kind of strange hearing how you used to run around in your underwear even when you were a teenager."
"Oh my god," he covered his blushing face, "Adrian would just bust into my room and start chasing me. It wasn't on purpose." It seemed to me like his brother just loved harassing him.
"I heard that you ran down the street in boxers once."
He groaned loudly, "Okay that was Troy invading my house with a water gun full of kool-aid. You don't understand how terrible that was."
I laughed, "I don't but it sounds like something I would have loved to see."
He leaned back into my arms, "You're going to have to tell me more about your childhood."
I hummed my agreement though my heart dropped at the thought. My memories were full of people that were no longer there. Most of my past, I buried with them but if Franco wanted to know, maybe it wasn't too bad an idea to dig them back up. Maybe now I can face them without cowering away.
So, I read your comments on the epilogue and took them into careful consideration. Then I decided to live my life and do what I want. Sorry (not really). If werewolves aren't your thing then I just ask that you at least give it a chance and if you don't like it, no hard feelings. If you don't like mpreg, to be totally honest, I'm probably not even going to do it. It's still 50/50 on that.
BTW, can anyone tell me why the AxelxMichael ship is so popular? It literally never crossed my mind to pair them two up.