Chapter Text
Jasper had gone to Russia in the hopes of acquiring some ingredients he needed for a potion. Instead, he found two seven-year-olds wanting to flee the country. He decided that he needed to help these two children. Remembering an old friend, Jasper headed to the USA with the children.
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In the beachfront house, sit two women, watching their children through the large window. Their respective spouses are busy running their antique repair shop three blocks away.
“Junior and El keep asking when we can have your boys over.” Alice laughs, taking a sip of her lemonade.
“Oh, of course! The boys love having your boys over! Plus, with school almost being over for the summer, Donnie and Frankie have been making big plans. ” Amanda chuckles. “Kids! The cupcakes are ready to decorate!” She calls out the window.
A few moments later, the sound of three pairs of feet rushing into the dining room. “Don’t forget to wash your hands!” Alice reminded the children before they could enter. While the three living children were redirected to the nearby bathroom, El floated over and took a seat next to Alice so she could help decorate his cupcake.
After washing their hands, the four boys settled in to decorate their cupcakes. Normally, Donnie would be creating a mess of decorations on whatever baked good was put in front of him, but not today. He was currently staring at an unopened jar of sprinkles in his hand, lost in thought.
A few seconds later, he shouts. “Mommy, I know what I want for my birthday!” Amanda, who was not surprised by Donnie’s random outburst, smiles. Even though Donnie’s fifth birthday wasn’t for another two months, her youngest was already deep in thought about it.
“You do? Well, what do you want for your birthday, honey?” Amanda wondered, an amused look on her face.
“A sister!!” Donnie exclaims, shooting his arms up with joy. Alice chokes on her drink as Amanda attempts to process the words that came out of her son’s mouth.
“A sister?” Amanda repeats, her brain finally catching up. “Honey, why do you want a sister?” She asks gently, kneeling beside Donnie’s chair. The young boy faces her, a large smile on his face as he bounces in his seat.
“Because we don’t have one! Sally said having a sister is the best!” Donnie declared. Amanda looks helplessly over to Alice, who shrugs just as helplessly. “Can I have a sister?” Donnie begs, eyes wide. It breaks Amanda’s heart a little; she hates having to say no to her boys.
“Why don’t we talk about it when Mama gets home?” She offers, hand on Donnie’s shoulder. Donnie seemed slightly disappointed, but quickly nodded.
“Ok, Mommy!” He agrees, turning back to face his cupcake. Amanda ruffles his hair as she stands up. She watches as Donnie begins to rain sugary chaos onto his cupcake. That’s when knocking on the front door erupts through the house. The two adults look at each other with puzzled looks.
The knocking continues, “Do you want me to get it, Mom?” Responsible twelve-year-old Frankie inquires.
“It’s ok, sweetie, I’ll get it,” Amanda assures. By this point, all four children have turned their focus onto the door.
Amanda makes her way over to the door, then she peeks out the window. There, she sees a dark-haired man dressed in plaid with a blonde child dressed in ballet attire and a brunette child dressed in coveralls. Now, even more confused, Amanda opens the door, four little heads peeking from around the corner.
“Hello.” She greets, unsure of where this is going. The dark-haired man spoke first.
“Hello, does Persephone live here?” He asked in a thick Scottish accent.
“Uh, yes, can I ask who you are?” Amanda stammered, racking her brain for any mention from her wife of a Scottish man.
“Of course, I am Jasper, an old friend of your wife’s.” The man, Jasper explained. The name sparked Amanda’s memory. Persephone had mentioned meeting a Jasper to buy and sell ingredients in the past..
“Hi! I’m Alexa, and this is my friend Janusz!” The blonde child interrupted excitedly. Amanda noted how she spoke with a Russian accent. The smaller brunette child, Janusz, waved shyly, hiding behind Alexa.
Amanda couldn’t help but smile. “Hi there! I’m Amanda!” She greeted as she waved. Jasper cleared his throat to draw Amanda’s attention back to him.
“I was hoping I would be able to talk to Persephone.” Jasper reiterated.
With her nerves settled slightly, Amanda spoke. “Oh, well, she’s not home at the moment. I could give her a call if you want?” She suggested.
“If it’s not too trouble, I would appreciate it,” Jasper replied, a warm smile on his face. Amanda nodded.
“Alright, why don’t you three come in?” She offered, stepping to the side of the doorway. The two kids looked up at Jasper for permission.
“That is very kind, we would love to,” Jasper answered, entering the house with the two children behind him. As Jasper gently took off his shoes and tucked them to the side, Amanda noticed Alexa and Janusz mimicking his behaviour.
“Right.” Amanda coughed. “I’ll show you where you can wait for Persephone.” She gestured for the trio to follow her into the dining room.
By this point, the four boys were sitting back at the dining table, trying to act as though they weren’t trying to spy moments before. Upon seeing the two kids, Donnie immediately jumped from his seat.
“Hi! I’m Donnie! I’m four and three-quarters! I’ll be five at the end of August! What’s your name?!” He gushed excitedly.
Alexa seemed unbothered if not excited by the young boy’s energy. While Janusz seemed surprised by Donnie’s behaviour.
“Hi! I’m Alexa! I’m seven! This is Janusz! He is six, but he turns seven soon!” Alexa answered, matching Donnie’s energy. That warmed Amanda’s heart, seeing how excited Donnie was to have someone match his level of excitement.
“Donnie, hun, can we let our friends come into the room so I can introduce them to everyone?” Amanda calmly suggested.
“Ok, Mommy!” Donnie replied, moving back a bit so he wasn’t directly in front of them.
“Thanks, hun. Now!” Amanda began. “You have already met my youngest, Donnie. There’s my oldest, Frankie, my friend Alice, and her kids, Junior and El. This is Jasper, Alexa, and Janusz.” She gestured to each person as she said their names. “They’re going to wait in here while I give Persephone a call.” She explained before going to grab her cellphone from the kitchen.
Amanda began to call Persephone while Alice stood up and shook Jasper’s hand. The two exchanged pleasantries as the kids offered Alexa and Janusz spots at the table and cupcakes to decorate. When her wife picked up, Amanda explained the whole situation. Persephone told her that she and John would be there within an hour; they were just finishing up one final repair. The message was passed along to Jasper, who was happy to wait.
By the time Persephone and John arrived at the house, the gaggle of children had moved on from cupcake decorating to playing pretend with the Wilsons’ costume bin. Meaning that when they entered, Persephone and John were immediately ushered into the game. John was moved into a prison (four chairs laid down to create a square) with Prince Mario (Donnie’s stuffed sheep) by Frankie, who was playing the villain.
Persephone had been given the position of evil monster sent to take out the heroes (The other kids). With the others injured (lying down with a pillow on their chests), the only two left standing were Alexa and Janusz. The two Russians decided to try and talk to the monster, leading them to learn that the monster didn’t want to fight them, but the villain had their family captured. After promising they would try their best to save its family, the monster healed (removed the pillows) the rest of the heroes. So, as the heroes continued onto the villain’s fortress, Persephone joined the adults in the kitchen. Exchanging brief small talk, before Jasper got down to the reason behind his visit.
“I don’t know a whole lot about their life before, but what I do know is that those two have been dealt a bad hand in life and need a fresh start. I’m hoping that the fresh start can be with you.” Jasper finished his tale. John had joined them in the kitchen by this point, and all four parents were looking at each other, all thinking similar things.
“Well, Donnie did ask for a sister for his birthday,” Amanda recalled, chewing on her bottom lip.
“We were talking about adopting another kid,” John admitted.
The adults continued to discuss the logistics of adopting the two kids, quickly agreeing on the adoption. Now, they were unaware of the six pairs of ears that were listening.
“We need to make sure all the kids are okay with it or it’s not going to work.” Alice pointed out. There was a chorus of agreement, and then the adults went back out into the living room to find Donnie and Alexa hanging on to Frankie’s legs, as Frankie tried to stay on his feet.
“This is what I do to Grandpa every time I see him! Grandpa is stronger than Frankie, so he’s able to carry me! He is so strong! He’ll be able to carry you, too!” Donnie rambled. “Oh yeah! Uncle Mark gives good hugs, but Aunt Clarissa gives the best ones! Uncle Mark gives the best piggyback rides! When we see him next, I’ll let you go first!”
On the other side of the room, Junior and El were teaching Janusz ASL.
“This is H,” Junior explained, as both he and El made the sign for H. Janusz copied with his hand. “Good! Now what was A?” Junior complimented. Janusz made the sign for B. El shook his head then made the sign for A.
Janusz let out an annoyed sigh. “What did I do?” He asked.
“You did B, but that’s okay! It’s hard, it took El and me months to learn!” Junior reassured as El gave two thumbs up. “Let’s try again!”
The five adults watched in silence, all of them coming to the same conclusion. It was all going to work out just fine.