Chapter Text
Gabi wasn't completely sure what was going on, just that her daddy and papa took her to Grandma Karina's house and that they would be back in a couple of days to get her. But sleepovers with Granny Karina were fun! Granny would make sweets and they would play with finger paints and watch movies and have lots of fun! Today granny had taken her to the park and they'd gotten to play, tomorrow they were going to the water park.
But she was still nosey as ever. Where had her daddy and papa gone? They had a suitcase when they left. Her daddy and papa were kissing each other a lot for some reason. It was while her granny was washing dishes that Gabi went to the kitchen and started tugging on her skirt.
"Granny?" Karina hummed and looked down at Gabi. "Where's Daddy? And Papa?"
"Your daddy and papa are celebrating their anniversary tonight, sweetie. Their first anniversary." Gabi stared blankly at Karina. It was apparent that Gabi didn't understand what she was being told. Karina finished up the last plate and drained the sink, then guided Gabi to the living room. "Your parents got married a year ago. So they're celebrating being married for a year."
"Why didn't I go?" Karina wasn't sure exactly how to answer that. Gabi didn't understand exactly what adult love was. As far as she was concerned Reiner loved her the same way he loved Bertholdt.
"Daddy and Papa want time to be alone. Wedding anniversaries are special for adults. It means it's been another year of being together and loving each other." Gabi blinked.
"Do you celebrate your wedding?" Gabi asked. Karina shook her head.
"I never got married, dear." Gabi stared at her grandmother.
"Why?" Karina didn't want to go into the realities of adulthood and explain premarital sex, deadbeat dads, failed relationships, boyfriends...
"It just never happened. The important thing is your parents love each other and they love you. They'll be back soon, they just left because they wanted to be with one another alone for a couple of days."
"Will I get married one day?" Gabi asked. Karina chuckled and leaned over to peck a kiss to the top of Gabi's head.
"If you want to, I'm sure you will. You can wear a pretty white dress and eat wedding cake." Gabi looked excited.
"I want to get married!" Gabi tugged at Karina's shirt. "When can I get married?"
"Well, sweetie, you need to be a grown-up first. And then you need to be with someone you love a lot. Then you decide with them when you get married." Gabi crossed her arms in disappointment. She wouldn't be getting married for a long while, it would seem.
"Can I have an annie-versary?" Gabi asked. Karina laughed and nodded her head.
"You can't have a wedding anniversary until you're married. But we celebrate a special anniversary for you every year, did you know that?" Gabi shook her head. "Your birthday! Your birthday is the anniversary of the day you were born."
"My birthday is my annie-versary?" Her eyes were excited. "Is that why we celebrate it?" Karina nodded and poked Gabi's nose. She grabbed the remote and turned on a cartoon channel for Gabi to watch. Karina had to admit she didn't understand these new kids' shows, but if Gabi liked it that's what mattered.
"Yes, your birthday is a very special day. The anniversary of the day you were born. How old will you be your next birthday?" Gabi held up five fingers and smiled. "Wow! Five whole years! I remember when you were a little itty bitty baby. Look at you!"
"I remember when I was a baby!" Karina laughed. There was no way Gabi remembered. "I cried a lot, daddy said so!" Well, that was definitely true. But Karina wasn't willing to argue with the headstrong little girl. She'd tried that when Reiner was a kid and she knew it was useless.
"And we loved you anyways. How about you tell me what this show is about?" Karina asked. Gabi glanced at the TV and started excitedly explaining why the dalmatian puppy in the fireman suit was her favorite.
"What're you two getting dressed up for?" Gabi asked. Her parents were wearing their really nice clothes. Her daddy was in a turtleneck with a jacket over it while her papa wore a button-up shirt and dressy pants. Her papa was wearing a nice tie, not one of the silly ones he liked wearing when he went to go work at the library.
"You don't know?" Her papa looked at her in surprise. "It's our anniversary." Gabi thought about it. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to fooling around on her phone. She had an overnight bag packed to stay over at Marcel's house tonight.
"I guess I didn't think about it." Gabi glanced behind her and saw her daddy being fussy with the lint roller. He got so wound up with his lint roller sometimes.
"We go out every year, I guess we'd thought you'd known. You know it was twelve years ago today that Reiner and I got married." Bertholdt sat beside Gabi on the couch. "And you'd been such a cute little girl running around in your dress!"
"Papaaa..." Gabi felt her cheeks heat up. Why were her parents so embarrassing?! "Quit it..."
"Your dress had that big bow on it, you got so upset and wanted to dance with me and Reiner. Reiner danced with his mom for the mother-son dance and you cried so I did a little father-daughter dance with you." Gabi wanted to cover her face even though she and her parents were the only ones here at the moment. Bertholdt noticed her red face and chuckled.
"Okay, you have everything you need?" Reiner asked Gabi. "You don't need to be embarrassed around us, Gabi. It's not like your friends heard him." Gabi scratched the back of her head. He was right, it wasn't like Marcel was getting ammo to use against her later.
Wouldn't Marcel have been at her parents' wedding? The two of them had been so young, they couldn't remember any details about it.
"Whatever. I'm ready to go." Reiner ignored his daughter's dismissive attitude. Teenagers. Oh well. He and Bertholdt stayed behind to lock up the door and held one another's hand whenever it was time to go to their car. Gabi cringed at the two of them. Why were they so gross?
"No need to scowl like that, Gabi. One day you'll understand." Bertholdt said. Gabi got into the car without comment. She sagged back into the backseat of the car. Marcel said that the new episode of their favorite show was coming on tonight, and that was at the forefront of her mind. Pieck and Porco usually left them alone. The Galliards were far from overbearing.
"Sure." Reiner glanced at Gabi in the mirror. He loved her, but he was glad to get her out of the house for the night. The last couple of anniversaries he and Bertholdt hadn't been able to celebrate properly. Work hadn't approved Bertholdt's time off requests so no opportunity for alone time besides cuddling after Gabi went to bed. They'd gotten reservations months in advance for a high-end restaurant with a beautiful view. Reiner had wanted to go back to the cabin where he'd proposed, but decided to stay in town.
They had plenty of time to be alone and see things around the city together after dinner. Then they could have the whole night at home alone along with the morning. What fun they could have without Gabi being home!
"Alright, Gabi. We're here. Don't cause any problems for Pieck and Porco, okay?" Reiner told her. Gabi rolled her eyes and turned to look at her parents.
"When have I ever caused problems for the Galliards?" Bertholdt cocked a brow at her.
"Where do you want me to start?" God forbid Gabi ruin another romantic evening for the two of them. Gabi sheepishly laughed and blushed.
"Don't answer that. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Gabi bid her parents farewell and went to the door. Marcel must have been watching through the window because he was there before she'd made it to the doorway. "Hey!"
"Took you long enough! Come look at this thing I found snooping around my parents' room! I don't think mom has noticed yet!" Pieck always had cool things! Gabi followed behind Marcel. Later she put a reminder in her phone so she wouldn't forget her parents' anniversary again.
Maybe next year she could do something nice for them.
Gabi groaned when she forced herself out of bed. She had set her alarm really, really early today. Her daddy was always up first, and waking up before him was a struggle. Today was her parents' anniversary, and this year she decided that she was going to do something nice for them. Breakfast in bed had seemed like the perfect idea! She knew exactly what to make for both of her parents.
Her daddy loved to have eggs and bacon with toast. But her papa liked sweeter foods and would love chocolate chip pancakes. The two of them would be so happy to have a breakfast made with love! Gabi was careful while making their food so that none of it would burn. To finish it all up, Gabi got one of their bottles of wine and poured two glasses of the sweet red they liked sharing.
Sometimes she and Marcel would sneak some of their wine but her parents didn't need to know that. Marcel was always able to get a replacement bottle before her parents noticed it was gone. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them!
Gabi arranged the food on the tray so that it looked perfect. Presentation was important! She even put a flower on the tray for them. It was with great care that she got the tray and carried it to her parents' room. She opened the door and pushed it open.
"Happy- oh my god!" Gabi dropped the tray and screamed while her parents reacted with gasps and shouting of their own. Her daddy was on his hands and knees while her papa was behind him! Naked! Oh god, oh god! Gabi slammed the door shut and ran away to the bathroom. She tried washing her face and running water over her eyes in an attempt to wash away that awful sight.
Her parents! Having sex! What the fuck?! They were supposed to be asleep! They were always asleep this early! She wanted to vomit but couldn't bring herself to do so.
All that red wine was just spilled all over the carpet, so her parents were probably going to be upset with her, too!
"Gabi? Gabi, come on out, we just want to talk to you." That was her daddy. What were they supposed to talk about?! Sex? She didn't want to talk about that!
"Go away! I'm just going to school!" Gabi opened the door and charged past her parents. Both of them were standing there awkwardly by the door in their pajamas. She had a lot of time before she needed to go to school, but Udo always went in early. She could just sit with him and try to forget about this.
"Gabi-"
"I don't want to talk!" Her face was still burning whenever she ran out of the house. It was sunrise, with the first few rays peeking out from beyond the horizon. She hopped onto her bicycle and started to head towards her school. When she arrived she saw Udo's bicycle locked up on the bike rack outside, so at least he'd be there. She locked up her bike and went inside.
Udo was sitting in the empty gymnasium reading a book. He looked up curiously whenever Gabi came in. Why was she here so early? Gabi usually showed up to school shortly before it was time to start class. He got here early because he liked the solitude the school afforded him. The big, open, empty gym made him feel at ease.
"Gabi? What are you doing here?" Udo put his book down to the side. He hadn't expected Gabi to show up so early. Not that he was disappointed to see her or anything, but it was still a surprise. "You look upset."
"It's awful, Udo!" She sat beside him and shook her head. Udo closed his book and put it to the side. "It's so awful!"
"What happened?"
"I went to give my parents so breakfast in bed I made them and I saw them... ugh!" The meaning behind what she said was apparent. Udo cringed at the mental image. He liked Gabi's parents a lot! The mental image of them having sex wasn't something he wanted in his head. Hopefully he'd forget about this before he saw them again. "They were asking me to talk before I left."
"I mean I wouldn't want to talk to my parents either." Udo fidgeted with his fingers for a moment. "Are you okay?"
"Why are my parents so gross? They're always holding hands and kissing one another. I don't want to see all that!" Gabi shuddered. It wasn't like they were obnoxious about it. They didn't suck face all the time and her daddy especially wasn't a fan of public displays of affection.
"I mean it sounds like they were in their bedroom when you caught them, and if it was earlier than you're ever awake I'm sure they weren't expecting you to just barge in." Udo was always a voice of reason. But Gabi didn't care about reason right now! She cared about getting her eyes replaced with eyes that never saw her parents doing... that. Udo sighed and thought. "I mean, it isn't a bad thing that they were doing that."
"What are you talking about, Udo?" Gabi was confused and frowned at her friend. Udo leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
"Think about it. Your parents still love one another and care about each other. A lot of our classmates have parents who are divorced or who hate each other. I know they're gross, but they're happy." Udo closed his eyes and sagged back. "I know my mom and dad still love each other. We're lucky."
Gabi thought about Udo's words. He was right. Falco's parents divorced after his brother Colt died. And Zofia's parents despised one another. Her mind wandered to Marcel. His parents were happy. He got to spend time with his parents happily, all under the same roof. It was the same with her. Her papa and daddy cared so much for one another. And her.
"I know... I'm happy that they're happy. I made them their breakfast because it's their twelfth anniversary. And I think they were together for a long time before then." Having two loving parents was a blessing that she took for granted sometimes...
But she still didn't want to see them having sex!
"It'll be okay, Gabi. Just try to distract yourself. You'll feel better if you stop thinking about it. Did you hear that Mr. Berner is married to Dr. Zoe? I had no idea!" Udo tried to change the subject, for Gabi's sake. Gabi accepted the opportunity to talk about literally anything else. It was easy to push out of her mind until the end of the day when she got on her bicycle to go home.
Home. Where her parents were. Maybe she should just go over to Marcel's house? No... she couldn't avoid her parents forever. She'd have to go home tonight regardless. Gabi biked to her house and locked her bicycle up outside. Both of her parents' cars were parked outside, so they were definitely home.
When she went inside, she saw that her daddy had been hard at work cleaning up the wine stains from where she'd dropped their breakfast on the floor. There was a bottle of red wine stain-away and some baking soda. Oops.
"Gabi?" Her papa poked her head out from the kitchen whenever he heard the front door close. Reiner followed suit and joined Bertholdt. "Uh, Gabi, about this morning..."
"When adults are in love with each other they like to be close to one another, and-" Gabi cut her daddy off and covered her eyes.
"I know what sex is! God! I'll knock next time, I don't want to talk about this!" Reiner scratched the back of his head. Well... as much as he didn't want to really think about it, Gabi was the age Bertholdt was when they had sex for the first time. Of course she knew! Gabi crossed her arms and looked away. "I really don't want to have some sort of heart-to-heart or conversation, please..."
"Okay. We didn't really want to talk about it either." There was an awkward pause between the three of them until Bertholdt broke the silence. "We appreciate the thought, Gabi. The breakfast looked really good."
"While you were cleaning it off the floor?" Gabi asked, skepticism in her voice. An awkward laugh came from her papa.
"You thought about what we liked and you woke up early to cook for us. It means a lot to us, Gabi." Reiner put a hand on Gabi's shoulder and squeezed. "We love you. Thank you for the breakfast, even if we didn't get to eat it." Gabi smiled at the sincere thanks from her parents. They had ordered some food to be delivered to the house, fancy stuff Gabi didn't care for. They had some cheap takeout just for her.
Maybe today wasn't a total wash. She'd never barge into her parents' room again, though.
How had it been a year? A whole entire year since her wedding? Gabi had taken the day off of work and waited for Falco to get home from work. The house was cleaned up and would be nice to come back to. She and Falco were going on a short vacation together to celebrate their first anniversary together. While he was at work she'd taken the time to pack up all the clothes and toiletries she'd need. No makeup, because if they were going to be swimming and relaxing in a hot tub it'd just wash off.
The wedding had been magical... planning it with her papa and Falco, her daddy making her a custom wedding dress how she wanted it. Gabi wasn't sure many things would ever make her happier than the memory of her wedding. Her parents had cried, something that Porco teased them about.
A knock on the door pulled Gabi out of her thoughts. When she opened the door, a delivery man was standing there. "Gabi Grice?"
"Yes. Do I need to sign for it?" The delivery man nodded and got the signing pad for her. The package didn't look big at all. Try as she might, Gabi couldn't think of anything that she'd ordered requiring a signature. Falco hadn't mentioned buying anything recently, and he'd tell her if it required a signature so she'd know to be home. She took the box and went back inside.
The return address was her parents' house? They must have sent her something. Odd. When they wanted to give her something they'd usually make the drive to her house or invite her over. Mailing seemed counterproductive. She opened the box and found a smaller black box inside, along with a note. Gabi opened the note and read what was written inside.
Dear Gabi,
How has it already been a year? An entire year since your wedding day. We can still remember holding you in our arms, and then we wound up walking you down the aisle. You'd been so beautiful that day. Starting a life together with the one you love the most is a big step, but such an exciting one. You know how much we love Falco. Him joining our family was so exciting for us. Your wedding is one of the most precious memories we have with you.
You're an adult now, but you'll always be our baby girl. It's a special day today for you. Don't take it for granted and cherish your time with Falco. Someday you'll look back on these days and smile at the memories.
We found this while out and knew it would be the perfect anniversary gift for you. It made the two of us smile and think of our little girl. Please accept it as our gift to you for your first anniversary.
We love you, sweetheart. Happy anniversary. Have fun, and tell Falco we said hello.
With love,
Daddy and Papa
Gabi smiled at the letter that was inside with the box. She set the paper aside and took the black box. A tiny gasp came when she opened it. Inside was a necklace with a heart on the end, with diamonds lining the edge of the heart. Inside the heart was Simba and Nala from The Lion King. Her favorite movie as a child. She could remember so many times she would curl up with her parents and watch it with them.
What a beautiful diamond and gold necklace. With black rhodium forming the eyes? Gabi didn't realize how emotional she was getting until she felt the tears start to drip down the side of her face. She didn't send a message to her parents right now. They would just tell her to enjoy her anniversary with Falco. Instead she put the necklace on and admired it in the mirror.
She took a picture of herself wearing the necklace and sent it to her parents.