Work Text:
Shiv
Shiv is six when Logan decides to take her and her siblings hunting in Europe. It's the first time she's allowed to come along and it's all very exciting. Her mother stays home, saying something about a migraine, nobody tries to change her mind. Shiv knows her mother has been spending a lot of time in Europe by herself lately, visiting her old home and Shiv thinks that maybe her mommy is homesick and that she wants some time alone. She and her dad argue a lot and only a few days ago she said something about papers in her office waiting for her dad's signature.
They sit in a private jet for hours, Shiv and Roman playing with some toys their nanny bought along for the journey. Kendall is watching their father, mimicking everything he does, Shiv tells him he's funny and laughs and Kendall turns the shade of a tomato and hides in the bathroom for a while.
They travel to a big mansion in the countryside, Shiv has no idea in what country they are because she is six and the adults never tell her anything. It's autumn and cold, her nanny is carrying an extra coat for her and Roman around under her arms.
While the adults talk, Shiv sits in a corner of the room and plays with her dolls. Roman is trying to sneak into the kitchen to find some food, the adults said there would be a huge banquet later and he wants to see if they'll have any cake, but she didn't wanted to come along.
A man comes into the room and tells the adults that they should get ready for the hunt now and for a moment Shiv panics because she thinks they're going to forget Roman, she gets up and dashes across the room to her nanny, pulling on her sleeve.
"We can't go without Roman." She says and her nanny tells her that they're not going anywhere, that hunting is only for adults and that she and Roman are going to stay in the mansion with their nanny. Shiv pouts and runs up to her dad who's talking with Frank and tries to talk to him but he sends her away and tells her she could come along another time.
While the adults leave, Shiv and Roman are sitting in their designated playroom, still angry that they'll be missing out on all the action. "It's not fair." Roman says, he's eight and still the same height as Shiv, sometimes she jokes about his height, Kendall calls him a dwarf. She misses Kendall, he's a few years older than her and spends more and more time away from home. They used to play so many fun games together, sometimes Kendall would play 'dog' with Roman, he was the dog and Kendall would put him in their dog cage and bring him cake in a bowl. The actual dog had died before Shiv was born and her family hadn't gotten a new one since, which was fine because Shiv preferred cats anyway. Or horses, she loved horses!
"No it's not fair!" Shiv agrees, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want to stay in this room, it's boring and it smells weird and the other children are no fun!"
She points at Gerri's daughters who are sitting patiently besides their mother, coloring in some books, sometimes Shiv and Gerri's daughters will play games together, but they don't like Roman and have been avoiding them the entire trip.
"We could play hide and seek, I saw a big wardrobe in one of the rooms when I was looking for the kitchen." Shiv's eyes lit up at that. "A wardrobe! What if it's a magic wardrobe like in the book nanny has been reading to us!"
They wait until they see their nanny turning her back on them to talk to the other women in the room, before sneaking out the door. Nobody calls after them so they slow down when they reach the next room. "Shiv, you count first." Roman says and then he's off, sprinting down the hallway and around the corner.
Shiv sighed loudly but started counting. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5…" She stopped when she reached 20 and takes the same direction Roman went. The mansion is big and most of the rooms are closed but she finds the room with the big wardrobe. She quickly discovers, to her big disappointment, that the wardrobe is empty except for three lonely clothes hangers.
When she returned to the hallway, the sound of a door closing reaches her ears. Roman! She thought, walking as slowly as she could towards the source of the noise.
Steps could be heard on the floor underneath her, something was put on the ground, a chair creaked as it was pulled over the floor. Shiv hid behind a big vase when she reached the grand staircase, peeking around to see if she could catch a glimpse of her brother on the lower floor.
To her big surprise, it wasn't her brother who was making all the noises.
Two men were talking in hushed voices to each other, she was still too far away to properly see or hear them, but she could make out words here and there.
"If Logan finds out we left-"
"- okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine- …- stumbled-"
"- could have gone off, you could have hurt yourself."
Shiv crept along the staircase to find a better place to watch as two men slowly came into view, she didn't knew their names, only that they worked for her dad. One of the men had been to their home several times, Shiv remembered because they all had dinner together and afterwards, the kids had to go to their rooms and stay there because Logan didn't wanted to be disturbed.
The two men clearly didn't noticed Shiv on top of the stairs because they kept on talking.
"Here, let me see your hands."
The man who had visited her father said to the other man, who held out his hands. They were a bit dirty as if he'd been playing outside which made Shiv wonder what the adults had been up to while she and Roman had been playing.
"I'm fine, Jamie, it's just a bit mud, I'll clean myself up and we can go back, I don't want Logan to find out we left."
Jamie held the other man's hands in his and pulled them slightly against his chest and suddenly Shiv felt like she was witnessing something she wasn't meant to see.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Karl. Go clean up, I'll wait for you outside." Jamie murmured, barely audible, before leaning in to press a kiss against Karl's cheek.
Shiv stared with wide eyes, slowly retreating back behind the vase. Her mommy and daddy hadn't kissed each other in a long time, ever since mommy started going back to England and even before that they had been cold around each other, she had never seen her mommy hold her daddy's hand the way Jamie did with Karl but maybe that was because daddy has never gotten home from work with an ouchie.
Her nanny said blowing a kiss on an ouchie made it heal faster.
As she slowly made her way back to the playroom she could feel the memory of what she had just witnessed slipping from her mind, all she wanted to do was play with her dolls and drink some hot chocolate. Before she could slip back into the room though, someone pulled on her long, red hair, making her yelp.
"You forgot me!" Roman yelled angrily, crossing his arms over his chest. "No I didn't! I was just busy!" She pushed him.
Soon the two of them were rolling on the ground, pulling on each other's hair and scratching each other's skin until their nanny pulled them apart.
"Siobhan! Roman!" She scolded. "You're father will be back any minute and you two look like a mess! I am so disappointed in both of you!"
More than twenty years later Shiv had forgotten what happened after the fight. She forgot if they had cake in the evening, if she slept on the way back to the plane or if Gerri's daughters had let her sit with them after she fought with Roman.
The only thing she did remember was the sight of two men, holding hands and staring lovingly into each other's eyes. She never actually told them about her discovery but made it her little secret. If the adults had things they wouldn't tell her, she decided she would get to keep some things to herself too.