Declan would be able to get another shot at that flat piece of ass, which was oh so fun the first time, and would get even more powerful help to do it - in return for making this girl be more in love with the beast. He didn’t ask questions why. He didn’t touch Frank to try to understand the motives. It had started off when he was just bussing home from school and a tall ass fucker made his way on and was staring at him. Didn’t recognize him at first. Declan took off one of his gloves and touched the seat beneath him and saw the approach that would be made once more people were off the bus. And Frank saw that he saw that so they didn’t even have to have a conversation on what powers the butcher managed to have, or what was wanted. Declan just stared back at Frank with a raised eyebrow. A mental conversation then. No need to be sly.
Declan would get off the bus early. Frank would get off as well. Frank would offer Declan a cigarette which Declan would take. There would be no record of any sort of conversation. And they’d go their separate ways.
And the next day, Delta would be distracting Hunchy, and Frank would be a little voice in the back of Maddy’s head, reminding her of the things that she needed. She had Pierre’s money. Why not spend it a little? Things have been awkward with her and Bastien since that night so ... buy something to make it up to him. Make him a nice meal. Take him to China like he had said in his fun. So that’s what Maddy was going to do. Why not, right? It wasn’t as if she was wanted by the police. And if she went during the day, she could avoid a lot of the people that she knew because they would be in school.
Since Bastien was doing things with Delta, she’d leave him a note, putting it on their little dining table so he’d be able to see it. She might get back before he even realizes, but she didn’t want him to worry.
She’d walk down the cliff until reaching one of the main roads, call for an uber, get dropped off downtown and do a bit of shopping. She would stop at a pharmacy and get the feminine products that she was too shy to ask the Merry Men for, she’d grab a couple of things for around their place like more pens, notebooks, some miscellanious things to make it seem more like a home. She’d even stop in at a thrift store and buy herself a few new things, some of the largest items for day-Bastien so he had variety including a pair of swim trunks, and then a couple of things for night Bastien. It felt ... almost normal. She’d walk with her bags to find a garden market, maybe buy some fresh cherries when everything goes black. She walked past the wrong damn alleyway.
She awoke again in a familiar chair. Tied down. Her vision was blurry this time. She was sore. She was aching all over. She was naked again. It made everything from the last few days feel like it was some sort of dream... and when she saw HIS face, she thought that it was. That everything she remembered about Bastien and Chip and Delta and Frank was some sort of dream.
She tried harder to fight back this time but that just seemed to get Declan more excited. He kept her dosed up with something. Some chemical in a rag that he kept putting up to her face. It made her head hurt. She kept trying to put up her barriers nonetheless, but because she was so weak, it kept making her pass out. But when she was awake, after being slapped again, after being hurt again, after being raped, and stabbed around a couple of times, she heard his voice. It wasn’t just in her head anymore.
But he was saying - nice things.
It was the weirdest thing.
She couldn’t feel sensation between her legs anymore. She hadn’t realized it after the last time but through all of the force, it fucked up the nerves in her clitoris so there was no pleasure to be had from that. No pain either, other than pressure. But as he was sliding into her, and she was trying to fight, her limp, tied arms moving like limp noodles, he was saying,
“I was wrong, Maddy.” The new name this time. It made her flinch to hear it. “He is the only one who could ever love you. You’re not as lost a cause as I thought that you were.” Knife to her throat, cutting at the skin, sliding through the layers ever so softly. Not a gushing of blood but a trickle of it. “Your hunchback, your beast, his heart will only ever belong to you. If you leave him, I see it all now, he’ll die without you. He won’t just run away and you’ll never see him again. No, he just won’t survive anymore. Have I steered you wrong before? No? So fucking say thank you.”
And with her eyes closed, tears pouring down her face, barely holding on enough to hear his words, she’d say the two ones that were near impossible to say to anyone else. ‘Thank you’.
She’d be there for a couple of hours. Not days. But she was fighting back this time. Every single time that she felt like she had the strength to, she’d put her barrier up. The longest she lasted with that was ten minutes while he just talked at her, his words coming through. Encouraging her. “Fucking hit me,” He’d laugh. “You did it enough with your former lover, didn’t ya? Fucked his head right up with all of those concussions, no wonder he’s a fucking freak who bitched you out for no reason.”
She tried. She really did. But the exhaustion -
Then the rag over her face again.
There was more, but it just ended up in her sub-conscious, rolling around in there to come out when she would eventually see Bastien. She would be dropped off in the same alley that she was picked up in. Declan would even be nice enough to dress her this time, though of course she was a bloody, dirty mess. A day of sin, sadism and debauchery. And she even had her backpack with all of her new things and her phone in it. Turned off of course, he wasn’t going to let her be traced. Maybe he was a bit of a nice guy. There was no need to get in contact with Frank that the job was done, the fact that she wouldn’t have been returned right away was proof enough that he had followed through with what he had wanted.
So there she was. Dressed in a skirt, tights and shoes taken away so she was walking on bare feet down the city streets, head hurting, confused about where she was and who she was - praying to be found so she could go back to the boy with the pretty golden retriever hair who loved her.
Maddy will arrange a scavenger hunt for him. They’re always hiding Waldos, this just feels like the next step. She hid cards while he was sleeping in ‘six places in their home that they had made love’. Considering that still left a lot of places, it’s good that it wasn’t too big of a home.
(1. Tucked under her pillow)
(2. Tucked under a sofa cushion)
(3. Taped under their dining table)
(4. Taped under the dining chair that he usually uses)
(5. Taped to her ‘exercise’ pole cause one time she was really feeling it which probably would have made him feel it)
(6. Standing near the lights that lead to the staircase cause those lights add ATMOSPHERE yo)
Three are from her, her own signature inside of them, while three are from Frankie and have her little handprint on them, dipped in blue paint and then pressed onto the inside.
Because Maddy has enjoyed making photobooks, like the special Valentines Day one the year before, she’s going to make a special one of Frankie’s first six months with her Papa Bear as the gift for finding all of the cards. It’s going to start off with pictures comparing them - one of the very few baby pictures that she was able to find through going through every avenue on the internet that had to do with the Belleroses, and then a picture of their own little girl, showing how they did resemble each other. Frankie had his big eyes, the forehead slope. The rest of the pictures were of the two of them, only a fair few had her in them since there weren’t many times when there was someone else around to take photos of all three, but even those were focused on Bastien and the little girl that made him so damn happy.
Of course, he was going to be having his favorite throughout the day. His favorite foods, they could watch his favorite movie, they could go on a long walk together which also seemed to be his favorite thing to do. It’s a day totally about him.
Because of last years mixup, she’s also not just gonna be sending out texts. Two shirts - one in Thomas’s size and one that was one up from Flo’s to make room for breasts, are going to be sent to the Laveau pair. It was so up both of their alleys, matching shirts for the duo that was affectionately known as the ‘dads’ seemed perfect.
And of course since she got the Savanne girls some things, she’s got a gift coming for Chip. She thought of him the moment that she saw it, and had to get it, along with just a basic Happy Fathers Day card
It wasn’t the happiest trip to Paris in the world, with both sides of the couple feeling loss for the city that they loved, the people that were taken away. But Maddy - she’d try to make it work as best as she could. It was short notice but she found a decent place. Christmas at a standard hotel? Giving birth at one? No, that wasn’t the Bellerose way. She wanted something that at least slightly felt homey and not impersonal.
She’d order a tree for them to decorate, just like last year. She didn’t try to push Bastien into helping, knowing that he was in his own head basically since it happened, but she would ask him if he wanted to put the new angel that she bought on the tree. It had short blonde hair and green eyes and looked a lot like his mother.
She’d then reach out to friends and find out who was where. Victor would get a text but if Scout checked it, it was nothing more than ‘I’m glad you and Zero got out of New Orleans safe.’ Because she was. Same with Will.
Their anniversary fell upon a Saturday that year. Their first wedding anniversary. Which just made some of the loss even more prevalent because Wulf had been Bastien’s one groomsman and that had meant a lot. Still though, she’d use that kitchen to try to replicate some of the dishes that had been served on their wedding night. She’d just be able to fit into one of the more flouncy and delicate robes she wore on her honeymoon, though only with the top two buttons done up because it looked like Freddy was ready to come out any minute. She’d keep it all simple. It wasn’t the time to rush into doing things. But she’d offer to go on a walk with him through the city, through the snow, all bundled up and warm and following any footprints that he finds.
On Christmas Eve Eve, Maddy and Bastien would go just out of town to pick out a tree. Slim pickings, but they both tended to like the weird ones that no one else would pick, like the tiny pumpkins or the squat ones.
It made more sense to get a real one despite the mess, because they could dispose of it afterwards rather than have a fake tree and have to leave it behind.
Because they were newlywoods - they had that look in their eye and the way that they never stopped being close to each other would prove that, they would be given a free heart-shaped ornament by the lot keeper. Maddy loved it. She was going to bring it home with them.
They’d set it up not too far from the fireplace, with a carpet beneath it to catch all of the needles. It made the whole place smell of pine.
She’d buy them new pairs of red socks, fuzzy ones to wear inside because it was getting colder in Paris - rain but there was hopes of it turning into snow - and another bigger pair to hang by the chimney.
She’d fill his while he was sleeping with his favorite candies, a new pair of gloves, two hats - one for day Bastien and one for night Bastien because he doesn’t have many Winter clothes, new headphones, things like that.
She’d be a nervous wreck over his present until he opened it.
Since it was just the two of them, it felt a little ridiculous to make a whole big turkey dinner so she would stick to prime rib, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, egg nog and would make a chocolate and banana loaf as their big dessert.
She’d wear the shirt that Flotsam and Thomas sent, but only the shirt - and one of her many new lingerie sets because the only time she was getting fully dressed on this honeymoon was to go out.
The bells of Notre Dame would have rung in their Christmas, and they’d hear the evening bells as well. They wouldn’t even have to leave to catch a service, it would be broadcasted out for there wasn’t enough room for everyone at the church, speakers would be set up. All they would have to do is go outside on their patio and it would be like it was just for them.
“You’re the best Christmas present of them all,” She would tell Bastien, and she would mean it. Even after fifteen years of Christmas’s where the tree was impeccably decorated and their Christmas lists were fulfilled and the dinner was had at the shelter among so many other happy faces, this felt like the first one in which Maddy had a family.
Frank having walked in during the day after the strained couple are sleeping and left a black bag on Bastien’s side of the bed with a note in his own skinny hand writing, which almost resembled himself.
It was Hunchy. Gifts were worth it. He wasn’t going to take any lengths to punish Maddy for this. He still thought it was funny that anyone would love the Weasel. But he’d certainly help Bastien to do so.
Inside of the bag was:
A ball gag
A paddle with a word that Frank knew Maddy thought about herself right now.
Up to Bastien if he wanted to use them, but didn’t she deserve a little punishment for what she was putting him through?
After all of their talk about Little Italy, and China Town, and the potential of going back to Paris some day, Maddy would buy them a projector and would set it up by the kitchen, using it to pull up videos and pictures of wherever Bastien wanted to go so that it would look like they were traveling the world while they ate at their little two person table.
Across the globe they would go, either basing their location on what she’d be making for food - Toronto the night she made poutine because fries, gravy and cheese honestly sounded comforting; Paris while they were having a croissant breakfast; wintery wonderlands when she made him the Renault hot chocolate - one of the very few things that she would keep from those days since it was pretty comforting; the beach; you could find just about anything on youtube for this sort of thing, and it added a bit of magic to the days and nights in which they didn’t leave the dungeons.
