Treasure Box

Chapter 17

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.