#lena literally adopts a child on a whim

[hiraecies-a]

MILA.  a child who lost mother to war and father to illness, she’s spent most of the years that followed selling flowers along the streets of rialto, pickpocketing those who pass, and deftly avoiding the reaching fingers of chantry mothers who, with good intentions but little sense, might seek to force her into an orphanage.  there, she knows, they would mould her into a sister or a templar, and even as young as she is, mila knows well that neither life is for her.

she is ten years old when she attempts to pick the pocket of a warrior who clearly has some stature; imagine her surprise when the woman grabbed her arm gently, smiled, and gave her a fair amount of coin instead.  it was less than a week later when a band of thugs happened to see mila spending some of that coin for food and took it upon themselves to relieve her of it.  the same woman who had given her the coin saved mila’s life and drove the bandits back.  enamored, mila took to following her around, much to the woman’s --- who identified herself only as lena --- frustration.  lena eventually properly sent her away --- but not in truth.  mila simply got sneakier.  sneaky enough to eventually catch her outside the rialto’s walls in the dead of night, speaking softly to a man with a strange tattoo and a familiar accent.

“you’re sure, zevran?” she asked him. “i’m afraid the lead turned out to be little but a dead end,” he replied. “damn it all!” “ah, ah, ah.  language, my dear.” “yes, of course.  your poor virgin ears.  there’s no one to hear us.” the man had chuckled.  “it’s unbefitting for a queen.”  his eyes drifted and landed upon mila.  “besides --- we are not so alone.”

and so mila was caught by the queen of ferelden and her strange associate.  the secret out, queen - consort helena cousland - therein allowed mila to eat with her and zevran at the tavern that helena was staying at and ask her questions.  in turn, mila was able to tell her own story --- of her parents passing, of living on the streets, of violence and fear but freedom, too.  moved by her plight, and perhaps recognizing something in the loss of parents to war, helena asked zevran to take mila to one of the queen’s many homes and have another watch over her.  mila objected, but helena assured her that it was no orphanage, no harm to her freedom; just a way to keep her safe.  besides, helena confided, she’d planned to do something similar since saving her from the bandits --- she couldn’t leave her alone in the city in case they tried to take revenge against the child.

still, while lena slept, mila plotted to escape.  no one, not even the bloody queen, was going to cage her.  she was caught by zevran, who promised that he had no intention of tucking her away inside some home and leaving her trapped.

“how would you,” he asked her, “like to see the world?”

and so she went.  sometimes with zevran, sometimes not, searching for --- as she learned --- a cure for what plagued all wardens.  she was not there to fight, but to learn, and while she saw little of the action, she walked placed outside of antiva --- outside of where she’d ever thought to tread.  zevran trained her, and so did others when they crossed paths --- a strange and aggressive dalish elf, a cheerful dwarf, a man with a stern face and dark eyes.  sometimes she stayed elsewhere, as helena said she would; in a home with servants who primped and prodded.  but mostly?  she met the world, and it met her, and she matched it.  and every few months she would find a way to be with helena, for weeks or days or months at a time.  it did not take her very long to love this new family --- to love helena and zevran especially.  and alistair, the man who she rarely meets but who always makes time to grin and greet her, laughing about his wife and strays.

is is 9:46 when helena, after hours of training with the girl, the veins in her hands dark as pitch, asks if she would like to be her daughter.  mila is fifteen years old.

it will be hard, she tells her.  it will mean responsibility, a future with a crown that weighs far too heavy.  but it will also mean love and a mother and a father, and they will never let anything happen to her.  mila, who hates feeling trapped by people or responsibility, will be faced with much of both.  and she understands if mila says no, and she will not be hurt, and she will understand if mila is afraid of black veins and the chance to lose another set of parents.

mila is not afraid.  she has felt like helena’s daughter for a long, long time --- she grabs her and weeps, says yes, yes, yes, she will be their daughter.  and while she cannot believe she is saying it, yes, yes, yes, she will be queen.

there is more, in the months that follow.  some of it is lies --- she is a distant relative of the couslands, found in the king’s travels.  but much of it is truth --- alistair and helena love her.  she loves the both of them.  and the most true of all --- they are her family, and she is theirs.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

I love this, and it’s making me have feelings for an AU I’ve considered for maybe 5min. Like, Regina still adopts, because she’s lonely, and she chooses Lena because she’s the only child in the orphanage who isn’t running and playing, and when their eyes meet Regina realizes the loneliness she feels is reflected in Lena’s intelligent green eyes– and maybe they can fill the emptiness inside each other. (And also maybe they’re drawn magic-to-magic, because suddenly I have this idea of Lena’s birth mother being some kind of Irish fae royalty or something).

And then Kara is Emma’s kid by way of a one night stand. She’s already a proven bounty hunter, and has a good nest egg set aside so she can not work for a few years, and when she goes back to work she moves into private investigation, because its safer and gets her home at a better time. And for years it’s just the two of them, best friends and confidantes, and Emma is totally indulgent to Kara’s imagination and whims of fancy. So one day, when Kara is uncharacteristically anxious, points to a map and says “we need to go there,” Emma is a little worried but doesn’t immediately poo-poo the idea.

“Why Storybrooke, munchkin?”

Kara shrugs with tears in her eyes. “We just gotta.”

And so they go.

When they pass the townline, Kara starts to calm down a little. It’s like a balloon that had been full to bursting slowly deflates, and Kara is smiling by the time they near the actual town itself. On their way in, they pass a little dark-haired girl stalking away from the town, with a little rolling suitcase trailing behind her. Emma pulls over, tells Kara to stay put, and goes to investigate.

Turns out Lena is running away from home– in this AU, Regina is actually a great mom for Lena, and the reason Lena is running away is because someone left the crust on her sandwich three days in a row (PS if you think Lena would be any less extra having Regina as a mom, you are sorely mistaken). Emma keeps a straight face, listens to the entire story (which somehow sidetracks into Lena using her runaway to go find and study fairies and “did you know they prefer fen to bogs…?”) and very subtly suggests Lena must be tired after all that running away and maybe she could ride back into town with them?

Lena agrees, but insists on rolling her own suitcase to the car. Inside, Kara is watching it all with her nose smooshed against the glass, and the moment the two girls lock gazes, they’re instantly smitten, in the way new best friends totally are. Their hands touch while buckling in, and the rainbow shockwave of true love nukes the entire town.

((PPS When Regina is not adequately horrified by Lena’s attempt to escape, Emma starts bristling–cuz she’s already kinda fond of the kid who literally will not stop talking about fairies– but then Regina is all like: Chill. Lena does this every few months, and they have an understanding that Lena can run as far as she likes so long as she’s back by dinner, and no Regina is not worried about someone taking advantage of Lena because it is a small, small, SMALL town and while Regina may not be the most popular woman as mayor, Lena certainly is, she knows everyone by sight and name, and the residents would die before letting something bad happen to the precocious 8 yr old, and besides, Regina WANTS Lena to be independent, and have high standards and be vocal about them, and when Regina continues to screw up her sandwiches for the rest of the week, Lena is going to forbid her from trying again, and will just start making her own lunches the way she wants them to be.

Regina’s daughter is going to change the world, and if it starts with peanut butter amd jelly sandwiches, so be it.))

((PPPS There is still a prophecy, but this time it focuses on two young soul mates, children of magic, and it basically leads to a whole slew of shenanigans for Lena and Kara as they grow up hand in hand, and once they hit their twenties, the entire town starts a betting pool on when they will come out and say their getting married (and also, a smaller more specific pool on what trope their marriage will be– Accidental Marriage, Marriage of Convenience, Why Waste a Wedding, Fallback Marriage Pact, etc)…))

((PPPS they’re already one trope in, having used the Parental Marriage Veto when the girls were ten and Kara asked Regina’s blessing to marry Lena– the veto is made because of their ages, and the fact that any marriage contract made at that age would not be legally binding. Kara takes it in stride, and vows to ask again when they’re adults– and then promptly forgets about it. Emma and Regina have a good long laugh about it over wine the next night.))

I take our role as Mom-Ship very seriously okay

SuperCorp, you’re adorable and precious and we love you ❤ -SwanQueen