rpf: once upon a time // the ~edited (thus, better!) version.
Title: Once Upon A Time
Author: ciza
Pairing: J/A and R/K, although this is primarily about Alli and Joshua Rathbone. They're very pleased to meet you.
Rating: PG
Summary: “Once upon a time, there was a boy who fell deeply in love with a girl.” And one night, Kristen babysat their offspring.
Disclaimer: Sure, I can see the future. Not. I don't own them. This is utterly fictional. Especially those kids - they're extremely fictional.
A/N: All mistakes are mine. I still don't know what prompted this, but I do hope you enjoy it. :)
“Once upon a time, there was a boy who fell deeply in love with a girl. They didn’t know how it happened, or when.”
“Like Jack and Sally?”
Other kids would’ve said Mickey and Minnie, or Cinderella and her prince. Or Snow White and her prince. Not in the Rathbone house, apparently, Kristen thought and couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes, Alli, like Jack and Sally,” said a voice behind her. She turned around to see Joshua walking into the bedroom he shared with Alli, his almost 4 years old sister; all ready to put his pyjamas on and to go to sleep.
The little girl tugged Kristen’s hand. “Like Belle and Beast, KP?”
Kristen flicked Alli’s nose and she giggled in a way only a little kid could. “Yes, baby, like Belle and Beast.”
“Like -“
Joshua came around and gave Alli a kiss on her forehead. “Night, Alli love. Let Kris finish your story.” He gave her Mr. Monkey, who was his when he was little, and now his sister’s favorite stuffed animal. Alli put her arms around her big brother’s neck and pulled him down a little bit, giving him a kiss on his cheek. Kristen melted a little. Joshua passed her on his way to bed and gave her a quick hug, saying, “Night, Kristen. Thanks for watching us tonight,” and she melted some more.
Alli looked at her expectantly and Kristen had a hunch that it would be a while before either of them would fall asleep.
“Oh. Right. Story. So, um, there were a boy and a girl, and they fell in love. They waited a long time to see if it were really love, you see, they didn’t want to just jump on it. They spent some time apart. There were a lot of people that didn’t want them to get together, and although they didn’t know why, they listened to these people. They met other boys and other girls, but none made them feel like the way they did when they were together. That’s how they know that it was love, because despite everything, it was only with each other that they felt as alive and happy as they possibly could.”
Alli scrunched her face. “I’m confused.”
“Are you feeling sleepy?”
“No.”
Kristen heard Joshua giggling from his side of the room.
“Do you want me to read you a book instead?”
“No. I want a story from you.” She poked Kristen’s forearm with her index finger. Kristen poked her back.
“But you have all these books -“
“No.”
“Or I can tell you a different story -“
“NO.”
“Stubborn like her mother,” Kristen muttered under her breath.
Joshua giggled even louder. She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, “Josh, why don’t you tell your sister a bedtime story?”
“I’m only eight. I’m supposed to still be told a bedtime story.”
And this one is cheeky like his father.
“You two really are your parent’s kids.”
“Thanks,” Josh said. Case in point.
“Anyway,” Kristen cleared her throat. “This boy and this girl, they went to meet each other’s family, and their family liked each other. They had holidays together, and they spent a lot of time together, and they finally decided that it would be stupid not to get, like, together together.” She stopped and tried to erase the image she had of Anna saying that line, and failed. “After a long, long time and lots of thinking, they decided to make it all official. The boy asked the girl to be in his life forever, and because the girl couldn’t think of anything that felt more right and more wonderful, and because she loved him very much, she said yes. They got married in Portland, where they first met. And then they moved to Los Angeles, because there was no other place they felt more at home. And, um, and they lived happily ever after.”
Alli was still looking at her expectantly.
“The end, Alli.”
“That was short.”
“I know. I told you I’m not good at this.”
Kristen glanced at Joshua’s direction, and the boy hopped down his bed and onto Alli’s. “Daddy usually sings for her until she sleeps when she’s like this.”
“Can you sing for her? I can’t sing.”
“You did in that movie with Dakota.”
“You’re eight. You’re not supposed to know that movie.”
“Mama only showed me a little bit where you sang on stage. Don’t worry. It was only to stop me from asking who Joan Jett was.”
“…Huh? You listen to Joan Jett?”
“My music teacher mentioned her.”
“Wow.”
“We were studying the impact of American music culture in other countries, such as Japan.”
“Again, wow.”
“I go to a very liberal school.”
“I can tell. Also, you’re too smart for an eight year old.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Alli is sleepy now.”
Sure enough, the little girl looked almost ready to go to dream land, but not just yet. “Am not,” she chimed after a yawn.
“Are too,” Josh mumbled.
“Am NOT.”
“ARE TOO.”
It looked like it would last a while, and Kristen wondered for a few moments whether it would’ve been so horrible to leave Jackson’s spawns on their own until they grew tired and eventually went to sleep. Joshua was just being all big brotherly and kept on teasing Alli, with the girl growing more petulant by the second - and soon enough Kristen became the only person in the room who got tired of ‘Am not!’s and ‘Are too!’s.
She pulled out her phone and dialled the only number she knew would solve everything. “You’d better pick up,” she hissed into the cold metal and pushed the button that made it, to quote Alli, ‘baby megaphone’ - otherwise known as a speakerphone.
There was a click, London noises, and, “Hi, love.”
“Hi, babe.”
“Hi. How are the Rathbones, still breeding like bunnies?”
Joshua and Alli giggled their little behinds off and she quickly changed the phone back to normal. Should’ve known better, she silently cursed in her head.
“Jesus, Rob. Well, yeah, you think? They’re fine; they’re just laughing. Yeah, I’m still here - they’re not back yet. Ashley’s parents are flying in, but I’m sure Jackson will be back in the morning -“
“Is that Robbie?” Alli sat up and scooted towards Kristen.
“- yes, Alli. Yes. No, no, that’s exactly why - my bedtime story is not enough. I need you to sing her to sleep.”
“Robbie!”
“Okay, hold on a second,” Kristen gave her phone to Alli, and gently pushed her back onto the bed and under the yellow flannel blanket. The little girl recounted her whole day to Rob for a couple of minutes, and then the room went quiet. The only sound Kristen could hear, just barely, was Rob’s voice singing a lullaby for the little girl from the other side of the line.
Joshua winked at Kristen and went back to his own bed. “I left you a blanket and a pillow on the couch,” he said. “Sorry my bed isn’t big enough and sorry Alli is such a kicker when she sleeps.”
“That’s okay, Josh. Thanks.” She gave him a goodnight kiss; quietly wishing that one day when she had her own kids, they would be as lovely as Ashley’s.
Kristen waited until the Alli’s breathing grew steadier. She gently pried her phone from Alli’s little hand and was whispering hushed goodbyes to Rob, when the girl stirred in her bed.
“KP?” Alli’s voice was laced with sleep, and she forced her eyes open. She drowsily pulled herself up and Kristen met the little girl halfway, seeing her in the eyes.
“Yes, baby?”
“That boy and that girl, are they Mama and Daddy?”
Kristen smiled. “Yes, they are.”
“Are they happy because they love each other?”
“They sure are.”
“Like you and Robbie?”
Kristen kissed the girl on her forehead.
“Yes, baby. Now, sleep, okay? Your daddy will be back in the morning.”
“With Mama and baby?”
“No, but I bet you can see them soon.”
Alli turned on her right side and hugged Mr. Monkey closer to her chest. “Okay.”
“Okay. Sleep now, baby girl.”
“Okay.”
Kristen turned off the lights, leaving just the fairy lights above Alli’s bed and the star-shaped light by Joshua’s, and waited on the doorway for a few minutes. It didn’t take long until there was no other sound than two happy children contentedly and quietly drifting off to dream land. She made her way to the living room and onto the couch; the silence leading her mind to wander back to that once upon a time in Italy, when she said that she never believed in a fairy tale ending and how Ashley swore that neither did she. But as she looked around, after a whole day of taking care of two kids, as Jackson was undoubtedly trying to keep calm as his wife was giving birth to baby Christopher - Kristen found herself surrounded with pictures of Jackson and Ashley and the evidence of the fairy tale no one ever thought they would have.
Candids from Vanity Fair and Glamour UK, montaged within a frame. The two adults all dressed up on the red carpets, years before they became The Rathbones. Photos from last days of shooting, some of which Kristen remembered was taken by Rob. Black and white photos of Ashley, that only Jackson could’ve taken, because nobody else would’ve been able to capture such beauty. Their wedding day. Her, Rob, Jackson and Ashley, way back during Twilight days, way back when they didn’t know how close they would grow. Jackson, Ashley, Joshua and Alli. There were already two empty frames propped on the windowsill, ready for a new family photo and a new memory to fill them in.
There was a boy who fell in love with a girl. There was a girl who loved him just as much. They took a while, but here they were -- a king and a queen and a prince and a princess, with a baby prince on his way.
And they lived happily ever after.