"I Guess That's How The Future's Done." (Vorkosigan Saga) G
Title: I Guess That's How The Future's Done. ( On Archive Of Our Own)
Author:
lannamichaels
Fandom: Vorkosigan Saga
Rating: G
A/N: The title is from Mushaboom by Feist.
Summary: In which Gregor Vorbarra accidentally acquires a baby.
1.
No one really asks for anyone's firstborns anymore and the Barrayaran military doesn't have anything close to a recruitment problem, so when Donna Vorrutyer promises Gregor her firstborn in exchange for a promotion for her second husband, he never thought she actually meant it.
2.
This is the problem with Vorrutyers. They have the worst sense of humor.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Gregor asks. There is no response from the baby, which is expected, and no response from Donna, which isn't.
"Raise him?" Donna suggests. "Farming him out to a nurse is traditional, I'm told."
"Here," Gregor says, depositing the baby carefully back in Donna's lap. "An Imperial service for you to provide me."
He looks up. Donna looks, for the first time, unsure of herself.
"I never wanted children," Donna says.
Gregor looks at the baby. "Oh," he says. He very carefully takes the baby back.
3.
"Adoption is not untraditional," Lady Alys grits out with great force. Her entire face is a study in self-control. Gregor should feel guilty about the heart attack he will eventually give her, but it's Lady Alys. She'd never admit weakness. "Many Vor Houses of the past have practiced it."
"And then stopped?" Gregor asks, because if the Vor were still changing Houses around all the time, he'd probably have been told about it sometime in the last twenty-seven years. He hopes. They never did get around to telling him about his father.
"The practice died out through a lack of necessity," Lady Alys says. No major plagues, famines, or wars requiring it, Gregor assumes she means. Oh, and mutations. Can't forget mutations.
Gregor shrugs. "Then let's revive it. We find it necessary."
"Gregor," Lady Alys says, with great fortitude, "you still need to get married."
Gregor looks toward the nursery. "No, Lady Alys. I don't think I do."
4.
He does, in fact, still need to get married. The Vor have been raising their daughters with the idea that one of them was going to marry Gregor and that it was their only chance. If Gregor starts adopting unwanted Vor children, he's going to be responsible for creating a lot of unwanted Vor children; everyone's going to be trying to give him heirs once he shows that he's open to that option. Nothing Gregor does is without consequence. He has to be careful. He has to be deliberate. He can't just do what he wants. That's not something Gregor Vorbarra is allowed.
But having little Nathaniel around is giving Gregor some much-needed breathing room. And he finds he likes babies. It's not instantaneous with Nathaniel; Gregor will admit that he took him from Donna because the alternative was unthinkable. But Gregor will catch himself worrying about Nathaniel in the strangest of times until he's inadvertently trained his armsmen to give him half-hourly reports. Gregor moves as many of his duties as possible to the Residence and then, realizing that he is the Emperor, has nurseries created in Vorhartung Castle and anywhere else he is needed frequently. He steals time as much as possible to spend with Nathaniel. He thinks he understands Cordelia much better now, what Cordelia had done for Miles. He would rush through a war for Nathaniel. He would burn down the Residence. He would do whatever he needed to it.
It sneaks up on him so gradually that it is not until Nathaniel's first birthday that Gregor realizes that he's a father. That he's not merely taking care of Donna's child. That Nathaniel is his child.
And then Donna divorces her husband and Gregor, well, Gregor still does need to be married.
"Have you come around on children?" Gregor asks her.
5.
Nathaniel is five years old when Gregor marries Donna with all ceremony due to the Emperor's long-awaited wedding.
"I can't believe you actually did it," Ivan says, sounding stunned, and he's talking to Donna more than to Gregor. "I can't believe--" he shakes his head. Fortunately, Nathaniel takes that moment to climb into Ivan's lap. "Well. No more problems getting him declared your heir." That seems to cheer Ivan up a lot and he's easily persuaded to help the nanny put Nathaniel to bed.
Ah, to have as few worries as Ivan Vorpatril.
Donna watches him go, an amused smile on her face. "Imagine his mother's reaction if I'd married him instead."
Gregor does. He tips his head back and laughs.
This entry was originally posted at https://lannamichaels.dreamwidth.org/1038944.html.