¹ 𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘀, 𝐝.𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐝

xlvi. the lady at the door

xlvi. the lady at the door
4.03

There was one think that Atlas hated about moving: and that was putting shit into boxes. Lucky enough for him, Derek didn't have many things in his trailer to pack up and transport to Atlases house.

"Hey, can you help me with this box?" Derek asked as he and Atlas were loading things into the back of Atlases car so they could transport it all to the house.

Atlas loved Dereks land. The view too. He would spend the rest of his life there if he could, it was big and open and if he had his way he would die there under a star filled nighttime sky. He would build a house on the land with Derek. He would get married to Derek on the land.

Atlas helped pick up the box, it wasn't heavy, and he was pretty sure Derek could have lifted it. "To the car?"

Derek nodded, his hair swooshing back and forth with each nod. "Yeah."

Atlas loaded the last box into the car with a sigh. This was big step in his life and he wasn't sure what the future held — he knew what he wanted in the future, where he saw himself in five, ten, fifteen years from today. But he imagined it with no bumps nor complications. And he wasn't sure if the life her wanted with Derek would be a smooth sail.

Pulling up to his — no, their — house, Atlas put the car in park and got out. The couple started to unload the few boxes stored in the car. The second he placed a box down, Oliver came zooming into the room and knocking Atlas over in the process. "Olly!" Atlas groaned from the floor. Oliver stood over Atlas, and Derek stood a few feet away watching.

"Me and Meredith are sleeping together!" Oliver blurted with wide eyes, noticing what he said, he slapped a hand over his mouth in shock.

"What?! I thought you two broke up?"

And this was the moment, that Atlas knew his brother was a terrible secret keeping. It's wasn't his fault, okay, maybe it was. But then again, Atlas always told his siblings that they could tell him anything.

"We did. Break up sex. Catch up." Oliver muttered.

Derek broke out into laugh, the cup of water he had been holding falling to the floor, water spilling all over. "C-catch up." His laughs grow louder and he's crouched over with his hands on his knees.

"Oh my god."

"Derek! Stop laughing at me please." Oliver pleaded with his older brothers boyfriend who was laughing hard.

"O-okay." Derek took a deep breath and tried to calm his laugher. "I'm gon-gonna take this to our room."

Our room. Atlas liked the sound of that. Then again, Atlas seemed to like any sentence that had the word "our" in it. Our kids, our house, our room, our everything. Atlas loved it.

╚═ ☆ ═╝

"Derek. Someone's knocking. Go answer the door please." Atlas let out a very annoyed sigh, someone had been knocking on the door and his phone hand been called many times since he had gone to bed.

Derek hummed a yes and crawled out of bed. The soft, quiet puttering of his feet and their dogs snacks was all Atlas heard when he closed his eyes once more.

"Atlas!" Derek let out a particular loud yell for his boyfriend.

"Coming!" Atlas slipped on his slippers and bolted out of the bedroom. "What's going on?" Atlas asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs.

The door was open, and Atlas fear that a burglar had gotten it. Or maybe the dog had gotten out when Derek opened the door. But to his surprise, neither of those things were true, what was true was the person standing at his door.

"Your Atlas Peter Lee-Sunny?" The woman asked as she shuffled on her feet.

"I am. That's me. If I'm being arrested let me change first." Atlas joked and the lady cracked a smile.

"My names Grace." The lady told the two pyjama clad men. "Do you mind if I come in." Neither we're prepared for the next things to come.

"Sure." Derek welcomed the lady in and stepped away from the door.

"Thank you." Grace swung the bag off her shoulder and dug around until she found a stack of papers. "These are for you."

It was a will.

When Atlas was sixteen, he had a friend named Karly. She was really the best and had fake dated Atlas when a rumour had gone around about Atlas being gay. He wasn't ready for other to know yet, and that was the only way to stop the whispers.

The two fake dated until high school ended, that caused their friendship to bloom into a the best friendship Atlas could have ever asked for. They went to the same medical school and did everything together. They even lived together at one point. And then Karly got married and moved away. The two kept in contact, texted ( or emailed ) every day and shared a phone call every weekend.

The will in Atlas hand wasn't what Atlas was paying attention too, he was paying attention to the expression the lady in front of him held. "She died?"

Grace gave a sad nod. "She did. Her and her husband. There's no family left. On either side. Your the only one."

Atlas heart broke. He loves, loved, Karly with every beat of his heart. Just like he loved Derek and his family. Karly was his family too. "So everything's left to me?" Atlas questioned with glassy eyes.

"Yes. She wanted you to have everything, Atlas."

"Do I need to sigh anything?"

"Before you do. There's something else." Grace paused the adult from walking off and finding a pen. Grace clicked something on her phone and seconds later the door opened again and someone walked in holding something much smaller in his arms. "This is my partner." Grace nodded her head to the man walking into the living room.

Then Atlas saw the child. "She had a baby?" Derek walked over and wrapped his arm around Atlases waist.

"Her name is Starlee Atlas Keen. She's only five months old."

Atlas wanted children. He did, but he definitely don't think child services was going to show up at his doorstep with a baby in hand. Then again, things don't always go as planned.

"This baby? She's..." Atlas trailed off and looked to Derek, who was looking at him already.

"Your her legal guardian, now." Grace answered.

The baby started to cry and it's like something took over Atlas body and he walked forward and took the five month old into his arms. "Shh. Baby. It's okay." The words left his mouth as he cradled and rocked the baby in his arms. Grace smiled knowing that this little girl would be in good hands.

"Der. Why don't you take her and I'll sign whatever I need to sign." Atlas said and Derek nodded and took the calmed down baby into his arms.

"We'll meet tomorrow, with your lawyer and we can sign everything then. How's that?"

"That's goo—great. Thank you."

"No thank you. Now this little girl has a family. She's lucky to have you both." Grace told Atlas honestly. The older woman was glad that this little girl would grow up with two loving parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents and a whole damn village.