A Phantom and His Family

Chapter 12: Bonding with the Children

Madeleine POV

I had left them on the couch to rest as I headed back upstairs, contemplating my next move. His willingness to truly forgive me had given me some advantage since I now had a way of making him trust me faster. With this in mind, I found myself going to Erik's old room: the attic. 

I hadn't been inside there ever since Erik ran away because I hadn't the need to, but now that he was here, I wanted to find his old belongings. Toys that he used to play with, things he would create, anything of his that I found lying around the house, I had collected them and placed it in the attic where Erik had dwelled in for the four years of his life before he ran away. 

For the life of me, I never knew why I had decided to keep some of his belongings when I hated him ever since he was born, but now I was glad that I did. I searched the small, dark, dank room for a few minutes before I found what I was looking for. I climbed down the ladder and made my way back to the Louis-Phillipe room.  

The parents were still asleep on the couch, seemingly exhausted, while the little ones were on the floor, looking around the room with interest. 

"Perfect." I hummed as I made my way over to them. 

Octavia's POV

We wandered around the room, careful to not wake up Mommy and Daddy. They were both super tired and needed to take a nap, but me and Ozzie want to see more of the house.

"Why hello there." A voice called out to us.

We turned around to see Miss Madeleine staring at us, a small smile on her face.  Her hands were behind her back as if she was hiding something. 

"Hi, Miss Madeleine." We replied as she came closer to us. She sat one of the armchairs at the further end of the room and just watched us for a few minutes as we continued looking at our surroundings.

"What are you two doing on this fine afternoon?" She asked after sitting there in silence for a while. 

"Nothing. Just looking at all of the pretty things here." I answered as she suddenly stood up and took whatever she was hiding from behind her and placing it near us. 

Staring right at us was a figurine of a cat with a fiddle that was attached to a metal base. (A/N: Picture is above)

"What's this?" Ozzie exclaimed as we both gathered around it. 

"It was an old toy of your father's. He would make these to amuse himself with. Do you like it?" She asked. 

"It's beautiful!"

She smiled a little bit before asking us another question.

"Say, would you like a tour of the house?" 

Ozzie and I didn't answer at first. We were told to not be alone with people that you just met, but they also said that it was okay to go with family  members or people that Mommy and Daddy knew. Even though we were told that she wasn't, Miss Madeleine is our grandmother and Daddy knows her so maybe it would be okay.

"I don't think Mommy and Daddy would-"

"I understand if you don't want to come with me. It's just that, well, I never had grandchildren before and I would like for us to be close. But, if you don't want to see more of your father's inventions then I understand completely." 

At this, Ozzie jumped up. 

"I wanna see more of Daddy's old things!" He exclaimed, taking my arm. 

I looked back at Mommy and Daddy still sleeping on the couch. They sure were tired and they needed to get some rest. Plus, there is nothing else to do, making us bored. Besides, it's not like we're leaving the house. We're going to be inside the entire time so they'll know where we are.