Love is a Language

Toujours et Toujours

True to his word, Gilroy McCrae delivered the tree at five o'clock precisely that evening. And at five thirty, after the tree had been erected and the children had been called to dinner, he was still there talking to Miss Trelawny. She kindly invited him to stay and eat with them, which he accepted gratefully. The children watched the two adults all through dinner, giggling behind their hands whenever they saw Miss Trelawny blush or Mister McCrae shyly look away for a moment or two. Henry was definitely certain that they were feeling tingly butterflies by now.

After dinner the young ones disappeared to other areas of the orphanage so that they could give the adults some alone time. The older children took charge, making sure that everyone played nicely together and rounding them all up to get ready for bed when the time came. It was one of the most quiet evenings the orphanage had ever experienced. None of the children wanted Miss Trelawny to have to stop talking with Mister McCrae quite yet, so they made sure that they did everything they were supposed to so she wouldn't have to come find them. He was making her smile and laugh, and even blush. Because he was making her look so happy, they all decided that they liked the charming Scotsman, and they could tell Miss Trelawny liked him even more.

Peter and John took charge of Pierre and Henry after they got into their room and started getting ready to go to sleep. Peter made sure their teeth were all brushed ("Breath check. Hm...you used bubble gum toothpaste instead of the mint, huh?") and that they were tucked in just right ("Too tight? Sorry 'bout that. Is that better?") before stepping aside so that John could sing them to sleep. John's rendition of "Silent Night" was slightly off pitch but he was a much better singer than Peter, who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. After finishing the third verse (which he had to make up words to since he didn't remember all of it) he walked back over to his bed as Peter turned off the light. The little boys snuggled closer together as they listened to Peter shuffle around in the dark before he finally found his bed and crawled under the covers.

After the usual rustling of the bedsheets as they all tried to get comfortable and the long sighs after not being able to get comfy in a position they'd found, all four boys slowly drifted off to sleep. Henry cuddled closer to Pierre as the bigger boy placed a sleepy kiss to the top of his head. Before long all of them were asleep, breathing deeply and evenly as the night wore on.
________________________________________________________________________

Around midnight or so, Henry felt himself gently nudged out of the peaceful slumber he'd sunk into a few hours earlier. He blinked in sleepy confusion, wondering what had woken him up. Luckily for him though, he didn't have to think about it for very long. Pierre was twitching slightly and murmuring fitfully in his sleep. A little worried that the French boy was starting to get nightmares like he once did (his had disappeared after spending the night with Pierre for so long), he sat up and shook Pierre awake, whispering his name insistently over and over again. Finally, Pierre awoke with a jerk and a huge gasp for air. He found Henry's face in the darkness and smiled sleepily at him. "All is good?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes a little.

"You were talking in your sleep," Henry whispered, suddenly feeling kind of bad for waking Pierre up. He seemed fine right now, so maybe he hadn't been having a nightmare. "I thought you were dreaming something bad, so I woke you up." He looked away, his cheeks turning red in embarrassment. "S-sorry for waking you...I was just worried..." Pierre didn't say anything, and Henry wondered if he had gotten mad at him. He tentatively peeked up at him, only to find his companion gazing at him with a curious expression on his face. "What?" Henry asked. "Is there something on my face?"

Now it was Pierre's turn to blush. He ducked his head a little, hiding his cheeks behind his wavy black hair. "N-non, there isn't," he whispered. "I just...well, I was having a dream about you. I think." Henry blinked at him curiously. He probably would have been embarrassed that Pierre was dreaming about him, but the "I think" part had caught his attention at the moment. "There was a boy in my dream," Pierre explained quietly, "that looked a lot like you. Only, your hair was longer a little, and you were older. I knew it was you because your eyes were the same." He sat up a little and Henry sat up with him. "And I saw me too, I think." He had a little grin on his face as he said this. "I was older also, but I had short hair and I was very tall. And I had a stripe of blue in my hair!"

Henry giggled softly. "I think blue would look nice in your hair," he told him. He wondered how long his hair was in Pierre's dream, but he didn't think that was important right now. "What were we doing?" he asked, scooting closer to Pierre and resting his head on his shoulder. "Were we still playing together? Did Peter and John play with us too? Was Miss Trelawny there?" Actually, Miss Trelawny probably wouldn't be there if they were older. The question had just slipped out of his mouth before he could think about it.

"We were doing this, actually," Pierre told him, finding his hand under the blankets and squeezing it gently. "We were on a big boat," he went on, "and we had pirate costumes on. We were sitting on the big deck, and we were sitting like this." Henry smiled a little. It was nice to hear that the older Henry and Pierre were cuddling too, even if it was just a dream. "I kept giving you kisses," Pierre murmured, his cheeks flaring red again, "and you would give me some too." Henry blushed and buried his face in Pierre's shoulder. "The boat would rock and I'd hold you really tight. And you'd giggle and kiss me again." He went quiet for a moment, then started talking again. "Older you said, 'I want to do this forever, Pierre,' and older me said 'We can, and we will.' You seemed really happy about that." He kissed the top of Henry's head. "Then you woke me up," he told him teasingly.

"I said I was sorry," Henry grumbled, sticking his bottom lip out in an adorable pout. Pierre giggled and wrapped both arms around him in a loving hug. Henry leaned into it, his pout melting into a pleased smile. "I think it's funny that we were wearing costumes," he said. He felt Pierre nod in agreement. "Will we really cuddle forever?" Henry asked shyly, looking up at Pierre through his lashes and his long brown bangs. "And hold hands and give kisses and stuff? Will we really do that forever?" Until now, he hadn't really thought about being with Pierre for forever. He didn't even think that they ever wouldn't be together. Being together when they were older sounded really nice, and forever sounded even better.

Pierre hugged him tighter and nudged Henry's face up so they were looking into each other's eyes. "I promise," he murmured softly. "We'll snuggle together, we'll give kisses, we'll play together, and we'll hold hands, just like we do now, forever. I promise." He rested their foreheads together as Henry's cheeks turned scarlet again. "In French, we say toujours et toujours. It means 'always and forever.'"

"Toujours et toujours," Henry repeated softly. He leaned up and kissed the tip of Pierre's nose. "I promise too. Always and forever." With those soft promises on their lips, the two boys lay back down and pulled the covers up around themselves once again. Pierre wrapped an arm around Henry, who cuddled closer and nuzzled under Pierre's chin. Their promise echoed in their heads as they fell back asleep, the words becoming a soft lullaby that wove in and out of their dreams.

Toujours et toujours.

Forever and always.
_______________________________________________________________________

Author's Note: That little phrase is one of my favorites. It's three words, and yet the promise held in them is so beautiful and simple. Once I learned it, I decided that it was definitely Pierre and Henry's promise. I wanted to find a way to introduce it somehow in this story, and I finally found my perfect opportunity.

Thank you to everyone who has so kindly taken the time to read this little work of mine. It makes me so happy to know that Pierre and Henry have stolen not only my heart, but the hearts of those that have read this. Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing you all in the next chapter.