Fitzsimmons

Part Two

Quick Note:  Any ideas for titles?  It's probably going to be a fairly long series.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Jemma Simmons was doubting her qualifications in nannying when none of the children were staying in their beds. She had started in Beth and Emily's room, then went to Henry and Jack's room, then was on her way to Ron (12) and William (11) when Beth emerged from her room complaining about not being tired. Leo was telling foolish fantasy stories to Lily (13) and John (14) downstairs, and Jemma had to interrupt to ask for help.

"Alright, story time!" Leo proclaimed, and marched up to Beth and Emily's room, which was decorated with pale pine furniture, light pink silk sheets, overly floral wallpaper, and lots of breakable chinaware. (Why hadn't Jemma childproofed all of these rooms before?)

Soon enough all of the kids, even the older ones, were piled onto Emily's bed, while Leo and Jemma took their seats on Beth's bed opposite to their audience.

"This better be educational," Jemma muttered before Leo started. He gave her an exhausted look in return, then cleared his throat.

"There once was a beautiful young woman that fell in love with an equally handsome young man and all that. They were married, and soon the woman was with child."

"Well that's a short story," Jemma commented, and Leo shot her a glare. They barely knew each other and he had the nerve to act like they had been best friends since childhood. It was true they would be living together, but he didn't need to act so rudely right away.

"That's only the beginning. Next the woman started eating. And she ate and are until they were all out of food. The handsome young man, in all his ignorance and poverty, decided the best thing to do to support the family was to steal an arrangement of herbs from the garden next door."

Jemma then gazed at the children, whose eyes were wide, and mouthed to them, "Never steal," with her eyebrows raised.

"Little did the poor man know, he was stealing from a witch. An evil witch, not a good one. And the witch was angry that the man had robbed her, so she threatened the man. She told him he could take the rapunzel as long as he promised his firstborn child in return. The man was desperate, and shamelessly idiotic, so he agreed to the trade, almost forgetting about it when his beautiful daughter was born."

"Why would he trade his daughter for food?" Henry asked, genuinely concerned. "That's silly."

"It certainly is, Henry, but this man was not much of a thinker, and he needed food. When the child was born, the witch swooped by to collect her promised reward. After a small fight, the daughter, named Rapunzel, was captured by the witch, who brought the infant to a tower in the middle of a deep wood. The witch raised the girl as her own, and the girl had no idea who her real parents were, nor any concept of what was normal. Oh, and her hair grew to an enormous length, taller than the tower itself. Every day the witch would arrive at the tower and say, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,' and Rapunzel did, and the witch would climb up the hair, and they would eat and have tea and chat.

"One day a handsome prince, more handsome than this supposed prince Matthew Jemma never hushes up about-"

"I do not-!" Leo cut her off with a clearing of his throat, then continued his story.

"Anyways, the prince was riding his horse about the woods, and he happened upon the grown-up Rapunzel singing. She had a beautiful voice, and the prince obviously fell in love with her, so he found her at the tower, where she had her head stuck out the window and her hair flowing freely in the wind. He yelled up at her, and she was startled by him. She had never seen a man before, and so suddenly all of these feelings were raging inside her, and she fell in love with him immediately. So everyday he would tell to her, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair," climb up her hair to her room, and court her. Apparently it had never occurred to them that Rapunzel could escape from the tower and run away with the prince, but that's probably just the stupidity gene passed down from their parents."

"Stupidity isn't a gene," Jemma inserted, and Leo cocked his head at her.

"Neither is intelligence. Though, if your parents were geniuses, it's very likely you'd become one merely from being around them, and vice versa for the more unfortunate classes."

"How do you know that?" Leo inquired, pausing the story momentarily.

"My father was a professor of the sciences in Venice. I studied with him for several years during my university experience."

"University?" Leo asked, shocked.

"Cambridge," Jemma replied quite simply, then nodded for him to continue his story.

"Yeah, okay. Um, one day the witch returned to the tower to find the prince courting Rapunzel, and she was furious. She wanted to keep Rapunzel's beauty and talent all to herself, for which reasons I can't imagine, so, just as the prince left into the forest, she approached the tower. In a deep voice, she shouted, 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!' And Rapunzel, believing it was her prince, allowed the witch to climb up the golden locks. However, when the witch got to the top and hopped inside the tower, Rapunzel was attacked, and all her hair was cut off and hung from the windowsill. So the next morning when the prince appeared, shouting 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,' the witch lowered the detached hair, and the prince climbed it to the top. Now do you want the happy ending or the real ending?"

Most of the children wanted the real ending, save for Jemma, who wanted to spare the poor kids innocence.

"Real ending it is. The witch threw the prince out of the tower, where he fell to his death, and relocated the heartbroken Rapunzel to an island in the middle of a swamp where she drowned herself."

"That's quite morbid, isn't it?" Jemma fretted, observing the trauma present on the children's faces.

"They asked for the real version," Leo defended, which started some bickering, which ended with Beth's loud crying.

"Silly Leo was only joking. The real ending is..." She gave him an expecting look, and he nodded absently, trying to piece a new finale together.

"Um, yes, that's right. Silly me. The prince threw the witch out of the tower, then they... moved to the prince's castle on a swampy island, and each got a matching crown. The end."

Emily yawned, then asked, "Did they live happily ever after?"

"That, too," Leo added, then looked over to Jemma for her critique.

"It's hardly Jane Austen, but I guess it's acceptable," Jemma replied with a kind smile indicating her thanks.

"You read a lot of stories in the print shop," Leo explained with a crooked grin. "Anyways, shall we put the children to bed?"

"I suppose so." And now the kids lay down with little protest, and their little warm bodies were enveloped by the adult-sized blankets so that only their messy-haired heads peaked out. By the time all of the kids were asleep, both Leo and Jemma were exhausted, nearly falling into sleep as they cleaned up the kitchen.

When their chores were finally done, Jemma's hair was falling out of her neatly twisted bun, and Leo's shirtsleeves were rolled up and soaked with dishwater. They were too tired to really notice, however, and made their way to the rooms upstairs with a brief goodnight.

Jemma, before climbing into bed, adjusted the pictures of her family and her fiancé on the bedside table. Her father's portrait was the most comforting, all crow's foot, kind eyes and cottony hair. Jemma's dad was always so open-minded and accepting to Jemma and her brothers and sisters, and this created a trust between their family members. Though it was hard to think about where they all could be while she rested safe in a luxurious bed, her last conscious thoughts drifted to their current state location. She could do nothing but hope they were fine.