School has started again. Yay! Ugh... but with the start of the school year comes huge inspiration. I've spent the last 2 weeks drawing comics. Woot! Expect another story by the end of next week.

Elizabeth sighed and looked sadly out the window. She was alone, so she figured it was okay to show how she really felt. She thought back on her life.

She'd finally managed to marry Ciel in their seventeenth year of life. She had been naively happy on that day. She realized now that the wedding kiss had been her first kiss with him. And her only. They'd gone through the paces, spending their first night in wedlock in the same bed. The deed had been done. It was something scandalous, something no one spoke about, a sin. But she had been happy. Happy to finally be with her beloved. That was the one and only time Ciel laid with her. It was devastating, really, to get a taste of something so sweet, then never taste it again. She spent her loneliest nights reliving the moments again and again, like a record. But like a record, the night wore out. Her memory of it was fading now.

She did not think there was another woman. No, Ciel was not like that. He wasn't. She figured that he just thought of her as he always had, a little sister. But that wasn't good enough for her. She wanted him to hold her, caress her cheek, and kiss her tenderly. Like any other woman wanted of her husband.

Elizabeth heard the door to her chambers creak open, taking her out of her memories. She turned to see a small, slate-haired, green-eyed boy. She knew his name almost better than her own. She had named him after all.

Of that one, wonderful, sinful night, their one child was born. Elizabeth remembered the day he was born. It was the first day in months that Ciel had looked her in the eyes. It was a difficult birth, almost taking her life. She remembered word for word what Ciel had said, sitting beside her, holding her hand tightly, as the midwife delivered the child. "It's okay, Elizabeth, it's okay. Your going to be fine. I promise you. It's okay. I love you." I love you. I love you. The birth was horrendously painful. She was somewhat happy she'd never have to do it again.

Her child was beautiful, he had the greenest eyes, even greener than Elizabeth's. His slate hair looked just like his father's. His nose and eye shape came from Elizabeth, but he was just like his father. Stoic and rarely smiling, Elizabeth loved him with unwavering loyalty. She had named him Nicholas, after the saint, hoping, in vain, that he would be outwardly kind. She knew that on the inside he cared, but she knew also that he thought showing emotion was showing weakness, so he never did. She was sad that she couldn't have given him a happier home. She new that he had secret pains, demons in his head, things that caused him to harden beyond his years like his father had. But she knew that he would grow to be a ravishing young man, one all the girls would chase, as Elizabeth had chased Ciel. He would grow to be good enough to take up his father's mantle and take on the Phantomhive name, alone, without help.

"Mother," he said, unemotionally, as he took a somewhat timid step towards Elizabeth. He was very careful when he was near her. It made her heart ache to know he was somewhat fearful of her. Or maybe he wasn't. Maybe he felt she had to be handled with care? But even that thought did not sooth her heart.

"Yes, my darling?" she asked, putting a semblance of a smile on her face.

"Father and Sebastian have arrived," he said, inching closer to her, as she turned to look out the window. Sure enough, they were there, just stepping up to the door. Elizabeth must have been really wrapped up in her memories to not realize they were already there.

"They have." Nicholas stood beside her, staring out the window at his father and faithful servant. On the note of Sebastian, Elizabeth knew that there was something wrong with the man. He showed up with her husband back before they were even married, when they were twelve, and he looked the same exact way he did now, after many years. She never asked about him, she knew that all questions would be diverted. She didn't dwell much on him, she knew she would never understand. She looked down at her child, standing on the tips of his toes to see over the window sill. He was small, just like his father. Secretly, she thought he was the cutest thing. She placed her hands under his arms, and boosted him up into her lap.

"Mother," he whined, though he placed his head against her breast in a comfortable position.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear. "I love you more than anything else in the whole world." Nicholas smiled slightly, and blushed, one of the rarest and most precious moments Elizabeth had had with him in a long time. She kissed the top of his head, breathing in the scent of his hair. He jumped out of her lap, slightly uncomfortable, and dashed for the door.

"I've got to go," he said, nervously, looking out the door, "Greet father." Elizabeth tried to hide her hurt behind a smile.

"Okay," she said softly. He rushed out the door, closing it behind him.

Elizabeth looked up. Had she just heard what she thought she had? Had Nicholas Phantomhive, the heir to the Phantomhive estate, and her son, just say "I love you,"? I love you. I love you.