This is just plain adorable people, prepare for heart-melting fluff!

This is a crossover oneshot with all my Adopted By Broadway books, all the kids are in their 20s. And this is told in their parent's POV!

Catlynn

I miss when Sunshine was little.

No, I don't miss the trauma she went through. I don't miss the nightmares, the fear in her eyes when she thought her dad was out to get her.

What I do miss is her. Just her being there, a happy, innocent little girl just shy of thirteen. I miss the days when she was a kid. It's hard to not have her live at home anymore, I know she's happy with her wife and kids, but it's hard.

I remember when she would come home from school, bang the door open, and yell, "Mom! I'm home!" Sometimes she'd bring a friend with her. Some days it would be Astrid or Cesca, but most of the time it was Red.

It was so obvious they were dating, but the signs just went straight over my head...

I'm holding one of Sunshine's high school yearbooks in my arms. She looks so tiny in that picture, and she looks like a completely different person to how she looks now...

But even though I miss my little girl, I'm so, so proud of the woman she's become.

_______

Matilda

She made it.

Tilda made it to the big leagues.

When Matilda got a little older, all she talked about was being a professional derby player. She knew the dream was slightly unrealistic, she knew the risks. But what mattered was that she worked for it. She worked her ass off and paid the price, and she managed to live out her dream.

Flashback to Matilda's first meet as a professional. I remember wishing her good luck, and when she was skating around the track, I could see her get slightly shaken up and I saw tears line her eyes.

And I know exactly why. She was thinking about her best friend Lex, who died when Tilda was fifteen.

Truth be told, I miss Lex too. She was funny and really really nice, I can't even imagine what it must've been like for Tilda back then, her and Lex knew each other since kindergarten.

I smiled and looked at Matilda's derby trophies in her now-unoccupied childhood bedroom. She never bothered to take the trophies with her when she moved out, so they were mine to marvel out.

"God, I'm so proud of you, Tilly."

________

Valerie

I can't believe my sweet little girl is 25 and married.

Well, about to get married. I'm at her wedding, waiting to walk her down the aisle so she can marry the love of her life, Reed Adler. It's hard to believe that Reed and Val have known each other and been dating for fifteen years.

I felt tears come to my eyes as Valerie smiles at me. "Hi Daddy."

I'm so used to Valerie being a sweet little kid. Over the past fifteen years I've known her, she's grown almost a foot, she's gotten so much more mature, and she's grown up right before my eyes.

"Oh my God. This is really happening."

"It is, Daddy. It is." Valerie throws herself on me and squeezes me tightly, and I hug her back tighter than I've ever hugged her in my life.

I don't think I ever want to let go.

________

Josie

"Good night, Mama. Talk to you soon."

Those were Josie's last words to me before she left. It felt so sudden to me, it felt like one minute she was with me, laughing and talking, and the next minute she was gone. It felt like it happened in the blink of an eye, the snap of a finger.

I miss her. The house feels empty without her. Trying to prevent myself from sobbing, I think of happy memories I've had with Josie.

The first thing that comes to my mind is her laugh. Her sweet, precious laugh that could light up a room and was so contagious that everyone in the room would start laughing with her. I should know, it's happened before.

To be honest, even in the beginning, Josie was never "that girl I took off the street." I knew I had to help her, I knew I had to do something.

I've been fighting for Josie since the day I met her, and I regret absolutely none of it. Sure, there's been some ups and downs, and Josie's been traumatized way past the point of reason, but she was and will always be my daughter. My little Trina.

God, I miss her so much.

I hope she's having fun at college.

_________

Edison

Sawyer's, huh?

It closed down a few weeks ago. The same burger joint where I met Edison closed down due to lack of business. I can understand why, there's other burger places in Burbank. But this place has meaning to me. Before I met Edison, it never really had any significance, I don't even think I've ever been there before the fateful day when I saved her.

I'm sitting in my car outside the now abandoned building, eating a burger from McDonald's. I smile sweetly and turn my car on, wanting to go back home and wait for Edison to come home from work.

It's nice that Edison still lives at home, at least for now. She's going back to Ireland in a few weeks, and I think she's moving there for good. It's a little daunting to think that she won't ever be living in California again, but I get why she's moving there in the first place. Ireland was always her home, she just had to leave it a little earlier than expected.

I'm going to miss her, and part of me doesn't want her to leave. But the other part of me knows that letting Edison go and letting her be an adult is the right thing to do. Am I gonna miss her? Yes. Do I hope she has fun and keeps in touch with me? Also yes.

But tonight when Edison gets home, I'm gonna give her the biggest hug in the world and tell her how much I love her.

__________

Penney

I snap out of my fantasy and realize it's not 2019 anymore. Penney's 18 and almost out of the house, she's not a sweet teenage girl anymore. She's an adult- and I'm so, so proud of the woman she's become. 

The realization hits me as I'm standing at the hospital front desk, transferring her records over from the children's hospital to the general hospital right down the road. I try not to look at the words on the papers too much- it reminds me too much of all the problems Penney had with her health when she was younger. 

But my gut tells me to look at the papers, and I do. Even though it's super hard to look at them, looking at them also reminds me of how strong Penney was back then. She's been through so much in her young life- homelessness, illness, injuries, homophobia...yet she's stayed strong through it all. She's a strong, resilient young girl, and I admire her for that. 

I'm about to hand in the records to the person at the front desk so she can transfer them over, and I sigh a little. With me handing these in, it's yet another reminder that Penney isn't a kid anymore. 

However, this has to be done, so I'm doing it.

"This is for you, Penney Lydia Thyme Steingold. I'm so proud of you."

________

Keira

Keira's art tablet dies, and I move to her desk to plug it in. 

I've been looking through some of Keira's art lately, starting from the beginning and moving to present day. The earliest piece says "KTW, 2014" in the corner. Keira was ten when she first started drawing.

Out of curiosity, I look for the last picture drawn on Keira's old tablet. It's a self-portrait of Keira in front of an agender flag. I look for the signature and date in the corner, and it says "KR, 2024."

That's this year. 

I take a deep breath and scroll through more of the art, noting how Keira seriously improved over the years. Some of their art was the product of pure boredom, others were for a project, others were her way of getting their feelings out. 

I smile and nod a little to myself, and then the realization hits me.

"I think Keira is gonna want this back..." I said. I look at the tablet and wait until the battery level goes up to a decent percentage, power the tablet off, and carry it with me as I get in my car.

When I get out of the car and are where I need to be, I clutch the tablet in my arms as I look around for Keira.

Then I spot her.

"I miss you, Keira." I said, putting their art tablet in front of her grave.