2.9 - Hallowe'en

  Brendan took several minutes to think about his wish. He'd been through quite a bit throughout his long life. There was much he regretted, such as mostly ignoring his mother's warnings which ultimately led to Isobel's early death. Their move to try to be safe did not work out the way it was intended. Brendan knew he fell deep into depression, so much that he didn't even notice the danger his daughter's boyfriend was. His granddaughter and grandson were blessings that were not expected. Neither was Melisandra. Brendan didn't shy from the supernatural. They were a part of his past, so how could he turn from them? He was happy that his twins ended up finding people to spend their lives with. He just wished it hadn't came after so much heart ache.
  His wish was that his children never had to go through that again, and that his grandchildren would lead happy lives.

  Melisandra never believed she'd ever have a family. She'd shied away from most human contact, preferring to waste away the years playing the odd prank on Sapphire and working on her garden. Laura was a unexpected surprise.
  Playing with Thomas, her mind drifted back centuries. She stood in the courtyard with Sapphire, and a remarkable young man with a crazy story. Before he left, he had made her swear to name her son "Thomas". Mel agreed to appease him. Now she understood that he'd seen the future. She wondered if she had named her son something else, would the future have been worse?

  It didn't take long before Thomas' birthday was upon them. Laura baked (Read: bought) the cake, and asked Mel to help him blow his candles out. She made his wish too. (That he'd grow up happy and healthy).
  The cake tasted pretty good too, in Octavia opinion. She wasn't interested in Thomas unless he could play dollies with her.

  Thomas was an adorable toddler. He had the ablity to charm a smile out of everyone. Mel giggled a bit when his wings formed. She told the rest that his wings wouldn't change again without some powerful magic. They would have that colour and size his entire life. Octavia thought they were kind of cute. "Like a bumblebee!" she'd exclaimed.

  Brendan requested a family portrait. He got his wish. If only Laura and Mel had looked at the camera though! They ended up with two copies of all of them. So one was hung upstairs, and one downstairs. They also had individual shots, and a photo of Laura and Mel staring at one another.

  Thomas loved sleeping. Octavia was disappointed. So far, Thomas couldn't be trusted to not eat toys, so she couldn't do more than play patti-cake with him. Both Laura and Mel were enjoying the fact that he slept all night.

  For Hallowe'en, Octavia decided to be a princess. Laura hauled her upstairs for plenty of photos. Mel remarked that she looked a lot like someone she'd known years ago.

  Sadly, it was raining out, so O couldn't go trick or treating.

  They did have a party though. Though most people stood in the yard, refusing to allow anyone to go inside before them. It ended with a traffic jam.

  Not wanting her dress to get dirty, Octavia decided to be a superhero! She wasn't sure what she should call herself though.

  Melisandra dressed up as a soldier.

  Laura as a zebra. (A dare by O)

  And Brendan dressed up as a hot dog.

  Izi also dressed up as a hot dog. She revealed to Laura that Melisandra had changed everything she owned into something food related, so really, she had no choice. She was not impressed.

  Reed dressed up as an alien. Octavia was excited and the two began playing. Reed was to take over the world, and O had to save it.

  Thomas just ignored the crazy around him and ate his pureed pear.

NOTE: Another chapter. I have another one in the works as well. Though I'm unsure when it'll be posted. I haven't been feeling the greatest lately. Stomachache, headaches, and just plain tiredness mean that today was the first time I've opened my computer in days.

2.8 - Milestones

  Melisandra had warned them before that she wouldn't be so kind the next time the aliens decided to snoop on her property. He was not impressed with the sudden cold.

  It was a quiet Saturday when Laura brought up their impending bundle of joy.
  "Boy or girl, do you think?"
  Mel shrugged. "I dunno. But I'm happy with whatever."
  "Mel, just take a guess. It's just for fun. I'm hoping for another girl."
  "Alright, boy then. Just, one request, if we do have a baby boy."
  Laura peered at Mel curiously.
  "He has to be named Thomas."
  "Alright, but why?"
  "I promised someone years ago that if I ever had a baby boy, I'd name him Thomas. I just never thought I'd actually have children."

  For Octavia's birthday, Laura invited a ton of people. Shana Littlefield was not one of them. The woman refused to leave though, and Mel was too busy to worry about kicking the woman out.

  Melisandra hadn't seen her sister, Sapphire, in ages. Not since the last meeting was called.
  "How have you been?" Mel asked.
  Sapphire just laughed. "Well, you know."
  Mel did.

  Theo also managed to swing by as well. Poppy though was not impressed with being dragged along. She wasn't a fan of her husband's family.
  "I'm sorry I haven't stopped by lately, Laura. I've had a cold, and now Reed's caught it. He's with Poppy's brother right now. Since they're also sick there, it was okay for him to visit. Get some peace and quiet."
  Laura pulled Theo into a tight hug, ignoring Poppy. "I'm just glad you made it for Octavia's birthday. She's excited to meet you."
  As Laura pulled away to go greet other guests, Theo grabbed her arm and pulled her close. "And, Laura, I'm sorry about Cemre. But I'm glad you've found happiness with Mel."

  Octavia didn't care for blowing out the candles. She just wanted to dig right in to the cake. Laura took a step away so she wasn't close enough to grab the candles.

  Only three people made it out to actually watch Octavia blow the candles out. Everyone else was too busy chatting inside. Laura didn't mind though, this party was more for the adults than for Octavia.

  Oriel stopped Laura on her way for cake.
  "We must speak sometime. The next time you hold this party, we will speak."
  Laura nodded, her hand going to her stomach. Oriel smiled, knowing that Laura understood what she meant.

  "Uncle Theo, is it true that you're a rockstar?!"
  "Uh, not quite. I've still got a ways to go before I'm a rockstar.
  Octavia proceeded to talk Theo's ear off for nearly an hour before Poppy announced that she and Theo were leaving. Octavia extracted a promise that Theo would teach her to play guitar sometime.
And bring her cousin over to play.

  After the party, Octavia sat alone in her room. It was an exhausting day for her, and tomorrow it got even better! Since she still had a few days before she'd begin school, Laura and Mel were taking her to a special surprise!

  The special surprise ended up being a children's indoor play area/ arcade. Laura brought Octavia's normal clothes to change into when they got there. She knew that Octavia would want to go climbing and couldn't do that in her current attire.

 
  They hadn't been there five minutes before Octavia made a new friend. He introduced himself as Lincoln. The two talked for quite some time before Lincoln had to go.

  While Octavia was talking to Lincoln, Laura decided that her daughter couldn't have all the fun. Whack-A-Witch was a very addicting game. Mel watched from a few feet away, slightly warey of her girlfriend.

  Once Lincoln left, Octavia played around, pretending she was a warrior princess off to rescue the prince from a mean dragon!

  Of course her adventure ended early when Laura went into labour. Mel dropped Octavia off at home before driving Laura to the hospital.

  "Grandpa! Is mommy going to be okay? She was hurting and mom wouldn't tell me what was wrong with her!"
  Brendan pulled Octavia in for a hug. "It's okay, mommy is going to be just fine, your baby sibling just decided that he wanted to make an appearence."

  It was several hours later when Laura walked in the front door, with a new baby in her arms. Mel followed in behind, looking a lot more tired than Laura did.

  "Octavia, come meet your new little brother, Thomas."
  Octavia stood several feet away and waved. "Mommy, he's smelly."
  Laura's nosed crinkled. "I know, I'll change him in a moment."

  After getting a fresh butt change, Thomas was happily sitting in his swing with Melisandra and Brendan making funny faces at him.

  Laura pulled Octavia aside to talk. "I'm sorry for scaring you today, O."
  "Next time, can you tell mom to say something instead of being quiet?"
  Laura laughed. "Unfortunately, when your mom gets nervous or scared, she clams up. But I will talk to her for you."
  "Thank you," Octavia said, pulling in Laura for a hug. "When can Thomas come play dollies with me?"

NOTE: I didn't actually intend to take this long to get back to writing this. xD I have another two chapters worth of pictures, and I'm opening up my game in just a few minutes to play some more.

2.7 - Two Years

  At first, Laura wasn't really sure how to react. Then she pulled Melisandra toward her, pressing her lips against the other womans, cutting off her apologies. They spent several minutes standing in the rain just kissing before Laura reluctantly pulled away and disappeared into the house.

  Melisanda slowly followed, heading upstairs to the extra closet in Laura's room to change into something dry. She'd just pulled on her shirt when Laura came out of the bathroom, her hair now dry thanks to her hair dryer, and unfortunately, more clothes on than just her bathing suit.
  "We should talk," Laura said, gesturing to the two chairs that sat nearby.
  Mel nodded. "We should."
  They both sat down, but neither was willing to start the necessary conversation. So instead they sat in awkward silence before Laura finally broke it.

  It was nearly two am when Laura crawled into bed. When Mel went to leave the room, Laura just threw back the covers and scooted over to allow enough room for another body to fit. Melisandra only hesitated for a moment before she joined Laura.
  Laura snaked her hand over to grasp Mel's, before falling asleep with a smile on her face. Mel followed a moment later.

  Months went by and gradually the two women were comfortable to acknowledge their relationship was actually going to work. Octavia took to it pretty well. She still mostly cried for Laura, but when her momma was at work, she happily played with Melisandra. She loved trying to grab at the faerie's wings.

  It wasn't until it had been nearly two years into their relationship that Laura mentioned that she would love to have another child. Of course with new technology, it was possible for them both to be parents, it just required the use of a hospital to actually get pregnant.

  Less than a week after Laura's comment, the two made the decision to head to the hospital, and hopefully come out with Laura beign pregnant. Melisandra had no desire to ever carry a child, though she was happy with the idea of having a child. Her sister had had one years ago, about forty or fifty years ago, but he passed away at the age of twenty after being captured and tortured for information.

  Laura laid down some rules for Mel. "I'm still going to work. I'm not sitting around at home and doing nothing for the entire pregnancy."
  "I promise I won't go all protective over you, Laura," Mel smiled. She had a feeling that if Laura did stay home, they'd fight over silly little things.

  "Arraghhhh," Brendan held his hand above his head. "Here comes the tickle monster!"
  "No, Papa, no!" Octavia giggled. She adored time with her papa, even though he lived there with her, because of his work hours, he was often too tired to play.

  "Momma, bana?" Octavia scooped some of her oatmeal into her mouth. She loved anything banana, and often tried to get Laura to give her everything banana flavoured.

  Laura hugged Octavia tightly before bed. "Oh, my sweet sweet baby girl."
  Octavia was nearly a child, one more year before she would age up, and have to begin school. Laura was clinging desperately  to her child, wishing away any thoughts of her aging.

  Later that night, she got confirmation that she was pregnant. Melisandra agreed to clean the bathroom after Laura was done puking.

NOTE: I'm back! :D Most medical stuff has been solved. Now fingers crossed that I can get pregnant again. And with that being over with, I'm back to updating my legacy, before I play too far ahead. xD