[ marchant's tale; ]

“Probably. I just hope that Rori grows out of wanting to be the cutest all the time soon. Otherwise we’ll have some serious trouble on our hands,” April said, her voice full of humor, “They have their moments but we’ve raised them right. either tat or we got lucky.”

“Well people always tell me I was born to be a mother so I think it’s finally paying off,” April joked.

“Oh,” Emma said, her face scrunching up slightly as she gave a small laugh at her misinterpretation. “Then I’m glad it was me and not someone else,” She said continuing with her sentence. “I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.  I haven’t seen Caleb yet, but I’m really glad you two are good,” Emma responded, “She did?” In all honestly, Emma had been stressing slightly about Rori’s presents, she had never been very good at buying presents for people, which made buying presents for kids even harder. Hearing that Rori enjoyed the presents she got her, made the stress lift right from her back. “I’m even more glad that she enjoyed them,” 

“Well Caleb is probably in the Ares cabin if you want to go find him?” April suggested, “Nothing’s ever really bad between us anymore. The kids made us even better, surprisingly,” She joked and then gave Emma a knowing smile, “Please, she adores you and your gifts. You should give yourself more credit, Em.”

“Oh it’s fine,” Daniel grinned. “Aren’t all kids like that?”

April laughed, “Joseph is much worse. The scrapes he gets into sometimes are unbelievable.”

“Well it’s been a few years,” April replied, her voice lowering in volume a little.

“I couldn’t possibly but Joseph doesn’t protest when I call Rori adorable. I don’t know what it’ll be like if our next one is a girl,” April joked. She listened to the girl and then nodded, “Yeah, they are. I mean, they can cause trouble all the time but they have their moments. I used to babysit a lot so I’m used to troublesome kids. Mine are so much better than them.”

“I’m sure even a stranger here would bring him over to you,” She said, her voice positive. “I’m okay- I think Noah said he was going to the cabin to say hi to his siblings. How’re you? And everyone else?” 

“What I meant was that I’m glad it’s you and not some stranger who hates the sight of kids alone,” April grinned, “I’ll make sure to say hi to him later on,” She paused, “I’m good, so if Caleb but perhaps you’ve seen him already. Rori really loved the gifts you sent for her birthday by the way.”

April smiled as she felt Caleb’s gaze on her and moved her hand so it was on top of the one massaging her bump. Family came first for both of them, no one would hurt their kids. She leaned up as he leaned down to kiss him back and broke out into a grin right in the middle of it, an expression that remained even after they broke from the kiss, “A few. I don’t think a lot of them have arrived yet. I spoke to Emma though.”

“They’re good kids, I think we can handle it,” April replied with a soft smile, “Thanks.”

“Yes, I’m pregnant, and if you value that hand- you won’t touch my bump.” 

“But Kat, I’m your sister! I’ll let you do the same!” April insisted, placing a hand on her own baby bump.

Vanessa Hudgens and Blake Lively manip by lauranti

“Just like their father,” She teased lightly and sighed, looking back at her playing children and enjoying the feeling of Caleb’s protective embrace. She felt safe. She felt happy. The idea of someone or something taking their happiness, their children, away from them terrified her, “We’ll keep them safe,” She mumbled. He was right. Unless the two of them moved here with their kids, there was no way she’d be sure they were safe. They had to stay with them. She was at peace when they were all with her, Caleb included, “I love you, sunshine.”

“Well soon we’ll be outnumbered,” She joked, placing a hand on her stomach then she laughed, “Yeah, we’re working on that.”

“Yeah, they are pretty happy. I don’t think they quite understand what this place is yet though, what it means to us,” April’s gaze wandered from Rori and Joseph playing to Caleb, “Do you think they’ll have to train here too? We still don’t know what kind of abilities they’ll get, if they get any at all.”

“No, we wouldn’t. But there are two of us, my husband and myself I mean, and two of them,” She gestured to Joseph and then to Rori, “So hopefully we have it handled.”

“We should have come back sooner,” April hummed with a smile, leaning into Caleb’s side and rubbing her baby bump gently.

“You’d be surprised how much like his father this one is. Always getting into scrapes. He’s a child-sized bundle of trouble.”