Welcome to Gaia! ::

First Appointment

Elle, dressed in an oversized coat that covered her down to her knees, was sitting calmly enough in one of the plastic chairs beside a wall. She had a trashy celebrity gossip magazine on her knees but didn't seem at all interested in the article that boasted bold 'IAN AND MORIA- SECRET LOVE' font all over the two pages it was opened to. Elle just stared blankly at the floor in front of her.

There were voices coming from Dr. Haladet's office; one cooing and babytalking -- Dr. Haladet's herself. And the other happy squeals and cooing replies-- a baby's.

"--That's it," she could finally be heard saying. "No problems. I'll see you both in a few weeks, okay?"

The door opened, and Luna emerged, a still giggling Caroline in tow. She took a quick look at the waiting room, and--

--!

Elle!

In response, Caroline quickly ceased giggling and buried her face in her mother's chest. gonk

"Luna!" Elle replied, nearly slipping off the chair as she was jolted out of the light dozeish state she'd fallen into. Oh woops, had Luna written to her? Elle hadn't been checking. She looked a bit sheepish as she pulled herself back up into the chair so she could stand.

"Um. Hi... so... um. Have a good Christmas?"

"Eheheh," Luna laughed awkwardly, bouncing Caroline in her arms, a sheepish smile on her face. I was still recovering from surgery and learning how to handle a baby.
She finally rested her eyes on Elle's figure. Aaaaah, I was right.

"You had it already?" Elle didn't mean harm by calling the baby it but she still wasn't sure what the baby was exactly. But she was cut off when Luna's eyes fell onto the spot where Elle's stomach had started to push out. Elle went a bit red at that. "Uh. Yea. Luna, meet Spock. Or Spock's bump, anyway, I haven't even seen the Spock yet."

She took a few tentative steps towards Luna and the baby but at that moment Elle would have rathered approach a delicate fingernail-thin glass sculpture- she'd be less terrified of breaking that than the baby Luna held.

Her, Luna clarified. Her name is Caroline. In response to her name, Caroline's tail twitched, but there was no projection coming from her. I had to have a cesarean; she was just... too big for me.

"Caroline? Wow. She is big. ...wait, does she have a cow tail?" Elle trailed off as she actually looked properly at the baby. Not just a cow tail, but head wings and markings maybe, but maybe she had a body suit in that... "She has ...well, she's pretty. I think. I can't see her properly."

Elle went up nearer to Luna and Caroline and tried to see the baby's face. But she didn't go too close.

"MOO!" Caroline protested loudly, burying her face even more deeply into Luna's chest.

"Awwwwawww," Luna murmured, trying to dislodge the stubborn baby. "Nomomo."

Ah-- Dr. Haladet wants me to babble to Caroline to help stimulate her speech, Luna explained. It's... easy enough... C'mon.... you...!

If there was ever time for a comedic audible POP, now was that time. Unfortunately, the room was silent as Caroline was forcibly dislodged from Luna and turned to face Elle, cow markings, alien eyes, and all.

"M....Mmuuuh...!" Her lips curled into a VERY deep pout.

As strange and undesirable as the night that baby had been created had been, the baby that resulted of it was beautiful. Elle was so nervous about being near her but she was also stunned. Genetic ...milkshake... or not, Caroline had come out perfectly.

"Moo?" That brought a weak grin to Elle's face. "She moos?"

Well--

"MuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Let the wailing commence!

Elle's sensitive ears felt like they were being split apart. She put her hands on them, and tried to calm the baby instinctively by wriggling her own head wings at the baby in an odd jerky dance. Her hands were a bit busy protecting her ears.

Aaaaand back to Luna's chest Caroline went, her cries becoming muffled as she clung to Luna's clothing for comfort.

She's... a bit shy.

"I can tell." Elle replied. She was a bit embarrassed- she wasn't used to making babies cry! "It's ok. How have you been handling it all?"

She cries whenever she meets new people, Luna explained reassuringly before glancing back toward Lilian's office. Jo and I are doing well. He's... a little overwhelmed and having to deal with another baby pulling on his wings, but... A small smile. We're managing.

"I'm sure he'd love it really. He adores you already so a mini you would just make life even better." Elle replied but she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous at the idea of Jo being around for all of this when Elle couldn't. She would have loved to be there for Luna if she could. But maybe things were too hectic for both of them. Or something.

Luna simply cocked her head to the side, projecting nothing but utter confusion at Elle.

"...nothing. Don't worry. So um. Yea." Elle didn't know how to reply to that. She wasn't sure why she was jealous in the first place, it wasn't like she'd seen them make out or anything, he just... she didn't understand either! "I think I'm hormonal or something. Those pills you gave me, I need more than usual. Spock is hungry."

Oh? OH. Luna understood THAT. Dr. Haladet has a supply. She knows about you, she explained. ...So Spock is like you, then?

"I don't know, I haven't seen a doctor yet. I'm just hungry a lot more now. I read that you produce more blood when you're pregnant so I figured it might be that. I guess I'll ask her." Elle shrugged but she did glance to her stomach with a wary look. She had no idea what it'd be like.

Does it reflect? Luna asked curiously. When it senses an emotion, does it project it back?

A pause.

...Most Neilani babies do so at this time... but Caroline never did. ...She... does seem to be empathic, though.

"Don't know, I haven't really tested, I just talk to it. Is it old enough to reflect? How do I find that out?" Elle looked down at her stomach again. It was hard to imagine it reflecting back at her...

"Caroline can feel emotions?" She glanced up at the baby in Luna's arms and Elle tried to project feelings of warmth towards the baby. She wasn't exactly strong like Luna but the feelings were already there... Elle just imagined directing them more towards Caroline.

Luna tilted her head at Elle's stomach, and then shook her head. It isn't.

At Elle's projections, Caroline obligingly stopped whimpering, but stubbornly refused to react otherwise. >(!

"Oh. Well... that's okay." Elle meant both Caroline's reaction and Luna's test. "I'm still curious about what it is though. If it has tentacles or ...I don't know. A cow tail like Caroline. A ...pig tail."

She grinned sheepishly. "I had some dreams about it having really hideous mutations lately but I suppose they're just dreams."

I expected tentacles, too, came the equally sheepish reply.

"Well... it's not hard to think otherwise." Elle grinned at Caroline. "No tentacles, just a cute tail and beautiful eyes. Maybe I'll be lucky and Spock will look like her."

Who knows? It is a mystery!

Elle's head jerked up as she was called. Her tail actually started to tremble under her coat and she glanced at Luna with a look of 'Oh good, save me.'

"...um. Want to come with me?" She asked very quietly with her eyes locked on the wall as if Elle didn't want to admit she'd just asked for help.

Luna nodded, not wanting to admit that she was curious. Besides, she still had to retrieve Jokeph, who was still IN the office of question.

And as he poked his head out, Luna gave him a look of "BACK INSIDE" as she led Elle into Dr. Haladet's office.

"What is this, a party?" Lillian laughed, quirking an eyebrow at her suddenly crowded office. "Elle, if you can find the examination table, hop up on it."

"Oh haha." Elle replied. But she was suddenly glad for those two being there. She climbed onto the table and lay there with every muscle tensed up. "So what happens now?"

"Relax," Lillian answered, taking her stethoscope and breathing on it. "So you're the other one with a mysterious pregnancy, mm? Good thing I brought my equipment over."

Elle tried to relax hard as she lay back and wondering just what kind of equipment this Doctor was talking about. "Yup, I guess I'm the other one."

"Painless and non-invasive," Lillian assured her, listening carefully to her heartbeat. "I see this one is going to be smaller than Miss Cow over there." She punctuated her statement by winking at Caroline, who giggled. "How lucky for you!"

"Ok. I just never did this before." Elle grinned weakly at that, glancing over at the little baby nearby. "I guess that is lucky, huh. But Spock might surprise us all and catch up with her. Who knows?"

"Spock?" Lillian paused. "If that's the name you have picked out, I hope for the baby's sake it's not a girl."

She reached into her desk and retrieved what looked like a tricorder on the aforementioned referenced television series. "Noooow, if you could just hold still, let's see what kind of soup this kid's got in its veins."

"Just a nickname, I haven't even started to think about real names yet." She stared at the thing in Lillian's hand and convinced herself to stay absolutely still. "This'll be interesting..."

"Let's see. There's the Zurg, there's yours... and there's the bovine..." She seemed to be mentally ticking the donors off a list. "Neilani. Keth's. ....Aaaaaaaaaaaaand... human."

Luna's eyes widened at the last part, but Lillian held up a finger. "NOT a match to Caroline's human donor."

Elle laughed weakly, asking sarcastically. "Oh, is that all?"

But she was secretly glad that there was some Luna in there. Even if there was zurg and bovine, and some strange human adding into it. "No octopus or pig or something."

"Wait, wait..." Lillian's brow furrowed as she stared at the device. "...I'm picking up something else."

"........Dragon. And THAT'S it."

"Oh. Okay." Elle wished she'd brought a notebook, she hadn't thought she'd had to write this all down. She glanced at Luna and Caroline, that baby looked mixed... so it didn't mean it'd be bad. "How old is it?"

Lillian frowned. "Size and development would suggest twelve weeks. Odd." Finally, she shrugged, putting the scanner into her pocket. "I'm going to want to take a sample of amniotic fluid when Spock's a bit more developed, all right?" A pause. "And blood tests every other week."

"Oh, okay. All right. It won't harm Spock, will it?" Elle paused and then after a moment, "...but why is it odd? Other than Caroline's different growth... "

Lillian sucked in a breath through her teeth. "A very slight chance, but considering the hodgepodge of DNA, I think it'd be best for Spock's wellbeing and your safety to do it."

A pause. "And that's exactly what's odd. It's developing quite a bit more slowly than Caroline. It's strange to see how the DNA mixes, is all."

"Oh, okay. If it's the best thing then okay. I guess it moving slowly is easier for me, I can get used to it." Elle poked at the stomach and shrugged. "So... what am I supposed to do now? Just wait for it to get bigger?"

"Mmmhmm." Lillian began to take notes on her clipboard. "Ensure you get plenty of vitamins and keep yourself healthy."

"Vitamins. Okay." Elle was sitting up already, she didn't feel very comfortable lying back, it made her feel vunrable. She glanced at Luna, had Luna gone through this or had it been over too quickly? "I'm hungry lots... but I can't help that."

"Mmmn, no. But here." Another bottle of supplements was placed into Elle's hands. "Take as many as you need when you need them."

Elle put them in a pocket. "Okay. I will. ...you're sure nothing else is happening in there? I'm just nervous about it. And I read online that women could give birth with no pain...?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Lillian answered flatly. "But we'll probably have to do a cesarean if Spock decides to end up with more than just a tail."

"Spock has a tail?" Elle blinked several times and then, "...what else would Spock need?!"

"That wasn't what I said," Lillian answered, just as flatly. "All I said is that depending on what kind of heritage Spock decides to show, a vaginal birth could possibly end up killing you and a cesarean would be necessary."

"Oh. Right. Ok." Vaginal birth. That almost made her cringe. Oh man, did she want to just ...go into a coma and wake up and 'hey, look, a baby!'. It would have been so much easier. She didn't know what to say other than another, "Ok."

"And that's it!" Lillian's voice took on its normal syrupy sweet quality. "See you in two weeks, okay?" 4laugh

Elle slid off the table and tried to smile at the doctor. "Two weeks. Um, okay."

She couldn't help but feel a bit taken back! Blunt and then all nice, what was next?! Elle was just glad Luna had been there in the room. She went back out into the waiting room, her tail twisting around again.

"And Keth~ a few more words, okay, sweetie?" Lillian shut the door to her office, tossing out a friendly "Bye, now!" after Elle.

Elle sat in the window of her bedroom overlooking the street, partly hidden by a thick dark curtain, her wary gaze watching yet another moving truck come slowly down the road. It was for the fifth new neighbour that week. Her mother wasn't kidding when she said that she'd found people to buy these properties.

So far she'd seen a family with six kids, Elle's head spun at the idea, a young couple who seemed to have sticks up their behinds and only stayed long enough to scream at removalists, another family but a little smaller with only two kids, three older couples and one much more mysterious neighbour who hadn't shown up with their vans. Probably a summer vacationer who didn't care about packing till the weather turned warm.

And on top of having to witness neighbours and pretend she wasn't home when they tried to say hello... the heartburn had started. Now Elle understood where it got the name. Vampireic diet or not, she still had acid in her stomach. And the taste of all the partly digested blood wasn't doing anything for the taste of her bile. Or the milk mixed in with the bile that she'd used to try and calm the acid.

The heartburn really wasn't that bad. It was persistent but mild- unless she drank milk- it was just a faintly irritating symptom of this whole pregnancy thing. It with having to sleep curled up around a pillow and the way her pregnancy seemed to drag on and neighbours bugging her so she had to pretend she wasn't home...well, it all just annoyed her. Plus she hadn't found a job yet. People heard the word 'pregnant' and suddenly Elle was a leper. Or maybe it was the 'medical history' she had to provide. One of the two. They wouldn't even let her clean.

Elle's attention snapped back to the van as it pulled into the house across from hers. That house looked like a slightly bigger copy of hers, or it looked it, a 'modern' house that to her looked more like a big white brick than a architectural masterpiece. Apparently it was fashionable. The removalists were already getting out and starting to do their thing with the boxes. Just like all the others- cardboard boxes, wrapped furniture, nothing unusual. She wasn't even sure what she had been looking for in the first place.

Sighing, Elle tugged the curtain closed. She had to clean her house and delaying it wouldn't help.

Dear Diary

Saw something on TV about fish being good for babies? I figured I still had time so... well, omega 3 pills have now been added to my pill collection. (It looks a little suspicous now. Let's hope no one ever tries to search my bag.) Hey if the baby is a little healthier than most babies (and costs me a little less in doctor bills) then I can't complain about popping pills all the time.

Belly is large. Perhaps I'm exageratting it a bit but... whale would be a good word. Still not really pregnant though, not like I'll get, I stood next to another pregnant woman at one point and was a little relieved there. I'm killer whale next to humpback whale, but quickly morphing into great blue. ...okay, enough whining. But seeing as this all was a bit of a shock... I get some rights to it from time to time. I still can't believe how it happened. I don't think it'll ever sink in. Besides there were no plans for kids! Ever! I don't think I'm maternial like mum is.

Um. Anyway. Job interview went well! Pregnancy made them raise their eyebrows but I didn't get that 'we're pretending to concider you but you have no hope' attitude I got everywhere else. It was a little peculiar when I asked about what job I'd do, they said that it depeneded on my talents and didn't elabarate. They said that all indiviual jobs were still ebing planned but they were seeking a team as they planned? Guess this buisness thing isn't up and running yet. They also wanted me to fill out a sort of personality form or questionaree or something which was odd but not exactly hard either as I had a while on my own to do it. So yes, it went well.

But biggest news is that I felt Spock move during the interview. How great is that! So what if aliens knocked me up, that wasn't good but maybe the end result I can make good. It definatly made Spock go from 'that thing in belly' to 'baby'. But since I felt Spock move, I've been having dreams where Spock is the alien from Aliens and bursts through my stomach with 'Screeech!' and blood. Nightmares are a new experiance for me so it wasn't easy to deal with at first. I'm getting used to them.

Um. What else about Spock. Stopped the wave of baby clothes finally and toys, told them that it'd be better if they donated money so I could save it for things Spock needed. I didn't think they'd donate money. But they did. Not large amounts or anything but should Spock quickly need a new pair of shoes I know where to get some cash. And neighbours are still bugging me or being sympathetic about my position but...well, I guess you can get used to anything. It is kind of amusing. I'm not that bad off! So what if the living room has a bit more dust than usual because vacuming annoys me or if some of my clothes are still waiting to be handwashed because they're a bit more delicate than usual and I couldn't be bothered?

Got some great books on magic yesterday. New Illusions, apparently about new illusion spells invented in the past couple of hundred years, The Military Use of Illusions (Although I'm not sure what military they're talking about or where they are now that I'm aware of 'aliens') with odd markings between writing ...which I'm assuming is the langauge of where that Military comes from... and A Tome of Important Transformation which lists transformations that aren't as important as it claims. I guess it's all depending on what a person counts as important but I can't see why you'd want to be a teacup unless you plan on finding things out during another's teaparty? Not bad, it's all a little amusing, but some of the transformations are more complex and useful than others.

It's all mostly simple practicual stuff. I was a bit worried about practicing magic while I was pregnant at first but I think if I'm careful to pick stuff that are harmless it'll be okay. So no trying out dark magic or transformation. Illusions spells are okay. I was thinking I'd learn some longer lasting ones that could create the illusion of the night sky for Spock's room. Or planets.

I hate to admit it but if I don't I'll go nuts. Since I started calling this baby Spock, I've been watching a lot of Star Trek. I'm not really a 'trekkie'- I don't know all the silly little facts- but ...well, I have a dvd collection now. It's terrible! And...and um. I kind of found some books while I was browsing and ...well. Yes. I have some books.

But it's not out of control. Really. I can control it. It's only because I nicknamed the baby Spock. ...I didn't know Spock was half human either till I read it.

So anyway. Waiting for news on the job, reading, playing with some spells, heartburn, and Star Trek. A little bit of Star Wars too. I'm crazy. Pregnancy has made me crazy. I'll wake up and be normal again and without a great lump unbalancing me....

..well, sometime.

Elle.

At last, it's time for your baby to be born! Feel free to roleplay the birth at your convenience, but here is some information to keep in mind.

Birth Difficulty (1-10): 5. Not too horrible, but no walk in the park. C-section for alien babies!
Baby Sex: Male
Birth Weight: 6 lbs, 0 oz
Baby Health: Good
Baby Disposition: A little bit disgruntled with the world, very active for a baby; seems to like things that can be taken apart.

Image

When you're ready, please PM GMFC_Mule with your baby's name and a photo caption, if you'd like. Your journal will be updated when we have the needed information to cert him.

Congratulations, Elle!

Several things were new when Elle got home.

The most obvious thing was the amount of movement inside her house. She didn't need to ask to know that there were people in there or who they were- the horses outside eating the neighbour's flowers was enough to let Elle know who THAT would have been. Not many people preferred the transport of horses when there was a car handy.

And there was also a old rust bucket of a caravan sitting in her driveway. Elle had seen it before but why it was at her home of all places... Unless... her mum had decided to move in? Somehow that wouldn't shock her.

And the smells that hit her as soon as she painfully climbed out of the car. Incense. Cooking. Flowers. Herbs. Horse s**t. Mum had tipped off the elves.

"Looks like you and I have been sprung, Spock." Elle muttered to the baby who was wide-awake.

"Elle, don't you dare lift that baby." Neith was already beside Elle and carefully pulling her out of the way. "Not with that stomach. Go inside. I'll handle him."

"My intestines aren't going to fall out the hole, Mum, they did a great job of sewing it up. And the pain medication hasn't worn off just yet." Elle watched her Mum gather her grandson in her arms. Truthfully, she'd hoped she could carry him inside. Maybe the Elves wouldn't grab him away if she bared her fangs and hissed at them.

Speaking of elves! Elle could see curtains suddenly being snapped aside, faces staring at them, and the feel of the ground trembling as a rushing horde of them started out the door. Elle ducked away as they all gathered around Neith. There were cries of admiration, he was being passed around, they were taking off his blankets as they went towards the door and through it, did they expect tentacles too? Elle sighed. She couldn't exactly leave him to their mercy. She went in after them.

Elle sat down on the couch with a sigh of relief. Even invaded it was a relief to be back in a familiar space. She watched with amusement as her baby was stripped, admired more, redressed in some blue silk outfit, and handed around to be admired again.

She was asked his name at one point to which Elle replied, "Jonathan." and tried to not laugh as their faces as they tried to hide their astonishment and disgust at the name. It wasn't very unique, one tried to put it, was there another she liked? "His nickname was always Spock." Those faces again, and a few mingled looks of horror as some of the Elves glanced towards a few Star Trek dvds that she'd left out. They didn't bother pressing her for more names after that.

The day pressed on. The pain medication wore off. Jonathan needed to be changed and fed, which gave Elle a few moments alone as well, and then changed again. Elle counted fifteen Elves. It wasn't that she didn't like them, she was half one herself, but their energy wore her out and made the pain feel worse. Jonathan seemed to get worn out by them as well, his alert mood was soon collapsing into a sleep on the fake sheepskin they'd bought for him. Elle climbed down and sat beside him. The Elves seemed to quieten down at the sight of him and Elle, and immediately she had a cup of hot water pushed in her hand. An elf went to put herbs into it, but there was a whispered argument over what herbs would be beneficial, and by the time some flower essence thing was put in her water, it was already lukewarm and not much use anyway.

But it gave her time to think. Every now and then Elle would look at the baby and see his alien eyes. She got a shudder every time she did, she couldn't help it, she still couldn't and didn't want to figure out how he existed. Elle couldn't help that. She didn't hate the baby for it but it still gave her the creeps when she thought about breastfeeding him. Besides, what if he got fangs like she did? Rubber teats were easy to replace, flesh...well... just no.

The women all went into Elle's kitchen to make dinner. They were going to leave late at night, apparently they wanted to ride back in the moonlight. Elle didn't bother following but to her amusement, quite a few of the men and some women started to sneak out of the kitchen. They must have been hiding in there.

"Oh, can we watch that?" One of the men pointed at one of the Star Trek movies, the same ones that had worried some of the elf women before.

"Yes." Elle nodded and yawned.

"Keep it low." Another one warned, and they all nodded.

"Poor boy." A woman came to sit down next to Elle. Elle recognized her at once; she was one of the younger women there. She'd been born in Gaia and raised there. She was also one of the co-owners of the estate. Merilnes. She wasn't bad compared to the others. Elle smiled at her but she suspected it wasn't a very bright or convincing one. Merilnes grinned. "They'll be distracted by dinner for a while, don't worry."

"The younger he is exposed to it, the better." Elle muttered. "I just hope he can breathe with all this incense."

"How are you feeling?"

Elle shrugged and winced. "Like someone stabbed me in the stomach. They did in a way. I just need to stay still."

Merilnes nodded. "They'll remember that soon. I think they have a paste they want you to try. But..."

Elle blinked. Merilnes had gotten up onto the couch behind Elle and was tugging the hairtye out of her knotted brown hair. "What?"

"Just sit still. I'll brush this for you. I imagine that even doing that would hurt, right?"

"Oh. Um. Yea, it would. Thanks." Elle was a bit taken back by that and went red right to the tips of her ears.

No one else seemed to notice or care. Elle winced as the knots were pulled out, but Merilnes didn't tug at them, she used her fingernails to slowly untangle them. And her hair was combed slowly. It was strange how good it felt when someone else was doing it. Elle had usually just dragged her brush through it and tied it back, and she always trimmed it on her own. But with someone else doing it, her entire scalp tingled, she was getting goose bumps, it was the most embarrassing and nice thing she could remember anyone doing for her. And when her hair was completely untangled, Merilnes kept running her hands through the hair. At one point she might have said something about how she liked her hair... but Elle wasn't sure. Then it was pulled out of Elle's face and into some, or so it felt, intricate braid thing.

By the time it was over Elle was relaxed and oddly calm. But it was weird. She didn't know doing someone's hair put them in a trance. Merilnes sat down beside her again and smiled warmly at her.

"Don't say thanks?"

"Oh... thankyou." Elle flushed again.

"Looks good on you. I'll do it daily if you need, till you heal?"

Elle's cheeks went redder. "Sure. If it doesn't inconvenience you."

"Don't be embarrassed. A wound that deep can be difficult. But I promise I won't fuss over you."

Several of the men hissed SHHH at this point. Merilnes grinned again at Elle's face and turned her attention to the TV.




The Elves had all gone out to the beach, leaving Elle, Neith and Jonathan alone again. It wasn't exactly ideal but at least it was some sort of privacy that was all Elle could hope for. She still sat on the floor next to the baby, partly because it would hurt to get up, and watched TV and Jonathan together.

"There was a foal born up at the front of the property early this morning." Neith told Elle as she arranged herself on the floor. "A filly."

"Yea. Poor horse."

"Why?"

"Birth."

"She seemed to forget about it when she saw the foal."

Elle could feel a life lesson on mother instincts coming on. She didn't like it. "What are you calling the foal?"

"Oh. That's why I was telling you. We thought we'd name her Jae."

"Nice name."

"Jae for Jonathan Andata Elliimiire." Neith nudged at Elle.

"Oh... um. Thankyou Mum."

"She can be for him." Neith continued, glancing over Elle at the half asleep baby, "When she's trained, anyway."

"He might scare horses, you know, Mum. Might hiss at them." Elle made a hissing noise. "Might even eat them."

Neith just looked at Elle. "You're tired. Right. Off to bed. Jae too."

"His name is Jonathan, Mum, don't confuse him by him sharing a name with a female horse."

"I'll carry Jae. Can you take care of yourself?" Neith was already getting up and gathering Jonathan in her arms and going towards the staircase.

"Of course I can! But please call him Jonathan." Elle stared at them with growing horror. This was going to really suck. She put one foot on the first step. Slowly. Carefully. If she didn't make it, how would she get to the bathroom up there? Another step. And another. Going down would be easier.

A pair of arms lifted her right off the step and for a moment, Elle was sure she was about to be thrown off the staircase. The dark haired elf grinned at her, a grin that reminded her of another Elf from earlier, and started carrying her up. "Orders from above. Or below. Don't struggle- I don't want to fall either."

Elle waited till they were safely in the hall above. Then she whacked, pushed, glared at the man with and demanded in a hushed voice, "Orders from who? Don't you ever do that again."

"Merilnes. Sister. She has a habit of putting me in life threatening situations." The elf gestured to the bottom of the stairs where that same woman and that same amused grin was waiting for Elle to notice. "Had me go after a Dragon's collection of jewels once. Wasn't nearly as scary as that."

"Try childbirth." Elle snapped.

"Also preferable to that."

"Just... go home. Tonight. Okay? I don't want to see you trying to do that again." Elle sensed that her anger wasn't really getting through. Maybe she was too tired to be angry. She'd yell at him when she woke up in a few hours, even if she had to do it via paper.

"Agreed. You won't see me trying to do that again." The elf held out his hand for Elle to shake, which she ignored, then shrugged. "Hear that, Merilnes?"

"Heard!"

"Okay. Well. I'm tired and I'd like some peace before the baby wakes up again. So can you both leave me alone?"

"Goodnight."

Elle pushed the door shut in his face. Have a baby, prove you're fertile, and they all come running. Or something. She didn't know what the two were up to and didn't care. Elle just wanted to sleep in her own bed for a change.

RP with Luna/Caroline!

Books and toys together were scattered across the floor together- Old heavy old tomes that smelt musty, newer paperbacks, books with pages that were only just starting to loose the whiteness of their pages, shiny little slobber-proof kid books and large picture books that were covered in images. Elle and Spock lay across the couch, Elle was propped up against a cushion with the baby napping in her arms, a book propped up on an artist's esal that had been lowered so she could read it from where she sat.

But it was very hard to concentrate on the book, Elle's eyes kept drifting to the sleeping baby that was sprawled across her lap and legs. He could almost crawl now- she'd caught Spock on his hands and knees several times with a look of intense concentration on his face. He didn't need her to support his head anymore either.

"Now all you need to learn is how to change your own nappies." Elle muttered to him as she stroked the soft brown hair. One of his wings twitched slightly but he didn't wake. She glanced cauciously around to make sure that her mother wasn't peering in a window, then smiled down at him. Elle took out a pen and paper to write slowly and carefully on a notebook she'd propped up on the coffee table.

-Dear Diary.

Spock is bigger and bigger now by the hour. And he's much heavier. There's not much more to say but that but I guess when you're talking about a baby as old as him, that's normal. And we've been having little practice runs with the motorbike now that I think he's hold enough.

I've been working on something while he sleeps, studying, and so far it's been successful. I don't want to say too much more in here. But with that and work and caring for Spock (and sometimes going out to shop), I don't have much free time left. I want it though and with summer.

Speaking of summer, it's so hot. This house has the windows all open and it's nice and dim in here but it's still stinking hot and we're both feeling the heat. Spock loves the water! I take him down to the beach and he's like a little water beast, even though he can't swim yet and can't do much more than float around with me in the shallow rock pools, he gets very upset when it's time to get out again. He doesn't sunburn as much as I do which is good... he's only been burnt once, a little bit, I cover him in sunscreen oil and hats and... Well anyway. I think he'll learn to swim before he learns how to walk, he's getting along with the water so well.

Spock's also being taken horse riding! I came early to pick him up and I found him with Mum on some absurdly small pony called Freckles that's only half my height. I thought I was going to have a heart attack... but he was all giggly about it. Maybe he likes his Grandma's attention or maybe he really does like it.

As far as everything else is going, it's same as always. Idiot neighbours are increasing in number now that its summer and there's kids everywhere. There's some rich young window woman up the street with a baby who snobs everyone (I wonder if she was the one who caused the husband's mysterious death) and a family down the street who share the house with another family and there's cocktail parties in the street and on the beach. There's no peace anywhere! I can't wait for winter again.

Elle.